Archive for December, 2012

GameSpite Journal 12: Alien Soldier

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While Treasure avoided creating sequels (up until the GBA era), their older works demonstrated a clear willingness to revisit some of their gaming concepts with a different take. Alien Soldier is probably one of the more restrained of their output. And in terms of mechanics, Alien Soldier, in some ways, is to Gunstar Heroes what Dynamite Headdy was to McDonald’s Treasure Land.

Alien Soldier may not be as familiar to American gamers, as the title never actually crossed the pond, finding release in Japan and Europe. Alien Soldier is a run-and-gun shooter, although calling it that is probably not completely accurate, depending on what you expect from your run-and-guns. The early Contra games and Gunstar Heroes had significant platforming and non-boss areas. Perhaps reflecting the change that began to occur in the Contra games while still on their watch (with some Treasure members having worked on Contra III), Alien Soldier is basically a boss rush. Corridors to the next boss are very short, and the fodder enemies do little more than provide a way to get life back before the next encounter. Contra III had some of this conceit as well, but not nearly to the level of Alien Soldier.

Before beginning the game, you choose your weapon loadout of four weapons from six total. Each weapon has its strengths and weaknesses, and also has limited ammunition. The hero has a fairly varied moveset, with the ability to hover, walk on ceilings (a la the mine cart level in Gunstar Heroes), an indispensable dash move (which highly damages enemies when performed with full life), and the ability to reflect shots. It’s a lot to absorb in a game this fast, and a bit more complex than what Contra throws at the player, as well as a bit more technical than Gunstar Heroes.

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Speaking of Contra, it also has that series’ difficulty firmly in place. There are two difficulty levels, “Supereasy” and “Superhard”. The only difference between the two is the number of continues, the former being unlimited, with a password system, and the latter with only two. It’s very clear that the designers intended one to practice on Supereasy, getting good enough at the game to speed-run the bosses on Superhard. The game even ranks your performance on each stage, a precursor to leaderboards seen in other boss-rush games. There are also some interesting callbacks to Gunstar Heroes, in the form of two bosses. The first is unquestionably the coolest, with Seven Force making a comeback, albeit with only five forms. The second, Melon Bread, is a recurring boss in other Treasure games as well.

The game, graphically, is an absolute tour-de-force. There are tons of huge sprites, effects, and the speed never falters. The combination of showmanship and the game’s limited nature almost makes it feel like a prototype for Gunstar Heroes. Whether this was a project started before Gunstar and eventually released after that game, or just something to really challenge the programmers’ skill, it’s a very different experience from the normal run-and-guns of the time, and well worth playing.

Article by Lee Hathcock

GameSpite Journal 12: Alien Soldier

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Anatomy of a Game: Zelda XIV

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Finish the Legend of Zelda and press Start and you begin the Second Quest. This goes back to a long arcade tradition of “flipping” the game and playing through a second cycle of stages in which everything is a little faster and a little more dangerous. It goes back to Space Invaders, I guess. But of course, Zelda the action RPG is considerably different from something like Space Invaders the simple shooter. And so the Second Quest has much more structure to it than most second rounds.

Nintendo could have just gone the simple route of making enemies twice as strong or something, but instead the Second Quest effectively offers a second game altogether. It reuses the same assets and tool set as the main quest, but shuffles them around in new and antagonistic ways. Everything works the same, but the way it all shakes out is wildly different than you might expect from the first quest.

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The Second Quest doesn’t waste any time kicking your butt: You walk into the first dungeon and a few screens later the wimpy, harmless Stalfos starts chucking swords at you, like a Lynel. And then you die and sob. And that’s before you discover that Bubbles have been cleft in twain, with one color permanently removing your ability to wield your sword and the other restoring it.

The Second Quest also doesn’t waste any time training you up the way the main quest does. It operates under the assumption you know all of Zelda‘s tricks and don’t need any hints or hand-holding… so beginning with the second dungeon, all the entrances to the underground are switched around into innocuous places. Hope you like bombing every single surface in the game! Even the ones you think you can’t reach….

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Some entrances can’t even be accessed with bombs. Randomly tooting the flute in the desert will reveal a door where you can grab a Heart Container. On the other hand, bombing and burning entrances is a much riskier proposition than in the first quest: You’re a lot more likely to find a cranky old man than a solicitous Moblin this time around.

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And the guys who get angry about you bombing their doors aren’t even the worst of it! The Second Quest also includes this old coot:

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You… you bastard.

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The difficulty doesn’t need long to ramp up. These guys, who debut in the third dungeon of the first quest, show up in the Second Quest’s second dungeon. It doesn’t get any easier from there. And where dungeons in the first quest tend to alternate between tough and not-so-tough, the only time the Second Quest offers you any slack is to give you enough rope to hang yourself with.

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It also does really horrible things like this: Invisible passages that you can’t find unless you press against the wall for a few seconds. Oh, and some of them are one-way only, so if you think you’re all clever in finding your way forward you may actually find yourself back at the beginning of the dungeon with a long trek ahead to get back to where you were.

The Second Quest offers no quarter. It exists to torment you and make you hate life, and possibly hate Zelda, too. I love that it exists. The basic quest is really well-designed and generally fair to the player; the Second Quest is what you get when normally responsible game designers have the chance to take the gloves off and let their inner malice shine through. If this were the entirety of Zelda, it would likely be remembered as another one of those clumsy, unfair 8-bit games that treated the player like crap. Instead, it’s simply a look into Zelda without a sense of fair play — a devious challenge for experienced players, and an interesting counterpoint to the true game. Would that more games did this, including Zelda! But the only time the series has ever offered a true remix (not just a New Game + where you can make Link’s sister wear a pirate shirt the whole time) was Ocarina of Time‘s Master Quest (aka Ura-Zelda), which was one part insanely hard and one part simply insane.

And with this, our look at The Legend of Zelda comes to an end. Join us next year (you know, a day from now) as we move on to new endeavors. Thanks for reading, and if you’d like to catch up, the full index of the Anatomy of a Game series remains here as ever. Aaand thanks to Octopus Prime for creating a convenient Second Quest Let’s Play for me to farm images from, because I am a lazy bastard busy man.

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Trek Trek: Weathering the storm

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More than a year after I kicked off the “Trek Trek” project, I’m finally 3/4 of the way through Enterprise. In fairness, those first two seasons were rough going. But season three more than made up for it, paying off in a surprisingly big way. Not only was it a great season of sci-fi television, it was incredibly true to the classic Trek spirit after the series spent several years (including a couple of bunk motion pictures and the whole of Voyager) wandering in the weeds.

In a way, I think we have George W. Bush to thank for it. Star Trek came into the world as a product of the Atomic Age, and much of the original series was shaped by the real-world Cold War. Beyond the obvious parallels between the Klingon Empire and the Soviet Union (not to mention the Romulans/Korean, who clearly had some sort of ancient racial connection to our new friends the Vulcans/Japanese but were much less friendly, out there beyond the Neutral Zone/DMZ that was established after our war with them), the entire cast was designed to speak of a world united in peace, totally unlike our savage 20th century. And, of course, many original series plotlines were not-so-thinly veiled allegories for real-world social politics.

As the Cold War crumbled at the end of the ’80s, Trek changed gears, making the Klingon/USSR metaphor even more on-the-nose. And it worked for a while, but eventually all that peace caused the franchise to run out of steam. Without much obvious social injustice to speak out against — outside of the Bajoran/Cardassian conflict that set up Deep Space Nine and seemed to speak to post-Communist strife in Asia and Africa — Trek kind of puttered to irrelevance.

Not surprisingly, then, the U.S. government’s frequently ugly response to 9/11 galvanized Trek – and in fact a lot of television. Season three of Enterprise is basically a shaggy-dog parable for the “war on terror.” The U.S. is attacked suddenly by an unexpected enemy, and Enterprise is sent into unknown space to put a stop to them before they destroy Earth altogether. The crew finds itself out of its depth, and in desperation the captain resorts to shoving an enemy into an airlock and depressurizing it until the alien agrees to talk. Ultimately, though, it’s not this act of torture that saves the day — on the contrary, it comes back to haunt the captain as it causes would-be allies and his own crew to question his actions — but rather the crew’s discovery that their enemy isn’t some monolithic entity that hates humanity to a one and seeks Earth’s destruction. The Xindi consist of multiple races, some more aggressive than others, and even those who have taken part in the attack on Earth prove to be reasonable, compassionate people willing to see humanity’s side and decry the plan for genocide.

If that’s not a metaphor for the last decade, what in the world is? The idea of Xindi-as-Islamists isn’t exactly subtle here, all the way down to their multiple sects and internal disagreements. And Archer-as-torture-agent takes a very different angle to the matter than something like 24, where any means to a positive end works. Archer doesn’t act entirely heroic here — including a final act of piracy that effectively reduces the Enterprise to a bunch of pirates — and even if his decisions are painted as necessary, everyone is unhappy about them. This is highlighted quite neatly in what could have been a throwaway episode in which Archer falls under the influence of a toxin produced by unhatched broodlings of the insectoid Xindi race and imprints on the eggs, placing their protection above all else. But his irrational actions and compromising command decisions feel sufficiently in keeping with his uncharacteristic choices in the Expanse that it takes a while for his crew to cotton on to the nature of his decisions — effectively saying, “Hard-ass Archer is almost indistinguishable from mind-controlled Archer.”

That’s the thing, see: This whole thing works really well. It felt like the classic Trek I fell in love with as a kid, but with a more contemporary edge… and continuity! Because ultimately the solution isn’t to fly in with guns blazing, or to launch a suicide attack. The Enterprise crew triumphs by connecting with the Xindi, learning the truth of the situation, and cooperating to overcome a greater threat. For all the well-deserved crap that Berman and Braga took for some of the bone-headed choices they made while helming Trek after Roddenberry’s death, Enterprise season three demonstrates that they actually did get what Trek was about, and that rather than yielding to the idea that Trek had to be grimmer and grittier in order to stay relevant they flipped the bird to that notion and came ahead by upholding the fundamental Trek philosophy of cooperation, understanding, and peaceful resolution. Honestly, it kind of makes me like the J.J. Abrams movie a little less; I’ve stood behind its over-the-top take on the franchise out of the assumption it was the only way to redeem what Trek had become. Now I see that it was already on the road to redemption. It’s still a fun movie, but I can’t help but wonder: What if?

And, on top of that, they capped off the season with a two-part episode that apparently put a very welcome end to the Temporal Cold War plotline. No more Daniels, no more Suliban. Just an incredibly satisfying finale that saw the Enterprise coming in low toward New York as the sun rose over the horizon (an effect shot worthy of the Trek movies), followed by a crazy dogfight between the limping, combat-battered Enterprise and a squadron of plasma-powered German Spitfires piloted by aliens from the future over the streets of alternate-history Nazi-occupied WWII New York.

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Please do not send that last sentence back in time 25 years to my Trek-obsessed junior high self. He would die from happiness, and then I wouldn’t be able to write the sentence in the first place, and the universe would collapse from a temporal paradox.

Now, I’ve heard season four is even better than the third, but honestly I have a hard time believing that. Enterprise season three was pretty much everything I’ve wanted from Star Trek. Purpose, not-so-delicate metaphors, character growth, and some pretty decent stories and battles. Color me surprised, but in the best way possible. Enterprise, you’re pretty OK! Sorry you had to die young.

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Question for GameSpite book readers

So here is something I need to know: Do you prefer shorter, less expensive books? Or lengthier, pricier books?

I ask because I’m pricing out the Anatomy of Castlevania volume, and adding Castlevania III to the mix effectively doubles the length of the book, adding an extra $10 to the price. Now, bear in mind I can’t publish the larger format in black and white, so there’s no super-inexpensive sub-$15 option, period. (And unfortunately, no other self-publishing vendor offers as good a mix of pricing and book options as Blurb — I spent an afternoon running comparisons across half a dozen other shops earlier this week, and despite its frustrations Blurb still came out ahead for our needs.) If I break Castlevania I & II into a single book and push III into its own standalone volume, the cost for each book would be $30 as opposed to a larger single volume at $40.

Of course, the single book is ultimately more economical (one volume costing $40 vs. two adding up to $60 total), but since the individual books would be spaced a few months apart the individual transactions would feel more reasonable. I would love to hear some feedback on this. Thanks!

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Fun with InDesign

Deciding to change the format of the next book was a bit of a second wind for me. I’ve been mucking around with the layout ever since and have nailed down quite a few pages. It’s shaping up to be pretty rad. Graphics! Text! Color! Images! Room for all the content to breathe!

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I guess now I need to write up Castlevania III.

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GameSpite Journal 12: Ristar

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The ’90s were an interesting era for gaming. The incredible success of mascot-driven platformer Sonic the Hedgehog touched off an protracted and bitter turf war between Sega and Nintendo and their own mascot, Mario. And inspired by this success came many other mascot-driven platformers from other companies eager to try to find their own hit, or maybe even displace Mario and Sonic from the top of the heap. History was not kind to many of these mascots, however. But was Ristar among them?

Born of the minds behind the Sonic games, Ristar is a bit of a holdover from the original development ideas from Sonic. Originally, Yuji Naka intended for the main character to be a rabbit that would extend its ears to grab enemies. However, Sonic went a completely different direction, as is evidenced by history, but the ideas were never truly left behind. The character went through several iterations until we are left with Ristar, a shooting star which extends his arms to grab enemies and objects.

This mechanic leads to a much different feel from the Sonic games, very nearly a combination of Sonic’s design sensibilities with Bionic Commando’s traversal methods. And it makes for an absolutely spectacular game. While the Sonic titles were notable for the ability to either blast through stages or to take the time to explore, the slower pacing and stretch-and-grab mechanics allow for a tighter experience. It maintains some of the openness that was a hallmark of Genesis-era Sonic Team games, but it provided a nice balance between the rather open and meandering Sonic games and the tightly-designed Mario games.

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That the game is a joy to behold is also a large part of its appeal. Holding to the Sonic design ethos, there are jungle stages, the always-necessary ice and fire stages, a water stage, and a technological area, among others. They are lavishly detailed, maximizing the Genesis’ limited color palette, and the sprite work and general art design is stellar (no pun intended). Even the soundtrack is well-composed, comprised of tracks that fit the areas in question, and always having a nice beat to them.

So if the game is that great, then why on Earth wasn’t there a sequel? Well, it might have something to do with being released only three months before the Saturn’s debut and the advent of a new hardware generation. The Genesis was very nearly dead, and much like other nearly-gone consoles, some of its best games came out at the end of its lifespan yet didn’t receive the marketing push or the public recognition they deserved. So rather than being a follow-up to Sonic and spinning off its own series, the game languished in obscurity. And it’s truly a shame. Sonic has had tremendous difficulty to this day making the transition to 3D, and one wonders if perhaps Ristar could have stood a better chance in the conversion process. As it is, we’re left with an excellent one-shot wonder that almost fools us into thinking that perhaps the mascot-platformer should have never died.

Article by Lee Hathcock

GameSpite Journal 12: Ristar

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GameSpite Journal 12: Sylvan Tale

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Surprisingly, you didn’t see many action-RPGs on the Game Gear. You’d think, on a system so far ahead of its major competitor in terms of presentation, developers would demonstrate some intrinsic tendency toward the genre. However, it seems that, much like the Sega Genesis, that both action-RPGs and RPGs were largely ignored for more arcade-ish experiences.

Yet, in the Land of the Rising Sun, there was a quite good action-RPG by the name of Sylvan Tale. And while it inevitably falls to the greatest Zelda game of all time, Link’s Awakening (and really, what handheld action-RPG doesn’t?), it’s a game well worth playing.

In keeping with the typical design template for these games, you’re transported to another land, where you are tasked with gathering six droplets from fortresses throughout the game. Different moves allow you to proceed, and in a slick bit of subversion, instead of just using tools to progress, you get the ability to transform as well. You end up with the ability to turn into a turtle, a mole, a merman, a mouse, and a bird, the last of which is a hidden transformation.

The puzzle-essential forms receive upgrade abilities as well, sometimes enabling additional combat abilities or enabling further quest progression. You also get the prerequisite life-upgrade items as well. Of course, there are the usual quest-related items to snag… but none of these elements are too terribly overbearing, when it comes down to it.

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There’s a decent amount of puzzle-solving in dungeons, most of which tends to be relatively clear and fun to figure out. The combat system is actually quite well done, being quite responsive. Your character’s swordplay is not able to cut a swath through enemies as impressively as in Awakening, but it’s effective just the same, performing more like the original Zelda. And you obtain a rapid-cut technique that allows for both plot progression and upgrades your combat ability, somewhat similarly to Terranigma’s rapid-strike ability. There’s also a good amount of backtracking, which can get annoying from time to time, especially if you forget how to get to certain areas. It’s not as big a deal as other games in the genre, though, as the actual number of screens in the game is relatively limited.

Anyway, the quest isn’t terribly long, it looks nice, has some decent tunes, and overall is a great game for people that might be looking for a Zelda-ish experience they might not have heard about. And despite it not making the jump to the U.S., there is a 100% complete translation patch for the game courtesy of Aeon Genesis, who did an excellent job of making this a polished release for those of us constrained to the English tongue.

Article by Lee Hathcock

GameSpite Journal 12: Sylvan Tale

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