Revolution, Mario Kart and Megaman
Unfortunately, I don't have the time to do a proper update this morning, so I'll just write about a few things I've noticed in the gaming press over the last week or two.
On the Nintendo front, it seems the media is liking the Revolution controller the Big N debuted a couple weeks back at the Tokyo Game Show. Most opinion pieces I've read regarding the new gadget are rather optimistic - perhaps too much so. Although I stated myself that the controller is an exciting development, I still think it's too early to go cheering that Nintendo is back from the dead and is destined to change the industry forever. Sure, this
could happen with the Revolution, but until I see some games, I'm going to remain somewhat skeptical concerning just how "revolutionary" this controller truly is. (And I just have this horrible fear that Nintendo is going to screw up the next Smash Brothers by forcing it to work with the motion-sensor features of the controller. Don't do this Nintendo! The control in Super Smash Brothers Melee is fine the way it is. Don't fix what isn't broken in the sequel!)
In other Nintendo news, Mario Kart Arcade GP is slated for American arcades in October. I can remember hoping Nintendo would release an arcade version of Mario Kart back even when the SNES version was still popular, so this has been long in the coming. The game ditches the bizarre two-character-per-kart gimmick the Double Dash version used on the GameCube and instead offers a more straightforward experience, including 24 tracks to choose from and the return of the hop/powerslide technique last seen in the GBA installment. Even better, the coin collecting element from the original game is making a return, giving the title a cool old school feel. And get this - Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Blinky the ghost are playable characters! (Namco is producing the title for Nintendo, hence the cameos.) Weird but true.
Although I have yet to purchase a Sony Playstation Portable, two games were shown at the Tokyo Game Show that now have me thinking about getting one - Megaman: Powered Up, which is a remake of Megaman 1, and Maverick Hunter X, a remake of Megaman X. Both games look fantastic in motion, but Powered Up is the more anticipated of the two due to the included level-editor that allows users to create their own Megaman stages. Awesome, I say. I just hope there's a way to easily share one's custom-made levels with others over the Internet. . .
Ah well, enough stream of consciousness for now. I'll post a proper update to the blog this weekend. Until next time. . .
Video Games Keep Going to the Movies
Movie adaptations of video games have rarely been noteworthy. The number of worthwhile game-to-movie productions is so low, in fact, it's a wonder why Hollywood still continues to produce them.
The earliest video game movie of which I am aware is Tron, a 1982 film that blended cutting-edge computer animation with live-action footage and never-before-seen lighting techniques. Although a good flick, it's not a "video game movie" in the conventional sense due to the fact it is not based on any particular video game of the period. The plot mainly revolves around Flynn, a former video game designer and programmer who gets dematerialized and then digitized into cyberspace by a hostile mainframe computer (known as the MCP, short for Master Computer Program). Once inside the computer, he joins forces with a program known as Tron to thwart the mainframe's plan of ultimately taking control of the world's computer systems (or something like that). Interestingly, the movie actually spawned two video games - Tron and Discs of Tron - that were both loosely based on the movie. Again, Tron was a visionary piece way ahead of its time in the early eighties, a period when most people barely understood what a computer itself was, let alone the tech-speak and high-brow concepts found in the movie. Because of this, the movie fared rather poorly at the box office, proving too esoteric and surreal for the average viewer. Even so, Tron still stands as one of the best "video game" films to date, and has gained a significant following over the years.
The next video game movie of significance is The Wizard, a film which many 80's-era kids remember fondly. The movie is essentially a ninety-minute Nintendo advertisement starring Fred Savage, the child actor best known for his role as Kevin Arnold on The Wonder Years television show. Unlike Tron, which is a good movie that never got the attention it deserved, The Wizard actually performed decently at the box office, but is not a particularly good film. It is more-or-less a road trip flick that happens to feature Nintendo games as a prominent theme, along with some predictable family comedy and drama. The highlight of the film is the climactic Video Game Armageddon Tournament scene that features what was then the first glimpse of the now legendary Super Mario Bros. 3. Back in those pre-Internet days, gamers had few outlets to turn to when seeking information on upcoming game releases. Super Mario Bros. 3 was one game EVERYBODY wanted to learn more about, but there was precious little info available outside an occasional blurb in Nintendo Power magazine. Thanks to The Wizard's memorable climax featuring the yet-to-be-released Super Mario Bros. 3, gamers everywhere got a few tantalizing glimpses of the game in action. The title would eventually become the top-selling Nintendo game of all time. Unfortunately, The Wizard has yet to be released on DVD here in the States (a German DVD-edition does exist).
After The Wizard, it took a few years before the next slew of popular games made it to the big screen. Some were poor and quickly forgotten, such as the Double Dragon movie that few today even know exists. Others, namely the Mortal Kombat movie adaptation, proved to be a modest hit among teenage audiences, despite it being a merely okay film. Perhaps the most notorious video game movie of this era, however, was the bizarre and, most would say, awful, Super Mario Bros. The Movie. Having virtually nothing in common with the games it was based on, the film was a dark, dreary fiasco, although in fairness, Bob Hoskins (Mario) and Dennis Hopper (Koopa) performed their parts as well as could be expected. But with the movie bearing no likeness to the property it was spawned from, critics and gamers alike rightly criticized it. The late critic Gene Siskel even called it the worst movie of 1993. Ouch.
The late-nineties and early 21st century saw other prominent games leap to the silver screen, the most successful of which were the 2001 Tomb Raider movie featuring the ever sexy Angelina Jolie in the starring role of Lara Croft. Like most game-to-movie productions, the film was rather mediocre, but audiences didn't seem to care, making the film the highest-grossing video game movie of all time. However, its sequel, 2003's Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, did not fare nearly as well, perhaps due to the declining popularity of the Tomb Raider games by that time. Another profitable film was the so-so 2002 Resident Evil movie, a modestly budgeted affair designed to appeal especially to teens looking for the latest thriller. The sequel, 2004's Resident Evil Apocalypse, was also a moderate success.
With so many video game movies performing poorly from both artistic and business standpoints, why do Hollywood studios continue churning out the pictures? Who knows, but thankfully, movies based on video games are finally improving, thanks in part to better scripts, bigger budgets and the fact that fans are beginning to demand that their favorite games be done justice on the big screen. The upcoming Doom movie, for instance, stars the Rock in a leading role, plus boasts reasonably high production values and, supposedly, a good script. We'll know for sure when it hits theaters in October. Other movies rumored to be in production include Halo, Metroid and another Tron (yes!). Any of these franchises would make fine movies if done properly.
If anyone catches the Doom movie next month, feel free to write in and let me know what you think of it! Until next time. . .
Video Game Anthologies - Some Good, Some Bad
With all the talk and hype concerning the upcoming next-generation consoles and their respective games, I figured I'd keep to a simpler topic and instead write about some classic game anthologies I've played through recently. In fact, so many companies are now releasing compilations of their past titles, one could say classic (or retro) gaming has become its own genre. Unfortunately, with the glut of collections now on the market, discerning the good ones from the bad ones can be difficult. Hopefully, this post will make matters a little easier.
For old-school gamers wanting their Atari fix, I heartily recommend the PS2's Activision Anthology. Not only are the fifty-plus games top notch (for their time, anyway), but the 80's presentation is charming and true to the era. For example, classic 80's tunes actually play in the background while the player chooses a game from a rack inside a virtual bedroom. There are also loads of neat unlockables to find, from art work to old game commercials, assuming players can reach the high scores necessary to unlock them. Without a doubt, one of the best collections around.
Another good collection is the Atari Anthology, also for the PS2. While it lacks the cool 80's vibe and intuitive interface of its Activision counterpart, it still is the most comprehensive set of Atari games ever published in one package, including not only the Atari VCS (2600) titles, but also the arcade greats including Asteroids, Centipede and Tempest. Well worth checking out for those interested in gaming's early history. It even features an interview with Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari.
A couple of other worthy purchases are the Midway Arcade Treasures volumes 1 and 2, which are bargain priced collections of, naturally, classic Midway arcade games. The first volume houses over twenty classic titles including Joust, Robotron, Defender, and Gauntlet, while the second volume contains another twenty titles of more modern fare including NARC, Xenophobe, and amazingly, complete versions of Mortal Kombat 2 and 3. The presentation and extras on the two volumes are somewhat lacking, but the very reasonable price tag (twenty dollars) and the availability of the volumes on each of the three consoles make buying the discs a no-brainer for anyone at least slightly interested in classic gaming.
Moving forward to the NES era, I recommend the Megaman 10th Anniversary Collection, which collects ten classic Megaman titles from the original NES game to the final installment on the PSone (Megaman 8). Also included are some neat extras, including two rarely seen Megaman "fighting" games that up until now were only seen in arcades. The compilation is available for both the PS2 and GameCube, but players who want a control scheme most like how they remember it on the NES should pick up the PS2 version. For some unknown reason, the Cube's version has the "fire" and "jump" buttons swapped around. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but veterans of the series will not like it.
For people who yearn for the good ol' 16-bit days of the Sega Genesis, two anthologies come to mind: The Sega Smash Pack for the Dreamcast and the Sonic Mega Collection (Plus) for the current three consoles. The Smash Pack collected a bunch of the Sega greats, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, Vectorman, and even Phantasy Star 2. The Sonic Mega Collection, on the other hand, collects all the major 2-D Sonic games sans Sonic CD (a pity), along with a few other Genesis titles such as Comix Zone and Ristar. As a bonus to PS2 and Xbox owners, their versions of Sonic Mega Collection were given the "Plus" extension to signify that some Sonic Game Gear titles were also included in the package.
Unfortunately, for every good anthology there's a disappointing one. A few that let me down were the recently released Sonic Gems Collection (GameCube) and slightly older Sega Classics Collection (PS2), both of which contain mostly lackluster titles and, in Sonic Gems' case, too high a price tag for what's offered. Nintendo, sadly, has also released some poor collections, namely its GBA NES Classics line that is little more than old NES titles copied, individually, on over-priced GBA cartridges (although, to be fair, the prices have since dropped). Don't expect any extras either on these shameless rereleases.
A few other collections that weren't particularly good or bad include the Intellivision Lives! anthology (decent, but many of the games are too difficult to play with modern controllers) and Street Fighter 2 Anniversary Collection (again, not bad, but the interface could be greatly improved, and more extras should have been offered). Another is Namco Museum, an anthology that has actually been released several times in different forms. While none of these installments are terrible, because they are so similar to each other, and due to their lack of worthwhile extras, I recommend just getting the most inexpensive release and ignoring the rest (the PSP version excepted - this is a good, and different, enough version to warrant a purchase in addition to the console releases). Incidentally, the Namco Museum series originated on the PSone as a five-volume collection, offering five games per installment. Because each one boasted an explorable 3-D museum filled with Namco memorabilia, these particular titles are now valued on the collectors' market. It's a pity that later versions of Namco Museum lost this feature, but at least the games finally started being collected on a single disc.
Hopefully this primer has been helpful to those deciding which anthologies to add to their personal collections. Over the years, Classic Gaming has become big business for the game industry, and with more compilations on the way from Konami, Capcom and Sega, and with Nintendo preparing to offer downloadable classic games on its upcoming Internet Wi-Fi service for the Revolution, the trend shows no immediate signs of abating.
Does anyone know of a good collection I've left out? Let me know! Until next time. . .
Nintendo's Revolution Controller Finally Revealed!
I know I said a few posts ago that I usually don't write about current events in gaming, but once again I could not resist - Nintendo finally unveiled its mysterious controller at the Tokyo Game Show in Japan, and boy, is it a doozy!
At first glance, the device looks rather silly. It strongly resembles a remote control of some kind, and hardly looks "revolutionary." Still, once Nintendo demonstrated it, everything became clear - this device really will change how we play games.
The controller is essentially a 3-D mouse, so to speak. By tilting the device in different directions, the player can move an object on screen in 3-D space, or alternatively, adjust the camera to effortlessly get the optimum view of the three-dimensional landscape. Additional peripherals can be attached to the main controller to provide even more control options. For instance, to improve movement and accuracy in a hypothetical first-person-shooter (say Half-Life or Metroid), players can connect an analogue stick attachment to the base of the controller. This way, the player can move his character with the stick in his left hand, while adjusting his view and aim with the main controller in his right. In other words, Nintendo's new system will grant the user with an unprecedented amount of control and flexibility in its games, assuming, of course, that the games are designed properly to make use of the controller's potential.
And how does this device track motion so well? Interestingly, Revolution owners will place two motion sensors on the front of their television, one on each side. Each sensor will then track the movement of the controller as the player moves his hand. Of course, the controller itself is wireless.
So, does Revolution live up to the hype now that the controller has been revealed? I'm amazed I'm writing this, but yes, I think so. I do question the "remote control" look of the device, and I'm disappointed the Big N didn't show some actual Revolution games in action, but Nintendo did succeed in proving that it can still be a visionary company with new ideas to offer gamers and the world.
I do have a few concerns, however: Will we have to buy new add-ons for the controller with every major release title? Will the controller alter certain games for the worst (Smash Brothers comes to mind; I don't want to have to move the characters by waving my hand everywhere). How well will the system be supported by third-party companies? What is the device's battery life? Will some genres work worse with the controller than others?
Lastly, even with the innovative design, I still don't see the Revolution (which is not the system's final name, by the way) beating out, in terms of popularity, the more conventional designs of the Xbox 360 and PS3. Due to its more novel approach, I think the Revolution will be seen more as a complimentary console to one of the other systems rather than a replacement. Nevertheless, you can bet I will be buying a Revolution the day it releases.
Anyone wanting to see the system in action should check out this
link. It leads to a video showing the controller in action and is a must-see.
Until next time. . .
Video Game Cartoons on DVD
I was recently surfing IGN.com and uncovered some good news - the complete
The Legend of Zelda cartoon series that aired on the
Super Mario Super Show back in the late eighties/early nineties is being released on DVD this October! Anyone who's been reading this blog knows that I'm a fan of these old Nintendo cartoons. I even posted a couple of Zelda and Mario animation cels on an earlier edition of the blog (check the "Video Game Cartoons and Animation Cels" post in the archive section). Anyway, a link to the full news article on IGN is
here.However, as much as I like Zelda, the one series I would truly love to see on DVD is the Hanna-Barbera produced Pac-Man cartoon that aired in the early eighties. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of that classic series (I would watch it religiously on Saturday mornings - yeah, I was a Pac-Man nut when I was young). It was a pretty decent production, too, considering it was based off of a character that, at the time, was little more than a bland yellow disc that moved around a blue maze.
Another series I'd like to own is the old eighties
Donkey Kong cartoon, which featured an extremely early version of Mario, who, if I remember correctly, worked at a circus (I guess DK was one of the circus animals). Other than that, I remember virtually nothing of the short-lived series, but that just makes me want to see it even more now.
Although I've already mentioned Zelda, I'd be crazy to not reminisce again over the old
Super Mario Super Show. The cartoon featured both live-action and animated segments, with the WWF (now WWE) wrestler Captain Lou Albano portraying Mario in the former and voicing the character in the latter. While the live-action bits were cheesy even by Mario standards, the cartoon segments were good fun, and featured surprisingly good voice talent for the main cast of characters. Not only did Mr. Albano portray a believable Mario, but the voice acting for Luigi (played by Danny Wells), Toad (played by John Stockton) and Princess Toadstool (played by Jeannie Elias) were also quite good. So good, in fact, that the voices Nintendo currently uses for characters such as Mario and Peach pale by comparison. (I have to force myself not to cringe every time I hear Mario's ridiculous Italian accent, or Peach's forced falsetto, in modern Mario games.) Anyway, readers who want to learn more about the Mario cartoon should check out this
link and type in "Super Mario Super Show" in the search engine. The site provides a good description of the series, plus some interesting factoids.
Speaking of Nintendo, another popular cartoon of the early nineties was
Captain N: The Game Master, a series in which avid game player Kevin Keene is sucked through his television while playing his NES and is dropped into "Video Land," a world inhabited by famous Nintendo characters. He soon joins forces with a princess and her freedom-fighting band of gaming icons (including Simon Belmont and Mega Man) to battle the evil Mother Brain. While the cartoon seems weird, cheesy and even blasphemous by today's standards, it still remains a fun and humorous take on a variety of classic game characters. A DVD release of the full series, or at least of the first (and best) season, would be greatly appreciated.
Of course, the shows I've mentioned here are just the tip of the iceberg. Ancient, forgotten programs such as the old
Q*bert series probably exists in some god-forsaken vault somewhere, waiting to see light once again. And let's not forget there's at least three different versions of
Sonic the Hedgehog that have been aired on TV in the last fifteen years; each one differs drastically from the others in both style and substance, and this is not even counting the fourth and current Sonic series,
Sonic X.We can only hope that, like Zelda, all these cartoons will one day see a full release on DVD. Until next time. . .
Nintendo's Long History With Blondes
Ever notice that all of the Big N's major female characters are blondes? This phenomenon has been in place since the advent of
Donkey Kong back in 1981. Back in those days, players had to guide Jumpman (the early version of Mario) up beams and over barrels to defeat DK and save his hapless girlfriend, a blonde lass known as Pauline.
Jump forward a few years, and suddenly we have Mario marching his way towards Bowser's castle in aim of rescuing the fair Princess Peach (Toadstool). While originally a red head, the Princess immediately became the damsel of choice in the Mario universe and replaced poor Pauline, who was hardly heard from again. Perhaps to symbolize this fact, the Princess' hair color was gradually lightened over time until she became the pristine blonde we know today.
But the blonde trend didn't stop with Peach.
The Legend of Zelda series introduced the brunette Princess Zelda, who, by the time
A Link to the Past appeared (the third game of the series), now had a blonde mane of her own. And then there's Samus from the Metroid series. As with Zelda, she started her game career as a brunette but was made a bodacious blonde by the third game of the series,
Super Metroid. Lastly, there's Paula from the
Earthbound games. Like a miniaturized Princess Peach, she has long blonde hair and even wears a pink dress.
So, is there a point to this post? Not really. This is just an observation of Nintendo's odd infatuation with blonde, and fair skinned, female leads. And, being a fan of the blonde beauties myself, I'm not complaining, although sometimes I still catch myself imagining Princess Peach as the cute red head I remember from the old
Super Mario Super Show cartoon. *sigh* There's just something about red heads. . .
In other news, I'm going to be out of town for the next several days so there will not be any updates until sometime late next week. Have a cool holiday! Until next time. . .
