Just discovered a channel that is watching every episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog...for some reason (and I'm watching it...for some reason).
Castlevania: Resurrection, the canceled (and if the stories are to be believed, intentionally sabotaged) Dreamcast Castlevania game, has been found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXzbJMFwmCc
A Swiss Dreamcast preservationist and collector was contacted by someone who has a playable build, and he then sent them a video of the game being played. (The owner did not share a copy of the build, however) It's a build from just before the only existing known build, which was shown behind closed doors at E3 1999. A little more info here: https://www.sega-dreamcast-info-games-preservation.com/castelvania-resurrection-dreamcast
And as a show of good faith, if all you want is the trailer and you don't care about the physical releases, collector's edition, etc., here's the trailer:
And as a show of good faith, if all you want is the trailer and you don't care about the physical releases, collector's edition, etc., here's the trailer:
H3KnucklesBut we decide which is rightand which is an illusion.Registered Userregular
Wait, I never put this together before, but is Alex Kidd's design a Sun Wukong reference? Because this is how Nintendo and Capcom were depicting Goku in the 80's:
Red suit, yellow scarf, brown hair, bushy eyebrows.
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I dunno if the world is ready for live action Rouge the Bat.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
it sounds like they tried to have Naka's people do all the vague gameplay idea stuff and fantastic concept art and then dumped it all on a contractor with the instructions "make this into a game please" and hoped for the best
H3KnucklesBut we decide which is rightand which is an illusion.Registered Userregular
edited April 2021
The thing about Balan Wonderworld is... it's not that far off from Mario Odyssey in premise. My nephew was 4-5 when he was playing that and he could clear a fair portion of the game without help. There was no good reason to simplify and dumb down the game to the extent that they apparently did.
Give the base character a more robust skill set, give each costume 1-2 actions, a jump, and like 1 or 2 'perks' like double jumping or glide (and it's okay for costumes to share stuff as long as each has 1 unique thing), to make them more interesting. Odyssey has nowhere near 80 critters you can become, and it still feels like a crazy amount given how one-note some of them end up being. BW should've had less costumes overall, and furthermore it should have limited how many the player has access to at any one time. Either you shouldn't be able to take them with you (like Odyssey), or they could be tied to 'environments', so for example in the ice area there's a set of 3-5 you progressively unlock, but the desert has a different set of 3-5. That makes designing the environments and fights around what players will be able to do easier. This would address their concern of overwhelming the player with things to learn; the player would only need to know/remember the costumes for the current area. It also means you can have a faster, more fluid way of swapping between costumes, instead of going into an inventory screen. Like, these are pretty basic things that other games had already done better. Shit, Square-Enix's own Dewprism (Threads of Fate for us Americans) had something similar with how the shapeshifting playable character's skill worked.
It's a shame that such good art design was wasted on such a mis-aimed, under-supported, & executive-meddled project.
The big thing I keep seeing people say about balan is that it's obviously made for little kids and I dunno if i agree
It is both super simplified but also really obtuse? I haven't watched a ton of footage but every time I HAVE watched someone play it they spendost of the time wondering what the fuck they're doing and getting lost because everything looks the same
It's explicitly intended for children and I don't think a failed execution changes that
and that wha happun? makes a point that I've made elsewhere, and still strongly believe: execution aside, making the game for small children was extremely the wrong call, because you're only going to give a shit about this game if yuji naka's name means anything to you
It's explicitly intended for children and I don't think a failed execution changes that
and that wha happun? makes a point that I've made elsewhere, and still strongly believe: execution aside, making the game for small children was extremely the wrong call, because you're only going to give a shit about this game if yuji naka's name means anything to you
if it was an excellent and well-regarded game, that would be enough to make people give a shit about it?
Also I have given my nephew Nintendo games and he cant play them all well but he gets the idea pretty quick. A game intended for kids should be intuitive not just a lazy idea of simple
I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
It's explicitly intended for children and I don't think a failed execution changes that
oh sure
i'm just saying that for instance that Wha Happun suggests that the problem with the game is that it's made for babies so it's too easy and not engaging enough for anyone over a certain age
and the game is so confusing and awkward that i think kids young enough to be engaged on the difficulty level wouldn't be able to figure out where to go or what to do
You could really do anything with the Balan concept, but from ten minutes of doodling I reckon this might have been fun:
1. The hub area is a giant theatre / circus / castle. You have limited access to the upper areas without costumes. As you acquire new costumes, you can scale further and further up the castle (unlocking elevators and magic doors for speed upon return). Every major progression point gives you insight into Balan.
2. It’s Megaman. There might only be 8 to 12 costumes in this game, but each one has a versatile action that you can use in many situations and puzzles, because naturally, we are being sane here and you can always jump. There’d be lots of subtle but easy to remember extras with each costume, like the fire one being immune to fire.
3. When you complete all the levels you can reach the top of the hub world. Now you’ve got to deal with Balan’s own problem, which I’d tie into whoever the villain is. Once you’ve done that it’s onto a final zone to take on the villain, with either Balan with you, or after empowering you in some major way (Super Sonic style).
4. Throw in actually challenging levels as a post-game thing, where you use every costume.
Side topics:
A. Switching costume can be done mid-jump.
B. Villain needs to rant like Grunty from Banjo-Kazooie.
C. Wall jumping and ledge grabs are the light and the way.
D. Real talk are Japanese developers legally obliged to never play one game? Not even a New Super Mario Bros, for five minutes? I’ve only seen it on YouTube, but it’s like if someone heard about a platform game.
Every time a dev gets it in their head that extreme simplicity in controls would bring in a wider audience, we get one of these horribly compromised games, and they all refuse to take notes, even from each other. So you have Kirby Air Ride only using one button on the Gamecube controller, so that your ability to speed up and use powerups are both on the same button? Kids... love Mario Kart, what the hell was the point of that? Or Metroid Other M where they pretended the Nunchuck didn't exist for extremely misguided reasons (the kind of people who are attracted to the simplicity of the Wii Remote used solo are not the kind of people who love Metroidvania games). Or Balan, where they thought jumping should be a special power only assigned to some of the costumes... in a platforming game...
Posts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGTsjrmA3wI
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXzbJMFwmCc
A Swiss Dreamcast preservationist and collector was contacted by someone who has a playable build, and he then sent them a video of the game being played. (The owner did not share a copy of the build, however) It's a build from just before the only existing known build, which was shown behind closed doors at E3 1999. A little more info here: https://www.sega-dreamcast-info-games-preservation.com/castelvania-resurrection-dreamcast
http://www.poisonmushroom.org/2021/04/alex-kidd-in-miracle-world-dx-release-info-finally-revealed/
And as a show of good faith, if all you want is the trailer and you don't care about the physical releases, collector's edition, etc., here's the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCeCw3r22rs
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Okay, those enemies are fucking incredible.
Red suit, yellow scarf, brown hair, bushy eyebrows.
Is he? Huh, I did not know that.
Apparently there was a cut reference from the first movie where Robotnik had a coffee maker of his own design called the Mean Bean Machine.
it'd be like The Snap
a probably significant number of people with some particular tastes would just hop on Facebook and then spontaneously combust
& Knuckles
Oh God, he's after the Chaos Emeralds
mighty no. 9 comparison unfortunately apt
Give the base character a more robust skill set, give each costume 1-2 actions, a jump, and like 1 or 2 'perks' like double jumping or glide (and it's okay for costumes to share stuff as long as each has 1 unique thing), to make them more interesting. Odyssey has nowhere near 80 critters you can become, and it still feels like a crazy amount given how one-note some of them end up being. BW should've had less costumes overall, and furthermore it should have limited how many the player has access to at any one time. Either you shouldn't be able to take them with you (like Odyssey), or they could be tied to 'environments', so for example in the ice area there's a set of 3-5 you progressively unlock, but the desert has a different set of 3-5. That makes designing the environments and fights around what players will be able to do easier. This would address their concern of overwhelming the player with things to learn; the player would only need to know/remember the costumes for the current area. It also means you can have a faster, more fluid way of swapping between costumes, instead of going into an inventory screen. Like, these are pretty basic things that other games had already done better. Shit, Square-Enix's own Dewprism (Threads of Fate for us Americans) had something similar with how the shapeshifting playable character's skill worked.
It's a shame that such good art design was wasted on such a mis-aimed, under-supported, & executive-meddled project.
ax battler: has sword
???
No, no, he fights people that carry axes
It is both super simplified but also really obtuse? I haven't watched a ton of footage but every time I HAVE watched someone play it they spendost of the time wondering what the fuck they're doing and getting lost because everything looks the same
http://www.audioentropy.com/
and that wha happun? makes a point that I've made elsewhere, and still strongly believe: execution aside, making the game for small children was extremely the wrong call, because you're only going to give a shit about this game if yuji naka's name means anything to you
at least the character itself looks cool I guess
oh sure
i'm just saying that for instance that Wha Happun suggests that the problem with the game is that it's made for babies so it's too easy and not engaging enough for anyone over a certain age
and the game is so confusing and awkward that i think kids young enough to be engaged on the difficulty level wouldn't be able to figure out where to go or what to do
http://www.audioentropy.com/
1. The hub area is a giant theatre / circus / castle. You have limited access to the upper areas without costumes. As you acquire new costumes, you can scale further and further up the castle (unlocking elevators and magic doors for speed upon return). Every major progression point gives you insight into Balan.
2. It’s Megaman. There might only be 8 to 12 costumes in this game, but each one has a versatile action that you can use in many situations and puzzles, because naturally, we are being sane here and you can always jump. There’d be lots of subtle but easy to remember extras with each costume, like the fire one being immune to fire.
3. When you complete all the levels you can reach the top of the hub world. Now you’ve got to deal with Balan’s own problem, which I’d tie into whoever the villain is. Once you’ve done that it’s onto a final zone to take on the villain, with either Balan with you, or after empowering you in some major way (Super Sonic style).
4. Throw in actually challenging levels as a post-game thing, where you use every costume.
Side topics:
A. Switching costume can be done mid-jump.
B. Villain needs to rant like Grunty from Banjo-Kazooie.
C. Wall jumping and ledge grabs are the light and the way.
D. Real talk are Japanese developers legally obliged to never play one game? Not even a New Super Mario Bros, for five minutes? I’ve only seen it on YouTube, but it’s like if someone heard about a platform game.
kirby air ride is good
http://www.audioentropy.com/