http://community.retromags.com/blog/6-retrochick-retroblog-v10/ Retrochick Retroblog v1.0 Syndication Sat, 09 Feb 2013 05:08:52 +0000 admin@retromags.com (Retromags Forum) IP.Blog 60 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-496-a-clive-barker-gaming-mystery/  
Check this out though: that's an offer to write a horror fiction story for a video game inspired by Clive Barker, to be published by Virgin Interactive.  In 1995, Virgin OWNED the graphical adventure market thanks to "The 7th Guest" and its sequel, "The 11th Hour".  These were two of the best-selling CD-ROM games of the 1990s, and the opportunity to earn writing credit for penning a tale for a Virgin-published game would have meant near-instant celebrity.
 
Alas, despite the ad's lofty promises of an intense life experience, it wasn't meant to be.  So what happened here?
 
Short answer: we don't know.
 
The ad doesn't mention the game-to-be by name, but with a little detective work we can narrow it down.  There were a lot of games involving Barker's writing or his properties (Hellraiser, etc...) that never saw the light of day, but Virgin Interactive was set to publish only one game involving him: Ectosphere.
 
Barker's presence in comic books was growing by leaps and bounds in the mid-90s.  He was writing for, or licensing his stories to, Marvel, Dark Horse, Eclipse, and HarperCollins at various times.  One of those comics was Ectokid, written for Marvel Comics under their Razorline imprint (an imprint created just for Barker, I might add).
 
Ectokid's nine-issue run tells stories of Dex Mungo, a fourteen-year-old boy with a unique gift (and curse).  Dex's eyes don't work quite right.  His left one's just fine: when he looks through it, he sees the real world, the same as you and I do.  But his right eye sees beyond reality, into the spirit realm.  To help him get through life, Dex wears a patch he slides from eye to eye depending on which version of reality he wants to view.  Most of the stories in this line weren't written by Barker, but by other talents in the comic industry at the time (trivia note: Matrix creators Andy and Larry (now Lana) Wachowski penned five of them).
 
Imagine the possibilities for a horror adventure game designed with an interface where, with the click of a button, you could "slide the patch" and reveal a completely different world.  Properly handled, Virgin could have published something that made their previous hits look like ziplock baggie distributions from the 1980s.
 
So what the Hell(raiser) happened?  I have no idea, and neither does anybody else according to my research.  Virgin applied for a trademark to the Ectosphere name in 1994, but the trademark is now considered abandoned due to non-use.  Every reference to the game I've found simply labels it "unreleased" and there's nary a screenshot or box picture to be found.
 
One other lingering question remains: since it's unlikely Virgin didn't get any response to this ad, who eventually won the position?  My best educated guess would be David Sears.  You may not know him by name, but Sears' first game-related job was co-adapting Harlan Ellison's story, "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" to the PC adventure market with Ellison himself (and a fine job they did too).  He went to work for Virgin Interactive afterwards.  He's also been the creative director behind the first three SOCOM games on the PS2, MAG on the PS3, and Fireteam Bravo on the PSP.
 
One of the best things about video game journalism is tracking down and solving little mysteries such as this, seeing what might have been.  On the other side of the coin, four of the most painful words in the English language are, "What might have been?"  What might have been indeed...]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:24:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-496-a-clive-barker-gaming-mystery/ http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-495-gaiares-can-you-say-mullet/  
Because of the internet, they're also wrong.
 
Video game ads don't often approach this level of hilarity, but my lord, just take a look at Captain Mullet here mugging for Gaiares on the Sega Genesis.  Nowadays, this sort of thing would be a pre-order bonus from Amazon.com or Gamestop, but back in the day you didn't pre-order games, you just showed up and bought them whenever the hell they came out.  Sometimes retailers like Sears or Babbage's would pay to get some promotional content they could give away in the hopes of getting customers into their stores.  Sometimes this stuff was neat.
 
Other times...well, let's just say wearing this shirt to school would have ensured two things.  First, you were definitely not going to get that girl to notice you.  Second, you were going to get the mother of all wedgies.
 
There's good geek cred and bad geek cred.  Good geek cred back then (September of 1991, when this ad ran in GamePro) would have been owning the Genesis.  Bad geek cred: wearing this shirt in public.  Advertising hint: if you feel the need to explain how to properly pronounce the name of your product (and you aren't a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals), come up with a new name.
 
It's probably a collector's item these days (the game's no slouch in that department either).  Just...if you're going to wear it, please have the decency to sport a proper hairdo.  Oh, and Nair your upper lip too.  The dirt 'stache is so 1989...]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:47:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-495-gaiares-can-you-say-mullet/ http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-494-fifty-shades-of-pissed-off/  
Skyrim FINALLY gets its DLC released on the PS3 this coming week, and for the first week it's available, Bethesda is offering it at 50% off to apologize for taking it so long to get here.  Gonna miss out on that sale, because there's no way I'll have my PS3 fixed in time.  *double sigh*
 
Sending my PS3 in to Sony to get it repaired will cost me $150.  In return, I will get a refurbished unit (plus my SH HD disc), and will lose all of my saved game data and whatnot.  My DLC, trophy information, and all that stuff will be fine, since it's tied in to my PSN account, but all the progress I've made in my games will be shot to zilch. *triple sigh*
 
My one saving grace?  It's the $20 Silent Hill HD Collection stuck in my dead console as opposed to the $60 Dead Space 3 I was considering buying earlier today.  Thankful for small favours...]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 05:00:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-494-fifty-shades-of-pissed-off/ http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-491-resident-evil-prototype-preview/  
EGM previewed the original Resident Evil for the Playstation back in issue #75 in their "Next Wave" column.  This was over two years before the game made it to the US, and still very much in its beta stage.  And wow, what a difference a couple of years makes!  Click that picture to your left and check out this treasure trove of retro goodness.
 
The polygon count for characters in these images is far lower than the final product, but what's even more awesome is to see the two-player mode not only discussed in the text, but shown in the screenshots!  Yeah, that's Jill tagging along with Chris in several of those images.  Way before it had a street date announced in Japan, Capcom was forced to ditch the two-player mode.  These pics from EGM are one of the only ways to get a glimpse at what could have been.  It's not until the PS2 era that we get a truly multi-player Resident Evil experience, so the idea we might have had it in 1997 is intriguing to say the least.
 
A few other changes are also immediately obvious, like the room with the snake encounter.  And what are those weird things on the floor of the wallpapered hallway?  Everyone remembers the dobermans busting through the windows in the final version...were those some sort of wriggling insect enemy they did away with?  Dead chunks of a gun-blasted zombie?  The world may never know...
 
In any case, enjoy this forgotten look at this genre-defying Playstation classic!]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:13:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-491-resident-evil-prototype-preview/ http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-445-lets-read-nintendo-power-11/
But first, more big news rocking the Nintendo World: Nintendo Power's going monthly! The magazine will still come out every other month, but they won't leave you hanging in the off-seasons. Instead, they're going to release six game-specific strategy guides that will walk you from Title Screen to Game Over. And all for the low, low price of $15 a year. And SMB3 will kick it all off. Nintendo cleaned up on this promotion, but there was a bigger one coming in just a few months that would force virtually every kid in the US to beg mom and dad for a subscription. More on the major give-away later on. For now, it's go time!

We kick things off, as always, with Player's Pulse and the mailbox. Letters keep flooding in, so it's only right the first one is about a boy and his apparently-waterproof NES. Store your Nintendo in a nice cardboard box, and it too can be protected from the ravages of basement flooding! An idea so good, the guys in Washington are considering it themselves. Next, a note asking about a double-Mouser encounter in Super Mario Bros. 2 (that's called a bug, and while our programmers try to squash them all, a few still manage to get through. Be happy you saw it, it's a rare glitch!). A letter thanking Nintendo for not telling him how to beat the final boss in Strider because the feeling of accomplishment was so much greater figuring it out for himself (we told you, now keep playing and see what else you can master!). A letter from a concerned sister reminding everyone that setting limits on Nintendo is the key to maintaining good study habits in her house (we agree, make sure you're not neglecting your school work!).

Video Spotlight has three profiles again, two being the rather pedestrian variety (I'm awesome because I've beaten XX games, sometimes play all night, and never use slow motion to cheat) and one who stands out from the pack in a good way: Andy Cunningham of Rocky Mount, NC is a 14-year old computer enthusiast, programmer, and game designer who aspires to work for a large software company one day and has already developed his own complete game called Super Dachshund with "ending screens, full stages, 20 different evil enemies and 8 incredibly challenging bosses." Man, finally, a Power Player who can really look back on his appearance in the magazine and smile for a good reason. Andrew Cunningham, if you're out there and you read this, please let us know what's going on in your life now!

Be honest, this was why you picked up the magazine in the first place: an eight-page blowout on Super Mario Bros. 3. While it's little more than a preview at this point, with some stage maps, an overview of the game's eight worlds, and a look at the various new power-ups and types of blocks you'll encounter, it's more than enough to whet the appetites of Mario maniacs everywhere.

I was never big into simulations, so the four-page Silent Service feature was pretty blah for me. Still, the game looks like it tries very hard to squeeze a whole submarine's worth of playability into the little grey cartridge. Military enthusiasts and sim lovers had been playing this on the PC already since 1985, but give props where they're due: it was developed/ported by Rare (yes, that Rare) and published by Konami's Ultra Games imprint and garnered decent enough reviews.

Another Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone, and Nintendo was there, as this Nintendo Power Report shows. There's a ton of stuff coming down the pipeline, so prepare yourself for dozens of new releases in every genre imaginable. Trying to cover every game they talk about in these two pages would be futile, but there were some titles mentioned here that failed to materialize, like a port of the PC fighting game Bruce Lee Lives and an American version of the infamous Japanese adventure/RPG Sweet Home. Cosmic Epsilon, a SHMUP from Japan, also never makes it stateside. Another game called Play Isle is mentioned, though research tells me it must have either been canned or released under another name as I can't find anything about it.

Fresh from the arcades, it's Pinbot, the pinball game that plays you. Well, not exactly, but about all you can do with three pages on a pinball game is explain the table and give some pointers of things to watch out for. Nice if you're into pinball, but otherwise...meh.

The next three pages go to the home console version of Midway's extremely popular skateboarding arcade hit, 720 Degrees. Once again, skate-a-holics will be right at home with the maps and tips. Gamers more interested in keeping both feet firmly on the ground will give it a pass, and never the twain shall meet.

I may not have been a fan of the last two features, but A Boy and his Blob more than makes up for that. This four-page spread features a map of the entire freakin' first world along with fifteen tips and pointers for making your way past the puzzles. It also gives a run-down of the various jellybeans in your arsenal, what functions they perform, and how many you start with. This is priceless information for anybody who rented this game without the instructions, and I made good use of it on my way to restoring order to Blobolonia.

Howard and Nester hit the courts for a game of beach volleyball against a couple of muscle-bound thugs. Howard gives some tips, Nester ignores them, and winds up eating about ten pounds of sand in the ensuing carnage. Cute.

The misnamed Wrath of the Black Manta (who should really be the Purple Manta, since that's the colour of his outfit) owns the next two pages. It's a short preview, not much to go on, just a couple of stage maps and a tip for beating the first boss, but it's better than nothing and this is a game well worth checking out. It's no Ninja Gaiden, but we've got a few months to go before Ninja Gaiden II arrives in the USA, so what can you do?

Astyanax gets four pages after its short preview last issue, and it's all maps and tactics for the first five worlds of the game. My brother liked this game a lot more than I did, so for him it was worth it. Also, some slightly risque artwork of the very topless Medusa boss on the last page, with only a couple of strategically placed snakes and a sword covering her bosom. Surprising to see, especially for Nintendo of this era.

Top 30 find the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sitting at the top of the pack again, along with a surprise jump up the polls by Mega Man II, consigning Super Mario Bros. 2 to the bronze position by just over 1,000 total points. Duck Tales debuts in the #9 spot, just under Ninja Gaiden at 8 and Super Mario Bros. 3 at 7. All the other "new" games listed are down towards the bottom of the pile, and they consist of the likes of Wheel of Fortune, California Games, Paperboy, and Jordan vs. Bird. Flash-in-the-pan stuff that won't be around long enough for people to remember its place.

A couple of heavy hitters in Previews this issue, leading off with Square's soon-to-be-inaccurately-named Final Fantasy. There's not much they can show yet, so it's mostly text hyping it ("More absorbing than Legend of Zelda! More challenging than Adventure of Link!") with some screenshots interspersed. They're right about one thing though, it does set a new standard for the console RPG and launches a franchise that's still around over two decades later. Code Name: Viper gets two pages as well, but even back then I remember thinking lead character Kenny Smith looks like he's running around without pants on. Even my mother commented on this. Super C, the sequel to the beast that is Contra, gets the last three pages...

...as well as claiming the artwork side of this issue's Poster. The reverse is a tremendous world map of Dragon Warrior, along with a list detailing what items are sold in each town and where some of the game's special items like the Rainbow Drop and Silver Harp are located. Quite useful for first-time explorers.

If the last few issues have proven nothing else, it's that Nintendo Power loves them some Dragon Warrior and wants you to love some Dragon Warrior as well. To that end, in case you haven't gotten the idea by reading all the pages of coverage they've been feeding you for the last year, they present the Dragon Warrior Text Adventure. It's actually a pretty fun idea, writing up a 64-paragraph Choose Your Own Adventure in the spirit of the game. It's not a patch on the real thing, of course, but I played through it a few times and enjoyed it. Your mileage may vary.

More game on the horizon for your Game Boy. This short feature is really only useful for the Nemesis stage maps, as the remaining quarter-page writeups with screencaps on Malibu Beach Volleyball, World Bowling, Heiankyo Alien, Boomer's Adventure in Asmik World, Flipull, Qbillion, Bases Loaded, and Daedalian Opus are hardly enough to whet one's appetite. Outside of Super Mario Land, there are few truly compelling reasons to own a Game Boy at this point. A small blurb at the end reveals some upcoming titles by LJN, Ultra, Data East, Tradewest, and Mindscape. The proposed portable T&C Surf Designs title never leaves the surf shop, and the Skate or Die-style game Ultra is working on smacks the pavement without its helmet on. No big loss in either case, I suspect.

New Games absolutely explodes this issue, with eight single-page looks at Tecmo World Wrestling (is it just me, or does "Mr. Tattoo" Mark Rose look like a drag queen?), Abadox (a grotesque, inner-space-themed SHMUP that I loved as a kid), Bases Loaded II (I prefered the RBI Baseball series), Baseball Simulator 1.000 (think of it as a cross between Bases Loaded and Super Dodge Ball with the players being able to throw physics-defying pitches, the fielders able to perform truly insane feats of speed and dexterity, and the batters able to impart special aspects to the ball after a successful hit...great, great fun!), Al Unser, Jr. Turbo Racing (a Forumla-1 racing game with 16 tracks and cars fitted with nitrous oxide for the occasional speed boost), Battle of Olympus (Broderbund's video game take on the classic Greek myth of Orpheus and the Underworld), Xexyz (a side-scrolling action game where you rescue bathing women from fates worse than death...not kidding here), and Rescue: The Embassy Mission (think Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six but on the NES).

Quieting the cries of frustrated gamers everywhere is the job of Counselors' Corner, and there's plenty of troubles to be squashed this month. Nintendo's game experts explain how to get into Nockmaar Castle in Willow, locate Erdrick's Armor in Dragon Warrior, find the key to the African mines in DuckTales, gain entrance to River City High in River City Ransom, cross the room of flames and acquire the flute from the acid fountain in Shadowgate, and how to get the mother's crown in Legacy of the Wizard (an answer so complex and convoluted that it requires two full maps with marked travel routes to explain). The profiles this month feature a woman, Denise Borovskis, whose hobbies include Aerosmith (what??) and beach bumming, but her favorite game is The Guardian Legend, so I'll let it slide for now.

Who doesn't love a good cheat code? Classified Information dumps the skinny on some serious tricks and glitches this issue, including the infamous code to head straight to Tyson in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (007-373-5963, a string of numbers I've had memorized longer than most of the telephone numbers I've ever known), the trick to playing the other World Circuit hidden in the game, and a similar trick to go straight to the ending credits without throwing a single punch. There's also a 64-life code for Bad Dudes, the "use the Time Stopper on Quick Man" hint for Mega Man II, a simple way to score bonus points in Cobra Triangle, a temporary infinite magic trick in Hydlide, a couple of continue codes for Double Dragon II as well as a hint for getting some extra lives in reserve, a continue code for Dino-Riki, some in-game help for a couple of levels in Cybernoid, and a password to make you an instant millionaire in Vegas Dream. Solid goodies all around.

Video Shorts unveils the Castlevania-esque 8 Eyes, The Magic of Scheherazade, Heavy Barrel, King of the Beach, Magic Johnson's Fast Break, poor man's Double Dragon clone Target: Renegade, the virtually unplayable Marvel's X-Men from noted kuso game publisher LJN (which somehow manages to score straight 3/5s in every category), Destination Earthstar, Top Player's Tennis, Vegas Dream, popular TV gameshow port Win, Lose or Draw, unpopular TV gameshow port Remote Control, Top Gun II, Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum, pinball sim Rock 'n Ball, and three titles for younger gamers: Puss 'N Boots, Fisher Price: Perfect Fit and Fisher Price: I Can Remember. A couple gems buried in a mountain of Meh.

Back to the scoreboards for some NES Achievers. We have our first titled gamer on the charts, as Dr. Richard L. Carman finished Dragon Warrior. We also have our first four-person tag-team entry with Joshua & Susan Lara and Tony & David Czerniecki posting a score of over nine million in The Guardian Legend. Also two people from the same place (Rancho Cordova, California) sent in scores for Sqoon. A friendly challenge, perhaps?

NES Journal starts off with the World's Second NES Power Trivia Quiz, a multiple-choice questionnaire testing your knowledge of all things Nintendo, including why Howard Phillips wears bow ties, how much damage your system would suffer if you dumped a chocolate milkshake inside, what to do if you catch a mistake in Nintendo Power, and what Mario and Luigi's last names are. Mostly obvious answers here, but a few amusing wrong ones too make it good for a chuckle. Jack Ra of Clifton, NJ wins the "design a jersey" contest. More tour dates for the 1990 Nintendo World Championships.  And...hey, here's some Nintendo merchandise (like the Super Mario Bros. Super Show on VHS, or the Bike Cop bicycle alarm) you might want to consider picking up, hint, hint...
 
Before she was Leonard's ex- on "The Big Bang Theory", she was Leonard's girlfriend on "Roseanne".  Sara Gilbert gets the spotlight in Celebrity Profile this issue, where she waxes ecstatic about her experiences with Mario, Link, and A Boy and His Blob.  She seems like she'd be fun to hang out with.
 
Hello Pak Watch!  Ninja Gaiden II, Crystalis, Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers, Golgo 13: The Mafat Conspiracy, Solstice, Castlevania III...are you TRYING to kill us with anticipation, Nintendo?  All four games in the "Gossip" sidebars actually get released, as do the other five games on the "Gossip Galore" page...that's better odds than you'll get from any psychic in this day and age.
 
Next Issue hints at some great coverage, with full features on Final Fantasy, Dinowarz, Super C and Burai Fighter.  Now's not a good time to let your subscription expire, aspiring video warriors.  Howard Phillips recaps the number of games covered in this issue, and thanks everyone for writing even though he can't personally read/respond to every letter.  And finally, it's time for the 1989 Nintendo Power Awards!  Fill out the ballot and you too could win a handful of fantastic NES games just for voting!  Too many nominees to go into, but we'll cover the winners once they print the results in a future issue.]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 17:00:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-445-lets-read-nintendo-power-11/ http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-467-so-close-yet-so-far-fireteam-rogue/
A quick trip to GameFaqs confirmed my suspicions: Fireteam Rogue was in development in the mid-90s and then axed before completion.  Another quick trip, this time to Google, loaded me down with plenty of information on this gem, making me wish like anything it had been finished.

At first glance, Fireteam Rogue sounds more like a tech demo than anything else.  Using various data and graphical compression algorithms, Accolade was proposing to take a 40MB game and stuff it into a 2MB game cart.  Insane?  Possibly.  But just imagine if they'd managed to pull it off.

Accolade was promising 100 hours of gameplay experiences, including side-scrolling action levels and Mode 7 shooting stages.  Evan G. (with the help of some credited scans from Retromags!) put together a slew of awesome information over at SNES Central that's well worth reading as opposed to having me just rehash it here including a number of screenshots.  In addition, he's got two different alpha prototypes of the SNES version available for download, a link to the comic book Accolade put together to support this game, commentary from a couple people involved in its development, and a variety of FAQ sheets, handouts, letters and other goodies for perusal.

In the end, like so many other unreleased games (and sometimes even ones that do make it to market), it seems like this one came down to too much time and money spent on hype and too little time and energy devoted to development.  The important thing is even though it wasn't released, it wasn't forgotten either.  And who knows--maybe in the future, we'll see a more complete version and can be better equipped to judge for ourselves just how great a loss the gaming world suffered for its lack.

Until then?  Well, we'll just have to keep digging through the archives.  I hope you'll keep searching with me. ]]> Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:30:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-467-so-close-yet-so-far-fireteam-rogue/ http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-463-egm-a-day-in-the-life/
So for their 50th issue, EGM treated us to a four-page spread of insider information, Photoshopped antics, personal photos, and other goodies.  In case it's not obvious, this is one of the best reasons to collect and preserve these magazines.  Information on the games they covered is ubiquitous today, but this stuff is not.

If you need a better reason, then how about the fact that Review Crew guru Martin Alessi is a member of none other than these very forums?  This guy's been there, done that, and owns several dozen tractor trailer loads of t-shirts to prove it.

What I wouldn't give for a blog of memories from HIM here (hint, hint, Mr. Alessi, if you're reading...)

In fact, let's just say that we've got a lot more pictures than the ones posted above (which the gallery decided to run right-to-left instead of left-to-right, because screw me, that's why...*sigh*) featuring the good gentleman.  Digging the 'stache yet?  There's more where that came from.  Threats?  Me?  Oh no, just reporting the facts, ladies and gents.

Just reporting the facts.]]> Sat, 20 Oct 2012 19:14:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-463-egm-a-day-in-the-life/ http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-458-gunpei-yokoi-september-10-1941-october-4-1997/
Many things we take for granted in the gaming world today can be tracked back to this man, including the cross-shaped directional pad (NES), portable gaming systems (Game Boy), and Metroid (every freakin' Nintendo system except the N64).

Not bad for a janitor.

Yokoi was a simple custodial worker and maintenance man at one of Nintendo's hanafuda (playing card) manufacturing plants, where he amused himself in his spare time by tinkering and building gadgets.  One of these toys, a sort of extendable grasping claw arm, was seen by Nintendo's president Hiroshi Yamauchi during a visit to the factory.  Fascinated with the idea, Yamauchi asked Yokoi if he could develop the idea further into a sellable product.  Yokoi agreed, and the Ultra Hand was born.

It was 1966, and Nintendo sold over a million of them to Japanese children.  Impressed with Yokoi's ability to innovate, Yamauchi asked him to create some more toys for Nintendo.  He did so, and thus from humble beginnings rose one of the greatest video game innovators of the twentieth century.

Yokoi came up with the idea for the Game & Watch as a way for bored businessmen to kill some time while waiting between meetings or while riding the trains to and from work.  He advised a struggling Shigeru Miyamoto in game design theory to help him develop the game that would eventually become Donkey Kong and the franchise-launching Mario Bros.

From there, he helped produce the now-legendary Metroid on the NES, followed that up as project director for Kid Icarus, then came up with this little-known doo-dad called the Game Boy.  Thanks to Yokoi, Nintendo has dominated the portable console market for more than twenty years, laughing at every would-be challenger who tries to dethrone them.

In other words, if you've played or enjoyed a video game since 1985, chances are you owe a Mother Brain-sized debt of respect to this man.

He resigned from Nintendo to start his own company in 1996 following the failure of a Virtual Boy system which was rushed to market too early and priced far too high to appeal to a broad consumer base.  While they unveiled the Nintendo 64 at the Shoshinkai Software Exhibition in November of 1995, Yokoi was placed in a far-off corner of the trade show to demo games on the Virtual Boy.  Needless to say, he was all but ignored by the attendees who were far more interested in Nintendo's forthcoming "Ultra Famicom".  I think at that point, I'd have chosen to retire as well.

Tragically, Yokoi was killed on October 4, 1997 when he was struck on the highway after getting out of his own vehicle to ascertain damage sustained in a collision with another car.  Although rushed to the hospital, he died roughly two hours later.  And the world lost a great innovator who in many respects never stopped being that humble custodian from 1966.

Nintendo's American president, Howard Lincoln, said of Yokoi, "He had a great sense of humor, a great smile...a very generous and outgoing fellow. He made a tremendous amount of creative contributions to Nintendo and the video game business over the years. People play Game Boy all over the world, and that's Mr. Yokoi's."  And all you have to do is look at his picture up there to know Lincoln was right.

Like so many of the people who have inspired me over the years, I never got the opportunity to meet Gunpei Yokoi.  Given the above remark by Mr. Lincoln, all I can think is how sorry I am that he's gone.  When you can miss somebody whom you've never even met...well, I think that says something.

Arigato gozaimasu, Yokoi-san.  I hope one day we can share tea together.]]> Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:07:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-458-gunpei-yokoi-september-10-1941-october-4-1997/ http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-460-so-close-yet-so-far-socks-the-cat-rocks-the-hill/
Er...right.

So somebody at Kaneko has this bright idea for a video game starring Socks.  Upper management does their round table discussion thing, and out of all the other ideas you know were being tossed around, this one was voted 'Most Likely to Succeed' and given the green light.  What was it up against, the audio designer's son's idea for a game starring an anthropomorphic popcorn kernel who "puffs up" to fight evil with his extra-buttery powers?

Wait a minute, that's not a bad idea.  Anyway, anyway, where were we?  Oh yes, Socks.

Now if the story ended here, it would be totally understandable.  Video game concepts are born, struggle and die slow, horrible deaths every single day.  For every game that gets a complete, finalized release, there are probably between five and ten that get cancelled sometime between the concept and initial development phases.  And if that's what had happened to Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill, then this would be no more interesting than reading about other games that never made it to the shelves.  Think The Cheetahmen II, or...you know, on second thought, don't.

Here's the thing though.  Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill was planned from the start to be a political parody, not just another "me too" cash-in on the 2D platformer market.  The First Cat has to dodge shifty politicians and battle bosses designed to look like past political figures like Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and even presidential hopeful Ross Perot so he can get to POTUS in time to warn him about stolen nuclear weapons?  Hellfire and damnation, this might have worked!

Not only did this game get the green light, not only did it get ads in prominent gaming mags of the day (this one's from the January 1994 issue of GamePro), not only did it have completed box artwork, but it was finished.  Done.  Completed.  It went gold.  This sucker was locked, cocked and ready to rock, a fully-loaded 16-bit saga waiting to blast off on the Super NES, with reviews in GamePro, EGM and even Nintendo Power which overall gave it a slightly above average rating.

Then Kaneko said, "Sorry guys, no more USA division."  They closed up shop, headed back to Japan, and left poor Socks high and dry.  Not surprisingly, no other US publishers stepped in to save the venture leaving US gamers to wonder what happened to that game about the President's cat.]]> Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:27:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-460-so-close-yet-so-far-socks-the-cat-rocks-the-hill/ http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-456-so-close-yet-so-far-dracs-night-out/ Drac's Night Out.

What's that?  You've never played Drac's Night Out?  You've never heard of Drac's Night Out?  Eh, doesn't surprise me since Drac decided to stay inside at the last minute (maybe he had a fang-ache).  Whatever the reason, the game was never released (though a prototype build eventually found its way onto the Internet years later).

Consider Drac's Night Out one of the better casualties in the product placement wars.  I mean, let's face it, there's no way in Transylvania a game boasting a protagonist clad in the most expensive athletic shoes produced at the time was going to be any good, right?

Depends on who you ask, I suppose.  Opinion on the prototype seems sharply divided: some lambaste it for being crap, others embrace the fact that it's unfinished and consider what might have been.  But now, thanks to the magic of Retromags and a copy of GamePro issue #15 from Oct. 1990, you can see why history and preservation is so important.  Here's yet another awesome example of why gaming magazines rocked back in the day.  The editors got to play works-in-progress, and their requirement of a multi-month lead time on their publication dates meant it was entirely possible for them to review a game only to have that game disappear or re-emerge as something completely different later on.

In any case, the object of Drac's Night Out is two-fold.  First, one must deal with the interlopers who've decided to crash your castle.  Once they've been murdered by your exceptional variety of traps, you move on to the next phase which is to take your carriage to town and find your true love Mina for a little midnight snack of the red variety.  No, not Twizzlers.  If you're really having problems in town though, there's a solution: strap on your Pumps, give them a couple of pumps for good measure, and suddenly you can run faster and jump higher than any vampire in history!  Whatever happened to shapeshifting into a bat, transforming into a dog, or assuming mistform?  More to the point, who had athletic shoes in 19th Century Europe?  Nobody ever said video games were historically accurate.

So here you can see yet another reason to comb through the annals of gaming yesteryear.  I certainly never knew Drac's Night Out was planned for release, and would have had no reason to go searching for information on it had it not been for this article.

Have you unearthed any long-buried secrets from your time spent browsing through the Retromags archives?  Why not tell us about them on the forums!  We'd love to hear about your finds.]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:07:00 +0000 http://community.retromags.com/blog/6/entry-456-so-close-yet-so-far-dracs-night-out/