Here is the original Japanese arcade poster Irem's R-Type. R-Type is unquestionably the most influential side-scrolling shoot-em-up ever made (Gradius would be number two). Every arcade and console shooter for the next decade looted and pillaged freely. Some stole a little. Some stole a lot. But in the minds of hardcore shooter fans, Irem's original remains the king.
The best games managed to build upon Irem's original ideas and move the genre forward. The best example would probably be the TOZ unit in Telenet's Gaiares on Sega Genesis. The TOZ unit could be fired on enemy ships, where it would steal its weapons like a virus. Your own ship was barely armed with a pea shooter, so strategically stealing the correct weapon for each scenario was key.
This is a terrific poster for a classic videogame. The H.R. Giger designs continue to stand out, and the art direction is superb. And R-Type is a tough game, damned hard. Games in the '80s were really hard, weren't they?
Technosoft was one of the truly great videogame studios. Based in Japan, they are best known for their brilliantly innovative shoot-em-ups, their careful attention to visual detail, and their unforgettable musical scores. They hit their creative peak in the early '90s on the Sega Genesis: the masterful Thunder Force series; the surprisingly clever Elemental Master; a superb rendition of the best video pinball game ever made, Devil's Crush. And early in the Genesis' life span lay a little gem called Herzog Zwei.
Herzog Zwei is very probably the finest videogame you've never played. It is a fiercely competitive strategy game so innovative as to practically create a new genre; easily deserving a place alongside the two other great genre-defining games of its time, Populous and Tetris. Unlike those widely-recognized classics, however, Herzog Zwei went virtually ignored for years. In the American videogame press, it was either dismissed or harshly criticized by reviewers; Electronic Gaming Monthly handed out its lowest scores of any Genesis title.
Why was this game not well-received? I suspect that the reviewers simply did not know what they were facing. Traditionally, strategy games followed a certain formula. They were turn-based, like Avalon Hill's pen-and-paper war games, or Hudson's Military Madness on the Turbografx (also released in 1989). Players separately took their turns moving units and fighting battles. It was all very cerebral, but not much fun. Herzog Zwei changed all that. Players still fought for control of territory, capturing bases and attacking enemy units; but now the action was continuous, like an arcade game. This was no longer just a strategy game, but it wasn't just a shoot-em-up either; it was an altogether new beast. Technosoft had brought the genre into real-time.
Back in Japan, Technosoft was quietly experimenting with melding the war game with the arcade shooter. Zwei is, in fact, the sequel to an even more obscure game called, simply, Herzog. Appearing on the MSX computer in 1988, Herzog allowed players to control a transforming robot who leads his army against an opposing army. The game was simplistic, maybe even a little crude, but a spark was undeniably there. Somewhere in the mix lay the foundation for greatness.
Real-time strategy games have since then grown and flourished, becoming one of the most profitable styles of video and computer games. Dune, Cannon Fodder, Command and Conquer, Battlezone, Starcraft, Age of Empires, Warcraft - all owe their existence to Herzog Zwei.
And yet none have really surpassed Technosoft's classic. Why is that, I wonder? The masterstroke, I believe, lies in the Mech. Most RTS games put the player in the role of general, but not soldier. You cannot march into battle alongside your soldiers and tanks. But Zwei offers you both roles. You know that visceral thrill you get from clearing a roomful of monsters in Gauntlet? That sense of overcoming great odds, and surviving? Herzog Zwei gives you that thrill. There is a perfect, almost Zen balance, between military strategy and arcade action. Relying on only one skill is suicide; success lies in knowing when to play the general, and when to play the soldier.
There are other brilliant qualities to the game. Each of Zwei's eight battlefields is wonderfully designed. Battles take place in forests and caves, across lava pits, over islands, and through a futuristic city. Every map is just large enough to force players to rely on conquering territory (by capturing bases), but small enough to maintain a high level of tension. You are never more than five seconds away from the action. Perhaps the very simplicity of Herzog Zwei is its strength. Only eight different kinds of military units are at your disposal; of those units, only seven different orders are given (mainly attack, defend and supply).
Visually, Zwei is marked with a style that's detailed and varied, almost Zen; the rushing of water on a shoreline, the turning of a tank turret, the way a foot soldier explodes in a wash of blood. It's all very smooth and clean. Even the game's objective is uncluttered: destroy the opponent's home base. Since they cannot be repaired, yet another layer of tension is added. Do you stay and fight on the front lines, or do you fly back to stop that pesky motorbike that's pecking away your home's life bar?
Was this the Genesis' finest hour? Very likely, yes. If asked to name my absolute favorites, I'd choose Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Gunstar Heroes, Thunder Force 3, Gaiares, Fire Shark, and the EA Sports games. Herzog Zwei would top them all.
Way back when Electronic Arts began as a software company for home computers in the 1980s, floppy discs were the standard storage medium. They resembled small records, so EA, in a fit of brilliance, packaged their games in gatefold albums. The goal was to present their game designers as artists, as creators in a new medium.
Since I was going to reprint my 2003 MULE review here on Videogames of the DAMNED, I thought I should show the game's terrific album cover. It's really quite impressive. The four men of Ozark Softscape - Dan Bunten, Bill Bunten, Jim Rushing, and Alan Watson - are not shown as computer nerds hunched over mysterious machines. They're portrayed as rock stars, as cool. The "electronic artist" was a pioneer in this new, futuristic medium, and they were going to get all the perks of celebrity stardom.
That sort of recognition has always been a goal - and a source of frustration - for game designers ever since the Atari era. Even in 2009, there are only a small handful of "names," and you almost never see any names on the boxes. Development teams are immensely large today, hundreds of workers for a single big-budget project. The artists have become swallowed by the machine they created.
I think the rise of digital distribution and the growing indie game scene may be a successful route for the artists. If it is still possible for a small team to create a great video game, then a future of "electonic artists" may yet become reality.
I'd like to see indie game designers pursue this dream of the designer-as-pop-star. I'd like to see what you could do with that in the iPod era. If you want games to be seen as art - low or high art, it doesn't matter - then you're going to need recognizable artists. You have to create something that isn't mere product, but something valuable, something that brings people together.
MULE brings people together, young and old, children and grandparents, casual and hardcore gamers alike. It really is the greatest multiplayer game ever made, and you can see that creative, communal spirit on the MULE album cover.
March 17, 2003
M.U.L.E.
Ozark Softscape for Electronic Arts
Atari 800 (4 Player), Commodore 64 (2 Player)
1983
Playing around with Super Bomberman 2 got me thinking about the truly great multiplayer games. The best ones always allow for that extra edge. It's fun to outmaneuver your friends, but when you can really put the screws to them, you're on to something. A brilliant example, one of my personal favorites, is the computer game classic, M.U.L.E.
MULE was the product of an Arkansas-based development team called Ozark Softscape. The team was comprised of Dan Bunten (project leader), Bill Bunten, Alan Watson, and Jim Rushing. These were the heady days of the early 1980s, with the fall of dedicated consoles (Atari 2600), and the rise of home computers. There was a great desire to experiment and create games that stretched out in new directions. An upstart company named Electronic Arts was entering its own "golden age," with a solid string of excellent, original games like Pinball Construction Set, Archon, Murder on the Zinderneuf, and One on One.
Electronic Arts followed the trail blazed by Activision. Game designers weren't stereotypical computer nerds, but young, creative, and above all, craving attention. They imagined themselves as the new artists, and their games as a creative work. These were not merely children's games, they were…something more. Different. New. Electronic Arts promoted this idea, and Bunten and his team were willing to accommodate.
Just what kind of game is MULE? It really is difficult to describe, since it seems so different from the conventional shoot-em-up, sports, and adventure genres crowding today's market. Perhaps it is most similar to Monopoly, with a dash of arcade action and commodities trading added to the mix. Taking place on the world of Irata, four alien settlers set out to develop the land over the course of 12 monthly turns. Each player selects a plot of land, and then equips that plot for production of food, energy, or mining ore and crystite. At the end of each turn, the plots bear fruit, and the players buy and sell their goods at the market.
I'm afraid that I am making MULE sound boring, but it is anything but. The casual pace belies a fiendishly competitive atmosphere where friendships are made and lost in a matter of minutes. If you do not grow enough food, you will lose precious time for your turns and risk falling behind. If you do not produce enough energy, your plots will suffer. And if enough ore is not made, there will be a shortage of mules.
The mule (for Multiple Use Labor Element) is one of the game's more clever touches. Each plot of land needs to be equipped for the proper function, and for that, you need mules. A mule is bought at the colony store, equipped, and then added to your plot.
This development phase is only one part of the game. The other part is the trading phase. After the monthly harvest, players meet at the market, watch the progress of their crops, and buy or sell with each other or the store. This is where MULE can become so fierce. True, it would be nice to share your extra food with everyone for the good of the colony, but what fun is that? Sharing is for losers. The real fun comes from cornering the market. When there is plenty of food in the store, for instance, the price is very low. But when there are shortages, the price soars.
This is where you screw your friends into the ground. How desperate are they for that extra unit of food or energy? Make them run up the screen and raise the price. Skilled players can learn how to control the market and make a killing in the process. And, yes, this is where shoulders start getting punched between curses.
The bidding in MULE is simple, with buyers on the bottom and sellers on the top. A price is found by both parties meeting somewhere in the middle. There is a certain, almost masochistic joy in watching other players desperately running up prices while you sit safely at the top of the screen. Another great "fuck you" moment comes during plot auctions; the leader runs up the price, then quickly darts back down at the last second, sticking someone else with the bill.
In the end, we are all competing for bragging rights and the rank of "First Founder" at the end of the game. However, in another inspired stroke, the colony as a whole must survive together. If the colony fails to make enough money at year's end, nobody is the winner. Think about that while you're cutting everyone off at the knees.
There are still more surprises to be found in MULE that I haven't mentioned. Mules go crazy and run off; pests eat your food; pirates steal all your crystite (diamonds); there are earthquakes, acid rainstorms, and meteorite strikes; the store catches fire, taking with it all surplus goods. And the game itself subtly teaches market economics: supply and demand, economies of scale, the Learning Curve theory of production, the Law of Diminishing Returns, the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.
There really has never been a game like MULE, and that is a tragedy. It deserves to be seen by anyone who considers themselves a lover of videogames.
Peak Oil is far closer than anyone in charge wants to admit. And now whistleblowers have accused the International Energy Agency of spiking the numbers on future oil reserves to prevent a global economic panic.
Now the "peak oil" theory is gaining support at the heart of the global energy establishment. "The IEA in 2005 was predicting oil supplies could rise as high as 120m barrels a day by 2030 although it was forced to reduce this gradually to 116m and then 105m last year," said the IEA source, who was unwilling to be identified for fear of reprisals inside the industry. "The 120m figure always was nonsense but even today's number is much higher than can be justified and the IEA knows this.
"Many inside the organisation believe that maintaining oil supplies at even 90m to 95m barrels a day would be impossible but there are fears that panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further. And the Americans fear the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to oil resources," he added.
A second senior IEA source, who has now left but was also unwilling to give his name, said a key rule at the organisation was that it was "imperative not to anger the Americans" but the fact was that there was not as much oil in the world as had been admitted. "We have [already] entered the 'peak oil' zone. I think that the situation is really bad," he added.
I certainly wouldn't wish to spread panic, but Peak Oil is a very real problem, and it's going to hit us far sooner than anyone would wish. The impact on the global economy will be severe enough, without any serious movements towards a post-carbon future. For the United States, whose empire has been propped up by Petrodollars for 35 years, this is a looming catastrophe.
We need to get off the oil now. We need to get off the oil 25 years ago. But Reagan shifted this nation in the direction of big oil, global empire, and staggering debt. The Bush II/Cheney era was really just the logical end of those policies. It was shortsighted, reckless, greedy, and immensely stupid. And now we're left with a bankrupt, crumbling empire, dependant on smaller and smaller pools of black gold.
And yet, despite all the warnings, global oil demand continues to rise. This is sheer madness.
It's an updated Excitebike for WiiWare. It seems to capture the look of the NES original, while including course circuits, user-created racetracks, and online play. Sharing your own tracks online should prove popular. This game has always had its fans, and they're going to be very, very happy. And it only costs $10? That's a great deal.
It must be deeply frustrating for Nintendo Wii owners, to almost never see any good games. Goodness knows, I'm frustrated, and I've only been playing Punch Out and Wii Sports Resort at game store kiosks. The Wii deserves more than stupid baby games and shovelware.
Although, in all fairness...this is cute. He looks so happy.
This is very, very bad news. The melting of the Arctic continues at a near-record pace, and the multi-year ice is almost gone. Like nearly all the recent research on global warming, we are discovering this process is moving far faster than even our worst-case scenarios imagined. Here's a clip from Reuters:
Vast sheets of impenetrable multiyear ice, which can reach up to 80 meters (260 feet) thick, have for centuries blocked the path of ships seeking a quick short cut through the fabled Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They also ruled out the idea of sailing across the top of the world.
But David Barber, Canada's Research Chair in Arctic System Science at the University of Manitoba, said the ice was melting at an extraordinarily fast rate.
"We are almost out of multiyear sea ice in the northern hemisphere," he said in a presentation in Parliament. The little that remains is jammed up against Canada's Arctic archipelago, far from potential shipping routes.
If you don't understand the implications of an ice-free Arctic, then I have one simple word for you: methane. Read that paper on the dangers of methane and the melting permafrost, and then start apologizing to your children and grandchildren.
I try to remain optimistic when it comes to tackling climate change, just as I am aware the the human primate only takes action at the last possible moment. But that's pretty much where we are right now, and I still don't see anyone in government offering any solutions that call for real sacrifice. Preserving "the American way of life" is sacrosanct, even if that lifestyle - disposable consumerism, reckless greed, endless pollution - is the very cause of our crisis. We can't stop global catastrophe by changing light bulbs and bringing your own bag to the grocery store.
I say give up your cars, and give up your hamburgers. I say we learn to sacrifice for the sake of future generations. Now what are the odds that I could get elected to Congress on that platform?
But, like I've said, I'll try to remain hopeful. But the clock is ticking.
Posted by
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
at
11:34 PM
Labels:
games
Things I always loved about Toaplan' Fire Shark on Sega Genesis
1) It was always challenging, even in easy mode. Fire Shark has that perfect balance - it's never too easy, but never becomes overwhelming. You're guaranteed a lot of value for your money, and you'll never get bored. Too many arcade games are a cakewalk on the home consoles; their goal, after all, is only to take your quarters every couple of minutes. It's a different story when you can just hit Start whenever you wish. This game, thankfully, remains a challenge to me, no matter how many times I've beaten it.
2) The power-ups rock my world. You had only three different weapons, but they were a joy when fully armed. The spread shot covered the entire screen. The green lasers snaked and weaved. The flame thrower...well, that's the best of the lot. Wooww! Let's hear it for the flame thrower!
Oh, I should also mention the best part - rapid fire is an available option in the game. On home consoles, that was usually available only on expensive joysticks. Toaplan just saved my thumbs. Rock on!
3) The loud, booming explosions and sound effects. You should hear this game through stereo speakers. The Genesis was great at this sort of thing, especially with the bass. This is one of the best-sounding games on the Genesis.
4) The music soundtrack was fantastic. The music in Fire Shark sounds eerily like '70s guitar rock. I was always reminded of Blue Oyster Cult or Thin Lizzy. The buzzing guitar tones, the thundering riffs, the growling bass, and booming beats - it's all here, baby. There was a time when "video game music" was an art, a craft. The NES was great for music. So was Genesis when in the right hands, as Fire Shark demonstrates.
Where can I find guitar tabs for Fire Shark? I'm serious - there's some killer music and you should be jamming it with your local band.
5) Land, air, and sea targets. I loved the sea stages, with the navy ships rolling after you, and the giant battleships. The tanks were always a blast; first you shoot off the cannons, then the hull. And through it all, those endless waves of kamikaze planes. Those guys are just insane in the later rounds.
6) Variety, Variety, Variety. All ten levels were very different in style and tone. There's one stage with moving seas of sand. Another one set in the arctic. Another one sends you over caverns as you shoot down planes. There's also a city stage that was really fun. There was always something new on the next stage, never any cheap color swaps.
7) It wasn't impossible to claw yourself back. This is a crucial distinction with most shooters of the 1980s and 1990s. Most of the time, if you find yourself shot down in later levels, the games become impossibly difficult with only a basic weapon. In other words, you might as well start over, and that's no fun. Fire Shark avoids this trap. Even though the final stages are very tough, you can beat the game with your basic machine gun. It helps that you begin with a three-shot spread - a very smart move on Toaplan's part.
8) It's the little moments that are special. There are little soldiers marching around your airstrips, directing traffic, moving around. At the beginning, a group of soldiers line up in an arrow (that gag is seen in Porco Rosso and Finding Nemo). The best gag comes at the end of one stage, where a soldier breaks formation to watch you land. His Sergeant marches up and yells him back into line. Hah hah.
9) Endless Replays. Once you beat the game, it loops back to the beginning, ala NES Contra. You get to watch a great little ending sequence, then you begin at stage one, albeit with a harder difficulty. Why don't more games do this, especially the shooters? Pay attention, kids - this is why Contra was so great. We could play it forever.
10) Fire Shark has some of the best graphics on Sega Genesis. Just look at the screenshots. The art direction is just brilliant. The landscapes show a solid variety of textures and details, and the colors are strong, bold, confident. Explosions are colorful, fluid, never flat or dull. You need good explosions for arcade games. Your weapons looks great, especially that flame thrower...but check out the smart bomb! Wow! Now that is a real kick in the pants for 1990.
Notice how the tanks you destroy leave smoking craters? That is great detail. It's fun to see the carnage in your wake. Same thing for the boats. Planes will either incinerate or crash to the ground, another good moment of variety.
The large bosses that round out the stages, of course, steal the show. Immensely large, difficult to take down, great to watch. Here is where the allure of "16-bit" flexes its muscle against the older 8-bit generation. These designers are trying to get you to put down your NES, remember. Toaplan did a smashing job.
Posted by
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
at
9:46 PM
Labels:
games
As you can see, I've been porting over my old game reviews from DanielThomas.org. It's best to have everything under one roof, especially when I don't know how long my old site will stay alive. I'm not sure even the hosters know it's there anymore. Heh heh.
As always, I played through Thunder Force III and snapped some really great screenshots. I wanted to capture the energy of the game, as well as its variety. This was a standout title for Sega Genesis in early 1990, at a time when the console truly came into its own. Revenge of Shinobi, Castle of Illusion, Super Monaco GP, and Fire Shark were all released during this time, alongside Technosoft's shooter masterpiece. Later in the year, we would see Hellfire, Grenada, Gaiares, E-Swat, and Strider. Am I missing a few?
Somebody should tell Nintendo how this busness works. You actually have to make games for your system. More than three or four a year?! Yeah.
Anyway, enjoy these screenshots from Thunder Force 3 on Genesis.
As soon as you plug in Thunder Force 3, you know you’re in for a crazy-fueled ride. That vibrant title screen pops up amid scorching rock chords, and that signature theme gets stuck forever in your head. There’s a certain confidence in many of the great videogames, a bold swagger that spills over from the artists and programmers and musicians onto the screen. We are witnessing one of the great game studios at the top of their game.
The side-scrolling shooter was already a well-worn genre by 1990, and goodness knows the Sega Genesis was getting pillared by them. For a time, it seemed as though everybody and his uncle had published a shooter. The inevitable result was that there was a crushing sameness to it all; we were all drowning in mediocrity. The list reads like a train wreck of forgettable titles: Air Diver, Arrow Flash, Bimini Run, Cross Fire, Curse, Heavy Unit, Insector X, Super Thunder Blade, Task Force Harrier, Whip Rush.
How could anyone even put out a competent shoot-em-up, much less a good one, when the store shelves were piling up with the likes of these? Even the better ones owed their very existence to classics like Gradius and R-Type. What the genre needed was some fresh blood.
That mantle fell to Technosoft. The studio had cut their teeth in Japan on the X68000, a popular home computer very similar to our Commodore Amiga. They brought an excellent shooter named Thunder Force 2 to America for the Genesis launch, and then followed up with the great Herzog Zwei. These people had imagination and zeal, and the necessary talent to pull it off. You can see that in Herzog, obviously, and TF2 had its moments as well, and you can see those qualities in almost every moment of TF3.
I’m trying to think of which scenes impressed me the most back in 1990, but it’s so tough to narrow everything down to a couple soundbites; there’s so much to enjoy, then and especially now. I think of the enormous animated bosses, like a giant fire-breathing lizard, a throbbing lobster, and various machines and spaceships. I remember creative enemies large and small, among these: a pack of killer sunflowers, insects carrying rockets, flocks of firebirds (the bird, not the car), a glass-shielded brain, an oversized golden crab, and gun-toting robots of all sizes.
Best of all, I remember the rolling flames from the lava planet. Alternately hypnotic and stunning, this was one of the greatest visual effects ever seen on the Genesis. This was also pretty much the first of its kind, setting the stage for al the crazy, inventive, and just tripped-out special effects that marked the 16-bit era. Those lava backgrounds are spectacular.
Thunder Force 3 takes the side-scrolling shooter and punches it up with speed and panache. What we see is a perfect example of brilliant game design. Most games of this type are content to merely offer target practice, with row after row of docile targets, marching in single-file lines with only minor variations. That can be passable, and maybe even fun in short bursts, but is it ever really good? What is the point, really? I think Technosoft was acutely aware of this, and structured their game appropriately.
Across the first five levels, with its thematic progression of forest, fire, water, earth, and ice worlds, we see a terrific variety of challenges and landscapes. Notice the rhythm of attacking enemies, large and small, navigating environmental hazards, quick speed bursts and momentary pauses. There’s more to do than simply shoot at everything. Your challenge lies in knowing when to shoot, and when to just get the hell out of the way. Sometimes, it’s all you can do, just to avoid a collapsing ceiling or rising lava flows.
I can’t tell you how much I love the variety. Each level carries its own unique style and rhythm, and often you will need to alter your strategies or rely on different weapons. It may be better to just dodge that hailstorm of rocks, or zoom past a row of missiles, let those bombs detonate; simply going in with guns blazing will get you killed.
TF3’s visual style set new standards in its day, with its vivid details and rich color tones, its tiny details and looming objects. Most everything that moves is animated, and it gives a real sense of immersion to the game, even if it’s something as minor as exhaust on a spaceship. The character designs are a unique mix of organic and machine, which thankfully avoids the H. R. Giger shtick that’s been played to death in countless other games.
And there’s the music, which is remembered in the same glossy-eyed way that moviegoers remember Lawrence of Arabia. Ah, the music! Thunder Force 3, that’s the one! Technosoft hit a high stride during the Genesis era, writing a perfect blend of rock and synth-pop, and this was their sharpest soundtrack of the bunch. Every song is loaded with hooks, hard beats, solid rhythms. Why the Genesis had a reputation for poor sound is a mystery I’ll probably never solve. The very idea is absurd.
Many consider Thunder Force 4 to be Technosoft's pinnacle of the series, and I’d be tempted to agree if that game’s first half wasn’t so inconsistent. TF3 burns on a solid high from start to finish, and that’s really the one we love the most. And, like good ‘ol Contra, the average person can actually finish the game in one stretch. The rest of us do have lives, ya know.
Super Bomberman 2
Hudson Soft
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
I've been wondering lately, what appeal does the videogame hold for me? I'm not a kid anymore, and I haven't been a teenager for a long time. I've gone to college, traveled, become educated, dated a few beautiful women, learned some things. In short, I've grown up; and yet, here I am, still playing games. What's the appeal?
For me, what continues to make it all fun is the social interaction. With the few exceptions of the masters, the best videogames are the multiplayer ones. There is a certain competitive vibe in the air, as friends become blood enemies then become friends again in the same evening. The best multiplayer games offer that unique blend of matching cunning, skill, and quick reflexes. I don't know, maybe we're fighting to keep our youth.
Super Bomberman 2 is probably the best multiplayer game ever made. At its best, it is as fierce and emotional as anything before or since. The game is the creation of Hudson Soft, a development studio from Japan who is best known for its long-running series of Bomberman games.
One of the conventions of any Bomberman game is that the single-player mode should be extremely boring. There's really not much game for one person. Taking control of the title character, you set bombs in a series of mazes, destroying blocks and barriers, grabbing power-ups, and evading or destroying enemies. It usually plays like a sedate puzzle game, and is usually explored for only a few minutes before moving on.
The Battle Mode is where the real fun is. Even in the post 9/11 world, there is a simple, vicarious thrill in watching four cartoon characters blow each other up with bombs. The basic maze, a standard of every Bomberman game, is a large square field, evenly broken up with blocks that can be destroyed. Each player begins with his or her Bomberman on each corner, and proceeds to blast away at pathways to reach at the others. Last one standing is the winner. Simple as that.
And maybe that is the Bomberman appeal: its utter simplicity, harkening back to those golden days of the early '80s. Videogames were simple then; today, you often need to read a small textbook to understand what you're doing. What fun is that? I want to be able to beat up on my friends while diving for the chips and beer.
And you will beat up on each other, I guarantee it. Super Bomberman 2 is the cream of a select crop of multiplayer games (Chu Chu Rocket!, MULE, Mario Kart) so fiercely competitive as to start real fights. You don't merely beat your opponents; you screw them into the ground.
What makes this version of Bomberman the definitive version? I believe this game managed to achieve that perfect balance, that Zen quality where every element falls into place. Each of the game's power-up items - the glove (to throw bombs), the boot (to kick bombs), the skate (faster speed), the skull (curse item) - is perfectly balanced. Having one power-up never guarantees easy victory.
The game's variety of boards is also just shy of perfection. Previous installments in the series started to experiment with different level design; SB2 has the payoffs. In addition to the basic maze, there are nine other battlefields which offer a terrific amount of variety. One board is covered, almost completely, by mushrooms. Another level takes place on ice and features warp tunnels. One level features a conveyor belt; another offers a trench which can be detonated from afar.
My personal favorite is a Pac-Man-style maze with warp tunnels; the catch with this board is that players cannot pass through each other. You can imagine what usually happens: you drop a couple bombs, and then try to shove the other players into the explosions. Do this a few times, and chances are there will be some punches thrown in between the laughs. Great fun.
Later Bomberman games would needlessly tinker with the formula, either by changing the power-ups, offering mediocre boards, or altering the game's speed. The worst offense, however, are the animals, which your Bomberman would ride, giving you essentially an extra hit. Where's the fun of trapping someone in a corner then? Those stupid animals are a staple of every game in the series after Super Bomberman 2; quite frankly, they suck.
There have still been good games in the series (Saturn Bomberman is quite excellent, actually), but I fear the formula was already perfected, and Hudson was never one to figure that out. It's like watching a favorite aging rock band play. The new songs are fine, but we really came to hear the old classics. Sometimes timeless nostalgia is a thrill in itself.
When it comes to the videogame, I think there's something to be said for simplicity. This is a belief I have long held; no doubt, this is because I grew up in the 1980s, when videogames were a genuine pop culture fad. The allure of the video arcade, the computerized rush of adrenaline, the unique challenge of reflexes and cunning; all this could be had in five minutes or less.
Of course, I still enjoy all the modern advances of our modern computer age, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Yet, somehow in the days of Quake and Tomb Raider and The Sims and the like, we're losing that simple spark that made those games long ago so fun to play. Videogames are losing their immediacy. Every developer wants to make the next epic, 100-hour-long virtual movie. Sometimes, I wonder if the budgets drive the project, or the other way around.
Where's the instant quick fix? No software publisher would give ten seconds to any of the classic videogames if they were dropped on their desks. Too short, too simple, not enough extras or Easter Eggs. Maybe I am just imagining things. Maybe nostalgia and adulthood is creeping in. Maybe I'm more right than I want to let on.
I'm reflecting on the state of contemporary gaming as I play another quick round of Ballblazer on my Atari 800 emulator. Here is a true classic of the home computer era, so simple, so stripped-down, so honest of what it is.
Ballblazer is, essentially, a one-on-one soccer match set in outer space. You control a spaceship, and proceed to carry a glowing ball into your opponent's goal. That's basically it. The whole premise can be grasped in five seconds, and probably mastered in five minutes. It is the perfect Zen essence of the video arcade game.
This 1985 game was the second release from the newly-formed Lucasfilm Games. Their first effort was a clever space rescue game called Rescue on Fractalus, which immediately heralded a potent new voice on the scene. It has never been lost on me that Lucasfilm could have sold on the Star Wars name, and simply rake in the cash; they chose instead to prove themselves with unique, original work. They chose wisely.
Lucasfilm Games, later Lucasarts, became extremely successful with some of the most memorable computer games ever made, like Monkey Island and Sam and Max and Grim Fandango. By the time the Star Wars and Indiana Jones games finally arrived, Lucasarts was among the finest gaming studios. Is it at all ironic that the games based on their movies are so formulaic and uninspired by comparison?
But I'm getting away from the subject here. Ballblazer remains a brilliant example of a videogame at its most basic, while still offering an innovation or two. Flying across the playfield, your ship must fire the ball against moving goalposts; as you score more points, the goalposts shrink, making it harder to make those final points. Your opponent, on the other hand, benefits from a larger target. As an added challenge, each goal is worth one, two, or three points, depending on how far away from the goal you were when shooting.
The scoring is just clever. Each player has five points on each side, but victory comes from scoring the full ten. When you score your sixth point, you literally erase his score. There's a great tug-of-war at play in Ballblazer; if it seems there is heightened tension for both players, you'd be right. There were countless matches over the years where my friends or I could not score those final points and win the game - the other guy keeps clawing back, and we're both sweating.
There are no extra modes, or hordes of options; there are no leagues or different stadiums or celebrity endorsements. There is only a game that feels timeless, flows smoothly, and never grows tired. I have to admit that the game's first-person view, racing down that wonderful green chessboard, has not aged a day; if anything, I appreciate the visuals more than in the '80s. No home console could match these fast, smooth graphics for years (look at the awful NES version); in no small way a technical achievement in 3D.
And then there's the music. Who can watch Ballblazer for five minutes and not come away humming the theme song in their head? The signature song, a blazing bit of boogey blues improvisation, stands as one of the finest songs in videogame history. If ever a song perfectly catches the mood, this is it.
There was an attempt to bring Ballblazer into the modern era with a Playstation sequel in 1997, but it was all wrong. The sequel was overburdened with bells and whistles, at the cost of the signature gameplay. Who wanted color commentary in the first place? Ballblazer never needed to be "modernized," it was modern to begin with. It's just the pictures that got small.
Here is another wonderfully competitive multiplayer classic; is there any surprise that these are the most loved of all videogames? Lucasarts seems to have lost their way these days with their over-reliance on the movie-based games; they would be better served to remember their roots, and why games like Ballblazer are so good. If they had any sense, they would port this game to the Gameboy Advance in a minute - they would realize that games should still be games.
Here is a lengthy gameplay video of my favorite Atari Lynx game, Todd's Adventures in Slime World. I've raved about this game enough times; now you can see for yourselves what the hype is all about.
Slime World features six adventures, all with different goals and agendas. This is the "mushroom" level. The world is on a countdown to meltdown, and pulling mushrooms will add time to that clock. You must still navigate you way out of the endless maze, and get around all the creatures without getting slimed to death. It's a pretty tough challenge, and a lot of fun.
Remember, folks, this game was made in 1990. The Nintendo Game Boy was the hottest thing going, with Tetris and Super Mario Land. On the console side, there was the Turbografx-16 and Sega Genesis. There was nothing - and I mean nothing - that could hold a candle to Slime World. The Lynx really was a masterful feat of engineering and design (created by the masterminds behind Commodore Amiga). Pity it had to wind up in Atari's hands.
I really wish Atari would get off their duffs and reissue all the classic games in their library. Wouldn't this be spectacular on Nintendo DS or Wii? What's really needed is a new Atari Lynx emulator, one that included four-player split-screen for all the multiplayer games. That shouldn't be too difficult. Emulators, after all, are created by everyday people in their spare time. Put a couple engineers on the payroll and have them build it.
Enjoy the video, kids! And send some emails to Atari!
Whoever posted this song to Youtube used the wrong album cover - that's 1958's Round About Midnight. Ah, well. Nefertiti is one of the great albums by Miles' Second Great Quintet, featuring Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. I love all six studio albums they made as a unit, and it's some of the finest 1960s jazz ever recorded.
For frustrated jazz fans who felt betrayed by Miles' evolution into electric music, fusion and funk, the Second Great Quintet holds a special appeal. But I think on this period in Miles Davis career, we can all agree. This is a brilliant song on a spectacular album. I'm very glad I was able to find a "360" press on vinyl. The sound is tremendous, full and deep and very melodic. This digital version on Youtube is great, but just cannot compete with the original analog.
Here are some screenshots from another one of my all-time favorite videogames, Todd's Adventures in Slime World, designed by Epyx for the Atari Lynx. It's atmospheric, underground caverns were endlessly pulsing, gurgling, breathing. There was nothing else like it before or since, and it's a smashing great time.
The gameplay of Slime World essentially beat Super Metroid to the punch by several years, yet the focus is squarely on exploration and survival. The most legendary feature is multiplayer deathmatch for up to eight players. There were a lot of deathmatch games on Lynx, and all of which predated Doom. Too bad everyone else you knew had Gameboys. Multiplayer Lynx remains of the lost Holy Grails of video games.
I can't remember if I posted these screenshots years ago, but I've always been proud of them. They were snapped on the Handy emulator on my PC.
I'm porting thsi review from my old arts website, DanielThomas.org. I think I was playing around with Visualboy Advance here and there, and remembered how much I loved Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer on Gameboy Advance. It was just about my favorite game for the handheld, and the only title in the "extreme sports" genre to really succeed on the Advance.
Isn't it strange how this genre just upped and died? I'm not surprised to see the Tony Hawk series run into the ground (only the first two Pro Skaters were classic). But why no other games in 2009? What's the deal on that? In any case, here is one of the greatest examples of the genre. The animation of the surfers is impeccably smooth, and the rolling waves remain a dazzling visual feast. This water on this Advance version is better than the Playstation 2 and XBox! The console versions used smooth polygon graphics that felt wholly out of place, just flat and awful. I suspect that's why Kelly Slater was overlooked as a game.
Meanwhile, Hot Gen Studios created a modern masterpiece on the Gameboy Advance, and I daresay barely anybody ever noticed. It's a shame, a real shame. This is one of the finest sports video games ever made. Oh, how I wish a sequel could have been made, but the studio, like so many small studios at the time, went under for good.
Anyway, enjoy these screenshots that I snapped back in 2003. I was so proud of myself for capturing such great action shots. Feel free to steal whatever you want.
One of my favorite games from the late, great Atari Lynx was California Games. This was the best version of any of Epyx's sports games, offering extreme sports before they became "extreme" sports. The best of the lot was surfing, which allowed you to swim a surfboard across an ever-tumbling wave, cutting turns and performing stunts, all the while looking cool. The animation of the water was amazingly fluid, and the thrill of spinning 360's over the waves was untouched.
What the Gameboy Advance really needs are more of the fast arcade-style games that made the Lynx so cool. I was thinking of this as I started up Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer. I missed the game when it debuted on the consoles, so I can't say how accurately it captures the feel of surfing, or if its 3D environments recreate that old California Games thrill. But on the Advance, Kelly Slater delivers. It delivers magnificently.
I consider the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series to be among the finest videogames ever made, with its brilliant mix of action, sport, stunt work; the game was a witches brew of different genres, distilled into the perfect depiction of skate culture. This formula, for some reason, hasn't worked as well with other sports; other games may capture the control scheme or the scoring system, but not the spirit. You don't understand what its like to snowboard, or ride a bike. You only know you're playing Tony Hawk in a new suit.
That's fine, but where's the connection? Where's the spirit? Kelly Slater has that spirit, that spark that feels familiar and is yet unique. This may be the first game since Tony Hawk to get everything perfectly right.
Playing through the game, you are introduced to the wealth of tricks, turns, spins, and waves found in surfing. I have to admit that I expected the same wall of water, but I was wrong; the many different beaches carry their own feel and style. On some beaches, the waves are tall and wide, others shallow and swift. Waves crash left-to-right or right-to-left, in daytime and sunset. Surfing in each beach requires different skills; what works at Trestles won't work at Mundaka; if anything, your progress relies on the depth of your skills. You will only win championships if you keep learning.
The temptation is certainly there to dismiss Kelly Slater as one unending half-pipe, but this is just ignorance. Those willing to invest the time will discover a wealth of skills and techniques; how easy is it to dismiss those surfer bums without spending a minute in their shoes? These boys and girls are smarter than you think. Just like skateboarding, you have to learn a whole new vocabulary - carves, snaps, slides, arials, rotations, grabs, floaters. One of this game's absolutely essential functions is the tutorial mode, where you must learn how to perform all these wonderful maneuvers. And these skills will come into play as you progress. In addition to the tournaments, there are challenges on every beach: score a set amount of points, perform a series of tricks, pull off specific combos.
Hot Gen Studios was put in charge of the Advance version of Kelly Slater, and they have poured amazing results out of the hardware. Gameboy Advance is often derided as a portable Super Nintendo, but I think that's unfair. Its power to render 3D polygons is limited, but its ability to paint two-dimensional landscapes is arguably without peer. Observe the beautiful motion of the waves, the effect of sunlight reflecting on the oceans, the way the waves crash as they finally hit land (here, a time limit makes sense). As fluid as California Games on the Lynx was, those graphics suddenly seem outdated, terribly outdated by comparison. This may be the best depiction of water I've seen in a videogame. The modern consoles make much about their ability to render water, but it still isn't perfect; you still feel like you're looking at Jell-O instead of water. 3D worlds may be hip, but hip only goes so far.
Kelly Slater shows that, in the right hands, there is life in the two-dimensional videogame, and that polygons and sprites can mix (the surfers are smoothly rendered in polygons). It also shows the fun to be had in fast-paced, arcade thrills and the never-ending quest for that high score. This style didn't have to go away because the Playstation showed up. Great videogames don't have to be dictated by marketing; they can define for themselves what's hip.
Posted by
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
at
1:14 PM
Labels:
politics
This chart comes from NASA, who clearly know nothing about, like, science an' stuff. So clearly this means global warming is, like, all fake, an' stuff.
Okay, now, for the less stupid, notice that blue patch over the continental United States? That means it was cold this summer. Now take a look at the rest of the map. This is what NASA likes to call the rest of the world. Global temperatures from June to August 2009 were the second-hottest on record. Also, the temperatures for the world's oceans reached an all-time high this summer.
And you will notice the hottest reds occur at the poles. This correlates to global warming theory, which predicts that climate change will be most affected at the poles. The temperature at the equator may only raise 1 degree Celcius, but at the North Pole, it's 6 degrees.
The obvious conclusion, then, is that Rush Limbaugh and Fox News are right, and global warming is a hoax. Because, um, science said so. And the earth is really cooling.
The vast ice fields of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are melting at a faster pace than at any time over the past 100 years and at this rate they will be gone completely within two decades or even earlier according to one of the world's leading glaciologists.
A team led by Professor Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University said that the latest assessment of Kilimanjaro's famous ice cap has confirmed that 85 per cent of the ice that covered the mountain in 1912 has been lost, and 26 per cent of the ice that was there in 2000 is now gone.
Hmm, that's a bit harsh of a headline. Then again, maybe not.
There are going to be consequences for Republican obstruction against any efforts to tackle global warming. They may have suckered the stupids in this Idiocracy to laugh away climate change as a hoax, but reality cannot be wished away. They are condemning your grandchildren to a horrific future and time is dangerously short.
Speaking of Idiocracy, when I read through the comments to this Guardian UK story on Al Gore's new book, I'm immediately reminded of that movie. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes talks politics and current events. This used to be a videogames and music blog. Sometimes it still is. The evil minds that plot destruction are on the loose. Watch out. Contact me at danielthomas5@hotmail.com
