I'm going to talk about a recent game...

A MOBILE GAME?!! BLASPHEMY!! but all kidding aside, this game was something I was following for a bit before it came out officially last year.

It's a fun move-based game by MISTWALKER, a company by Hironobu Sakaguchi. When the game first came out, it was based upon a "Download Starter", where instead of kickstarter with money for special goods, they used the number of downloads to release new "DLC". For each milestone, they would get certain composers, artists, goods etc for the game.
While the game is a free download, it works like any other mobile game. There are in-game purchases you can make to continue playing nonstop or purchase "energy" in order to obtain more characters.

The characters level up from experience after each battle, and a majority of the story line is shown through text and one single background illustration.
The battle system for this game is very interesting.

Your party members and enemies appear on screen, while you are allowed one single swipe move to move around characters. There is a time limit once you start moving a character around, so you need to strategize accordingly as to where you want your characters to go. Once you sandwich an enemy between two player characters, you are allowed to attack the enemy. Chain attacks can occur when you have other characters in a straight line next to either of the characters.

The artwork in this game is also fantastic. While the game itself doesn't have much cinematic action, it's a fun mobile game to enjoy when you have some time to kill.
Plus it's a free download, so I recommend this piece of art.

NEW! but not really... Smash "History"

So over Black Friday, I got a Wii U--and not just any Wii U... one that game with SUPER SMASH BROS!
So here's a little history lesson on the whole "franchise" of smash bros.

With it's first appearance in 1999, Smash Bros. wasn't like any other fighting game. It was the type game where Nintendo characters all appeared together in a battle royal type game, with more than two characters. The maps were open and free to explore, and the item system was a breath of fresh air. More than anything, the first Smash Bros was an experimental type of game. It wasn't even going to be called Smash Bros, for crying out loud. Who would've thought it would've gotten so popular? I can still recall going to parties where all the children (I say children because I simply watched) would take turns on the controllers and fight to the "death".

Two years later, Melee came out on the GameCube. This was a bit more well polished, and included many more characters and stages than the original. The idea of different character types- large, slower moving and smaller, faster characters- was introduced as well. The single player mode was better executed and many more mini games were introduced.

In 2008, Brawl was next in line to appear. Here, the roster grew once again as well as the stages. However, for the first time in Smash history, players were divided as to how they felt about the game. While the game boasted new characters, many fans started to notice the number of "clone" characters. On the other hand, the number of different stages, as well as customize-able ones, are believed to be the best of the series. The online connections didn't do so well, but alas, no game can be perfect can it?

Then comes Smash Wii U/3DS.
I'll go into more of a personal rant about this one. It's fun. That's all. The balance on some of the characters are a bit drastic, but overall the graphics are stunning. People say that the online features are totally fixed from the last, which is also a plus. The new modes are a little random but are certainly a good way to pass time. I'm still a newbie at Smash, but it was still a fun party game nonetheless.

"Smash History" by the Game Theorists is an interesting little video series about each character in Smash and how they've developed their moves. It's an interesting watch and I recommend it for some interesting history lessons!!

Pitfall~

Whee!

Such failures.

**Most Def Kingdom Hearts

This was my gateway to ps2 games. My goodness.

Or just... Oregon Trail

I 100% killed all the kids...
I wanted to try other things but... Oh well.

*I started over but let's see how far I get this time...
Welp my first daughter died haha... welp more food for us to eat! Wahahaha!
My waifu is sick but... nothing's happened yet so I guess it's okay...? I think I'm doing pretty good though??
Welp my other daughter just died... haha....
The hunting mini game is pretty fun! I'm surprised it even had it in the first place really. I thought it would just be a remake only type of thing. That's cool.
Welp my waifu just died. That actually makes me super sad. I wanted to at least keep her... but she caught like two different things so the chances were pretty slim. And she broke her leg...
My son also broke his leg... 3 times now? He's a trooper. Please don't abandon me now son. I SPOKE TOO SOON BECAUSE TWO DAYS LATER HE'S A DEAD.

IS OREGON EVEN WORTH MY PAIN

I DROWNED MYSELF.

wow I got invested in that.

Prince of Persia...

Okay while Prince of Persia was super cool for doing all the rotoscoping business, the game is... kinda weird if you don't practice/know what you're doing.
As seen below...

So the puzzles are all fine, but could never figure out the proper controls? Like... I felt pushed into a game almost? With faulty controls?? Like I would be like "alright prince man I just want you to jump on this ledge over here okay NO STOP WHY WOULD YOU JUST JUMP DOWN LIKE THAT I WAS HOLDING THE JUMP BUTTON" and etc.
So please enjoy me falling in the same spot for a good 3 minutes.
Also, there was a guy with a sword but I'm not sure how to fight him?? So I just ran away haha.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake?

In response to the remake of the 1997 Final Fantasy, I'm going to be taking both the new and old games apart! Let's see what info I can find about it!

So Nomura explains that they've decided to start production on FF7 simply because the plans simply fell into place. They didn't want to create a remaster because they wanted to work on the system as well. Being a remake, certain aspects of the game will be remade, as well as 100% of the models. (Jumping from ps1 to ps4 will be fun haha.)

So the new FF game seems to be run through the unreal engine, which is an interesting choice if I do say so myself. The SE original engine, the Luminous, was scrapped for this project because some speculate that only a few handful of people "know the tech intimately enough to use it". Unreal, however, has a huge community of people learning to use it etc.

The game will be made in multiple parts, only because the massive size would possible fit in a single disc. This has caused some fans to freak out... as to why I'm not sure because it's still the same game. Who cares if you have to buy more parts for it? I mean, it's essentially deterred many of the fans to not even support the game, which is silly if you ask me.

The battle system looks like it's going to be different too, as you will be able to freely switch between characters in a more action-based system.

While I won't be getting this game for myself, I will look forward to seeing new footage and following the progress of the game!

The Mario Franchise

I can still remember the day I went to a friend's house to watch him play this game on his NES.

Anyway! Today I'm going to talk about something interesting about the Mario Franchise: its timeline.
This isn't an official timeline, but more of theory. An interesting one nonetheless, because it covers a lot of ground. I won't be going into too much detail, just enough for you guys to be interested and watch the video where I got the info.

So the games order of coming out doesn't effect the timeline at all. In fact, the timeline looks a little more like this...

haha just kidding don't read that (it's a timeline, but not the one I'll be talking about)

So, every baby Mario game is the starter, because it's official that the baby IS the one that grows up to be the Mario we're used to. There is a lot of time travel going on, where Bowser goes back in time to stop the babies, but the baby Bowser's in the game really is just... past Bowser as a child as well: not Bowser jr. This is revealed through dialogue and even the way the characters interact with each other in the game.

Also, Super Mario 3 (on the gameboy) doesn't even take place at all. The location is made to look like a stage, and Mario even exits curtain right. OOOOOOh doesn't that sound crazy?

Finally, it turns out the original "Mario" appearance in Donkey Kong isn't even Mario at all. It's not a Mario look alike with a different name because they hadn't figured it out a good name yet, but it was a completely different character. Jumpman, as he is called, is actually Mario and Luigi's FATHER.

WHOA WHAT.

So these random little facts are all theories, so take them with a grain of salt. 

Here's the video of a better laid out theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alcxiiN6xkU

We've had everything wrong this whole time.

Galaga Go!

I found another recreation pretty close to the original. I think my only complaint about it is that the space bar sticks and lags shoots in between (aka the shooting is really slow and there's a second delay between every two shots)
As I say in the video, I remember playing this guy when I was very young at the rollerskating rinks. I remember being decently good... at least better than in this video. BUT I BLAME THE GHETTO CONTROLS!!

Rude.

Future Video Game Designer Kid

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/10/08/young-child-faithfully-emulates-classic-arcade-game-xevious-out-of-paper-in-arts-and-crafts/

As if the link doesn't spell anything out, a 9 year old in Japan (of course) recreated Xevious with pachinko elements for an arts and crafts project.
As if no child tried to recreate similar games like so, but they were never this intricate and well thought out.
This will definitely look good to the higher ups at Namco if he ever tries to keep at it in the future. You know how the older generation feels about their arcade games.

Sadly, there is no gameplay video, but it's obvious that the game is super cute and super awesome.

Dragon's Lair!!!

I found a port online of Dragon's Lair and while the animations are flawlessly executed, the game play is a little tough.
Apparently there are times when things light up and that's the moment you are supposed to click a said button but I guess I was too slow.
I would definitely waste all my money on this game and only get to the third room.
I think I'd rather watch people play this to experience the full story that actually play it, because it is gosh darn hard!

Enjoy my failures.

Do I really have to talk about PacMan?

What more is there to say?

PacMan was a major influence on the game community back in the 1980s. Everyone felt welcome when it came to PacMan; instead of war games and shoot em ups, any one of any age could play without having to worry about graphic elements and such.
There was no target audience when it came to PacMan, and it even changed the way how game developers thought about future games.
This pop culture sensation would be remembered years to come!

In fact... the company I interned for even did a PacMan tribute with the new song that came out.

Oh wow I just realized it's the actual official music video for it!! That's legit! I thought it was just a for fun project. I feel even better about myself now haha!

New! The Kidnapped Princess

There is a new upcoming tactical RPG, reminiscent of the older rpg sprite style games, titled A Princess to Save Me.
Taking the typical cliche of a Mario rescuing his Peach, this rpg is about a princess whose savior fails, so she has to save herself. The point of the game is to escape you captors and then learn how to survive for yourself in the world before you can get home.
The plot is branching, and the turns seem to be turn based on a large grid (like Fire Emblem). The first games that came to mind was Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, but the style looks sort of like Legend of Zelda.

To make another point, the authors quote that the same is about vulnerability, love, and self. It's a story about how people become helpless and if our upbringing is the reason why we sometimes refuse to solve problems ourselves.

The creators brought up another interesting point. While playing a typical hero-saves-damsel game, she noticed her friend exclaim out loud when she died was that the princess would be dead too then. If this were real life, and the hero does die, then what DOES happen to the princess? She can't just wait around and wither and die can she? This game explains what would happen if the Mario to the Peach fell in a pitfall and lost all his lives...

This project is still being backed, so there's that!

Zork!

I'm SO BAD AT THIS GAME
Like... I'll need a walkthrough or something next time.
I made progress by going to a canyon but...
I'm stuck there forever.

Screencap but
wow I wish I could add music or something haha
I should probably press help next time.

GUNFIGHTING

Originally created by Taito, this was one of the first Japanese games to commercially make it in the United States back in 1975. It essentially paved the way for Japanese games to work in the American market.
In the game, two cowboys square off in a duel. When the buzzer sounds you move around and attempt to shoot the opponent. Bullets bounce off walls and don't pass through cactus, so shoot accordingly! You also have multiple chances (6) to shoot your target, unlike in real duels.

The controversial aspect of gunfight was the fact that you had to face a human looking sprite. It was the first game to really introduce video game violence, as games beforehand were all about racing or shooting asteroids, etc.

The game also introduced the first early "cinematic elements", where cowboys obviously looked like what they were meant to look like. The background elements (rocks, cactus, etc) also matched the overall feel.

http://www.giantbomb.com/gun-fight/3030-32574/

The Good Ole Game of Pong

ALRIGHTY HERE WE GO.

I'm only doing an online version for now, but hopefully I'll be able to play the real deal in Prof. Price's office soon heehee

I can see why people used to play this game obsessively. BUT HEY THIS WASN'T FAIR BECAUSE BECAUSE TRACKPAD (excuses LOL)

Overall Thoughts:
Super simple process yet strangely addicting...

Start Up Post!

OKAY HERE IS A NEW BLOG FOR GAMING HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT!!
I'll be writing reviews about video games or discussions about game articles. I'll attempt to record myself with commentary but we'll see!!
Hope this works well!