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luigiblood · 3 years ago

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What's the deal with the GB/GBA Emulator Leak?

On April 18th 2022 on 4chan's /vp/ board, 3 links have been posted:

0100d870045b6000_dev.nsp: A NSP file containing a NES Nintendo Switch Online build.

hiyoko_unsorted.7z: Various builds of a Game Boy / Color Emulator for the Switch in seperated NCA files.

01008bf00a1c8000.nsp: A NSP file containing a Game Boy Advance Emulator for the Switch.

No additional context has been given other than four screenshots of the GBA emulator.

All of the files are signed for Switch development kits, meaning that they have to be resigned to work on a retail unit.

All of these things were developed by NERD (Nintendo European Research & Development), responsible for many things, but are more recently known for their emulation work since the Nintendo DS Virtual Console emulator on Wii U.

I'll try to explain what each of these things are seperately, and why I think they are legitimate.

NES Nintendo Switch Online

The first link in the post links to a build of NES Nintendo Switch Online app dated October 4th 2019. This would be a month since the release of SNES Nintendo Switch Online, and when the monthly updates of additional NES games would have stopped.

It contains all of the games in order of Switch release until August 21st, 2019, then continues with the games that would be released on December 12th and later, and quite a few that have yet to be released, if ever.

Noteworthy unreleased games include the entirety of the Mega Man series, each including their own Special Versions, Castlevania 1 & 2, Adventure Island, Galaga, Pac Man, Kung Fu, Lode Runner, Tetris, and a few more.

All of them are playable, some even including multi language descriptions. There isn't that much more to say about it, it is really just the usual user interface, but with more games.

Technically, anyone can add more games to this, people have done this before. All of these games have unique identifications too, someone could just take the information we have of these IDs, and somewhat appear legitimate if you include nice scans of box arts.

However this would mean someone took the time to write unique descriptions in multiple languages, too, and when you include the rest of the leaked files, there's I think more reasons for its legitimacy.

Hiyoko - GB/C Emulator

Hiyoko is a name that we have seen since the NES Nintendo Switch Online 2.0.0 update, dated December 2018. It had accidental inclusion of SNES game descriptions, which news sites have also covered at the time. Other people have also noticed a couple names as well, part of an emulator type enumeration which I will list:

EMULATOR_TYPE_CANOE

EMULATOR_TYPE_KACHIKACHI

EMULATOR_TYPE_HIYOKO

EMULATOR_TYPE_COUNT

Canoe is known since the SNES Classic Mini as the SNES emulator, Kachikachi is also known since the NES Classic Mini as the NES emulator. Then there's the mention of Hiyoko, and Count.

Count is nothing more than for keeping count of how many emulator types there are, this is pretty standard practice, we can safely say this is not the name of an emulator.

But Hiyoko was an emulator name we haven't heard of before, and lots of speculation arose on what it could be, if it was a Game Boy emulator, a Nintendo 64 emulator, and so on.

Eventually the N64 Nintendo Switch Online app would exist, and takes on the name "Hovercraft". Then we also had rumors of a Game Boy NSO service coming from several reliable people, which could have suggested that Hiyoko could be the GB/C emulator. Turns out that was it.

The archive contains 15 different title IDs, for a total of 23 builds of Hiyoko, each a different standlone app including its own ROM. Only the following games were used:

Super Mario Land

Tetris

Qix

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX

Most of the builds are just optimized builds, and 3 of them are debug builds including pretty much every information necessary for debugging, which also gives us precious information about its development. Those debug builds can't seem to be used at the moment because of a corrupted SDK file? There's also a bunch of weirdness to the files, many Meta and Program NCAs, but an odd amount of Control NCA files…

The version of one of them seems to be v0.0.20190306.dev. When pulling out the third value, the code specifically seperates 2019 03 06, so there's our potential build date here.

So this Game Boy Color emulator has quite a lot of features, and I will try to be clear about them:

Emulates different types of Game Boy screens, like the original Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color, including the screen ghosting effect.

Emulates the Game Boy Advance's GBC Mode, which certain GBC games can detect and unlock features.

Emulates MBC7 partially, the Memory Bank Controller famously used for Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble. The GBC emulator on 3DS Virtual Console would not even boot this game. The tilt sensor and the save is not emulated, but the base code is solid for more.

Supports emulating two Game Boy / Color systems locally with link cable support, enabling local multiplayer on the same system.

Supports rollback with prediction multiplayer netplay.

Supports asymmetric netplay. (I don't know exactly what that means.)

What this essentially means is that NERD seems to be making a pretty robust emulator, the builds we have are a bit buggy, but shows real potential for a better emulator than previously made. The naming also suggests this emulator was made from scratch.

The debug build shows a lot of the way it is programmed, and I have very little doubt in my mind that this is real, this does not correspond to any emulator you could find online.

While I could only try on Yuzu, the Nintendo Switch emulator, which means I won't necessarily have the best performance to play, the emulator seems really legit at first glance.

Sloop - GBA Emulator

Sloop is an odd one. The naming would definitely confuse most people who doesn't know it is a real english word for a type of boat (It did for me). This isn't the only emulator from NERD with this kind of name, I think Canoe, the SNES emulator and Hovercraft, the N64 emulator. Both of them are actually based on other emulators, specifically the Wii U Virtual Console ones which came from other developers than NERD.

The emulator contains a menu made with Dear ImGui, an open source IMGUI library, and used as industry standard for quick debug menu implementations. The menu is seperated into several groups:

Single-player games (1P)

Multi-player scenarios (2P)

ROM patches (monitor bugs)

Image Filters

Selected features

Accuracy testing samples

Clearly, this is meant to be a showcase of features, possibly to higher ups for judging or a proposal of sorts. It supports the following features:

Gamma Change: Lowers the gamma of the screen to alleviate the very bright colors intended for the original GBA screen with no backlight.

LCD Persistence Emulation: Emulates the slight ghosting of the GBA screen, some games actually uses this for certain effects like transparency or anti-aliasing.

ROM Patching.

Supports rewind.

Supports emulating two Game Boy Advance systems locally with link cable support.

Supports netplay with random matchmaking.

The menu shows many ways to make use of these features, the link cable ones are pretty interesting as they show regular multiplayer for a couple games, Trade with Pokémon Pinball, Single Pak Multiplayer exemple so you can play with other players who don't have the cartridge, Golden Sun Clear Save import into Golden Sun The Lost Age.

The ROM patches are mostly the anti-epilepsy kind with less blinking and flashing.

Image Filters shows off the LCD Persistence emulation and Color gamma comparisons with specific games.

Accuracy testing samples includes Nintendo's own test (AGS Aging Test), but also a bunch of open source ones to guarentee accuracy testing. The regular Nintendo test is also a very good test for accuracy in general, and turns out that Sloop actually passes all of the tests except one, which not many emulators can actually do.

Selected features shows features like replays, save importation, the ability to record with rewind supported (TAS?), and the most controversial of all, exporting a save state to the EZ Flash format; Nintendo has been very vocal against flashcarts public, but the developers don't seem to be against using them.

After all, using old development kits with different standards nowadays, can be very annoying and cumbersome. Some would doubt the legitimacy of this because of the mention of illegal flashcarts that Nintendo fought against in public.

I think the emulator's uniqueness is essentially what makes it potentially legit anyway: We haven't yet found any references to other emulators, even the AGS Aging Test results are fairly unique to the emulator.

Inside the emulator files, we find somehow a Git repository with quite a bit of logs from a NERD employee and a Panasonic Vietnam employee for some reason, just for menu, ROM files, save files, etc, the most recent being August 19th, 2020, so this might be our build date, or at least the closest to that.

It is something that can be faked, but god would it require a lot of time for little payoff, honestly?

Conclusion

The thing about this leak, it is very weird that we randomly get builds of official emulators that are dated 2019 and 2020 only now. It makes me question who the heck leaked this.

Because of these build dates, it is not really possible to extrapolate to a potential nearby release regarding those, as they're quite dated by now, and may have changed a lot since in terms of features and stability.

We can't really use this as evidence of those systems and games coming to Nintendo Switch Online in the near future as a result, so I'd just suggest to treat these builds as an exemple of what Nintendo has internally, without any goals in mind. It is not new by Nintendo's standards to keep stuff under wraps until they really need it, unfortunately.

Personally though, due to the uniqueness of the GB/C and GBA emulators, if it was a fake, then someone took a lot of time, and also a lot of knowledge, just to fake us. There's a lot of believable fakes sometimes, but this isn't a fake made with good use of art tools, this is a real thing with serious development put into them. I think all of these builds are legitimate.

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forabeatofadrum · 2 years ago

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Thank you @martsonmars, @cutestkilla and @captain-aralias for the tags. I am dead tired since I was at another Pride all day yesterday, but it was a lot of fun.

You know what’s not fun? Simon being dead! Have six sentences of the upcoming chapter of Time After Time/“damn Baz, you live like this?”:

“You will [look into it]?”

I nod.

After all, I cannot deny his wishes. If he wants me to find a place where I can be comfortable, I will find it. (Is it sad that I care more about Simon’s opinion on my happiness than my own?)

Even in death, Simon Snow has a grip on my life.

And I have some musings about Ebb & Flow under the cut, with the tags.

Wohoo, it is online! It’s being read. I am happy people seem to like it, since y’all might remember I didn’t always like it, but when I read it through before publishing I had a “yeah, this is alright” moment and the art made me even more excited to publish it.

I was an idiot though and I never gave the actual title to my artist, hence the & in the title now. (I guess I use them interchangeably anyway. Ebb and Flow or Ebb & Flow? Who cares.) (I did laugh a lot when I saw “and other Splatoon gibberish” as the subtitle.)

Title talk aside, I actually have a long deleted scene. I usually try to aim for six actual sentences on Sunday, but I guess I am still high on energy from posting and I cannot wait till Wednesday, so here goes:

Avalon has a big smile on their face.

Blaine was listening to some music, so he takes out an earbud.

“We’re gaming again!” Avalon says happily, “Is this the day you’ll finally join us?”

Blaine has his Switch in his bag. He nods and he joins Avalon. The theatre can be a bit of a maze, but Avalon knows the way and after a few weeks, Blaine’s also gotten used to it. The two of them arrive and Avalon introduces Blaine to everyone, including Mr. 21.

Mr. 21 is staring at him with a frown and Blaine immediately straightens up. Hopefully this isn’t the return of grumpy Mr. 21.

But then Mr. 21 gives him a nod and a smile. Others are also very welcoming. Blaine hears some names in passing, but since everyone already knows each other, they unintentionally ignore him at times. Eventually one person suggests Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, since almost everyone with a Nintendo Switch owns that game.

“We do have to use local multiplayer, though,” Blaine quickly says, “I haven’t connected my device to the Wi-Fi yet.”

After all, he mostly uses online play for Splatoon 2. It’s needed for that game.

It’s a lot of fun and Blaine manages to win one round, which leads to Avalon slapping him on the back. Everyone’s really good at Mario Kart, though, so there’s no clear winner. Well, the game puts a crown on the best player’s Mii, but everyone is doing great and that crown gets passed around a lot.

So, it was always an idea to have Kurt and Blaine game during The Street after they became somewhat friendly, but then I realised that that would mean that their offline interactions would come scarily close to the online ones. As in, if you’re playing on your Switch, your friends get a notification that you’re online and what software you’re playing.

Crap.

Now, we’ve noticed in the later chapters that Blaine can be quite dense, even when the blatant evidence of Kurt being Mr. 21 is in front of him, but this cut a bit too close.

I came up with a workaround: Blaine’s Switch wouldn’t be connected to the internet. You only get those notifications when you’re both connected, hence the “I haven’t connected my device to the Wi-Fi yet” part.

But then I realised that Blaine would learn Kurt’s name, since names are displayed while playing Mario Kart 8. And since he’s also obsessed with Kurt (because of the loooove), he’d definitely recognise Kurt’s Mii. So unless I made Kurt play under a screenname, it wasn’t going to work, and we’ve already established that he doesn’t with Splatoon 2, so why would he with Mario Kart?

And that’s why I cut it. Now that they are dating, you bet they play games with other colleagues. Avalon is still the best at Mario Kart 8, though.

Tagging @quizasvivamos @blurglesmurfklaine @coffeegleek @esperantoauthor @otherworldsivelivedin @bookish-bogwitch @caramelcoffeeaddict @thnxforknowingme (get in loser we’re going writing!!) @sillyunicorn @wellbelesbian @excalisbury @artsyunderstudy@bazzybelle @urban-sith @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @dragoneggo @takitalks @tea-brigade @facewithoutheart @ivelovedhimthroughworse

#tagged in #i obvs added the brackets in the first snippet but it's still quite vague #i need to write more i havent written in a while #i gave myself a buffer but i also need to 'refill' that buffer #six sentence sunday

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rivalsforlife · 3 years ago

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AA7 Speculation Post: One Year Later

here we go again.

A year and a day ago, I made a speculation post about if/when we’d ever be seeing AA7. Obviously, my claim that AA7 would be announced in September 2020 did not turn out to be true, but later that year we did get a leaked calendar containing information on the new ports for Chronicles, and also plans for a new aa7, which I summarized in this post.

Now that we have Chronicles we can verify that the leaks contained legitimate information (as if a statement from Capcom saying they were hacked wasn’t legitimate enough). So that leaves us with one key question: is AA7 still happening? If so, when can we expect it? As well, what other information from the leaked calendar can we consider, especially with early sales data on Chronicles? In addition, what are the implications of this new survey on Chronicles from Capcom?

All of that will be discussed under the cut so that this doesn’t take up too much space.

Revisiting The Calendar

Once again, here is a rough translation of the calendar that was present in the leaks:

As a note, in this post, I’ll be referring to our new games as “Chronicles” to prevent this from being blocked by people avoiding spoilers.

So: this original calendar, generated before the pandemic, had Chronicles releasing in Q1 of FY2021 - and it’s also important to note that in Japan, each fiscal year starts in April 1st, so FY2021 is actually April-June 2021. This shows that Chronicles was pushed back about a quarter from their expected release date. However, Chronicles was a port of already existing games, therefore somewhat less work was needed on them - upscaling models and textures, adding in some new features like autoplay and story mode, and of course, the English translation and voicework were needed, which is still a lot of course, but less compared to development on an entirely new game. In addition to that, the pandemic hit AA7 in its early development stage, assuming this schedule was still being followed by the time the pandemic hit. That could cause more delays than expected.

So the original plan was for AA7 to be released in Q3 of 2021, which corresponds to October-December, aligning with the 20th anniversary of the series in October. While it’s a desirable goal, it’s quite likely the pandemic pushed it back at least a quarter, if not more, if not cancelled it entirely. ... haha.

We’ll only know the fate of AA7 for certain when it’s announced. Which it is possible it may never be. However, I have two theories for, if AA7 is getting an announcement, when it will be:

1) Sometime during September 2021, either in the leadup to or during Tokyo Game Show this year. These are for the same reasons as I outlined in my initial speculation post. It’s a popular time for Ace Attorney game announcements, after all. TGS, according to what I can find, will be held online this year from September 30th to October 3rd. If Capcom announces AA7 earlier in September through Famitsu, like they did with AA6 for example, then we can expect to get some information during TGS...

2) Sometime during a 20th Anniversary Event, possibly in October 2021. I’m assuming AA is planning something for the 20th anniversary - Chronicles wasn’t really marketed as a 20th anniversary release, for instance. If they can’t release a new game for the 20th anniversary (which at this rate, seems unlikely, as we’re about two months out from that with no word about it) then an announcement would be just as good at generating hype for it.

Naturally, if we reach this time next year with absolutely no news on AA7, it’s probably safe to say it’s been cancelled or at least delayed so severely that anything we currently know about it isn’t worth much.

There’s one more point of interest on the calendar: reconsidering the porting of 456. I feel that this depends heavily on how well the Chronicles ports are doing; if it’s not financially viable to keep porting games, then why bother? So, let’s take a look at that.

The Success of Chronicles

As I write this, it’s about two and a half weeks since the release of Chronicles worldwide. So... how did the games do? It’s a bit hard to tell, especially as I am not a game marketer and don’t know the expectations for Chronicles. What is obvious is that, if Chronicles does much better than expected, porting 456 and possibly even the investigations games seems likely. (If Chronicles, indeed, does especially well in the West, than a porting of the investigations games and localization of investigations 2 after ten years could very well be possible.) If Chronicles does absolutely terribly, it damages the chances of porting, and possibly of continuing the series. If it does terribly especially in the West, where the games are essentially new, it could damage the chances of any new games being localized at all.

So, a lot is riding on this, and I don’t know enough to tell how well it did. Here’s what I have found, however:

Nintendo Enthusiast reports on Famitsu sales of Switch games, and overall thinks it’s not doing so great. Chronicles ranks third on the list of Switch sales in its first week, with 14,460 units sold, over 4000 less than NEO: The World Ends With You, which was released on July 27th. Keep in mind that Chronicles was released in Japan on July 29th, which is two days later, and that these are only Japanese sales (where they’ve had Chronicles for years on both mobile and 3DS) and only Switch sales, where NEO:TWEWY is currently only available on Switch and PS4 (Chronicles has the additional platform of Steam, where there could be many more sales). In the next week, Chronicles ranked 22 overall, with NEO:TWEWY at 23, though of course they’re still a little less than 4000 units behind NEO:TWEWY overall. Slightly closing the gap, I guess.

How about overseas data, then? ... It’s hard to tell. I can find this report from gamespot which discusses the top 20 games sold in the US in July, and Chronicles is not on the list, while NEO:TWEWY is at 16. However, they don’t give any number for the units sold, and it seems that they aren’t considering digital sales for a lot of them, so it’s hard to tell how much of a hit that is.

However, let’s go back to Japanese sales for a bit, and look at the 2019 Trilogy re-release for a comparison against Chronicles. Allegedly, combined Switch and PS4 sales in the first week of the trilogy’s release only amounted to about 8000 units, a little more than half that of Chronicles’ Switch sales. It’s also important to note that the 2019 trilogy ended up being the only ace attorney game to sell over a million copies. Ace Attorney is not a big series; I’m sure Capcom takes this into account when considering sales data, especially for ports. If Chronicles does end up doing better than the trilogy overall, it’s definitely looking good for ports and especially so for Chronicles.

However, there’s more to this than just sales data.

The Survey

Capcom now has a user survey for Chronicles, which you can answer even if you’re partway through the first game. I believe it’s only open until September 30 2021, so if you think you can finish the game before then, I’d recommend filling it out once you’re done so that you can give the best feedback.

It asks you a bunch of questions like what platform you bought it on, why you bought it, your expectations, and all sorts of detailed questions on the various mechanics, difficulty and enjoyment of the trials and investigations, satisfaction of visuals, plot, characters, music, and even free response sections for what you liked and disliked about the game. It’s a very detailed survey that’s pretty long but I think is worth filling out. At the end they ask you to fill out some demographic questions (such as age, gender (male, female, other), country, what kind of things you like to spend money on, and what kind of games you like, what platforms you have to play games on). But what’s possibly the most interesting question is this:

“If a new [Chronicles] game is released in the future, do you think you would buy it?”

This means that, depending on the answers to the survey, they could very well decide to work on a third game to Chronicles.

This has huge implications for the future of the series. I’ll probably make a separate post on plot-related stuff later, but for now... let’s talk about logistics.

In my initial AA7 speculation post I said I highly doubted that they would ever make another Chronicles game. I also said that they probably never would be localized, so, guess who’s a clown now.

Right now the AA series is in a bit of a dry period, with no new games having been released in the last four years. As well, with Yamazaki (the director of the investigations games and AA5/6) having left Capcom, the next director of the mainline games is completely unknown. As described in this video, the main reason Chronicles ever came about was because Capcom went ahead with mainline AA5 before Takumi could come back from the Layton crossover. Now, since 2017, we don’t really know what Takumi is working on. It’s possible he’s gone back to mainline to work on AA7 (though of course, there is absolutely no evidence suggesting that he has, so definitely don’t take that as any sort of confirmation).

However, if we do get a Chronicles 3, it’s quite likely Takumi would return to work on that, as he directed the previous two games. In addition, if Chronicles ends up being such a success to completely eclipse mainline (from what I’ve heard, though I have no serious proof, Resolve is considered as highly rated as T&T by many Japanese fans) then the series could permanently go down the road of writing more Chronicles games, leaving mainline stagnant (which, let’s be real, it’s already stagnating). The success of that is uncertain considering how neatly our current Chronicles duology wraps up, but... we’ll have to see how things unfold in the future.

For now, I highly recommend filling out the survey to give your input to the series’ future directions. Maybe mention that you want localized investigations 2 somewhere in the free response section because uhh I forgot to do it in mine. do that for me.

TL;DR

Main takeaways from this post are:

- I personally expect an AA7 announcement either during TGS or a 20th anniversary event

- If Chronicles does extremely well, then 456 ports are likely to happen, and I personally speculate investigations ports (along with localized investigations 2) will as well.

- Fill out this Chronicles survey before September 30th to give your input on the games and possibly the future direction of the series. I recommend completing the games before you do, but if you think you won’t before September 30th, you can fill it out at any time.

- We Very Well May Get Another Chronicles Game. Who saw that coming. Not me.

Thanks if you read through all of this, let’s hope September/October doesn’t leave me looking like a fool again.

#aa7 speculation #my posts #ace attorney

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koutarousangel · 4 years ago

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━ the best medicine.

prompt : you tried everything to get rid of the ache residing in your head, so you attempt to turn to kenma for help.

genre : fluffy fluff <3

warning(s) : mentions of migraines and medication

music suggestion : moonlight - ariana grande

author’s note : this one’s shorter than what i usually do BUT it’s cute and i guess it can be filed under drabbles so s’ALL GOOD

contrary to what many people thought, kenma was an incredibly thoughtful and observational, meaning that the minute that something was off with the way that you were acting, he’d know.

he wouldn’t say anything, not because he had his doubts about his hunch, but because he preferred if you came to terms with it and went to talk to him about it.

even though he’d been focused on his work, it being an incredibly important day for the stock market and him having his stream scheduled for later in the day, kenma had picked up on how you were grimacing at your laptop when he’d passed by you to grab a snack.

and how you practically came close to tears the moment he rested his head at the base of the back of your neck and gently massaged underneath your ear with his thumb.

you had a headache, and a bad one at that.

kenma tried telling you to get some rest, but he knew you were stubborn and he wasn’t one to pester you.

he’d be there whenever you wanted him to be.

the steady thrum in your head was purely unbearable, as if there was someone or something pressing on either side of your head, unrelenting.

nothing the internet suggested helped; migraine pills seemed to have worked for a little bit, before the headache just returned with a vengeance, you’d tried both a cold pack and a hot compress because you couldn’t figure out where the headache was originating from, limiting your caffeine intake made you grumpy and drinking more water only made you frequent the bathroom more.

in short, desperate for this migraine to go away and pissed off that you didn’t know how you were going to do that.

your boyfriend’s stream played through your laptop’s speaker, the sound of his voice as he spoke to his viewers being the only thing that wasn’t annoying you at the moment. kenma had told you time and time again that you were able to go into the room where he streamed, but you never wanted to be a disturbance to him.

you smiled as you heard his laughter at whatever his viewers were saying in the chat, but the twinge of pain at the side of your head caused your smile to falter.

with a soft sigh, you decided to close your work, knowing that there wasn’t really a point to trying to get things done while your brain was fighting against you doing just that. you closed all the tabs in your browser except for twitch and let adoration fill your eyes as you rested your head on your arms, praying that the solution for all of this was as simple as resting.

“i’m gonna end the stream there guys. sorry that it’s a bit shorter than i usually do but since we’re doing a twenty-four hour stream next time, i want to take some time for myself. thank you so much for joining, you guys are always great.” kenma gave a two finger salute as a sign off, before turning off the stream and standing from his seat, stretching his arms overhead.

it worried him that despite your headache, you hadn’t come to see him in the room, but he knew your stance on not wanting to interrupt the stream, even if he’d assured you that you wouldn’t a million times over.

with his empty coffee cup in one hand and phone in the other, he made his way to the kitchen, scrolling through the stock market updates, before switching over to his email app.

all thoughts of work dissipated the moment he set foot in the kitchen and he saw you, eyebrows knitted together and jaw tense in your sleep. kenma let out a small sigh and rinsed out the coffee mug and set it in the sink, wiping his hands and making his way over to you.

“baby?” he whispered softly, kneeling next to you and placing his hand on the back of your neck, thumb gently tracing circles in attempt to wake you from your nap. any other situation and he would’ve let you rest, but the position that you were sitting in would only cause you to wake up with an even worse headache, and the nap you were in didn’t seem like a very pleasant one.

a small whimper fell past your lips as your eyes fluttered open and you came face to face with your very concerned boyfriend, “baby, you need to get some proper rest,” kenma murmured softly as he stood, gently tugging on your hand to make you stand up.

in a sleepy, painful haze, you stood, only letting out a groan at the forced movement, but following as your boyfriend led you into your bedroom, taking a seat on the bed and tugging you onto his lap, arms encircling your waist as you wrapped your legs around his hips and rested your head on his shoulder, hand finding its place on the back of your neck once more, making you feel grateful for the warmth that spread through his fingers.

with your cheek pressed against his shoulder, you peered up at him through your eyelashes, the strain on your eyes causing you to grimace and them flutter to a close, “stream was good bubs,” you murmured, words coming out a bit muffled due to your squished cheek, “that game looks fun.”

kenma let out a gentle hum at your words, and you could feel him nod before he pressed a kiss to the side of your head, “we’ll play it sometime,” he spoke, continuing to massage your neck gently, wanting nothing more than to take away the ache that was plaguing your head.

“did you drink water?” you nodded at the question, “take some meds?” another nod that made him sigh, “did you sleep well last night?” this time your nod was hesitant but still happened, “bubs, i felt you get up twice last night and that was after i stopped playing, so it was late.”

you huffed, cursing how observational he was, “the headache had already started then though… not getting enough sleep just made it worse,” the man hummed at your words, nodding in agreement and pressing another kiss to the side of your head, “don’t you need to get clips for your next youtube video?”

kenma shrugged his free shoulder, and jutted his lip out slightly, “i can take a night off, this is more important,” he murmured softly, making you peer through one of your eyes and smile up in adoration at him.

at one point, he felt you get heavier on his shoulder, a telltale sign that you were relaxing and falling asleep; reaching over to the bedside table, he took his nintendo switch into his hands, grimacing slightly as the startup sound was too loud, afraid that it would jostle you out of your slumber, but instead you hummed softly, “can you play animal crossing? i like the sounds,” you mumbled sleepily and how could he turn down such a request?

turns out, none of the remedies that were offered online worked until you were in this position, because as sleep took over your body, the headache began to dull and there was no longer a pinch between your eyebrows or tension in your jaw, just love and a sense of peace settled in your heart.

#haikyu x reader #haikyuu x reader #haikyu imagines #kenma x reader #kozume kenma x reader #kozume kenma imagine #haikyuu imagines #not as long as the usual ones bUT mad cute so

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sophistopheles · 4 years ago

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Where’s Ace Attorney 7?

A few days ago it was the third anniversary of the most recent Ace Attorney game, Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2- which means we’re going through a 36-month hiatus; longer than any we’ve had before, excluding the gap between Trials & Tribulations and Apollo Justice.

So what gives? Why haven’t we seen AA7 yet? Will we ever see it in the future, or is the franchise dead?

Well, I have a few theories for the first question, and some evidence concerning the second. This will probably get long, so I’ll put it under a cut.

Why is this hiatus so long?

Theory #1: Difficulties in porting the franchise to Switch

Ace Attorney has been on handhelds for its whole lifespan, so the sudden change to consoles may be slightly problematic in terms of gameplay- forensic evidence mechanics, the loss of a touchscreen, etc. The problem with this theory is that by all (w)rights, it should already be resolved; a port of the Trilogy already came to consoles last year, fingerprinting and all, and it worked just fine. It’s possible that creating a new AA game from scratch is difficult in its own way, and/or producing games for multiple platforms takes longer, but it doesn’t account for such a long delay.

Then again, Switch games might just take longer to make. I’d rather have a well-crafted AA game every three years than a rushed/poorly-made one every year.

Theory #2: Difficulties in finding a new director for the franchise

As most people know, Yamazaki, the director for the AAI duology, AA5, and AA6, left Capcom about a month ago. However, he said all the way back when SoJ was released that he only really stayed as AA’s director because of the fans, and also had Fuse, the games’ artist, step up as co-director for SoJ.

Takumi, the original trilogy/Apollo Justice/DGS writer and director, should theoretically have been available since 2018, but he has stated that he’s done with Phoenix’s story, and given that his last games haven’t sold very well (more because of marketing and bad timing than any flaws in the games, but I digress) it’s not guaranteed that he will return for AA7. Maybe if he does, we’ll get some answers to the many loose ends and questions left by AA4, but given that Apollo’s relocated to Khura’in as of the end of AA6, that’s not guaranteed either.

This leaves the only other candidate, co-director of SoJ Takuro Fuse. Personally I think his involvement as a full-on director in the future is quite likely, for reasons I’ll explain later.

Theory #3: We were supposed to get a game in 2019

This is just a pet theory of mine, but hear me out.

Dai Gyakuten Saiban was originally supposed to be a trilogy of games, until the Switch absolutely flattened the 3DS as the definitive Nintendo handheld, and Takumi decided to compress the remaining two games into just DGS2. This is why the third-case culprit and twists in DGS2 feel so sudden; the culprit was supposed to appear all throughout DGS2, and be arrested at the end, with DGS2-3’s big twist as a finale cliffhanger. DGS3 would have then completed the story.

My point is that DGS3 was likely slated for a 2019 release, given the release pattern of DGS (2015) and DGS2 (2017). That would have lessened the current three-year hiatus to just a two-year one, more standard for the AA franchise.

Theory #4: The franchise is dead, there are no plans for more games.

I find this difficult to believe given that Capcom is still creating content, running café promotions, releasing ports, and has stated plans for more AA games in the past, but I have to acknowledge the possibility.

Is Ace Attorney 7 coming soon?

After the 2018 Kotaku UK rumour (suggesting that ports of all six games and a new game were going to be released on the Switch by the end of 2018’s fiscal year) was disproven, I almost lost hope for any future AA games- but this year, there’s been a lot to suggest something’s coming soon.

1. The July 2020 Café

This one pretty much explains itself. If Capcom has decided to put money towards a café feature that promotes both the Trilogy and Apollo Justice- with Klavier and Apollo both featuring prominently on the café’s menu and in its merchandise- it stands to reason that they’re doing something with it. You don’t promote a franchise if there’s nothing to promote, after all.

2. The Café Art

So, remember two months ago when Ace Attorney dropped this new official art of Phoenix, Edgeworth, Maya, Apollo and Klavier, and the fandom lost their shit to the point of Ace Attorney trending on tumblr for about half an hour? Well, what I personally found most interesting was the style of the piece- because it was new. A quick scroll through Capcom Café’s twitter proved that as far as I can tell, when non-chibi art is called for, the official artists of the brand in question are the ones to draw the art. So who drew this one?! I could rule out Iwamoto, Fuse, Suekane and Nuri by their styles (Apollo especially looks quite unfamiliar)- so unless there’s someone I’ve forgotten, it seems like there’s a new Ace Attorney official artist.

And, well… they don’t hire new artists for fun. This artist, whoever they are, probably weren’t hired for a one-time café promotion either; as far as I know, most of the old AA artists are still working at Capcom. They’re probably doing something for the franchise.

Remember when I said Fuse, AA5/6’s art director, was a candidate for full time director? My personal theory is that he’s become the main director, and this new artist has taken his role as art director. It’s all speculation, of course, but it stands up to scrutiny.

3. Capcom X B-Side Label Maya Acrylic

Capcom have also had a recent merch collab with B-Side Label, and a certain merch image of Maya stood out to me… because it’s an entirely new design.

I could understand if it was only a discrepancy in the fact that she has four necklace beads while appearing to be an adult, or that she has arm guards but lacks an under-robe; they’re minor details. But to leave out her topknot, one of the most distinctive parts of her design?! Either the artist made a major mistake and no one called them up on it, or it was intentional- that this is a design meant to be an older and wiser Maya, who we’ll see in an upcoming game. I wouldn’t be surprised.

4. The 20th Anniversary

This is more of a meta point than anything else, but it’ll soon be 2021, the twentieth anniversary of Ace Attorney. AA is usually very good with anniversaries; in 2011 (10th anniversary) we got Investigations 2, and in 2016 (15th anniversary) we got both SoJ and an AA anime. I think if they’re ever going to release AA7, they’ll do it next year: at the very least, we’ll have another orchestra and more official art. And with TGS 2020 hosted online and fast approaching, I’m hoping for news very soon!

Either way, the future of Ace Attorney isn’t as dark as it seems! Keep your hopes up!

#ace attorney #aa7 #speculation #phoenix wright #soph's meta #this will either age like wine or milk #mine

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vgdensetsu · 4 years ago

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Gigaleak, preservation, emulation and content dissemination

(la version française de cet article est disponible ici)

On November 21, 1992, the sequel to the most widespread Mega Drive title was released in both Japan and South Korea, then in the rest of the world. In spite of itself, this game made many people want to find out what had happened to all those elements that had been cut during development. A few months earlier, when Sega started to show its future hit to the press, the public got a glimpse of levels such as Hidden Palace, an area absent from the final version. This wasn't the first time such an event had occurred; other sometimes equally popular titles such as Super Mario Bros. 3 have encountered the same fate, either through press coverage or via screenshots featured on the game's box. But Sonic 2 has one point that sets it apart from most other titles, in addition to its popularity: a development version was stolen a few months before the game hit the shelves. According to Yuji Naka, programmer and figurehead of the license at the time, a cartridge was stolen at a trade show in New York. His former colleague Akinori Nishiyama, meanwhile, says Sega had been hacked. In any case, this version was marketed in markets where cartridges produced without an official license were common, before being found in 1999 on a Chinese website as a ROM. Named after the person who found the ROM, the Simon Wai prototype features an unfinished version of a level that was thought to be never playable: Hidden Palace. The popularity of the license helping, amateurs started to collect documents of all types in order to identify all the differences between the versions marketed by Sega and the numerous screenshots and other development versions found over the years.

A preview published in the October 1992 issue of the British magazine Mega. 2 of the 3 levels shown here do not appear in the final version of the game.

Since Sonic 2, a lot of development versions and design documents have found their way on the net with more or less echo and communities of amateur researchers have gathered around sites such as The Cutting Room Floor, Unseen64 or Hidden Palace. On February 23, 2008, the latter put online a thousand development versions of games produced by Sega or released on Sega consoles after buying archives disks containing the games in question, sometimes with several dozen versions per title. However, the data leakage that Nintendo is experiencing in recent months seems unparalleled in terms of volume and variety of content.

In April 2020, development versions of various episodes of Pokémon, as well as source code, development tools and graphics from intermediate versions were released. Before that, in 2018 and 2019, a development version of Pokémon Gold and Silver (the "Spaceworld 1997 demo", named after the show where it was presented), assets of Pokémon Red and Green then Pokémon Diamond and Pearl had leaked on the net. In the days that followed, other types of content appeared on 4chan: official documentation relating to a number of Nintendo consoles including the Wii, the Nintendo 64, the 64DD, the iQue Player, a technical demo produced for the Nintendo 64, source code written for Super Mario 64, Powerpoints and internal correspondence from several companies for a total of about 29,000 documents. A second batch of data began to appear on July 24th and found an echo that goes far beyond technical enthusiasts and console clone producers. A large amount of content relating to some of the most popular titles and licenses in the history of video games (Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing, StarFox) has been put online, linked on 4chan then distributed on the rest of the Internet. Development versions of Super NES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance games, as well as source codes, graphic assets, 3D animation tests, sound effects and uncompressed music, 2D and 3D illustrations, logos, level editors, conversations between developers, visuals for a website, documents relating to the Wii, etc.

The origins of the leak Nintendo has been the subject of several attacks in recent years. Of those that have come to light, one resulted in the leakage of information about the Switch prior to its release, another involved source codes obtained from dozens of companies, but the one that most closely corresponds to the present case - generally called the Gigaleak - was carried out in 2018 by a man named Zammis Clark, a British security researcher and former Malwarebytes employee, a company specialised in detecting and removing malicious software. In 2015, he hacked VTech's servers, revealing that the company had illegally collected the data of nearly 200,000 children. He also revealed vulnerabilities in apps from manufacturers such as Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba as well as in a tool used in UK schools and developed by Impero. In 2017, he hacked some of the Microsoft servers and stole tens of thousands of files before sharing access to these servers with others. After being arrested and released on bail, he hacked Nintendo's internal network in March 2018. In its official communication, the Japanese company only mentioned the theft of a few thousand IDs and passwords as well as access to data relating to games in development at the time. However, Ganix, the man who released the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl sprites in December 2019, explained in an interview he gave to LavaCutContent a few days later that the various leaked content relating to Pokémon (including the Spaceworld 1997 demo released in May 2018, the month Nintendo realised it had been hacked by Clark) all came from a hack done in March 2018 by a man who goes by the pseudonym "Wack0". We know since the Impero affair that Wack0 is none other than Clark's pseudonym - a letter written by Impero and addressed to Clark in 2015 links the two names. Clark had shared these files with Ganix, who decided on his own initiative to leak them in December 2019, thus betraying Clark's confidence in him. The 4chan thread with which the Gigaleak started in July 2020 seems to refer to this event by its title: "ppg leak time: fuck ganix".

Because of his profile - Clark has a form of autism and suffers from prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize and identify faces - the judge felt that he would be at too great a risk if sent to prison. He was sentenced in 2019 to a 15-month suspended prison sentence and subject to a 5-year judicial review.

The presence of files relating to the iQue Player and the BroadOn company among the leaked documents suggests that the hacker accessed BroadOn’s servers, a company founded by Wei Yen who also co-founded iQue with Nintendo. Due to the legal restrictions in effect in China from 2000 to 2015, Nintendo had to make a joint venture to enter this market and develop a variant of the Nintendo 64 - the iQue Player. BroadOn is one of Nintendo's collaborators and has developed software for the Wii as well as for the iQue Brand (which includes game consoles such as the Game Boy Advance, the DS and the 3DS).

The iQue Player (picture by Evan Amos)

While Nintendo is the main target of this leak, other companies have also been affected by the ripple effect. Among them are Capcom, Konami and M2 (which is the current holder of the rights to the Aleste series). Assets and development versions of some of their games released on Super Famicom are now in the wild. Among them are Megaman X, Super Ghouls'n Ghosts, Super Castlevania IV, Axelay, Parodius Da!, Ganbare Goemon and Super Aleste. Since the release of Collection of Mana, it is public knowledge that Nintendo keep content produced by other companies in its archives. Masaru Oyamada, producer of the Mana series, said that this compilation was made possible by Nintendo, which allowed Square-Enix to recover the various source codes of these games.

In the wake of the Gigaleak, the source code for the Xbox Unreal Championship 2 game has been put online, along with numerous design documents. Epic Games' servers had been hacked in 2011 without the identity of the visitor being revealed; it cannot be excluded that the files in question originated from this attack and that the author of the hack kept them until that day on July 30, 2020. The link between this leak and the Gigaleak is not yet certain. In such a case, it is unlikely that anyone would publicly claim responsibility for the leak.

On the authenticity of the leaked content When a console prototype, a development version of a popular game or from a major license surfaces, it is customary to take it with a pinch of salt, in case someone came up with the idea of pulling a hoax or to replenish his bank account by trying to sell a fake. In the case of the contents leaked in 2020, since Nintendo hasn't officially commented on the case despite the requests made by Vice.com and LeMonde.fr, the doubt persists and the volume of data is such that it will be difficult to authenticate everything file by file. Nevertheless, Dylan Cuthbert, former developer of Argonaut who later joined Nintendo, recognised one of the tools developed for Starfox 2. In addition, in a number of cases, developers at the company have in the past provided clues suggesting that at least some of the content is authentic. This includes some rejected designs for Yoshi from Super Mario World, already unveiled in 2017.

A sprite sheet created by Shigefumi Hino during the development of Super Mario World, one year before the game’s release.

There are also quotes from developers about the presence of Luigi in Super Mario 64 and adult Mario in Yoshi's Island (both of which were set aside during development), characters in overalls in Super Mario Kart before it was decided to set the game in the Mario universe and a circuit from Mario Kart 64 located in a city but deemed too big. The same goes for the Zelda license: Yoshiaki Koizumi said he made a polygonal version of Link as part of a prototype adaptation of Zelda II for the Super Famicom, Eiji Aonuma explained that the cycle of Majora's Mask originally lasted not three days but a week and Link's Awakening was originally thought to be an adaptation of A Link to the Past - the world map of the latter made with the engine of the former has been found. Regarding Dragonfly, one of the very first Super Famicom titles shown to the public in 1988 before being renamed Pilotwings, the different screenshots published in magazines correspond to the version that leaked. While this is not an absolute proof of its authenticity - in 2012, a fan recreated an early version of Sonic 1 using screenshots as references -, the sum of clues previously cited and the large amount of documents posted online make the hoax thesis unlikely.

This leak also contains a lot of files that are difficult to identify, mainly because the names used for the files and directories are not always very explicit and some titles had never been publicly shown before or in another form. Examples include Sleep, an unfinished mouse-playable Super Famicom game (which may have been announced under the title "Black Out" in 1992), Super Donkey, another unfinished title with a number of visual similarities to Yoshi's Island, or Link's profile sprites for which we can only make guesses. Plunging into this maze of repertories requires patience as well as certain skills. Let's take the case of a game: each game has its own CVS file (named after the software used by Nintendo). A CVS file may contain several versions of a game, like a log of its evolution: an early version, a more advanced version with some elements that differ from the final version, the final version, etc. These files are not ROMs that could be launched in an emulator in 3 clicks. You have to compile the source code of the game you want to launch first, if there is source code.

Private conversations There is one point on which the leak doesn't seem to have been publicly praised: the posting of private conversations. Since April 2020, conversations between employees from various companies (Nintendo, BroadOn, then Argonaut in July) have been circulating on the net, in particular exchanges between Argonaut employees that took place in the early 90s, when some of them came to work at Nintendo in Japan. In addition to the fact that these are private correspondence - which already poses legal and moral issues - some of the excerpts shared online highlight issues that echo recent cases involving other companies, particularly on the subject of sexism and sexual harassment. In this case, the problem is twofold: there is, of course, the harassment itself (unsolicited pornographic images), but also the fact that the subject has come up without the victims having chosen to deal with it themselves.

This case illustrates the fact that video game preservation requires a minimum of methodology and should not necessarily result in the unregulated dissemination of any content relating to the development of a game or the history of a society. On the rest of the leak, opinions are very divided. Some people welcome it unreservedly; others have a mixed or even negative opinion, with the question of preservation and its modalities itself being debated.

Preservation Video game preservation is a race against time that began years ago, but the rules to be applied are still being discussed. A part of the public considers that everything that is not yet available as a ROM or ISO on the net should be dumped and shared. In 2019, a notorious collector, owner of one of the 3 knonw copies of the arcade game Akka Arrh, claimed that someone came to his home to unknowingly dump the ROM of the game in question and put it online. This is one of the most extreme cases known (if true), but it raises another issue: does preservation necessarily have to be illegal? The ROMs of commercial games you can find on the net (excluding the official websites such as the Nintendo eShop) are copies that contravene intellectual property law, whether they are final or intermediate versions, marketed or not. As early as 1993-94, consoles such as the NES, Super NES and Mega Drive had their dedicated emulator and with them ROMs that could be found via BBS. Already at that time, there were ROMs of development versions, some of which seem to have disappeared from the net because of their low distribution. These generally come either from developers who kept cartridges, CDs or files on hard disk, or from journalists who did the same with preview versions. In both cases, it is likely that they were not supposed to keep possession of them, let alone resell them years later to individuals. The amount of money exchanged for these copies has skyrocketed over the last 20 years. What might have been worth a hundred dollars in the early 2000s is now steadily rising to over a thousand. The illegal nature of the Gigaleak is nothing new in this field, but it may have been shocking in terms of its scale and the fact that the content was not obtained through a transaction (even if what made it possible is of questionable legality).

In 1979, while Namco was conducting a location test of Galaxian in a coffee shop, the game's PCB was swapped and duplicated, making it one of the first commercial titles with a beta version that ended up in the wild even before the final (and official) version was released.

Legislation in countries such as Japan, France or the United States is not so much a hindrance to the preservation as it is to the dissemination of ROMs and ISOs. We can certainly deplore the inadequacy of state initiatives as well as the meagre budgets allocated to the preservation of video games - in 2017, during a symposium on the preservation of video game preservation held at the BNF (National Library of France), its audiovisual department confessed that the budget allocated for video games was much lower than that obtained by the film sector with an average of 5,000 to 6,000 euros per year, going up to 8,000 euros in good years. It covers the acquisition of missing games (those who fell through the cracks of legal deposit), storage costs (the room where the games and machines are kept must remain at a constant temperature), etc. But the current legislation is an obstacle to preservation mainly in special cases such as video games with child pornographic content, games that companies such as Enix sometimes published in the early 1980s in Japan.

The Game Preservation Society, an entity based in Japan, does not have the task of putting online copies of the (sometimes very rare) games that it keeps in its archives, but of preserving them. Private individuals can also call on it to make backups of titles from their collection, the purpose of a private backup being to prevent damage to the programme's storage medium (cassettes, floppy disks, CDs, etc.). This policy is sometimes met with incomprehension or even disapproval from a certain fringe of the public who tirelessly demand the games' ROMs. OK, but which games? Websites that share ROMs without the agreement of their rights holders have a definite advantage over game publishers: almost all the games released on some of the most popular consoles can be found on the net. Few publishers are able to exploit their entire catalogue on a continuous basis for reasons as diverse as lack of resources, rights problems in the event of third-party licenses, or lack of commercial interest. If you want to try out the entire Mega Drive library, either you buy the 900 or so cartridges published in the past, or you download an emulator and the corresponding ROMset, thus breaking the law. It gets even more complicated with games that were playable online or available for sale in digital form only if the relevant service has closed. Abandonware-France, a website created in 2000 where you can find thousands of PC games and video game-related magazines, has adopted a clear line excluding games that are still commercially exploited as well as those released after 2000. It's less an ideal solution than a default solution - it doesn't solve the legality issue, since the games haven't yet fallen into the public domain - but it has no impact on publishers' sales, which is still one of the surest ways to get through the bullets. Other websites have been less cautious on this point by making available content that is still commercially exploited. Due to its special status, Internet Archives makes it possible to play (but not download) thousands of old games online, including titles that are still commercially exploited (Sonic 1 for example) but with the notable exception of Nintendo games or games released on Nintendo systems. In 2016, the Japanese company took down the Nintendo Power issues that were available for download at the digital library, stating that "The unapproved use of Nintendo's intellectual property can weaken our ability to protect and preserve it, or to possibly use it for new projects”. On June 1, 2020, four book publishers sued the Internet Archive after its National Emergency Library project went online, a project with which the library lent out digitized versions of books that are still commercially available. The outcome of this lawsuit could have an impact on the fate of the site and the different types of content that can be found there.

If you're interested in development versions, having a well-stocked wallet won't be of much help as legally accessible versions are rare. Sega provided us with a few exceptions by including both the final and an intermediate version of Gunstar Heroes in "Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box". Probably unintentionally, the version of Revenge of Shinobi featured in "Sega Smash Pack Volume 1" on PC is a development version. As for “Silent Hill HD Collection”, the choice to base these adaptations of Silent Hill 2 and 3 on intermediate versions (retouched for the occasion) was made by default.

Finally, there is the question of making the design documents available, which again relies largely on the good will of the publishers. In addition to the interviews and documents published on specialized sites and magazines, many artbooks including illustrations, concept art and/or excerpts from design documents have been released in Japan since the end of the 1980s, followed by the US market in the early 2000s and more recently by France. Although it is not the first representative of its category, Sonic Jam has long been a reference in terms of compilation by offering galleries of documents, information and sometimes previously unseen videos in addition to the first Mega Drive episodes. In 2002, Final Fantasy X came bundled with a making of, following in the footsteps of the movie industry Square was looking towards at the time. For the past few years, some of the games produced by Sony have been the subject of making of accompanying their release and many independent developers regularly communicate on the progress of their games, both on social networks and through their blogs. However, not all games have their own journal or post-mortem. This is where initiatives such as the one launched by the Conservatoire National du Jeu Vidéo in France take over. The latter meets with developers and development companies and requests that part of their archives be made available to the public, with varying degrees of success. Other organizations such as the Musée Bolo in Switzerland (which was given archives by former Infogrames CEO Bruno Bonnell) and Internet Archive have hosted documents of this type.

The issue of preservation is not only a public issue, as companies are (or should be) concerned as well. Apart from exceptional cases such as the Great Hanshin earthquake that destroyed part of the Konami Archives in 1995, development companies rarely communicate about the loss of documents. One of the reasons for this is that in many cases they have disposed of all or part of their archives themselves. In 2016, 2 Namco employees started the Archive Project to save 350 boxes of documents from the dumpster. The two men had to convince their company to release a budget for this project even though the latter was planning to dispose of the boxes to avoid incurring new storage costs. At Square Enix, on the other hand, some files could not be saved in time and some games' source codes were lost. In addition to the Mana series previously mentioned, we know that the source code of the PlayStation version of Final Fantasy VIII has disappeared, forcing the developers of the HD version to fall back on the code of the PC version whose music is slightly different. Same with the first episode of Kingdom Hearts; the developers of the 1.5 HD Remix version had to analyze in depth a commercial copy and recreate many assets. An example that echoes the story a developer posted in 2010 in which he explained that, as part of a port of various Midway arcade games, the editor in charge of the project was unable to get his hands on the source code of Spy Hunter, so he had to download the game's ROM in order to extract the graphics via MAME and retrieve the sound files from a fan site, among other things.

---- Interlude: source code----- Having the ROM of a game does not mean you have the source code of that game. While there are thousands of ROMs of commercial games on the net, source codes are much rarer. In 2012, Jordan Mechner released the source code for the Apple II version of Prince of Persia, which he wrote alone and for which he is the owner, even though the licensing rights now belong to Ubisoft. More unexpectedly, it was discovered in 2014 that a large part of the source code for the NeoGeo version of Art of Fighting was in a file from its adaptation on PC Engine CD. In all likelihood, the developers of this version had access to the source code of the original version, which was mistakenly included in all copies of the game. In theory, having the source code of a game facilitates its adaptation on another support since, from one version to another, one can reuse a more or less important part of it, thus reducing the workload and the development costs. The loss of a game's source code therefore greatly reduces the chances of seeing a remastered version of the game. The fallback solution when it is an old game originally released on console or arcade is to use a ROM and an emulator, as it has been done on many compilations or re-releases of arcade games since the early 2000s.

The Nintendo case The source code for several Nintendo games and systems is now available on the net. Some might see this as a public backup, but the various leaks that happened since 2018 tend to prove that Nintendo knows how to preserve its data (at least for some time) and doesn't necessarily need outside help. There are several rumours about Nintendo that have not yet been confirmed. One of them is that the source code for The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening has been lost, a hypothesis that arose after studying the source code for the DX version of the game, released five years later for Game Boy Color. Another rumour claims that Nintendo is downloading the ROMs for its own NES games, a rumour that found an echo in 2016 after a lecture on emulation was given at the Game Developer Conference. However, if the NES game ROMs used by Nintendo for its Virtual Console look like the ones circulating on the rest of the net, maybe it's because at least one of the persons hired by the Japanese manufacturer to dump the ROMs of its games - Tomohiro Kawase - contributed to the group (iNES) that was dumping ROMs of those same games before joining the company.

The argument that Nintendo is a temple from which nothing comes out seems somewhat exaggerated. The company's games may not have been the subject of as many artbooks as Square Enix's, which, when it doesn't lose its source codes, knows how to showcase its heritage, but it has published many documents in the past relating to series such as Mario and Zelda (which was recently the subject of a series of artbooks), has released new games or versions of new games (Starfox 2 on the Super NES Mini, the European version of Drill Dozer on the Wii U Virtual Console), not to mention the "Iwata Asks" series, which we'd like to see an equivalent in all other development companies. The sense of secrecy that some people might see in Nintendo is probably due in part to the fact that the public is more interested in it than in most of its competitors. The popularity of some of its licenses has few equivalents in the world of video games and pop culture in general. The fact that we still discover old, unreleased Nintendo games nowadays is nothing unusual; tons of games are cancelled without having had a chance to be officially announced.

On the age of the content put online Two arguments are regularly put forward to minimize the significance of the Gigaleak. According to the first one, the content in question is old and therefore less sensitive or of lesser value than if it were recent documents. This is forgetting that Nintendo has more than once taken ideas or concepts that are sometimes decades old out of its boxes. During the 2007 Game Developers Conference, Shigeru Miyamoto went back over the concept of Miis and explained that it had undergone several changes over the years, starting as a demo on the Famicom Disk System, then reappearing on Super Famicom and 64DD before finally finding its way to the Wii in 2006. The Mario series has also had its share of ideas that have been put aside then used in later episodes. The idea of straddling a mount, for example, was first suggested during the development of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) before being adopted in Super Mario World (1990) with Yoshi. Miyamoto had originally envisioned a horse, but he kept the idea for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998). A simultaneous multiplayer mode was experimented with at the time of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) and will only be included in the series starting with New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009). Finally, one of the sprites from Super Donkey bears some resemblance with one of those appearing in Super Mario Maker, by its concept.

Top: Super Donkey. Bottom: Super Mario Maker.

The second argument concerns the damage suffered by Nintendo and reveals a difference in treatment with what happened in April 2020 when a development version of The Last of Us 2 leaked a few weeks before the game's release. Messages of disapproval and support for the developers seem to have been more popular than those welcoming the leak. In the case of the Gigaleak, Nintendo has often been perceived as a big company, an abstract entity, thus obscuring the fact that its games are also the sum of the work of a group of individuals. In legal terms, unless otherwise stated, the fruit of the work produced within a company is the property of the company. On a personal level, it often happens that a developer has a particular attachment to what he produces.

Dylan Cuthbert, in response to a person asking him how he felt, a few hours after the July 24th leak.

While some developers may have been in favour of releasing development versions - Yuji Naka tried to find the prototype of the first Sonic publicly shown in June 1990 to include it in Sonic Mega Collection - or even production documents - Jordan Mechner published the journals he kept during the development of Karateka and Prince of Persia - others are less enthusiastic about making such files available. By definition, a development version is not a finished product, and while it is natural for a finished product to be made public, this is not necessarily the case with everything relating to the development process. This is not exclusive to video games: many illustrators are reluctant to show their sketches, works in progress or unfinished drawings, no matter how old theirs works are, and the same is true of writers and musicians. As with private conversations, there is the question of respect for developers and their consent. This is obviously not a small obstacle for anyone who wants to preserve and share all the documents relating to the history of video games, but it seems difficult to me to do the work of an archivist or historian (who relies on the work of developers) if it means harming some of these developers even slightly. Of course, you have to hope that as much information as possible will come out and you can work on it in different ways, but you also have to set limits on the methods you can use and not just reason in legal and/or material terms.

Consequences It is difficult to measure how much will come out of this case, as other elements may be added in the coming days or weeks. Now that the leaked content is circulating, Nintendo will have a hard time getting it off the net and can expect clones of consoles using its own source codes to be produced and marketed in certain countries.

Regarding the emulation scene, it's a bit more complicated. In 1999, source code and documents relating to the Nintendo 64 leaked from Silicon Graphic Inc, a company that produced processors for the Nintendo 64. Known as the Oman Archive, this content was used in the early days of Nintendo's system emulation, which led to quick results. But this use of an illegally obtained code subject to intellectual property law was also a liability for the emulation scene of this machine, which took years to get rid of. Most of the other emulators available online are legal since they were developed with their own code. It's to avoid breaking the law that console BIOSes often have to be downloaded separately (like the source code, BIOS are copyrighted). The appearance of the Wii source code is therefore a poisoned gift for developers of amateur emulators. It may allow them to understand how Nintendo has done this or that, but they can't reuse it even partially without breaking the law.

Nintendo has probably already apologised to Capcom, Konami and M2 whose files have also ended up on the web. As for the rest, we can only speculate. Will publishers become aware of the interest of a part of their audience in the making of their games and offer more content to satisfy this curiosity (videos from their archives, books, making of, etc.) or, on the contrary, will they lock the doors of their archives by throwing the key into a well? Will security and control on the net increase, further restricting the distribution of certain types of content, be it fan games, ROMs - two categories that Nintendo has been fighting hard against in recent years - or Youtube videos showing things that publishers would prefer not to see on the net (like, say, glitches from Animal Crossing: New Horizons)? Or maybe nothing will change.

Sources : Sonic 2 https://web.archive.org/web/20051104100754/http://xbox.gamespy.com/articles/654/654750p4.html https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Team_interview_by_Kikizo_(November_30,_2005) Hidden Palace http://info.sonicretro.org/February_23,_2008_Proto_Release Pokémon Gold 1997 prototype (2018) https://twitter.com/sanquii/status/1002107775651057664 Pokémon 2019 leak https://lavacutcontent.com/pokemon-beta-leaker-statement/ https://helixchamber.com/2019/02/16/what-dreams-may-come/ April-May 2020 leak https://resetera.com/threads/the-nintendo-leak-saga-continues-biggest-nintendo-leak-in-history-full-source-code-design-files-for-wii-released-online.196683/ https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-nintendo-leak-saga-continues-biggest-nintendo-leak-in-history-full-source-code-design-files-for-wii-released-online.196683/post-32917584 https://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-suffers-huge-leak-source-code-and-design-files-for-wii-appearing-online/ https://twitter.com/Zetsuboushitta/status/1256320740527239168 https://twitter.com/LuigiBlood/status/1256543745794879488 recent leaks: 1 Ryan Hernandez https://www.thegamer.com/man-leaked-nintendo-switch-prison-charges/ https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/california-man-who-hacked-nintendo-servers-steal-video-games-and-other-proprietary 2 Tillie Kottmann https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/source-code-from-dozens-of-companies-leaked-online/ 3 Zammis Clark https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/28/18286027/microsoft-nintendo-vtech-security-hack-breach-researcher-guilty https://lavacutcontent.com/pokemon-beta-leaker-statement/ Mail sent by Impero to Zammis Clark - Wack0 https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-fRcZ1TWHaDkwz-Ea/Letter%20to%20Mr%20Zammis%20A%20Clark%20dated%2013%20July%202015_djvu.txt BroadOn + iQue https://wiki.mariocube.com/index.php/IQue#BroadOn July 2020 leak https://boards.4channel.org/vp/thread/44305551/ppg-leak-time-fuck-ganix https://www.resetera.com/threads/update-super-mario-64-and-oot-source-leaked-massive-nintendo-data-leak-source-code-to-yoshis-island-a-link-to-the-past-f-zero-and-more.254724/page-62 Aleste and M2 https://twitter.com/M2_STG/status/1014031712672571393 Collection of Mana https://gameinformer.com/preview/2019/06/11/decades-in-the-making Vice, Lemonde.fr and Nintendo https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7kp7bx/a-massive-leak-of-nintendo-source-code-is-causing-chaos-in-video-games https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2020/07/31/nintendo-ce-que-l-on-sait-de-la-fuite-supposee-de-documents-lies-aux-jeux-video_6047809_4408996.html Cuthbert and Starfox 2 https://twitter.com/dylancuthbert/status/1286789583061934080 Mario World sprite sheet https://topics.nintendo.co.jp/article/cb34ab17-9135-11e7-8cda-063b7ac45a6d Luigi in Super Mario 64 https://shmuplations.com/mario64/ Adult Mario in Yoshi's island http://shmuplations.com/yoshi/ Super Mario Kart before Mario https://twitter.com/toruzz/status/1287400639165861888 http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/mariokart/0/0 Mario Kart 64 circuit http://shmuplations.com/mariokart64/ https://twitter.com/AeroArtwork/status/1288299965954088966?s=19 Zelda II SFC in 3D http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/zelda-ocarina-of-time/1/1 Zelda OOT in Ganondorf's Castle https://twitter.com/AeroArtwork/status/1287524648222105607 7 day cycle in Zelda: Majora's Mask https://twitter.com/Zen64_/status/1287582698085777408 http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/majoras-mask-3d/0/0 https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/18/8064257/majoras-mask-three-day-timer-week DragonFly https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/14/pilotwings-snes-proto/ Sonic 1 fan recreation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHtzXzu2BDA Argonaut https://twitter.com/corentin_lamy/status/1286932458173276161 https://www.resetera.com/threads/update-super-mario-64-and-oot-source-leaked-massive-nintendo-data-leak-source-code-to-yoshis-island-a-link-to-the-past-f-zero-and-more.254724/post-40826655 Unreal Championship 2 https://twitter.com/Sinoc229/status/1288680503801860096 https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/06/11/epic-games-website-forums-hacked Akka Arrh https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/after-a-lost-atari-rom-leaks-retro-fans-ask-was-it-stolen/ Galaxian https://www.4gamer.net/games/999/G999905/20180313040/ Firsts emulators https://emulation.miraheze.org/wiki/History_of_emulation Namco's Archive Project https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1205387.html Spy Hunter http://web.archive.org/web/20110925185703/http://www.ppl-pilot.com.nyud.net/mame.aspx Prince of Persia https://github.com/jmechner/Prince-of-Persia-Apple-II On the CNJV, Musée Bolo and BNF : "colloque: la conservation du patrimoine vidéoludique" (2017). Nintendo Power, Internet Archive https://www.polygon.com/2016/8/8/12405278/nintendo-power-issues-disappear-from-free-online-archive http://blog.archive.org/2020/06/01/four-commercial-publishers-filed-a-complaint-about-the-internet-archives-lending-of-digitized-books/ Nintendo ROMs https://www.resetera.com/threads/tomohiro-kawase-mightve-been-hired-by-nintendo-to-put-rom-headers-into-vc-updated-dec-1-2018.64755/ https://twitter.com/LuigiBlood/status/1045348387174977536?s=19 https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/9msl9j/update_did_nintendo_actually_download_roms_for/e7iemhb/ GDC 2016 https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023470/-It-s-Just-Emulation The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening source code https://www.neogaf.com/threads/it-bothers-me-that-nintendo-keeps-ignoring-links-awakening.931702/page-2 Mii https://unseen64.net/2008/04/14/mii-nes-prototype/ https://www.nintendo.fr/Iwata-demande/Iwata-Demande-Nintendo-3DS/Vol-5-Interview-de-Miyamoto-san-a-la-veille-de-la-sortie-de-la-console/2-Faire-des-personnages-Mii-un-standard-international/2-Faire-des-personnages-Mii-un-standard-international-210297.html Yoshi and a horse https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2017/October/Nintendo-Classic-Mini-SNES-developer-interview-Volume-5-Super-Mario-World-and-Super-Mario-World-2-Yoshi-s-Island-1290850.html Multiplayer mode in SMB3 http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/mario25th/2/3 Super Donkey - Mario Maker https://twitter.com/dbMisadventure/status/1286751468293414912 Dylan Cuthbert https://twitter.com/dylancuthbert/status/1286822093703622656 Sonic 1 prototype https://www.gamesradar.com/super-rare-1990-sonic-the-hedgehog-prototype-is-missing/ Oman Archive https://sm64-conspiracies.fandom.com/wiki/Oman_Archive Animal Crossing: New Horizons vidéo https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/m7j7yb/nintendo-takes-down-youtube-video-of-fan-showing-animal-crossing-glitches

#Gigaleak preservation emulation and content dissemination

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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15 Best SNES Platformers Ever

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Platformers have long been an entry point for new gamers. Video games may have greatly expanded in scope over the years and now offer so many different genres and experiences that it’s nearly impossible to keep track of them, but that’s actually a big part of the reason why it’s still so much fun to look back at these timeless games where the main objective was often to simply jump from one place to the next.

There is no console that celebrated the brilliance of the platformer better than the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The SNES may be best known for expanding the adventure and RPG genres, as well as raising a generation’s expectations for video game graphics, but few consoles have come close to rivaling the Super Nintendo’s library of classic platforming titles.

It’s hard to narrow this list down to just 15 games, but from action-based platformers to pure platforming classics, these are the best examples of this timeless genre that the SNES gifted the gaming world.

15. Jelly Boy

Putting you in control of a jelly baby (a candy that is popular in the U.K. and surrounding areas), Jelly Boy was only released in Europe when it debuted in 1994. The game has a colorful aesthetic and some unique platforming elements built around the main character’s ability to transform into a myriad of vehicles, tools, and other objects. Those metamorphoses will be familiar to anyone who has played a Wario Land title or Kirby’s Epic Yarn.

Admittedly, Jelly Boy‘s mechanics can be a little clunky and the controls are deficient compared to some of the later games on this list. Still, you will be hard-pressed to find a more original platformer on the console that isn’t made by Nintendo themselves. You can even play it now via the Nintendo Switch Online service.

14. Demon’s Crest

Released by Capcom in 1994 as the third game featuring the character Firebrand (who debuted in the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series), Demon’s Crest is a forgotten gem in the SNES catalog. It adds some variety to the traditional action-platformer by giving the playable protagonist the ability to fly and shoot fireballs as well as access other upgradeable attacks and maneuvers as their quest rolls along. That feature adds a little Zelda-like adventuring to the mix, and you’ll certainly need those late-game power-ups because this platformer means business.

There are many difficult platformers on this list, but few boast the plethora of boss battles seen in this one. It’s actually similar to Mega Man in terms of its fighting style and jumping requirements, so if you are looking for an alternative to the Blue Bomber that keeps the basics of the genre intact, you’ll have a hard time doing better than Demon’s Crest.

13. Joe & Mac

Joe & Mac is honestly a fairly basic platformer for its era. What gets it onto this list of the best games in that genre, though, is the creativity and execution of its setting.

The game sees you control two different cavemen who rely on basic prehistoric items such as fire, bats, bones, etc. The bosses are pretty cool (dinosaurs are fun for all ages) and the controls hold up well enough that you won’t ever feel like you have to force the avatar into doing something that the interface simply won’t allow for. The game spawned a sequel that was also released on SNES, but the original is unique enough to get the nod here.

12. Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

Despite what the title may suggest, Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is actually the third game in the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series. Like the previous games, this classic sees you battle various monsters and bosses that fit the setting nicely. Although the game is maybe a little too action-heavy to get the nod over the SNES’ best platformers, it uses its platforming elements to elevate the entire experience.

The difficulty is insanely high and the sheer amount of sprites on screen at once can lead to some lag that only adds to the frustrations of this arduous journey, but the game has a way of keeping things light and humorous when the frustration sets in. How many other games see the protagonist stripped of their armor, quite literally, when he takes too many hits?

11. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!

The third installment in the beloved Donkey Kong Country trilogy certainly isn’t hated by many, but it is usually viewed as a step down from the first two games. Whether that has to do with a change in composer for the soundtrack, the inability to play as Donkey or Diddy, or the fact it was released after the Nintendo 64 was on the market, the title’s sometimes mixed reputation often prevents it from being appreciated as a divine platforming experience.

The environments and storytelling in this game are well-executed. If you’re observant, you may even notice that the developers were trying to say something about the sad state of ape habitats and pollution in the wild. Even if you didn’t dive too deep into that surprising bit of social commentary, you’ll likely find that the platforming in this one remains top-notch and that the overall experience remains severely underrated.

10. DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure

As the only game on this list that wasn’t initially released outside of Japan, many gamers may not know that DoReMi Fantasy is a whimsical experience that features some of the key elements of Mario and Kirby’s best adventures in terms of gameplay and graphics. Starring a young child whose objective is to reclaim music for the forest, DoReMi utilizes some clever puzzles that may not be unusual for the platformer genre but certainly add to the fun.

The game got a Virtual Console release in North America in 2008, but that’s sadly the best chance many gamers have had in recent years to take a chance on this title. It’s a great example of how people should be more open to experiencing games that weren’t localized the first time around.

9. Donkey Kong Country

Perhaps the most famous game starring Nintendo’s lovable ape, the original Donkey Kong Country was Rare’s first big title for the SNES and practically started their decade-plus long relationship as a second-party developer with the Big N. Tasked with showing off off the console’s pre-rendered graphics system, the crew from Britain proved to be up to the task. Honestly, this game still looks halfway decent in 2021.

While the actual platforming is not as good as the Super Mario games on the SNES, it offered a different flavor of jumping that is still very much appreciated. The “weight” of Donkey Kong and Diddy means that the platforming is less flighty than in Super Mario games, and the rideable animal buddies you encounter along the way add a little flair to the experience.

8. ActRaiser

As a game that serves as both an action-platformer and a God simulator, this underrated and forgotten gem from Enix and developer Quintet showed off the visual and audio capabilities of the SNES in the early days of the console. You play as the “Master” who is tasked with building towns around the world and fending off the evils that threaten them. It’s hard to juggle two completely different genres like that, but ActRaiser finds a great balance.

The game was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 but has otherwise been paid little attention in the years since its release. That’s unfortunate because there aren’t many games from 30 years ago that provide this much depth and versatility. Both parts of the experience are extremely solid in their own right, and together add up to become something truly special.

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7. Kirby Super Star

Even the most ardent Kirby fans would probably agree that the franchise can get a little stale at times. There are only so many ways Kirby can suck an enemy up, transform his powers to match theirs, and ultimately defeat King Dedede. That’s why Kirby Super Star is still arguably the best game that the pink cutie pie has ever starred in.

Featuring eight different games within the game, the genre-mixing in this one is really off the charts. There are racing elements, adventure tones, and shooting sequences amongst the different sections of the playthrough. The experience was so beloved that it was eventually remade for the Nintendo DS as Kirby Super Star Deluxe. There is something for everyone in this package, and it shows the best parts of Kirby’s history.

6. Mega Man X

The original run of NES Mega Man titles are arguably still more famous than all of the others, but Mega Man X just has more of what makes those games great. It retains the eight bosses and weapon upgrades that can be completed/acquired in whatever order the player chooses, and it even has that same incredible soundtrack that the Blue Bomber’s adventures are always famous for.

Mega Man X‘s graphical upgrades admittedly take some of that eight-bit nostalgia out of the experience, but the game ultimately makes up for it by offering new gameplay experiences. Jumping on walls and acquiring upgrades to defensive maneuvers gives Mega Man an even more badass skillset, and the game generally does an excellent job of emphasizing the “platforming” parts of its action-platformer mix.

5. Super Castlevania 4

Super Castlevania 4 is actually a kind of soft remake of the original game, and the developers at Konami did a great job of making that game more digestible for newcomers while keeping all of the iconic elements from the classic NES title.

The Castlevania basics are all here (you still control Simon Belmont, equipped with his famous whip and ax, and battle through the game’s 11 stages before reaching Dracula), but an ideal mix of combat and platforming makes this one of the most irreplaceable platformers in the SNES catalog. It’s still an airtight action-platformer experience in 2021.

4. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

The second game in the DKC trilogy took all of the best parts of the first title and refined them to create a truly unique platforming game that was a lot more than fancy graphics (a reputation the original game has had a hard time shaking). Diddy’s Kong Quest expanded upon the game design that fans loved while keeping the jungle hijinx, masterful soundtrack, and weighted platforming intact.

That last part is what truly separates the middle installment of this franchise from the other two. Many people have said that these games were sometimes more style than substance, but after playing through the myriad of environments on display in DKC 2, it becomes clear that this title has endured over the years because its tight mechanics are executed at a high level.

3. Super Metroid

If this list were just a ranking of 2D games or if it encapsulated the entire SNES library regardless of genre, Super Metroid would most likely take the top spot. Alas, this icon of game design settles in the third spot because it isn’t the best example of a “pure platformer.” It’s more of an action/adventure affair, though the game’s platforming elements are still as satisfying now as they were in the 1990s.

What separates this game from so many that have tried to emulate it in the nearly three decades since release is that every ability upgrade and every part of the map fits together with nearly flawless foresight and execution. It’s never a hassle to re-explore a section that you’ve already seen. The game has a masterful flow that is incredibly modern and perhaps even more popular today because of the prominence of this design style on the indie game scene.

2. Super Mario World

With its flawless controls, colorful sprites, cheerful soundtrack, and ageless platforming, Super Mario World is the title that all other 2D games in the genre are still compared to. The extra graphical power of the SNES gave Nintendo the opportunity to expand upon Super Mario Bros. 3‘s best ideas while exploring new concepts that simply weren’t possible before.

That is why this game remains so playable. Super Mario World combines the most enjoyable elements of the NES Super Mario classics and then elevates them to fully realize the world that Miyamoto imagined when this basic concept was created. It still doesn’t make sense to have a plumber jumping on top of turtles and occasionally getting lost inside of a house full of ghosts (those damn Boo mansions still haunt me), but when you combine this much creativity into one package, you have no choice but to admit how special it all is.

1. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Shigeru Miyamoto and his team knew that it was futile to try and surpass Super Mario World simply by emulating it. So when developing the sequel, they made the decision to craft an entirely different type of platformer in which Mario isn’t even the main protagonist. The concept was bold, but the execution needed to be flawless if the game was ever going to be more than another disappointing follow-up.

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It’s safe to say Yoshi’s Island exceeded all expectations. Putting Yoshi at the forefront of a platformer that included mini-games, evasion, puzzle-solving, item collection, and the most timeless color palette in gaming history was brilliance personified. Yoshi’s Island is not as famous as its older sibling, but its daring creativity and irreplaceable charm have inspired many to argue that it is the better game in retrospect. Whatever your opinion is, the fun and escapism of the green dinosaur’s finest hour (as well as the horrors of Baby Mario’s screams) will be remembered until the end of gaming.

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super-famicom-star-inactive · 4 years ago

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Friday Special #7

January 9th, 2021

So it has come to my attention that when people talk about RPG Maker the series, many aren’t aware of how far back the series goes.

Did you know that series dates back to almost thirty years?

That’s right, next year will be the 30th anniversary of RPG Maker!

So why don’t we have a history lesson into arguably one of the most important franchises in gaming history?

Alright, where does the story begin for this iconic series?

According to sources, there has been games similar to RPG Maker that were made by ASCII (the original company behind RPG Maker) and that were released as far back as 1988, with the following titles:

Mamirin (1988)

Dungeon Manjirou (1988)

RPG Construction Tool: Dante (1990)

Dante 2 (1992)

Chimes Quest (1992)

The very first official RPG Maker title came in the form of RPG Tsukūru Dante 98, released on December 17, 1992. This game, along with its 1996 sequel RPG Tsukūru Dante 98 II, was originally made for the NEC PC-9801 Japanese home computers at the time. It was originally made when ASCII pulled from other games (listed above) and combined them together to create a RPG-making development title with its own toolkit. The genre of RPG specifically was thanks to the rise of JRPGs in recent years like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy to name a few.

The next major release of RPG Maker was in the form of RPG Tsukūru: Super Dante in 1995, which marked the very first time that the series has landed onto a console. The console was the Nintendo Super Famicom and it was later broadcasted a year later using the Satellaview service. While it did exhibit some restrictions in terms of content due to system limitations, it was famous for providing hundreds of character, monster and scenery assets with color swap palettes to save on memory in the cartridge as well as designing the stats of characters and monsters pre-determined by the player. It was said that the game was popular with players but sources are limited about actual reviews. RPG Tsukūru 2 is the sequel and it was released in 1996 on the Super Famicom as well.

Windows saw the release of the third installment with RPG Tsukūru 95, which was released in 1997 and was the first of many RPG Maker titles for Windows. Unlike its predecessors, it boasted higher resolution in sprites and tilesets as well as higher screen resolution. It also has the honor of being the first version to have an unauthorized English translation and release due to demand. Also with this version, the number of party members was boosted to 8 people with the first 4 acting as the main battle party. RPG Tsukūru 95 Value! was released not long after with the added bonus of having Windows XP support, which was new at the time and very valuable.

So when did the West finally receive an official version version of RPG Maker?

On November 27, 1997, Enterbrain released the following title RPG Tsukūru 3 for the original Playstation and chose to release the software simply as RPG Maker in the West three years later on October 2, 2000 under Agetec. This was the first time the West would finally receive a version of RPG Maker and experience the magic of RPG development, but it was reported that a limited run of copies were released outside of Japan. It was also one of thirty games that utilized the now-rare Playstation Mouse (which is usually an arm and a leg to import). Players got to customize their own assets using the Anime Maker that was also built into the game and, like the original Super Famicom versions, utilized color-swap palettes to save on memory. Another cool feature that was a first for the series was saving your created game onto a memory card so that you could share your creation with your friends.

One of the most beloved and popular versions of RPG Maker is next on the list and it is RPG Tsukūru 2000 for Windows on April 5, 2000. Despite the popularity, it was Japan-exclusive and it featured a lower resolution for graphics and assets overall than its RPG Maker 95 predecessor. Despite this, it boasted more functionality with unlimited sprite sheets and tilesets.

The last in that trio was RPG Tsukūru 2003, first released only in Japan in 2003 before being released worldwide in 2015. Improvements to this version included the side-view battle system that was popular in Final Fantasy, and interchangeable resources. From this point, the development company Enterbrain would take over RPG Maker as it was part of the ASCII company.

Starting with the released of RPG Tsukūru 5 on the Playstation 2 in 2005, Enterbrain was starting to look into developing the series for an international audience of players. They would beginning to craft titles that are now iconic in the RPG development community, with the first of these releases being RPG Tsukūru XP (RPG Maker XP as it was known world-wide) released on Windows in 2004. While many of the simplified features have been removed from this version, it was the first RPG Maker game to use Ruby, a type of programming language first seen in 1995, and it was the first title to distribute assets online amongst the community thanks to the rise of the Internet. It allowed greater control over sprite size other gaming aspects, which helped it become more versatile than previous titles. However, a drawback is the steep learning curve, which was intimidating to new players. It was released to Steam in 2015.

The next modern RPG Maker title was the release of RPG Tsukūru VX (RPG Maker VX as it was known world-wide) in Japan in 2007, world-wide in 2008. It has the one-up over XP for its more user-friendly layout and faster framerate of 60fps over XP’s 40 fps. The programming was completely done over to be more accessible in scripting and the battle systems were now similar to Dragon Quest with a front-view battle system and detailed text. Because of these aspects and other improved features, it became a popular choice for modern developers since release. However, one of the biggest drawbacks was the lack of support for multiple tilesets when mapping that frustrated players. It was released to Steam in 2016.

Right after that, RPG Tsukūru VX Ace (RPG Maker VX Ace as it was known world-wide) was a direct sequel to the version mentioned above. Described as an “overhauled version of RPG Maker VX”, it removed the multiple tileset issue that plagued players in the previous version and re-introduced battle backgrounds during battle scenes. Magic and skill systems were re-worked to have their own recovery and damage formulas in the programming, and a new set of music tracks were accompanied in the database files. It was released to Steam in 2012.

Having the distinction of being released by Degica for the first time world-wide, RPG Tsukūru MV (RPG Maker MV as known world-wide), underwent quite a few adjustments by introducing multiplatform support as well as side-view battles and high resolution features and assets. For the first time, JavaScript replaced Ruby as the default programming language. Players also saw the return of layered tilesets, which were missing from the previous installments. Not only was it released for Windows, but also for PS4 and Nintendo Switch (A XBox One version was planned but unfortunately scrapped), giving players new ways to share games. It was released to Steam in 2015.

The newest installment to the famous series is RPG Tsukūru MZ (RPG Maker MZ as known world-wide), and it was just released last year in August of 2020. Reviews for the game were mixed as players noted that the trailers leading up to release were very similar to RPG Maker MV. It did have some positively-received features such as autosave functionality and XP-style autolayer mechanics. It was released to Steam in 2020.

So with the history side taken care of, what about some of the most iconic games ever made using the software?

Good question! Given the extensive list of successful games to come out of RPG Maker, that will be a separate Friday Special so I can cover them more in-depth. Maybe next week perhaps?

So there you have it, a comprehensive history of RPG Maker!

(Now, there were some older Japanese titles that weren't mentioned because of lack of sources, I do apologize. I also wanted to stick more to the major installments of the franchise itself.)

Thoughts From The Head

I was formally introduced to RPG Maker by some mutuals of mine on Discord a few years ago when I expressed interest in wanting to create scenes like a movie of sorts. My software of choice is RPG Maker VX Ace as it was suggested to me for being better at creating events than any other version. It's understandably intimidating at first, especially for newcomers, but there are hundreds of tutorials on Steam, Youtube and all over the internet.

I also have other copies of RPG Maker, including the PS1 version of RPG Maker and even RPG Tsukūru: Super Dante for my Super Famicom that I just received a few days ago! It's definitely wild how much the series has grown and improved upon over the years.

From what I have been recommended by friends who are long-time players of this series, either go for RPG Maker MV (if you're interested in mapping) or RPG Maker VX Ace (if you're interested in creating events). From what I have seen, those two are some of the more popular choices. In terms of platform, always go for Steam (and get them on sale when you can) because you will have better accessibility and it's more user-friendly than the console versions. The abundance of community-generated assets also help.

To end this post, here's some pics from RPG Tsukūru: Super Dante!

#been wanting to make this for a while #hope you learn some new things!#my voice!#friday special #gif #gaming #retro gaming #irl

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hailing-stars · 4 years ago

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@febuwhump day 25 car accident

turtle shells

summary

He set the karts up at the finish line, and frowned when Tony tried handing him a helmet.

“I’m Spider-Man,” said Peter. “I don’t need a helmet.”

“You do have a really thick skull, sure,” Tony told him. “But even your stubbornness isn’t enough to save you from a head injury.”

“That’s a low blow.”

“Truth hurts.”

After Tony wins in Mario Kart, Peter decides they better have a real life race with go-karts to settle the score, with chaotic results.

It all started with a blizzard, and a Nintendo Switch.

The arctic blast that swept through the East Coast, and the snow that piled up as a result of the never thawing temperatures, trapped Peter inside the lake house. What was supposed to have been a weekend visit turned into a week-long visit, because Tony and May both didn’t want to risk him driving back into the city and getting stranded in the wintery nightmare.

So, Peter was stuck inside, and was forced to attend classes and do his schoolwork online, which took up considerably less time than going to school in person.

He spent most of the day bored out of his mind. That was where the Nintendo Switch had come in.

He had been laid out on the couch, under a thin blanket, with just the tips of his brown hair sticking out, when he let out a frustrated groan.

“This is so boring,” he complained.

The blanket got ripped off him, and Tony stared down at him. “Getting off the couch might help with that.”

“And do what?” asked Peter. “There’s nothing to do.”

“Why don’t you play some video games?” asked Tony. “Like a normal teenager?”

Before Peter could protest that he was even bored of video games, that was how long he’d been trapped inside, Tony was off collecting the Nintendo Switch controllers.

“Move your legs,” he ordered, when he got back to the couch.

Peter glared at him before he sat up and swung his legs off the couch, sinking his feet into the carpet. Tony threw a controller at him. It bounced off his arm and landed on the cushion.

“Hey,” said Peter. He rubbed his arm.

“Oh, stop. That didn’t hurt.”

“It’s the principle.” Peter picked up the controller. “What are we playing?”

“Mario Karts.”

“Mario Kart.”

“Yeah,” said Tony. “That’s what I said.”

“No you said -” He stopped, and shook his head, not understanding why old people bothered with video games if they were going to be so cringe about it. “Nevermind.”

Peter took control and breezed through the setup screen so he wouldn’t have to wait for Tony to figure it out. They picked their karts and their characters. Peter picked Toad, and Tony picked Peach, and then they were off to the tracks.

It started exactly how Peter expected it would. He was in the lead, and Tony struggled, or at least pretended to. Pretended because by the last half of the second lap Tony kept a pace that put him just barely behind Peter, and in the last half of the third Tony hit him with a shell and soared past the finish line, taking first place.

“How did you -” started Peter. It hit him. That Tony had just been pretending to be bad that whole just to catch him off guard and beat him at the last second. “You’re actually good?!?”

“I’m a stay at home dad, Pete,” said Tony. “What do you think Morgan and I do all day?”

“Pretty sure Pepper would disapprove,” muttered Peter.

“Relax, officer, we abide by screen time,” said Tony. He checked his watch. “Which reminds me, you have about forty-five minutes left. Just enough time for you to lose to your old man over and over again.”

“You’re the absolute worst,” he told him, on the count of suggesting he was young enough to still have screen time and the count of him having the audacity to be good at video games.

“Peter, I’m a literal tech genius,” said Tony. “And not to mention -”

“-savior of the universe I know. You mention it all the time, actually.”

Tony moved right past that criticism. “Just saying, how could you think I’d be bad at this? It’s my hometurf.”

“Whatever,” said Peter. “Let’s just start a new race.”

This time Peter was determined to win, and he figured, now that he understood Tony was a hassler and had to rely on petty tactics like turtle shells to win, he stood a better chance. Except he didn’t. Time and time again he came in second place, until Tony took a look at his watch and declared video game time was over.

“Go do your schoolwork,” said Tony, shutting off the system, despite Peter challenging him to one more game.

“I’m done with my schoolwork,” said Peter. “You’re just afraid you’re gonna lose.”

“Statistics aren’t on your side, bud,” said Tony. He put a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Just admit that I’m better at Mario Karts.”

Peter shoved him away.

For the next couple of days, he let his slightly illogical and petty rage at being defeated in Mario Kart by someone who couldn’t remember to say the name correctly simmer into something creative.

He wandered into the garage with a brilliant idea. He’d build his own go-karts. He’d build two, with exactly the same specs, then he and Tony could have a real life race to see who was really the better racer.

By the time Peter finished his building and designing his karts, spring had arrived. The ground was soft with mud, and the air was warm in a way, but cold in others.

He set the karts up at the finish line, and frowned when Tony tried handing him a helmet.

“I’m Spider-Man,” said Peter. “I don’t need a helmet.”

“You do have a really thick skull, sure,” Tony told him. “But even your stubbornness isn’t enough to save you from a head injury.”

“That’s a low blow.”

“Truth hurts.” Tony shoved the helmel into his stomach, and Peter accepted it that time, though he didn’t plan on wearing it.

He got settled into the driver’s seat, appreciating his own handy work. The seat was comfortable and cozy.

He threw the helmet on the ground when Tony wasn’t looking. They waited for Morgan to wave the checkered flag Peter had picked up from the dollar store for this specific event, and once it was waved, Peter floored it.

He zoomed off, leaving Tony in his dust, where he belonged.

Peter was pretty confident he was going to win that time, up until he started to hear Tony behind him, getting closer and closer. He turned his head to gage his distance, but that turned out to be a big mistake.

His kart hit something that was on the ground, and jerked into another direction. The wrong direction. He hit a tree with enough force to fling him out of the cozy seat. He banged his head against the tree trunk, and fell first to his knees, then to his side.

Peter’s head hit the ground, and gave a muffled whine.

“Would I be a bad mentor if I said I told you so?” asked Tony, after pulling up and parking his go-kart.

“Yes,” said Peter, his face still in the dirt. “Technically you just did say it.” He wiggled around on the ground, hoping to find a comfortable position there, anything that might make the pounding ache in his head disappear.

“What’d you hit, anyway?”

“Don’t care.”

“Oh,” said Tony.

Peter looked over out of curiosity, but very much wished he hadn’t. Tony held up a now broken, giant plastic toy turtle shell. Nintendo was stamped across bits of the broken plastic, and it was a replica of the shells in the game.

“Guess these will always be your downfall.” Tony tossed the turtle shell inside of the wreck go-kart. “How bad is the pain, kid?”

“Bad enough that I’m still laying on the ground,” said Peter. “And not murdering that stupid toy.”

“To be fair your tires did a lot of damage to it.”

“I need to finish the job.”

Peter raised his hand, thinking he might muster enough energy to crawl over and at least chuck that thing into the lake, but the pain in his head blared. It pinned him to the ground. He groaned.

“Okay,” said Tony. He bent down and put a hand on his arm. “Let’s get you back to the house, Toad.”

Tony did most of the work walking back to the lake house. He helped Peter inside, and helped him to sit on the couch.

He made a few phone calls, and before Peter knew what was happening, a yellow portal appeared in the Stark’s living room. A confused looking Bruce Banner stepped out of it, and the ring of yellow disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

“You know, Tony,” said Bruce. “I’m pretty sure Strange is going to blacklist you if you keep abusing his wizard powers.”

“Abusing?” asked Tony. “This is an emergency. My kid hit his head.”

“He’s Spider-Man. He hits his head all the time,” said Bruce. “And Strange said you’re disrespecting the sanctity of the ancient arts.”

“Well I guess you’re gonna have to drive back to the compound, then,” said Tony. “You can take Peter’s go-kart. The one he wrecked, after so wisely refusing to wear a helmet.”

Bruce’s confusion turned to Peter. “You didn’t wear a helmet?”

“No lectures,” whined Peter. “Head hurts.”

Bruce sighed. He examined him, asking him questions and shining a light in his eyes.

“He’s probably got a concussion,” said Bruce. “But it looks like a mild one, so just keep him rested. No triggers, like screens. No phones. No TV or video games.”

“That’s perfectly fine with me, Dr. Banner,” said Peter. “Never playing video games again.”

“He’s dramatic,” said Tony. “And a sore loser.”

“Uh huh,” said Bruce, with caution.

He called Strange right away, probably wisely not wanting to get involved with an obvious Peter and Tony competition. Strange grumpily agreed to portal him back, and just like that, it was just the two of them once again.

“What can I do for you, kid?”

“Let me win at Mario Kart.

Tony laughed.

“I’m being serious,” muttered Peter, though it was only half true. “I need this.”

“Why?” Tony sat down on the armchair next to the couch.

“I dunno,” he said. His words were unguarded and way too honest. Peter blamed the concussion. “You’re just so good at everything. It’d be nice not to stand in your shadow.”

“Oh,” said Tony. “That’s easy. You’re better than the hero thing than I ever was -”

“-come on, Tony.”

“Seriously, kid, you understand people and they like you for it. And you’ve saved my life more than I’ve saved yours.”

“...What?”

“Yep,” said Tony. “There was the time with Squidward, the mission with those creatures that looked like trolls, that time on the boat…” Tony continued with his list, and Peter listened, shocked.

Maybe it was the concussion, but he’d forgotten about half of those instances.

“Okay,” said Peter, after Tony was finished with his list. He let his eyes slid shut. “You can have Mario Karts.”

“It’s Mario Kart.”

“I’m concussed,” said Peter. “What’s your excuse?”

“My parental right to troll my children whenever possible.”

“You’re the worst.”

“And I take pride in it. Now rest up, so we can redo our race with helmets this time, and I can beat you in real life as well.”

“Dream on,” said Peter, though he was the one about to fall asleep.

He started to drift off. He felt a blanket being tossed over him. Peter got lost in a dream where Mario Kart had an option to remove turtle shells from the game, and Morgan had learned to pick up her toys.

#febuwhumpday25 #irondad #irondad fic #my fic #head injury #concussion

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blazehedgehog · 4 years ago

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Thoughts on Nintendo making the Super Mario 35 game and 3D All Stars limited physically and even digitally?

It’s legitimately surprising how blind Nintendo is certain things. And even if they aren’t blind, they’re... ignorant, in a sense? Frugal to a fault? They’re dumb. Amazingly dumb. Let’s go with that. That's a nice way to put it.

I tweeted that I’d recently finished replaying Super Mario Sunshine a year or two ago (it took me roughly four years!) and that I’d burned through the PC port of Super Mario 64 not that long ago over the course of a single weekend. And that, because of this, I found it hard to justify paying $60 for the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection.

I don’t want this to sound like “because I played them for free, I don’t want to buy them.” I already bought and paid for Super Mario Sunshine on the Gamecube, and I own at least two, maybe even three copies of Super Mario 64 (original cart, Wii VC, Wii U VC). That's because Super Mario 64 is also one of the most influential games of all time. I know I say that a lot, but I'll repeat it as many times as I need to. Any third person action game made in the last 25 years owes something to what Super Mario 64 figured out -- analog character movement, how to set up the camera, all of it. Even if Super Mario 64 didn’t invent everything about 3D character movement, it probably still figured out a better way to do it. All modern game design roads lead back to that game. I will absolutely buy another copy of Super Mario 64.

But you have to do it right.

If you aren’t matching or or exceeding the work that fans are doing for free, then you are asking me to pay money for a worse quality product.

I can play Super Mario 64 at wide screen, in 4K, at 60fps, with modern camera controls, thanks to the PC port. It sounds cleaner, and it looks better than the N64 game did. Even if you subtract the recreated textures and the high-def models and just play the game with the original assets, it’s still running smoother and plays tighter, but still feels like Super Mario 64.

A case could be made that these enhancements to Super Mario 64 are pretty big and would require lots of new work and testing (as if Nintendo couldn’t just account for that). But, then, what about Super Mario Sunshine? Now, the All-Stars version has been updated to run in widescreen, sure, but even more could be done without messing anything up.

Super Mario Sunshine as it shipped on the Gamecube ran at 30fps, but that’s not always how the game was shown. For a large portion of its development, Super Mario Sunshine actually ran at 60fps. At some point, Nintendo decided to cap it at 30fps, likely because it couldn't maintain a stable 60. Using the emulator Dolphin, and the right Gameshark/Gecko code modifier, it’s possible to restore Sunshine’s original 60fps framerate.

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All the game logic under the hood was probably always running at 60fps, it’s just they capped the rendering at 30 for the final game. And yet, the All-Stars version seemingly retains the 30fps cap, even though the Switch could probably do 60fps in this game with both joycons tied behind its back.

For a company that constantly oversteps their boundaries when it comes to fighting the threat of piracy, they sure seem to be making an excellent case for why people should pirate their games, because they’re lowballing things like this and expecting consumers to gobble it up. Thank you Mister Nintendo, sir, for this generous offering of reheated table scraps.

No other extras, no other bonuses. You get these three games and a soundtrack player. Development history? Alternate versions, like Super Mario 64 DS? What about archival material? Concept art, or anything like that? A lot of people are over the moon about Nintendo history right now thanks to the Gigaleak. No? You’re not going to provide anything interesting or cool? Just a bare bones collection of three games presented basically as-is? Not even Super Mario Galaxy 2? Can't be too generous, after all. It's only been 35 years, and Mario's just one of the biggest, most important franchises in all of gaming. Gotta save Galaxy 2 for the, uh... next 3D Mario collection...?

The whole release date thing is just the final slap in the face. It’s Nintendo creating their own artificial scarcity. This is something I’ve picked up on regarding t-shirts -- I run a Redbubble store with shirts I’ve done, and the sales have never been stellar. In four or five years, I’ve made something like $18. Total.

Why? Because they’re always available. The few times I’ve actually encouraged sales a little bit is when I suggested some shirts might be getting retired, eventually. And when you think about it, that’s the entire crux of something like The Yetee. Either you buy this shirt right now, right here, today, or it goes away and may never come back. Limited edition stuff boosts sales because it forces people to make a decision.

It also boosts a festering aftermarket, where, because people know this is a limited edition thing, they can effectively “buy stock” that will effectively collect interest over time. Buy them at $60 now, mark them up for $80, or $90, or $120+ in a year or three. But then all that does is create a scenario where legitimate customers aren’t going to be able to buy the product, because the people who flip these in the aftermarket will have spent $1500 hoping to make a return of $2500-$3000.

You saw this with Amiibo. You saw it with the NES Classic and SNES Classic. It is TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY and every store front worth a penny allows “third party sellers.” Everything is Ebay now. Wal-mart, Newegg, Best Buy, Amazon, Target, whatever. You name a major retail brand, and they probably let some random goober scalp aftermarket products out of their garage. In many states, scalping tickets is banned, but online this is just “business.” I’m sure Jeff Bezos is elated you spent $230 on a Squid Sisters Amiibo double pack (original MSRP: $30). You don’t get to be the richest man in the world by forcing your best moneymakers to play fair.

Nintendo has taken many notes. The bare minimum of effort, for full price, and “oh, gosh, you better buy it now! It might not ever come back! The faster you give us your money, the better!”

Go jump in a lake. I get better and more features in an emulator and I can play these games right now, today, if I really wanted to. If you aren’t going to offer competitive features and business, then our conversation is over.

#questions #nintendo #switch #super mario 3d all-stars #super mario 64 #super mario sunshine #super mario galaxy #scalping #rant #Anonymous

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floweryuu · 4 years ago

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Learning Japanese with help of games

I'm trying to learn japanese through playing games. Could vary from japanese kid games to english games teaching you japanese.

I decided to blog my journey and the games I'm using to learn. I'm not finished with the games but I do like writing down which games help me and may help you if you're intrested in doing it to.

Disclaimer

This works for me the best, I learned english through gaming and it really helps me with having just something rewarding serotonin instead of me crying at a text book or pdf for not understanding. If this doesn't work for you there always other ways, like watching anime, reading manga, watch tutorials ect or if attending classes and studying online works for you, you should do that instead of this.

I want to mention I'm neurodivergent, I have dyslexia, autism, a short attention span. My energy drained out easily because of my autism and depression, I'm not a native english speaker and I have problems learning new subjects. So if I see a problem that is a problem for me I will mention it, I know neurotypical people have easier time than me and probably don't see it as a problem personally but it may be a problem for others too.

I started to learn japanese again on 19th march 2021, last time I had classes in 2019 just around when the pandemic started, I lost a lot of it because depression and I could never get into it again until I realized I could use video games.

I got the "Study japanese to survive deluxe" kit game on steam. I started with hiragana which I had some knowledge from before.

Game play starts as a normal RPG suddenly a man shows up speaking japanese and later attacks the village, the main protaganist tries to fight him but at no avail, because she cannot fight the "hiragana warriors" making no damage to them. Later a teacher comes to town to teach the protaganists japanese so they can defeat the "hiragana warriors" that is when the lesson comes in, which the game encourages you to take notes on after lesson ended you take a quiz before heading out to fight the "hiragana warriors" which are japanese letters and you have to select the right corresponding sound to the japanese letter.

I finished lesson 1, 2 and 3. and the story parts 1 and 2, still haven't started 3 yet so I'm just at the beginning of the game so my opinion of the game might change over time.

I like to share some pros and cons I have over the game.

Pros

The game doesn't cost a lot even with the deluxe bundle; it's not that much money for 3 games.

It's fun with the rpg element and the game dialogue is funny

They do have some sort of story line even if it's meant to be ridiculous

quizzes after every lesson to help you remember

the quizzes test you of previous lessons not only the one you just finished

They sound out the hiragana for you and also show how you write hiragana.

They give you options to go through the lesson again if needed.

They teach you japanese words and how to pronounce them.

Cons

They try to cram a lot into each lesson after lesson 1, as someone who's neurodivergent it's very draining. They should have kept teaching each group of hiragana per lesson instead of cramming in also the dakuten/ten-ten versions of the group too. Lesson 3 has japanese words, new hiragana group and the hiragana group with dakuten/ten-ten. It drains a lot of energy making you too tired to play and you must do a quiz when you're already tired. They should keep the lessons short and just make the game longer instead.

You need a notebook and pen for the lessons, or atleast a computer program to take notes on where you can write out the letters, it can be hard for someone who doesn't have those.

You have to pay for the handbook for every corresponding game, it's not a lot but it feels like the notebooks should be included in the deluxe bundle.

The walking and running speed is slow, the running speed feels like normal walking than running.

That's what I have so far if anyone has suggestions of games to help to learn japanese either on the nintendo ds, 3ds, switch or pc let me know, I am okay with kids games that's honestly what I'm looking for kid games that teaches children letters and how to count. Because they use very simple japanese with no dialect

#muffin babblar #muffin learns japanese

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danwhobrowses · 4 years ago

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Pokémon Direct 26th Feb 21 Thoughts (Happy Pokémon Day)

Happy Pokémon Day everyone! 25 Years since Red and Green hit stores and would change gaming for so many people.

Yesterday though, Pokémon dropped a special Direct revealing new info and titles, which compared to the Nintendo Direct and Playstation State of Play had a lot more hype towards it, at least for me. So I’m gonna run down the contents - a combination of stuff learned from the video and the website

Spoilers for the Direct below if you haven’t watched it yet

Part 1: Pokémon New Snap - New Information

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More information about the New Snap game came up first, revealing that it’ll be releasing on 30th April and available for Pre-Order.

On top of throwing apples to encourage new behaviour, there is also the possibility to play tunes. Most unique though is the ‘Illumina Orb’, this item when thrown at Pokémon will cause a glowing aesthetic either on the Pokémon or any elements they may summon, the Illumina phenomenon seems to be a core part of the game’s story alongside getting the Photodex (each Pokémon having 1-4 Star photo slots).

You can also upload your photos via Switch Online, though that’s not really for me so I’ll probably just use an SD to transfer pics or something.

The characters include Professor Mirror (missed chance to use an adult Todd Snap), Phil - you seems to be your rival and Rita - who seems to be the tutorial guide character. The environment of some expeditions will vary by level as well so there will be cause for repeatability.

The New Snap is more of a ‘does what it says on the tin’ kinda game, you’re there to take photos. But the new stuff does look to entice players to play around with it all and see how good they can get out of the photos, it is definitely something that will live to expectations.

Part 2: Pokémon Day Commemorative Events

Afterwards we got some info on the events happening around today. Pokémon Café Mix is having a login promotion for Golden Acorns, Pokémon GO is doing Kanto Legendary raids and in Masters EX Leon is in the game with Charizard

For SwSh G-Max Pikachu is back until the 28th, there are chances for a Shiny. If 1 million are beaten you’ll also get 100 of Dynite and Armorite ore.

These Pikachu are not that easy though in Solo raiding, AI is usually awful but this Pikachu will know a combination of Surf, Disarming Voice, Volt Tackle (and a special G-Max variation that paralyzes Neighboring Pokémon), Discharge, Brick Break, Iron Tail and its usual spamming of either Nasty Plot or Double Team. So be careful of accuracy issues or your AI failing you...a lot

On top of this if you use P25MUS1C as a code you’ll get a Pikachu that knows Sing.

Part 3: DP Remake

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Years of People demanding and you got this. Perhaps a lesson to be constructive in criticism since the remakes have already drawn its own controversy for being different to the other games fans criticized and even boycotted for a short while.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl brings the old DS games to a new form with the same top-down camera from the games of old, blending an old-Final Fantasy and Animal Crossing-esque chibi type overworld character that has received mixed reviews and, along with the next part, comparisons with the Legend of Zelda series, particularly for this one Link’s Awakening.

Other than the new graphics, the trailers haven’t revealed any new content that is genuinely new to the series, but the website suggests ‘player-friendly conveniences’ which may help in reducing the grind. Of course, this is only the first taste, there still can be plenty more.

I must confess, but DP was always a bit of a Red-Headed Stepchild for me in terms of the series, I certainly didn’t hate it, I just felt like the main story lacked a bit. It could simply be because Cyrus’ story only really peaks for Platinum but most of it is due to the fact that I was able to get through the whole game within 24 hours of play. I am also in the party that’s not too thrilled about the chibi design, I had always feared that Pokémon Player and NPC models would fall into Mii territory and this does feel like a step in that direction, I also love customization (though male characters do not get as much choice) so it always feels a bit of a let down when we remove that. Also I think that the shaders could’ve been upped because you look at these 3D artworks and they are magnificent.

Also the names are a bit, uninspired. I mean we usually get dichotomy in the new names too: Fire and Leaf, Heart and Soul, Alpha and Omega, so going to Brilliant and Shining seems weird. What about Hope Diamond and Faith Pearl? Stone Diamond and Sea Pearl? Time Diamond and Space Pearl? I felt like there were more options.

On the positive side though, Underground is back with will be fun, maybe they’ll update bases too. They might add the Platinum stuff in there too, revamped Distortion World sounds cool, and I hope the Pokétch comes back, it was a handy tool especially the Day Care app

Part 4: Pokémon Legends - Arceus

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Now this, is more like it.

Sticking with Sinnoh comes a prequel story of ancient times, where humans are only slowly settling into the region and the landscape is vast with free roaming Pokémon. The series takes its RPG-style deeper with the open world as players go on to complete the first ever Sinnoh Pokédex.

Battle or sneak up on Pokémon by using ancient steampunk-esque Pokéballs, this becomes a pure capturing adventure light but not completely devoid of being a ‘trainer’. No Elite 4 or Pokémon League, this is all about exploration leading all the way to Arceus.

Coming in 2022, the art and landscape is beautiful drawing parallels to Breath of the Wild, the UI is clean and simplistic and we get a new shift in our starters being different to the generation’s 3, instead you pick between Oshawott, Rowlet and Cyndaquil, but with sightings of Piplup in game you can be sure that the Sinnoh starters will be catchable.

The idea of going into the past is fresh for Pokémon fans, it’s something that looks very promising as a new recurring title for the series, the character design of old clan robes is also a nice touch. I do hope that future main series titles adopts this more open world environment and art style, the piano music is also very Ghibli esque which is a huge plus for me. I am keen to see how the journey develops as we go up to face god itself.

Part 5: Conclusion

The direct was good, even though there was stuff I’m not thrilled about it continues to reiterate my love for this series, which has been a core part of my life ever since getting a Game Boy Color & Pokémon Blue bundle for Christmas as a kid. I may still hold out on getting the DP remakes just yet but Snap and Legends will definitely be something I intend on buying, Pokémon continues to develop and evolve which has kept it going for 2 and a half decades, and I look forward to more evolutions to come.

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cherryblossomyu · 6 years ago

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yuta w/ flogging

“Do you really have to go?” you asked, more like whined, to Yuta when he made his way to the door.

“Yes, as much as I’d love to stay home with you, I don’t think my boss is going to believe I’m sick again for the fourth time this month” he replied with a light laugh as he slipped on his shoes.

“Say you’re sick. Love sick! And I need to take care of you”

“You’re only going to be home alone for a couple of hours, it’s going to fly by Y/N. You always find something to do anyways! Go shopping, play Smash Ultimate. Get better so you can finally win a match against me” he teased, his statement earning him a light hit on his shoulder.

“I’m kidding, you’re not that bad” he said and laughed, “now go entertain yourself and be good, I’ll be back soon bub” he said and leaned in to give you a kiss. When he pulled away and left, the door closed and you let out a sigh. The clock read 10:37AM now and Yuta would be back at about 4PM. What were you going to do for almost 6 hours? Shopping was not something you felt like doing so you did the other option that he suggested.

Shuffling over to the living room, you set up the Nintendo Switch and grabbed the joy cons to select the game. Going online, you played against other people from around the world and spectated some matches for about an hour and a half, almost two hours. You would’ve watched more or just left the game on for background noise but you swore that if you lost one more match you’d lose your mind so you turned off the game and went to your bedroom.

“Jeez it’s only 1?” you said out loud when you checked the time again. The minutes seemed to take years to pass in this moment and you were getting frustrated. You simply wanted the clock to hit 4pm already! There was nothing else for you to do so you decided to nap, concluding that that would let time fly by for you.

Grabbing a bunch of pillows, you made yourself a nice place to lay before you closed your eyes and knocked out surprisingly quick.

“Oh sweetheart, you’re so wet. All for me, hm?” Yuta ran one finger up and down your soaked panties and you immediately clamped your legs shut around his hand.

“Why are you so shy all of a sudden? Come on, be a good girl and spread your legs for me. Don’t you like it when I do this?” he asked and slipped your panties to the side, one finger entering inside your folds. The simple action made you let out a small “ah” and a smirk appeared on the boy’s face. “There’s my princess” he said and began moving his finger in and out of you at a slow pace.

When your hips began to rise off the bed, he took that as a sign that you wanted more and added another digit, stretching out your walls. “You’re so pretty like this, all fucked up already? I haven’t even done anything to you either” he said and placed his thumb on your clit, rubbing it in circles.

Waking up now, a pillow was in between your legs along with a wet spot on your panties. “That was just a dream?” you thought to yourself as the whole thing played out in your head once again. It all felt so real though, Yuta’s teasing and his words. Either way that was a thought you brushed off because now you had two problems: not only did you miss your boyfriend but you were needy for him. Oh what you’d do to have him here with you right now. Lewd fantasies popped up into your head, all of them having you clench your legs together and move yourself back and forth on the pillow.

High pitched sounds began to leave your throat as you picked up the pace and you removed your sweater, lowering your body down so the cotton of the pillow sheet rubbed against your nipples. Your eyes shut tight as the pleasure that built up was about to spill over. “Ah fuck!” you yelled when you finally had your release, the mess you made on your pillow being the least of your worries. You would’ve relished the pleasure but the “ahem” you heard from the door made you shoot up.

Turning your attention to the door, you saw Yuta’s figure leaning against the frame, hands crossed as he walked his way towards you, his shoes making loud sounds with each step.

In this moment you felt small. The only thing you had on was panties and you tried your best to cover your chest with your arms.

“Have fun just now?” he asked as he grabbed the chair from your desk and put it in front of you, taking a seat in it before he finally looked at you.

“M-mhm,” you said quietly, refusing to look up. You didn’t need to be making eye contact with him to know that his eyes would only embarrass you more.

“Why aren’t you looking at me, sweetheart?” his body leaned forward and he put his fingers underneath your chin, raising your face to look up at him. A light pink hue dusted your cheeks when you looked at him. “Was that how you entertained yourself today baby?”

“Yes” you quietly replied. You were squirming from how much he was eyeing you. You were like a child who just got caught with their hand in the cookie car.

“I don’t think I heard that. Can you repeat that, please?”

“Yes, that’s how I entertained myself today daddy” you said, this time the way he wanted to hear it.

“Ah, that’s right. I told you to entertain yourself but you got off without me? That’s not what a good girl would do, is it?”

“Yes, I’m sorry” you apologized and looked up at him, your big doe eyes took its toll on him and he could feel himself getting hard.

“An apology isn’t going to cut it. On all fours, now” he demanded and you did so, a meek “yes daddy” being said in response. You caught a glimpse of how he was unbuckling his belt and folding it in half so it made a loop before he stood up, removed your panties, and placed his free hand on one of your ass cheeks.

“Baby came without me and she made a mess on our bed. I think that equates to ten hits, yeah?” Yuta asked as he ran the flat side of the belt up and down your folds.

“Yes daddy, ten”

“Mm, count for me got it? And no swearing either princess, or else you’ll be spanked an extra time”

“Yes daddy” you mewled and following your reply, the leather of his belt smacked against your ass.

“Ah, one!” you yelled as your body went down slightly into the sheets. Yuta pulled you back up, making sure your back side was on full display for him before he continued, this time one hit was delivered to each cheek. A “two” and “three” left your lips and you arched your back, the pain was not mixed with pleasure.

“What a little slut. Did you do this on purpose? Cum right as I was coming home? You probably knew I was watching you, didn’t you Y/N?” he asked and delievered another hard smack! to your ass.

“Four! Ah, no I didn’t daddy I promise!”

“So you were trying to get away with this then, hm? You’ve truly been a bad girl” he pretended to be disappointed, letting out a sigh before bringing the material back to make contact with your flesh again. Only halfway done with your punishment, you wanted to cry when he brought the belt to tease your folds again, removing the belt to let his fingers toy with your throbbing clit.

“Please don’t, Yuta” you tried to close your legs but in this position, you were fully vulnerable to him as you have been this whole time and another sound of a smack resonated throughout the room.

“That’s not my name, sweetheart” his large hands kneaded the reddening flesh, only removing them to deliever the last four spankings. The last blow felt the hardest and you yelled out, “Fuck! Ten!” which made him slap the material against your skin once more.

“My baby became so bad in the time span of a few hours. What else do I have to do to get you back to being my little angel?”

#nct smut #nct127 smut #yuta smut #yuta nakamoto smut #lmAoo THIS TOOK ME LIKE AN HOUR TO WRITE #sorry i’ve been gone for a whole week #the blog was practically dead but i hope that this satisfied your yuta needs #not proofread #i played smash ultimate once this weekend and this is what it did to me lol

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love-takes-work · 6 years ago

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Steven Universe Podcast Volume 3: Episode 6: Crossovers and Collaborations

This is Volume 3, Episode 6 of the official Steven Universe podcast, looking at crossover episodes, guest animators, and transitions into other forms of media (like video games!), including input from Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris, and Joe Johnston.

The official description:

There have been some amazing crossovers and collaborations in the world of Steven Universe - "Say Uncle" with the "Uncle Grandpa" team, Save The Light with Grumpyface Studios, the "Mindful Education" episode with animator Tokafumi Hori, and of course, Monopoly. So creator Rebecca Sugar, and Co-Executive Producers Kat Morris and Joe Johnston return to detail how each was conceived and executed, and to share some anecdotal stories that happened along the journey to bring each collaboration and crossover to the fans.

This, as usual, is bit long so I’ll do my bullet points of interest, with longer descriptions after the jump.

Highlights:

CN shows that were influential and magical for Rebecca and her crew include Samurai Jack, Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Dexter's Lab.

Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Hotel Transylvania, Clone Wars) was incredibly influential for Rebecca because of his input on her pilot and the show concept in general.

Rebecca dreamed of having her own show, but always assumed that was an unattainable dream and fully expected to work a day job as a storyboard revisionist while fulfilling her desire to do personal work through independent comics.

Kat and Rebecca knew each other in college and later lived together in California.

Joe hadn't seen the pilot or met Rebecca until his first day of work, but after he'd seen the sketchbook with planned characters and heard her ideas, he knew he'd made a good decision to work on her show.

Rebecca Sugar describes herself and the Crew as being "very involved" in the Grumpyface Studios game Save the Light. They tweaked dialogue, designed Fusions, developed relationship-based attacks, and contributed canon material and characters to premiere in the game (such as Hessonite).

Rebecca loves that Steven has to heal himself to be around to take care of others in the game or else it's really hard to win, and thinks of that as a really good metaphorical message.

Rebecca as of this recording has not beaten the game yet.

Rebecca wanted Attack the Light to begin with two choices, and if you just listen to Garnet, you completely win the game 100%. She did not get to apply this option.

The Steven Universe Monopoly game is the first place the Beta Kindergarten was revealed.

The Uncle Grandpa crossover episode, "Say Uncle," was Rebecca Sugar's idea at the start. She felt Uncle Grandpa was a sibling show to SU since it came out at the same time and she knew the creator, Pete Browngardt.

Rebecca doesn't like that SU gets used to trash other cartoons and wanted to express through "Say Uncle" that there is room for diverse voices even if they're not like your voices, and that they all belong there. It seemed like a very Steveny message.

Some people think Uncle Grandpa's recommendation that Steven get his Gem polished twice a year was an early bit of foreshadowing that Steven's Gem was a Diamond, since diamonds are supposed to be polished twice a year. Rebecca and Joe acknowledge that this was not intentional as far as they know, but they may have to find out from Matt Burnett if that was written on purpose.

Takafumi Hori was brought into working on "Mindful Education" initially through contact with Jeff Liu on Twitter.

Rebecca's only time off the show since 2011 was three weeks off in 2015, during which she went to Japan and went to Studio Trigger and had a meeting she hadn't been expecting to help set up the collaboration with Hori-san.

Takafumi Hori did key frames for some action sequences and the "Here Comes a Thought" music video.

The detailed summary is below!

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

McKenzie opens up with a greeting for her guests and begins by asking about how everyone feels about being a part of the Cartoon Network "legacy." Rebecca Sugar goes first and describes it as "unreal," since she grew up on CN shows. She still has trouble processing that her show is to the next generation what CN shows were for her. Joe thinks it's weird too, comparing their show to such iconic shows and seeing that it has the same effect, and Kat agrees--she can't imagine SU having the "same weight," though Rebecca can see from meeting kids who love her work that this is indeed going on. They conclude that those other shows are still kinda magical for them because even though they now have an inside look at how these shows are made, their show's "magic" secrets aren't secrets to them, while those other shows still have mysteries they never saw from the inside.

They discuss a few other CN shows that were influential for the Crewniverse, focusing on the amazingness of Samurai Jack and how Genndy Tartakovsky had been so ambitious to make something so "artful and cinematic"--seeing it actually work was inspiring. When Rebecca worked on another project with Genndy (Hotel Transylvania), she got to ask him who was responsible for some of the most powerful scenes in his Clone Wars cartoon and discuss the experience. Rebecca sometimes used to bring her Clone Wars DVD to entertain babysitting charges with, because that made her the cool babysitter. (Joe says that would work on him NOW.) McKenzie points out that Genndy was involved in giving Rebecca advice at the beginning of Steven Universe, and Rebecca agrees that he even directed her pilot.

Joe prompts Rebecca to explain what it means to direct a piece of animation, so she elaborates on how Genndy influenced how everything moves in the pilot, how the actions are planned out through exposure sheets (and she's been advised never to talk about exposure sheets, ha). So Genndy did animation directing while Rebecca boarded and wrote the pilot.

Joe's beginnings go back to Disney TV, and Kat was on Regular Show. Rebecca's first job of course was Adventure Time; she started as a revisionist and became a boarder. She had a dream of having her own show, but she always had this "realistic" understanding that it wasn't an attainable dream. She thought she would do revisions as her day job and do independent comics for her personal work on the side. She didn't realize that something like Adventure Time would allow her to do personal work, directly communicating messages she wanted to communicate. Everything changed when she realized Adventure Time was the kind of show that WOULD give her that freedom.

Rebecca did dream of having a show and Kat says she also dreamed Rebecca would have a show. :) Kat remembers wanting to meet her in college because she read her comics online, and then it actually happened. Rebecca has trouble still believing people regarded her that way, especially back then.

Rebecca also really liked Kat's stuff back then--Kat was older so they didn't have classes together (senpai!) but Rebecca thought Kat looked really cool and creeped around trying to inconspicuously look at her drawings. They ended up living together in California because Kat was already out there working on Regular Show, and they'd sit around eating ice cream and watching anime and gaining weight. They discuss how Kat was very sick during that time (sleeping on an air mattress and not going to the doctor) and Rebecca would make her tea. They describe trying to walk to the art store together and almost dying because what looked walkable on a map was not walkable in practice. They ended up not buying anything, even after all that.

Discussing the early days of the Crew, Rebecca brings up Joe's storyboard test. They'd been concerned at the beginning about who would really get their vibe for the show, sorting tests into yes, no, and maybe folders. And when they got Joe's test, they created a "heck yes" folder. Joe points out that he hadn't even met Rebecca until he was hired and it was his first day. She'd met Jeff Liu but not Joe. Joe hadn't seen the pilot until his first day either, and then Rebecca pulled out the sketchbook with all the Fusions in it and explained her ideas, and he realized what a good decision he had made accepting this job.

Next they talk about the collaboration with Grumpyface Studios to make Save the Light, which is now out on Nintendo Switch.

Video games were of course influential for Steven Universe. Rebecca and Kat say they were "Nintendo households" growing up, while Joe didn't have a game system of his own but played games at friends' houses. McKenzie asks how involved the Crew was in developing the Save the Light game, and Rebecca says they were very involved, trying to make its storyline work into the canon. Hessonite is the main antagonist of the game, and she is looped into the show proper.

Rebecca revised some of the dialogue so it would be more accurate to the characters, though many of the ideas came from the Grumpyface team for them to modify or give input on. Squaridot was their idea, which is something Rebecca refers to as tonally different from what they would've invented, but she still likes it a lot--on the show they try to do that too, with letting Crew members contribute an idea and working it in. She uses for example how Squaridot focused on the word "pebble" in a similar way our Peridot used "clod," suggesting maybe all Peridots have this insulting tendency but there's no reason they all have to adopt the same insulting word. There are plenty of bad things you can call someone in the Gem culture.

Rebecca and some others were involved in casting and character design too; Ian had established the style of the video game characters, but Joe drew the Fusions for the game in the style they used. She says they were super excited about the Fusions and the relationship dynamic, since they really didn't get to include Fusions in Attack the Light. (Chronicler's note: they did have an Alexandrite option, but it was just a little battle move and cut scene of Alexandrite pounding the crap out of enemies; there was nothing in Attack the Light like the relationships or fusion possibilities in Save the Light, and Alexandrite was the only combination you could attain.)

The thing Rebecca loves the most about both games is that Steven, as the healer and protector, is so important. It's really hard to win if you don't choose to protect Steven and make sure he heals himself too. Joe really liked getting to play the demos during the beginning, and loved the 3D Beach City. They'd been hoping for a long time that someone would make a game. Apparently a fan had been trying to make a Golf Quest Mini game but they think it disappeared. Rebecca pipes up to say they had early plans to have Greg on the team so they could make him a bard. Joe came up with the combination attacks on a sheet all together. Rebecca hasn't beaten the game yet.

Talking endings, she really wanted multiple ending opportunities for the game. There was no possibility to have alternate endings for the phone game, which Rebecca thought was sad because she loved the idea of having a choice at the beginning: Garnet gives you the advice to NOT take the prism into the light, but you do it anyway and the game starts . . . or you just give the prism to Garnet like she says, and you've just beaten the game and won 100%, credits roll.

Going back to Squaridot (of whom McKenzie is a big fan), Rebecca describes the process of creating the game as a lot of back and forth, and Squaridot having a "contentious relationship" with our Peridot was fun because Squaridot is like Peridot before her redemption arc. They really enjoyed having our Peridot feel enlightened in comparison to a Homeworld version of her. The game just came out for Switch in tandem with the OK KO game, which Rebecca recommends and thinks is really fun.

McKenzie brings up a different kind of game: the Steven Universe Monopoly! Rebecca has a story about it: she points out that the Beta Kindergarten debuted in that game before the Beta Kindergarten was revealed in the show. People did notice it. (Chronicler's note: Oh hey, I told one of my friends about this recently! He questioned whether he could play with the Monopoly without getting spoiled. And I told him actually the game spoiled us on the Beta Kindergarten. And, if I remember correctly, the Great North had not been revealed yet at the time we saw promo pictures of how the board looked.)

Rebecca thought it was pretty similar to how certain attacks Lamar came up with for "Watermelon Steven" were allowed into the game for Attack the Light. (Chronicler's note: I'm not sure how that lines up because "Watermelon Steven" and those attacks premiered on TV way before Attack the Light came out.) The airing schedule makes things weird, so sometimes stuff they wouldn't have intended to be new to fans ends up being an easter egg.

Next up is a discussion of Steven Universe's crossover with Uncle Grandpa in the episode "Say Uncle." Rebecca said she was super excited to do it because Uncle Grandpa could cross dimensions to help kids and it fit like a natural fit. Rebecca Sugar takes responsibility for the idea for this crossover. She pitched it to Uncle Grandpa's creator, Pete Browngardt, in an airport. The shows basically came out at the same time so they were sort of like sibling shows. Even though Uncle Grandpa is super different from SU, she feels that Steven stands for peaceful coexistence with diversity, and she hated that her show was being used as a way to "trash other shows." She wanted to make it clear that she stood for THOSE different voices too, even if they were doing their thing differently than she was doing her thing.

Joe boarded on "Say Uncle," and he describes the experience as seeming to have surprised the other show's crew--as in, it was apparently a surprise to them that they were doing it at all. The first pass was VERY smooth, they say, and Joe got to include some weird jokes that wouldn't normally fly on the show, like Uncle Grandpa coming out of the clamshell disguised as Rose Quartz, characters' heads flying off to circle the world, tripping over letters, the plot hole, Lars and Sadie's ship, the joke about it not being canon--it's all very Uncle Grandpa style that Joe and Jeff had to absorb and execute quickly.

Rebecca excitedly brings up the joke Uncle Grandpa makes about how Steven should get his Gem polished twice a year, and wants to know whether that was a diamond reference (since it turns out that diamonds are supposed to get polished twice a year, and it would have been an amazing call forward if it had been intentional). Sadly, they were not sure if it was intentional, and they felt they'd have to ask Matt Burnett who wrote that line. Rebecca specifies that she did NOT know diamonds should be polished twice a year so she cannot take credit for that. They think it was completely coincidence.

Regarding the collaboration with Takafumi Hori from Studio Trigger, who worked on "Mindful Education." Kat points out that Jeff had a relationship with Hori-san; they talked on Twitter and the Crew knew he was a fan because he posted fan art. Rebecca has been working full time on the show since 2011, except for three weeks off in 2015, during which she visited Studio Trigger in Japan and met the folks who would be involved with "Mindful Education." They believe they were at the outline phase when they had that meeting, since before that Rebecca thought the episode would be instructional mindful meditation from Steven, not an episode where mindfulness is used to solve a problem. Writing that episode really taught Rebecca a lot about storytelling, seeing characters learn and benefit using the lessons you want to teach the viewers.

Takafumi Hori did key animation on some of the action scenes and music video scenes. They give us some animation lessons on how key frames are one polishing step up from storyboards made by Jeff and Colin in that episode, and Hori-san would make the frames in his style/the show's style, with notes for the in-betweeners. In-betweeners would do the frames in between keys, according to direction from the animation director saying how close each would be to the keys. (Rebecca gives some details about how key frames and in betweens might be used in animating a punch.) There was a lot of back and forth with adding the dialogue and finalizing the scenes (involving track reader Slightly Off Track and Sunmin Animation inking on paper with brush pens), not adding too much action so they could preserve the look they wanted.

Kat congratulates listeners who actually followed Rebecca's description of how to animate a punch (and would love to see if anyone can demonstrate it), and Joe tells a Hori-story: he got to in-between a couple of Hori-san's Stevonnie action shots and felt like he was experiencing a universal animation language that transcends borders, even though the way the Japanese sheets and the American sheets worked were different.

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

#steven universe podcast #steven universe #long post #mckenzie atwood #myblog

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