I had my brother over tonight for a bit of an old school gaming session and we played some Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (specifically Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master). His patience for old games isn't what it use to be and he seemed out of practice while trying to memorize boss patterns. We talked about the Mega Man 9 effect which obvious lead to us taking turns dying in the game of the same name.
Isaac cheated and looked up the robot master weaknesses and I stayed true to figuring out yourself (I don't think I did that as a kid but whatever). Looking at the challenges just made me remember how little of the game I had actually completed after I bought it; another game on the 'to beat' list.
A little surfing on the net during Splash Woman's stage brought me to a youtube clip of a project by a certain MegaPhilX. There are a lot of tribute games out there and they usually aren't that good but the attention to detail and imagination in Phil's Mega Man 10 really caught my eye.
You can only watch videos of two of the levels/robot masters and look at pictures of the entire roster of bosses but what's there does look promising. I especially enjoy the video of RainbowMan's level with its clever use of refraction of light and surprisingly unique move set by the titular boss. It's easy to scoff at the idea of a robot master being as colourful as the rainbow but after seeing him in action, I was wanting to steal his powers.
Showing posts with label Mega Man 9. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mega Man 9. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Retro is the new retro
Retrofitting,
Behold a new buzz word for the video game community.
When I was younger I didn't just want to make video games, I wanted to make an entire damn system. I actually cut out a console made out of cardboard and made a slit in the top to put in my literal paper thin games (I think I ended up designing some game covers too, but alas all of that has been long discarded). My console was only going to be able to play 16 and 8bit games in an era of 3d graphics and spinny CD thingies instead of good ole catridges. This would make the games easier to make when I finally figured out how to... er, make games.
Point is that with the advent of Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and WiiWare the idea of taking long running series back to their roots has become popular. We'll see where it goes from Mega Man 9 and Bionic Commando Rearmed but my guess is that their will be a small community of developers and publishers that will jump on this ban wagon.
There is nothing inherently new about retrofitting; back in my day it was just referred to as being gameboyized. A more recent example of this would be the New Super Mario Bros on the DS. Some series continue to create hand held graphical downgrades (Zelda for instance) while some oddly continue to stay away from nostalgia based games (I'm looking at you Metroid). Other series like Castlevania find shelter in the 2d sprite games while cautiously courting the 3d realm once more (A fighting game? Seriously?)
So strong is this meme of 'old is the new new' that The Independant Gaming Source held a demake competition where newer games/series get the Atari/NES/SNES (/Genesis for those Sega fans out there) makeover. This includes well known titles such as GTA, Silent Hill, Super Smash Bros, and God of War to name a few.
Go here to view TIGS competition and if you want some more superfun look through the games and see if you can figure out the originals.
Retrofit... demake... graphical 8bit overhaul... whatever you want to call it... video games have caught up with fashion, interior design and music where we in the community can now say, "Retro is so in right now."
Behold a new buzz word for the video game community.
When I was younger I didn't just want to make video games, I wanted to make an entire damn system. I actually cut out a console made out of cardboard and made a slit in the top to put in my literal paper thin games (I think I ended up designing some game covers too, but alas all of that has been long discarded). My console was only going to be able to play 16 and 8bit games in an era of 3d graphics and spinny CD thingies instead of good ole catridges. This would make the games easier to make when I finally figured out how to... er, make games.
Point is that with the advent of Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and WiiWare the idea of taking long running series back to their roots has become popular. We'll see where it goes from Mega Man 9 and Bionic Commando Rearmed but my guess is that their will be a small community of developers and publishers that will jump on this ban wagon.
There is nothing inherently new about retrofitting; back in my day it was just referred to as being gameboyized. A more recent example of this would be the New Super Mario Bros on the DS. Some series continue to create hand held graphical downgrades (Zelda for instance) while some oddly continue to stay away from nostalgia based games (I'm looking at you Metroid). Other series like Castlevania find shelter in the 2d sprite games while cautiously courting the 3d realm once more (A fighting game? Seriously?)
So strong is this meme of 'old is the new new' that The Independant Gaming Source held a demake competition where newer games/series get the Atari/NES/SNES (/Genesis for those Sega fans out there) makeover. This includes well known titles such as GTA, Silent Hill, Super Smash Bros, and God of War to name a few.
Go here to view TIGS competition and if you want some more superfun look through the games and see if you can figure out the originals.
Retrofit... demake... graphical 8bit overhaul... whatever you want to call it... video games have caught up with fashion, interior design and music where we in the community can now say, "Retro is so in right now."
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