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Mento

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Mento's Alternative to E3 2015: Day 0

By Mento 1 Comments

Welcome all, to the newest series of "Mento's Alternative to E3", a series which is an alternate to... you know what, today's been long enough with all these conferences for me to toss a bunch of tautology your way. Let's cut to the chase and say that I always put these things together to give people something to read that doesn't involve investing time and effort in the news and hype coming from E3. All those announcements and teasers can be a little much after a while.

Beginning with last year's Legend Entertainment look-ins, I'm now building this four-day series around a unifying theme. This year, I'm going to look at a few N64 platformers that, like almost any 3D platformer, followed Super Mario 64's trendsetting example. I covered Super Mario 64 to a comprehensive, almost-worrying extent a few weeks ago and will probably follow it up with some additional unabridged examinations of other paragons of the genre as we all wait with bated breath for the eventual Yooka-Laylee release. (It's an SEO thing.) The four games I'm going to cover this week, though... well, they're all fine games from a certain point of view, but perhaps not the sort of thing I'd be willing to go over with a fine-tooth comb to the same degree as Super Mario 64. Still, never say never.

Instead, we're giving these four games little LP/Brief Jaunt doodads, as has been my custom for the last year or so. Hope you enjoy, and that it helps keep that noisy E3 palaver out of your heads for a little while.

Chameleon Twist

While extraordinarily rough to look at these days, Chameleon Twist is one of the games that followed Super Mario 64 that was almost able to match its pioneer spirit, if not its generally high quality gameplay and presentation. SunSoft published the game in the US and Europe and is the big name attached to it, but the developers were actually the obscure Japan System Supply - a mundane name that betrays nothing of their one noteworthy game's creativity. In fact, their only other US-published game is Power Quest: a robot brawler for the GBC that resembles Custom Robo or Gotcha Force.

Yet, even though the game has its issues, there's something inherently unique to it that captured the spirit of the N64 age and would be endemic to what seems to occur to every Nintendo console since: that they would never see again the sort of third-party presence the Nintendo and Super Nintendo all but monopolized, but still saw its fair share of bizarre curios that helped establish each console's eccentric personality and cultish appeal.

Welcome to Chameleon Twist! The stuff of nightmares already.
Welcome to Chameleon Twist! The stuff of nightmares already.
There's four
There's four "colors" to choose from, but they're exactly that: simply colored reskins. Fred here looks a little morose, so I'm going to pick him to cheer him up. Feel better about yourself already, monstrosity!
I took a random image from the game's intro cutscene (which I mention in case people thought it was the homework of a first year graphic design student). Essentially, a regular chameleon follows the White Rabbit into Wonderland because what else does a chameleon have on its schedule?
I took a random image from the game's intro cutscene (which I mention in case people thought it was the homework of a first year graphic design student). Essentially, a regular chameleon follows the White Rabbit into Wonderland because what else does a chameleon have on its schedule? "Eat bugs and vaguely resemble logs"?
It sure did. It looks like a Hong Kong Mewtwo bootleg with a Gene Simmons tongue.
It sure did. It looks like a Hong Kong Mewtwo bootleg with a Gene Simmons tongue.
But it's not just for show and for unfortunate jokes about lingus, the chameleon's tongue is used for most of the game's traversal mechanics, which the game is kind enough to unlock all at once right at the start. It's a short game, so they can't mete these out: rather, they create scenarios in which you have to press every button to progress.
But it's not just for show and for unfortunate jokes about lingus, the chameleon's tongue is used for most of the game's traversal mechanics, which the game is kind enough to unlock all at once right at the start. It's a short game, so they can't mete these out: rather, they create scenarios in which you have to press every button to progress.
An advanced technique, you can hit the jump button after hooking onto a pole to spin around it. This lets you reach platforms that are equidistant from the hook point you're shooting at. It's hard to time, but it's useful for a lot of collectibles.
An advanced technique, you can hit the jump button after hooking onto a pole to spin around it. This lets you reach platforms that are equidistant from the hook point you're shooting at. It's hard to time, but it's useful for a lot of collectibles.
Enemies show up in packs a lot, and the chameleon can use the tongue to hook up and eat a large number at once. Once inhaled, they can be spat out. It's fairly basic as combat goes, but combat is rarely as simple as simply spitting at things until they die.
Enemies show up in packs a lot, and the chameleon can use the tongue to hook up and eat a large number at once. Once inhaled, they can be spat out. It's fairly basic as combat goes, but combat is rarely as simple as simply spitting at things until they die.
You know, I don't want to disparage the game's appearance too much. Chameleon Twist came out in late 1997, about a year after the original release for the console. 1997 also saw a lot of early hits for the system: Blast Corps, Turok, Lylat Wars, Goldeneye and Diddy Kong Racing, to name a few. They're all a little graphically underwhelming, but it's clear the developers had an idea of what they wanted from the system and the new possibilities it presented. That, I feel, was the message Super Mario 64 ultimately presented to them:
You know, I don't want to disparage the game's appearance too much. Chameleon Twist came out in late 1997, about a year after the original release for the console. 1997 also saw a lot of early hits for the system: Blast Corps, Turok, Lylat Wars, Goldeneye and Diddy Kong Racing, to name a few. They're all a little graphically underwhelming, but it's clear the developers had an idea of what they wanted from the system and the new possibilities it presented. That, I feel, was the message Super Mario 64 ultimately presented to them: "Pull out every idea you ever had but could never make happen for the SNES, and see what you can make happen here."
The chameleon also has a high jump, mapped to the same button (Z) that Super Mario 64 used. Rather than a crouching super jump, it's more of a little pole vault with the tongue.
The chameleon also has a high jump, mapped to the same button (Z) that Super Mario 64 used. Rather than a crouching super jump, it's more of a little pole vault with the tongue.
The first world, Jungle World, suddenly decides to go underground for Temple of Doom shenanigans.
The first world, Jungle World, suddenly decides to go underground for Temple of Doom shenanigans.
These spiders are endlessly shot out of these white sac-like spawners. The spawners all drop crowns: the collectible that appears on each of Chameleon Twist's six worlds. The game also saw the merit of Super Mario 64's collectible system as a means to extend longevity: we're already long past the point where losing all your lives no longer meant having to start over, so jumping back into completed stages for collectibles you missed made sense for increasing a game's replayability value.
These spiders are endlessly shot out of these white sac-like spawners. The spawners all drop crowns: the collectible that appears on each of Chameleon Twist's six worlds. The game also saw the merit of Super Mario 64's collectible system as a means to extend longevity: we're already long past the point where losing all your lives no longer meant having to start over, so jumping back into completed stages for collectibles you missed made sense for increasing a game's replayability value.
These rock guys are sub-bosses that move slowly and seem deliberately simple to bring down. It simply amounts to swallowing the smaller spider enemies (which endlessly spawn) and spitting them at the larger targets.
These rock guys are sub-bosses that move slowly and seem deliberately simple to bring down. It simply amounts to swallowing the smaller spider enemies (which endlessly spawn) and spitting them at the larger targets.
For whatever reason, this room had a bunch of spinning rings. I suspect they just thought it looked cool, and didn't require a whole lot of difficult polygon crafting.
For whatever reason, this room had a bunch of spinning rings. I suspect they just thought it looked cool, and didn't require a whole lot of difficult polygon crafting.
You know, I'll defend this game's graphical quality, but only to a point. This would be that point.
You know, I'll defend this game's graphical quality, but only to a point. This would be that point.
The big ape with Goku hair can't be defeated by simply spitting minions at him, but at the right angle you can knock him off the cliff in his boss arena. Not the most challenging fight, but this world's more of a tutorial anyway.
The big ape with Goku hair can't be defeated by simply spitting minions at him, but at the right angle you can knock him off the cliff in his boss arena. Not the most challenging fight, but this world's more of a tutorial anyway.
And this is the rest of the game, pretty much. The game gives you a branching path here, though I suspect you still need to beat both lands to unlock the next couple. You can also see how many crowns you managed to find, going back to previously beaten levels to attempt to find the rest. When you only have six worlds, you gotta find a way to convince players to revisit old pastures.
And this is the rest of the game, pretty much. The game gives you a branching path here, though I suspect you still need to beat both lands to unlock the next couple. You can also see how many crowns you managed to find, going back to previously beaten levels to attempt to find the rest. When you only have six worlds, you gotta find a way to convince players to revisit old pastures.

Anyway, that's Chameleon Twist in a nutshell. It sort of blows its wad early, figuratively speaking, by introducing all the game's mechanics in its first world and simply having every subsequent world require the player to use those same abilities to overcome increasingly challenging scenarios. We know how to use the tongue and a grapple point to swing around to a far platform, for instance, so now the game will find ways to make using that technique more precarious/precise. It's a compact game, by necessity, but it's also no pushover. There's also the matter of the other bosses too; all of which have their own special rules for defeating them.

Chameleon Twist is, as stated, the sort of game that would go on to exemplify not only the N64 but the Nintendo systems that followed. Games like Chibi-Robo, or Elebits, or Zack & Wiki: that kind of specifically and unapologetically Japanese game with a family-friendly cutesy aesthetic meshed with utterly bizarre mechanics and/or premise that governs its gameplay. More importantly: while it borrowed a few elements, it wasn't simply another Super Mario 64. In fact, with the exception of its sequel, there really isn't anything else like it.

Day 0: Chameleon TwistDay 1: Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Day 2: Space Station Silicon ValleyDay 3: Donkey Kong 64
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