By far my favorite run-and-gun series has been Metal Slug. Originally for SNK's NeoGeo hardware, this series has been ported to various other systems. SNK Playmore has been working on the seventh title in the series set to be released for the Nintendo DS. A preview video has been released showing a few minutes of gameplay and some of the other game modes available; check it out below!
It's a rare thing when two wildly different interests can combine into one. In addition to old video games, I really enjoy cooking. I remember watching Great Chefs of the World on tv when I would get home from high school, Iron Chef (the original Japanese program) through college and now Alton Brown's Good Eats whenever I can catch it (or find DVDs at Target). Strangely enough, I didn't pursue a career in cooking - it has been only recently that I've recognized my interest and ability as something more than a passing interest or just being in to food. I was absolutely delighted this morning to stumble upon this custom Space Invaders cutting board at Etsy (via ProductDose).
It's a hand-made board, 17.5" x 12" x 1.25", constructed out of walnut and hard maple. While currently out of stock, the seller plans on making more. I've been in the market for a new cutting board, as the one I have is starting to split and peel away at the seams (no, I didn't take very good care of it).
This hand-made Space Invaders cutting board will add a touch of gamer-nostalgia to any kitchen. The board is made of walnut and hard-maple, put together with FDA approved, water-proof glue, and treated with a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax. This is the same cutting board that I use, and it makes me smile pretty much every time I get to cut on it.
I'm sure it would for me as well!
New York City artist Rosemarie Fiore has many experimental projects, such as using an amusement park ride as a giant spirograph. Using a long exposure photography technique she has captured movement patterns in several arcade games:
These photographs are long exposures taken while playing video war games of the 80's created by Atari, Centuri and Taito. The photographs were shot from video game screens while I played the games. By recording each second of an entire game on one frame of film, I captured complex patterns not normally seen by the eye.
The patterns are quite striking. It reminds me of the kind of "ordered chaos" you find in fractal patterns.
Riding high on the success of the NES, SuperNES and GameBoy, Nintendo was finishing up development work on its next hardware offering: the Nintendo Ultra 64 (the Ultra was later dropped from the name). At the graphical heart of this system was a powerful (for the day) 64-bit, 62.5MHz GPU developed by Silicon Graphics (which was originally developed for, and rejected by, SEGA for its upcoming Saturn). Nintendo was definitely not shy in promoting the horsepower of this system before its launch, hoping to distract from the CD/cartridge debate that was raging between gamers at that time.
Portable consoles have come a long way since their introduction in the late 1980s — compare the Nintendo GameBoy, released in 1989, with Sony's 2005 PlayStation Portable. The advancement is staggering, though it took a bit of time to get there. Generally screen sizes were small, blurry and monochrome (unless you could tolerate a battery life of around only two hours to power a color screen) until around 2001, when Nintendo's GBA was released.
PocketGamer.co.uk looks at the notable portables throughout this period of gaming evolution comparing screen size, screen resolution, initial price, horsepower and physical size. Unfortunately some of the more unique systems, such as NEC's TurboExpress and SNK's NeoGeo Pocket, are not included in this comparison, but you still get an idea of how the technology has advanced and evolved through the years.
I have always enjoyed video game music. In the days of my youth I would leave some games on pause or wait in a "safe" area just to hear the music loop a few times. Many games ceased to become any sort of challenge as I played them repeatedly, long after I had mastered them, just to hear my favorite pieces of music. I remember hooking up a mono headphone to my television and laying that headphone right on the built-in microphone of my tape deck to record all the music from the boss rush sequence in Gradius 3. Even today I re-play these older games or fire up a game music emulator so I can once again be moved by the magic created by such chiptune masters as Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, "Yuukichan's Papa" and Nobuo Uematsu.
While modern game music is well orchestrated and has produced some powerful pieces (To Zanarkand / ザナルカンドにて from Final Fantasy X for example), to me there is often an element of enjoyment and "fun" that is missing. I find that modern game music just isn't as memorable. Almost everyone knows the first seven notes of Super Mario Brothers, Tetris is instantly recognizable and Contra's first jungle stage instantly gets the blood pumping. Chiptune music, when properly done, goes hand-in-hand with the visuals of the game and draws you in to that fantasy world in a way that only the largest of orchestras in a perfectly acoustically balanced venue could hope to do.
Many others have shared my enjoyment of these older sources of music and have created new works from that enjoyment. Many have remixed the classic tunes of yesterday using the latest equipment available and full orchestras — symphonic concerts of game music are extremely popular in Japan, not to mention common. Others seek to recreate the feel of these earlier games by creating new works using "outdated" tools and equipment, which is not a new phenomenon. In the mid 1980s people were creating original music for SID chips found inside Commodore 64s or the Atari POKEY in Atari 8-bit home computers. However it has certainly been pushed further into the mainstream in recent years as techno and electronica styles of music are becoming more popular and easy-to-use software packages have been developed that emulate these old chip-based sound systems.
New chiptune music can have a tendency to be harsh and jarring if you're not used to it. Homages to favorite games of yesterday or flat remixes of current music hits run amok, but there are some fantastic composers and groups out there. Debuting in 2003 with a six-track CD titled Family Music (sporting a classic Famicom "lighting bolt" design element), Japanese chiptune group YMCK seeks to capture the element of "fun" found in 8-bit era chiptune music and add what is unfortunately so often missing from this genre: heart and soul.
YMCK has released three more albums since their debut: Family Music was expanded to 12 tracks and re-released in 2004, Family Racing was released in 2005 and their latest, Family Genesis, released in 2008 (still using 8-bit sound, not SEGA Genesis equipment). Some of the songs have downloadable samples available — click the pink graphic next to the track name. "Starlight" from Family Genesis has a sprite music video online.
The Japan Times has recently interviewed YMCK about their band philosophy and their expectations of their latest album:
"The music in video games is less memorable now than it was in the old days," says Midori Kurihara, vocalist with YMCK, and she should know: Her Tokyo three-piece band emulates the sound of classic scores to games on the 8-bit Nintendo Famicom console (known in the West as the Nintendo Entertainment System) that gave "Super Mario Bros." to the world in 1985.
"These days video-game music is more cinematic," counters Tomoyuki Nakamura, who co-writes the band's music and handles animation for their suitably pixelated music videos. "But it's not as impressive as before."
"The music from games such as 'Mario Bros.' or 'Dragon Quest,' we can still sing along to those," agrees Takeshi Yokemura, the unit's driving member, who writes most of the music and lyrics and also crafts the band's sound.
[...]
Despite their love for the games of yesteryear and their nerdy appearance, Yokemura, Kurihara and Nakamura insist that they are not video-game otaku (obsessive fans). ("I don't collect figures or video games, so I can't be an otaku," says Yokemura.) They're simply happy to create playful music with an air of nostalgia, and they insist that limiting themselves to a single palette of sounds actually opens many creative doors.
"Being restricted makes us think harder about how to make good music," says Yokemura. "The sound may be the same from song to song, but it opens us up to all sorts of new ideas."
A sign of the growing acceptance and cultural impact of video games (and retro gaming specifically), Family Genesis is available for purchase through Apple's iTunes Music Store for $12. I strongly encourage you to pick this album and give it a try. The lyrics are in Japanese, of course, but the emotion and soul present in the music transcends the language barrier.
More info
Automobile advertisers have a long history of targeting young males with their commercials, enticing them with images of coolness and a message of "To be hip you need this car!" Apparently classic gaming is now hip and cool, as this Pontiac commercial demonstrates:
I would play Spy Hunter all the time at my local pizza place when I was a kid...
Spotted at Joystiq.com.
Overheard at Silicon Era, it looks like Nintendo is finally toying with the idea of bringing previously Japan-Only titles to the North American Virtual Console. NOA appears to be testing the water with Do Re Mi Fantasy: Milon no DokiDoki Daiboken, the 16-bit sequel to the Famicom classic Meikyuu Kumikyoku (a.k.a. Milon's Secret Castle). A brief overview from Moby Games:
A young boy named Milon sets off to save Alis, his fairy friend, after she was captured by the evil sorcerer Amon. He later learns that the only way to defeat Amon is by collecting five legendary instruments which Amon has stolen. The sorcerer placed a curse on these instruments so that their true powers cannot be used and then left them in the hands of his minions. The only way to lift the curse is by collecting five stars.
Armed with only his bubble shooter, Milon must retrieve the legendary instruments, lift their curses and use their powers to defeat Amon and rescue Alis.
I'm glad to see NOA finally figure this out and test the waters of bringing over non-NA releases to the Wii VC. This should have been a feature of the VC since day 1 (and the ability to download DS demo software instead of going to a kiosk in a game store, but I digress). Here's hoping we'll see a Gradius 2 release sometime!
Gaming site Armchair Arcade is starting a month-long examination of the Amiga CD-32. It should be interesting to see what kind of info they dig up about this forgotten CD platform. Be sure to check it out!
In the early 1990s one of the most heated videogame hardware rivalries was in full swing: Nintendo vs. SEGA. Nintendo's NES had been wiping the floor with SEGA's SEGA Master System, but SEGA struck back with their 16-bit monster: The SEGA Genesis (Mega Drive outside of NA). The improvements in graphics and sound provided by the Genesis was astonishing. Nintendo struck back two years later with the Super NES. While posessing a slower clock speed, the SNES boasted even more graphical trickery than the Genesis and had much better sound and music capabilities. It was difficult to create pleasing music on the Genesis, but in the right hands SEGA's powerhouse could positively sing. Castle of Illusion, Sonic The Hedgehog and Toe Jam & Earl are excellent examples of what excellent music could be lovingly coaxed out of the Genesis. The SNES's music system was much more forgiving (and designed by SONY's Ken Kutagari, interestingly enough).
In 1992 HudsonSoft released Super Adventure Island for the SNES. While fairly early on in the SNES's life cycle, this platformer had bright, colorful graphics and large bosses. Stages include a deep jungle (complete with cannibals wearing masks), dark caves, misty forests, a frozen mountain range and even the belly of a whale! The music, composed by veteran Yuzo Koshiro, is where Super Adventure Island truly shines. Each funky piece of music has its own rhythm that matches perfectly with the visuals of the stage it is set against. No stranger to videogame music, composer Yuzo Koshiro began his composing career at Nihon Falcom in 1986 and through the years has provided memorable soundtracks to such games as Ys and Ys II (both for the PC-88), Legacy of the Wizard (NES), Streets of Rage (Genesis), ActRaiser 1 & 2 (SNES), Shenmue (Dreamcast), Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS) and is providing several compilations for the upcoming Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii).
Take a listen to the music in the flash player below, or download the .zip of MP3s or the raw game music itself (you'll need something that can play .SPC files).
