Saturday, September 10, 2016

Extremely Delayed Update

You might be tempted to think I've abandoned this blog. Yet here I am with a new post. A couple things happened since the last post. Obviously Chrontendo Episode 49 was released.

And now, Chrontendo Episode 50 is also out! As always you can stream it on Youtube in high-ish def ad 60 fps, or you can download it on Archive. There are a few video options.

The purest, least processed version is the 480p AVI file here.
There is a also a large 720p mkv version here.
And a smaller 720p mkv here.

There is are also mp4 versions of the about two files. You can see all the downloads here, but avoid any version not mentioned above.

Chrontendo Episode 50 has one of the worst selection of games of any episode so far. A couple decent titles, Softball Tengoku and Super Spike V'Ball turn up, but the remainder is mostly crap from the likes of Beam, Rare, Tose and the like.

To fill out this episode with something worthwhile, I included the 1989 computer game roundup. A look at some of the highlights (and a few lowlights, like the amazing David Wolf: Secret Agent), the round up takes a good 30 minutes of Episode 50's run time. The most well known computer games from 89 would be Sim City, Populous, and Prince of Persia, but there are plenty of lesser known important titles like Catacomb (essentially the 2D blueprint for Doom) and Harpoon (considered to be the greatest naval warfare simulation game of all time). The overall narrative of the history of computer gaming in the late 80s and early 90 is: a) the triumph of the DOS based PC over its competitors and b) the ever increasing graphical powers of PCs, when led to the transition from 2D games to 3D games. We see a number of  early, almost forgotten 3D games in this episode, including Interphase and Archipelagos.

The highlights of Episode 50 are two reasonably fun/competent sports games Softball Tengoku and Super Spike V'Ball. Softball Tengoku, perhaps the first all-furry baseball videogame, is a crudely made yet creative and fun game featuring a bizarre roster of animal and monster players. It was made significantly less weird for the US market and released as Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball.  Technos Japan's  Super Spike V'Ball is a less creative, though sturdily designed volleyball game.



On the lower end of the spectrum we have... well, almost everything else.  The Three Stooges is a port of the Cinemaware Amiga game and my least favorite game this episode. A hastily slapped together collection of bad minigames, the Amiga version at least had nice sound and graphics. The NES port, developed by Beam (seen last episode with their Back to the Future) is a ugly unpleasant mess.



Episode 50 breaks the baseball game record with four baseball games total. Aside from Softball Tengoku we have:

Kattobi! Warabe Ko



This is a rather odd card-based game taken from a manga. Published by Pack-in-Video.

Choujin Ultra Baseball/Baseball Simulator 1.000

Similar to Softball Tengoku, this Culture Brain title features players with superhuman baseball abilities. Too bad they released under the incredibly boring and inappropriate name Baseball Simulator 1.000 in the US.

Major League



Yes, a Japan only game based on Major League, the movie with Charlie Sheen. Sadly, after the opening scenes, it's a totally generic baseball game.

Tose developed Softball Tengoku, and they were responsible for two other games this episode:

Tashiro Masashi no Princess ga Ippai



Fan translated under the absurd title Princesstual Orgy, this action platformer stars the (now disgraced) comedian Tashiro Masashi. A relatively nice looking game from Tose, it's absolutely sunk by the horrible slippery controls and terrible level design. A shame since I was looking forward to this one based in it's loony title.

Dragon Ball 3: Gokuuden



Tose games are actually getting pretty slick at times. An RPG/card game/board game based on the manga and anime. A little prettier than the last Dragon Ball game.

Rounding out the detritus:

Dungeon Magic



Published by Natsume in Japan and by Taito in the US, this is one of few Japanese developed games that attempts to imitate the Bard's Tale style of western RPG.  The results are shockingly ugly, but it turns out this game has its fans.

Jeopardy Jr Edition/Wheel of Fortune Jr Edition

Two very slightly revised versions of these Rare/Game Tek titles from 1988. Rare just went in, slightly altered some graphics and replaced the questions/puzzles with easier ones aimed at younger kids.

 Stealth ATF

Cashing in on the interest surrounding the recently unveiled stealth fighter, this gem from Activision/Imagineering feels like the lost cousin of Top Gun, right down to a plane that's impossible to land without crashing.

Gozonji Yaji Kita Chindochū
Yet another humorous menu based adventure game, this time from HAL.

Twin Eagle


One of the rare instances where a game is released in the US first, then much later in Japan. The original arcade game was not particularly notable. This NES port is notable for being one of the worst shoot-em-ups on the system.

Mahjong Taikai

Of course there's a mahjong game. This is published by Koei, strangely enough. It's a port of a computer game in which famous historical figures face off in a game of mahjong.

Coming soon is a Video Nasties double header! Two episodes back to back featuring Lucio Fulci's The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery.

After that, Episode 51 will finally take us to December 1989! Highlights include Square's Tom Sawyer and an almost forgotten game published by Nintendo.








25 comments:

Chris Sobieniak said...

Thank you for your time and effort Dr. Sparkle! At least we're getting close to the NINETIES, then it'll be time for KLAX!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad this is not dead, great to read something new here! :)

Short question about Chrontendo 49 though: Why are the files named 48, and will you do a mkv version of it? https://archive.org/details/Episode48_201604 -> https://archive.org/download/Episode48_201604

k8track said...

I am super excited to see you back! I am downloading the last two episodes right now, and am looking forward to seeing them. Still the best vlog out there! Is that still a word? Once a word, always a word, I guess; you can't unexist a word. Hey, is that a word too? If so, it's probably not transitive. I'm playing them both in Scrabble next time (assuming the tiles will cooperate).

Anonymous said...

49 was released!? There was no blog post for it!

Doctor Sparkle said...

I'm never sure if anyone still ever checks the blog page anymore. I'm guessing most people get Chrontendo updates on Youtube or Twitter.

k8track said...

The blog is the only way I see any updates. I check it semi-regularly. I did subscribe to the Chrontendo Youtube channel, but for some reason I don't receive any updates on that, and I don't have the Twitter. Your blog is still read, loved, and appreciated.

Chris Sobieniak said...

There's still a few of us!

Fuck Liefeld, Give Me Chew said...

I think you should start Super Chrontendo next, as a complement to Chrontendo 50. I love the Super NES: It is not as awesome as the NES or the WiiU. but it has dozens of clasics like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Punchout, Wild Guns, Tin Star, Batman the Animated Series, Castlevania, Contra, Donkey Kong, Mother 2, Final fantasy 4 and 6, The Firemen, Joe and Mac, Magic Sword, Lufia 2, Mega Man X 1 and 2, Street Fighter 2, Shin Megami Tensei but not fucking number 2, Super Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Wing Commander, Star Fox, Primal Rage, Parodius, Lemmings, Sparkster, Chrono Trigger, Tiny Toons, Spawn, Umihara Kawase, X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse and War of the Gems, Samurai Showdown, Plok, Firepower 2000, Puzzle bobble, Prince of Persia, Neugier, Kunio Kun, Run Saber, Space Megaforce and Aladdin.

Fuck Liefeld, Give Me Chew said...

I have a question: What Turbografx 16 games do you recommend? I played some of the classics like Air Zonk, Star Parodier and The Legendary Axe and beat Bloody Wolf, Ninja Spirit and Detana Twinbee, but what else do you recoomend on that system?

PK Thunder said...

I mainly check the blog for updates as well. It's too easy to miss important posts on Twitter.

cccmar said...

Great job, as always! The Tom Sawyer game is actually in the works right now, so you may want to put that one off till the very end. It will surely become way more English-friendly in a few months (only the first few areas are translated now). It is not a long game, but it does have quite a lot of text, at least that's what I've heard from the guys working on it, so it's cool they're tackling it.

ZoriaRPG said...

I too read the blog every once in a while to check for new videos. I had no idea that 49 was out, until you posted about 50. ;)

So, ChonTurbo, then ChronSEGA, maybe by January?

ZoriaRPG said...

I always anticipated that Dr. S. was going to cover the SNES/SuFami in ChronTendo, as he covered both the Mk3 and MegaDrive together in ChronSEGA.

Unknown said...

As a game designer, I have been inspired numerous times by obscure games you've brought up, like Kattobi! Warabe Ko. Thank you so much for your series!

Anonymous said...

Don't worry about the delayed update, we're just happy we still get new Chrontendo episodes! And I have to say, the wait between 49 and 50 wasn't that long by chrontendo standards. ;D

Thanks again for your continued effort. Love your work.

Anonymous said...

Small nitpick: the Xenon 2 footage is of the DOS version, not the Amiga. This is unfortunate, since the music is the other thing that made the game famous.

Vanilla Perverts said...

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YEAH!

Unknown said...

Please keep going, you have no idea how much the world needs this ☺

Thub said...

I'm just stumbling on this, and yeah, the files for Episode 49 are messed up on archive.org. I've tried the torrent link and it's actually the same torrent as for Ep48.

Anonymous said...

That sucks

ChibiKage89 said...

gaming is the best

Unknown said...

New Chrontendo?!? Yes! Yes! Yes! Maybe I can downloaded it at 7downloads Let me see :)

selena montana said...

In fact, lots of players and teams are becoming more and more inclined to take that opportunity.Coaching - Vital-EloBoost.com - Professional League of Legends Boosting & Coaching service!

kitsunebi said...

Since this is the final blog post related to Chrontendo, I just want to say thank you for the amazing body of work you produced. It's a terrible shame that you abandoned the project, but the fact that you got as far as you did is still quite the accomplishment. I'll be forever hopeful that you one day return with a new video, but even if that never happens, please know that I'm grateful. The careful research and insight you put into your even-tempered coverage really stands out amongst the plethora of Youtube videos of "reviewers" shouting obscenities about how terrible everything is for our "amusement."

Unknown said...

Do you understand there's a 12 word sentence you can say to your partner... that will trigger intense emotions of love and impulsive appeal to you buried within his chest?

Because deep inside these 12 words is a "secret signal" that fuels a man's instinct to love, admire and protect you with his entire heart...

12 Words Who Trigger A Man's Desire Instinct

This instinct is so hardwired into a man's mind that it will drive him to try harder than before to to be the best lover he can be.

In fact, fueling this powerful instinct is so important to having the best ever relationship with your man that the second you send your man one of the "Secret Signals"...

...You'll soon find him open his soul and mind for you in a way he never expressed before and he will identify you as the only woman in the galaxy who has ever truly tempted him.