Seven posts in one month! A long time ago, I told you I was going to start posting on a more regular basis, and now I am finally doing it! And since Chronsega 5 should be ready soon, we'll probably have a total of eight posts, smashing all previous posting records.
Undoubtedly part of this is due to the whole "laid off" thing. Suddenly having an extra 9 hours, minimum, of time each day certainly opens up some new possibilities. There are definite benefits, like actually obtaining that 8 hours of sleep that all human beings are supposed to get each night. A friend of mine admitted she had quite a bit of trouble sleeping after being recently laid off; I was just the opposite. Once I was handed my walking papers, my insomnia instantly cleared up.
On the other hand, once everyone knows you're not working, you suddenly become the go-to guy for feeding pets while the owner is on vacation, picking up kids from school and so on. So everything balances out in the end.
And one last thing, Chronsega Episode 5 will be a slightly different; it will feature 17 games instead of the previously standard 15. A few of Ep. 5's games are a little bit, shall we say, lacking in "interesting qualities." There's only so much you can say about Maze Walker, so I tacked on a new extra games to beef up the length.
Oh, and I created a 1-Up profile for no particular reason, other than to occasionally comment on something. I've decided to re-post relevant Chrontendo blogs there. (But not this one. This post is a Chrontendo Blogspot exclusive!).
Every Nintendo Game In Chronological Order
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Sega & the Pseudo-sequels
There seems to be a natural human instinct to want sequels. After all, if we like something, we tend to want more of it. From The Odyssey up to Iron Man 2, human culture has produced plenty of followups to successful artistic creations, so it's only natural that the video game industry would get in on the act. Since early video games were usually pretty light in the story department, sequels to 70s games tended to be refinements or enhancements rather than continuations of the original games' plots. Since you inevitably died and Earth was destroyed in Space Invaders, it would be difficult to think of a Space Invaders Part 2 taking place chronologically after the first game.
By the early 80s, little stories and characters had been inserted into electronic games. We saw Mario topple Donkey Kong from the top floor of a partially constructed building, so it's quite possible to imagine that shortly afterward, DK was locked in a cage by Mario and then rescued by one of his gorilla relatives. Around this time, genuine video game sequels, such as Donkey Kong Jr. and Pitfall II were born. Over the next few years, expectations for video game sequels became standardized: a sequel should be very similar to the first game, but also be a bit more "advanced." This might include: improved graphics, more sophisticated gameplay, perhaps the game might be a bit longer. Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Castlevania and Dragon Quest all followed this template to some degree in the period from 1986-1988.
Donkey Kong Jr. picked up right where the first game left off.
However, in early 1988, we find Sega mostly ignoring this template. The upcoming Chronsega Episode 5 will cover the first half of 1988, and we'll be seeing titles bearing the names of Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier, Wonder Boy and Alex Kidd! This is like the Chronsega All-Stars episode! Too bad these games are all somewhat disappointing. Probably the closest we get a satisfying sequel is Wonder Boy in Monster Land, which takes the original and gives it an RPG twist. Now Wonder Boy collects coins from slain monsters and can buy armor and magic from shops! Oddly, there is very little to connect Monster Land to the first game, beyond the name. Not to mention that Monster Boy was not really a new game, but one that had been in arcades for a year.
Wonder Boy + money + equipable items + magic + shops + an entirely new setting = Wonder Boy in Monster Land.
The remaining three games are less successful. Fantasy Zone: The Maze (Opa Opa in Japan) switches genres entirely, awkwardly wedging the titular hero into a Pac-Man style maze game. While not really a bad game, FZ: The Maze must have been a bit baffling for fans of the series. Space Harrier 3-D makes use of Sega's fancy Sega Scope 3-D glasses, but the game itself is virtually a rom hack of the SMS version of the first game. Essentially, it's Space Harrier with new enemy sprites -- far less ambitious that even the Japanese Super Mario Bros 2.
Really, Sega? What does this have to do with Fantasy Zone?
Then we have Alex Kidd. The first SMS game featuring Sega's would-be mascot was perhaps the best release for the console prior to Phantasy Star. While not as finely tuned as it could be, Alex Kidd showed enormous promise if a sequel was able iron out some of the kinks. Miracle World hit the shelves in late 1986, so by the standards of the era, a sequel was due approximately one year later. Unfortunately, what was finally released in March 1988 was not a true sequel to Miracle World, but instead a port of the very first Alex Kidd game, The Lost Stars - an arcade title from 1986. Again, The Lost Stars was not a bad game, but it was a step backward, not a step forward.
Not a bad game. Just not a real sequel. That was being reserved for the Mega Drive/Genesis.
So if you were a Master System owner and a fan of Alex Kidd, Fantasy Land or Space Harrier in 1988, it's easy to imagine you feeling disappointed or even a little betrayed by Sega's release schedule. To this day, people have speculated on the reasons why NES succeeded while the Master System failed. Add the inability to fully exploit their franchises to the list.*
The obvious question to ask is "why?" I assume this was not sheer obliviousness on Sega's part. More than likely, the Sega home office had simply given up on the Master System by this point, and was focusing all its energy on its soon-to-be released 16 bit console. Yes, believe it or not we are already nearing the end of the Master System's time as Sega's flagship console! When Chronsega 6 comes out a few months down the road, we'll see that a surprising number of games where developed by companies other than Sega.
*History repeated itself a decade later when Sega failed to put out a satisfactory Sonic game on the Saturn.
By the early 80s, little stories and characters had been inserted into electronic games. We saw Mario topple Donkey Kong from the top floor of a partially constructed building, so it's quite possible to imagine that shortly afterward, DK was locked in a cage by Mario and then rescued by one of his gorilla relatives. Around this time, genuine video game sequels, such as Donkey Kong Jr. and Pitfall II were born. Over the next few years, expectations for video game sequels became standardized: a sequel should be very similar to the first game, but also be a bit more "advanced." This might include: improved graphics, more sophisticated gameplay, perhaps the game might be a bit longer. Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Castlevania and Dragon Quest all followed this template to some degree in the period from 1986-1988.
Donkey Kong Jr. picked up right where the first game left off.
However, in early 1988, we find Sega mostly ignoring this template. The upcoming Chronsega Episode 5 will cover the first half of 1988, and we'll be seeing titles bearing the names of Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier, Wonder Boy and Alex Kidd! This is like the Chronsega All-Stars episode! Too bad these games are all somewhat disappointing. Probably the closest we get a satisfying sequel is Wonder Boy in Monster Land, which takes the original and gives it an RPG twist. Now Wonder Boy collects coins from slain monsters and can buy armor and magic from shops! Oddly, there is very little to connect Monster Land to the first game, beyond the name. Not to mention that Monster Boy was not really a new game, but one that had been in arcades for a year.
Wonder Boy + money + equipable items + magic + shops + an entirely new setting = Wonder Boy in Monster Land.
The remaining three games are less successful. Fantasy Zone: The Maze (Opa Opa in Japan) switches genres entirely, awkwardly wedging the titular hero into a Pac-Man style maze game. While not really a bad game, FZ: The Maze must have been a bit baffling for fans of the series. Space Harrier 3-D makes use of Sega's fancy Sega Scope 3-D glasses, but the game itself is virtually a rom hack of the SMS version of the first game. Essentially, it's Space Harrier with new enemy sprites -- far less ambitious that even the Japanese Super Mario Bros 2.
Really, Sega? What does this have to do with Fantasy Zone?
Then we have Alex Kidd. The first SMS game featuring Sega's would-be mascot was perhaps the best release for the console prior to Phantasy Star. While not as finely tuned as it could be, Alex Kidd showed enormous promise if a sequel was able iron out some of the kinks. Miracle World hit the shelves in late 1986, so by the standards of the era, a sequel was due approximately one year later. Unfortunately, what was finally released in March 1988 was not a true sequel to Miracle World, but instead a port of the very first Alex Kidd game, The Lost Stars - an arcade title from 1986. Again, The Lost Stars was not a bad game, but it was a step backward, not a step forward.
Not a bad game. Just not a real sequel. That was being reserved for the Mega Drive/Genesis.
So if you were a Master System owner and a fan of Alex Kidd, Fantasy Land or Space Harrier in 1988, it's easy to imagine you feeling disappointed or even a little betrayed by Sega's release schedule. To this day, people have speculated on the reasons why NES succeeded while the Master System failed. Add the inability to fully exploit their franchises to the list.*
The obvious question to ask is "why?" I assume this was not sheer obliviousness on Sega's part. More than likely, the Sega home office had simply given up on the Master System by this point, and was focusing all its energy on its soon-to-be released 16 bit console. Yes, believe it or not we are already nearing the end of the Master System's time as Sega's flagship console! When Chronsega 6 comes out a few months down the road, we'll see that a surprising number of games where developed by companies other than Sega.
*History repeated itself a decade later when Sega failed to put out a satisfactory Sonic game on the Saturn.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Why Hello, There!
Not that I am really planning on turning Chrontendo into an alcohol post, but I was a little surprised to walk into my local big-box liquor store and find a large display of Hello Kitty wines near the front door. Including, I believe, Pinot Noir and a Brut sparkling wine. There were maybe four different varieties on sale.
Are there any markets Sanrio has not tried to tap into yet?
In other news, I'm trying to decide which sounds more ridiculous: "Natal" or "Kinect." I am in favor of the XBox 360 slim, however. One thing I absolutely hate about the 360 is that it is without a doubt the noisiest console I've ever heard.
Are there any markets Sanrio has not tried to tap into yet?
In other news, I'm trying to decide which sounds more ridiculous: "Natal" or "Kinect." I am in favor of the XBox 360 slim, however. One thing I absolutely hate about the 360 is that it is without a doubt the noisiest console I've ever heard.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Episode 30 Revised
Well, Chrontendo Episode 30 has only been on the shelves for a couple days now, and already there's a new version! For reasons unknown, a brief section of the video was poorly encoded and looked a little blocky - this affected the very end of Demon Sword and the box art shot of Fleet Commander. This has now been fixed.
Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, Famicom Grand Prix II came out looking pretty weird, due to the constant use of flicker effects. Commenter Johanh asked why I didn't render it in such a way as to merge consecutive frames. To answer his question -- I'm not really that familiar with video editing/encoding software and don't know how to do that. I know that AVISynth has some tools for combining frames when changing the frame rate of a video, such an effect that will blend two frames together. But I think these sort things are mostly used to convert NTSC videos to PAL. That AVISynth tool isn't able to convert from 60 FPS to 30 FPS.
For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, take the fork in the road effect in FGP II. Here are four consecutive frames: 1/15 of a second's worth.
The Famicom isn't capable of transparencies, but developers managed to fake it using a super fast flicker. The first game I noticed to use the fake transparency effect was Getsufuu Maden; Konami seems quite fond of it.
Most video software such as Virtual Dub would convert a 60 FPS video to 30 FPS simply by removing every other frame. So the sequence above would contain only the first and third frame or the second and fourth - thus the flickering objects either won't show up at all or will look solid, with no flicker. I would assume that combining frames would cause a bit of blur, and wouldn't necessarily capture the flicker. Anyway, I'm a bit slow, so it took me a while to come up with a logical solution, which was to remove every fourth frame, and then to remove every fourth frame again. In other words - remove two consecutive frames instead of every other frame.
I re-encoded the FGP II segment using this technique and the results look pretty decent. While the flicker looks a bit more "flickery" in the 30 FPS version, the dashboard and fork in the road are visible in all their epileptic seizure inducing glory. Actually, the video isn't quite as eyeball-searing as the original game. So, if you want the corrected version, it's now up at Archive.org. However, for the superstitious among you, I will warn you the new video just happened to end up at 666 Megs.
Next time I encounter a game using this effect, I'll use this technique to produce a more suitable video. Unless any of you more tech-savvy folks out there know of a simple and effective way to half the frame rate while keeping such effects. So feel free to offer advice.
Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, Famicom Grand Prix II came out looking pretty weird, due to the constant use of flicker effects. Commenter Johanh asked why I didn't render it in such a way as to merge consecutive frames. To answer his question -- I'm not really that familiar with video editing/encoding software and don't know how to do that. I know that AVISynth has some tools for combining frames when changing the frame rate of a video, such an effect that will blend two frames together. But I think these sort things are mostly used to convert NTSC videos to PAL. That AVISynth tool isn't able to convert from 60 FPS to 30 FPS.
For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, take the fork in the road effect in FGP II. Here are four consecutive frames: 1/15 of a second's worth.
The Famicom isn't capable of transparencies, but developers managed to fake it using a super fast flicker. The first game I noticed to use the fake transparency effect was Getsufuu Maden; Konami seems quite fond of it.
Most video software such as Virtual Dub would convert a 60 FPS video to 30 FPS simply by removing every other frame. So the sequence above would contain only the first and third frame or the second and fourth - thus the flickering objects either won't show up at all or will look solid, with no flicker. I would assume that combining frames would cause a bit of blur, and wouldn't necessarily capture the flicker. Anyway, I'm a bit slow, so it took me a while to come up with a logical solution, which was to remove every fourth frame, and then to remove every fourth frame again. In other words - remove two consecutive frames instead of every other frame.
I re-encoded the FGP II segment using this technique and the results look pretty decent. While the flicker looks a bit more "flickery" in the 30 FPS version, the dashboard and fork in the road are visible in all their epileptic seizure inducing glory. Actually, the video isn't quite as eyeball-searing as the original game. So, if you want the corrected version, it's now up at Archive.org. However, for the superstitious among you, I will warn you the new video just happened to end up at 666 Megs.
Next time I encounter a game using this effect, I'll use this technique to produce a more suitable video. Unless any of you more tech-savvy folks out there know of a simple and effective way to half the frame rate while keeping such effects. So feel free to offer advice.
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