NFGworld! News

Heavy Rain - the interactive movie you have been waiting for!

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - Gravis) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:37:27 GMT

note: if you are an emotionally undeveloped kiddy, dont bother.

first off, the people in this game look, move, act and have normal jobs like real people do, so there is no special ops force hero that runs in place at a wall. ok, so a large part of the game is a series of cinematic scenes (rendered in real time) that are progressed and altered based on your actions (or lack thereof) and decisions. if you dont do anything, the story still progresses. the other half of the game is a third person interactive world that integrates all the cinematic scenes. it's kinda like choose your adventure to the 25th power. there are different outcomes and you play multiple points of views on a central story, so yes, characters can actually die and stay dead. it's a drama and it's really well done. it sucks you in and makes you feel... unless you are an emotionally undeveloped kiddy. oh yeah, i forgot to mention, this game earned it's "Mature" rating because it has swearing, violence, nudity, sex and emotionally stressful events. i dont think "emotionally stressful events" are recognized by any game rating systems but perhaps it will be in the future.

oh, the difficulty setting is dependent on how well you can react by pressing various buttons and making various motions with the right joystick. yeah, it's the only non-FPS game that uses the right joystick without sucking. be honest with this question or you will be in pain. i put it on max difficulty and did ok because i'm awesome like that.

it's the 4th most popular game on gamefly and out of 12561 ratings it got a 8.3 which is awesome because half the people on gamefly are emotionally undeveloped kiddies posting reviews titled "most overrated game ever!" one of the biggest complaints was that the beginning of the game is slow which is true but it helps you emotionally attach to a characters. many people, including myself gave it a 10. it's that good.

if you have a PS3 or XBox 360, buy or rent this game! i have use gamefly but i'm going to buy it. i've gone through a 25+ games on gamefly without wanting to buy any of them but i'm buying this one for sure, it's that good.

Let the games industry die.

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:51:53 GMT

Over on insert credit I was talking about E3 and I wasn't very impressed. Microsoft and Sony tried to copy Nintendo without really succeeding: Sony's Move is a Wiimote clone in everything but colour, and Microsoft's Kinect system is an overpriced EyeToy. I also decided Nintendo's 3DS was bound to be a purchase I'd have to make, but that it'd end up in the same place as my regular DS: In a box, unwanted and forgotten. But in 3D.

And then Cracked.com had a two-part article called The Day the Gaming Industry Died and it more or less covers, with great examples, exactly why I can't bring myself to give a shit about this new gaming generation.

Quote by Cracked:
The game that launched the Nintendo Wii in 2006 was called Wii Sports, a collection of motion-controlled minigames including bowling, boxing and tennis.
[...]
So Kinect is launching with... Kinect Sports, a collection of motion-controlled minigames including bowling, boxing and table tennis.

Oh come on!

Microsoft shows off their Kinect kitten-petting simulator and according to Cracked: The audience at the conference reacted in exactly the same way you react when you notice the homeless guy next to you on the subway is masturbating.

The Cracked article is brilliant. The Sony Move is shown next to a Nintendo Wiimote, and they're fucking identical. The first thing on page 2 of the article shows three identical looking games from three different companies.

Quote by Cracked:
Sony, perhaps horrified at the spectacle that was Microsoft and its demonstration of its motion control gimmick, barely mentioned Move, their own motion control gadget. The long gaps in their presentation, when it appeared they were trying very hard to fill time, made me think they took one look at the reaction to Xbox Kinect yesterday and quietly nudged Move under the sofa with their toe.

The final nail in the game industry coffin though was the iphone (with a token mention of Android phones):

Quote by Cracked:
Yes, the 3DS can do gaming better--the graphics appeared to be roughly on par with the Wii. But as the famous saying goes, there is a limit to the number of electronic devices a person wants to carry in their pocket, and that limit is one.

That's exactly right. In my life I've got room for one portable device, and I have an iphone. I'm not taking my DS anywhere, I don't have the time to devote to it. I have friends who take trains and have other long periods of time where they can use the DS, but for me, my leisure time is either spent at home (where I have a giant TV and giant sound system), and there's nowhere left to play a portable game system, never mind the bag full of cartridges that go with it. And if you think I need to invite yet another DRM-laden bullshit device into my home, you're mad.

So where does that leave the jaded old game player?

In seventh fucking heaven, of course. My Dreamcast still works. My PS2 still works, as does my Sega Saturn, my Super Nintendo, and my Xbox, and my Neo Geo and all my arcade boards and fuck this modern bullshit.

All the good games were released years ago, and I already own 'em all. I'm pretty happy with that. Let the industry die, it's done its job. It's too stupid to realize there's nothing left to do.

I Love Pixels: Marble Madness

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:34:11 GMT

Marble Madness is a lot of fun with two players and large trackballs, but when emulated it's a very poor experience. The shallow quarter-eating arcade-style gameplay, very typical of Atari at the time, is all too clear when you're playing it by yourself with a digital pad or (gasp!) keyboard.

But it looks great. The levels only get better, but it's so much un-fun effort playing to reach the later stages I'm having trouble giving enough of a shit to bring them to you. I'm 80% through the third stage and I just. don't. care.

But look at the pixels. Very typically of Atari's games at the time it has a hand-drawn feel to it. Despite the isometric appearance, it looks a little sketchy, especially at the bottom of the blue level. The non-fixed components - enemies, tubes, moving parts - look hand-drawn, and they almost certainly were, by gamers and programmers, not artists. You only have to look at the title screen of Gauntlet II to know that Atari didn't employ a lot of really talented artists.

Still, it really appeals to me.

Click for larger!

Pinball Technique

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 06:43:39 GMT

I'd always meant to type up the fantastic pinball techniques Kaze printed in their guidebook for Last Gladiators and Necronomicon pinball. I never got around to it, but now Bexide/Kaze's got them on their site. These techniques are pretty basic, and I'm sure anyone who's played a pinball game has figured them out already, but whatever - here they are. =D

Control the Ball
You can control the ball by using the flipper at different times.

Holding
By holding the flipper button, you can catch and hold the ball.
This can make it easier to control the ball when it's released.

Double Flip
New players often hit both flippers at once.
This creates a larger aperture for the ball to slip through.

Beat Down
Don't hold your flippers up unnecessarily.
You may accidentally launch the ball into the bottom of the other flipper.

Dead Flipper Bounce
Sometimes you can benefit from inaction.
A ball can be brought to the favoured side after hitting a 'dead flipper'.

Holding Lift
Sometimes you can launch the ball up a lane by holding the flipper.

Return Lane Transfer
A fast moving ball can be brought to the favoured side if the flipper's held up.

Pass Flip
A flipper covers more of the drain mid-way through its arc.
With good timing, you can nudge the ball back towards the other flipper.

Reverse Pass Flip
If your Pass Flip fails, you may be able to salvage the ball
with a Reverse Pass Flip.

Deflect Pass
The easy action might be best: hold one flipper up, and
the ball could bounce to the other.

Touch and Down
This advanced technique allows you to catch the ball, dropping the flipper
and slowing the ball, then rolling it off the tip and up the other side.

I love pixels!

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:05:42 GMT

Man, I love pixels. Check out this deleriously wicket artwork from Air Gallet, a little known shooter from Gazelle and Banpresto:

Whoever made this art really knew their shit. I have a suspicion that it was the same guy who did this art for Banpresto's Sailor Moon arcade game:

Click for more of this level

The attention to detail is spectacular.

And have a look at this arcade. It's pretty much an authentic Japanese game center, right down to the demolished-by-giant-mutant cabinet:

Click for full image

Viper: Phase 1

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:55:48 GMT

One of the best traditional shooters ever made is Seibu Kaihatsu's Viper: Phase 1. It was the second game to grace their new modular arcade hardware, and I've always kind of thought it was a trial for them, a game that was just like their seminal Raiden series but with a different name in case it sucked. It was similar in a lot of ways - only one ship to choose from, slightly different weapons (but not too different), and similar gameplay.

It was a really solid game, and it must have proven to their satisfaction their ability to carry on the Raiden name without disgrace, 'cause they followed it up with three more Raiden games (called Raiden Fighters) which were, basically, nothing like Raiden at all.

Because the real Raiden sequels weren't really Raiden, I've always considered Viper to be the last of the real Raiden games. No speedups, no fancy scoring, no combos or chains or bullet hell to mess up what is possibly the last great vertical shooter.

Please, enjoy the screenshots.

215 Shooting Game Heroes

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:06:17 GMT

I don't remember why, but a few days ago I wondered what the history of vertical shooters would look like. I decided to gather every vertical shooter player sprite I could find, based on these criteria:

Shooting upwards only (no rotating weapons)

Static or vertically scrolling screens

Sprites only, no vektors or polygons

And so, using MAME, I went through every single vertical shooter, and ripped the player sprites from them. I didn't get them all, many games - especially later releases - had more than one to choose from. I picked one that looked best.

There are some strange ones in the list: Spy Hunter's a driving game, but the car also shoots. Most of them though are exactly what you'd expect: cool flying ships of every description.

Click to view the entire set or read on for...

NFG's Vertical Shooter Sprite History!! Yay! Woo! Etc!

NFG as you've never seen before!

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Wed, 12 May 2010 07:12:49 GMT

Nearly a decade ago, a small band of game enthusiasts from around the world banded together to produce a magazine. It included the ex-editor of Diehard GameFan, the owner of a video game import company, a handful of serious gamers from around the globe, and for some reason, me.

An artist was contracted to produce visual personas for the writers. Mine never got past the draft stage, and I'm not convinced it really looks like me. I think the artist was given only "Big, bald, tall" to work from.

The magazine folded before the second issue was printed, and my character was never used.

I found it the other day, and coloured it up a bit to make it more spiffy. Here, for your enjoyment, is neogeoman, aka NFG:

That's an !Arcade neogeo cartridge adaptor around my neck, and the little guy on my shoulder is SNK's mascot (of sorts), G-Mantle. Most of you should recognize the tattoo.

UPDATE: the artist is Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante.

Cutesy Platformers (WIP)

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Sun, 02 May 2010 11:37:27 GMT

I'm not sure where I'm going with this one yet, but here's the WIP screenshots:

They're sorted by year of release.

What the hell, Sony?

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 23:47:45 GMT

Sony doesn't really seem to like its customers. According to The Consumerist, the new PS3 update not only comes with less functionality than before (You can't install alternative operating systems anymore), it also comes with a tasty fuck you from Sony:

Quote by Sony:
If you do not agree with the new Terms of Service and User Agreement or Privacy Policy, please contact Customer Service to terminate your PlayStation(R) Network account(s) and do not visit PlayStation(R) Network or our websites.

If you don't like the new terms, don't even visit our websites.

Wow.

I'm actually surprised they don't instruct you to destroy your console as well.

Are videogames art?

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:04:05 GMT

Acclaimed movie critic Roger Ebert recently said that games aren't art, while a game producer (Kellee Santiago) said they were. Honestly, the opinions of two people I don't care about don't mean much to me, especially when they're taking positions without agreeing on the foundations of the discussion.

Penny Arcade said it best: If a hundred artists create create art for five years, how could the result not be art?

The fundamental question relies solely on what you think art is. For me, art is in everything people make, and the example I like to use is a lowly hand tool: the hammer. Chances are you think of a hammer and envision a tool that's not the same as the next person's. Is it a claw hammer? Ball peen? Perhaps it's a 5-pound sledge, or a carpenter's hammer, etc etc. Never mind the differences in application or the hammer's reason for existance, there's a thousand ways to make each one. When a man builds something, he thinks about how it's made, what it's for, how it should feel, how much it should weigh, etc.

The decisions made while creating something result in art. That is, as far as I'm concerned, the whole point of the discussion. If you can't agree on the foundation, if you've no common ground, or common vocabulary, then you're wasting your time.

Of course video games are art. What isn't?

V3.co.uk lists top-10 arcade games.

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:42:16 GMT

V3.co.uk listed the top 10 arcade games of all time. I do not know what kind of criteria they used to come up with this list, but I think it's rubbish.

Honourable Mention: Spy Hunter
10: Time Crisis
9: AfterBurner
8: Battle Zone
7: Dance Dance Revolution
6: Tekken
5: Pong
4: Pole Position
3: Donkey Kong
2: Space Invaders
1: Pac Man

Quote by Commenter:
This is not a list of the most influential games, or most played games, or coolest games .. its a list of "old" arcade games you played and think are cool.

Damn straight.

Off the top of my head, ten of the best, in no particular order:

Ms. Pac Man

Robotron

Hydro Thunder

Samurai Shodown IV

Asteroids Deluxe

Puzzle Bobble

Raiden II

R-Type

Tetris

Donkey Kong

What would you add to the list?

Talking about Lode Runner, Lode Runner's Rescue

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - Peeet) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 10:05:35 GMT

I have Lode Runner for my Macintosh Classic... freakin awesome game, haven't seen any sequels though.

The Atari had more well built games than even N64 in my opinion... I'm not surprised that games such as Flip and Flop exist.

Important Games: Flip and Flop (Atari 800, 1983)

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 09:09:56 GMT

Flip and Flop was a very cool game. It earned kudos at the time for being entirely non-violent, but despite that shortcoming it was good fun. You played either Flip the kangaroo or Mitch (not Flop) the monkey, and you were escaping from the evil zookeeper and his sentient net... by, uh... colouring in squares.

You see that screenshot above? That's Flip and Flop completely destroying your brain. After every stage as Flip, you play the same stage as Flop, but the graphics are sort of inverted. The layout is the same, but your entire perspective shifts, and causes you to die.

The biggest issue is the orientation of your character. You spend one level knowing that your kangaroo's feet touch the square you're on. Bottom of player = safe zone, OK? The next level you've got to watch your monkey's hands: Top of player = safe zone. It's simple conceptually, but mind-bending in reality. You'll always be tapping the pad just a half-touch too much, and you know damn well you screwed up long before your monkey or 'roo completes the jump to the next square.

The game starts off with very small stages, but every Flip stage is larger than the last (the Flop stages are the same, remember). Soon they're very large indeed, and you can often hear your pursuer's footsteps but not see where they are, and the edge of the map is creeping closer and closer and suddenly you're in full-on panic mode as they appear right next you OMG. You can pass through them mid-hop, but if you touch the same square as them, you are caught.

One-time pad

The game offers you only one defense: sticky flashing squares which catch your pursuer momentarily, giving you time to get away.

It's the very best kind of gaming. It's fast, it's fun, it's cute, and it makes your brain hate your eyes, and its own primitive perspective faculties. It'll also tax your reflexes and controller to the max: if you're playing with a sloppy pad or joystick you'll be enraged quickly. It's very easy to walk right off the edge of every platform when your hands, eyes and brain are at war with each other.

It's for the Atari 800 computer, it's 27 years old, and it's probably way more fun than anything else you've played this week. =)

Here's a short video:

[video]FlipandFlop.flv[/video]
[I'll post links to a ROM and emulator shortly]

Rape Sims: A good thing

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:31:24 GMT

There's been some recent furor over Japan's long-standing production of hentai games. It was on the TV last night where a Western-looking Asian reporter feigned shock over the games so common in Japan. I'm here to say that I fully support the production of rape and other nasty games.

And the foundation for this support is the same as my support for other virtual crimes, and it's a two-pronged base:

1. If no one is harmed, no crime is committed. We can't have a system of laws based on encourages and incites and desensitizes. You cannot change a society's mores with laws, it just doesn't work (nor should it).

2. Allowing special interest groups to ban things they don't like is a sure-fire way to create a pathetic, child-coddling society where no man is free to make his own choices. For every feminist group harping on about how no one should support the rape of women! and child-protection group screaming protect the children there's a nutball religious cluster who thinks women shouldn't wear pants.

Once you start letting groups with agendas have their way with personal bugbears, how can you stop?

It's a vicious spiral that no sane person should ever have entered. I'm no fan of rape games, I'm no fan of child porn cartoons, but I will fight for their legal right to exist. Any other path is simply inviting the most restrictive mind to tell us all what to do, and unless you want the Taliban to run your life, you should re-think your support for any of the above.

You might agree with some of these restrictions, but remember: if you support one, how can you not support the rest? Just as I don't support YOUR ideas, what difference does it make if you don't support THEIRS? There is always someone somewhere who has a more restrictive mindset than yours. We should not create a world for the least tolerant people.

So ultimately, yes, I am glad rape sims exist. That they do means we are not yet prevented from doing what we love in the privacy of our homes, free to think and fantasize about whatever we like. We should protect the real women and children, men and animals, but the virtual ones do not require our help.

I never liked Sonic.

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:24:49 GMT

Sega's Genesis (aka Megadrive) was still limping along, almost but not quite kicking the ass it soon would, when Sonic the Hedgehog was released. The 16-bit days were all about platform games, and Sonic was Sega's answer to Mario.

I hated Sonic. Still do:

Recently GamaSutra talked a little about the different design approaches between the two games, putting into words the things I could never really put my finger on. Some people liked Sonic, in fact a lot did, but I couldn't get past the fact that it looked brilliant but played like shit.

Quote by GamaSutra:
Most levels have at least two tiers that run parallel and intersect at multiple points. Because backtracking is discouraged or outright prevented, it's only possible to experience the full extent of the level after multiple playthroughs.

I hated this. Why can't I stop and look around? This sort of prevention mechanism did not make me want to go back and try again, it made me want to stop playing. It's not because I was a Mario fanboy - when Sonic came out I had a Genesis but had never owned a Nintendo. I hadn't really played Mario much, but I still didn't like Sonic.

Quote by GamaSutra:
Super Mario World encourages a rhythm of watch, understand, and act, with an emphasis on the watching. Mario expects players to observe the environment carefully and make decisions accordingly.

Mario let you run through a level if you knew it well, but was totally playable at a slower speed. Stop, go, look around, whatever. There's a time limit, but hey, do what you want. Sonic instead made you race, every level was designed to make you run by placing obstacles you couldn't traverse at a slow speed. Loops, spirals, long jumps - if you weren't running, you weren't going anywhere.

What pissed me off most was, after asking you to run fast, Sonic punished you for doing it, with spikes and enemies that would rush onto the screen and kill you. To this day I have a Pavlovian reaction to the sound of Sonic losing his rings. I can feel the failure deep in my chest. It's utterly unenjoyable.

Quote by GamaSutra:
Sonic's design isn't more immersive or inherently fun than design that encourages players to experience everything the first time. All it does is provide new experiences even after the credits roll, without the aid of artificial unlockables.

Well yes, that's entirely true. If you like being punished for doing what you're asked to do, if you like not being able to walk up the slightest inclines, if you like having to play the same level over and over in oldschool right-from-the-beginning-again style, then Sonic totally encourages you to play it again.

Fuck that.

The History of Video Games

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - Millartime) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:56:00 GMT

(Written in 1999)

The Beginning: A Brief Introduction

    In the fall of 1972, the very first video game, Pong, was released at a small bar in Sunnyvale, California. The game’s creator, Nolan Bushnell, is now known as “The Father of Video Games” (Sheff p. 133). His monumental success with this game led to one of the first video game companies, Atari. Other companies such as Coleco and Magnavox joined the ranks with competing products similar to that of Atari. However, Bushnell, in his early twenties, filled with ambition and a unique vision, formed the path for Atari to be the most successful video game company throughout the 1970’s and early 1980’s.
    However, this success was cut short when Atari was bought out by Warner Bros. Communications. Bushnell left Atari two years later after he felt that his creativity was being stifled by corporate rules and regulations. With Bushnell’s vision gone, the large company had no direction to go.
    Totally blind to the concepts of individual game quality and creativity, Atari started to release a flood of “copycat” titles, with other companies following their way. Many older titles would just be re-released with slight graphical changes or sped up game levels. These events led to a total collapse of the gaming market in 1984, the year loosely known to many individuals as “The Great Video Game Crash.”
    However, Nintendo (a Japanese company famous for its trading cards at the time) still believed that there was potential in the idea of video games; it was simply poor executive decisions and a lack of quality software that shattered the industry. Despite the bitter taste that Atari had left in consumers’ mouths, Nintendo was determined to take a stab at the home game market. This was partially influenced by the continuing success of arcade centers around the world despite what had happened with the home gaming market. With attention to precise arcade-to-home conversions along with an innovative controller, Nintendo moved in for the kill with their revolutionary NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1985.
    The launch of this system would forever change the face of video gaming. Nintendo went on to sell millions of NES systems along with hundreds of millions of cartridges. The NES supported some of history’s all time greatest games such as the “Mario” series, Mega Man, Zelda, Contra, Ninja Gaiden and Tetris just to name a few. Nintendo’s attention to quality was unquestionable and they remained virtually unchallenged by any competitor for the next five years.

The Unstoppable Force?

    By the early 1990’s, video games had evolved from a simple child’s toy into a powerful electronic medium with a loyal following. The NES was a household item, much like a TV or VCR. Mario’s face was recognized by more kids than Mickey Mouse.
    However, this evolution brought a new player to the video game field, Sega. Having failed by competing on a direct level with their Master System, Sega introduced their “Genesis” system which boasted 16-bit power versus the NES’s 8-bit. Coupled with Nintendo’s inability to adapt quickly enough to the new 16-bit technology along with the introduction of more “mature” games, the Genesis became a powerful force in the gaming industry. For the first time, Nintendo’s dominance was threatened and consumers were now faced with two main choices when it came to console video games.
    When Nintendo finally responded, they came in full force. The fourth quarter of 1991 saw the introduction of Nintendo’s long awaited 16-bit Super NES. Games such as Super Mario World, Gradius 3, UN Squadron and Actraiser were instant hits with gamers all over the nation. But while the SNES’ debut was incredible, there was one significant flaw: it did not play the library of old NES games. This was ground for concern to many consumers and Sega took full advantage of it. Along with a superior marketing campaign and the introduction of their “mascot” (Sonic the Hedgehog), Sega took the lead in the 16-bit gaming wars. Nintendo had been usurped. Despite this, analysts all agreed that the gaming market was big enough for both of them to survive well. The market was still expanding at an incredible level with no end in sight.
    Around the same time, a coin-op video game by the name of Street Fighter 2 was taking arcades around the world by storm. Players from countries all over the world were helplessly addicted to the sharp graphics, responsive gameplay, and overall competitive fun that this game provided. The company who created it, Capcom, was reveling in the amount of success that this one game had brought in.
    Success was not unusual for Capcom as they had created some of arcades’ most memorable titles such as Strider, Ghosts n’ Goblins, and 1943. Not surprisingly, all these titles were converted for play on Nintendo’s NES. Through this co-operation, Nintendo and Capcom became very close partners. Thus, when Street Fighter 2 was announced to be translated to a home system in 1992, the SNES was the obvious gaming platform of choice. This game singlehandedly put Nintendo back into the position as the frontrunner in the video game wars.
    There was a significant problem with the translation of this game, however. Being that the original was such an advanced arcade game, Street Fighter 2 on the SNES required more memory than the highest SNES cartridge (8 megabits) could hold. Not wishing to leave out any important elements from the original, Capcom decided to double the memory capacity of the SF2 cartridge to 16 megabits. This was a very risky decision; a single 8-meg chip (at the time) could swallow up to half the cost of a cartridge to the consumer (around $85). Thus, when Street Fighter 2 was released, its average retail cost tipped the $120 mark. This did not seem to matter though; SF2 went on to become the best selling game of 1992 and ranking among the top selling games of all time. It received countless awards and praise wherever it went as was hailed as the ultimate power in home videogaming. Capcom, seeing that their game was an unstoppable force, began to release annual “upgrades” of the original SF2 (in arcades first then at home around 6 months after) which included character refinements, faster game speed, and more memory. These upgrades did astonishingly well and Capcom is still riding the “SF2 wave” to this day. From this monumental success, fighting games and titles with higher memory in general were clearly (at the time) the wave of the future.

The Invasion of Interactivity

    Observing the incredible success of Street Fighter 2, gaming companies around the globe began to churn out countless “copycat” titles, all of which coincided with more memory with each release. These titles varied greatly from variations of SF2’s martial arts theme to licensed characters (Ninja Turtles, Batman, Sailormoon) fighting one another. While many of these titles sold, very few came close to SF2’s success. Many companies were quick to blame this lack of success on the idea that there were too many limitations involving 16-bit hardware and software. But when one reads between the lines, the failure lied mostly in the software companies’ lack of originality and programming talent.
    Frustrated by this fact, the majority of the gaming development community blindly turned to a new storage medium for video games, CD-ROM, which first became mass-market in 1993. The advantages of CD-ROM were clear: a single CD could hold up to 4000 times more memory than the average (8-meg) cartridge and cost less than a dollar to produce. CD’s were labeled as the “knight in shining armor” (West 1) savior of video games. Full-motion-video (FMV), stereo soundtracks and real voices were now a reality with the advent of CD-ROM technology. It was regarded as superior by the entire gaming community (less Nintendo, who had major financial interests tied in their cartridge factory) and videogamers alike.
    Unfortunately, things only got worse. With the monster amount of memory storage available, companies began to create video games that were labeled as “interactive.” In these games, players could not control on-screen characters in the conventional sense; a player would view FMV (which often featured frequent, awkward loading complete with atrocious on-screen acting) and make a decision every few minutes based on what he or she saw. In addition, interactive games were much cheaper and easier to create than the average video game due to the lack of creative skills needed.
    An example of a first wave title in this genre is a game called “Night Trap.” Your goal was to protect scantily-clad women in your hotel from creatures trying to kill them. The player would view different rooms of the hotel at the click of a button from the “control room.” When a creature entered, the player had to eliminate the threat by trapping or killing it. If the player was successful, he or she would witness a FMV clip of the creature dying; if the player failed, he or she would witness a scene where the woman would be tortured to death. Needless to say, the shallowness and mediocrity of this game (and all others like it) were incredible.
    Because of Night Trap’s early success, companies everywhere flooded the market with countlessly lame interactive titles with themes ranging from already-seen movies, “make-your-own-video”, and Playboy centerfolds. One 32-bit system, the Panasonic 3-D-O, failed miserably on the market after having released more than half its software as interactive titles. Sega’s 16-bit CD-ROM system also failed for similar reasons, despite having a strong library of RPG’s to translate from Japan.

Nintendo vs Brisbane Man: People are Retarded!

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:21:39 GMT

So recently a man who lives about five minutes down the road from me settled on a 1.5 million dollar payment to Nintendo for leaking a copy of Super Mario Bros. Wii before the release date.

OK, dumb move. And settling out of court? Why did you do that? I wouldn't mind knowing what happened during that meeting with Nintendo's lawyers.

Anyway, retarded: the people commenting on this are mind-blowingly retarded. I can't get over it.

One Sydney Morning Herald reader says:

Maybe if they made these games cheaper, they would actually sell more of them. Handheld consoles are a kind of dongle, afterall.

What? How does that make any kind of sense? It was a Wii game, not a DS game. Nothing to do with handhelds, and what does a dongle have to do with reducing prices anyway? Whatever logic spawned this garbage seems to have been lost before he started typing.

Congrats to Nintendo. If you're too poor to afford a game, you should be working, not be wasting time illegally downloading or playing them.

You moron. He got the game while at work, and he didn't download it, he distributed it.

Call me old fashioned, but if they can't pay they may have to do jail time right?

What the hell? What does being old fashioned have to do with this? You FUCKING IDIOT.

It isn't much smarter over on the news.com.au website:

we should boycott this multi nationals product. Feel the Iron Fists of Damnation!

Huh? Are you a comic book character?

He's a thief, period. It's no different than having your home burgled. If you don't want to pay the price of a game it's simple, you don't buy it. I can't afford a brand new car but it doesn't give me the right to go out and steal one.

Way to parrot the industry line, moron. Copying is nothing like theft: no one loses anything. Nintendo still has the original code, EB still has the game on the shelf, and the guy who bought it had his (until a REAL thief burgles his home and takes it!). Copying stuff is the act of duplication: more of something is nothing like taking something away from you.

What about highly overpriced games? Don't they ripping us off, making children addictive for their stupid games, dumbing down future societies. I woud not be suprised if in 10 years we would see a cigarette type class action against these stupid organisations.

Oh come on, first you're upset about the high price of games, and in the same breath you're complaining that games 'make children addictive'? You fucking idiot, you can't make up your mind or even make sense!

To put it bluntly he cant legally pay the fine anyway, as doing this breaks the Currency Act 1965 which states all legal tender must be made of "gold / silver". Therefore, since none of this exists at face value he cannot pay. To do otherwise he is breaking the law. Plus the Commonwealth Copyright Act 1965 does not apply in the State of Queensland since the Brigalow Corporations Act was passed which means Queensland is independant to the Commonwealth - oops they dont want you to know that.

I wonder how far this attitude takes you in life.

You are right in saying you get less for murder.

However as an organisation Nintendo could have lost that money in sales. Good for them to stand up and catch the guy.

What the hell are you thiking? You agree that he's paying more than a murderer might, but you're happy that he's being financially ruined because Nintendo could have lost that money in sales? You know it was the biggest, fastest selling single-platform game EVER, right? No, you probably don't.

1.6M total fines and costs - hah! he got off lightly

What? WHAT!? How does that make sense in your mind?

A 24 year old, that is focused on Computer games, ergo doesn't have a life, or much of a work ethic. I think he will earn $1.6M in aobut 45 years...

A 24 year old that plays computer games can't have a work ethic? Then how's he going to make that money, old man? Go back and sit on the fucking verandah. Geez, you're embarassing yourself.

Argh.

The problem with digital game downloads...

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:18:13 GMT

I've often been frustrated with Nintendo's WiiWare and Virtual Console releases. I never really knew what was coming out, or if it was any good. Nintendo doesn't offer demos, and typically only a handful of screenshots are released, so it's always been frustrating when you want to learn or talk about these games.

Take Castlevania Rebirth, for example. I love it to bits, but I didn't know that until I'd spent my money and hoped it didn't suck. I couldn't find any reviews online, and no one had any media to check out beyond the same ten authorized screenshots.

Turns out I'm not alone in my unhappiness. Gamasutra talks about DLC and reveals this, and other flaws in Sony's and Nintendo's download markets.

They say that, as I noticed, Nintendo just releases games without fanfare and without prior notice. New games just appear one day, to a surprised bunch of gamers who might have been hyped to buy if they'd known it was coming.

Games are also renamed for different regions, and released at different times, so when one country gets the same game six months later, you can't search for any reviews 'cause players on the other side of the ocean have been playing something else all this time.

These things don't make any sense, and it just astounds me that they're running it this way. It makes me wonder about ulterior motives: are they intentionally sacrificing their sales for some nefarious reason? Maybe they're trying to appease their retail partners (once again falling into that modern rut of trying to please other businesses instead of customers).

Gamasutra also complains about the glut of similar titles.

There are at least eight Sudoku games on or coming to DSiWare. There is no reason why there need to be so many essentially identical games -- except that they're easy, they're cheap, and two guys can make one in a couple of months. That's not how this new medium should be used, and it makes the whole platform look bad. It makes it feel like the bin of "101 games" discs at a 99-cent shop.

That's really kind of pathetic, you guys.

Nintendo wasn't the only company to face criticism. Sony's PSP Minis also took some much-needed critiques. Did you know you could play these PSP mini games on your PS3? I didn't - and apparently neither did many other people. Sony, in an attempt to push sales of the PSPgo, didn't make this point well known, unnecessarily limiting sales of the games to the exceedingly small number of people who bought a PSP. You're missing the point, retards, are you trying to lose money? To make matters worse, some random games are not playable on the PS3, so nyah! Screw you, customers!

Another bizarre inconsistency is that Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has forgone the PSP Minis program entirely, meaning a third of the possible base of owners of PSPs and PlayStation 3s right now cannot go out and buy a Minis game. If your worldwide company cannot unanimously agree to allow a service to exist, something is wrong.

What the hell is that!? I could run Sony better. I mean, how could I do worse?

And the PSP mini games can't do multiplayer, 'cause it's too hard to write network code that works on both the PS3 and PSP. I'm of the opinion that if you can't work this out, you shouldn't be making games.

Here's my official recommendation for Nintendo to increase sales for WiiWare and VirtualConsole games:
1. Announce them in advance. Release screenshots, teaser videos. Have a contest.
2. Release larger screenshots than the pathetic thumbnails often given.
3. Offer a demo.

They might also release them worldwide at the same time, to maximize the word of mouth critical to real success, and maybe consider not changing the names for every region.

And for Sony, try releasing the PSP minis in your home country. Fuck me, you guys are schizophrenic or something.

A small collection of game music: Shooters

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:19:53 GMT

The other day I was telling Zumi how awesome the old video game music was, and we skimmed through some MegaDrive tunes. It turns out some of the greatest game music ever made was written for shooters, for the ol' MegaDrive and arcade and Playstation, etc.

So I set about putting together a small collection of the best stuff. It wasn't always easy to gather the right tracks, but I spared no expense! I tried a Nomad, then MegaJet, and finally a CDX, to get the best sound quality I could from Sega's 16 bit hardware.

Download it now!
(118 MB)

Some tracks have had a hard life - the Raiden DX tunes were recorded from a PS1 to MiniDisc, then to PC years later... They have a bit of a buzz to 'em but sound otherwise as they should... The muted, low-frequency sound is how they actually are, it's not a bad recording. A shame really, 'cause Raiden DX has one of the best soundtracks secreted away behind an unlockable menu option... I had to use a gameshark and an elastic band to make these recordings. You better love 'em!

Some others are recorded from emulators (1943 via MAME) and a couple from CDs (Thunder Force) and a few I just found on my harddrive, origins unknown (the Raiden and Raiden 2 tracks).

Most songs are MP3s, but there are a few OGG files in there as well. Don't be frightened by them - smaller space and better sound quality, with the tiny drawback of not working on big-name portable music players. Works fine on most iriver and chinese devices, as well as within Windows or MacOS or whatever.

The playlist:

MUSHA Aleste - Full Metal Fighter

MUSHA Aleste - Theme Of Musha Aleste

Elemental Master - 1

Elemental Master - 4

Elemental Master - 23

Thunder Force III - 0

Thunder Force III - 2

Thunder Force IV - Intro

Thunder Force IV - 8

Wings Of Wor - 4

Wings Of Wor - 7

Raiden DX NEW VERSION Stage 1

Raiden DX NEW VERSION Stage 2

Raiden DX NEW VERSION Stage 4

Raiden - GALLANTRY(ROUND1-4).mp3

Raiden 2- LEVEL5.mp3

Raiden 2 - LEVEL2-8.mp3

Raiden 1 - GALLANTRY(ROUND1-4).mp3

Xanac - Main Theme (Sawtooth Remix).mp3

Thunder Force 3 - 1

Thunder Force 3 - 2

Thunder Force 3 - 3

Thunder Force 4 - 1

Nexzr - Track 3

Nexzr - Track 5

Nexzr - Track 12

Dangun Feveron - Soul Supermarket (BGM Stage 4)

1943 - Stage 1

Ironclad: Brikin'ger MVS Cartridge...

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:58:00 GMT

First, the history: Back when Neo Geo Freak magazine was still printing in Japan, back when the Neo Geo CD system was still seeing ports from the cartridge system, SNK advertised and later released a Saurus shooter called Ironclad: Brikin'ger. It wasn't a very good game, but the adverts looked brilliant and I tried to pick up a copy when it was first released. It saw a very very limited run, and despite having people in Japan checking gameshops and trying to order it for me, I never found a copy. I never saw a used copy, in all my years of looking. This was, without question, one of the rarest games for the Neo Geo, certainly the rarest for the Neo CD.

Image swiped from gamekult.com

The game was also shown at a game show for the Neo Geo arcade system, but it was never released, and would have sunk into obscurity if it weren't for this CD release, and for the occasional rumour of some hoarding Neo fanboy mentioning that he had a copy or knew someone who did but no, they're not giving you a copy and no, they're not showing it to you and no, you can't come over and see it.

So yes, it's rare. Recently it was released on the Wii as part of Nintendo's WiiWare lineup, and shortly after this release a prototype copy of the game showed up on Yahoo auctions in Japan.

I thought this was remarkable and was surprised to find it didn't sell for any more than the $400 asking price.

Well, a recent post from MooglyGuy helps explain this sudden occurence and unusually low price: it seems there are now ROMs of the game floating around, made from the WiiWare copy of the game. I'd bet solid money this cart was made from these WiiWare ROMs, and that it's not a proto or release version of the game suddenly, coincidentally turning up.

Here's the saved Yahoo auction.

MooglyGuy goes on to say that as far as he's concerned this particular dump will (and should) probably never be supported in MAME, 'cause of the chance it was modified by/for Nintendo, and since Nintendo very zealously and aggressively defends their IP with lawsuits and other nastiness. MAME would much prefer to avoid that sort of attention, and for good reason.

Supermarket Metal Slug

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:37:30 GMT

Aldi, a chain of discount supermarkets, is selling an LCD TV with built in games. According to the picture, at least one of these games is a Metal Slug 3 ripoff, played with a Wii controller ripoff.

Quality stuff we got right here:

Important Games: Jumpman (Atari 800, 1983)

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:36:38 GMT

Much like the other Important Game I wrote about (Miner 2049'er) Jumpman is a platform game. It didn't have the same comedy as Miner, but it made up for it with a similar kind of variety and a rock solid approach.

The controls were perfectly honed, this time with a speed and fluidity that set it apart from anything else before or since. When Jumpman jumped into a platform, he'd wriggle his way to to the top of it, so all you had to do was touch it with any part of your body, and you'd find yourself on top of it quickly. This was an integral part of the action, as so many jumps were too far to land feet-first. In addition, a walking fall of more than one platform-height would cause you to die and tumble to the bottom of the screen - you learned to jump. A lot.

This tumbling often saved the day: while completely uncontrollable and bouncing randomly, if you happened to tumble into the last 'bomb' you were trying to collect, you'd beat the level. A life was only lost when you hit the bottom of the screen.

In this level, you couldn't see through the fog until you cleared it yourself.
A recipe for repeated death!

Every level was different. Some had enemies, some had a random floating bullet that'd shoot towards you if you were horizontally or vertically aligned with it. Some levels had ripes, some had ladders, and many of them had level structures that would dis- or re-appear when you collected a bomb. As is normal for a game of the era, memorizing the hazards and patterns is critical. Jumpman's thirty levels were more than enough when your pathetic skills made it hard to remember and defeat a level. If you despaired of ever seeing the later levels, there was a 'randomizer' game mode, where you could play the stages in random order.

The sequel, Jumpman Junior, was more of the same but with an added dose of disdain for the player. It was much harder, and much more frustrating for it.

Walking off this height would kill you. Jumping was safer.

Released originally on the Atari 800, it was ported to all of the popular systems of the time (that'd be the C64, IBM and Apple II).

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Important Games: Miner 2049'er (Atari 800, 1982)

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:51:20 GMT

Every one of us is a result of the experiences and lessons of our life. The people we met, the things we did, and more importantly for some of us than others, the games we played. I learned a lot from games and the things in their orbits. The science of ergonomics, the kindness from strangers in arcades, an urge to tinker and hack: all of these things games taught me.

Even today, games are a part of my life. Interestingly, I find the kinds of games available to modern players increasingly less interesting. I think the games I used to play change how I see modern ones, everything new through the filter of old.

So in the interest of looking backward for a moment, these are the games in my past. It's not chronological, it's not comprehensive, but these are the games I remember. These games shaped me in interesting ways.

Number one: Miner 2049'er.

Original box art.

This game was great fun. The concept was simple: walk over every part of the platform to colour it in. When every bit was coloured, the level ended and the next began. What was unique about it was its player-hating learning curve and the silly extremes it went through to kill you.

The learning started on level one: a small platform required a well-timed jump, but because it was on a slope the angle was misleading: Pretty much everyone died there the first time, and my mom found it tricky every time. Yeah, my whole family played it. Years later I introduced it to my wife, and she loved it as well. How could she not fall in love with the misshapen Bounty Bob as he quested through Nuclear Ned's abandoned uranium mines, looking for Yukon Yohan?

Meet Bounty Bob.

Oh, it was silly.

If you fell from too great a height (about half your body height) you'd compress into the ground, leaving only your hat. If you touched anything radioactive, you'd go all melty and hiss as you collapsed into the ground, leaving only your melty hissy hat.

Get your timing right. Green = good.

One level filled most of the lower level with a pulsing pool of radioactive goo, so any missteps saw you hissing and melting into your hat after what seemed like an agonizingly long fall. Another level placed a powerup right above your head as the level started, but this one deceived: it was radioactive and instead of giving you invincibility, it killed you on the spot.

Level 6. Don't fall.

One level had a cannon which you could manouver left and right. You primed it with explosives, one bag of powder for every vertical level traveled. It was all too easy to grab too much powder, and launch yourself way past the top of the screen, with predictable results soonafter.

The game was packed with features, each level with something new and dangerous: scissorlifts, moving platforms, slides, crushers and teleporters, and... Um, to this day I don't know what the baddies were supposed to be, or why they turned to 2-legged happy faces when they were safe to touch. But each level was packed with them.

It had only ten levels, and I don't think I ever beat it, but what a great time we had. The whole family played, and we all roared when someone got one of the tiny, difficult jumps wrong and died messily.

Bill Hogue, the original author, released an emulator so you can play the original game on any Windows PC. Give it a go, why not? Arrow keys, and escape to jump. =)

Level five:
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Leven ten:
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The Greatest Game Ever Made

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:19:57 GMT

Thanks to Bnu for putting together the game we've all wanted.

This Torchlight thing...

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:45:16 GMT

So I'm playing Torchlight, that game everyone's talking about 'cause it's just like Diablo and it's only twenty bucks. It's by some guys who worked on Diablo, which means nothing to me 'cause I never played Diablo, but everyone loved Diablo and Torchlight's just like Diablo.

Enough about Diablo already, can we not have any game released without saying 'it's just like something else'? Geez.

I'd been hearing the name Torchlight a lot lately, but it wasn't until Penny Arcade mentioned the send-a-pet-to-trade-in-your-stuff mechanic that I actually thought about playing it. An action RPG without the annoying bits? Seemed like a good idea. Anyway, I'm kind of enjoying it. It looks the business, and is fun enough.

It's not all fun n games tho. There's a lot of inventory management, and really a lot of reading involved before you can come to grips with what's going on with all the kinds of armour and spells and skills and special enhancing gems and even special fish you can catch in certain dungeon pools... Honestly it gets a little tedious sometimes, but the promise of ultra-awesome super-destructo weapons keeps me coming back for more exploration.

It's single player, which is odd, but apparently the devs thought this made it easier for them to concentrate on the experience. The development process seems ideal, to me: Get the game done, always have a playable build handy, and keep bashing away at the core concept until it feels right. Ars Technica has a short article about the process. More detail can be found on GamaSutra.

To my eye, the art and playing mechanism is a lot more like World of Warcraft: a low-poly world that runs on all hardware (even netbooks) and textures that look hand-painted. The result is cartoonish, but attractive for it. To me, this is the polygon equivalent of good old 2D pixel art. Fuck realism, these sorts of recognizable and attractive graphics are more appealing to me.

It's kind of a story-light Ys, with more options and less bumping into enemies to kill them.

So yeah, it's fun. I'm enjoying it.

Why aren't you?

Are you playing Jump!? You should!

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:29:22 GMT

XBox 360 Live Arcade Indie games are not available in Australia (or Finland apparently) so this only applies to people in countries that don't suck, or Australians who've worked out how to lie to Microsoft, and create a US Live account.

Basically, JUMP! is the greatest tiny game you've never played. It combines the awesomest elements of Miner 2049'er, Jumpman and Montezuma's Revenge into one fantastic pixellated display of rainbow colours and retro-aesthetic bliss.

If this doesn't make you want to go play games right now I don't want to know you.

Go.

Seek.

Random gaming things

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:15:27 GMT

A few things have come to my attention lately and I'd like to make note of them. These things include new game releases, mostly, but also a few other things.

1. Thexder Neo is out for PSP. At first it hit me as a bit of a surprise, coming out of nowhere with only two weeks before release. Now, it's actually out, and Mecha Damashii has a review.

2. XBOX Live Arcade continues to get releases that tempt me, including a recent re-release of Nectaris/Military Madness, a game which I hold very dear. I played the demo, and I'm tempted to buy, but I'm annoyed by the controls. It's been twenty years, why am I still playing with a d-pad? Why can't I use the analogue stick for unit selection, instead of the rather superfluous map scrolling? Why can't I reverse them? ARGH, that's the only reason I haven't bought it yet. I mean, the 360 d-pad really sucks!

They also released Bust a Move, though I had to use a US account since it was released everywhere but India, Korea, and Australia/New Zealand. Well, turns out I don't care if it's not available to me, it sucks. Slow, and it has shitty new music. Does anyone like this new version?

3. There's a Castlevania remix coming out. It's for the Wii, which is annoying (I'd have to dig it out and plug it in again...) but hey, it's Castlevania. That's always good. =D

Retailers unsatisfied with PSPgo margins?

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:14:46 GMT

Over on ArsTechnica there's an article talking about how retailers are unsatisfied with the profit margins on the PSPgo, and it mentions a rumour that EB is refusing to stock the system in Australia. Similar stories are coming from Spain and Holland, they say.

That does not surprise me. Of course this must all be evaluated carefully - no doubt the retailers could be angling for better pricing from Sony, but unless things have changed since I ran a gamestore in Canada, there never have been margins on hardware: We sold PS1 systems for $199 that cost us $192 to get in from our supplier. Seven bucks profit for a two hundred dollar system? That's insane, and the razors/blades theory doesn't wash either, IMO: people go where the games are cheap, and buying a system from ME didn't mean they'd ever buy GAMES from me afterwards.

But we stocked them anyway, 'cause it was far better to be seen as a game shop that had stuff people wanted to buy, than one who was successfully reducing the customer's happiness/success rate by only stocking stuff with a good margin. If someone came in and got what they wanted, they'd remember us favourably.

But if I was selling them PSPs, I think they'd like us as much as the poor kids who bought Neo Geo Pocket systems from us. That is to say, they'd blame us for the manufacturer delivering a rubbish product. If a product is desirable, the shops will stock it anyway.* Terribly sorry, Sony, but I can't blame any retailer who doesn't want to flog your dead horse, especially with shitty margins.

So yeah, schadenfreude FTW.

* Assuming the shop isn't run by a retard. Most Australian shops don't understand the concept of customer service at the best of times, but many places here have minimum charges for debit or credit card transactions. The local kebab shop has a $10 minimum if I want to pay with my EFTPOS (interac) card, but a full kebab combo is only nine bucks. Better to have no money than slightly less, right? Not so in Australia. Seriously, it's stupid.

Bonk Sprite History

no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:32:58 GMT

Here's another one from the NFG book.

Bonk Sprite History

It's not well known that Hudson created the chips that powered NEC's TurboGrafx-16 console. After an astonishing series of hits on the MSX and Nintendo's Famicom, Hudson was sitting pretty. They dominated the 8-bit consoles and, with their own chips inside the TG-16, they were poised to dominate the 16-bit era as well. NEC provided the manufacturing muscle and the TurboGrafx dethroned Nintendo in Japan (where it was known as the PC Engine. The PC Engine was Hudson's little baby, and was nigh unstoppable, but the success it enjoyed in Japan was not forthcoming in North America. Sega's marketing department was, to put it bluntly, kicking everyone's ass.

So it happened, back in 1989, that NEC needed a hit game. It needed a Mario or Sonic of its own and it was Hudson that delivered it. Roughly translated as Computer Man, PC Genjin rhymed with PC Engine, and the game fit the diminutive console like a glove.

Renamed Bonk's Adventure, it was released in North America in 1990 to critical acclaim. A platform game like no other, it featured a caveman protagonist who attacked his enemies by head-butting them, or by leaping into the air, spinning, and landing on them head first. It was a radical departure from the staid old Mario routine of running and jumping feet-first. It was immediately a top seller for NEC, one of their first big hits, and Bonk quickly became the de-facto mascot for the system.

Graphically it wasn't particularly noteworthy, though it offered impressively smooth animation and played very well. It was the variety of animations that impressed - it was packed with unique new moves. To climb walls Bonk would latch on with his teeth and gnaw his way upwards as fast as the player could mash the button. He was also fond of meat, and whenever he'd find a shank he'd greedily eat it, then launch himself into the air and temporarily become more powerful. By the time a player reached the first boss he'd already run, jumped, climbed, become invincible, crossed the spiny back of a dinosaur, crawled inside the dinosaur's mouth and worked his way out the other end. It was a marvelously refreshing change of pace.

When the first sequel came out in 1991 it didn't stray far from the formula. There were plenty of new bonus stages and a few new moves were added, like the ability to climb waterfalls. The big change was in Bonk's appearance. He had become softer, rounder, a little more cuddly, no doubt in an effort to improve his marketability. The second game was also very popular, and it spawned one more game for the PC Engine.

The third game offered yet more new features, like two-player modes and the ability to become very tiny or grow to enormous proportions. In spite of these additional features the game wasn't as big a success. The time had come and gone for the TurboGrafx-16, and this final Bonk was too late to sell in significant numbers.

The game and character design were so successful Hudson couldn't let them die. Several other systems received ports, and in 1993 and 1994 Nintendo's NES and SNES each saw a version using the same character sprites, though with fewer and more colours, respectively. It's never easy converting sprites from one system to another, but Hudson's artists knew their stuff. Even the GameBoy versions, whose sprites are scaled down versions of the first two PC Engine games, managed to capture the spirit of Bonk nicely using only two colours.

There are three distinct phases of Bonk evolution, and one aberration.

First Gen
PCEngine, GameBoy

The original Bonk was a little rough, with a crooked mouth, large ears and a tiny tuft of hair on the back of the head. The GameBoy sprites are very similar, though obviously much smaller. While functional it didn't take Hudson long to realize they could do better.

Second Gen
PCEngine, Famicom, SNES, GB

The second generation Bonk is much rounder, with a smaller ear and no more hair. The PCEngine and Famicom versions are virtually identical, but for the necessary changes in palette. I'm creeped out by the SNES version, which started with the PC Engine sprite but uses so many colours that the resulting Bonk looks almost disturbingly realistic, as if they had digitized a real head and pixelled in new features. Interestingly the 2nd-gen GameBoy sprite looks worse than the first.

Third Gen
Arcade

The aberration in the Bonk evolution is the Kaneko-produced arcade version. Released in 1994, the same year as the final SNES game (below), it was the only Bonk not to be created by Hudson. The graphics in this entirely new game, like most arcade games of the time, were vivid and excessive, with more moving objects in one short level than than in any three stages from the console games. It has its own unique style, with a Bonk that could almost be a hybrid of the first two generation sprites, despite being released four years after.

Third Gen
SNES

While Kaneko was awesome-ing up the Bonk legacy, Hudson was going too far with the second SNES release. New, less attractive sprites were used for the Super Bonk 2. Somewhat curiously they were now much smaller in size, almost a cross between the second generation Bonk and the GameBoy version. And as if that wasn't enough, Bonk was made into a thoroughly bizarre shape-changing weirdo (see Meat Eater, below), and shoved into a game that was a random, numbing testament to how badly a game can really suck.

This was to be the last console release of a Bonk game for nearly a decade.

Meat Eater
PCEngine (1), PCEngine (2), PCEngine (3), Super NES (1)

The second PC Engine game, Bonk's Revenge, started a strange trend of having Bonk, now more attractive most of the time, become quite bizarre looking when he eats meat. In the original game scars would appear and Bonk would become darker, but now the effect was more striking and Bonk appeared mutated and lumpy. In an attempt to make his meat-addled appearance more striking Hudson ran up against the wall of good taste, and pushed hard. The first SNES game was positively bizarre, and the second one ended up in a string of mutants:

Bizarre Mutants
SNES

Mobile Bonk

Hudson recently released a mobile version of Bonk, which may feature the cutest Bonk sprites ever made. Sadly, it's almost certainly going to be the last Bonk sprites ever made, as the world shifts to polygons.

Big Bonks

These two Bonk sprites are taken from the PC Engine (left) and Super NES Bonk 1. In these two games Bonk could become huge (and tiny), with a bit of less-than-optimal gameplay foreshadowing the terrible Super Bonk 2 and its myriad transformations. They really were huge too - they're shown above 2x size, where all the others on this page are 3x.

Conclusion

Bonk enjoyed a half decade of success before Hudson went too far. The Super NES versions of Bonk were very much over the top, straying far from the simple formula of the original. In the last SNES release Bonk could transform into a wild variety of creatures with new skills, depending on the colour of meat he ate. In their rush to stuff as many transformations into a small space as they could the designers forgot to let the player enjoy them. The series collapsed under the weight of so many gimmicks, and was nearly forgotten until 2003 when Hudson re-released the first game, using polygons instead of sprites, on the GameCube (click for the NFG review) and Playstation 2.