BlazeHedgehog

So Sega announced Sonic the Hedgehog 4. 
 
 
  
For a 50 second teaser that only shows 4 seconds of gameplay tops, it speaks volumes about what could be going on behind the scenes with the game. Like what?

The Game Is Already "Done"

Before Sega took them down, there were images on the site ( Sonicthehedgehog4.com) that declared that the game would be released July, 2010. They have been since replaced with images that say "Summer 2010" (a period of time which includes July). That's actually not to far off, especially if you consider how the act of creating and releasing a game works. It means that the developers of Sonic 4 have about 3-4 months until the game has to be submitted for Xbox Live Arcade certification. That means that, right now, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is "content complete". All the levels are in and can be finished from beginning to end. Everything in the game is already set in stone and cannot be changed. Going by traditional development and release schedules, the remaining three months will be spent on polish and bug testing. Making sure the game doesn't crash, smoothing out any rough spots in the game's progression, etc.  Depending on how far apart these episodes are going to be spaced, "Episode 1" may already be 100% finished, bug tested, and ready for release, intentionally being held back in order to give the developers a head start on "Episode 2".
 

Walk Before You Run

What's really special about this teaser is that never once do you see Sonic running. That's not to say Sonic can't run, or won't run - it's about how you perceive Sonic as a character. For a long time, Sonic the Hedgehog games have been obsessed with making you go too fast - so fast that you can't see or react to oncoming obstacles. Now, don't get me wrong, Sonic the Hedgehog is most definitely "about" Speed. Speed is his defining character trait. Some of the first advertisements ever seen on American soil for the original Sega Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog dared you to "think fast". But if what Sonic Team said about Sonic Unleashed was true, Sonic runs so fast in that game, it would be like like going from the northern edge of Cyrodill in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to the southern edge in only a couple of minutes - an act that would otherwise take more than ten times that length of time. That's a little too fast. By showing Sonic walking as the first footage of Sonic the Hedgehog 4, they are (hopefully) saying "We get it. Sonic's going to slow down a little bit." It's okay to walk.
 

A Taste of What's to Come

So many teasers nowadays hide special somethings within them, only visible to those obsessive enough to watch the video multiple times, frame-by-frame. 


Pause the video at the right times, and you can see images super-imposed on Sonic himself, giving a glimpse of an as-of-yet unseen level. Sonic is seen running straight up a vertical slope, grabbing on to a zip-line pulley, and there's even a glimpse of what appears to be a level tile with yellow and black caution tape on it. Now, where have we seen yellow and black caution tape like that before?
 


Ah, yes. And that's not all, either. Keep your eyes fixated on the text during this scene:

Silhouetted in the text is a rotating image that is strikingly reminiscent of the Sonic the Hedgehog 1 Special Zone (trust me, it's a lot easier to see it in motion). 

In Closing

Seeing as I am a pretty big Sonic fan, am I excited for Sonic the Hedgehog 4? To be perfectly honest with you... I'd rather see more of the game before making judgment. 4 seconds of gameplay footage just isn't enough, and I've been through this enough to know better. There are certainly hints laid all throughout this that Sega might be doing something "right", but there are also a lot of hints that point to a distinct lack of creativity - Sega is, essentially, mining our nostalgia and pasting it in to a modern context verbatim. Whether or not that will be good enough remains to be seen.

I have a lot of text files on my HDD. Game ideas, dreams I've had, forum posts I want to make, emails I've written and want to save, emails I've yet to write, game reviews, etc. This is one I apparently wrote (or at least saved to my HDD) in February of 2008. That makes it about two years old. I believe it was originally a forum post that I made and liked, so I saved it to my HDD. It is, jokingly, a snippet from a would-be script to "Half-Life: The Movie".

 
I had plans to one day write an entire movie script like this (tongue-in-cheek, using quotes exclusively from the game itself) but I never got around to it because that would take actual effort, all for a joke that gets itself across well enough in the above snippet.

Another review is in the can! This time, for Phantasy Star Zero on the Nintendo DS. As always, a sampling: 

Phantasy Star Zero, as the name implies, is set up as a prequel of sorts to Phantasy Star Online – though the story of the two games never actually connect to one another, and only share vaguely similar themes. Regardless, Zero uses this as a jumping-off point, tinting the entire game with shades of the wild west pioneers of yesteryear – and many of the concepts are presented as if they are precursors to what would be seen in “later” PSO games. After picking between the three races and which class you’d like to be (long-distance Ranger, short-range Hunter, or magic wielding Force), you’re thrust in to a ruined world polluted by an ancient war that was wiped from the history books. As mankind “pushes back on the edge of oblivion”, it becomes your job to find out what really happened, and possibly prevent it from ever happening again. As is the norm for games based off of Phantasy Star Online, this is done through one of two major modes: a singleplayer story mode and online multiplayer. Singleplayer, though not as grandiose with its production values as Phantasy Star Universe, has a considerably deeper narrative than Phantasy Star Online; each of the three races has their own story thread that focuses on the same events from differing perspectives. Though there are brief glimpses of fully-voiced animated video, the story is largely told through text narration – and while the translation is top-notch, the same cannot be said for the source material it’s translated from. Plot twists are visible from a mile away, dramatic sacrifices have all the emotional impact of a pillow fight, and the few attempts at comedy are flat, leaning on well-worn anime stereotypes (with illusions to tentacle porn and more). Once you’ve seen one race’s story mode, there’s not much reason to endure the other two.

However, the story mode in the PSO franchise has never been anything more than window dressing for the real meat-and-potatoes of the game: online multiplayer. It’s here Zero shines. ( Continue reading...)

 
When Sega sent me the game to review two or three weeks ago, they also included a couple of goodies.    
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Between these and that Dark Void stuff Capcom sent me, I'm bulking up on cheap videogame swag like nobody's business! Gosh, I feel like a real game industry writer.
 
You'll also notice that the review is the first one our site has given a score to! Previously, I'd just write a review and that was it. Scoreless reviews are a dream many have, and we were living it. Unfortunately, as is the case with most dreams, it ended - it simply makes more sense to attach a score. I went with the industry-staple of five stars (which is also used here in GiantBomb). I actually had a really hard time deciding on Phantasy Star Zero's score, too - initially I had given it half a star higher, but considering I'm sort of planning on doing Spirit Tracks for my next review, I docked it half a point simply on the grounds that I think I know what score I want to give Spirit Tracks, and Spirit Tracks is better than Phantasy Star Zero, and both of them would have been the same score. Thus, if Zelda is better than PSZ, that means PSZ should have a lower score, right? Makes sense. 
 
After Spirit Tracks should be Bayonetta, assuming I can get Sega to send me a copy; though we pull in decent viewership statistics, it took a bit of prodding to get them to send me Phantasy Star. Of course, Sega also isn't pushing Phantasy Star very hard, either - as of writing, there's only ten or so reviews on Metacritic for the game, and major sites like IGN (and even GiantBomb) have not yet reviewed it. Bayonetta is closer to a tent-pole release, so I may have an easier time nabbing a copy. I should also think about my next video review - which could actually be Bayonetta! Though that kind of defeats the purpose of a "Better Late Than Never Video Review". 

Of course, there's also the fact that my computer may or may not be having a nuclear meltdown. 2 years and close to $200 later, it would appear that something else inside of it may be on the fritz. I only just finally repaired the last problem not even six months ago after replacing nearly every component in my system, and now something else may be busted. Considering that this has been a somewhat lean Christmas, depending on what's broken and how warranties hold up, I may not actually have the money to repair it for some time. So, if I vanish one day, well... there you go. It also means it'll be a while until I can do a new video review - a shame, considering I've made a whopping $0.08 over at Blip.TV for my current video reviews. We'll see. I joked to Ashuku about it, but I feel like I'm Wile E. Coyote watching the fuse to a bomb fizzle out, and the minute I relax it's going to explode in my face. 

Been browsing Amazon a lot recently, for obvious reasons. Even though I ended up spending pretty much all of the money on my Mom in Christmas presents for her, I've still continued to look around (and add stuff to my wish list, because they run a wish list sweepstakes every Christmas) and I am constantly shocked at just how much money certain Amazon-affiliated retailers are trying to charge for some things.

I mean, really? $400 for a still-shrink-wrapped copy of Sonic Advance 2? I've also seen $103 for a copy of Jet Set Radio Future, $93 for a copy of Konami Krazy Racers, $90 for a copy of Metroid: Zero Mission... but none tops this:


You're reading that right - nearly $1000 (plus shipping!) for a special edition version of the Ghostbusters videogame with the Slimer Statue - a videogame that came out barely even six months ago. Who in their right mind expects anyone to pay $1000 for Ghostbusters? Let alone $99.97 for a copy of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle? None of these games are even that rare! Are there actually idiots out there who pay this much for stuff like this? Because I can't imagine it makes too much business sense to say "Hey, yeah, I'll charge you $400 for Sonic Advance 2... or you could buy it from this other guy for $35. Better yet, $9 for a used copy. But if you feel like spending $400, I've got you covered!"  
 
I'm kind of speechless, over here.

I used to own a Virtual Boy. True story. My local Albertsons (supermarket chain, for those who don't know) was holding a drawing for a Virtual Boy sometime in September. I wanted one simply on the virtue that it was a new videogame thing, and I liked videogames. Being about 14 years old with nothing better to do, I'd swing by the store on my mile-long walk home from school and grab a stack of about 15-25 entries. When I stopped by on my way home the next day, I'd deposit the entries I'd filled out and grab another stack. This continued for probably close to a week. If you ever wondered why contests have clauses that say, "one entry per person" - well, it's guys like me that created a demand for that sort of rule.
 
It probably won't shock you to know that I won the Virtual Boy. If I had to guess, I'd say around 50% of all the entries in the entry box were probably filled out by me. We took it home and realized immediately that the red monstrosity needed 6 AA batteries to function. Obviously, this meant a trip back to the store, where a 12 pack was acquired for something ridiculous like $8 or whatever. Came home, popped the batteries in, and fired up the included game, Mario Tennis.
 
Obviously the first thing you notice about the Virtual Boy is that it can make you go blind. Every time you turn on the system, it demands that you read the operating manual in order to make you understand just how dangerous prolonged use of the hardware might be. Get past that screen, and it will ask if you want to set up a timer - if left on, every 20 minutes or so the Virtual Boy will interrupt whatever game you happen to be playing and ask you if you'd like to take a break in order to help alleviate eyestrain. Nevermind the big fat warning on the box itself, saying the system may be dangerous for those who are younger than 7 years old. But yeah. Mario Tennis. It was a good game for its time - obviously outclassed by today's entries in the series, but back then, with the 3D effect, it was amazing.
 
For about two hours. Then the batteries died.
 
Four hours after I had come home with my Virtual Boy, it was toast. No batteries left. No way to get any more. The next day, I stopped by Wal-mart on my walk home from school. It was next door to Albertsons. Virtual Boy A/C adapters were $20. I didn't have $20. I checked the price for the unit itself. $179. That was quite a lot of money, especially to a 14 year old. I went home and stared at my powerless Virtual Boy. Eventually, a little under a week later, I would trade it in. By the time I traded it in, Wal-mart had already dropped the price to $139. The system had barely even been out for a month and it was already $40 lighter. I would come to find out that if I had kept the Virtual Boy, I would have most definitely gotten an A/C Adapter for Christmas. Instead, I used that $140 to buy a Sega Game Gear, three discounted games ( Sonic: Triple Trouble, Sonic Drift 2, and Columns III), a set of batteries, and an A/C adapter. I still have that Game Gear, somewhere.
 
Every now and then, I still get nostalgic for the Virtual Boy. It was definitely a turd - make no mistake. It was physically hazardous to your health, heavy, bulky, and chewed through batteries like nobody's business. But it was a neat novelty, at least - the 3D effect was very convincing and when a game made proper use of it, it was fantastic. 
 
Somewhere in this post I actually wanted to talk about a specific Virtual Boy game. One that I didn't get a chance to play then, and only had a chance to play recently: The uninspiredly-titled Virtual Boy Wario Land. Many would call it the only Virtual Boy game worth playing, and after having a chance to play it myself recently, I'd have to agree. 
 
Essentially, VB Wario is the lost Wario Land game, primarily being a continuation of Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (his debut game). If you're familiar with the power-ups from that game, they return in VB Wario, but obviously with much larger sprites, much better animation, and some very subtle, very awesome 3D effects. Everything in this game takes great advantage of the Virtual Boy's 3D hardware - every layer of parallax is portrayed in 3D space, and even Wario himself exists in more dimensions than his 2D sprite initially belies: when facing to the right, Wario's right arm is rendered as being closer to the camera, while his left arm is portrayed as being further away, while his body rests somewhere between the distance of the two. It's not incredibly amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but it's cool enough. 
 
The game uses 3D in less subtle ways, too. A lot of enemies will zoom in and out of the foreground and background, and even Wario himself can use special "spring board" blocks to jump to secret areas located in the game's background. Again, not mindblowing or anything, but at the very least, it's functional without being annoying. Bosses also make use of 3D - the first boss will attack you with a mace from a platform in the distant background and you have to dodge it. Dodge it enough times and he'll jump to the foreground (where you are), where he becomes vulnerable to attack. 
 
Arguably, though, nothing in VB Wario needs to be in 3D, however. Just like how 2D versions of 3D movies are perfectly watchable (though full lots of silly "3D moments" where objects toward and away from the camera), VB Wario is perfectly playable minus the stereoscopic 3D and you'd be none the wiser. It's a shame, then, that Nintendo has swep the Virtual Boy under the rug - because this is a great game, if a bit short (there appear to be only 14 levels or so). We'll never see it appear on the Virtual Console or anywhere else - basically, you'll probably never get to play this. The "alternative" methods to play the game aren't exactly ideal, either - they're tricky to set up and can be sluggish to play the game with. The closest we've ever gotten to playing VB Wario Land on more recent hardware is perhaps Wario Land 4, but even that's more of a distant cousin, as the only element it shares is the idea that you have to find a key within a strict time limit in order to escape the level. 
 
Still, for those of you who refuse to let the dream die and want to see a Virtual Boy game running in stereoscopic 3D, I've got you covered. Youtube, as it turns out, implemented a "3D Glasses" mode back in July. Combined with some crazy voodoo magic, I have captured and uploaded footage of VB Wario Land and have enabled the 3D Glasses Mode. 
 
  
Unfortunately, as you can no doubt see from the thumbnail, the 3D Glasses Mode does not work in the embedded Youtube player. If you have a pair of 3D Glasses, you'll have to go to the actual Youtube Video page, which has a drop down box for various 3D Glasses options (including the classic red/blue colored lenses and their ilk). If the 3D doesn't work right, try flipping your 3D glasses around so the colors are on opposite eyes - I use a pair of Blue/Yellow glasses that I have to wear "backwards" for the effect to look right. If you don't have glasses, there's a even an option to view the video "normally" (just select "View Left Only"). 
 
Maybe one day, if 3D really becomes a prominent part of watching TV, we'll see VB Wario Land get an official re-release as a "retro" title. But until that far off distant future, we'll have to settle for Youtube.