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4d-hypermoth · 1 year ago

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The Game Awards, but just the announcements I care about:

Pony Island 2: Panda Circus - I have very vague memories of watching a playthrough of the first game, and the sequel looks absolutely bonkers in the best of ways. Also SUNGWON!

Usual June - Not much to say except it looks cool and I hope it turns out good.

Windblown - Never played Dead Cells despite everyone saying it's great, but man they really did just brutally murder those little animal dudes. Awesome.

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla - Free update!? Based. Also that was absolutely a cyclops, I'm curious if they tie back in some Greek mythology stuff.

Big Walk - I have no idea what this game is but it better win Game of the Year 2025.

No Rest for the Wicked - Not quite sure what the game itself it, except that it's gorgeous.

5 New Sega Games - JET SET RADIOOOOO- ahm, I mean, this might just be the highlight of the entire show for me, despite how little was shown. Sega has so many cool old games that haven't seen the light of day in so long (though Streets of Rage had a game somewhat recently I think?). Anyway I'm going to break this up into individual sections despite each one having about 5 seconds of footage, lol

Jet Set Radio - Obviously this game was in production well before the release of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, but I guarantee people are going to be way more hype for this thanks to Team Reptile. Seeing DJ Professor K in this new style sent me to a higher plane. Can't wait for more on this one.

Streets of Rage - I'm not really a beat 'em up enjoyer, but it's interesting that this game is going 3D.

Shinobi - This game looks very pretty. High hopes for this one. Hope it takes notes from all the big indie platformers of the last decade.

Golden Axe - This one looks veeeery interesting. I'm only vaguely familiar with OG Golden Axe, but the art style and the game being 3D have certainly caught my eye.

Crazy Taxi - HEY HEY HEY IT'S TIME TO MAKE SOME CRRRAZY MONEY ARE YOU READY? HERE WE GO! Very curious how they adapt this one into a modern title. YAH YAH YAH YAH YAH

OD - I'm not interested in playing this (I mean we don't even know what the game is besides horror... with really detailed faces), but it's a Kojima game so I'll nonetheless watch it from a distance. Hideo Kojima and Jordan Peele is a wild combo.

Black Myth: Wukong - Holy shit it has a release date. This game has looked insane since it's reveal, hope it lives up to the years of hype.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau - Everyone's fixating on the Critical Role logo lol. This one's got style and I hope it does well, but I'm not really a metroidvania guy so I'll probably pass.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Cid real!

Blade - There are very few potential Marvel projects I'd be interested in this point... luckily Blade is still cool XD

Not a game, but after that Old Gods of Asgard performance... do I need to check out Alan Wake 2??? XD

Guilty Gear Strive updates - The original gun-wielding menace has returned. Dig the new outfit. I know at least one person who will be thrilled at Elphelt's return. Curious as to how this 3v3 mode will play.

Was not expecting Elden Ring DLC news - they literally said that it was still a ways off, so idk why so many people were expecting a trailer. Happy for Monster Hunter fans, even if I'll never get the appeal of those games. So many shooters with forgettable titles and/or minimal gameplay shown. And apparently Fortnite is a games platform now? Weird.

Congrats to Baldur's Gate 3 for winning the things. See yall next year when Foamstars sweeps the Game Awards.

#game awards

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andaisq · 2 years ago

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thesis proposal: the Sliding Scale of Fictional War Crimes Funniness

fullmetal alchemist is low on the scale because when the teenagers do a hecking genocide hiromu arakawa takes a terrifying delight in showing the consequences in gruesome detail, because she wants to subject the shōnen demographic to the horrors of war as much as humanly possible, and thus when you say "notorious war criminal edward elric" the fans look haunted and agree

metal gear solid is a good midpoint because while everyone involved is utterly ridiculous, hideo kojima has a habit of saying shit like "and Crazy Octopus and Vamp, Who Is Literally A Vampire But We Call Him Vamp Because He's Bisexual, were at My Lai". calling any metal gear character a war criminal elicits a response of "it's true but they shouldn't say it"

mass effect is top tier. mass effect tries very hard to make you care about its war crimes but because it is a bioware property this amounts to sweeping orchestral music and grand panning shots followed by garrus going "well, THAT happened" while making the Dreamworks face. calling Mordin Solus a war criminal is hilarious, because while he did literally perpetuate the forced sterilization of an entire species, he is also a silly frog man who sings little songs. hello my baby hello my honey i have violated the geneva convention.

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galolios · 4 years ago

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Metal Gear and Lupin III

References:

Hideo Kojima has compared the personality of Solid Snake with Lupin III:

I personally find this extremely cursed. I think Snake is far more introverted and reserved than Lupin. Like obviously there's some truth to it because it's stated by Kojima himself, but the whiplash I get from 'Solid Snake = Lupin III' is unreal.

EVA's personality traits were inspired by Fujiko Mine:

This makes a lot of sense if you know both characters. I didn't make the connection during MGS3 because I didn't expect there to be any Lupin references at all, but it is very clear now.

Extra:

David Hayter voiced Lupin in the Animaze dub of The Castle of Cagliostro:

These connections to Lupin III have driven me insane? Lupin is too influential. It keeps appearing in my other interests somehow. Or there's some crazy connection like Hayter in Cagliostro of all things.

That's all! I'd really like to know if anyone knows of more Lupin III-Metal Gear connections. I would also like to know if there are any other fans of both Lupin and MGS because oh man.

#mgs #lupin iii #metal gear #lupin the 3rd #lupin the third #metal gear solid #galolios original #reposting this in hopes it actually shows up in tags

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absolutepx · 4 years ago

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So I've been playing Death Stranding lately. Wait, that's not what this post is about. Well, it kind of is. Hang on. What is Death Stranding about?

A: Norman Reedus getting bare ass naked B. Sneaking around ghosts with the help of your sidekick, an actual baby C: Carrying 50 Amazon packages up a hill while trying to not topple over D: Waking up in the morning and drinking 5 Monster Energy™ for breakfast

For those following along at home, the answer is actually none of the above. Despite the set dressing being bizarre to the point of near absurdity, what the game is actually about, like thematically, is actually really simple.

See, the development of Death Stranding was actually quite a trip. Hideo Kojima is the video game world's equivalent of an auteur director. He has a very recognizable personal style. It's thoroughly horny – he caught a bunch of shit for the design of Quiet in MGSV, but like, a lot of Kojima characters are just -like that-, including the dudes. Also, this is going to possibly be important later.

Anyway, so Kojima was going to do a rebootmakequel of Silent Hill, and the demo actually made it to the PS store and I could actually write a whole side essay about why P.T. (it was called P.T. for some reason btw) was brilliant game design for how it used the same hallway over and over and it was somehow beneficial to the overall feeling of horror. So Konami it turns out kinda sucks nowadays and they like, fired Kojima (they were huge dicks about it behind closed doors, too) and scrapped the project and kicked him out on the street and kept the Metal Gear series which was his baby (literally the baby in the sink in P.T., he snuck a bunch of messaging about the Konami situation into the demo like a breakup album) and Kojima would go on to form his own studio and poach some of the people who worked with him to boot. So the thing about Kojima is this: he's got a reputation for already putting some wild shit in his games, like a ladder that takes like 10 real time minutes to climb in MGS3 for dramatic effect, and a boss in MGS3 that summons the ghosts of all the people you were too lazy to stealth past and killed, or a sniper battle with a really old guy that he wanted to have last two weeks or some shit until he died of old age but he was "told that "this was impossible and not recommended." That is a real quote I just looked up. So he's coming off the heels of making this hugely successful game with MGSV and the hype of the P.T. Demo and he fucking, he like took all the people that were going to be working on P.T. Along like Guillermo Del Toro was going to co-write it and Norman Reedus was going to star in it, and he's like, I'm going to make this game called Death Stranding. And the first trailer comes out for it and it's completely nuts. Norman Reedus wakes up naked on a beach crying with a baby and there are floating people in the sky? So we're all like hooooooly shit, there's no one to tell him "this is impossible and not recommended" anymore. What's he going to make now!?

So the whole time the game is in development I keep seeing these tweets where it'll be like, Kojima and one of his homies smiling with some saccharine message about being spiritual warriors and changing the world. And not just Del Toro and Reedus, there was Mads Mikkelsen (another guy Kojima puts in the game just because he apparently loves him), and the band Chvches, and also like, Keanu Reeves at one point? You know how everyone has just kind of accepted that Keanu is a being of light? Here he was endorsing Kojima. The hype was pretty confused and frantic.

The game eventually comes out. A lot of game journos hate it because I think there was this expectation it was going to be, you know, less weird and have more of the conventional structure of a video game. That's not to say the average gamer wasn't also dismissive of it, but I think on the ground level there was more of an understanding that like, yeah, Kojima just be like that sometimes.

Because the game was a timed console exclusive and your homie don't play like that, I spent the first year or so cautiously viewing Death Stranding from a distance. I wasn't sure I was going to like it – except for being really impressed with P.T., I wasn't actually a big fan of Kojima's games as games – but I -was- sure that I was going to buy it, because of the way Konami fucked him over, just out of support. And the shit I was hearing was really out there. The primary mode of gameplay is just delivery packages. You collect Norman Reedus' bathwater and pee and use it as grenades. You get a motorcycle that looks like the one from AMC's The Ride with Norman Reedus, and when you sit on it, his character in the game says "Wow, this thing is like the one from AMC's The Ride with Norman Reedus!"

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But I didn't really want to know that much about it. Something has that much fucking crazy person energy, you want to go in mostly blind, right? So maybe people just weren't talking about this, or maybe I wasn't seeing it, but then I watched Girlfriend Reviews' video about it and they came right out and said it (link provided if you want to hear Shelby say it more articulately than me):

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Death Stranding is basically about the exact opposite of Twitter. It's about remembering how to be kind to each other, how to reconnect in a world where people are so often hostile to each other by default. Prophetically, it's about a world where people are afraid to go outside or touch other people and how damaging that is. It's not a game about carrying packages, it's a game about helping people by being brave enough to walk through a wasteland carrying their burdens because they can't. It's about rebuilding the lost connections between people, about restoring roads and giving people hope. I bet, for Kojima and the people close to him, it's about how to answer hostility with compassion. You can't kill people in Death Stranding. You can and are absolutely encouraged to fucking throw hands with people sometimes, but all the tools and weapons are nonlethal. So I think Kojima took all the Twitter heat he got over the Quiet nontroversy, and all the feelings of isolation he had from Konami separating him from his team during the end of the development of MGSV, and all the support and encouragement he got from his bros Del Toro and Mads and the rest, and decided to channel that into making a game that was a statement about all of it. And sure, it's a little heavy handed, and sure, it's a little saccharine, and sure, the gameplay sometimes borders on miserable in service of creating emotional payoffs. For me, especially in 2020, this message is a huge success. Social media should be an opportunity for all of us to feel more connected to each other, yet primarily it feels like one of the main forces driving people apart. Why is that? Why is the internet of today such a hostile place? I'm old enough to remember web 1.0: I can haz cheezburger memes; YTMND; the early wild west days of Youtube... What happened to us? I've thrown the blame at Twitter in the past, and I think the architecture of the user experience on Twitter is absolutely a big piece of the puzzle, because it fosters negative interactions. But in terms of the behavior, people have observed that 2018 Twitter was actually almost exactly like 2014 Tumblr. (For the record, Tumblr is now one of the chillest places left on the internet, because so few fucks are left to give.)

I think part of it is the anonymity. The dehumanizing disconnection of the separation of screens and miles. Louis CK, before he was cancelled, had a great point about cyberbullying, and why it's so much more savage than kids are IRL. When you pick on someone in person and you are confronted with seeing the pain you caused them, for most sane people it causes negative feedback and you become disgusted with your actions and eventually learn to stop being a shithead. Online, at best you can "break the wrist, walk away".

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At worst, you can become addicted to "clout chasing" and the psychological thrill of being cheered on by your social ingroup. It's even worse if you feel like it's not bullying and your actions are justified because whoever you've targeted is a bad person so you don't have to feel bad about what you do to them. This is where reductive, unhelpful catchphrases like "punch a nazi" come in. For every argument, one or both sides have convinced themselves that the other side is subhuman because their beliefs are so disgusting. And sometimes it's even true! A lot of times, especially these days, people really are acting like animals or worse online. Entire disinformation engines are roaring day and night, churning out garbage and cluttering the social consciousness. (Kojima talked about this bit, too, way back in MGS2. As if I wasn't already in danger of losing my thread through this.)

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The human brain was not built to live like this. You can't wake up every morning, roll over and open your phone, and be immediately faced with a tidal wave of anger and indignity. It wasn't built to be aware of fully how horrible the world is at any moment ALL AT ONCE, ALL THE TIME. And you will be. Because of another way that our brain works – the way we are more likely to share negative opinions. And because of the cottage industry built on farming outrage clicks, and because of constant performative activism.

It's not that I don't agree that being informed is important.

It's not that I don't agree that the causes people get riled up about are important.

They are. They absolutely are.

But we can't keep living like this. The constant, unending flood of tragedy, arguments, and hot takes. How much of the negativity we associate with online culture is the product of this feedback loop? What if the rise of doomer culture has been, if not entirely created by, has been nourished and exacerbated by our hostile attitudes toward each other? Incels and TERFs, white supremacists, radfems, tankies and Trumpers – it seems like on every side of every issue, there are people simultaneously getting it wrong in multiple directions at once and there are more being radicalized every day. They are the toxic waste left behind by the state of discourse. And any hill is a hill worth dying on.

So what am I actually advocating? I don't know. There are a lot of fights going on right now that are important and we can't just climb into bunkers and ignore our problems hoping that Norman Reedus and his fine ass are going to leave the shit we need on our doorsteps. We need to find the strength to carry those hypothetical packages for ourselves sometimes - and hopefully, for others as well. Humans are social creatures. We need interaction and enrichment.

We need love.

So just try to remember the connections between humanity. Try to put more good stuff into the world when you can. Share more shitposts and memes. Tell your friends and family that you love them. Share good news when you hear it. Go on a weird fucking tangent about Death Stranding. Find a way to "be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes."

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#death stranding #hideo kojima #video games #cancel culture #essay #oc

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blazehedgehog · 4 years ago

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5 years later, how do you feel about Konami screwing over Hideo Kojima and forcing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain to release unfinished and also cancelling Silent Hills?

We don’t know the whole story of what went on there. We probably never will. I know it’s human nature to speculate, but I’m also slightly uncomfortable doing so, because there have been enough scenarios where I’ve been privy to other sides of stories and things are rarely as sensational as you expect. That’s how conspiracy theories start, and before you know it, you have some weirdo with an assault rifle storming a pizza parlor because internet trolls told him they were a sex trafficking ring.

Sometimes, though, crazy stuff does actually happen. Conspiracy theories wouldn’t exist unless there was some basis for people to expect sensational events. So I guess I just don’t know.

Bobvids did a great video about P.T., though, and Bobvids seems pretty level-headed about things in general. It’s over on his Grate Debate channel, where he and Voidburger discuss Silent Hill:

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The cliffnotes version: Konami’s console game success was flagging, so a new president was brought in from their ultra-profitable mobile game division to turn things around. He did not get along with Hideo Kojima, who was known for making deeply expensive games. Kojima was effectively put in probation, and P.T. was a cry for help, a call to arms, and an act of revenge all rolled in to one.

I don’t know how I feel about the two sides. It’s pretty clear that I think big budget game development is out of control. Games do not need Hollywood celebrity talent to be good, because games should be fun first and foremost. And Hideo Kojima in particular is known for being indulgent in things that are not gameplay. I would never describe the gameplay of a Hideo Kojima game as bad, for the most part, but I do think it can take a back seat to presentation and story. He carries himself like a big player, spending big money on big names. There are obvious, easy ways to reduce the budgets of his games, and it’s the same problems the film industry faces, particularly the animation industry: hiring big name actors just for their voice, even though there’s a whole industry of talented actors that toil on TV productions. Spending money for the sake of spending money, because that's what success looks like.

This is part of a larger problem where the worth of a piece of entertainment is judged exclusively on how expensive it feels. The idea of “they spent a lot of money on this, so it must be good.” This is how entertainment media of all kinds is slowly self-destructing. Warner Bros. already spent $300,000,000 on Justice League, and now they’re going to spend at least another $70,000,000 on the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League -- I say “at least” because at some point Warner went silent on Snyder Cut’s actual budget, suggesting it’s continuing to grow. It will easily be one of the most expensive movies ever made (for now).

That culture needs to end. I can see how someone would look at what Hideo Kojima does and think maybe he needs to be reigned in more than a little. You can make games without celebrities and they will be just as good.

On the other end of the spectrum, seeing things from mobile gaming’s perspective also sucks, too. Making barebones experiences full of deliberately tedious grinding in order to encourage your userbase to spend money on fake, manufactured convenience is also a destructive tendency.

Paying for convenience is a real, valid thing, but generally that means “paying a worker to do a job you don’t want to.” Like cooking food, right. Sometimes you’re really hungry and making food for yourself will take too long or you don’t have the right ingredients on hand or whatever, so you pay a restaurant to give you food for a fee. That’s a valid way to pay for convenience, and millions of people around the world do it regularly.

But mobile games manufacture fake inconvenience. It’s made to be inconvenient on purpose in order to entice you to spend money on the easier ways. It’s the old storytelling trope of a villain poisoning the hero in secret and then trying to sell them the cure. They created an entire market of their own by both making the poison and the cure, but that means they still created the poison. And somehow we’re supposed to be okay with this.

I’m sure Konami was making gobs of cash in their mobile games, but they were doing it by selling a cure to their special brand of poison. What is the real cost of saving a company? Does one extreme really cancel out the other?

Given the state of Konami’s console releases in the last five years, and the mixed reception to Kojima’s Death Stranding, probably not.

If you held my feet to the fire, and asked which one I’d pick, the Kojima way, or the Konami way, I don’t know what I’d pick. Assuming the current Konami way is the way of Metal Gear Survive -- a game that took the formula of Metal Gear Solid 5 and turned it in to a tedious, micro-transaction heavy zombie survival game in order to tick every box and cash in on a bunch of different fads, then I suppose I’d pick the Kojima way.

Death Stranding is a game I haven’t played, and it sounds like a weird, bloated, obtuse mess of bad ideas, but at least it’s from somebody who is saying something more than just “I want to make all of the money.” Even if it’s a ridiculous budgetary nightmare from an auteur high on the smell of his own farts, that has inherently more worth than greed in any format. That’s kind of reductive and broad, but this post is already long enough.

#questions #konami #death stranding #hideo kojima #kojima productions #metal gear solid #silent hills #p.t.#Anonymous

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gamex2020 · 5 years ago

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Saturn Games

12 Sega Saturn Games All Gamers Should Play

After the 16-bit console war between Sega and Nintendo, Sega started to noticeably lag behind. However, just because consoles like the Saturn and the Dreamcast weren’t extremely successful in sales doesn’t mean their library was lacking in awesome and weird genre-bending titles.

Not every franchise got to “graduate” from the fifth-generation of consoles, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t fantastic. Modern gamers might not know much about these, but these are truly memorable Games From Sega’s console-exclusive heyday. Get your hands on these games however you can; they’re really unique experiences on a very distinctive console.

Guardian Heroes

Before Castle Crashers showed off how fun a beat-em-up can be with RPG mechanics and simple combos, there was Guardian Heroes. This game was well-received when it originally came out on the Saturn, but now, it’s largely forgotten. The series has a spinoff on the GBA and a port to Xbox 360/Xbox One, but other than that, there’s been no word of a sequel or revival–not even a rumor.

The game controls like a fighting game with juggle combos, aerials, special moves, and a mana bar. There are only six characters playable in the story mode (two unlockable), but there are fun multiplayer versus modes to mess around with. After defeating a character in the story mode, they’re unlocked for use in multiplayer, and the combos can get pretty crazy with six concurrent players.

Dragon Force

Dragon Force is from an era where “RTS/Tactics RPG” wasn’t that unique of a genre. Nowadays, we have Fire Emblem, but Dragon Force was smack-dab in the middle of a golden age of Langrisser, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, and many other SRPG hits.

Something that sets Dragon Force apart from its peers is that it focuses on large-scale battles instead of small-scale ones. The fights aren’t duels like in Fire Emblem; generals can collide with 100 troops on each side, duking it out in skirmishes. Time passes in “weeks,” which lets the plot advance while you make out-of-battle decisions.

The game sold well at the time, but its sequel (also on the Saturn) never left Japan. No one spoke much about this game after the Sega Saturn kicked the bucket, which is a real shame; Dragon Force is a true diamond in the rough.

Astal

Action platformers were falling out of vogue by the time the Sega Saturn hit the stores. Astal, however, came out early in the system’s lifespan, and was still able to capitalize on the craze. The titular character Astal can grab and throw objects or enemies. He can also slam the ground and blow big gusts of air. On top of that, he has a super meter that commands his bird companion to bounce around, knocking out all enemies on screen.

This is a fun asymmetric co-op game, too. The second player plays as Astal’s bird companion, instead of just a palette-swapped version of Astal. The bird has his own unique set of attacks, making this game worth checking out with a friend.

Astal is short, but has challenging gameplay backed up by a unique hand-drawn aesthetic. Many indie games nowadays use hand-drawn graphics as a selling point, but it was really rare during the fifth console generation. The main character has had cameos in other Sega games since, but there’s no word of a sequel, revival, or crossover with another franchise.

Mr. Bones

At its core, Mr. Bones is an action platformer about a reanimated skeleton that can lose and regain limbs instead of using health or lives. That’s not totally accurate, though; certain levels were based on non-platforming genres, with rhythm game elements, Breakout-style gameplay, or perspective changes. It’s more like Lawnmower Man on the SNES rather than Castlevania.

The first run-through of the game is extremely silly and fun, especially going in blind. Getting used to the “skeletism” meter to replace the traditional health meter takes some getting used to, but it creates a fun sub-game of trying to hang onto all your bones. It really sucks not having your legs and being unable to jump in a platformer. Mega Man wouldn’t be as fun if he had to climb on the ground with his arms–but that’s part of what makes Mr. Bones so hilarious.

Mr. Bones had a very polarized reception, with some critics praising how much variety there was in gameplay while some others would have just preferred a normal platformer. This isn’t the greatest platformer of all time, but sometimes it’s just worth playing a game where the developers threw caution to the wind and put in every single gameplay function they felt like.

Policenauts

Before Hideo Kojima made Metal Gear Solid, he was making story-focused adventure games for a variety of platforms. After finishing the cult cyberpunk game Snatcher, he set to work on Policenauts, a sci-fi story about astronauts that are also law enforcement officials. It came to the PlayStation, the PC-9821, the 3DO, and of course, the Saturn.

Policenauts is like a cross between a point-and-click adventure game and a visual novel. It’s interactive, and requires the player to be a good detective and figure out the right dialog options to select and the right items to interact with. The Saturn version is also considered superior to other ports because it has first-person light gun segments not seen elsewhere.

There is an unofficial translation patch available for the Saturn, which uses dialog from an earlier fan translation for the PlayStation. If you want to see where Kojima honed his writing chops, play Policenauts. You’ll be the cool person that’s already played it once it gets an HD remaster.

Note that this came was never released in the U.S. and can only be played on Japanese Sega Saturn Consoles!

Princess Crown

Do you like classic beat-em-ups? How about collectible armor and items? Do you like a cutesy anime style backed up by serious gameplay? What about classic RPG enemies and locations with high-quality pixel art? If you answered yes to any of these, pick up Princess Crown.

Princess Crown is the brainchild of Capcom veteran George Kamitani. Because it was released near the end of the Saturn’s lifespan, it was a commercial failure, which led to Kamitani getting blacklisted in the games industry. He later went on to found Vanillaware, which re-established him as a developer.

Princess Crown’s core gameplay went on to spawn many spiritual successors, such as Odin Sphere, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and Dragon’s Crown, all made by Kamitani. It’s great for the industry to have specialists like him.

Note that this came was never released in the U.S. and can only be played on Japanese Sega Saturn Consoles!

Mystaria: The Realms of Lore/Blazing Heroes

If you’re a fan of classic grid-based tactics RPGs, give Mystaria a try. The graphical limitations of the Saturn give it a unique, blocky, and vibrant aesthetic. There’s twelve special characters for you to get, and the story changes depending on who you want to recruit first. The story is not that complex, but being non-linear is a huge plus for keeping gamers engaged.

The menu system for navigating combat is cumbersome at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s fluid and fast. Plus, there’s a first-person camera mode, which is novel and weird. Try to play it in that mode, because you can’t get that in many other tactics RPGs.

Take a look at Mystaria if you feel like seeing what was once considered “next generation.” The game might seem archaic or underdeveloped now, but when it was released, Mystaria heralded what RPGs were going to look like, with 3D spells and effects backed up by camera changes to create cinematic fights.

Mystaria was released in North America as Blaze Heroes; they are the same game!

Crusader: No Remorse

There aren’t many games by Western developers on this list, but Crusader: No Remorse has definitely earned its entry. It uses pre-rendered graphics with an isometric perspective, much like the original Fallout or Diablo games. The gameplay, however, focuses on shooting, action, and interactable environments rather than RPG mechanics.

The environment destruction and playability is really where this game shines. There are alarm switches, non-combatants, puzzles, and a perspective that supports tactical gameplay rather than run-and-gun shooting. Most of the objects you see can either be destroyed or turned on your enemies in creative ways. If there’s a trap set for you, you can set it for somebody else.

There’s a sequel titled Crusader: No Regret, but it is only on MS-DOS. The first Crusader is actually recognized as an inspiration to the Fallout team. If you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic Western games, No Remorse is worth playing alone just for its contribution to the genre.

Die Hard Arcade/Dynamite Deka

Die Hard Arcade isn’t extremely faithful to the movie it’s based on, but the liberties it takes are genius. To start with, it’s a beat ‘em up that focuses on fighting game-style combos and improvised weapons. It also uses texture mapping that gives it a realistic feel, not unlike the sports games of the era.

Beat ‘em ups were falling out of favor at the time (much like tournament fighters and 2D platformers), but Die Hard Arcade kept things fresh. It’s got classic mainstays of the genre, like end-level bosses and two-player co-op, and the game brings with it a simple 3D setting and a boatload of attack options.

It’s short, but you’ll be happy to play it again and again, using new weapons and trying new combos. It’s really hard to beat crime bosses on the head with a broomstick. (Plus, Dynamite Cop on the Dreamcast is a great sequel, even though the setting is obviously different.)

Last Bronx

Last Bronx is, in many ways, a distinctly Japanese game. The setting is an alternate-future Tokyo where gangs and criminals rule. It’s a 3D fighting game that plays a lot like Virtua Fighter, but without ringouts. All of the characters and locations are unmistakably Japanese, with little room for the “worldwide fighting” variety the genre usually features.

Even though gamers in North America didn’t give the game too much attention, it was an instant classic in Japan. Casual gamers loved the variety of modes, the weapon-based gameplay, and the fluid animation. The graphics are better on the arcade, but the Saturn version is no slouch.

If you end up liking the game, there’s comics, a novel, radio dramas, and even movies to go along with it. Don’t bother watching the movie if you’re not a fan of the game, though…it’s pretty rough.

Magic Carpet

Peter Molyneux is popular these days for two things: over-promising on series like Fable, and getting mistaken for Stefan Molyneux. In his heyday, he was the king of making solid games with innovative aspects, like Black and White. Even before that, though, he worked on Bullfrog’s Magic Carpet.

The title describes it pretty perfectly. It’s a 3D flying game where you control–you guessed it–a magic carpet. The goal is to destroy monsters, collect their magic mana, and use it to build up a castle in each level.

The game is subtle, smooth, and some pretty simple fun. It’s great for zoning out with the lights off, flying around in the early-polygonal 3D environments and enjoying the sprites and spells. It probably won’t end up being your new favorite game of all time, but it’s a unique experience for the Saturn.

Theme Park

No one needs to be told that Roller Coaster Tycoon is a great series, and they’re undoubtedly some of the greatest games of all time. Before there was RCT, there was a game simply titled Theme Park, developed by Peter Molyneux and his crew at Bullfrog Productions.

The gameplay is self-explanatory for anyone familiar with the sim genre. Set up your rides and manage the logistics of the park. Try your best to keep it clean, keep it profitable, and most importantly, keep yourself from getting addicted. There are some elements in this game that aren’t seen often in other sim games, like managing the park’s financial stocks and negotiating business deals. Once you’ve made enough money on one park, you can auction it off and make another on a new plot of land.

Theme Park saw high critical acclaim upon release. Even though there were plenty of sim games sprouting during the fifth generation, Theme Park had a playful aesthetic and wasn’t as serious as Sim City or other competitors. Like many other sim games, it was developed with PC gaming in mind, but the console ports (including the Saturn) are just as smooth.

#Saturn Games #sega saturn games #Sell Video Games #Get Free Video Game #video games #gamex

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punkinroses · 5 years ago

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Yugioh Season 4 Quotes Prompt Meme

I am stressed, tired, sick of my job and needing a brain break. Yugioh Abridged is my go to for that at the moment. So. Have a sentence meme thing. Feel free to reblog, change pronouns, etc. Go have fun kids. Be wild. Be gay. Do crime. Love you

“The whole saving the world thing really eats into your study time.” “But my teacher gave me, like, a bunch of gold stars! And an A+ in trying.” “I already know everything I need to know about mathematics from playing card games.” “I was also thinking about doing some of the drugs later.” “(name)’s hand is on fire!” “That sounds like a commotion! .......Yes. Definitely a commotion.” “Well, I’m sure the city can defend itself.” “Those neutral motherfuckers. I never cared for them.” “How the hell did you people get in my house!?” “I’m not sure I like the rich douchebag channel.” “We figured you had more of an emotional connection to these.” “Damnit, (name), we agreed I would do the monologuing.” “My spirit guide has once again served its purpose.” “It’ll be called the bitch ass retirement plan. Named after you, ya bitch ass!” “That’s some OP bullshit right there.” “Broseph...Brosephine...Bro DiMaggio.” “I’ve got shoulder pads!” “Now what are you gonna do, Bromeo and Juliet?” “It’s not often I get to hear the worst insult ever coined by a human being.” “Yeah, they once sucked out Channing Tatum’s soul as a joke.” “I have nothing else in my life, please!” “So you’re someone I haven’t seen in a really, really long time? .........Are you my parents??!!” “Stop abusing the concept of friendship!!” “You must have spent YEARS researching this! Even though you can find this exact information on the back of any Yu-Gi-Oh! DVD!” “King of doors, bitch!” “That’s two points for Middle Earth, zero points for (name).” “I was not prepared to watch this today.” “Okay, so, you’re a lost cause.” “If even one of you makes a Sharknado reference, I will end you so hard.” “Try this on for size, you Sauron-looking motherfucker!” “I thought we had an agreement! You agreed to not be a little bitch, but now you’re being a little bitch!” “Maybe they’ll take someone’s soul that we don’t care about this time.” “Goddamnit, you never help me, ever!!” “Alright, douchebags! I’m sick and tired of us not being on top!” “These meetings get fucking weird.” “How much more specific can I get? SOMEWHERE in CALIFORNIA.” “I wonder if there are card games on the moon.” “I knew it. This is just some cheap trick to get me to come see you, so you can hit on me with a bunch of cheap innuendos, isn’t it?” “And, to think, people call you a diluted egomaniac.” “That’s not possible! I’M the adorable one!” “For some reason, cruising for chicks has caused me to become severely injured.” “I would be so turned on if that wasn’t such a huge waste of trading cards.” “I’d like to spread some vegemite on those things.” “You left me on a blimp with a known psychopath, while I was in a coma, so you could go off and play video games.” “So, in other words, since we’ve never seen your balls drop, we can assume it hasn’t happened?” “My douche-senses are telling me that (name) is mocking me somewhere.” “Should I remind you to tell them to go fuck themselves when we get there?” “He will eat you with his crocodile face.” “Okay, did you have to include the part of the story where they insulted me?” “Hey, a sword! I can stab people with this!” “Seriously? That was your one Koala joke?” “Try believing in the heart of the cards.” “Quiet, you sorcerer.” “If you’re seeing this, (name), it either means I’m dead, leaving behind a very fabulous looking corpse, or my soul has been captured.” “Maybe it had something very kinky on it and 4Kids had to censor it.” “I’ll leave that up to the fanfic authors.” “I’ll write a highly unfavorable research paper about you! With inconclusive findings!” “I feel like I should be concerned, but I just can’t stop thinking about how Copernicus is such a stupid name for a horse.” “You know that thing takes people’s souls and I found it on a dead guy, right?” “That was acting, children! Bravo for me!” “According to my research, I’m in a crapload of pain.” “Learned that trick from playing Super Mario World.” “I’ll just be over here wibbling to myself. Please, pay me no mind.” “Okay, everyone. I’m going to go scream into a pillow for the next five minutes.” “Are you telling me that we can't build an elevator into space?! Because that sounds like something a guy who doesn't want to keep his job would say!” “And let me tell you one last thing. All those times I got angry and declared that I would have my vengeance on you: I WAS FAKING!” “I'm glad we spent all our money on this bag of potato chips and generic brand soda.” “By the way, I memorized several dozen dinosaur puns, just so I could use them in this.” “The only reunion that’s about to happen is my size ten up your buttocks!” “Dorō! Monsutā Kādo!” “You're right, (name). I lost control. At the end of the day, this is just a game.” “We’re going to disturb the spirits of the dead! Yay!” “What the fuck even is this season!?” “Won’t somebody fetch me some ice cream!?” “I’m old and I hold a stick. That automatically makes me the wisest person in the valley.” “It’s a good thing I played all that Assassin’s Creed!” “It’s a good thing I played all that Banjo Kazooie!” “Oh, thank God, because I really wasn’t listening to any of that. Any of it.” “Now, I have to go back down there and challenge that vulture to a card game.” “Okay, (name), I’m going to level with you; I may have lied about the pizza.” “It makes me look really bonkers cool while I kick the shit out of you.” “Actually, he says his name is Cornelius Jr. and he wants to play basketball, just like how his father wanted him to.” “You can talk to snakes!?” “Hey, are you sure it’s safe for us to fly straight into that strange weather phenomenon?” “I guess we’d better confront whatever villain of the week that is.” “Well, these buttons look important.” “We mostly get by using our street smarts and ingenuity.” “No, I'm mad because I never wanted to know what one of Hideo Kojima's wet dreams looked like, and now I do, so thanks for that.” “I swear on my life we didn't keep a single flying war machine of death.” “Well, it would be way more intimidating if its face wasn't so damn adorable.” “Yeah, they’re dead. Dibs on their crappy broken stuff!” “Did you guys notice that this episode had the exact same ending as Bee Movie?” “I'm also glad we're not going to Florida as it means that we are not going to Florida.” “OK, but wait! I'm almost to the part where we met two ghosts in the California desert who just happened to be related to the guy we're fighting. Oh God, you're right; it's all just bullshit, isn't it?” “Breaking stuff will fix it!” “I'm bi a lot of things, but lingual is not one of them.” “Welcome back, asshole.” “Hey (name), wanna reenact a scene from Back to the Future Part II?” “I'd rather throw myself off the roof.” “Damn you, Microsoft Flight Simulator!” “Yes, but you had to steal my catchphrase to do it! Is nothing sacred to you?” “That is the single most offensive thing anyone has ever said to me.” “OK, children, from now on, everybody uses the Buddy System. When I say "Go," I want you all to choose a buddy and form an everlasting and inseparable bond between them 'till death do you part. OK, go!” “(Name), remember, whatever happens, you mustn't become an evil little sh*thead.” “Suckers! Consider yourselves ditched.“ “Well if any other anime in existence has taught me anything, most of the drama tends to happen on...the roof.“ “Just my luck. Dork Fest continues.“ “No! It's got a scythe. The deadliest farming implement known to man.“ “This heavy-hearted metaphor was brought to you by Da, a subsidiary of Doy, Inc.” “OK, this is also total BS. When I came back from the dead, I didn't get a chorus of heavenly music and a light show.“ “It's a good thing I'm so buff or that fall would've killed me.“ “(Name), promise me you're not going to embarrass me in front of the U.S. Military.” “ Guys, I think we took a wrong turn, because I'm pretty sure this is the Chamber of Secrets.” “Those aren't Funko Pops! They're much more disturbing!” “Yeah, makes your measly five thousand years look like a five thousand years of being a bitch, bitch.“ “Okay, but why are we in space?” “I have no idea who that is. You are talkin' fucking crazy right now, man. Are you okay? Do you need water? How long were you in the desert for?“ “For the record, I was dressing up in suits of armor before it was cool.“ “(Name), this is like, the third time you've tried to murder one of my friends, stop it!” “Nah. As a teenager with unlimited access to the Internet, I get to do that every day.” “As I was saying, (name) is a damn handsome and valuable person. Thank goodness for them.” “They died as they lived... pissing me off.” “Okay, who let the posh shithead in here?” “I'm so happy you escaped the cold embrace of death so that I could experience your deathly cold embrace again!“ “Wow. My eBay sensors are tingling.“ “You know, we really have no idea where this portal will take us, but I have total confidence in this decision.“ “None of this matters to you! You're already dead! Blah, blah, blah, omae wa mou shindeiru.” “Glad we came all the way up here so that we could not know what was going on.“ “Does this mean I can take back all the nice things I said?“ “I'm not doing any of those things. I'm just enjoying being with you.”

#sentence prompt #rp prompt #rp prompts #writing prompts #writing prompt #sentence prompts #rp meme #rp memes #rp starters #writing memes #ygotas #ygotas season 4 #ygotas memes

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mymanreedus · 5 years ago

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The Hollywood Reporter: “You were originally going to work with Kojima on a Silent Hills game. You said you’ve been working on Death Stranding for three years. Did you shoot footage for Silent Hills? When did it switch?”

Norman Reedus: “I think we shot a little something once, a teaser thing, and he turned it into a trailer for the game that became sort of a cult thing, which I know because friends of mine who are gamers, who I didn’t know were gamers, have that year’s PlayStation with that trailer downloaded on the console itself, and that became worth big money.”

THR: “Have you not played P.T. (Playable Teaser)?”

NR: “I have never played it.”

THR: “Oh my god, that’s crazy.”

NR: “I’ve seen it! I know I’m the surprise at the end. I’ve seen it played, and it’s terrifying. It’s a horror film.”

THR: “Death Stranding doesn’t come across as horror. When Kojima pitched you for Silent Hills, was it a completely different project, or were there similarities to what Death Stranding became?”

NR: “It was completely different. Silent Hills had the backstory and people knew that game, knew what it was about and what it would look like. When that went away, I was bummed, but when Hideo described what we were doing next, I completely forgot about it. I was like, thank god that didn’t work, because this is way better. This is a completely different thing.”

#Norman Reedus #silent hills #death stranding #interview #article #quote

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normanreedustea · 6 years ago

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‘I was like who is this god – whatever he wants to do I’ll do it. He’s a genius.’ Norman Reedus about Hideo Kojima

Norman Reedus talks Hideo Kojima’s ‘crazy complicated’ Death Stranding

By: Adam Starkey | Metro UK

Norman Reedus has given some details about Hideo Kojima’s highly-anticipated new project Death Stranding, describing it as ‘positive, scary and depressing’ all at the same time.

The 50-year-old actor, best known for playing Daryl in TV series The Walking Dead, is set to play a lead role via motion capture in the PlayStation 4 title, alongside Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux, Lindsay Wagner, Troy Baker, and director Guillermo Del Toro.

Figuring out what Death Stranding actually is, however, has become a game in itself – with last year’s E3 2018 trailer showing Norman’s character, Sam Bridges, traversing vast landscapes with various packages in a future sci-fi setting.

GameCentral caught up with Norman Reedus on the set of his TV show Ride With Norman Reedus in March last year, but his discussion of Death Stranding has been embargoed until now.

‘That guy is such a genius, Hideo Kojima,’ Norman said. ‘I’m like, ‘Oh so they’ll be playing me?’ And he’s like, ‘No they are you. We will make them cry as you.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? It’s a video game.”

Speaking about what to expect in Death Stranding, Norman added: ‘The concept is so far out into the future. Instead of eliminating everyone around you, it’s bringing everyone together. It’s a very positive video game, but scary and depressing at the same time.

‘It’s kind of a new movie. I’ve never seen anything like what we’re doing. Guillermo Del Toro introduced me to him, who is also working on the game; he’s also a character in the game.

‘I saw that video game director at the Video Game Music Awards, walk down the steps and they lit up underneath his feet like Michael Jackson and he goes, ‘I’m back.’ And the place is like, ‘Oh my god.’ Like grown men in tears.

‘I was like who is this god – whatever he wants to do I’ll do it. He’s a genius.’

Asked if the trailers released so far (before E3 2018) were representative of the game, Norman replied: ‘He keeps telling me people will watch all these trailers, they’ll come up with these ideas and look for all these Easter eggs, and they have been doing that.’

‘The trailers show you an aspect of it, but not a whole picture of what the game will be. That’s like a whole other thing. It’s complicated, it’s a crazy complicated game. I’ve been learning a lot about video games doing it.’

Death Stranding has been described as an action game set in an open world environment, with main character Sam sent to a purgatory-like alternative world every time the player dies.

It’s a particularly important game for Hideo Kojima, as it represents his first project for independent studio Kojima Productions following his messy split from Konami in 2015.

Death Stranding will release exclusively on PlayStation 4, with a release date yet to be confirmed.

#norman reedus #hideo kojima #deathstranding #the walking dead #daryl dixon

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guerilla935 · 5 years ago

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The Advantage Of A New IP

In the fashion of it being a brand new year we get asked a pretty general and not at all specific question. What game do you want to see this year? In every new years edition podcast and youtube channel this is hot debate. Of course in your mind you have limited options. You say to yourself, do I want a sequel of something we already have? Has a production company that I’ve heard of before not made anything in a while? You can only answer in what you know. And in the most recent years, the devs have been listening. Do you want The Last of Us Part 2? Naughty Dog will deliver. Expecting a new Legend of Zelda game? Nintendo will probably keep making them until the sun super novas so you are good there. But you would never answer that question with: “I want a (insert adjective here) game.” I mean you might, in which case you must have a very specific itch to scratch good on you for knowing what you like. In any case I will valiantly fight for every game that is still on the drawing board that is not a number 2, 3, or 4. Not a sequel or a prequel. Not an HD remix 2.5 remake. This is why we need to be excited for original games that still have yet to be conceived in a game engine or drawing board.

CD PROJEKT RED

To prove my point I am going to break down what makes CD PROJEKT RED’s The Witcher series so indigestible and why it is so popular now. This company makes a very good video game, but if you jumped into The Witcher 3 you would have been pelted with so much lost exposition that you have already lost interest by the time you have killed the Griffin which is where every person I have talked to (including myself) has stopped playing that game the first time they had picked it up. The game plays very non traditionally, the combat is scarce, each battle takes crafting and social preparation that is tiresome if you were not expecting to work so hard to get to the action, and the travel time is tolerable but not the greatest thing. But the story is amazing and you are waiting on that to pull you through. However we are looking for Yenefer, who is that? Why is this old guy following me around? Why does everybody hate me? Kaer Mohren is uh, a place? Not anymore? The story comes in at a weird place. So you say okay lets go play the first two games, wrong, the first game is unplayable if you have updated windows since windows 10 came out. You could have an awesome time playing just The Witcher 2 and then 3 but lets assume that you just gave up. Fast forward to 2019 and Netflix releases the first season of The Witcher series based on some fantasy novels written by a Russian dude in 1993. Whether you liked the show or not you and 100,000 people actually start playing through The Witcher 3 because you know who Yenefer is, you kind of know who Vesemir is, you know why everybody hates you and how to deal with it, and you have that catchy song stuck in your head. My point in all this is that until a Netflix series taught you how interesting this story and this world is you and most people had every intention of not touching the game at all. CD PROJEKT RED has now announced a cyber punk crime drama starring Keanu Reaves, it is also based on a lot of prior source material but the average player like me would have no idea about that kind of stuff. It sounds awesome and it probably will be, but it is gaining a lot of steam because it’s new and exciting and we can dive in blind which is an awesome feeling.

The Remake

Three of 2020′s most anticipated games are full remakes. Final Fantasy VII, Doom Eternal, and Resident Evil 3. Before we have this argument I’m not going to admit that Doom Eternal is not a remake because it really is, it is awesome plot-less demon shooting and as long as they keep using the Doom name it is all just a remake of Doom. The problem with the hype for these games is that it is hinged on if the fans consider Final Fantasy VII (2020) to be as good as their memory of Final Fantasy VII (1997) and people have pretty exaggerated memories. Doom Eternal also has to upstage Doom (2016) and Resident Evil 3 (2020) has to be better than Resident Evil 3 (1999) and make more improvements than Resident Evil 2 (2019) which will still disappoint fans because Capcom wants to make it more action based which is what killed the franchise back in 2009. But what is really sad is talented writers are adapting content for a modern generation when they could be writing new content for a new era. Video games age worst out of any type of media and I am glad that these are getting restored but we are seeing so much effort put into showing our kids why we were crying when we changed from disc 1 to disc 2 in Final Fantasy VII that we may not get to see Final Fantasy XVI until the far future.

Hideo Kojima

Before I start this section I want to say that Hideo Kojima is one of my personal favorite people. As soon as Mads Mikkelsen and Norman Reedus got hypnotized by Hideo Kojima to work on Death Stranding the games development cycle that involved nobody, not even Hideo Kojima, knowing what in the heck what was being put together in his offices made so much noise in gaming that it could not fail. There are a few games that need only a few seconds to prove that they are worth playing and having Norman Reedus incubate a baby on screen and nothing else is probably the most surreal experience anyone has ever had seeing a game trailer. This original IP whether you loved it or hated it was really exciting to live through the launch of, and when we see game trailers in the future I can only hope that they are as exciting as this one.

The Difference

So what is the difference between seeing a trailer for Final Fantasy VII (2020) and seeing a trailer for Ghost of Tsushima? For me the difference is that when I see Cloud appear with the buster sword I am excited to know what they kept, to see how they improved it. When I see a samurai on screen do crazy ninja moves and disappear I want to see more, a lot more. I know what to expect from the next Legend of Zelda, I know what to expect from Call of Duty, for Assassin’s Creed, and I love when they do blow those expectations away. But when Naughty Dog sends me a YouTube video of the Planet Earth clip where the ant goes psycho and grows a mushroom out of its face then the game comes out and I never knew it would be so sad and intense and rewarding it is unlike anything else. We spend most of our time as gamers anticipating the next rush and I can tell you exactly what it’ll feel like to play the next Doom or Metroid Prime but I will never be able to put into words the next time I will get to play a new game for the first time will be like.

#death stranding #the last of us #ghost of tsushima #the witcher 3 #cyberpunk #final fantasy vii #resident evil 3

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chrispypapas · 5 years ago

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WAIT - Solid Snake's real name is Dave? Is David Hayter just the real Solid Snake and doing a double bluff as his voice actor? (I mean, I joke, but you know Hideo Kojima would fucking spread this like crazy)

nope! its just a coincidence! hayter actually did an interview purely on that basis

funfact about MGS1- since kojima mostly hires hollywood actors instead of voice actors the actors for the first game thought that doing voices would be against the actors guild (which is an organization that says what actors can work on and how much they must be paid) so every voice actor went under an alias for that game under its first release

however in re releases for the game the credits were fixed having the actors original names

#ya boy has so many mgs fun facts #Anonymous

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thearkhound · 6 years ago

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Weekly Famitsu #572: Metal Gear Ghost Babel interview

The Game Boy Color version of Metal Gear Solid, otherwise known by its Japanese title Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, is one of the better-received side-entry in Konami’s stealth action game series. It wasn’t just a half-baked cashgrab, as was the case with many Game Boy games that happened to share their title with a popular console or PC game, but could’ve easily been a worthy successor to the prior 2D Metal Gears (particularly Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake on the MSX2) had it been made before the original Metal Gear Solid.

Prior to the release of the game, producer Hideo Kojima and three key members of the development team (Shinta Nojiri, Ikuya Nakamura and Tomokazu Fukushima) were interviewed for an article published in Weekly Famitsu #572 (December 3, 1999). This interview would later be posted online on the Twitter account Game Dankai 198X, which specializes in reposting magazine articles from Famitsu and other Japanese gaming magazines. The following is my translation of the interview.

PROFILES

Hideo Kojima - The father of the Metal Gear series, nicknamed Kantoku (Director) by his staff. He serves as producer for Ghost Babel.

Shinta Nojiri - Director of Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. Mr. Kojima calls him “our own Keanu Reeves.”

Ikuya Nakamura - In charge of everything related to the game’s imagery such as the pixel art and the screen design.

Tomokazu Fukushima - In charge of the writing. He also co-wrote the original Metal Gear Solid with Mr. Kojima.

INTERVIEW

Famitsu: Let’s start by telling us why you decided to make this new Metal Gear for the Game Boy.

Kojima: It was a few days before the release of Metal Gear Solid (henceforth MGS1) on the PlayStation. The game was already being well-received overseas, so we received a request from Europe asking us why weren’t making a Game Boy version too. They’re crazy over Metal Gear in Europe, so we decided to give it a shot.

Famitsu: So it was a development request from overseas? It’s rare for a Japanese game to be developed under such circumstances.

Kojima: That’s right. We were about to start our research on the PlayStation 2 around that period as well. While the PS2 is pretty good in terms of visuals and sounds, I wanted to be bold and re-explore the question of “what is a game”. Naturally we couldn’t use polygons. but I thought we would re-evaluate the essence of Metal Gear in sprite form.

Famitsu: Were there any concerns during the planning phase?

Nojiri: Since Ghost Babel is for a portable game platform, we designed the game around those circumstances. That’s why we went for a stage-based format for example. But in the end I think we ended up ignoring the limitations of the Game Boy by cramming too much stuff, didn’t we? (laughs)

Famitsu: The graphics are really pretty.

Kojima: The pixel art was by Nakamura, who also did the textures in MGS1. I’m willing bet there’s nobody in the entire Konami Group who draws pixel art as well as he does. However, his lifespan decreases little by little for each pixel he draws. (laughs) Since it’s a skill that can only be passed from one master to one student, he’d better train a successor soon or we’ll be in trouble.

Nakamura: I’m already dying. (laugh)

Famitsu: (laughs) But seriously, there’s a limit to what can be expressed on a Game Boy. Was it much harder than working on something on the PlayStation?

Nakamura: No, not really. The original Metal Gear released on the MSX back in 1987 was already a 2D game. However, we aimed to create a game that wouldn’t feel dumbed-down to players who already experienced MGS1.

Famitsu: I see. Were you also concerned of MGS1 while writing the story as well?

Fukushima: In order to not betray the expectations of the fans we made up to this point, we wrote the story with the idea of being worthy of the series while also surpassing all the previous games. However, I’ve been told it’s a bit too intense in some parts (glances at Mr. Kojima while stating this).

Kojima: Indeed, the game’s story is way more intense than anything I’ve written (laughs). The concept designs and such were also pretty amazing. Among the bad guys there’s a guy named Slasher Hawk who ate manatees. Naturally that idea fell through.

Fukushima: No, it wasn’t a manatee. It was a dugong (a similar-looking kind of marine mammal).

Famitsu: They both look alike (laughs).

Kojima: By the way, I know the two dolls that Marionette Owl is always holding have names. What are they called?

Fukushima: They’re Osan and Koharu. (everyone laughs) [tl’s note: These names are references to main character’s wife and lover respectively from the Japanese play The Love Suicides at Amijima]

Famitsu: The Metal Gear series is known for its strong themes that it tries to convey to players through their stories. Is it the same with Ghost Babel?

Kojima: Not having a theme in this game would be like running around a public park holding a knife. Allowing such a thing would be dangerous. That’s why after we allow players to play around with a weapon, we preach to them at the end and say to them “this is how you use that knife.”

Famitsu: I see what you mean with that statement.

Kojima: But I was a bit worried. The main demographic for Game Boy players in Japan are elementary children who are used to the worldviews of games such as the Goemon series. I was a bit worried about what kind of direction this Metal Gear would take. What players expect from a Metal Gear is not a cartoon version of Snake who lives in a world with a trivial story, but a realistic Snake who goes through a thematic story. So we stuck to the same hardboiled approach from before.

Fukushima: That’s why the scenario we wrote for the game goes beyond what people expect from a Game Boy game. It’s a story full of betrayal and conspiracies.

Nojiri: It’s not just the story. We also designed the graphics with that same mentality.

Nakamura: Instead of drawing in a strange cartoon style, we intended to respect the worldview of Metal Gear with every pixel we applied.

Kojima: The characters move really firmly on the Game Boy’s small screen. They really come to life I should say.

Nakamura: I think there’s more animation in this game than there has ever been in any other Game Boy game to date.

Kojima: Snake’s bandanna even flows into the air when he runs. Fhwaa!

Famitsu: Wow, that’s really detailed!

Kojima: The way the characters move have considerable realism to them. Even I was surprised when I saw them the first time.

Famitsu: How complete is the game in its current stage?

Kojima: I would say the game is around 50 to 60 percent finished. But each portion of game is considerably complete.

Famitsu: Can you tell us how many stages will be in the game?

Nojiri: Currently we’re planning 13 stages. The game basically revolves around infiltration and avoiding conflicts by hiding, but the objective varies depending on the stage. For example, you might have to infiltrate in darkness, demolish a building or fight a boss depending on the situation.

Famitsu: That’s quite a variety of objectives.

Nojiri: That’s the idea.

Kojima: Moreover, if you clear stage once during the story mode, you can choose to replay that stage with a different objective. The way to defeat a boss or the number of enemy soldiers you encounter and such might be different.

Famitsu: I see. It sounds very similar to the VR Training mode in MGS1.

Nojiri: It’s something of a separate bonus mode. A VR Training mode is also being added to the game.

Famitsu: Speaking of which, there’s around 180 stages planned for VR Training mode. That’s quite a lot. When I heard that number for the first time, I thought it was a mistake.

Kojima: That’s because we specialized in doing such stupid things. (laughs)

Famitsu: Stupid things…?

Kojima: Isn’t the Game Boy meant to be played outside? When you’re commuting on a train or in a car, there’s a time limit before you reach your destination. That’s why we planned lots of simple ways to play the game under such conditions.

Fukushima: There are things we ported from MGS1 and things we made specifically for this game.

Famitsu: I already feel full just hearing that.

Kojima: We haven’t revealed it yet, but there’s also a versus mode that uses the link cable that’s really fun. I can’t talk about the rules yet, but it’s an absolute blast! You’ll be thinking “I can’t believe playing against another person can be this fun.”

Famitsu: Are there any words each of you might want to give to our readers as we conclude this interview?

Nojiri: Purely as a action game, I think we ended up producing a fun one, so I hope many people will enjoy it.

Fukushima: I think Ghost Babel has a very different tone compared the usual Game Boy game. Nevertheless, I hope people will still play it since it’s a fun game.

Nakamura: Even though it was for a portable game machine, I drew the game’s pixel art with the intent to challenge its hardware limitations. Please look forward to it.

Kojima: I’ll be happy if many people after playing this game will ask themselves “what is a game?”.

The four developers discuss the creative urges they have for Ghost Babel. Even as they smile, there’s a sense of severity towards the game’s development.

#metal gear #ghost babel #hideo kojima #tomokazu fukushima #ikuya nakamura #shinta nojiri #konami #game boy #famitsu

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