This reminds me of... I can't recall now. About a year back there was a similar run n gun, Metal Slug Metroidvania, with a touch of Metal Gear too, set in a jungle with an evil military and tanks and robotos and... I have completely forgotten the name. There was a news item on TE but trawling the site reveals nothing.
Any recall this?
@sdelfin ?
(I suppose there are now so many pixel art action platformers its difficult to search for a specific one; or the Google algorithm is just broken?)
@makankosappo
Interesting. Not to sound dumb, but how do you connect the VGA cable to a UK CRT television where the only inputs are an S-Video port, composite (YRW) ports, and RGB SCART socket?
I'm looking at a photo of it now, and I have three CRT TVs, and not one of them has VGA input. Including my sacred Sony Trinitron, which is the best consumer CRT on the market.
Unless you mean a PVM? But not many people have a PVM.
Fascinating. This man is doing some priceless work here. The number of times I've been faced with incompatible formats, and ultimately just abandoned using some files due to how irritating it was to fix. The PS1 tools will be especially useful - previously converting Dex, PS3, and raw mem card files required some pretty complex tinkering.
The only thing missing - unless I didn't see it - is the ability to change regional coding on PS1 saves. He mentioned Suikoden, and that's a great example, because the Sui 2 save data is compatible between PAL and NTSC-U, except the files are regionally separated by name. You have to use one of the PS1 memory card tools to load it and swap it so the file will then be "seen" by the other region's version.
@MontyCircus This is fantastic. For once, a list I actually agree with! For the MD... There is not a whole lot different from my own hypothetical list. The order would just be a little different. Ranger X at #1, Gunstar at #2. Maaaybe one or two end list substitutions for obscurities I like.
What I find fascinating and VALUABLE in your data, is you've collated all the different lists, so as to create a more... Robust? Reliable? Averaged? Accurate? A better list, that softens over egregious entries in others, and helps raise other titles which maybe made the list at various places, but only lower down.
I'm not kidding. If you have Excel files, containing aggregated lists of a system's games based on large datasets, taken from multiple other listings, then there is genuine value in the work you put in.
Thank you for sharing!
What other systems did you research? Did you do the same as you did for the Mega Drive?
You know... If you did, I feel this effort should be online for everyone to see. Did you keep a list or URLs of where the original lists were found?
No love for Blue's Adventure? I like the shrinking mechanic in this platformer a lot. Every NG fan I speak with however says they hate it (granted that's like only 3 people I know).
Also Neo Mr Do on MVS might be the only Mr Do game I like.
I never liked any of the NG fighting library. Just not to my taste. I preferred fighters like Psychic Force or Fighter's Destiny.
I'm not trying to be funny, but I did not even realise this got an official Dreamcast port. I remember the PC version, but the DC one was US exclusive and... It just passed me entirely. Clearly need to go through the US DC release list. I was buying EGM back then but must have missed the issue.
Bloody heck. I'll just delete my comment and let's pretend this never happened, LOL.
I like Lynch as a person, and I like his work. He's a genius.
But I've never liked any of Sony's European TV ads for PlayStation (the Frenchman eating a PS2 was... at least funny).
I recall seeing this 3rd place ad. My parents were like "WTF is that?" Guys at school who were into games said the same. A couple of fellow gamers actually felt less inclined to buy a PS2, asking ourselves: is it going to be dumb nonsense like this? We wanted MGS, Final Fantasy, Parasite Eve, Armored Core, Symphony of the Night, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Wipeout, and all the other cool games we knew.
If it were not for games magazines showcasing the games, this advert would have lost Sony at least a couple of customers at my school. Artistic, sure. Good for selling consoles? Just awful.
Sony's marketing, to someone who loved games, was utterly wretched. Where was the game footage FFS?
@John_Deacon Not really. Loading a game ROM on an Everdrive on N64 and playing the original cart will provide an identical experience. Except without the eye watering cost of some original N64 games.
The above experience will be very different to emulating the N64 on a PC or N64, even if you opt for original settings like resolution etc.
Even cycle accurate emulation, for example the SNES and Higan, the experience of emulating it on a PC, even running on an LCD TV, is very different from a real SNES on CRT. The real hardware will have the real controller, and the image and speed is identical to when I played an RGB SCART SNES in the 1990s. Higan has horizontal blur since I can't run it on a CRT.
The difference is: SNES games like Hagane cost £1000. Whereas my flashcart for the SNES cost about £100 and runs Hagane identically to an original cart, since it's pumping the ROM data into the SNES CPU in exactly the same way.
Contra (NES) - as pointed out by bigheadwillie Mercs (MD) Radiant Silvergun (Sat)
Also, it might not be better, but I have a real soft spot for Avenging Spirit on Game Boy. I like the arcade original, but there's a cute little charm to holding it in your hands.
I usually prefer home ports where they add an exclusive mode, usually with some sort of levelling up aspect, to rebalance the game for home play, rather than quarter munching.
The above list are pure ports, but there's loads of games where the home "ports" are not ports at all, but completely reimagined sequels or new games. Such as:
Ninja Warriors (SNES - hated the arcade original and its authentic ports) Ninja Gaiden (NES / SMS)
Recently played through the 2D iterations. I like the checkpoints of the Mega CD, but prefer the chiptunes of the Mega Drive. On CD it was totally new composed music.
I tried to replace the redbook audio tracks from the CD with ripped tracks from the cartridge, but it was impossible given they didn't do a 1:1 replacement. Some levels reused tracks in completely different ways. IE: track A was on levels 1, 3, and 5, on CD, but on cart a different track A was on 1, 3, and 6, with 5 instead using the track from level 2.
It was a strange set of alterations which changed the tone of levels.
I also noticed, given the SD resolutions, IMAGINE: a 4K version of the original 2D games, but the ENTIRE level shown onscreen at once! With a teeny dolphin swimming about.
@slider1983 Did you get a ban or soft deletion? I can believe.
I'm afraid to upload or comment.
It feels like an insane hostage taker has the wheel. You hope that by following instructions you won't get executed, but he'll shoot you anyway for kicks.
He ported Tetris to the IBM for Alexei Pajitnov. The backstory I heard was: he was very young when he did it, and when Tetris blew up Pajitnov rushed to Gerasimov's mother's place in the middle of the night and insisted her son sign over all rights to the work he did.
Always seemed kinda skeezy to me, what Pajitnov did. Since technically Gerasimov had a share in the original.
Gerasimov speaks English and is easily contactable. Might make a good interview for Time Extension.
@GravyThief
It's not only extreme video imagery (ie: violence, nipples,vetc.) . It's also thematic or verbal content. For example, as cited in the one history video linked above (world history, not games), simply saying "September 11th" in any context gets you automatically demonetised.
Any topic deemed too triggering gets AI flagged. The creator of that video says he's been able to get this reversed sometimes.
YT's algorithm searches audio and imagery. And anything remotely traumatising gets flagged. It prevents adult discussion about real issues.
I look at how fluid and light and breezy this looks, and then I think of Sonic 4 where it felt like you were controlling a lead weight.
How and why do Sega always get it wrong and it falls to fans to recapture the energy of the originals? Years later and I'm still perplexed anyone thought the physics in 4 was the right direction.
@Ryu_Niiyama Don't feel obligated. It's the holiday season anyway, when most people are off work and distracted by leisurely pursuits. If you feel like responding there's no rush - enjoy the new year and we can reconvene in 2025.
@Razieluigi @bluemage1989 More importantly, this was a commercialised for profit endevour. They made money from this documentary they created - using artwork created by others.
Granted, only a small portion of screen time, but they still used someone else's labour (Kate making art) to contribute to their profit making.
This is why licensing deals can be so convoluted.
And there are laws which allow small free use of another's material, notably for educational or satirical purposes. Kate in turn has shown material created by others when, for example, describing the origins of Metroid.
But then you need to properly attribute where this work came from.
Also, let's make a distinction between:
(a) Kate showing Buichi Terasawa's manga art which inspired Metroid, in a video about Metroid's origins...
And...
(b) custom made art (fan art you could argue) being taken and used to describe a theoretical alternate history timeline where Bluto was Donkey Kong.
They were not using discarded Nintendo art.
They went online and just grabbed whatever they found.
It'd be like me or another writer just randomly grabbing fan made art off Instagram, or DeviantArt, and using that, instead of officially related assets.
You can - but you need to get permission.
Again, it's not like Nintendo provided them with discarded art. They took this from someone else's history project.
@KitsuneNight I agree. Both systems have some all time exclusive masterpieces on them, available nowhere else (several actually owned by Sega).
It pains me there is no easy, low cost, legal way for the mainstream to access them.
But ultimately if this is Sega's intention then I'll continue to recommend Sega's great games, and the curious can find their own way, any way they can.
I wonder if they ripped off anything bespoke from Time Extension (created by TE or one of its contributors specifically for the site) without permission.
Come to think of it, did they rip off anything from me? (I don't have Discovery - someone ping me if they did.)
I feel sorry for Kate - she creates fantastic, well researched, fascinating videos, but they don't seem to reach the critical viral mass they deserve (no pun intended). I've been influenced by and created work based on her research myself, notably my history of Pac-man article, but I always credit her and have emailed privately on various topics.
This is just ***** behaviour from the docu producers.
(3) "These indies just want a shortcut because they don’t want to eat the costs if they fail."
I very strongly oppose this statement. Again, these are 18 year old students cited in the article, not indie devs. They don't want a shortcut. After this article was published others, in private, said similar things. If an idea they had showed even slight similarities to something by Nintendo, they were concerned. Now when I say this, I don't mean a platformer like Mario. I'm talking about some of their fringe ideas. Tomodatchi Life has already been cited, and there are games preceding it. Nintendo has tried and abandoned various fringe concepts - which could be reworked into something unique and fresh.
But again, the whole point of this article was to highlight that 18 year old students, viewing the news, and the world around them, are now immediately associating Nintendo with litigation.
It doesn't matter what counter points anyone makes. It does not invalidate or erase the personal experiences or cognitive belief systems these students are developing.
If their fears are completely 100% unfounded, then the point remains: Nintendo has a PR / image problem.
(4) "Stop stealing from others and you won’t get sued."
dismissive and clearly hasn't read the article. They don't want to steal from anyone, but they are self-censoring pre-emptively even if prior art exists from before Nintendo's work.
(5) "Games and patents are publicly accessible and it isn’t hard to do a little research to make sure you aren’t infringing"
not true, the patents Konami has for invisible walls are in Japanese only and an absolute nightmare to dig up the originals. I saved them and now distribute them when asked, because I can't even find them anymore. Very difficult if the patents are in a foreign language.
(6) "Make your own games and make them unique."
the students want to make original unique games. But likewise they shouldn't be expected to reinvent the wheel. Reading the idea of observing NPCs living their lives and trying to influence them sounds pretty good actually. Indirect interaction, a sort of artificial-life (a-life) system which calls to mind various titles from The Great Escape to Nights and Roommania 203, but with a human touch.
But you know what? If someone wants to make derivative games that's cool too. Some of my favourite films and games have followed a template, they just happened to do them really well.
TL;DR Stop disregarding the experiences of others. These students are hard working and have the best intentions.
@Ryu_Niiyama I'm going to have to make multiple posts.
I did read what you said, and I disagree with several specific points. Though my response was flippant and quite broad. I'll attempt to articulate precisely.
The quote regarding the shadow patent is described thus (edited by me for space):
Serkan Toto: This lawsuit is filed under Japanese law, so it has nothing to do with the US, nothing to do with the UK or EU law at all. I think they never lost a lawsuit that they initiated themselves, and under the Japanese legal system, seven years ago, they sued a company called Colopl, which is a mobile gaming powerhouse from Japan. They [Colopl] have, I think, almost 2,000 [employees], nobody but knows them outside Japan but they had a famous mobile game called White Cat Project, not copying Mario, not copying Pokémon, not copying Zelda, nothing at all. Nintendo brought forward six patents that they thought that this company was violating. One of the patents was for a confirmation screen after sleep mode. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses it. And then Nintendo said you're using our patent and you cannot do that. You're not paying us any licensing fees. And they had five other ones, including one for isometric, pseudo, 3D games, when the character is hidden behind the tree, the game forms a shadow, so you have a kind of sense for where the character is, even though you don't see the character clearly. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses that technology. And Nintendo said, look, you cannot do this. And this goes on with four other patents, right?
To be honest, even the sleep screen patent seems ridiculous.
Now putting aside this patent discussion, let me prove that I did in fact read your comment.
(1) "If people are making games banking on an association with a well known product, that isn’t creative and yes imo they deserve to be sued"
the students in this article are not banking on anything, they're expressing a fear based on what's in the news, and are disinclined to explore interesting ideas just in case some part partially resembles something by Nintendo. This has the opposite effect to what you want. The student's idea is mentioned above - a world where players observe NPCs and offer advice. They felt it might resemble Tomodatchi Life. I'd argue it resembles the even earlier Roommania 203. Regardless the desire to explore creativity is a pure one, not based on "banked association"
(2) "People make Disney porn too"
this point feels like it's straying. The fact porn is made of Disney material and isn't sued is due to America's allowing of parodies. A long time ago I read up on the Mario porn movie, and Nintendo just bought the rights entirely because the first amendment makes suing difficult. It's a whole other complicated topic.
I was aware of this from interview snippets when MGS came out in the big box special edition, but didn't have a reliable source to link to.
The most interesting thing here is that Metal Gear isn't really Kojima's game. He saved the project, changed its direction, made it his own, but initially the project started as something else, with someone else in charge.
I wish we knew who those other veteran devs are, who he alludes to, and a bit more about the game as it existed before he came on board.
But it's kinda ironic - Kojima's most iconic creation was started by someone else.
@Vatrak
Sources please. I used Forbes as my primary source (being a reliable media outlet). If what you say is true, then I wish to read further since it inverts my original belief. Wasn't trolling - until I can read some sources on "Nintendo protecting the little guys" my view is based on and reflected in that Forbes article. I feel I've done sufficient research if a large, respected websites is citing interview quotes to make a point. Genuinely curious to see your alternative sources showing Nintendo to have small devs in mind.
@Ryu_Niiyama
Just so I understand this correctly, you support Nintendo taking out a patent on "showing the shadow of someone hiding behind a tree" and then suing an indie developer for $20 million, because their game had trees and shadows? This specific example is linked above in the article via Forbes.
I just want to be sure I'm understanding you correctly, and that your "stop stealing from Nintendo" request is directed at that indie developer. With the trees. And shadows behind trees.
@Futureshark
Not related to this article - but I wanted to ask about your avatar. Is that from an old Argos / Janet Frasier / Kays catalogue? In the 90s I saw that same photo for a Dalek costume and thought the kid looked so miserable - was that honestly the best photo from the day's shoot?
And for years I'd tell people about it, and no one believed me. "Why would a catalogue use a photo of an unhappy child to sell a product?"
But searching old catalogues I couldn't find it. Started to wonder if it were real.
And today I stumble across it in your avatar. Wondering if you found it online, or actually took it from a product catalogue?
@Polley001
I gave the talk, and I see what you mean. Though allow me to clarify.
The talk was about the lineage of ideas in games. Developers stating explicitly taking inspiration from other games. Shigeru Miyamoto for example stating he was inspired by The Black Onyx for the original Zelda.
Part of the talk touched upon legal court cases where "prior art" was used as a defence. Camera change and Star Wars, as linked above.
After the talk I suddenly received questions on legal precedents, which surprised me. Tomodatchi Life came up, I suggested The Sims and Little Computer People.
I actually did not mention Nintendo suing anyone at any point during the talk - other than Nintendo trying to stop Sega's canera patent.
The above quote from me, linking to three Nintendo news stories, was researched after the lecture, when I was doing a write up. I wanted readers to see the same news stories the students might stumble upon.
Damien suggested we spin off that section from the main feature and I agreed. So he wrote this article incorporating it. The main feature is due this Saturday.
Those three examples were not shown to students.
To be clear:
The specific legal examples shown to students were not Nintendo suing, but rather were mainly examples where someone won and was allowed to do something (ie: Data East and Fighter's History; Sony and Nintendo overturning Sega).
The idea was that knowledge of the past can protect you by citing precedents.
I was initially surprised when this concern over Nintendo came up.
The 18 year olds read the same news as you, and their concerns have manifested organically.
To be honest I'd not even thought about it and was quite surprised. But if a young person describes an original game idea, but they abandon it because some parts seem a little similar to a Nintendo game, I would describe that as "stifling creativity". Absolutely.
You need to look at it from this angle: these are young minds, still forming, and the legal climate of litigation is affecting these minds.
If Nintendo is willing to sue over sheet music, then that creates a climate of fear and paranoia.
I personally regard the Palworld case as a load of ridiculous nonsense. It's legal trolling.
I find the fact we have PS3 emulation fascinating.
I can recall with absolute clarity reading the Zophar's Domain forums in the late 1990s, and someone (an emulator programmer I believe) adamantly saying we would never, ever, in no way possibly ever see Mega CD emulation. Because you'd need to code a Mega Drive emulator, and a Sega CD emulator, and then have these two emulators communicate with each other somehow, and it was just technologically impossible. (Looking at their forums now, the earliest threads are 2004; I may have read this in 2000, but I feel like it was pre-millennium.)
Today we have PS3 emulators.
Never underestimate human potential for doing things with technology.
@KingMike @KitsuneNight
I interviewed the guy who made this - Macaw45 was my consultant for the Sein/Xain/Zain interview with Kensuke Takahashi. (I think I even posted him the guy's autograph...)
The company boss (guy called Miyamoto - seriously, it's a common surname) was a real sociopath who would use physical violence against staff. His rep was infamous, so the rumour among Japanese players was he was yakuza. So I asked Takahashi and turns out the boss was just a sociopath and terrible at business. No criminal ties.
He also revealed a lot about many of their games. Some fun points about Dios:
He made it in two and a half months. The rule was only two months for a game, but as his pet project he had to plead for an extra 2 weeks.
The X68k version runs too fast because it's incomplete. He described it as being a prototype still, done in 3 weeks, but they shipped it anyway. He said none of the other versions were finished properly, only the lead PC-88 version.
He was involved with every aspect of it, since it was to be his last game. He was also lead programmer and wrote half of all the dialogue. But he also had help from another unamed designer.
At the end he gifted me his only copy. I still have it. We then loaded it back at the GPS. And Joseph archived the floppies.
Now, to be fair, the PC-88 monitor and graphics work in a strange way. The vertical resolution is doubled through use of black scanlines. And on a CRT the colour lines blend into them. It looks better than the above video. (Although he has an actual PC-88, whatever means he used to capture footage, we're all probably watching it on our phones or desktop LCDs.)
Emulators either double the colour lines, or can add the black lines, but on an LCD monitor you don't have CRT blending. I'm not saying it's amazing. But in real life it's better than what you see on Youtube. Like those memes of PS1 graphics on CRT or LCD.
I finished the Zack level back in the day. It's flawed, as computer games back then were, but I had fun. It was an attempt, in 10 weeks, to produce a large interconnected epic adventure with multiple varied characters. I've long thought it would benefit from ripping the X68 graphics and remaking it on the Mega Drive, properly. As stated, it does feel a lot like Falcom's RPG platformers.
@Shiryu I can confirm the ROM runs on emulators and flashcart. When asked about a digital release, I was told they're looking into it. So watch this space.
I love CDRomance. Every single CD based fan-translation patch has failed to work for me when I try to patch manually, and I have zero interest in figuring out why.
CDRomance offers these pre-patched, flawlessly running from the start on all my ODEs.
I actually owned this. Found it in a UK thrift store in the late 90s (in Cambridge I think?). Zero clue how it wound up in a bin of junk in the UK. No other games alongside. I think they mistook it as a music CD? Ripped the iso, patched it, reburned to CDR, played 5 mins and abandoned it. I had no idea the band was real.
This article unearthed a long forgotten memory. Thank you.
@drypaphmrbro The official reason is because the Steam client runs on... Some lame browser, Chrome or something? And that no longer supports older OS, so they can't be bothered to use bespoke software or make a workaround.
Microsoft doesn't support Linux, yet Steam does. It's not a MS issue.
Comments 482
Re: Metal Slug-Inspired Metroidvania 'Guns Of Fury' Arrives On Switch & PC Later This Month
This reminds me of... I can't recall now. About a year back there was a similar run n gun, Metal Slug Metroidvania, with a touch of Metal Gear too, set in a jungle with an evil military and tanks and robotos and... I have completely forgotten the name. There was a news item on TE but trawling the site reveals nothing.
Any recall this?
@sdelfin ?
(I suppose there are now so many pixel art action platformers its difficult to search for a specific one; or the Google algorithm is just broken?)
EDIT: After trawling the site for over 90 minutes now, I have finally found it:
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/06/chasm-creator-reveals-wolfhound-a-slick-looking-metroidvania-set-during-world-war-ii
Re: 25 Years On, Skies Of Arcadia's Technical Issues Have Been Fixed
@makankosappo
Interesting. Not to sound dumb, but how do you connect the VGA cable to a UK CRT television where the only inputs are an S-Video port, composite (YRW) ports, and RGB SCART socket?
I'm looking at a photo of it now, and I have three CRT TVs, and not one of them has VGA input. Including my sacred Sony Trinitron, which is the best consumer CRT on the market.
Unless you mean a PVM? But not many people have a PVM.
Re: Meet The Man Who's Taking The Pain Out Of Managing Retro Game Save Data
@euan
Fantastic! That's great - and so simple and elegant too. Thank you very much.
Re: Meet The Man Who's Taking The Pain Out Of Managing Retro Game Save Data
Fascinating. This man is doing some priceless work here. The number of times I've been faced with incompatible formats, and ultimately just abandoned using some files due to how irritating it was to fix. The PS1 tools will be especially useful - previously converting Dex, PS3, and raw mem card files required some pretty complex tinkering.
The only thing missing - unless I didn't see it - is the ability to change regional coding on PS1 saves. He mentioned Suikoden, and that's a great example, because the Sui 2 save data is compatible between PAL and NTSC-U, except the files are regionally separated by name. You have to use one of the PS1 memory card tools to load it and swap it so the file will then be "seen" by the other region's version.
Edited: to correct a technical point
Re: The Making Of: James Pond: Codename Robocod
@MontyCircus
This is fantastic. For once, a list I actually agree with! For the MD... There is not a whole lot different from my own hypothetical list. The order would just be a little different. Ranger X at #1, Gunstar at #2. Maaaybe one or two end list substitutions for obscurities I like.
What I find fascinating and VALUABLE in your data, is you've collated all the different lists, so as to create a more... Robust? Reliable? Averaged? Accurate? A better list, that softens over egregious entries in others, and helps raise other titles which maybe made the list at various places, but only lower down.
I'm not kidding. If you have Excel files, containing aggregated lists of a system's games based on large datasets, taken from multiple other listings, then there is genuine value in the work you put in.
Thank you for sharing!
What other systems did you research? Did you do the same as you did for the Mega Drive?
You know... If you did, I feel this effort should be online for everyone to see. Did you keep a list or URLs of where the original lists were found?
Re: The Making Of: James Pond: Codename Robocod
@MontyCircus that's a lot of work!
Is your ultimate list available to read anywhere? Curious to see it.
Re: Best Neo Geo Games Of All Time
No love for Blue's Adventure? I like the shrinking mechanic in this platformer a lot. Every NG fan I speak with however says they hate it (granted that's like only 3 people I know).
Also Neo Mr Do on MVS might be the only Mr Do game I like.
I never liked any of the NG fighting library. Just not to my taste. I preferred fighters like Psychic Force or Fighter's Destiny.
But Blue's Adventure? Lots of fun.
Re: The Artist Behind F-Zero's Legendary Japanese Cover Has Passed Away
Given all this... Why was it changed for the US release?
Re: You Can Now Play Earthbound's Ridiculously Rare Tabletop Spin-Off
Tabletlop simulator is an absolute treasure for playing lost games. It even has the Zelda Barcode Battler game!
Re: Dino Crisis Spiritual Successor Code Violet Will Be Console Exclusive To Avoid "Vulgar" PC Modding
I have nude mods for both DOAX games on Xbox and X360. For research purposes of course.
Jeff Goldblum voice: Life will always find a way.
Re: GTA Vice City: Nextgen Edition Is "The Closest Thing We'll Get" To A Proper Remaster
Does it allow "trails" ?
I loved trails and was always sad and confused when later ports of VC to PC removed it. So did the recent remaster.
Just lemme have mah trails!!
Re: "Bravo, SNK! What A Greedy Company!" - King Of Fighters XIII Global Match's Steam Launch Has Upset Fans
@HoyeBoye cheers!
Re: "Bravo, SNK! What A Greedy Company!" - King Of Fighters XIII Global Match's Steam Launch Has Upset Fans
I don't full grasp what rollback code is...
Re: Japan-Only Saturn RPG From Studio Behind Sakura Wars Is Finally Getting An English Translation
These continued fan translations warm my heart.
Still hoping for Cyberdoll on Saturn to get one sone day.
Re: Prince Of Persia Is Now Playable On The Sega Dreamcast
@Robotattack
Whoa. O_O
I'm not trying to be funny, but I did not even realise this got an official Dreamcast port. I remember the PC version, but the DC one was US exclusive and... It just passed me entirely. Clearly need to go through the US DC release list. I was buying EGM back then but must have missed the issue.
Bloody heck. I'll just delete my comment and let's pretend this never happened, LOL.
Cheers!
Re: Flashback: Remembering David Lynch's Memorable Early 2000s PS2 Ad
I like Lynch as a person, and I like his work. He's a genius.
But I've never liked any of Sony's European TV ads for PlayStation (the Frenchman eating a PS2 was... at least funny).
I recall seeing this 3rd place ad. My parents were like "WTF is that?" Guys at school who were into games said the same. A couple of fellow gamers actually felt less inclined to buy a PS2, asking ourselves: is it going to be dumb nonsense like this? We wanted MGS, Final Fantasy, Parasite Eve, Armored Core, Symphony of the Night, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Wipeout, and all the other cool games we knew.
If it were not for games magazines showcasing the games, this advert would have lost Sony at least a couple of customers at my school. Artistic, sure. Good for selling consoles? Just awful.
Sony's marketing, to someone who loved games, was utterly wretched. Where was the game footage FFS?
Re: This New N64 / 64DD Flash Cart Offers A Cheaper Way To Play Your Favourite Games
@John_Deacon Not really. Loading a game ROM on an Everdrive on N64 and playing the original cart will provide an identical experience. Except without the eye watering cost of some original N64 games.
The above experience will be very different to emulating the N64 on a PC or N64, even if you opt for original settings like resolution etc.
Even cycle accurate emulation, for example the SNES and Higan, the experience of emulating it on a PC, even running on an LCD TV, is very different from a real SNES on CRT. The real hardware will have the real controller, and the image and speed is identical to when I played an RGB SCART SNES in the 1990s. Higan has horizontal blur since I can't run it on a CRT.
The difference is: SNES games like Hagane cost £1000. Whereas my flashcart for the SNES cost about £100 and runs Hagane identically to an original cart, since it's pumping the ROM data into the SNES CPU in exactly the same way.
@mattitudemf put it well too
Re: Talking Point: Is There A Home Port You Prefer To The Arcade Original?
Several examples.
Contra (NES) - as pointed out by bigheadwillie
Mercs (MD)
Radiant Silvergun (Sat)
Also, it might not be better, but I have a real soft spot for Avenging Spirit on Game Boy. I like the arcade original, but there's a cute little charm to holding it in your hands.
I usually prefer home ports where they add an exclusive mode, usually with some sort of levelling up aspect, to rebalance the game for home play, rather than quarter munching.
The above list are pure ports, but there's loads of games where the home "ports" are not ports at all, but completely reimagined sequels or new games. Such as:
Ninja Warriors (SNES - hated the arcade original and its authentic ports)
Ninja Gaiden (NES / SMS)
Re: Sega Appears To Be Reviving Ecco The Dolphin After 25 Years
@smoreon Yes, good comparison! Harmony of Despair styled. I'm kinda surprised we don't see more like that.
Whatever the resolution, I love the idea of dinky little sprites against an enormous maze.
Re: Sega Appears To Be Reviving Ecco The Dolphin After 25 Years
Recently played through the 2D iterations. I like the checkpoints of the Mega CD, but prefer the chiptunes of the Mega Drive. On CD it was totally new composed music.
I tried to replace the redbook audio tracks from the CD with ripped tracks from the cartridge, but it was impossible given they didn't do a 1:1 replacement. Some levels reused tracks in completely different ways. IE: track A was on levels 1, 3, and 5, on CD, but on cart a different track A was on 1, 3, and 6, with 5 instead using the track from level 2.
It was a strange set of alterations which changed the tone of levels.
I also noticed, given the SD resolutions, IMAGINE: a 4K version of the original 2D games, but the ENTIRE level shown onscreen at once! With a teeny dolphin swimming about.
I wish Sega would do this.
Re: This New Patch Unlocks Hidden Debug Menus Inside Cult Dreamcast RPG 'SEGAGAGA'
Saw the screenshot, read "new patch", and had an adrenaline rush thinking the fan translation was finally done.
Alas no.
Re: Why YouTube Censorship Is Causing Headaches For Retro Game Historians
@slider1983 I just pasted it randomly on a few vids.
let's see what happens - as you might say!
Re: Why YouTube Censorship Is Causing Headaches For Retro Game Historians
@slider1983
Did you get a ban or soft deletion? I can believe.
I'm afraid to upload or comment.
It feels like an insane hostage taker has the wheel. You hope that by following instructions you won't get executed, but he'll shoot you anyway for kicks.
Re: Random: Incredible Archive Footage Shows Tetris Developer's Tour Of Nintendo HQ
He ported Tetris to the IBM for Alexei Pajitnov. The backstory I heard was: he was very young when he did it, and when Tetris blew up Pajitnov rushed to Gerasimov's mother's place in the middle of the night and insisted her son sign over all rights to the work he did.
Always seemed kinda skeezy to me, what Pajitnov did. Since technically Gerasimov had a share in the original.
Gerasimov speaks English and is easily contactable. Might make a good interview for Time Extension.
Re: Retro Computer Museum Hit By "Devastating" Flood Damage
I've been there - it's a wonderful museum. This is very sad.
Re: Why YouTube Censorship Is Causing Headaches For Retro Game Historians
@GravyThief
It's not only extreme video imagery (ie: violence, nipples,vetc.) . It's also thematic or verbal content. For example, as cited in the one history video linked above (world history, not games), simply saying "September 11th" in any context gets you automatically demonetised.
Any topic deemed too triggering gets AI flagged. The creator of that video says he's been able to get this reversed sometimes.
YT's algorithm searches audio and imagery. And anything remotely traumatising gets flagged. It prevents adult discussion about real issues.
Re: Sonic Galactic Is So Good "It Could Stand As An Official Sega Product"
I look at how fluid and light and breezy this looks, and then I think of Sonic 4 where it felt like you were controlling a lead weight.
How and why do Sega always get it wrong and it falls to fans to recapture the energy of the originals? Years later and I'm still perplexed anyone thought the physics in 4 was the right direction.
Re: Talking Point: Are Nintendo's Legal "Ninjas" Stifling The Creativity Of Tomorrow's Game Makers?
@Ryu_Niiyama
Don't feel obligated. It's the holiday season anyway, when most people are off work and distracted by leisurely pursuits. If you feel like responding there's no rush - enjoy the new year and we can reconvene in 2025.
Re: Discovery's 'Game Changers' Series Under Fire For Using Historian Kate Willaert's Work Without Credit
@Razieluigi @bluemage1989
More importantly, this was a commercialised for profit endevour. They made money from this documentary they created - using artwork created by others.
Granted, only a small portion of screen time, but they still used someone else's labour (Kate making art) to contribute to their profit making.
This is why licensing deals can be so convoluted.
And there are laws which allow small free use of another's material, notably for educational or satirical purposes. Kate in turn has shown material created by others when, for example, describing the origins of Metroid.
But then you need to properly attribute where this work came from.
Also, let's make a distinction between:
(a) Kate showing Buichi Terasawa's manga art which inspired Metroid, in a video about Metroid's origins...
And...
(b) custom made art (fan art you could argue) being taken and used to describe a theoretical alternate history timeline where Bluto was Donkey Kong.
They were not using discarded Nintendo art.
They went online and just grabbed whatever they found.
It'd be like me or another writer just randomly grabbing fan made art off Instagram, or DeviantArt, and using that, instead of officially related assets.
You can - but you need to get permission.
Again, it's not like Nintendo provided them with discarded art. They took this from someone else's history project.
Re: Sega's Western CEO Isn't Interested In Saturn And Dreamcast Mini Consoles
@KitsuneNight
I agree. Both systems have some all time exclusive masterpieces on them, available nowhere else (several actually owned by Sega).
It pains me there is no easy, low cost, legal way for the mainstream to access them.
But ultimately if this is Sega's intention then I'll continue to recommend Sega's great games, and the curious can find their own way, any way they can.
Re: Sega's Western CEO Isn't Interested In Saturn And Dreamcast Mini Consoles
Looks at two Saturns with ODE, a DC with ODE, and three CRT.
Eh. I'm good.
Re: Discovery's 'Game Changers' Series Under Fire For Using Historian Kate Willaert's Work Without Credit
I wonder if they ripped off anything bespoke from Time Extension (created by TE or one of its contributors specifically for the site) without permission.
Come to think of it, did they rip off anything from me? (I don't have Discovery - someone ping me if they did.)
I feel sorry for Kate - she creates fantastic, well researched, fascinating videos, but they don't seem to reach the critical viral mass they deserve (no pun intended). I've been influenced by and created work based on her research myself, notably my history of Pac-man article, but I always credit her and have emailed privately on various topics.
This is just ***** behaviour from the docu producers.
Re: Talking Point: Are Nintendo's Legal "Ninjas" Stifling The Creativity Of Tomorrow's Game Makers?
(3) "These indies just want a shortcut because they don’t want to eat the costs if they fail."
But again, the whole point of this article was to highlight that 18 year old students, viewing the news, and the world around them, are now immediately associating Nintendo with litigation.
It doesn't matter what counter points anyone makes. It does not invalidate or erase the personal experiences or cognitive belief systems these students are developing.
If their fears are completely 100% unfounded, then the point remains: Nintendo has a PR / image problem.
(4) "Stop stealing from others and you won’t get sued."
(5) "Games and patents are publicly accessible and it isn’t hard to do a little research to make sure you aren’t infringing"
(6) "Make your own games and make them unique."
But you know what? If someone wants to make derivative games that's cool too. Some of my favourite films and games have followed a template, they just happened to do them really well.
TL;DR
Stop disregarding the experiences of others. These students are hard working and have the best intentions.
Re: Talking Point: Are Nintendo's Legal "Ninjas" Stifling The Creativity Of Tomorrow's Game Makers?
@Ryu_Niiyama
I'm going to have to make multiple posts.
I did read what you said, and I disagree with several specific points. Though my response was flippant and quite broad. I'll attempt to articulate precisely.
Thank you for the link. That patent page does not look like it. The Forbes page doesn't have a paywall (at least not for me):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/09/20/palworld-should-be-very-afraid-of-nintendos-death-star-like-lawsuit/
The interview cited however, does have a paywall, which I bypassed via the Internet Archive:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240919162101/https://www.404media.co/cold-blooded-business-nintendo-is-patent-trolling-palworld-because-it-got-too-big/
The quote regarding the shadow patent is described thus (edited by me for space):
Serkan Toto: This lawsuit is filed under Japanese law, so it has nothing to do with the US, nothing to do with the UK or EU law at all. I think they never lost a lawsuit that they initiated themselves, and under the Japanese legal system, seven years ago, they sued a company called Colopl, which is a mobile gaming powerhouse from Japan. They [Colopl] have, I think, almost 2,000 [employees], nobody but knows them outside Japan but they had a famous mobile game called White Cat Project, not copying Mario, not copying Pokémon, not copying Zelda, nothing at all. Nintendo brought forward six patents that they thought that this company was violating. One of the patents was for a confirmation screen after sleep mode. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses it. And then Nintendo said you're using our patent and you cannot do that. You're not paying us any licensing fees. And they had five other ones, including one for isometric, pseudo, 3D games, when the character is hidden behind the tree, the game forms a shadow, so you have a kind of sense for where the character is, even though you don't see the character clearly. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses that technology. And Nintendo said, look, you cannot do this. And this goes on with four other patents, right?
To be honest, even the sleep screen patent seems ridiculous.
Now putting aside this patent discussion, let me prove that I did in fact read your comment.
(1) "If people are making games banking on an association with a well known product, that isn’t creative and yes imo they deserve to be sued"
(2) "People make Disney porn too"
Re: I Almost Quit Konami In The '80s, Says Hideo Kojima In Newly-Translated Interview
Glad this is getting some attention.
I was aware of this from interview snippets when MGS came out in the big box special edition, but didn't have a reliable source to link to.
The most interesting thing here is that Metal Gear isn't really Kojima's game. He saved the project, changed its direction, made it his own, but initially the project started as something else, with someone else in charge.
I wish we knew who those other veteran devs are, who he alludes to, and a bit more about the game as it existed before he came on board.
But it's kinda ironic - Kojima's most iconic creation was started by someone else.
Re: Talking Point: Are Nintendo's Legal "Ninjas" Stifling The Creativity Of Tomorrow's Game Makers?
@Vatrak
Sources please. I used Forbes as my primary source (being a reliable media outlet). If what you say is true, then I wish to read further since it inverts my original belief. Wasn't trolling - until I can read some sources on "Nintendo protecting the little guys" my view is based on and reflected in that Forbes article. I feel I've done sufficient research if a large, respected websites is citing interview quotes to make a point. Genuinely curious to see your alternative sources showing Nintendo to have small devs in mind.
Re: Talking Point: Are Nintendo's Legal "Ninjas" Stifling The Creativity Of Tomorrow's Game Makers?
@Ryu_Niiyama
Just so I understand this correctly, you support Nintendo taking out a patent on "showing the shadow of someone hiding behind a tree" and then suing an indie developer for $20 million, because their game had trees and shadows? This specific example is linked above in the article via Forbes.
I just want to be sure I'm understanding you correctly, and that your "stop stealing from Nintendo" request is directed at that indie developer. With the trees. And shadows behind trees.
Just so we're all on the same page.
Re: Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii Will Mark The Home Debut Of This Sega Light Gun Coin-Op
@Futureshark
Could be M&S. Would explain why I couldn't find it in the Argos catalogues. My memory of 20 years ago is faded.
It stuck with me because I'm perplexed they thought it was a good idea. Like, were there other photos which were worse?
Thanks for the link - LOL!
Re: Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii Will Mark The Home Debut Of This Sega Light Gun Coin-Op
@Futureshark
Not related to this article - but I wanted to ask about your avatar. Is that from an old Argos / Janet Frasier / Kays catalogue? In the 90s I saw that same photo for a Dalek costume and thought the kid looked so miserable - was that honestly the best photo from the day's shoot?
And for years I'd tell people about it, and no one believed me. "Why would a catalogue use a photo of an unhappy child to sell a product?"
But searching old catalogues I couldn't find it. Started to wonder if it were real.
And today I stumble across it in your avatar. Wondering if you found it online, or actually took it from a product catalogue?
Re: Talking Point: Are Nintendo's Legal "Ninjas" Stifling The Creativity Of Tomorrow's Game Makers?
@Polley001
No worries - we're cool.
The talk was streamed and there's an embed this Saturday, so if you feel like watching a 70 minute history lecture you can judge its content directly.
Re: Are Nintendo's Legal "Ninjas" Stifling The Creativity Of Tomorrow's Game Makers?
@Polley001
I gave the talk, and I see what you mean. Though allow me to clarify.
The talk was about the lineage of ideas in games. Developers stating explicitly taking inspiration from other games. Shigeru Miyamoto for example stating he was inspired by The Black Onyx for the original Zelda.
Part of the talk touched upon legal court cases where "prior art" was used as a defence. Camera change and Star Wars, as linked above.
After the talk I suddenly received questions on legal precedents, which surprised me. Tomodatchi Life came up, I suggested The Sims and Little Computer People.
I actually did not mention Nintendo suing anyone at any point during the talk - other than Nintendo trying to stop Sega's canera patent.
The above quote from me, linking to three Nintendo news stories, was researched after the lecture, when I was doing a write up. I wanted readers to see the same news stories the students might stumble upon.
Damien suggested we spin off that section from the main feature and I agreed. So he wrote this article incorporating it. The main feature is due this Saturday.
Those three examples were not shown to students.
To be clear:
The specific legal examples shown to students were not Nintendo suing, but rather were mainly examples where someone won and was allowed to do something (ie: Data East and Fighter's History; Sony and Nintendo overturning Sega).
The idea was that knowledge of the past can protect you by citing precedents.
I was initially surprised when this concern over Nintendo came up.
EDIT:
No apologies needed
Re: Are Nintendo's Legal "Ninjas" Stifling The Creativity Of Tomorrow's Game Makers?
@Polley001
No ghost stories were told.
The 18 year olds read the same news as you, and their concerns have manifested organically.
To be honest I'd not even thought about it and was quite surprised. But if a young person describes an original game idea, but they abandon it because some parts seem a little similar to a Nintendo game, I would describe that as "stifling creativity". Absolutely.
You need to look at it from this angle: these are young minds, still forming, and the legal climate of litigation is affecting these minds.
If Nintendo is willing to sue over sheet music, then that creates a climate of fear and paranoia.
I personally regard the Palworld case as a load of ridiculous nonsense. It's legal trolling.
Re: PS3 Emulation Comes To ARM64 Devices, Including The Raspberry Pi 5
I find the fact we have PS3 emulation fascinating.
I can recall with absolute clarity reading the Zophar's Domain forums in the late 1990s, and someone (an emulator programmer I believe) adamantly saying we would never, ever, in no way possibly ever see Mega CD emulation. Because you'd need to code a Mega Drive emulator, and a Sega CD emulator, and then have these two emulators communicate with each other somehow, and it was just technologically impossible. (Looking at their forums now, the earliest threads are 2004; I may have read this in 2000, but I feel like it was pre-millennium.)
Today we have PS3 emulators.
Never underestimate human potential for doing things with technology.
Re: A Long-Lost PC-88 CD-ROM Title Has Just Been Preserved
@KingMike @KitsuneNight
I interviewed the guy who made this - Macaw45 was my consultant for the Sein/Xain/Zain interview with Kensuke Takahashi. (I think I even posted him the guy's autograph...)
The company boss (guy called Miyamoto - seriously, it's a common surname) was a real sociopath who would use physical violence against staff. His rep was infamous, so the rumour among Japanese players was he was yakuza. So I asked Takahashi and turns out the boss was just a sociopath and terrible at business. No criminal ties.
He also revealed a lot about many of their games. Some fun points about Dios:
He made it in two and a half months. The rule was only two months for a game, but as his pet project he had to plead for an extra 2 weeks.
The X68k version runs too fast because it's incomplete. He described it as being a prototype still, done in 3 weeks, but they shipped it anyway. He said none of the other versions were finished properly, only the lead PC-88 version.
He was involved with every aspect of it, since it was to be his last game. He was also lead programmer and wrote half of all the dialogue. But he also had help from another unamed designer.
At the end he gifted me his only copy. I still have it. We then loaded it back at the GPS. And Joseph archived the floppies.
Now, to be fair, the PC-88 monitor and graphics work in a strange way. The vertical resolution is doubled through use of black scanlines. And on a CRT the colour lines blend into them. It looks better than the above video. (Although he has an actual PC-88, whatever means he used to capture footage, we're all probably watching it on our phones or desktop LCDs.)
Emulators either double the colour lines, or can add the black lines, but on an LCD monitor you don't have CRT blending. I'm not saying it's amazing. But in real life it's better than what you see on Youtube. Like those memes of PS1 graphics on CRT or LCD.
I finished the Zack level back in the day. It's flawed, as computer games back then were, but I had fun. It was an attempt, in 10 weeks, to produce a large interconnected epic adventure with multiple varied characters. I've long thought it would benefit from ripping the X68 graphics and remaking it on the Mega Drive, properly. As stated, it does feel a lot like Falcom's RPG platformers.
Re: Review: Changeable Guardian Estique (NES) - Shmups Don't Get Much Better Than This On NES
@Shiryu
I can confirm the ROM runs on emulators and flashcart. When asked about a digital release, I was told they're looking into it. So watch this space.
Re: Itch.io Allegedly Taken Offline By "Bogus Phishing Report" From Funko
I hated Funko before. Now even more so.
Re: Fan Translation And ROM Hack Site CDRomance Is No Longer Being Updated
I love CDRomance. Every single CD based fan-translation patch has failed to work for me when I try to patch manually, and I have zero interest in figuring out why.
CDRomance offers these pre-patched, flawlessly running from the start on all my ODEs.
Now it's basically semi-shut down?
I will miss it.
Re: Flashback: Remembering Sega's Dismal Mega CD Debut, Wakusei Woodstock: Funky Horror Band
I actually owned this. Found it in a UK thrift store in the late 90s (in Cambridge I think?). Zero clue how it wound up in a bin of junk in the UK. No other games alongside. I think they mistook it as a music CD? Ripped the iso, patched it, reburned to CDR, played 5 mins and abandoned it. I had no idea the band was real.
This article unearthed a long forgotten memory. Thank you.
Re: Linda Cube Rights Transfer Reignites Hopes That The Cult Classic RPG Could Get A Remaster
@Zeebor15
Pretty much anyone can get access to Games Press. Try the GPS site - there's a form and address.
They're pretty good with helping people. They exist to provide this data.
Re: GOG Plans To Preserve "At Least 500 Games" Through Its New Program By The End Of 2025
@drypaphmrbro
The official reason is because the Steam client runs on... Some lame browser, Chrome or something? And that no longer supports older OS, so they can't be bothered to use bespoke software or make a workaround.
Microsoft doesn't support Linux, yet Steam does. It's not a MS issue.