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RƺƏƳȒǔ¨ȸȒƳɖƬɎǣȒȇ Mark Constance
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Management
!ǝǣƺǔ
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ǔˡƬƺȸAaron Asadi
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ɯɯɯِȅƏȸǸƺɎǔȒȸƬƺِƬȒِɖǸÁƺǼחוזובאي
100 Games to Play Before You Die
© 2018 Future Publishing Limited
áƺƏȸƺƬȒȅȅǣɎɎƺƳɎȒȒȇǼɵɖɀǣȇǕȅƏǕƏɿǣȇƺȵƏȵƺȸɯǝǣƬǝǣɀƳƺȸǣɮƺƳǔȸȒȅȸƺɀȵȒȇɀǣƫǼɵȅƏȇƏǕƺƳً
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ƏȇƳȵȸȒƳɖƬƺƳǔȸȒȅɀɖɀɎƏǣȇƏƫǼƺȅƏȇƏǕƺƳǔȒȸƺɀɎɀًƬȒȇǔȒȸȅǣȇǕɎȒɀɎȸǣƬɎƺȇɮǣȸȒȇȅƺȇɎƏǼƏȇƳ
ɀȒƬǣȒƺƬȒȇȒȅǣƬɀɎƏȇƳƏȸƳɀِÁǝƺȅƏȇɖǔƏƬɎɖȸǣȇǕȵƏȵƺȸȅǣǼǼǝȒǼƳɀǔɖǼǼI³!٢IȒȸƺɀɎ
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ǼǼƬȒȇɎƺȇɎɀ۰זאIɖɎɖȸƺ¨ɖƫǼǣɀǝǣȇǕnǣȅǣɎƺƳȒȸȵɖƫǼǣɀǝƺƳɖȇƳƺȸǼǣƬƺȇƬƺِǼǼȸǣǕǝɎɀȸƺɀƺȸɮƺƳِ
zȒȵƏȸɎȒǔɎǝǣɀȅƏǕƏɿǣȇƺȅƏɵƫƺɖɀƺƳًɀɎȒȸƺƳًɎȸƏȇɀȅǣɎɎƺƳȒȸȸƺȵȸȒƳɖƬƺƳǣȇƏȇɵɯƏɵɯǣɎǝȒɖɎ
ɎǝƺȵȸǣȒȸɯȸǣɎɎƺȇȵƺȸȅǣɀɀǣȒȇȒǔɎǝƺȵɖƫǼǣɀǝƺȸِIɖɎɖȸƺ¨ɖƫǼǣɀǝǣȇǕnǣȅǣɎƺƳ٢ƬȒȅȵƏȇɵȇɖȅƫƺȸ
דזזזא٣ǣɀȸƺǕǣɀɎƺȸƺƳǣȇ0ȇǕǼƏȇƳƏȇƳáƏǼƺɀِ«ƺǕǣɀɎƺȸƺƳȒǔˡƬƺيªɖƏɵRȒɖɀƺًÁǝƺȅƫɖȸɵً
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ƏɀɯƺƏȸƺƏɯƏȸƺًƬȒȸȸƺƬɎƏɎɎǝƺɎǣȅƺȒǔǕȒǣȇǕɎȒȵȸƺɀɀِIɖɎɖȸƺƬƏȇȇȒɎƏƬƬƺȵɎƏȇɵȸƺɀȵȒȇɀǣƫǣǼǣɎɵ
ǔȒȸƺȸȸȒȸɀȒȸǣȇƏƬƬɖȸƏƬǣƺɀǣȇɀɖƬǝǣȇǔȒȸȅƏɎǣȒȇِçȒɖƏȸƺƏƳɮǣɀƺƳɎȒƬȒȇɎƏƬɎȅƏȇɖǔƏƬɎɖȸƺȸɀƏȇƳ
ȸƺɎƏǣǼƺȸɀƳǣȸƺƬɎǼɵɯǣɎǝȸƺǕƏȸƳɎȒɎǝƺȵȸǣƬƺȒǔȵȸȒƳɖƬɎɀٖɀƺȸɮǣƬƺɀȸƺǔƺȸȸƺƳɎȒǣȇɎǝǣɀȵɖƫǼǣƬƏɎǣȒȇِȵȵɀ
ƏȇƳɯƺƫɀǣɎƺɀȅƺȇɎǣȒȇƺƳǣȇɎǝǣɀȵɖƫǼǣƬƏɎǣȒȇƏȸƺȇȒɎɖȇƳƺȸȒɖȸƬȒȇɎȸȒǼِáƺƏȸƺȇȒɎȸƺɀȵȒȇɀǣƫǼƺǔȒȸ
ɎǝƺǣȸƬȒȇɎƺȇɎɀȒȸƏȇɵȒɎǝƺȸƬǝƏȇǕƺɀȒȸɖȵƳƏɎƺɀɎȒɎǝƺȅِÁǝǣɀȅƏǕƏɿǣȇƺǣɀǔɖǼǼɵǣȇƳƺȵƺȇƳƺȇɎ
ƏȇƳȇȒɎƏǔˡǼǣƏɎƺƳǣȇƏȇɵɯƏɵɯǣɎǝɎǝƺƬȒȅȵƏȇǣƺɀȅƺȇɎǣȒȇƺƳǝƺȸƺǣȇِ
Part of the
book series
174
6 | NINTENDO ARCHIVES
180
62
136 50
80 158
180 THE BIG FEATURE: THE LEGEND 202 ULTIMATE GUIDE: ELDER
OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME SCROLLS V: SKYRIM
Our exhaustive in-depth feature reveals why From mods to its many conversions, we
embarking on Nintendo’s epic adventure is a investigate the greatest game in the long-running
journey worth making Elder Scrolls series
Do these classics
make your final
list? Read the
feature in order
to find out
Whether you love or hate the innumerable console and handheld titles, cartoon
and movie spin-offs or cuddly plush toys, there’s no denying that Nintendo’s
Pokémon phenomenon has a significant place in videogaming history. Starting with
Pocket Monsters Red And Green for the original Game Boy in 1996, the series has
captured the imaginations of generations of gamers with its mix of role-playing, Turn to
monster-hunting, training, battling and trading. With the second generation of page 56 for
Pokémon titles, Gold And Silver, released for the Game Boy in 1999, fans were our full making
able to get their hands on a new range of one hundred monsters, bringing the of feature on
number of trainable Pokémon to over 250. Gold And Silver took place in a new Defender
location called Johto with players tasked with battling to become the region’s new
Pokémon Master. New features included a real-time day and night system, with
some monsters only appearing at certain times, two new Pokémon types (Dark
and Steel) and a much improved interface and inventory system. Another new EUGENE JARVIS
mechanic was the ability to breed Pokémon from eggs, with the offspring inheriting
qualities and battle techniques from its parents. Pokémon Gold And Silver were the
games that began the transformation of the series into a multi-billion dollar franchise
GETS NOSTALGIC
for Nintendo, one that continues to this day.
99
Q
Defender
Year: 1981 Platform: Arcade
Q QPrevious position: N/E V
95 Final Fantasy IX
QYear: 2000 QPlatform: PSone
QPrevious position: New Entry 3
Squaresoft pleased long-
term FF fans with this
last outing on the PSone,
discarding the futurism
of VIII and reverting to a
medieval setting harking back to its much-
loved classics on the Nintendo consoles. WAR BY NUMBERS
94 Super Castlevania IV 90 World Of Warcra
Q Year: 1991 QPlatform: SNES Year: 2004 Platform: PC Previous position: New Entry
Q Q Q V
Q Previous position: New Entry 3
Still one of the finest It might not have been the first MMO, but it is arguably the most influential, leaving behind a legacy that has been
entries in Konami’s copied by virtually everything in its wake. You’ll never forget your first trip to Azeroth and one visit is never enough.
vampire-slaying franchise,
QWorld Of Warcraft was the QThe realm of Azeroth in which QFive expansions have
Castlevania IV was an
excellent showcase for the Turn to page
fourth released game set in the the game is set is approximately 80 been released for the game to
SNES with its epic whip-flailing 118 for our full
fantasy Warcraft universe. square miles, about four times the date, with a sixth, Legion, to come
boss fights, fiendish level design making of Super
size of Manhattan Island. in mid-2016.
QIt is officially the highest
and brilliant soundtrack. Castlevania IV
grossing videogame of all time, QThe Hunter and Death Knight are QOne of the rarest mounts in
making in excess of ten billion US the most commonly used character the game is the Heavenly Onyx
93 Advance Wars dollars by July 2012. classes in the game, both netting Cloud Serpent, with a drop
QYear: 2001 QPlatform: GBA around 11 per cent of users. chance of just 0.03 per cent.
Previous position: New Entry 3
Q QDeveloper Blizzard Entertainment
still earns roughly one billion US QThe most popular profession in QWith over 100,000 pages,
The perfect pocket-sized
strategy game, Advance dollars yearly with the game. Azeroth is mining, with 35.8 per WOWWiki is the largest
Wars was an essential cent of players choosing community-run website of any
QOver 12 million physical boxed to don a helmet and seek videogame on the internet.
purchase for GBA owners,
and showed publishers copies of the game have been sold wealth underground.
that it wasn’t just Japanese gamers that since its launch in 2004.
QOne in every five World Of
loved turn-based tactics.
QIn January 2014 Blizzard Warcraft players is female.
91 Ico
QYear: 2001 QPlatform: PS2
QPrevious position: New Entry 3
A haunting and supremely stylish puzzle-
platform adventure, Ico remains one of
the most creative and touching fantasy
game experiences of the past few decades,
influencing the design of recent classics
like Dark Souls.
The artist and myself would then about the evolution of life. The
HOW CAPCOM
PERFECTED
discuss the details and workflow. I’d backgrounds in each area were
then create a rough prototype, and if designed based on this text. I wrote
it seemed to work we’d continue our this text as homage to the birth of
progress, but if it didn’t work, we’d
go back to step one. The biggest
challenge was to incorporate and
life, the repeated process of mass
extinctions, and the unending chain
of life that creates such weird and
A CLASSIC
condense a variety of ideas into a
short boss battle experience. All of
wonderful lifeforms.
83 Resident Evil
the bosses were reconstructed at Looking back at Rez, how do you
QYear: 2002 QPlatform: GameCube QPrevious position: New Entry 3
least three times. feel about the game?
Tetsuya Mizuguchi: Creatively QIt extensively redesigned puzzles and a new mansion layout means that your
Area 5 is a memorable final stage speaking I was very happy, but experience of the original game won’t help you.
which differs noticeably from the from a business point of view I felt QThe new re-reanimated Crimson Head Zombies provide a nasty surprise for all
earlier stages. What inspired it? a little bit sad. I didn’t expect too players, and fundamentally alter your approach to enemies.
Katsumi Yokota: Area 5 differs from much at the time, but many people QNew defensive items give you more combat options when you’re in a bind, and
the other stages as it has a message expected much bigger sales, like provide some uniquely gory enemy deaths.
incorporated into the design. Looking marketing people and business QThe indestructible test subject Lisa Trevor gave the game a brand new impact
back now, I am a little embarrassed people. My feeling is that the moment to close out the first disc.
by the text that appears every time reaction to Rez is bigger now than QFully redrawn visuals made the game look phenomenal in 2002, and held up
there is an area change. This was it was. I’m happy and surprised that superbly well in the 2015 HD re-release.
taken from a sort of poem that I wrote people continue to talk about Rez.
QThere’s a
1 6,720,000
Number of years
boss rush which development was Number of copies sold
unnervingly questions meant to take
Galaxies to visit
242
QYou your purpose in continuing,
follow humanity before the final boss –
into space, taking on which we won’t spoil
what appears to be an for you. Stars to
abstract phoenix of collect
some sort.
You don’t realise how claustrophobic The second game in the series saw Essentially it’s just GTA on a horse, Square’s Mana series came of age on
the opening of Oblivion is until you it move into party territory, due to but look past those similarities and the SNES, building upon the Game
step out into an open wilderness the open tracks and the introduction you’ll find RDR to be an assured Boy adventure games to deliver a
that’s full of possibilities and exciting of the spiny shell. While it’s not our open world game. The story and truly gripping adventure. While the
quests. It’s a living, breathing personal favourite Mario Kart game, characters are a cut above their GTA combat is simple, the unique NPCS,
world that just begs to be explored, there’s no denying that the large counterparts and it’s supported assisting characters and fantastical
while the plot number of tracks by Undead setting keeps your
itself is a huge and fantastic Nightmare, one attention. Little
improvement over multiplayer of the best pieces wonder it now
the earlier games constantly kept of DLC in recent fetches insane
in the series. you playing. memory. prices on eBay.
Expansion Pak
The N64 expansion pack was
critical, allowing Nintendo to improve
the game’s aesthetics, draw distance
Complex narrative
Majora’s Mask features an interesting,
engaging story that revolves around time 67 Sega Rally Championship 5 Sega
travel. As a result it’s far more structured Q Year: 1994 QPlatform: Arcade QPrevious position: New Entry 3
than earlier games.
Sega Rally can be beaten in full, with all the
secrets seen, in less than five minutes. However, 1 Namco
the three (or four) tracks you’ll play in that brief
YOUR FAVOURITE
time are so well-designed that every turn
DRIVING GAMES,
becomes seared into your memory, as you fight 1 Sumo
BY DEVELOPER:
the terrain to achieve the fastest possible time. Digital
You’ll expect to play for five minutes and end up
playing for years. 3 Nintendo
ANDREW BRAYBROOK
GOES OVER THE RAINBOW
66 Rainbow Islands
Year: 1988 QPlatform: NES QPrevious position: 30 W
Q
All of Graftgold's Rainbow Islands How challenging was it to recreate the power of of getting the gem colour that you want, it's so
ports were impressive. Which is arcade games on 8 and 16-bit computers? obvious when you know how.
your personal favourite and why? We were chasing the arcade in terms of colours
My favourite actually might have and number of sprites. Rainbow Islands only What are your thoughts on Rainbow Island 's
been the Sega Saturn version in had one layer of 8x8 pixel backgrounds, but play mechanics?
enhanced graphics mode. We got then used another one for the sea rising. We had I learned a lot from how the bonuses worked, and
to use a bit of semi-transparency to be a bit inventive with simulating that. The how the meanies all did or didn't interact with the
on the rainbows, and added an sprites had more and different colours than the background. Presentation is excellent, the ‘GOAL
extra back-layer of graphics, so we could be a bit backgrounds, I reckon they had maybe 16 palettes IN!’ sequence, for example, is all very grand and
creative. Taito quite liked what we did, and let us of 16 colours available. We had to resolve that well thought out. We had enough documentation
continue, whereas I believe it vetoed the Bubble down to one palette of 16 colours on 16-bit, and to make our conversions very accurate in terms of
Bobble equivalent. Our graphics artist Colin less on the 8-bits. how they played, the look would vary depending on
Seaman, led the graphics in just the right way the hardware. There’re also three different endings.
to do a splendid job in keeping with the original Why do you think Rainbow Islands proved to be so We thought there were only two, but we had some
style. Can't praise his contribution highly enough. I popular with gamers? graphics we hadn't seen, and imagine our surprise
believe we got everything running at the proper 50 A lot of design time had gone into the game at when we discovered the three islands that popped
frames-per-second, which even the mighty Amiga Taito, we could see that from the massive folder of up. Nobody knew they were there and we had
was unable to do. documentation we received. It looked like up to two quoted for seven islands. The extra three islands
In terms of achievement, Gary Foreman years of design work. Some of it had changed over lead to the third ending but are as big as the first
did a great job on the C64 as there was a lot of the project so we couldn't always tell what made it seven and we had less graphics supplied. It would
movement going on, and despite colour attribute into the final game. There's a lot in the bonuses and have taken us a lot more time. Even when we got
difficulties the Spectrum version also coped better upgrades that isn't immediately obvious, but can the job for the Saturn, PlayStation and PC versions
than we thought it would. be determined over time. Even the simplicity we were only asked to convert the first seven.
The isometric viewpoint of UFO: Enemy We’re not surprised to see Banjo chart so high.
Unknown should make you feel less Alongside Super Mario 64, it rates as not only
connected to your troops. Well, it doesn’t one of the best platformers upon the system, but
– we’re still torn up whenever we lose a also the genre too. Rare created an imaginative,
veteran to a tactical slip-up and a lucky wonderous world and tied it to two ridiculously
alien shot. Turn-based strategy is rarely lovable characters. Little wonder there’s so much
better than this. interest in spiritual follow-up Yooka-Laylee.
57 Bioshock
Year:2007 QPlatform: Various
Q
Previous position: New Entry 3
Q
56 Dungeon Master
IT’S SUPER EFFECTIVE! Pokémon
Year: 1987 QPlatform: Atari ST
Q
Previous position: 34 W
Q
How much freedom learned that players didn’t deal well with being
did you have when presented with too many choices, and that
creating KOTOR? choices in playable characters caused particular
We had a great relationship consternation so we preferred to slowly
with LucasArts, so that introduce characters and also give them a logical
was the foundation of reason for being. We also made sure it was
the freedom we had with clear that each character had personal stories to
KOTOR. There was a lot explore so players had motivation to play them.
of mutual trust. We also decided to pursue the
period thousands of years prior to the movies as What was the biggest technical
the setting for the game because we knew that challenge you faced?
any games set around the movies had a lot more On the Xbox version we were extremely
scrutiny. We had the choice of that period, or the aggressive in the streaming of content in real-
time just after Episode V. In the development time over the disc drive. We discovered that the
of the game itself we had a lot of freedom in game ran smoothly on some Xbox consoles,
deciding what to create and how it would be and not on others. When we inquired about it
made. We worked with the production team at Microsoft reluctantly admitted there were many
LucasArts and ran everything past them, but we different drives used in Xbox consoles along
took the lead on the development. with different performance profiles, so it was
clear we were pushing the data streaming past a
How important was it to move away from safe limit. That was a harsh one to learn a couple
the earlier films? months before release... It would have been nice
We wanted to be unique and special, as well as if Microsoft was up-front about that variability!
having good development flexibility, so it was
very important to be separate from the movies. Why do you think KOTOR remains so well
Thus the Old Republic period choice. We regarded by RPG fans?
wanted to create an environment for KOTOR I’d say KOTOR was a hit for a variety of reasons.
that was still reminiscent of the movies, but also Technically it was right at the forefront of games,
fit well into a period thousands of years before and a big advance over what we did previously
them. Ship and character designs should have and what other folks were doing at the time.
some similarity, but be clear precursors to what The RPG systems were solid, and had a nice
people are familiar with from the films. However balance of customization and flexibility. These
they still had to stand alone without being just a elements were important, but it was the story
few tweaks on the later designs. and experience of being at the core of a Star
Wars adventure that made the game special.
Why did you slowly introduce new We made the player feel unique and core to the
playable characters? world, especially at the big twist, but also as
We had a few common tactics that we have though he or she was experiencing a Star Wars
built upon over the years at BioWare. We movie from the inside.
Turn
to page 136
51 Sensible Soccer
QYear: 1992 QPlatform: Various QPrevious position: 8 W
If you loved football in the Nineties, you’re likely to remember some very
distinctive oddities: ludicrous banana shots, vowel-switched players like
‘Peul Gescoigne’ and a match-up screen which mysteriously featured the
same two players no matter which countries were playing. Yes, Sensible
Soccer was a little bit odd, but by pulling back the viewpoint and making
passing more intuitive, it captured the hearts of a public previously
enthralled by the likes of Kick Off 2.
50 Doom II
Year: 1994 QPlatform: PC
Q
Previous position: New Entry 3
Q
What is it about Pac-Man that makes it What’s your favourite aspect of Pac-Man’s
such a great game? game mechanics?
Without doubt its diversity. It seems to I’m amazed at what the designers did with
appeal to absolutely everyone, regardless such little memory (in modern terms).
of age or sex. Even if you don’t particularly Pac-Man has great AI and although the
48 Robotron 2084 score big at Pac-Man, the game play is ghosts are not completely random in their
Year: 1982 QPlatform: Arcade
Q both very addictive and full of character. movements, they did a great job, though.
Previous position: New Entry 3
Q He was, after all, the first real character in I play freehand for the first 20 boards and
How many Xbox Live Arcade a videogame and instead of just being a manipulate the ghosts to do what I want.
games pinched their twin-stick ‘ship’ in a shoot-’em-up, you were a virtual Thing is, even the best players get caught
controls from Robotron? Quite Pac-Man being hunted by ghosts. I guess out by an occasional and completely
a few, but with good reason – he also responsible for spawning the random movement which amazes me
Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar phrase, ‘I’m on my last man.’ even today. Ghosts in the machine…
created one of the finest twitch
shoot-’em-up experiences
known to mankind.
45 Speedball 2:
Brutal Deluxe
Q
Q
Year: 1990 QPlatform: Various
Previous position: 43 W HOW CAPCOM REINVENTED
It was hard not to be excited by
Speedball 2. Like the best sequels
it drastically improved on the
THE SURVIVAL HORROR GENRE
mechanics of the previous game, but
in this case it came at a high price.
43 Resident Evil Year: 1996 QPlatform:PSone QPrevious position: New Entry 3
Q
44 JON HARE
ON SENSIBLE
WORLD OF
SOCCER
QYear: 1994 QPlatform: Various
QPrevious position: 56 V
I am delighted to see
SWOS placed so highly,
considering how many
great games have been IT’S ALL ABOUT
THE GRAVITY
made over the years. My
intention with SWOS
was to make a kind of computerised
version of Subbuteo with the whole
world of football at your fingertips
and always someone there to play
42
Q
Super Mario Galaxy
Year: 2007 Platform: Wii Previous position: New Entry
Q Q 3
it with you, the computer if not
your friends. The fact that it was Nintendo is amazing at making things feel new.
inaugurated by Stanford University When Mario first ran through World 1-1 of Super
as one of the ten most influential Mario Bros. it was fresh and exciting. Nintendo
games of all time is my greatest achieved the same effect when you first saw Mario
achievement to date and that people appear in Super Mario 64 and it pulled off the same
still love and play SWOS today, over trick yet again with Super Mario Galaxy. The first
20 years later, is amazing. time you run around a planet and start leaping around
while you’re upside down is the moment you realise
that Mario is the master of the platform genre. It’s no
surprise that so many of his games have gone on to
appear in your final list.
attacked or seen before. the problem using the ‘Force’. concentrate on that head.
What can you tell us about the iconic What was the ‘Force’ inspired by?
Stage 3 boss? The ‘Force’ was inspired by the ball-
The ship was originally intended to rolling Dung Beetle. Initially, it could
be the final boss, and was designed be added to the top and underbelly of
as the ‘moving base’ of Bydo. We the ship – not just back and front, but
were keen to have players destroy the we found the concept difficult to use,
surface of this giant ship but at the so we removed it. We were seeing
same time we also wanted all players so many shoot-’em-ups appearing
to enjoy this unique character, so the from other publishers, we wanted
decision was made to bring it forward to incorporate a unique power-up
to Stage 3. I think Stage 5’s boss, system into our game. We spent a lot
Bellmate, is the most interesting. It of time refining the specifications of
appears with so many masses of the ship and the look of the enemies
cells around it, which fly toward the at the beginning of the game.
player’s ship one after another, and its
attack pattern is unique. The player Why do you think R-Type remains
has to charge their shot to destroy it, so popular?
and I also like the rhythm of its attack. Some of the functions must’ve felt
fresh. The control over the ‘Force’
How did you balance R-Type? might look difficult but it becomes
Because the game was originally interesting once you get used to
developed for the arcade, we using it. Maybe the fun of learning the
made the balance of the difficulty formation of the attacks, the game’s
setting, creature designs, and so on
helped. I think the reason why this
game is appealing is because its
uniqueness never gets old.
SHOOT
second stages we want the player to fully understand
THE CORE
38 Tomb Raider
QYear: 1996 QPlatform: Various
QPrevious position: 19 W
33 Chrono Trigger
Year: 1995 QPlatform: SNES
Q
Q Previous position: New Entry 3
Q
31 Grand The
36 The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker Auto V
QYear: 2003 QPlatform: GameCube QPrevious position: N/E 3 Year: 2013 QPlatform: Various
Q
Previous position: New Entry 3
Q
A CHEEKY CHAP HAVE SOME FUN! WELCOME TO AGELESS While GTA V might not be as
QThere’s something about this QAs great as Ocarina Of GAMECUBE ORIGINALITY groundbreaking as GTA III, a vast
youthful and cartoonish Link Time and Majora’s Mask are, QFor many the, cel-shaded QThis aesthetic hadn’t been world with an original three-character
that just makes him all that they’re just a tad too serious adventures of Wind Waker popularised at this point, but story makes it the definitive modern-
more charming to play as. He’s at times. Wind Waker, by helped signal just what the more than anything it’s helped day Rockstar game.
got a bit more of a naughtiness comparison, was a much more GameCube was about. While make Wind Waker one of
about him that you never really jovial experience, with talking the industry was onward the few games of the era to
felt in the more mature Zelda boats, friendly pirates and a towards a permanent, grit- withstand the test of time It
games, perhaps making a bit more comfortable setting for infused shade of brown, Wind means its originality can still
more sense for him to destroy comical – and, frankly, bizzare Waker proved there could still shine through, even if you were
everyone’s vases. – character Tingle. be fun in the industry. to play it today.
DERRICK ROWSON
Coder of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy for the
Amstrad CPC (with Steve Wetherill)
Manic Miner feels more complete than Jet Set Willy. You do
a task and then progress. Jet Set Willy, on the other hand,
allows several tasks to be bypassed and other routes to be
taken. If I then attempt the missed task, and lose my lives,
I feel it was a wasted journey. Manic Miner seems to teach
skill as each level is passed. The more it is played the easier
it becomes. Jet Set Willy somehow does not feel this way.
I never had access to Matthew’s source code, but having someone else’s
code is sometimes not all that helpful. Matthew could code as the normal
person talked. He used to challenge people to write code quicker than he did. I
would bet that most of his code was written in one attempt – he would think of
something then just write the code. No flowcharts, no bit-by-bit writing to test
out his logic – just type it out and see if it worked. Which most of the time it did.
CHRIS LANCASTER
Coder of Manic Miner for the Commodore 64
Software Projects got in touch and
discussed the possibility of me writing
the C64 version of Manic Miner. I was
in the Royal Air Force at the time, so
any software development had to be
done in my spare time, but Alan Maton
was happy with that and bought me a
Spectrum so I could see how Manic Miner played. Five and
a half weeks of sleepless nights later and the C64 version
was ready, just in time to get it into the shops for when they
opened after Christmas.
To me, the simple gameplay of Manic Miner was the
key to its success. It’s a game that takes seconds to learn
the controls to play it, but can provide hours of amusement.
Programmatically, the basic game is not very complex,
but Matthew did a really good job of getting half decent
sound out of a Spectrum. The graphics were original and I
particularly liked the large head of Eugene.
ROY COATES
Coder of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy
for the Dragon 32/64
Alan Maton from Software Projects showed me a
Spectrum running Manic Miner. This was the first
time I’d ever seen the game. He said, “We want
you to write that – for the Dragon.” The game
looked so simple, I was sure that I could knock
it out in a very short time. I was wrong. Three
months of hard graft later it was done.
There’s a certain something about Manic Miner. It seems to be
both mysterious and familiar at the same time. Although we looked
at every game we could get our hands on back then, none had the
same charisma that Manic Miner had. I still love it today.
I did add some extra screens for my own amusement. I’d
forgotten all about it until after the launch when Software Projects
» The Warehouse, with its
unstable floors, was called me and gave me a good ticking-off for not telling them.
one of the trickiest They were pleased, of course, since it generated more publicity.
rooms in the game.
It also allowed Dragon owners to gloat to their Spectrum-owning
pals. For once, the Dragon had more.
NAUGHTY DOG
GET REAL
26 The Last Of Us
QYear: 2013 QPlatform: PS3
QPrevious position: New Entry 3
On Symphony’s music
The music direction has never led the creation of the game. I have always
asked Michiru [Yamane] to compose music in accordance with the actual Naughty
game and never the other way around. She co-ordinated with the team Dog’s reveal of The
and composed music from the image of the stages. Last Of Us was almost
spoiled in Uncharted 3, as an
On his favourite tune in-game newspaper referenced
My favourite is Castle Dracula which starts to play the game’s fungal infection
when Alucard enters the castle for the first time. I was theme. Players assumed it
impressed with the way the music starts to play once was another team,
Alucard enters the castle, and then suddenly the castle though!
gets bright and zombies start to appear. It might be
because that part was programmed by myself.
25 Grand The Auto: Vice City Combat Evolved for our making
of feature on Halo:
QYear: 2002 QPlatform: Various QPrevious position: 15 W QYear: 2001 QPlatform: Xbox Combat Evolved
QPrevious position: 18 W
Vice City first made your list 11 years ago when it was still a
contemporary game. Despite having only been on sale for two
years, it appeared in your original top 20, proving that Rockstar’s Bungie’s game already
decision to set the game during the Eighties was a canny one that impressed with its intelligent
would resonate with a large number of gamers. SCARFACE story, satisfying gunplay and
Of course, even without its Eighties nostalgia, Vice City QThe similarities detailed textures, but The
would still be an entertaining game thanks to its interesting lead between Tommy Vercetti and Silent Cartographer took
character, solid and varied missions and numerous subtle tweaks Tony Montana are many. They things to a whole new level.
to the gameplay that had made GTA III so entertaining to play. 11 both rise to power using insane It starts off brilliantly with
years on and the passion for it still burns stongly. amounts of violence and Master Chief receiving instructions as his ship passes
have similar-looking over a frantic battle. Later you’re in the thick of that very
mansions. same fight, tackling Elites, watching the soldiers you
just landed with fall, and doing your very best to get off
that damned beach. It’s a brilliant opening that only gets
more intriguing as you dig into the Covenent base.
THE
GODFATHER
YOSHIO
SAKAMOTO ON
QThere are obvious
RESERVOIR DOGS parallels between Sonny Forelli
EXPLORATION
QThe most obvious connection and Santino ‘Sonny’ Corleone. In
is that Tommy Vercetti looks addition to having the same name,
remarkably similar to they both have the same mean
Michael Madson’s
Mr Blonde.
temper and want to muscle
in on the drug trade. 23 Super Metroid
QYear: 1994 QPlatform: SNES
QPrevious position: 89 V
21 Elite
where we talk to
Elite cocreator,
20 Half-Life 2
David Braben
QYear: 2004 QPlatform: Various
QYear: 1984 Platform: Various
Q QPrevious position: New Entry 3
QPrevious position: 1 W
There’s still a lot of love out there for the epic space combat
and trading of Elite – it’s an impressive performer, as only
5 YEARS
The game’s
The game’s
score on
two Eighties titles and just one UK-developed game rank development time Metacritic
higher than Braben and Bells classic. However, the game
was at the very top of Retro Gamer’s 2004 top 100 list,
and narrowly missed the
top 20 this time around.
12 MILLION+ Number of
copies sold
Why has it slid down
the rankings? We have
put it down to shifting
demographics, particularly The people blown away by the Gravity Gun
when it comes to our
international audience and
the influx of Nineties kids. $40 MILLION The game’s
budget
Turn to page
So what made you also wanted to get off the boat and doling out information to you as
want to make an wander around those big pirate ships the player. We wanted characters
adventure game and interact with the characters. But, that you could get to know and
about pirates? to me, making Monkey Island wasn’t understand, and that’s just down to
At the time fantasy actually about making a realistic good writing. Where Stan came from
adventures, such pirate game, it was about making a was that during the [production of
as King's Quest, game that played on all the clichés the] first Monkey Island I bought a
were very popular, of movies such as Treasure Island car. And I remember going to the car
but because I've never been much of and Captain Blood. dealer and he wouldn’t let me leave!
a fantasy fan myself. I wanted to do
something different, something more One of the things that made the How did the idea for insult sword-
based on reality. Although the pirates games great were the memorable fighting originate?
in Monkey Island aren't really the characters like the bumbling I watched lots of old pirate movies
slimy 17th century bandits of the high Guybrush Threepwood, the undead for the first Monkey Island, and one
seas that they were, they're more a pirate LeChuck, Governor Marley, thing that stood out was that while
mix of swashbuckling Errol Flynn and, our favourite, Stan the Used- they were fighting they always
movies and the Disneyland Pirates Ship Salesman. Was it fun fleshing taunted each other with insults. I
Of The Caribbean theme park ride. these characters out for players? knew we needed sword-fighting in
That was one of my favourite rides at Well, at the time, a lot of computer a game about pirates but because I
Disneyland as a kid, getting on that game characters were like cardboard didn’t want to introduce any action
little boat and being taken on your cut-outs that spoke in weird half- gameplay the old movies provided
own pirate adventure, but I always sentences because they were just the perfect solution.
How useful was the experience are still remembered and rated so
of developing Monkey Island for your highly by Retro Gamer readers
future adventure videogame projects after all these years?
like The Cave and your upcoming It’s very humbling. There are two
adventure, Thimbleweed Park? things in my career that I’m most
What is it like slipping back into that proud of. Monkey Island is one of
style of game? them and Humongous Entertainment
Monkey Island was the first game is the other. It’s amazing for me to
where I felt I had once-and-for-all hear what those games meant to
» LeChuck ominously anchors his ghost ship in
figured out what an adventure game people and to realise I was a part of a river of lava – as if ghost ships weren’t frightening enough…
should be. I learned a lot on those that. And that people that weren’t
games, and still use a lot of the same even born when the games originally
game design and puzzle construction came out are discovering them
methods today. If you look at the through the Special Edition versions
puzzle structure of Monkey Island and on their consoles or mobile devices.
the puzzle structure of something like I never would have believed it back
The Cave they share a lot in common. then… People tell me that they
And with Thimbleweed Park we are learned English or how to read from
definitely trying to capture a lot of playing Monkey Island. People have
the charm and sensibilities of the old had Monkey Island weddings. Two
LucasArts games... people have asked me if it was OK
to name their new child Guybrush. It
How do you feel about the fact that warms my grumpy heart. But not too » Meeting and fighting the Sword Master is just
the first two Monkey Island games much, I’m still grumpy. one of the memorable moments from Monkey Island.
42.61% - Skyrim
15.22% - Oblivion
11.16% - Morrowind
1.1% - Daggerfall
1,965 0% - Arena
RYO GOES TO
Yu Suzuki’s forklift tweet
prior to the announcement
of Shenmue 3.
Many games have imitated Metal Gear Solid ’s obvious qualities – its
focus on cinematic storytelling, its expertly-crafted stealth-based
gameplay and its bizarre sense of humour. However, the reason that
it’s so high on your list is that there’s arguably not been a game as
inventive since. Your memory card, your control pad, your knowledge
of real-life TV sets and even the game’s packaging were utilised in
imaginative ways to enhance the game experience. Lots of games are
clever, but Hideo Kojima’s 3D debut was –and is – a work of creative
genius that proved to be years ahead of the competition. 15tthh - Metal
97tth
h - Metal Gear So
Gear So lid
335tth lid 3: Sn
h - Metal ake Eate
Gear So r
Guns Of lid 4:
T he P
YOUR
FAVOURITE
WORLD
WARRIOR
CHUNLI 16%
Turn
to page 104
for our superb
legacy feature on
Street Fighter II
DHASIM 6% RYU 21% BLANKA 14% GUILE 6%
What are your You have these iconic characters, recovery in the game. He also
earliest memories of whose design and fighting styles has the coolest looking combos!
Street Fighter II? are caricatures of the country they
My earliest memory represent. Although they seem What makes a great
was walking home outlandish, I think that in the back of competitive fighting game?
from elementary everyone’s mind they could actually The elements that make a good
school and stopping visualise a one-eyed kickboxer in fighting game are accessibility,
by the local bowling Thailand, or an enlisted soldier who depth, and balance.
alley right after they got Street fights out of the US kicking ass. Accessibility is important,
Fighter II. I just remember seeing this Another big reason is definitely the as you want more people to be stated enough.
large crowd of teens huddled around music. Just about every character able to play the game and actually Players like to feel that regardless
this one machine and wondering theme in Street Fighter II not only understand why they’re winning or of what character they use they
what it was they were watching. fits the character, but also the stages losing. The faster players can figure always have a chance at winning. A
When I finally got close enough to see in where the fighters do battle. The out the game system and move on to properly balanced game allows for
the screen, I was blown away by the music also helps raise the tension of the competitive aspect of it, the that. Some characters may have to
graphics at the time. the battle with the songs speeding up faster they can enjoy what a work harder than others, but at the
Another exciting memory was towards the end of each round. fighting game is all about. end of the day, that work is
when I first saw players landing Depth is important rewarded with a victory.
Guile’s sonic boom combos. Seeing Who do you consider the best because once players
his moves cancel into special moves character and why? understand the game How critical is the music
totally changed how I approached I think the best character is Guile. they’ll explore the engine to the game?
other characters, as it showed there He has great damage output, long to see what tactics they I think it’s pretty critical to
was more to the game than I thought. range attacks and the best projectile can devise to defeat the overall experience of the
opponents. If the game, as it can really immerse
Why do you think Street Fighter II gameplay is rigid, it runs the player into the game world.
remains so popular with gamers? the risk of turning off those When Street Fighter II was
I think there are quite a few factors who aren’t able to develop released, it had amazing
as to why Street Fighter II remains tactics against the ones visuals, innovative character
so popular to this day. I could go on they’re losing to – resulting and battle design - as well as
and on about the various reasons, in them quitting the game. some of the best music ever
but instead I will concentrate on two: Lastly, balance is an created for not only fighting
iconic character design and music. element that can’t be games, but games in general.
GAMESTM’S JON
GORDON ON A
NES CLASSIC
11 Super Mario Bros 3
Year: 1988 QPlatform: NES QPrevious position: 36
Q V
RETRO GAMER’S
and flying for the first time was mind-blowing.
KARTING HEROES
Why was it an important platformer?
It was perfectly balanced from start to finish. As with any Miyamoto release it
teaches players effortlessly what the rules of the game are as you progress. It
12 Super Mario Kart was juggling so many new mechanics, but it instantly felt familiar and tighter
than anything else before.
Year: 1992 QPlatform: SNES QPrevious position: 13
Q V
How did it influence later Mario games?
Well, it established the Mario costume mechanic, with the Tanooki and Frog
We’re not surprised to see Super Mario Kart
suits, which has gone on to pretty insane levels in recent years. And we wouldn’t
chart so highly (although three Mario Karts in
have had the amazing cape mechanics of Super Mario World without it either.
the top 150 feels a little excessive). It was one
of the first games from Nintendo that proved
What level/world defines the game for you?
Mario had true crossover appeal, but it was
That’s tough. The first level (World 5-3) with the Kuribo shoe is a big one for me
also an excellent racer in its own right. Even
personally. It’s one of my favourite Mario power-ups. The Airship levels stand out
today Super Mario Kart is amazing fun to play,
though. The forced scrolling, barrage of cannon and Bullet Bill fire and imposing
particularly when having time trial competitions
soundtrack remain superb on all of them.
with friends, a mode responsible for many
missed deadlines during our university days.
The track design throughout is excellent,
there’s good variety between the eight
playable characters and the three difficulty
modes ensure plenty of replay value. Oh, and
it pretty much setup the entire kart racing sub
genre, too. All hail Mario Kart.
DARRAN
JONES
Editor
QI choose Mario. It’s partly
because he’s a balanced character
and the star of the show, but it’s
also because I’m lazy and he’s NICK THORPE
the first racer that’s Senior Staff Writer
selectable. QMy allegiance lies with Yoshi
– he’s great at recovering from hits
JONATHAN thanks to his excellent acceleration,
WELLS and his top speed isn’t as woeful
Art Editor as that of the lightweight
QKoopa Troopa all the way, he characters. DREW SLEEP
always seemed like one of the more Production Editor
balanced characters but with an QGiven the fact that Mushrooms
added speed boost. He’s still give you a boost the fungus-clad
my go-to character! Toad is synonymous with speed,
and I’m all about speed. He’s also
rather adorable, and equally
as idiotic.
DAVID DOAK
Q The over-the-shoulder perspective hits the sweet spot making of feature on
between the cinematics of a fixed camera and the Resident Evil 4!
immersion of an FPS.
GOLDEN GUN
hitting the shambling hordes where it hurts.
Q Those violent villagers really don’t take to strangers –
look how they work together to make your life hell.
Q When it comes to boss battles, these really are epic.
10 GoldenEye 007 Del Lago put us off swimming forever.
Q Buying and selling items is key, though why does
Year: 1997 QPlatform: N64 QPrevious position: 26 V
Q
the merchant never remember us? Shouldn’t
we have a loyalty card?
What was your role on GoldenEye?
The majority of my input was setting up the
single player levels, turning story into game.
I really enjoyed the challenge of getting
the main NPC characters to work. Their
behaviour and AI may seem dated now but
at the time I think all of the non-combat stuff
was very innovative. I did write some very
shoddy code to run the in-game watch menu, although I’m
sure Martin Hollis used to fix it when I wasn’t looking.
GAMECHANGING FPS
well implemented and enhanced by game engine features like
location based hits, dynamic props, explosions, sniping... and
hats! Single-player transformed what features people expected
from an FPS. It had a variety of story themed objectives,
interesting AI, stealth based elements and all of this added to 8 DOOM
the feeling of being Bond. Then there was multiplayer. At the Year: 1993 QPlatform: Various QPrevious position: 9 V
Q
Turn
to page 140
for our in-depth
ultimate guide to
Doom
BUSTER
SWORD
QIf you’re going to have a
big, cool sword, why not have the
biggest, coolest sword that your Gil
can buy? Cloud subscribes to this
philosophy, which is why he carries
this absolutely enormous
wedge of a weapon.
AMNESIA
QAnother classic Japanese
RPG trope, here – although in
Cloud’s case it’s not quite the case.
See, he’s got memories. It’s just that
you’re never quite sure which parts
of his life story aren’t exactly PRETTY
true, and neither is he… BOY
Q Not only is Cloud a hit with
the ladies, earning the affections of QUESTFOR
both Tifa and Aeris as well as other VENGEANCE
ULTIMATE HERO
his way into a ‘meeting’ with of planetary jeopardy, but let’s not
Don Corneo. forget that more than anything else,
Turn he’s avenging the murders of
his mother and his love
7Year:Final Fantasy VII
to page 158
for our making interest.
of feature on Final
Q 1997 Platform: PlayStation Previous position: 4
Q Q W
Fantasy VII
They say that you never forget your first, and Final Fantasy VII
was the game that introduced a whole generation of Western
players to Japanese RPGs. It didn’t just do that though – it gave 17%
the whole genre a much-needed makeover. The genre had CHOSEN ONE Of course
long had a reputation for underwhelming visuals and cookie- Q While Cloud isn’t half- I did
cutter ‘knights and dragons’ settings. Final Fantasy VII carried dragon or the last member of DID YOU CRY
a modern style and exhibited an extraordinary cinematic flair,
distancing it from the games that had gone before it, while
some ancient and powerful race, he
is the product of experimentation that
WHEN AERIS DIED?
backing that up with a flexible battle system, an emotional has turned him into a formidable
storyline and an quest that takes dozens of hours to beat. combatant, in a way that none 53%
of his comrades quite Aeris Died?
match.
THE WILL
TO OVERCOME
Q Cloud deals with some
pretty heavy psychological battery 30%
throughout Final Fantasy VII, but even No, but it
when his entire life crumbles around was close
him and he suffers a breakdown, he
still manages to eventually piece
things back together and
struggle on.
A GAME WITH
face Darran pulled Turn
when he played to page 152
Super Mario 64 for for our ultimate
the first time…
DEPTH
guide to Super
Mario 64
5Year:Super
Q Q
Mario 64
1996 Platform: N64 Previous position: 17
Q V
40 | NINTENDO ARCHIVES
PUZZLE PERFECTION
4Year:Tetris
Q 1984 Platform: Various
Q QPrevious position: 14 V
Turn to page
74 where we talk
to Tetris creator,
Alexy Pajitnov!
No game is quite so ubiquitous as Tetris. Just about
every format has a version, official or otherwise. You BY THE
might have been feeding your Game Boy batteries to
keep playing, but you might have bought one of the
NUMBERS
100 million copies sold on mobile phones, or mastered 170 MILLION: The last
Tetris: The Grand Master 3 in an arcade, or even hunted cumulative sales total given for
down V-Tetris for the Virtual Boy. It's a game that unites the Tetris series.
gamers of every experience level and every format. 35 MILLION: How many of those
Of course, it wouldn't be so high if it weren't so were Game Boy Tetris.
good. Tetris is the kind of game that gets its hooks into 748,757: Twin Galaxies’ record
you – the compulsive nature of sorting shapes and points, scored by Uli Horner on
eliminating lines means that a one game can turn into Game Boy Tetris.
an all-night session. You can easily beat your score and 6: Number of times Portland Retro
you're sure that last game over was a freak accident. Gaming Expo has held Classic
There are prettier games than Tetris, as well as more Tetris World Championship.
complex games and games that will leave a lasting 5: Number of times Jonas
emotional impact. But are there any games which Neubauer has won Classic Tetris
inspire more addiction than Tetris? We don't think so. World Championship.
Flick
technological superiority. On the on Super Mario Bros. 2, while the are largely drawn from Super Mario
platformer for the other hand, Super Mario World remaining five had no prior credits Bros. 3, albeit with a few tweaks. The
definitely looked the part, but its main and injected some fresh insight. The variety of special forms was scaled
Super Nintendo function was to provide substance other major change was a new lead back to Fire Mario and Caped Mario
game director – in this case Takashi (a new form, but one functionally
greatest game ever, Tezuka, who had previously served similar to Raccoon Mario), and Mario
alongside Shigeru Miyamoto as retained the ability to kick carried
as chosen by you an assistant director and later co- items but could not boot them
director. Miyamoto himself remained skyward. Other than
on the development team, but that, the
stepped back into the less hands-on
role of a producer.
As far as the basic game design is
concerned, the team wisely decided
not to fix what wasn’t broken. The
FLYING
YOUR » Sumo Brothers are challenging – they’ll hammer
block-based level designs are familiar
to anyone that has played a Mario GOOMBA
FAVOURITE lightning downwards, setting the ground below ablaze. game, and Mario’s skills and abilities
POWERUP
SUMO BROTHER
PARABOMB
VOLCANO
LOTUS
PIXEL
PERFECT
MASK
KOOPA
NINJI
AMAZIN FLYIN’ DINO RHINO
HAMMER BROTHER
POKEY
MEGA MOLE
CHARGIN’
CHUCK
BANZAI BILL
REX YOSHI
KOOPA
MONTY
MOLE
PIRHANA
PLANT
WIGGLER DINOTORCH
MUNCHER
you can find them in regular stages by many stages as possible on the way
finding an egg with certain power-ups. to the climactic fight with Bowser,
Additionally, if you’ve got the cape or and never encounter the contempt
fire powers, taking a hit won’t send you that repetition breeds. When you
straight back to your small form. The encounter a tense section in which
game can also be saved at any time. No you hop between moving platforms
matter which version you play, Super as buzzsaws hurtle towards you,
Mario World is an amazing game, but that's the only time it'll happen. Even
» Secret exits are the key to Super
the changes may cause purists to late in the game, you'll find new ideas, Mario World ’s long-term appeal (pun
stick to the original SNES version. like a maze built from overlapping definitely intended).
BUZZY BEETLE
WIZARD
PORCUPUFFER
LIL SPARKY
THE SHORTEST ROAD Donotyou want beat this classic, but are pressed for time? Worry
– with this guide, you’ll have the game finished quick
SWOOPERS
HOT HEAD
DRY BONES
BONY BEETLE
» Hanging off a dangling rope while avoiding buzzsaws is » The boss themes use the same melody as the action
a unique thrill – it only comes up once. stages, but they feel completely different.
URCHIN
BOWSER
LARRY KOOPA
» UA rampaging Pac-Man on level one devours a ghost before laying eyes on the cherries. Meanwhile, a resurrected » Pac-Man Arrangement, released in 1996 as part of Namco Classics Collection Vol.2, is a
Pinky sets out for revenge. successful Pac-Man update, with pretty graphics and interesting new features.
Pac-Man follow-ups
Pac & Pal (1983) Pac-Land (1984) Pac-Mania (1987)
Here, Namco again moved Pac-Man finally left the maze, Pac-Man finally returned to his
further from the original gained legs, arms and a roots in Pac-Mania, although as
Pac-Man. Ghosts can only be face, and was tasked with you can see his surroundings
stunned rather than eaten, battling through this early are markedly different. The
and now flipping cards opens side-scrolling arcade game, its isometric maze scrolls, and
gates to reveal items. The ‘Pal’ levels peppered with Pac-Man the ghosts tend to roam in
of the title is the infuriating imagery. Although repetitious, packs. Although, in Pac-Man’s
Miru, who makes off with your the game is initially fun and it’s favour, he can now jump and he
bonus items, taking them to the more successful than Namco’s occasionally finds bonus items
inaccessible ghost pen. previous two efforts. that speed him up.
‘fun first’
» Several levels in and the ghosts become faster – you barely have in realising this interview.
time to eat them after consuming a power pellet. TORU IWATANI
Geometry Wars in terms of a classic game format being each,” he suggests, thoughtfully. “A sumptuous party dress
reworked, noting that it was “a lot more than just a tarted-up Pac- may be of limited practical value in daily living, and the same
Man.” Joystiq’s Jared Rea blogged: “A better name for it would applies to over-elaborate videogames in the videogame market.”
have been Pac-Man 2, […] a name that gets the point across On retro titles – ‘pick up and play’ games popularised by the
that Pac-Man Championship Edition is the first true sequel to the internet, XBLA, Nintendo DS, Wii and iPhone – Iwatani thinks
game since Ms Pac-Man.” this might be a sign that the actual game, rather than aesthetics,
Iwatani modestly suggests that some of the acclaim might is again becoming the main concern for developers: “Hardware
be due to low expectations for a Pac-Man game, and says the specifications 20 or 30 years ago restricted powers of expression,
response of game players exceeded his expectations, citing the and so the rules of the game were decisive in attracting users.
many internet-based critiques that offered “splendidly glowing The current boom in retro games is evidence of a universal
evaluations”. (Happily, and despite claims to the contrary, Iwatani fascination with game-playing itself.”
also assures us that PMCE is not necessarily to be his swansong, We finish off the interview by returning to Iwatani’s original
since he continues to be involved in videogame production. So, Pac-Man. We were keen to know how it must feel to be the
take that, internet rumour mill!) designer behind a game that almost everyone knows – one that
perhaps only Tetris can challenge in terms of sheer widespread
ith 30 years of experience in videogames design, appeal? “People view the work in different ways, from different
including the most iconic games character viewpoints. Some see it as being broad and shallow. For others,
of them all, Iwatani is now, perhaps suitably, it is narrow yet deep and praised,” considers Iwatani. “What is
involved in teaching aspects of videogames gratifying about this is that people find such different reasons for
design to students at Tokyo Polytechnic University, along with loving it.”
conducting research into games for social purposes. Although And as a final word, Iwatani reckons that there are still things
Pac-Man has always remained popular throughout the years, his 28-year-old creation can teach modern-day games designers,
we wondered what Iwatani made of the games industry’s developers and publishers. “Pac-Man is the perfect videogame
tendency towards over-complication and movie-like games, because its design gives top priority to the player and to a spirit
along with the relatively recent resurgence in retro-orientated of service,” he concludes. “Its guiding principle is ‘fun first’.
titles. “We should carefully gauge the preferences of light users, This concept is in my view invincible and what I look for in the
who normally don’t play videogames, and the preferences videogame creators of today, that they understand the importance
of videogame aficionados, and then design products to suit of capturing people’s hearts.”
One of the most ruthless blasters to hit arcades, Defender is the sort of game that puts hairs
on your chest (even if you’re a girlie). Eugene Jarvis chats to Craig Grannell about the title
that started him off, detailing Defender’s rise from a wannabe Space Invaders clone to the
iconic game we know today
t’s hard to imagine a time when point home that you’re rubbish and that and Asteroids, and thought we’d put the
every game – no matter how Defender is one tough cookie. two together and create an even greater
simple the concept – felt fresh In these enlightened times, we’ve game,” laughs designer Eugene Jarvis,
and new. But it once existed. Take, seen hundreds of side-scrolling shooters, amused by the naivety of his younger
for example, Defender, designed by but when Defender appeared, it was so self. “But the practical realisation of that
gaming legend Eugene Jarvis. For the revolutionary, so different, and had such was a real pain in the ass…”
uninitiated (and if you’re one such complex controls that many assumed First, hardware considerations caused
person, are you sure you’re reading it would flop. But eventual strong problems. “Back then, games were
the right magazine?), Defender is a sales and many sequels and remakes black and white, with plastic transparent
wraparound side-scrolling shooter, (see Stuart Campbell’s The Definitive overlays for colouring different screen
with a small cast of deviously designed Defender in issue 29 for an overview) elements,” he says. “So we thought,
enemies, and a defend-and-rescue subsequently confirmed its legacy. ‘What’s the future here?’ We decided
theme. The aim is to stop Lander However, it’s the original Defender four colours would be enough, but we
aliens making off with your small that excites gamers most, with its mix of wanted this system to be for the future,
crop of humans, carelessly exposing relentless, ruthless enemies, fine-tuned so we did 16. I mean, who would ever
themselves on the stark planet’s controls and on-a-knife-edge gameplay. need more than that? Sixteen colours
surface. When a Lander snags a What its fans perhaps don’t realise was way more than would ever be
human, it rises to the top of the screen, is that Defender wasn’t as original as utilised in a game.”
consumes it, becomes a crazed Mutant, it seemed at the time, and it evolved Resolution was boosted from the
and comes after you. Lose all your guys from an early game mash-up. “I was industry norm of 256x256 to 320x256,
and the planet explodes, driving the strongly influenced by Space Invaders because “screens are wider than
» Lacking the grunt of its arcade parent, the flicker-fest that is the Atari 2600 version replaces the pixel-line landscape with
skyscrapers.
» Dull clones like Annihilator lack the defence and rescue components of Defender. » A young Eugene Jarvis shows off his natty Stargate T-shirt. » Judging by the landscape, you may well be defending a sparse Egypt. At least there aren’t any tourists.
» Even the more playable home ports, such as the depicted C64 release, lacked the arcade game’s speed and effects. » Presumably those humanoids were holding dead man’s switches, because now they’re gone the entire planet’s blown up.
» Boom! The ship explodes into a ball of particles. Get used to seeing this happen a lot when you first play Defender. » Our hero flies low to blow up a cluster of Swarmers, no doubt causing a ‘friendly fire’ incident at the same time.
in doing so by defending something. suddenly lifted Defender to a whole new psycho Mutants that homed in on your
This way of thinking led to the team’s level: “A lot of the game’s excitement craft with alarming speed and accuracy.
next major breakthrough. “We knew comes from the visual effects. Sam’s Although this made things tougher for
we needed to make the game more genius was in making these particle the player, the mechanic of capture
complex and interesting, and so we effects – at the time, we didn’t know the added a rescue element to the game.
added friendlies that weren’t you,” says term – whereby an interactive explosion “After a Lander captures a human, you
Eugene. “This added depth to the play was created upon shooting a bad guy.” have this chance to get around the world,
mechanic, because you weren’t just With explosions being created shoot it and save the man,” says Eugene. DEVELOPER
blindly shooting everything in sight, algorithmically, they changed depending This shift from shooting to defending HIGHLIGHTS
which gets monotonous – just killing, on where bullets hit the Landers, to rescue aligned with Eugene’s NARC [PICTURED]
killing, killing, like manning a fire hose.” resulting in a visual feast of on-screen philosophy that the best games are SYSTEM: ARCADE
Now, there was something to fireworks. This was in marked contrast those that enable you to make a YEAR: 1988
defend. A planet was added, depicted to the more typical canned ‘blam frame’ comeback, rather than merely offering SMASH TV
as a line of pixels, due to hardware most games used. “That’s so boring, an “inexorable downward slope towards SYSTEM: ARCADE
limitations – “Maybe half the real-time because no matter how and where you your inevitable death”. This idea of YEAR: 1990
was dedicated to just writing this little kill something, it’s always the same,” redemption after screwing up, possibly CRUIS’N USA
line on the screen,” says Eugene – and says Eugene, who likens Sam’s effects via some heroic measure, found its way SYSTEM: ARCADE
the Lander was introduced as the first to watching the surf – like waves, each into other areas of the game. When all YEAR: 1994
bad guy. “All of a sudden, the game explosion is unique. “It gave Defender an humans are gone, the planet explodes,
got interesting: you had a purpose, you otherworldly feel. You’d be mesmerised leaving you surrounded by hostile
were trying to protect these guys, and when shooting three or four Landers at Mutants, but every five rounds, the
you had an enemy,” remarks Eugene. the same time, watching them blow up humans and planet are restored. “A
“But it still wasn’t that exciting.” this way and that, and dancing around in player needs a chance to make a
Although modern games are regularly this ballet of destruction.” comeback,” says Eugene. “Life is like
criticised for placing style over substance, On a roll, the team took things further. that – ups and downs – and this cyclical
Eugene reckons it was the visual effects Landers started grabbing humans, feel makes a game more interesting, and
implemented by Sam Dicker, an 18- taking them to the top of the screen, ensures it’s never hopeless. That feeling
year-old self-taught programmer, that consuming them and turning into a gambler has, knowing there’s always a
chance of hitting the jackpot with his last and created that time pressure, which However, he does admit that the original
PUNISHING PLAYERS dollar – that’s what keeps you going.” was a big thing then – putting the player feeling was to put a four-way joystick on
Because, in Eugene’s words, “you get into a vice and slowly tightening it, the left hand. “The thing is, a four-way
“Luckily, I wasn’t a great player,
otherwise Defender could have
tired of shooting the same thing after a ramping up the intensity.” Along with directional controller was a new idea
been really hard,” jokes Eugene while”, the Landers were joined by some offering new gaming experiences on in arcades at the time, and we couldn’t
about his game’s notorious allies. First came the Bombers, aliens the screen, Defender provided unique find a reliable mechanism,” he says. “So
difficulty level. “It was part of that lay stationary mines in the air. “It’s controls, which often seem alien to we threw in a button to reverse, and it
that era to completely humiliate interesting how the laws of physics are modern gamers. Eschewing a four- actually feels better to me. When playing
a player and grab their money,
creating this anger where they’d malleable in Defender – men fall to their way joystick, Defender uses a Space Defender on a console with a four-way
want to put their foot through deaths, mines float, and the ship can fly Invaders-like control to move the ship joystick, it doesn’t feel right. There’s
the glass, but then decide they through the ground,” says Eugene. “But up and down, but buttons for forward something about the reverse button –
were going to beat the game.” this supports the gameplay by being thrust and reversing direction. “Defender you can just slide across the screen, and
According to Eugene, the
flexible, instead of imposing a rigid set of was maybe the first side-scrolling you get more control… And it was also
controls were the main obstacle
for most: “It was so new, and mechanics that would have resulted in a shooter game, and it was based on very cost-effective.”
no one had really done a game sterile and restrictive game.”Subsequent playing Space Invaders with your left
where you flew horizontally enemies were designed to create new hand and Asteroids with your right,” lthough the controls and
through multiple screens. Many elements of play. Pods and Swarmers explains Eugene. “It was amazing how difficulty caused Defender
thought they were playing
sideways Space Invaders.” have different patterns of flight to once you’d played Asteroids, you had to initially be dismissed as
But Eugene admits it was Landers and come after you, rather to use the same buttons – players were too complex, it eventually
perhaps too tough: “When than ground-based humans. Baiters, a programmed where thrust was on the sold over sixty thousand units, and
you’re designing a game, you hostile alien that can’t be outpaced, were left and fire was on the right.” Eugene is one of a handful of truly iconic
get a warped sense of the
a reincarnation of the Asteroids saucer, compares the thinking behind Defender’s arcade games. “I think Defender has
ability of the average player.
You assume because you’re designed to stop players lingering on controls to designing cars, saying there’s longevity because there’s so much
fairly good, you should make it a level. “They’re a challenging enemy, always a language to controls found in randomness,” says Eugene. “Every
harder. Games designers often and really great players can sit there the past. In the same way an Eighties spaceship has its own little brain from
err in making games too hard, and challenge them forever,” says Ford wouldn’t suddenly switch the a sequence of random numbers and
but luckily in that era people
saw it as a challenge to try to Eugene. “It’s maddening for less-skilled brake and accelerator, Eugene wasn’t a small amount of intelligence, and so
conquer a tough game.” players, but it added another element about to make things difficult for players. each game is different. Ships come
» Lesson one in why letting the planet blow up is bad: hordes of screaming Mutants will kill you.
» The more people mess with the pure original vision for Defender, the worse it becomes, as this dreadful Game Boy Advance effort
from 2002 confirms.
» The moment before an untimely death, with our hero surrounded by Mutants, Bombers, Pods and Swarmers. » The radar at the top of the screen is a great way of keeping track of enemies and surviving humans.
THE MENAGERIE
Matt scans the collection of creatures on screen. “Here we’ve got spiders, emus, well,
ducks or something. Yeah, they’re flying! Well, their feet are coming off the ground.
They’re having a go! Hang on; there are only two kinds of animal in there. That’s a bit
lame. There should be at least three before you call it a menagerie!” Matt’s French may
be questionable, but we wonder if the birds do signify another sort of love, that of a man
for his footy team? “Yeah, you could see it as a tribute to Liverpool FC. They’re not far off
being liver birds and I’m definitely a red shirt.”
THE VAT
Given Matt’s on-off relationship with money over the years, we wonder if this is a
reference to the Inland Revenue? “Nah, just a huge block of collapsing floors,” he assures
us. “Pure aesthetics really and no extra code needed. These collapsing floors were
supposed to be one thing and I was seeing what else they could be. That’s serendipity,
that.” And what of the kangaroo connection? He exhales and ponders for a while. “Erm,
kangaroo meat? Dog food factory? Dunno… could be… random thoughts.” With all the
disintegration, it must have been an awkward screen to test? “With The Vat, I had my
route and tested it over and over again. I didn’t really know if there were any other routes.
Some of these levels I’ve only ever done once, to this day. Same principle with the Banyan
Tree in Jet Set Willy. There’s no random numbers in the game. Every time you go into a
level, you get the same start positions and speed, so if I can do it once then it’s going to be
a bit difficult for the good players.” That’s something of an understatement, Matt. “Quality
control,” he winks back.
ENDORIAN FOREST
Those creatures look uncannily like Ewoks, Endor was their home planet and Return Of The
Jedi was released the same year as Manic Miner. Let’s take a wild guess and say you were
a Star Wars fan, Matt. “I was that week! Went to see it, came home and stuck this screen
in. Would I be a Jedi or Sith? Oh, Jedi! In fact, I put that on the last census as my religion.”
At this juncture we suggest a pause to replenish the Guinness and empty the ashtray as
we’re on screen ten and so halfway. “Nah, this is screen nine,” Matt protests. We assure
him we’ve reached double figures. “Oh, sorry. I always start counting from zero.” You can’t
take the hex out of the boy…
ORE REFINERY
“Are those lumps of ore? Probably,” says Matt. “And you’d imagine a skull and crossbones
not to be the target, but it is!” Despite Willy holding one over his shoulder on the cover
of the second edition of the game, this level has one of only two ladders that appear in
the game. It also has a lovely blinking eye. Any significance, Matt? “Oh ore!” he cries,
cryptically. We admire Willy’s well-timed, ‘no going back’ dash to the exit. “Oh yeah, you
could’ve played for ages and get it wrong with that. Ha! I’d draw the platforms on graph
paper and put arrows in where… No, no I didn’t,” he says, correcting himself. “I didn’t use
graph paper for Manic Miner. I wrote an editor on the Tandy for it. I wasn’t using graph
paper for level design, I was painting them in and playtesting them. I’d do a bit and see if it
was possible to get past that. Then I’d add the next bit.” And so his masterpiece evolved…
SIXTEENTH CAVERN
“I’d run out of names. Or maybe I was thinking in hexadecimal and thought it didn’t need
one,” says Matt. And what are those enemies? “Flag bugs! In the code. If flag bug
equals…” He thinks for a while. “Did they do anything special? No? Perhaps they were
meant to. The graphics weren’t saved as files, it was done by numbers. I was putting it into
video memory. I laid out the levels using the editor but I was doing the graphics on graph THE WAREHOUSE
paper. I didn’t have BOUGIE (Byte Orientated Universal Graphics Interactive Editor) then. “This was another experiment that I thought was so impossibly hard it would do nicely as
A thing I wrote that let me run through four frames of animation, forwards or backwards. a killer… a boss level!” he explains with a malevolent cackle. “I only ever completed this
Skylab is an exception. They have eight frames for the explosion, but the normal was once [Pedants note, last time we met he confessed to never having completed it]. “Now
four.” And the keys? “That was an attempt at credit cards,” he says. We note the need of I’ve had more practice maybe I could do it in half a dozen goes. With moving things
collecting the key nearest the exit last, lest poor Willy is trapped with a depleting air supply. and collapsing floors it’s very hard to measure whether something is possible. Because
“It’s not good to have tricks like that. Sometimes you can’t resist it,” he beams. everything is pre-determined, if it’s possible once, it’s possible for everyone. That’s the
only way you can really know that you’re not on a bum steer.” The lawn mower threshers
on this level changed into the Software Projects ‘Impossible Triangle’ logo at the same
time the Bug-Bytes were ditched. Or at least, that was the plan…
ndrew Braybrook started thought that might be fun and not too Paradroid ’s distinctive look used an
Paradroid after finishing intrusive. I just wrote a paragraph every overhead view with robots depicted as their
Gribbly’s Day Out. “It was evening on the events of the day. I used serial number. “The animation of Gribbly
our practice to print out the to plan out what I was going to do that showed me that I could animate sprites and
final version of the code and then add day on the walk to Steve’s house, and save a lot of bytes. Top-down games tend to
comments. It wasn’t practical to waste that was all the planning I needed.” need at least eight directions of animations
IN THE disk space on comments in the code Andrew reveals Paradroid ’s main and that was going to be too
KNOW while writing the game so we’d spend inspiration. “The game expensive. So I figured
PUBLISHER: HEWSON two or three days adding notes to the was originally based on that if I showed
DEVELOPER: code on paper. We’d also go to the a COBOL game I had the robots bigger in
GRAFTGOLD launch of the game, usually at a bar in written on the mainframe the console lookup
RELEASED: 1985 London, and maybe visit one or two six years earlier, called Survive. system to let people see
PLATFORM: C64 offices to promote the game to the The objective there was to be the the robots side-on and bigger then
magazines. We didn’t take a big break last player left alive in a multi-level they might accept the numbers
GENRE: PUZZLE
between games, there was a momentum environment. It was a multiplayer on the disks. I was also
to keep up.” One of those visits had an game and had two computer- influenced by the cover
important outcome. “That all happened controlled assassins, so the of the Black Sabbath
when we took Gribbly’s to Zzap! Towers players used to gang up on album Technical
in Ludlow. They liked it, and Chris them to take them out first Ecstasy, as it had
Anderson was keen to do something and then battle it out to line-drawn blueprints
like a diary for the next game, and we the end.” of two robots.” The cover
showed two robots ‘interfacing’; the lyric sheet usually did strip down the last game. Things » Oli Frey’s original
artwork for issue seven
had the blueprints. like the scroll routine, sound player, input of Zzap! (with thanks to
“I had tried to draw some real ship graphics routines and movement routines would be Roger Kean).
but found it difficult to get a good look in multi- saved, possibly tweaked and tested before
coloured graphics mode. I tried single-colour starting the new game,” he explains. “That
mode and that dictated a scale of the graphics bought a bit of time to think about designs.
that also didn’t suit trying to look real, so the I had a book of fonts and had inherited a
whole idea of the game being a radar-driven multi-character printing system from Gribbly’s
map was born. Quite possibly the movie Aliens that allowed me to make letters out of two
had an influence on the look,” says Andrew. characters high graphics, or 2x2 for capital
One routine made things complicated. “The letters. I needed a more futuristic font and
robot graphics are only shown on-screen if set about drawing one from the book. I had
they would be visible by line of sight from the bought a couple of editors for the sprites and
player, another Survive feature. The function character sets; that made life a lot easier as it
to efficiently work that out was interesting to was quicker to create the graphics.” Lots of
write with only three registers. We had the paper was used during production. “We did
COBOL code to refer to, but it took a while to write a lot of stuff down, diagrams, formulae,
get that right. I also remember a mysterious that kind of thing, as we were just coding with
crash which took me three days to find.” the Spectrum and the C64, and they weren’t
Interestingly, Paradroid was built around well suited to loading up multiple applications
existing code that Andrew had available. “We at once. So a pad of paper was always handy.”
» The lights go out when all the robots on a deck have been dealt with.
» This transfer game is he 24 robot types had a small portrait for control of a circuit board. Success gave the improved Competition Edition. Who was
deadlocked at six-all, the
player must try again on a
shown when the consoles were the player access to the new robot and failure behind that? “The marketing department, I
new layout. accessed. “I had a budget for the destroyed the current robot – meaning game would suspect. Once the game has been out
number of sprites available, so I set over if that was the Influence Device. “I for a while then they try and mop up the non-
about designing a system to reflect images needed a way of balancing the game so that believers with a bargain.”
in multi-colour left to right to save images, it would be difficult to move too far up the
and there is some re-use. I wanted to group hierarchy of robots in one go. The transfer eturning was easy, thanks to those
them by the top digit of the three-figure ID game switches the emphasis from many copious notes. “As long as you’re
number, and having about three different against one to one-on-one in an instant. It just still using the same development
robots per series seemed about right. I had all came together and worked in one go. That gear then you stay familiar with
to vary the features of the robots with speed doesn’t happen all the time, but it just worked. the process, so it’s not so difficult.” Andrew
and weaponry and that tended to suggest Steve even used it again in one of his games.” continued tweaking Paradroid, resulting in a third
designs.” Class 883 was familiar to viewers of There were eight Robo-freighters to version. “The Heavy Metal edition came about
Doctor Who. “I’m a big fan, it was just a nod to conquer, starting with Paradroid – which gave as I was doing Morpheus about two years
[the Daleks]. That became a bit trickier when I the game its name. Itsnothardenuff, the last later. I wanted to try out the graphics look and
wanted to put them into the 16-bit version. We ship, repeated. “The ships still get harder, it’s Paradroid was sitting there – so I redrew every
did draw the full graphics but bottled it at the all algorithmic, but the layouts of all the ships character in multi-colour mode in that style and
11th hour and changed them. I had also done a are the same as the maps do take up a fair switched the graphic mode over. I decided to
Dalek game for the mainframe, just with letters amount of space. Each map is made of 4x4 use the style in Morpheus and I made some
for graphics, so I had other speed tweaks
WE ARE THE ROBOTS These are the droids you are looking for
AIRLOCK
2 The airlock’s main features are the four
energisers at one end and the single lift at
the other. It is usually sparsely populated.
11 MID CARGO
REACTOR
4 “You would generally find crew and
maintenance droids here. Since the crew
droids would not be heavily armed they would
only act as a staging point to larger robots.”
ENGINEERING MAINTENANCE
13 “Crew and maintenance
droids will mainly be in
attendance here. Messenger
14 “A high percentage of
maintenance droids
with some lower level ones in UPPER CARGO
droids might be here too.” case of emergencies.”
6 “The cargo is mainly battle droids, so expect a
contingent of dangerous droids.” The same is true
for the vast mid cargo deck below, often including the
883 patrolling among the cargo containers.
effects and music, but apart from that I did the I wanted to keep those. It was important to was concerned. The raiders were a mechanism
vast majority of the graphics and the coding. keep the overall feel of the original.” to speed up progress towards the end of the
That gives you confidence in the code; you Andrew explains why the decks scrolled ship when there aren’t so many robots about.
know exactly what is going on all the time. I vertically and abstract droids became proper There was also a bonus pirate ship that you got
did do some Paradroid 90 graphics, but I had graphics. “The ST wasn’t keen on horizontal at the end if you had completed all the ships and
to become a team leader too.” That team scrolling. We did have a full scrolling version on collected all of the Graftgold keys. It was only a
included Dominic Robinson and artists John
Cumming, Michael Field and John W Lilley.
the ST, but it didn’t look pretty enough. It took
a lot of memory to prepare all the combinations
DEVELOPER small ship, but very tough.”
Would Andrew have changed anything?
Jason Page created the sound. “When of the graphics blocks. That decision didn’t go
HIGHLIGHTS “Paradroid 90 was as good as it could have
I started at Graftgold, I was mainly a down too well with the Amiga crowd! We MORPHEUS been. If we had done another Amiga version
programmer but moved into the audio side of had enough space to do the animations, and SYSTEM: C64 then it would have scrolled in all directions
things. For music, I’d write the original using having 16 colours on-screen it seemed right to YEAR: 1987 and run at 50 frames a second. There were
NoiseTracker. I’d then type in all the data as draw the graphics in a real style. We did try the INTENSITY difficulties so we’d have used a different
PICTURED
hex into the Graftgold audio player code. After blueprint style but it looked weak against some publisher in hindsight.” Andrew reveals Gary
SYSTEM: C64,
Paradroid I wrote a new sound routine and of the prettier games of the time.” ZX SPECTRUM Foreman was close to completing a PC Engine
editor, which we used in future titles.” Did the The robot line-up changed, joined by new YEAR: 1988 version with a two-player mode; development
original influence him? “Oh yes. Hence there human raiders. “I wanted there to be some URIDIUM 2 was halted by Hewson’s bankruptcy.
being lots of warbling sounds and such like. familiarity with the C64 content, it was a 16-bit SYSTEM: AMIGA Paradroid 90 became Paradroid 2000 on
They were iconic C64 Paradroid sounds, so implementation of the same game as far as I YEAR: 1993 the Archimedes. “We just thought it sounded
BRIDGE
3 “There was only ever one 999 and it would always be on the bridge.
That gives the player the choice of when to go and tackle the 999
and an opportunity also to decide where they want to take it to use it for
maximum effect. The far left-hand lift leads to the reactor and from there STORES
the player can access the left-hand side of the ship.”
7 The starting deck is chosen at random, and the
player will often find themselves on this deck.
Lower level robots help to ease them into the game,
allowing an early transfer. “You should also find that
some robots are completely unaffected by some
weaker guns. That means that blowing away all the
easy robots first isn’t necessarily a good plan.”
STATEROOMS
10 QUARTERS
8 “Being the passenger
quarters, there will mainly
be low level servant and
cleaning droids here.” Crew
quarters on Deck 10 will have
a similar variety of robots.
12 ROBOSTORES
VEHICLE HOLD
15 “There could be droids
packed ready for battle
being transported here.” The SHUTTLE BAY
REPAIRS
shuttle bay and vehicle hold
contain smaller vehicles,
purely a cosmetic touch but
16 “You can fire up the
shuttle engines to help
destroy passing robots in 9 “You could find any
robots here being
adding to the atmosphere. Paradroid 90.” repaired or cleaned.”
really futuristic. This was 1991 or 1992 and whole thing. I didn’t have a lot of graphics and bug fixes. Andrew notes, “I do hope he’s
2000 seemed a long way away,” says Andrew work to do as they were just ported from the talking about his own bug fixes, because I am
Catling. “My childhood heroes were people Amiga.” Does he still play Paradroid ? “Luckily, not aware of any bugs in my code! The Heavy
like David Braben, Orlando, Geoff Crammond some amazing archivers have managed to Metal edition was running at the improved 25
and Andrew Braybrook so it was a dream preserve all of my old games, so I’ve been frames per second.” Reinhard and Johannes
come true to make games. Coin-Age had a playing them again recently. I think Paradroid Prix started the open-source Freedroid project,
deal with Graftgold to convert their games still stands out as one of the best, mainly which recently launched on Android.
to the Arc. I’d just finished The Last Ninja for because of the timeless design.” The original Paradroid appeared on the
Superior Software when they got in touch.” Fans help Paradroid live on. “We get people C64 DTV joystick and Wii’s Virtual Console.
“The 68000 code was adapted from asking if it’s okay to do a remake for their Would Andrew himself ever go back? “I am
Rainbow Islands. I decided I’d rewrite university project, and it’s not really up to us considering writing something new that retains
everything from scratch rather than try to any more. I don’t think people realise how the retro feel of Paradroid. I would probably
translate it. I wasn’t familiar with 68000 but I much detail is in a game, so most never get try to make it a shorter game as Paradroid
could get the gist of how things worked and completed,” says Braybrook. Among those 90 would potentially take about 3 hours to
how the data for the different droids was used. that were completed were a two-player play all the way through. It would have to
I was quite pleased with the transfer game, Amiga PD version and Ovine’s Project be something new though, maybe
as that was the first time I’d used recursion in Paradroid on PC. Paradroid Redux by the game I would have written
ARM assembler and it was quite an elegant Jorma Oskanen is an ongoing C64 without hardware restrictions.”
solution. It took three months to rewrite the project, with a faster frame rate We can’t wait.
‘D
o androids dream of electric referred to as the ‘Tetris effect’ is perhaps
sheep?’ was a question posed more common than you would think
by Philip K Dick in his 1968 (which doesn’t mean you’re any less crazy
novel of the same name. If so, they’re if you experience it – just that there are
the lucky ones because I dream of more crazy people out there than you
blocks comprising four squares, falling thought), and it highlights the massive
downwards, rotating and slotting together reach of the action-puzzler that prompts it.
to create solid lines, which subsequently Because, for all of videogaming’s attempts
vanish, along with a small amount of to become increasingly mainstream, there
my sanity each time. This kind of dream, are few games that achieve the lofty goal
TETRIS
» Above and right: The NES version. Feeling annoyed because you think you’re not getting enough ‘I’ pieces? NES Tetris keeps count – handy for paranoid gamers.
of being truly recognisable to all – even hardware while working at the Dorodnicyn used to compete in a kind of ‘mathematical
stalwart classics such as Space Invaders Computing Centre of the Academy of Olympics’ competition, in which I
and Pac-Man may be unknown to younger Science of the USSR, in Moscow. participated a lot. This part of my life later
audiences. However, Tetris is different – As a graduate of computer science, translated into the games that I did.”
almost ubiquitous. For all its appeal and Alexey’s work at the Academy of Science Of the puzzles that fascinated Alexey,
reach, it started off as little more than was largely based around artificial pentominoes stood out. “It’s a dozen
an amusing distraction for its creator, intelligence research, and he describes pieces made out of five squares, and
Alexey Pajitnov, while he tested new himself at the time as “a young workaholic they kind of look like jigsaw pieces, only
– the type that loves to program and sit
for long hours at work”. Alexey was
more mathematical,” he explains. “The
puzzle existed in Russia, sold in stores
IN THE KNOW
also tasked with figuring out how new and fashioned in plastic, and I thought
hardware that regularly arrived at the it was absolutely great – the best puzzle
academy could be put to use for his in the world.” What appealed most
research. “The best way to learn a new was the simplicity of the pieces and the
machine is to try and make a small massive scope they offered for multiple
program for it to see how it works,” he combinations: “There’s no technology in
explains, leading up to the reason why pentominoes – you just take the pieces
» PUBLISHER: N/A
Tetris was initially created. “Small computer from the box, play with them and enjoy
» DEVELOPER: ALEXEY PAJITNOV
games were the ideal form for this kind them. But when you want to put them
of testing program, and that’s why I had back in the box, you can spend a couple of » RELEASED: 1984
some kind of excuse, if you will, to work on hours doing so – at least if you’re stubborn » PLATFORMS: ELECTRONIKA 60;
my game.” enough to try!” CONVERTED TO: DOS, GAME BOY
AND JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER
Alexey decided that a two-player PLATFORM IN EXISTENCE.
O
f course, hardware is somewhat version of pentominoes might make for
» GENRE: ACTION-PUZZLER
by the by – the crux of any game an interesting game to use for testing the
(or, at least, any good game) is Electronika 60 desktop computer that had
its concept, and although Tetris would recently arrived at the Academy of Science
become a fluid, organic project during and he set about putting something
development, its seeds were sewn early together. “I thought that you could
on in Alexey’s life. “I was a sharp kid, and somehow divide the pieces – six to each
have always been interested in riddles player – and start to put them back into the
and puzzles, and I even changed schools ‘box’, and whoever was unable to make the
to join one with a special mathematical next move would lose,” he says.
component,” he explains. “That was also Without any specification of a final set of
the time of communism in Russia, and so rules, Alexey set to work on programming
we didn’t have too much entertainment his new game: “First, I needed to create
around us – and so intellectual mind
» The DOS port helpfully tells you to ‘Play TETRIS!’,
in case you thought it was some kind of blocky
games were a very good diversion. I saw
rolling demo. this passion all around me, and children
U
pon seeing the spinning pieces, interface was much simpler”, he says. long, narrow well that could scroll. But after
Alexey hit upon the idea of making “You only needed to move and rotate thinking about this, I didn’t like the idea – it
them rotate and move in real pieces. Because the set was now simpler, was difficult to get scrolling working on my
time upon being placed on to the screen. I decided you didn’t need for the entire machine, and the player would also have
“This was a very important moment for set to fall down – pieces could appear in a to remember what was already on the
DEVELOPER Tetris”, says Alexey. “It went from being random order.” board. I didn’t think my simple mind game
HIGHLIGHTS a two-player version of a strange game Tetris started to resemble the game should be that complicated.” The solution
based on an obscure mathematical puzzle that we all know and love, but one major was far simpler: Alexey realised that when
WELLTRIS to the idea of a real-time game that used component was still missing. “At this point, a horizontal line was completed, it became
SYSTEMS: DOS (CONVERTED the same pieces.” First, gravity was used the game ended really quickly, even if you obsolete, just taking up space. “I thought,
TO AMIGA, AMSTRAD CPC, as a natural way for the pieces to fall didn’t make mistakes, because the play ‘Why keep it on the screen?’, when I need
ARCADE, ATARI ST, C64, MAC
down. It then became apparent that the
OS, ZX SPECTRUM)
original field of play was too restrictive,
YEAR: 1989–91
and so it was enlarged and aligned
PANDORA’S BOX vertically. “Everything worked, but when I
SYSTEM: WINDOWS started playing the game, I realised it was
YEAR: 1999 really complicated,” remembers Alexey.
HEXIC HD (pictured) “Pentominoes are fine when you have
SYSTEM: XBOX 360 unlimited time to sit and think about how
YEAR: 2005 to use them, but they were too complex
for my real-time game where you need to
immediately recognise a piece and know
what to do with it.”
The pieces were honed down to forms
made up of four squares – tetrominoes.
The complication of piece-flipping was also » The game that sold 30 million Game Boys. Even today, the Game Boy version of Tetris makes us emit happy sounds.
» Lurking within Tetris Worlds on the PlayStation 2 is a version of the original Tetris. Feel that ASCII goodness!
more space to prolong my pleasure,” says With the game debugged, complete
Alexey. “Instead, I could take it away and with a level system, scoring and a high-
give a score for it. And that was the last score table, Alexey decided to spread
important moment for Tetris – once I did it around Moscow and see if there was
this, the game was kind of ready.” any interest in his creation. The reaction
The Tetris on Alexey’s machine at this was everything that he had hoped
point was, by his admission, something for. “It was like a wood fire”, he exclaims.
of a prototype and still needed work. “Immediately, every place where they had
» Tetris Zone for modern PCs requires a ‘mere’ 8,000 times the RAM of Alexey’s Electronika 60 version.
However, all of the game’s important the Electronika 60, my Tetris game was
mechanics were there, and the game had working there, and I realised that maybe
been surprisingly easy to create. “I give the game was not bad and should be
a schoolboy at the time, but an absolutely
genius programmer who fell in love with EASTERN
you such details about the game, but all
the decisions were done in one day, in
ported to the PC, because that was the
only way to show it to the world outside
the PC and knew every bit of the operating
system – many big guys in the computer
BLOCKS
Few games have provoked such
a couple of hours,” claims Alexey. “In of Russia.” centre went to him for consultation, and legal wrangling as Tetris. Once the
reality, somehow, all these decisions were someone recommended I work with DOS version spread, Andromeda
Software’s Robert Stein tried to
T
made so naturally.” Most importantly, the he only snag was Alexey’s lack him on my game.” And so, Alexey gave secure the rights, selling home
game was fun – so much so that it took of familiarity with the PC – at that Vadim his code in Pascal, and he began computer rights to Spectrum
another couple of weeks for Alexey to point, the first PC had only recently the process of transferring the 2000 lines Holobyte prior to any deal, and
get the game into a state he was happy arrived in the computer centre, but it of code from one machine to the other. continuing to sub-license rights he
with: “The screen was really ugly, and wasn’t in Alexey’s possession, and he “There was nothing in common with the didn’t own, even after the Soviet
government began to market Tetris
the interface was very primitive – no real didn’t know how to program it. “I was machines – no format, no disks, nothing rights via Elektronorgtechnica
decoration on the screen – but it worked. interested in lots of other stuff, and so it – but once the code was across, the rest (ELORG). Eventually, Stein’s hand
It was so addictive that I couldn’t stop might never have happened if it wasn’t for was a piece of cake.” was forced, ELORG enabling
playing, in order to finish the damn thing!” Vadim Gerasimov,” states Alexey. “He was Unlike Alexey’s original version of handheld rights to remain with
Andromeda, but banning Tetris
the game, colour was possible in the
rights on any other mediums.
DOS conversion of Tetris, giving players By the late-Eighties, several
an additional way to recognise each companies claimed Tetris rights
tetromino as they fell downwartds. ownership over home computers
Other useful features were added to the and consoles; and so ELORG
signed the arcade rights to Atari
conversion over the following months, and console and handheld rights
including the ability to show the next piece, to Nintendo. A major spat occurred
an option to make the square tetromino when Tengen, Atari’s console
an invisible ‘phantom’, and settings that division, tried to release a NES
version of its arcade title, something
dictated the starting level and height of
that had Nintendo fuming.
‘garbage’ at the bottom. One similarity Eventually, Tengen’s creation was
to the original was how the game was withdrawn, and while Nintendo’s
spread. “The release process was simple NES release was seen as ordinary,
– we just gave the game to a couple of our its Game Boy version was one of
the most successful games ever.
friends,” jokes Alexey. “Within a couple In 1996, Pajitnov and Henk Rogers
of weeks, I saw it everywhere – on every formed The Tetris Company,
PC in Moscow – and within a couple of gaining rights and finally providing
months, we got a PC from Eastern Europe Alexey with royalties for the game
that was entirely empty, apart from MS- he created over a decade earlier. For
more details: www.atarihq.com/tsr/
DOS and Tetris.” special/tetrishist.html.
» Turn back now, C64 users! SIT’s lovely (but unrelated) title
screen masks the jerky, nasty game beyond.
T
what he refers to as Tetris’s ‘business he other thing Alexey believes At this point, we’re not sure we agree.
period’, but he’s happy to elaborate on helped Tetris become so popular We mention to Alexey the reception Tetris
what he thinks made the game so popular was that it enabled everyone to received on systems like the C64 and the
in the first place, to make the gaming join the party: “In the Eighties, computers Spectrum. Even though both platforms
giants scrap over it. “It appeared in the were a relatively new phenomenon, and already had a wealth of available titles, and
right place, at the right time”, he modestly some people were almost afraid of them. despite the 8-bit conversions of Alexey’s
tell us. “At the time, we didn’t have many You never knew what would happen game not being particularly good, Tetris
games on the PC, especially fresh games when you pressed a button, and lots of still stood out from the crowd, receiving
and puzzle games. Most of what I saw at programs were very buggy, which didn’t near-unanimous acclaim. “I guess that
the time were arcade games, and they help matters. Tetris was very simple and might be true as well”, muses Alexey,
looked a little childish.” Alexey’s keen to accessible, and it helped people get more “but then many people have put forward
» Tetris Worlds with ‘easy spin’ was not one of the most popular versions of Tetris,
especially among purists and the game’s creator himself, Alexey Pajitnov.
EIGHT GAMES
ELITE INFLUENCED
GRAND THEFT AUTO III The impact of Ian Bell and David
QConsidered to be Elite’s natural successor, Braben’s game can be seen in a
the explorative, sandbox, mission-based play of WING COMMANDER: great many other franchises…
Grand Theft Auto’s first 3D foray was testament PRIVATEER
to Sam and Dan Houser’s immense appreciation QMore linear than Elite but still with the
of Ian and David’s game. free roaming ability, Privateer was a Wing
Commander game, albeit one that involved
cargo shipping, bounty collecting, combat and
craft enhancements.
trying to get through, rather this thing where you flew through
an expanding sphere of star field,
the technology, as in that came first
and then it was “all right, it needs a
PIXEL PERFECT
met
shrimp
hot dog
snapper
croaker
Air tiki
burokkii
crabbot
flying fish
atomic
chicken
crazy
cannon
hothead
bubble bat
springer
robo sniper
rabbit armor
lantern
fish
prop
fan fiend top
mecha
monkey
100 GAMES TO PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE | 85
BOSS RUSH
In order to get to Dr Wily, you’re going to have to get past his
hand-picked guardians – and he’s picked quite a few…
GUTS TANK
QBoss three in Wily’s defensive line is this lumbering thing. It shoots
projectiles from its mouth and releases enemies from its chest.
HOW TO BEAT HIM The Quick Boomerang is probably the best
weapon to use here. To damage Guts Tank, you need to attack its
head. You might wish to stand atop the tank’s treads before jumping.
BOOBEAM TRAP
QThe most unusual boss in the game, consisting of wall-mounted
laser cannons, and one of Wily’s final traps.
HOW TO BEAT HIM Strategy is needed here. You have seven
Crash Bombs, and you need all of them – two to destroy walls, and
five to destroy the beam cannons. Don’t waste your ammo!
WILY MACHINE 2
QThe mad doctor himself joins
the fight!
HOW TO BEAT HIM For the
first part of the boss fight, use
fully charged Atomic Fire shots.
The second form of the boss is
immune to Atomic Fire, but still ALIEN
vulnerable to Crash Bombs. If
MECHA DRAGON QCould Dr Wily have been an impostor?
you don’t have any left, try the It appears so as he transforms into the
QThe first guardian of Dr Wily’s lair
Air Shooter or Metal Blade. Alien, Mega Man’s final foe. It flies about in a
is this large and rather terrifying piece
of flying, fire-breathing machinery. figure of eight pattern.
HOW TO BEAT HIM Don’t bother attacking HOW TO BEAT HIM Only the Bubble Lead
until the dragon has stopped chasing you. Once you’re will damage the alien. Not only are the other
one-on-one, you can use your regular arm cannon to defeat it – weapons ineffective, they’ll actively hinder
just time your jumps well to avoid the fireballs it shoots. your efforts by refilling the alien’s health!
A non-linear
structure might not
seem like a big deal, MEGA
but it wasn’t common SPEEDS
in the Eighties This speedrunner, known on Twitch and Twitter
as cyghfer, can beat the game in just 26:37!
When did you first encounter Mega
concepts for Robot Masters – the mechanical bosses Man II and what did you think of it?
of the Mega Man world – and used tweaked versions I knew of Mega Man as a kid, but since I started
of those in the game. having an impact on our household’s videogame
The setup for the game is simple. Following his purchases during the N64 era, it wasn’t a series
defeat in the previous game, series antagonist Dr Wily that was really on my radar. It was much later,
decides to regroup and take out Mega Man. However, during a period of exploring NES games via
instead of taking over other robots, this time Wily has emulation, that I played through all six NES Mega Man titles. Mega
built his own Robot Masters: Air Man, Bubble Man, Man II definitely made the biggest impression on me.
Crash Man, Flash Man, Heat Man, Metal Man, Quick
Man and Wood Man. The benevolent Dr Light sends What makes the game well-suited to speedrunning?
Mega Man off to defeat them, and put the dastardly Mega Man II is a game with simple movement on the surface but
Wily back in his place. a wealth of deceptively difficult tricks when you attempt to push
the game to its limit. The most fundamental trick used to progress
ach of the eight Robot Masters has a quickly through the game is the horizontal zip, where you manoeuvre
level which fits their overall character – Mega Man into a ceiling in one of several ways and then kick off a
Metal Man’s stage is an industrial area sequence where Mega Man moves rightward one tile per frame –
full of conveyor belts and mechanical that is to say, very fast.
hazards, whereas Air Man’s stage requires you One of the other main attractions of the Mega Man II speedrun
to negotiate sky-high moving platforms over is its varied and interesting set of boss fights. Almost every Robot
bottomless pits. Likewise, Bubble Man’s stage Master fight in the game requires interesting and difficult movement
dips underwater and Quick Man’s stage is filled with to take down optimally, or to react favourably to a wide array of
hazards that strike suddenly. The end of each stage random patterns. Mega Man II is among the most competitive
involves a showdown with the boss, and victory allows speedruns from the 8-bit/16-bit era, and it is a game that demands
you to claim a cool new power-up. Since Mega Man II persistence and rigor from the player.
inherits a nonlinear structure from the original, you can
choose to tackle these stages in any order. How much practice have you put in to reach your
In today’s environment of open world, open-ended personal best of 26:37?
games, a nonlinear structure might not seem like a big I would estimate that my total amount of time put into the Mega
deal, but it wasn’t at all common in the late Eighties. Man II speedrun is around 2,000 hours, give or take 500 in either
What’s more, it was a blessing – Mega Man II is quite direction. This includes initially learning the game, investigating
difficult, but the challenges are varied. You can choose possible strategy and route improvements, practicing the game, and
to prioritise what you’re good at if you’re more skilled at doing runs. Probably around 40 per cent of that consists of practice.
certain tasks, such as precision platforming or combat.
Alternatively, you can tailor your style to the power-up What are the common stumbling points when you’re
rewards you get for beating bosses – with the right trying to put together a run?
weapon, you can tear the Robot Masters to shreds The most notable sections in the run where run-ending mistakes
in a matter of seconds, making this a very viable occur are the ‘open air’ section in the Air Man stage, the start of the
Crash Man stage, the three screens with the fire-breathing dogs in
Wood Man, the major tricks in Wily 1, and many screens in Wily 4.
However, there are many more spots that won’t usually outright ‘kill’
a run, but where significant mistakes still occur frequently: the rest of
the Clash Man stage, the Quick Man stage fight, the ‘item-2 zip’ in the
Bubble Man stage, more spots in Wily 4, and many spots in the Wily 5
refights. Really, the run can die anywhere.
ITEM 3
QThis item gives Mega Man the
ability to create wall-climbing
platforms – less useful than
the other two, but situationally
excellent.
ITEM 2
QItem 2 enables Mega Man to
» Good tactics are essential to beating the bosses, including correct
create a platform which rockets weapon selection.
off in the direction it’s facing after
a moment to allow Mega Man
to get on.
MEGA MAN II
1989 was a time for action – not words – and Capcom proved
violence was the answer with one of the most revered kick
arse-a-thons ever released. Final Fight’s designer, Akira
Nishitani, opened the doors to his digital dojo and showed us
the secret ways of beat-‘em-up-jitsu
t wasn’t the first 2D, scrolling, two- work as a planner. This job has become than all those young players!” he laughs,
player co-operative fighting game, very important in Japanese game design, striking an accord with retro gamers the
and it certainly wasn’t the last. but back then it was still quite unusual.” world over with his wonderfully esoteric
Viewed from afar with a slightly A passion for games and an organic Japanese phrase, “super grey player”
cynical tilt of an indifferent head, it progression toward the arcade (this is a literal translation which is
wouldn’t take much to brand Final Fight is a similar story to that of many simply too delicious to wilfully alter, but
with the same iron as all the other beat- accomplished designers we know today. is perhaps best interpreted as “mature,
‘em-ups from the arcade’s silver age. And clearly this passion has not waned. yet respected, gamer”).
But through a careful and considered He continues: “These days I play games When Final Fight was being
analysis of this intricate genre, Capcom more as work than as a hobby, but I still conceived, it was a time of change
brilliantly distilled the art of the beat-‘em- play everyday. I think it’s very important for the entire videogame industry,
IN THE KNOW up to create the most refined example to someone involved in the industry, and Capcom played no small part in
ever seen. although I secretly aspire to be a ‘super ushering in that new age. Akira told
We put on our sparring gloves grey player’! I’m determined to be better us a little about those embryonic
and talked to the co-designer and days at one of the most historically
programmer of Final Fight, the high- significant videogame developers.
spirited and enigmatic Akira Nishitani. “[Capcom] was an incredibly lively
“I was born in Tokyo, and as long as I place, although there weren’t actually
can remember, I always loved to play that many employees when I first
games: board games, card games – I started work there. It was great, because
liked to play any kind of game!” everyone felt like we had the opportunity
» PUBLISHER: CAPCOM
Nishitani begins. “While I was a high to create our own future.
» DEVELOPER: CAPCOM
school student I got a part time job “At that time, these kinds of action and
» RELEASED: 1989 as writer for Beep! magazine, mainly fighting games had only just become
» PLATFORM: ARCADE, VARIOUS concentrating on arcade games. After I » Akira Nishitani motivates his troops at Arika – the game
popular, so we decided it was the right
» GENRE: BEAT-’EM-UP graduated from high school, I started to developer he established after leaving Capcom. time to make our own. They had been
» The arcade flyer depicting the short » Haggar attempts to persuade Belger, head of the Mad Gear
lived Street Fighter ’89 concept. Gang, to stop bothering his daughter.
DEVELOPER
HIGHLIGHTS
X-MEN:CHILDRENOFTHEATOM
SYSTEMS: ARCADE
YEAR: 1994
FORGOTTEN WORLDS
SYSTEMS: ARCADE
YEAR: 1988
STREET FIGHTER II: THE
WORLD WARRIOR
SYSTEMS: ARCADE
YEAR: 1991
around for a long time of course, but that tenuous inheritance. Nishitani-san had been confirmed, we decided to go
to be frank, I don’t think these kinds explained further. back to the original name.
of game were ever much fun for me. I “Our intention was to develop Final “If truth be told, the only thing we ever
looked at the style of fighting games, Fight as an original game in its own right changed when testing it as Street Fighter
and thought to myself “how can I – and that’s what we did. However, Street ’89 was the logo, so it was no hardship
make it more interesting?” That was Fighter had such a high name value, we putting things back to how they started!”
the beginning.” he says with genuine, decided to make use of its recognition he laughs.
patriarchal emotion. and changed the name to Street Fighter Although the Street Fighter inspiration
A cursory jaunt around the internet ‘89 for a game show where it was first may stop at a rather abrupt and
reveals what is probably the most displayed,” explains Nishitani, unchallenged brick wall, it’s not the
spoken about and historically important quickly unravelling the only pop-culture reference ardent fans RELATED
aspect of Final Fight’s conception: its knotted rope of Final Fight’s have plucked from Final Fight’s ether. GAMES AND
Street Fighter lineage. But that family
tree may not be as well rooted as it’s
origin. He continues.
“At the game show, it
Akira explains to us how
some of these popular
SPINOFFS
been suggested. received an excellent references might have ALSO IN THE SERIES
It occasionally escapes our notice that reception, proving come about. FINAL FIGHT GUY
the original Street Fighter shared little even more popular “Before we developed MIGHTY FINAL FIGHT
in common with its legendary offspring. than we could have Final Fight, Capcom’s president
Street Fighter had gained considerable hoped. But this really suddenly gathered us all FINAL FIGHT CD
recognition, but even by 1989 it had wasn’t related to Street together and said, “The future FINAL FIGHT 2
been severely tamed by time. There Fighter. We’d made of entertainment is in movies! FINAL FIGHT 3
is evidence that suggests Final Fight Final Fight as we’d I’m installing ten TV screens
was originally intended to be a sequel intended – with a for you. Watch as many FINAL FIGHT REVENGE
to the somewhat damp Street Fighter totally different and different kinds of movies and FINAL FIGHT ONE
squib, but the monumental differences new world view, so information as you can find! FINAL FIGHT: STREETWISE
in gameplay and design somewhat belie once its popularity And, from now on, when
» Grabbing Edi’s gross, used gum when you’re energy level’s full grants a
rather spiffing 42910 points in celebration of Nishitani-san’s birthday!
THE BEEF
BOWL
A game isn’t great unless it’s
thoroughly infused with hidden
references and Easter eggs, and
Nishitani let the lid off some
beauties from Final Fight.
“In Japan everyone knows
about a technique called
“alchemy”. When you smashed » Upon completion, Guy “persuades” Cody to get back » “I suppose Roxy and Poison could be male. We were mildly concerned about getting
up the bucket and drum in Final together with Jessica. What are friends for? sued by a feminist group if we beat up women in the game. Whatever you see, that’s
Fight, if you could hit the right what they are!” Akira Nishitani comments, regarding the much debated gender of the
button at the right time the enemy characters. They look like chicks to me (at least in the arcade version).
items change into lump of gold
or a diamond. These are worth
10,000 points each, so it’s an
indispensable technique for a
high score chaser!
“You can get big points on level
three, as well. If your character
has full energy and picks up
the gum which the boss, Edi
E, spits out, you receive 42910 you develop a game, you must make its
points. This is a courage bonus
for taking someone else’s gross, image first!” He ordered us just like that,
spat out gum. The reason you so from that point on we approached
score that strange amount is our planning and design as if it were a » A keen eye will notice
“42910” is my date of birth the phrase “NiN”
movie.” recalls Akira about the meeting cropping up throughout
– 42nd year of Showa Era
which would not only influence Capcom, Capcom’s back
[1967], September 10th. catalogue, courtesy of
Also, if you complete the last but other Japanese developers at the Mr Akira Nishitani.
level on just one coin, you see time, including long-term rivals SNK.
the special ending. In Japan, This remark resounds profoundly have gone to over the years in order to and defining integration of Eighties pop
it was called the “*gyudon with another well spoken rumour about uncover every last little detail. culture, Final Fight is more a part of that
ending”. I’d love your readers to
see this awesome ending, but the origins of Final Fight’s back story. A ethos than a collection of references to it.
I don’t know if foreign editions considerable number of parallels can be hile we were on the While the basic premise of Final Fight
have it or not. If not, please buy drawn between the game and the 1984 subject, I decided to clarify might not have blazed any particularly
the Japanese edition!” cheese-ball gangster movie, Streets a couple of other possible new trails, the gameplay mechanics
*Gyudon: literal translation
Of Fire. Without hesitation (or regard allusions from Final Fight’s certainly redefined the way we
– beef bowl. Don’t ask me!
for a conscious breach of Japanese antagonistic cast – specifically Andore, interacted with the beat-‘em-up principle.
etiquette), the question of their possible look-alike of the late American wrestler Of particular note in Final Fight are the
relationship is fired at Mr Nishitani and Andre the Giant, and the numerous rock dramatic differences of the playable
we’re eager to hear his answer. There’s band references that appear throughout characters Guy, Cody and Haggar. The
a disconcerting pause before his answer the game. three protagonists offered distinctly
arrives although, mercifully, it carries his “I have a friend whose nickname individual gaming experiences, allowing
good humoured lilt. is “Andre”, and it’s actually him who players differing gameplay depending
“Hmm. At the time, we certainly the characters in Final Fight are named on their mood or fighting preference.
weren’t aware of Streets Of Fire, but after,” he tells us. “Of course, I have Whether the player preferred speed and
I’ve just Googled it and there does to admit those characters do look like skill over brute force and ignorance, Final
indeed seem to be something familiar Andre the Giant, though. Also, we had a Fight was the first beat-‘em-up to offer
about it. But then again, this style of woman co-worker who we asked to list that choice.
story was very popular back then. Lots as many names as she could think of for “This was a feature that took quite a
» For those of you who don’t have a of fighting games made use of it. I our characters. She was really into rock long time to implement. In the end, we
Japanese version of the arcade machine
(shame on you), here’s a few clips of
guess we were part of that crowd!” he music, so that’s why lots of them turned prepared the three characters you see
the gyudon ending. We can only guess chuckles, apparently impressed by the out to be named after band members!” in the game as we thought they offered
who’s who… investigative prowess fans of his game So it would seem that, despite its clear the greatest choice. It just wouldn’t be
» “I also remember changing the demonstration screen for an overseas version, to try and tone down any sexual elements.” – Akira Nishitani. On
the left, the Japanese attract screen (and it certainly does!). On the right, the Mary Whitehouse version.
» “I went to San Francisco once to see Final Fight at its first test » The second bonus round is considerable tougher than smashing up
location. I was so excited, as it was the first time I’d ever been the car. Break the glass without getting close enough for it to knock
abroad!” Akira Nishitani. your teeth out.
as exciting if they didn’t each have a detailed characters. I’d liked to have kind. We hoped Akira might be able to
different journey through the game”, added more enemies and animation explain the somewhat shaky philosophy
Nishitani explains. frames, and even though Final Fight had behind this most recent update and why
Since each playable character very good optimising software and the it might not have worked.
had their own moves and their own CPS1 board was technically superior, “I was only involved in the
stylings, the character design work was there were as many budgetary and time development of the original Final
effectively triple what a developer would limitations as there are these days. Fight coin-op,” says Nishitani, once
expect. This quality of design and depth
of dedication is visible throughout Final
“However, I believe that despite those
limitations, Final Fight was still the best
again turning to his computer for a
bit of on-the-fly research, “and this is
SMASHING!
Game designers had dipped
Fight, resulting in the some of the finest performance game of the time.” actually the first time I’ve ever heard of their toes in the shallow pool of
character and background graphics a Final Fight was only really brought Final Fight: Streetwise! Wow! I see it’s between-level-bonus-rounds
before, but none had delivered
beat-‘em-up had ever seen. back to the arcades in spirit, and not by certainly based on our old game, but such delectable lashings of
“My real challenge was the deep, way of a direct sequel (most notably in I’d never heard of it until now. Google unnecessary violence as in Final
pseudo 3D space, and how the large the superb Aliens Vs Predator). Its real is really useful!” he laughs, showing no Fight. Nishintani-san told us
sprites interacted with it. There are legacy lies with the Super Nintendo, signs of the disgruntlement he’s more more about car repairs on the
so many concerns when it comes to though conversions and sequels have than entitled to harbour toward such streets of Metro City.
“We definitely wanted to have
adding details to a level. For example, seen both success and controversy. One uninspired use of his original work. crash bonus round, and had
if we add an oil drum, it adds all kinds of the weakest attempts to resurecct the Despite the industry’s trend for many ideas, like destroying a
of processing difficulties. Can the series was Final Fight: Streetwise for the avoiding the wealth of established talent piano and a house. There was
characters climb on the drum? If so, Xbox and PS2, though reviews were not when it comes to reimagining classic another idea we developed but
didn’t use in the end, where
what happens when another character games, Akira still has a fond place in
players had to beat bad guys
destroys the drum while they’re stood his heart for Final Fight, and shares a until they were buried in the
on it? Can we have one drum on top glimmer of hope for a sequel that might ground up to their shoulders! We
of another? It creates a lot of problems, finally do justice to the original. decided in the end that smashing
but these details are important and we “Final Fight is an immortal game, but up a car would work better
visually, however.
wanted to create a high quality game!” lately I hardly see any kind of action “Also, around that time, I don’t
Akira laughs, fondly reminiscing about games. We once again need more remember the exact details
difficulties that, at the time, would interesting varieties, just as we did when but there was something in the
undoubtedly not have seemed quite so we created Final Fight. I have lots of news about Japanese cars being
destroyed because of some
funny. And yet he’s quite correct – true detailed ideas, and if I had the chance I’d
Japan-bashing sentiment.
greatness is in the small details. He » One of the best conversions of Final Fight is to be found on
love to develop a new version.” That might have affected our
continues: “Visually I wanted big and the Game Boy Advance. Eep! decision, too!”
DELUXE
BRUTAL A c la ss ic th at’s so
it’s m ad e t he t op
good e ad er
o f tw o o f o u r r
ve ys. W ith th a t in
sur s
mind we felt it waavid
high time that D wed
Crookes intervieery
Mike Montgom llyan
and Robert Trevaesh hit
about their sm e
IN THE sports gam
KNOW AGE WORKS
PUBLISHER: IM
DEVELOPER:BROTHERS
THE BITMAP
90
RELEASED: 19
RIOUS
PLATFORM: VA
GENRE:
TS
FUTURISTIC SPOR
» Knock a player out and you would not only gain valuable points but you’d be treated to a nice animated sequence as the victim was stretchered away.
ce cream, ice cream,” shouts the seller, the words Coleman as the artist, and Richard Joseph replaced
cutting through the tension as the seconds tick David Whittaker as the musician. Robert Trevellyan
away of the second half with only five points was given the role of coder, with additional input from
putting distance between the opposing sides. The Mike who had assumed a greater programming role
metal thud of the ball reverberates as the players dart during the first game. This time out, the design was
mesmerisingly around the cold, grey arena. But then, credited to Bitmap Brothers co-founder Eric Matthews.
as a sliding tackle knocks a hapless opponent to the “I think the whole concept of Speedball 2 was
floor, there is a moment of stone-hearted relief as he different,” says Mike. “What we wanted to do with “SPEEDBALL
fails to get back up again. With the medics carrying Speedball 2 was all of the things that we really didn’t 101”
him off, Brutal Deluxe are perversely awarded ten have time to do with Speedball. So the viewpoint was QSpeedball 2 is a top-
points and the advantage swings 180 degrees. In slightly changed, the graphics were a lot better – it was down, 2D, futuristic, deep
exhaustion, the gamer puts down a battered joystick a different game to a certain extent, wasn’t it? I think and violent game that is
and, with a wipe of a sweaty hand, manages a Speedball 2 was just a natural progression.” part-ice hockey and part-
triumphant, if not exhausted, smile. Speedball 2 was Robert’s first published game. American football. Each
This is Speedball 2, a game developed by the Although he had been a keen hobbyist programmer, smooth-scrolling match is
acclaimed Bitmap Brothers which was released in his one previous stab at a game, for Electric Dreams in split into two halves lasting
1990, two years after its predecessor had caught Southampton, had been canned after six months but 90 seconds each, during
the mass attention of players. This time around the the lead artist on that title had put Robert in touch with which players score as
game was set in 2105, a short while after the sport The Bitmap Brothers. The team was impressed by an many goals as possible
was said to have to have been reborn in an attempt eight-way scrolling demo which Robert had shown while grabbing extra points
to regain public interest following years of corruption them running on a Commodore 64. “It convinced by nobbling the opposition
and violence. As the opening titles explained, the them that I was worth a try,” he admits. or aiming the ball at point-
fictional sport had been forced underground to fester in The game’s lead platform was the Atari ST. “It was scoring stars. Good use
unregulated chaos. Speedball 2 was its saviour and it the less powerful of the machines, certainly when of tactics and the score
brought with it a whole new set of rules. compared to the Amiga, so the idea was to make it multiplier are essential to
Players who expected a straightforward sequel to great on the ST and then enhance it on Commodore’s win a game.
Speedball were pleasantly surprised by the series’ machine,” says Robert. He said the brief was to
second outing. According to The Bitmap Brothers’ address “all of the things that had felt limited in the
co-founder Mike Montgomery, the sequel had been first game.” One of those was the playing area, which,
completely rewritten. Although the ethos of the earlier in the original, had very little width and would simply
incarnation had been retained, Speedball 2 brought involve players trying to get the ball up towards the
with it new mechanics and an improved feature set. It goal in order to score a goal.
also introduced Brutal Deluxe, a badly performing team “In the first game, you only ever played ‘up’ the screen
that the player had to turn into champions. but in the second they wanted to expand this,”
In order to achieve the new feel to the game, The
Bitmap Brothers made changes to the original
» A letter above a player’s
head denoted their playing
position while a curve
development team. Dan Malone replaced Mark
FEELING HUNGRY?
showed a player that could
be passed to. IT’S RICHARD JOSEPH’S FAULT
Discover why Speedball 2 loves its icecream
Quite aside from the game’s intro being a computerised version of a song called
Brutal Deluxe by a band called Nation 12 (a collaboration between the electronic
pioneer John Foxx and Tim Simenon from Bomb The Bass), Speedball 2 was able
to showcase the talents of the gaming audio legend Richard Joseph who died in
2007 at the age of 53 following a short battle against lung cancer. His approach to
the problem of creating memory-hogging crowd sounds was inspiring.
“Richard came in one day and said, ‘Mike, I don’t really want to show this audio to
anyone else until you have listened to it and given your approval because I’m not
really sure’” recalls Mike. “So I said, ‘okay, come in’, and we went into another room.
He played that clip ‘ice cream, ice cream’ and I went, ‘shit, that has just to go in,
there’s no argument about it, I don’t care what anyone else says, that has to go in
full stop.’ And of course it became a famous phrase in the industry, and I even had it
on my doorbell at some point. Richard was just a genius like that and we worked so
well together. It’s a shame that he passed away. What would he be doing now?”
he explains. By creating a larger playing area for Work on the game’s playing field had come first. “We Robert explains, “more interesting”. For the ST, it
Speedball 2, the developers were able to increase the made a very simple background for most of the screen, was a case, he remembers, of “blasting most the
number of players on the pitch from five on each side using 16x16 tiles for the main areas of the pitch because screen background very quickly,” and having preloaded
to nine, and it also allowed the game to be played with the Atari ST didn’t have the graphic acceleration registers, whereas on the Amiga, the team could
far greater freedom while allowing action in the centre hardware that the Amiga make use of the various
of the pitch to be just as vital at that at either end, for had,” Robert explains. graphics acceleration
reasons we will come to later.
“The pitch was about three times bigger because we
“That allowed us to put
some bonus features
The pitch was a lot chips. “We were
squeezing everything that
had learned how to scroll the screen a lot better,” says
Mike. “The larger playing area enhanced the game,
around the edges of the
screen and the bouncers
bigger because we had we could out of these
machines,” says Robert.
and it allowed for more things to do. It also enabled
players to make better use of tactics. By having this
on the pitch. Those
bouncers were the only
learned how to scroll the “But I was this young guy
with his foot in the door
wide, open scrolling, there were more players that
would be off the field. We wanted players to work out
unique elements on the
pitch – the rest of it was
screen a lot better of the games industry
and loving it. I had the
Mike Montgomery
where they may be and to plan ahead, things like that. a repeating pattern and it confidence that I had the
Getting to grips with the technology and mechanics meant the game could flow much better.” skills and ability to make it happen.”
of the game in this way also let us work on the overall During the subsequent conversion to the Amiga, the To aid him in developing the game (which also saw
look and feel of the game to the point that, technically, background was enhanced. The palette was upped many outings on handheld and home consoles), he
Speedball 2 was a lot better than the original game.” from 16 to 32 colours and the design became, as was able to make use of in-house library routines that
The Bitmap Brothers had created. They had some
» Although Mike Montgomery basic sprite routines and code set up on the Amiga
insists the game was not a violent
one, brutal tactics were very much but the main issue was that the coders were working
at the fore. Ouch. with the same amount of memory for Speedball 2 as
they were for Speedball. “Cramming all of that in was
a problem because we had to work with the lowest
spec machines,” says Mike.
“There were bits and pieces and skeleton code that
were useful although almost all of the code was new,”
» Goals were not the only important
Robert continues. “Even with their library of sprite
routines, I saw there was an optimisation we could
part of the games, amassing points via
other means such as star collecting DEVELOPER perform on the main loop. I also instinctively took an
were crucial winning tactics.
HIGHLIGHTS object-orientated approach to the software before the
XENON » By collecting tokens, concept of software engineering became the way. All
SYSTEM: VARIOUS the game would of this combined to make a bigger and better version
YEAR: 1988 change direction for of the original Speedball game.”
a very small amount
GODS of time, giving the It was also fast. “The frame-rate was a lot better,”
SYSTEM: VARIOUS player a short-held says Mike, “and that was important because the better
advantage.
YEAR: 1991 it was, the better the game experience of that type of
THE CHAOS ENGINE game would be. It wouldn’t matter for a turn-based
PICTURED game but with an action game, you needed to
SYSTEM: VARIOUS be slick and quick.” Players would have to keep
» The area around the multiplier YEAR: 1993 an eye on the kind of players that were
could be hard-fought for this
was such a crucial part of in view on the pitch. Icons above their
winning a match. heads would reveal whether the sprites
SHOOT WELL
Q“You have to learn how to hit the intermediate GO FOR THE LEAGUE
angle on shooting,” says Robert Trevellyan. QAs well as rewarding a win or draw,
“Move the joystick to the side in between a league point is awarded for every
pressing the button to release the ball and the ten points scored in a match so a good
ball leaving the player’s hand.” performance against a poorer team can
give you a good position. “You have a
better chance to win the league than the
cup if only because one loss and you’re
out in the knockout,” says Robert. “I
STAR ATTACKS never won the cup.”
QGetting goals isn’t easy
but getting stars are, so
make your way to the sides
of the pitch and hurl away impressive 20 points. To the side of the multipliers
for points. Get all the stars were a series of five stars. When these were hit by the
and bank the points. ball, they would give the player two precious points.
But if a multiplier light was lit, that would increase
to three points and if two lights were turned on, it
would lead to four points. Needless to say mastering
multipliers like this were one of the keys to success
at Speedball. “Although the idea for this all of this was
most likely thought out at the start by Eric, I don’t
remember the nuances of the scoring system being
HEAD FOR THE MULTIPLIER laid out in detail,” says Robert, struggling to recall the
QThe best way to get a good lead is to exact timings. “A lot developed along the way.”
ensure that every point you gain is optimised. And develop it did, with players quickly realising the
The only way of doing that is by throwing
GRAB THE TOKENS true complexity that lay behind the waypoints were
QTokens affect the whole team and lasts
balls into the multiplier early on. earned. Players who managed to get all five stars, for
six seconds. Freeze team tokens halt instance, would receive a bonus of ten points but if a
opponents, reduce team tokens lower multiplier light was on, that would increase to 15 and,
opponent attributes, goal doors prevent goal if two were on, it would see a return of 20. Still, that
scoring, grab ball gives you possession. wasn’t it, though. In between the centre spot and the
goals were bounce domes. When these were hit, the
USE THE BOUNCE DOWNS ball would fly away and lead to scores of two, three or
four depending on the multiplier’s status at the time.
Q“You have got to watch your timing
and go for the bounce downs and the
he multiplier was also used in conjunction
electrobounce – even if the electro ball
with the ‘electrobounce’, a feature that
runs out, you still have a chance of winning
HANG AROUND because the goalies cannot normally get to
was placed further along the wall from
QYou should aim to linger around the multiplier it in time and it confuses the player.” Sound
the sets of stars. It would give the ball an
and see off challenges with a few punches. advice from Mike.
electric charge that would only wear off when the
Should the opposition attempt to cancel your ball became still or the opposition gained possession.
multiples, quickly get the ball away. When the ball was charged, players who tried to pick
it up would be automatically tackled. The number
of tackles would depend – you guessed it – on the
number of lights that were lit up on the multiplier.
BUY QUALITY “The basic scoring methods and warp gates were
QPlaying the game on the original hardware?
inspired by Pro-Pinball,” laughs Mike. “In fact, a lot is
“You have to be fast and you need to have a high
based on a pinball machine really. We just thought it
quality joystick,” says Robert. “You’ll destroy any
would be a good idea to do something different and to
poor-quality joystick.”
say this is not a football game. We wanted something
that had virtually no rules with a scoring mechanism
that would let you boost your points which is where
the multiplier and bounce domes came in. Part of
actually winning in Speedball 2 wasn’t down to scoring
» The stump joke, although in the floppy versions, was removed » Ron Gilbert’s love of movies shows through with the
from CD-ROM to prevent even more confusion. disclaimer above.
for a job and was about ready to go back to game, so I figure everything should be successful because we built good games SAM AND MAX:
HIT THE ROAD
school when I got a call from someone at point-and-click”. Dave Grossman explains: with it. Without the good games, no one SYSTEMS: PC
LucasFilm. They were looking for someone “The SCUMM point-and-click interface was would remember a piece of technology.” YEAR: 1993
to convert the Atari games they were doing developed as an answer to the parser, which
for the C64.” Dave Grossman’s entrance was what most graphic adventures used in hile work was progressing
into the videogame industry would occur the Eighties. Parsers let you try more or less nicely on Zak McKracken,
much later and was something that occurred any action you can think of, but most of us Ron began to put together
entirely by accident. “I was a graduate felt they were just too frustrating and slow to ideas for Monkey Island, but
use, and that the limited ability to RESPOND development was put on hold as LucasFilm
to an infinite choice of actions showed the assigned the team with making a game to
cracks in the fantasy too plainly. We tinkered tie in with the Indiana Jones And The Last
with the interface with each new game, Crusade movie (LucasArts would have more
trying to make it as easy to use as possible, success with an Indiana Jones adventure IN THE KNOW
while still giving the player the means to based on the search for Atlantis). This
specify a reasonable range of actions.” proved to be incredibly beneficial, as many
Although the system is now wholly of the development lessons learned ensured
owned by LucasArts, Ron feels that the that Monkey Island was a far more coherent
secret of its success is still down to the game. “I did Monkey Island after Indy, so
» Only a red button could strike pure dread into the hearts of
quality of the games rather than just the there was a lot I learned from how the
pirates everywhere. Either that or the gophers. engine itself. “I think SCUMM has been puzzles came together.” explained Ron.
Once Indy had been completed, Ron was
able to continue design on Monkey Island, » PUBLISHER: LUCASFILM GAMES
which came from a “love of Pirates, mostly » DEVELOPER: LUCASFILM GAMES
driven by the Disney ride, Pirates of the » RELEASED: 1990
Caribbean. I also wanted to make a game
» PLATFORM: AMIGA, VARIOUS
that was kind of like fantasy, because it was
» GENRE: POINT-AND-CLICK
popular, but I am not a huge fantasy fan.
Pirates seemed like a good compromise.” To
begin with, the main protagonist remained
MONKEY!
In 1991, a sequel was released
in the form of LeChuck’s
Revenge, a game that
expanded upon the original in
every department. However,
one area that has been
particularly hard for fans to
accept is the controversial
cliffhanger ending, which Dave
Grossman reflects “references
The Empire Strikes Back rather » The original PC EGA version only used 16 colours, an
heavily”. Although follow-up incredible use of the limited technology.
title Curse Of Monkey Island did
an admirable job of providing
an explanation as to what
nameless and his humorous name came as
happened to Guybrush and a result of a graphics file. Steve Purcell, who
LeChuck, the fact that the game worked as an animator, was using Dpaint to
was developed by a different create the characters and saved the picture
team means that many fans still of our hero as a “guy”. Selecting a file within
hanker after the “real” Monkey
Island 3. However, Ron Gilbert the program calls it a “brush”, so the picture
hopes that one day he will once would often be saved as guybrush and the
again regain the rights to the name stuck. Threepwood was decided as » Bribery really is the key to becoming a mighty pirate. Failing that, violence solves everything.
series and finish the trilogy a result of a company competition. General production started, Tim, Dave and I would
once and for all. “The secret
Manager Steve Arnold really liked “Chuck” hang out and brainstorm all the little pieces theatre several times a week. When I am
will be revealed. If I get to make
another Monkey Island, it will and had wanted a character with this name and fine-tune things that were not working.” designing, I also spend a lot of time driving
be called “Monkey Island 3a: to feature in a game, so Threepwood’s Dave explains a little more about his role: and listening to music. When designing
The Secret Revealed or your nemesis “LeChuck” was born. “My job in the early days, on the Monkey Money Island, I watched a lot of old pirate
Money Back.” games, was mostly about details – telling movies, and they always spent more time
onkey Island’s unique blocky characters where to walk, writing scenes in a sword fight talking to each other then
style was down to hardware and dialogue for them, helping design actually fighting. So I figured that would
limitations rather than strings of puzzles, and making sure the be an interesting gameplay system. Also,
conscious design. The original cliffs crumbled on cue while Ron Gilbert if you’re going to do a pirate game, there
PC version was comprised of 16 colours kept track of the big picture. It was like an has to be sword fighting, but back then
at 320x200 resolution, which meant that apprenticeship (you know, no pay but you adventure gamesplayers hated any action
the design had to be simplistic. “If we had learn a lot), and after a couple of years Tim in their games, so doing this turned it into a
better hardware to do graphics, they would Schafer and I took charge of our own project, (funny) puzzle.”
have looked better. But that lack of high-end Day Of The Tentacle. We still did most of What makes the puzzles more
graphics really causes you to focus on the the writing, though, because we liked to.” pleasurable is that the player can explore the
game and story more,” continues Ron. One of the most memorable puzzles is game freely without death lurking around
“I had most of the main puzzles done that of insult sword fighting (see boxout). every corner. With Monkey Island (with the
before we started,” explains Ron. “I’d just This once again came from Ron’s love of exception of depriving Guybrush of oxygen
start drawing boxes on a piece of paper, movies. “I was inspired a lot by movies. I for more than ten minutes) it is impossible
connecting all the “locks” and “keys”. Once love movies and back then I would go to the to die, placing the emphasis firmly on
HOW
It was like an apprenticeship APPROPRIATE,
(you know, no pay but you YOU FIGHT
LIKE A COW
learn a lot) DAVE GROSSMAN Sword-fighting insults is one of
the most memorable aspects
of the game. Here we have
collated together some
While the dialogue is entertaining, much the 3D version, I haven’t played that one. I cutting remarks worthy of
of it was improvised as the game was did play Curse, though, and I liked it. It was any mighty pirate.
developed. “We wrote the script as we fun, and it felt Monkeyish,” comments Dave.
were doing the programming. You could Ron is equally positive, but speaks scathingly I got this scar on
not do that today. You’d need to start with of the fourth outing. “I thought the writing my face during a
mighty struggle!
a script,” comments Ron. “It was like was good and carried the tradition of the first I hope now you’ve learned
snowboarding on a hill you haven’t been two games. I did not like that Guybrush and to stop picking your nose.
down before. We couldn’t see the bottom, Elaine got together. That wouldn’t happen.
but we knew where it was and had a basic I did not play Escape From Monkey Island Have you stopped
wearing diapers yet?
plan for getting there. But the plan changed for more than ten minutes. I could not get
» Guybrush is horrified when he encounters the scariest beast Why, did you want to
with each bump in the terrain,” remarks around the bad UI and character navigation.” borrow one?
to roam the earth since the dinosaur.
Dave to us. “A lot was either filled in or Even today, the success of Monkey
experimentation. “I got sick of playing rethought as we went – the dialogue in Island is unexpected. “Those were the first I have spoken with
(especially the Sierra) adventure games particular, not a syllable of which had been games I ever worked on, so I didn’t have apes more polite
than you.
where you died any time you did anything written in advance.” the slightest idea what to expect,” remarks I’m glad to hear you
wrong,” explains Ron. “I felt like this was a Dave. “I don’t remember thinking about it attended your family
cheap way out for the designer.” evelopment for the sequel began at all while we were building the first one – I reunion.
Inevitably there were elements that never almost immediately after the first was just enjoying making it fun and making
There are no words for how
made it into the final version of the game. and was critically acclaimed while it funny, and it didn’t really occur to me that,
disgusting you are.
An amnesia plot for Guybrush Threepwood also proving popular among the after we were finished, we were actually Yes there are. You just never
was dropped once his name was decided fan base. Unfortunately, Ron left before work going to send it to stores where it would be learned them.
upon. Meathook initially gave the player could begin on the third game to complete seen by the public.”
three tasks before agreeing to join the crew the trilogy (see boxout). “I felt that I had These days, Ron Gilbert remains on the People fall at my feet when
they see me coming.
for Monkey Island, but this was reduced grown to the point where I wanted to run outskirts of the industry working on his own Even BEFORE they smell
to the funniest one as it was felt that there my own company, so I started Humongous game ideas and entertaining us all with your breath?
were too many for that section anyway. Entertainment and we made adventure his personal blog Grumpy Gamer (http://
Meanwhile, the memorable Herman and other games for kids.” The third game, grumpygamer.com). Dave Grossman now You’re no match for my brains
Toothrot was added to make Monkey Island however, was well received by the Monkey works with adventure company TellTale you poor fool.
I’d be in real trouble if you ever
feel less uninhabited. Island programmers. “I don’t know about Games (http://www.telltalegames.com) used them.
who have just recently released the first
episode for the new Sam & Max series, Soon you’ll be wearing my
which comes highly recommended. sword like a shish kebab!
First you better stop waving it
Although new new Monkey Island games like a feather duster.
have been released since the episodic
series, Tales Of Monkey Island in 2009, Ron
remains influenced by his creation, most
recently creating the excellent point-and-click
adventure, Thimbleweed Park. He’s also not
» A cheeky monkey helps himself to some fruit while » Monkey heads. Banana pickers. Just what the hell is going shy about getting the rights back
Threepwood lies unconscious on the beach. on in this crazy game? from current owner, Disney.
Of course it wouldn’t be a
proper article without asking
the immortal question: just
what is the Secret of Monkey
Island? While Ron Ron just
laughs the question off, it’s
Dave Grossman’s remark that
fittingly ends this piece. “If I
told you, the trained weevils
would come for me.”
» Look behind you, it’s a three-headed monkey! » This overhead map shows locations you have visited.
CHUN LI
SPECIAL MOVES
(WW) Yousou Kyaku:
2 (In air)
(WW) Spinning Bird
Kick:
2(Hold), 8
(WW) Hyakuretsu
Kyaku: » Chun-Li was the first
of many female fighters
(Tap) repeatedly in the Street Fighter
(HF) Kikouken: franchise.
4(Hold), 6 )
(ST) Tenshou Kyaku:
1(Hold), 6249 The characters in the Street Fighter
(ST) Inazuma
SUPER MOVE series are fantastical
(ST) Senretsu Kyaku: Yoshinori Ono
4(Hold),646
like a car, barrels and oil drums. Once
M. Bison is defeated, you'll see a unique
success of early games like Pong, but when you saw the game's astonishing ending sequence for your character.
which had fallen out of favour over the visuals and heard the excellent music. Unlike the original game, Street Fighter II
years due to the rise of co-op play and But while those aspects were great, gives you the choice of eight characters
high score tables. Capcom’s idea was what sent it over the top was the design. with distinct fighting styles, and they
that encouraging two-player games uch like its predecessor, were an eye-catching bunch. Whether
would maximise revenue for arcade Street Fighter II challenges you were looking at Guile's bizarre
operators, and unlike a co-op game players to win a series of haircut, Dhalsim's rubber limbs or the
players couldn’t feel cheated by a high one-on-one fights in a bid lightning hands of E. Honda, you were
E.HONDA
difficulty level. Of course, the original to win a fighting tournament. It retains definitely looking at them – and each
game also had a multiplayer mode, but some of the gameplay characteristics boasted a unique background themed
players were limited to two characters of the original game, including a control around their nationality as well as a
with identical abilities. This was a much SPECIAL MOVES
scheme with three strength options memorable theme tune. Yoshinori Ono,
poorer experience than the single-player (WW) Super Zutsuki:
for punching and kicking, as well as the the executive producer of Street Fighter
mode, which allowed players to fight ten 4(Hold), 6
inclusion of special moves accessed with V and a veteran of the series, attributes (WW) Hyakuretsu
opponents with a variety of techniques. combinations of movements and button much of the game's success to cast of
Street Fighter II proved to be a Harite:
presses. In the single-player mode, characters. “The characters in the Street
major production for the era. With a (Tap) repeatedly
you’ll face off against the characters you Fighter series are fantastical and couldn’t (HF) Super Hyakkan
development team of approximately 35, didn’t pick before taking on the game’s really exist in the real world, but they all
the game cost almost $2.5 million to Otoshi:
four bosses – Balrog, Vega, Sagat and have their charms and amusing moves,
make. It was a real gamble for a sequel 2(Hold), 8
M. Bison. To break up the game a little, expressions and storylines,” he says.
to a game that hadn't set the world on (SU) Flying Sumo Press:
you're challenged to a bonus game every Given that, it's no surprise that his
fire, but one which had evidently paid off 2(M) (In air)
few rounds in which you destroy objects favourite cast member is Blanka,
(ST) Ooichou Nage:
the green-skinned wild man with an
2(Hold), 8
animalistic fighting style. “I mean,
(ST) Oosoto
you bash the buttons and he releases
Mawashi Geri:
electricity from his body! You wouldn’t
63214
see that in an ordinary game or in a
SUPER MOVE
movie. Even the animations for his basic
(ST) Oni Musou:
punch and kick moves are just really
4(Hold),646 ()
funny to me. Finding those humorous
aspects within the potentially quite
serious setting of playing an eSports
» “How could you not love that face?” laughs Ono. It’s hard » Each character’s special moves were unique, and
match of Street Fighter is, I think, one of
not to, that’s for sure. allowed players to respond to a variety of threats. the reasons the fans have continued
pick the same character, as well as the Fighting arrived as a playable official
much more enticing ability to play as the alternative. As well as giving seven of
four boss characters. Beyond that, the the original eight playable characters
revision brought bug fixes, a set of move a brand new special move (with Guile
tweaks designed to rebalance the game being the one to lose out), the game’s
and some minor graphical updates. speed was noticeably increased. While
The ease of replacing chips on the it sounds like a fairly minor update
Champion Edition board gave way to
a slew of unofficial updates – notably
compared to Champion Edition, it is
fondly remembered: “I believe it to be
DHALSIM
Rainbow Edition, a fast-paced hack the best all-rounder,” says Mark. “The SPECIAL MOVES
which broke the game balance with game was balanced, and improved on (WW) Yoga Fire:
airborne special moves and bizarre the limitations of its predecessor with 236
projectile behaviour. At the end of extra speed, extra moves and damage (WW) Yoga Flame:
1992, Street Fighter II’ Turbo: Hyper levels with better balancing. It’s still very 41236
pular of Super
ably the most po (WW) Drill Zutsuki:
» Cammy is argu en gers. popular at arcades in the East.”
’s new chall
Street Fighter II 2(H) (In air)
ZANGIEF
SPECIAL MOVES
(WW) Double Lariat:
(All)
(WW) Screw Piledriver:
(360) SAGAT
(HF) Quick Lariat: SPECIAL MOVES
(All) (CE) Tiger Shot:
(SU) Flying Powerbomb: 236
(360) (CE) Ground Tiger Shot:
(SU) Atomic Suplex: 236
(360) (Close) (CE) Tiger Uppercut:
(ST) Banishing Flat: 623
632 (CE) Tiger Knee Crush:
SUPER MOVE 2369
(ST) Final Atomic SUPER MOVE
Buster: (ST) Tiger Genocide:
2x(360) 23636
YOU KNOW
move to the CPS2 arcade board. Super regard – the additional
Street Fighter II: The New Challengers speed found in Street
QThere’s a hidden was a big overhaul, featuring four Fighter II Turbo was
catch-up mechanic in
Street Fighter II – if your
opponent has won more
brand new characters with their own
backgrounds and theme tunes. Fei
Long was a clear homage to Bruce
nowhere to be seen.
The last of the
contemporary updates
VEGA
SPECIAL MOVES
rounds than you, your Lee and Dee Jay, the first character was Super Street (CE) Rolling Crystal
throws will deal some to be designed by Capcom USA, was Fighter II Turbo, Flash:
extra damage to help fashioned after the martial artist and Tae which brought back 4(Hold),6
you out a bit. Bo creator Billy Blanks. T. Hawk (short the higher speeds (CE) Flying Barcelona
for Thunder Hawk) was a Mexican of Street Fighter II Attack:
QIn order to clue players powerhouse, while the UK’s Cammy Turbo. However, its 2(Hold),8 then
in to the existence of was an amnesiac assassin with a major innovation was (CE) Izuna Drop:
special moves, every mysterious connection to M. Bison. the addition of Super 2(Hold),8 then 4or6
button press in the “I think the new characters added moves – powerful (SU) Sky High Claw:
original arcade version of some new ways to play,” says Peter. multi-hit combos 2(Hold), 8
Street Fighter II carries “A good example is T.Hawk. With this that could only be (ST) Scarlet Terror:
a 1-in-512 chance of introduction, a new grappler entered the performed once the 1(Hold), 6
triggering a special move. fray, yet instead of being ground-based, gauge at the bottom SUPER MOVE
he was more mobile of the screen had (ST) Rolling Izuna Drop:
QThe team’s original and able close the been completely filled. 1(Hold),3196
intention was that all distance on the The new game also then4/ 6
projectiles could be opponent’s way added throw escapes,
avoided by crouching, faster than Zangief which allowed players
but those plans were could. Having a to reduce damage
scrapped due to how good mobile grappler was when being thrown, but removed the sentiment within the competitive scene
BALROG
the now-familiar Hadoken something unseen Tournament Battle mode and the bonus was that although SSFII Turbo was rather
animation looked. in Street Fighter, and stages, which upset some. imbalanced (Old Sagat was quite strong)
was truly daring.” Looking back on the updates, Peter is they kind of accepted it and were still
QDivekick, Shovel SPECIAL MOVES positive about their impact: “Although I finding ways to fight the character well
Knight and Kaiju Combat (CE) Dash Upper s Super liked some more than others, I felt each up to SSFII: HDR ’s release,” says Peter.
all feature The Baz, a 4(Hold),6 Street were a necessity as Capcom further “That said, seeing as how HD Remix
character based on an CE) Dash Straight: Fighter II refined not only how Street Fighter II had a brand-new look, it would’ve been
unused piece of Street 4(Hold),6 was looked and felt, but how fighting games weird if the game did not also have a
Fighter II concept art (CE) Turn Punch: running on more could look and feel.” He wasn’t alone different re-balance.”
depicting a bullfighter (All) /(All) powerful hardware in that sentiment, as Street Fighter II ’s
wearing a T-shirt that (Hold), release than the first three updates were also strong critical and treet Fighter II ’s commercial
reads ‘Zubaz’. (SU) Buffalo Headbutt: versions, those commercial successes. “That said,” impact is hard to overstate.
2(Hold), 8 weren’t the only Peter continues, “I remember thinking, Both Capcom and operators
QDee Jay’s trousers were (ST) Dash Ground Upper: changes. “On-screen ‘Just give me Street Fighter III already,’ made major money from the
originally going to bear 4(Hold) 3 combo counters, when Super Street Fighter II was game, as a competitive scene gave rise
the word ‘Mantis’, but the (ST) Dash Ground Straight: remixed music, as released.” He speaks for a vocal section to tournaments and a competitive scene,
word was changed to 4(Hold)3 well as character of the community in this regard, as there the legacy of which can be seen in
read ‘Maximum’ because SUPER MOVE detailing. We ate up was a suspicion that Capcom had found today's eSports scene and tournaments
the word still read (ST) Crazy Buffalo: what was thrown a cash cow and was milking it. The like the Evo Championship Series.
properly when the sprite 4(Hold),646 () at us,” Mark recalls. update idea had worked brilliantly for the Of course, success breeds imitators.
was flipped. arcade market, where an operator could “Developers saw the impact Street
justify expenditure because it would Fighter II was having, and it wasn't long
h
adow trail, althoug increase the cabinet's longevity. Only before the competition got tough,”
co mbos we re ma rked with a blue sh
» Super one.
s stronger without the hardcore would fork out the cost of a recalls Mark, “especially with franchises
ironically Sagat wa
full-price game for such revisions in the such as Mortal Kombat, The King Of
home market, and the updates released Fighters and Tekken all out by 1994,
to diminishing returns. and all looking to claim the competitive
In 2004, a final arcade version titled fighting game genre in the arcades.”
Hyper Street Fighter II was released. By that point every major arcade
It featured the ability to choose not manufacturer had jumped on the fighting
only your character, but also the bandwagon and Capcom felt that some
version characteristics applied to imitators were getting a bit close for
them – meaning it was possible to pit comfort. In particular, Capcom took
Champion Edition Ryu against Hyper Data East to court over Fighter’s History,
Fighting Sagat, for example. The last alleging that it had copied fighting styles,
new revision was Super Street Fighter II appearances and control schemes from
Turbo HD Remix, which added new HD Street Fighter II. However, the court
visuals and a remixed soundtrack, as concluded that many of the similarities
well as a rebalanced mode with simpler between the two games were not
control inputs. “It was surprising as the protected under copyright law, and
STAT FIGHTER
The tale of the tape on
Capcom’s prize fighter
200,000
The game was balanced, and improved on Estimated number
of Street Fighter II
Years
input time limit
2(Hold),8 Michael notes, only conversion of the continue using updates in for a Shoryuken
SUPER MOVE was to offer game, memorably this way as a result, putting in Super Street
(ST) Sobat Carnival: something that placing a full page out a variety of revised How long Street Fighter II Turbo
4(Hold),646 Street Fighter II advert stating “Sega versions of Street Fighter III Fighter II held the
didn’t. “I think owners… dream on.” and Street Fighter IV. Other record for best- 15 Frames
Eternal Champions always started with in the debut issue of developers also adopted selling Capcom game Most forgiving input
a deep story as the focus. Prior to this, Mean Machines Sega. the use of interim updates time limit for a
no fighting game had focused on that Although other versions in their own fighting Shoryuken in Super
aspect,” he explains. “Given that Eternal
Champions wasn’t an arcade port I also
did arrive later and some
of them were very M. BISON games, with some proving
just as prolific as Capcom
Street Fighter II
Turbo
focused to make sure the single-player good, the game always SPECIAL MOVES – for example, Arc System
was rewarded. Training modes and all had the strongest (CE) Psycho Crusher: Works produced five
the various storyline outcomes were association with 4(Hold),6 revisions of Guilty Gear XX.
designed to reward those players as Nintendo’s hardware. (CE) Double Knee Press: However, the end of this
much as the head to head modes.” This In fact, of the 36 million 4(Hold),6 business model may
paid off for Michael and his team, as the Street Fighter games (CE) Head Press: be in sight as
game achieved strong sales despite a that have been sold 2(Hold),8 Capcom
crowded Mega Drive fighting market. to date, roughly a third (CE) Somersault
Indeed, every competitor offered a of those are different Skull Diver:
unique hook, be it the realistic digitised versions of Street (After Head Press)
sprites and copious gore of Mortal Fighter II on the Super (SU) Devil Reverse:
Kombat, the dynamic sprite scaling of Nintendo – six million of 2(Hold),8
SNK's games or the 3D visuals of games the original, four million SUPER MOVE
like Virtua Fighter. However, most games of Street Fighter II (ST) Knee Press
adopted aspects of Street Fighter II in Turbo and two million of Nightmare: 4(Hold),646
return, with the combo system being the Super Street Fighter II.
most notable. For comparison, Street
CONVERSION CAPERS
abandoned the practice for its latest
game, Street Fighter V, which will rely on
rolling DLC instead.
of Capcom’s arcade smash hit
For Capcom, the success of Street
Fighter II was transformative – not only
We take a look at all the ports
did the company create further Street
CAMMY
Fighter sequels, it began to gear its
arcade output heavily towards fighting
games. This peaked in 1998, when SPECIAL MOVES
seven of Capcom’s nine arcade releases (SU) Spiral Arrow:
were fighting games – and four of those 236
featured Ryu, in a prequel (Street Fighter (SU) Cannon Spike:
Alpha 3), a sequel (Street Fighter III 2nd 623
Impact), a spin-off (Street Fighter EX2) (SU) Axle Spin Knuckle:
and a crossover (Marvel Vs Capcom). 41236
This persisted until the decline of fighting (ST) Hooligan
games around the turn of the century, Combination:
but the company also takes the credit for 12369 ,then
the genre's revival with Street Fighter IV. (ST) Fatal Leg Twister:
Street Fighter II reshaped a genre, and 4(Hold),6 (after
its influence continues to be felt today . Hooligan Combination,
“With many things popular today, there near head)
is heritage. Star Wars, Final Fantasy, (ST) Cross Scissor
James Bond, Shenmue, take your pick,” Pressure:
says Mark. “There will always be people 4(Hold),6 (after
who will be curious about the roots of Hooligan Combination, MEGA DRIVE
something they fall in love with, and with near body) QAs with the PC Engine version, this is a port of Champion
Street Fighter V on the horizon, Street SUPER MOVE Edition, however, it also adds Turbo content. The three-button pad
Fighter is as popular as ever.” (ST) Spin Drive is usable (you use Start to switch between punches and kicks) but
But while Street Fighter V drives Smasher: special moves are harder to pull off compared to the superior SNES
renewed interest in the series, what truly 23623 controller. Plug a six-button pad in, though, and it’s virtually on par
marks Street Fighter II out as a stunning with Super Street Fighter II Turbo on SNES.
sequel is that the staff of the new games
often refer back to it. “One of the things
that made Street Fighter II stand out
T. HAWK
was that anyone could walk up and hit SUPER NINTENDO
buttons and leave satisfied,” says Peter. QIts been superseded by later
“When designing SFV, that was one of SNES Street Fighter ports, but the
SPECIAL MOVES
our core design pillars.” original conversion still holds up
(SU) Condor Dive:
“I suppose we’ve been inspired by surprisingly well. It’s very close to
(In air) (All)
that game all along in how we develop the arcade game in style (although
(SU) Tomahawk Buster:
the series,” says Ono. “Most game there is a lot of missing content)
623
series have new sequels which build and the controls are tight and
(SU) Mexican Typhoon:
upon the design of the previous titles, responsive without the need for
(360)
but Street Fighter II really started over extra pads. Little wonder it was
SUPER MOVE
from what was created in the original deemed the definitive home version
(ST) Double Typhoon:
Street Fighter. When it came time to of the game upon release.
2x(360)
move to Street Fighter III and Street
Fighter IV, we really started from scratch » This beautiful
each time,” the producer elaborates. sunburst is
your reward for
“It was Street Fighter II that started this knocking out an
pattern in motion and now, as I’ve said opponent with
a Super Combo.
many times, Street Fighter V is another Take that!
reset of the game and brings a new
roster and new design. So you could
say that what Street Fighter II did over
20 years ago – wait, it’s almost 30 years
now! – has continued to influence us.”
We get the feeling it'll continue to do
so for many more years to come, too.
ZX SPECTRUM ATARI ST
QThe Spectrum version looks great, but it’s saddled QThe Atari ST version suffers from all the same
by an astonishingly bad multi-load system. Like the issues as the Amiga but manages to be even worse.
other 8-bit ports it does cater for two-button sticks, The animation is particularly bad and the game is
but the base version — fire and forward for punch slower than its Amiga counterpart. It’s slightly easier
and fire and back for kick — is very hard to use. to pull off special moves, but it’s still a poor port.
DEVELOPER
HIGHLIGHTS THE
PHANTASY STAR PICTURED ANTHRO
ALSORAN
SYSTEM: SMS
YEAR: 1988
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2
SYSTEM: MEGA DRIVE OF ALL THE CHARACTER
YEAR: 1992 designs put forward for
consideration to Sega bosses and were
» Naka feels that Super Mario
SPACE HARRIER Bros. and Sonic both influenced dropped in favour of Sonic, it was the
SYSTEM: ARCADE each other. character of Mighty the Armadillo that
YEAR: 1985 received the most attention. Following
the success of Sonic the Hedgehog,
at the time as the most ‘famous When work on the project began, where Sonic swims in the water and Sega decided to revisit and polish up
the character for an appearance in the
character in the world.’ Blending all Naka was adamant the game should eats bubbles to take his breath to go
Sonic coin-op SegaSonic The Hedgehog.
these visual elements together, Sega be fast and exhilarating to show off on. I was very happy when Super In the isometric trackball-controlled
hoped it had the perfect character the impressive processing speed Mario Bros. later used a similar coin-op, Mighty worked alongside Sonic
to appeal to an American market. of the Mega Drive. An important system in one its sequels, because I and another anthropomorphic character
All Oshima needed now was cornerstone for the game, Yuji felt we were inspiring each other.” named Ray the Flying Squirrel to escape
a striking game to show his Naka explains how it was Meanwhile, Yasahura’s approach from Robotnik’s booby-trapped island
base. Mighty would later appear in 32X
creation off, and it was here Super Mario Bros. that to Sonic’s level design was to create
title Knuckles Chaotix, while Ray just
that Sega bosses turned inspired him to create the them in such a way that they would received minor cameos in the recent
to a talented programmer fastest platformer the world appeal to both casual and hardcore Sonic Generations and the Saturn port
named Yuji Naka. had ever seen. gamers. He set about achieving this of Gale Racer (aka Rad Mobile), which
“Every time I played the by mixing fun level elements with was the coin-op that marked Sonic’s
aka had become first stage I wondered why challenging obstacles and moving first ever videogame appearance, as
renowned in the I couldn’t clear it faster, the parts. Of the seven zones in the a rear-view mirror ornament. Ray
was seemingly deserted by Sega,
company for his better I got playing it.” Naka game, Sonic’s opening stage Green but considering that he’s an orange,
impressive programming explains. “This feeling must have Hill Zone became the most iconic. long-tailed flying squirrel, we suspect
skills thanks to his excellent work on been the beginning of the idea of A vibrant place featuring blue skies, the reason could be because he played
the Master System game, Phantasy Sonic, as you get good at playing lush green grass, chequerboard a big part in the design and character of
Star. He had also proven his skill for you can run through the stage really tunnels and loop the loops; the Sonic’s popular sidekick Tails. Either that
tackling the platform genre, with an fast. I think Sonic itself turned out perfect playground for Sonic to or Sega simply deemed the characters
to be too similar and so they promptly
impressive Mega Drive conversion of to be a totally different concept to showcase all his abilities. It was
showed Ray the exit.
Ghouls’n Ghosts. And so Sega asked Super Mario Bros. But I do feel it a brilliantly attention-grabbing
Naka and Hirokazu Yasuhara, Sonic’s was a game that affected me very introduction for gamers, and for
game planner/level designer, to positively. There is a part in Sonic 1 those who had never owned a
help Oshima bring Sonic to life and
become the driving force in a team
of AM8 developers. They were later
famously renamed Sonic Team.
THE
doing tests
with splitscreen in
OTHER
order to allow two players
to play at the same time. But
SONIC 1
my technical capability wasn’t
enough to allow the game to
be completed with this feature.
When we began work on Sonic 2
we tested this first to ensure that
a two-player game system was
achieved before properly starting
the project.
“We also tried to prepare a
sound select screen, with pictures
of Sonic’s band, and Sonic singing
and break-dancing. The pictures
were mostly completed but we
couldn’t make this feature fully
completed on schedule, so it
RELEASED SHORTLY AFTER console. So where did inspiration for came from the was rejected. But the storage
the seminal Mega Drive hit, this iconic stage come from? processing speed on the ROM to put this
Sega created for its loyal 8-bit fans a
“Green Hill Zone was inspired by of its hardware. feature in was available
unique version of Sonic the Hedgehog
for the Master System. This 8-bit California,” Naka answers simply. And with Sonic because of this, so we
version differed in a number of ways “Also we were aiming to show the pushing the added the “Sega”
from the original. It featured a new latest computer graphics at that time, Mega Drive voice on the part
story and six zones; three based on the which were using polygon and ray in a way that where we showed the
original but with altered layouts, and tracing, through pixel art to make it no game had Sega logo. In the end,
the others completely new. Many of the look very new. With regards to the done before, I think this was a
enemies made it across, as did all of
Sonic’s moves with the exception of his
colours, I believe they were inspired there were good idea.”
block-pushing animation. The game’s by a picture drawn by Eizin Suzuki.” several features From the initial
development was handled by Ancient, Eizin Suzuki’s work frequently that Naka and concept for Sonic that
a Japanese developer managed by features stunning pop city his team wanted saw him playing in a rock
revered Sega composer Yuzo Koshiro. illustrations that look every bit the to incorporate into band to the revelation of a
Naturally then, Koshiro wrote the music kind of artwork we’d have expected the game, but with space and sound select screen that had to be
for the game, which was a combination
to see up on the walls inside Sega time constraints were unable to. dropped, it’s clear that Naka and
of tunes inspired by its 16-bit counterpart
and brand new compositions. Overall, at that time. Often depicting bright Interestingly, one of these omitted his team always intended for music
the 8-bit Sonic the Hedgehog is a fine realism with a vivid surreal edge, one features would later provide the to play an important part of the
standalone Sonic game, rather than a piece in particular instantly catches starting point for the sequel, while game. We were therefore keen to
watered down port. our attention. It shows a classic another inadvertently give rise to a find out how much planning went
red open-top sports car parked popular Sega motif. into that particular aspect, and how
beside a welcoming beach-side “There were two features that we the team ensured it would enhance
restaurant. With its deep blue skies were not able to put into Sonic 1,” the overall experience for players as
and engagingly expressive Naka explains. “The first one was successfully as it did.
colours, the connection to support two players playing at “It was just around the time when
is clear. the same time. At the last point of music in games was first getting
From a technical exciting, so we asked Masato
perspective, Naka Nakamura, a member of Dreams
says that the biggest Come True [a famous pop band in
challenge in getting Japan] to make the music for each
the Mega Drive to stage sound like it was based on
Green Hill Zone’s bright vibrant look was inspired
by the work of acclaimed Japanese illustrator
accommodate Sonic each stage’s image. Sonic also put
Eizin Suzuki.
ZONED OUT
SPRING YARD
We like Spring Yard Zone, and not just
because it appears like a giant pinball table.
It can be a little frustrating to negotiate
The many levels of Sonic The Hedgehog due to the many bumpers and springs it
features, but careful movement is the key
GREEN HILL to success. It also features plenty of cool
This gorgeous secrets to discover.
zone is relatively
easy to navigate
thanks to its
large stretches
that feature very MARBLE
few enemies or As its name suggest, Marble Zone is made of
hazards. Loops Marble. It’s also a very hazardous zone, thanks
are in abundance, to a large number of nasty spikes, falling chunks
and Sonic is able of ground, and trickling lava that Sonic needs to
to reach insane navigate. There’s a lot of block pushing on this
speeds. This is level, and therefore less whizzing.
arguably one of
the most iconic SCRAP BRAIN
videogame levels of This is a truly frustrating level with all sorts of devious and
all time. downright nasty traps for Sonic to deal with. Conveyer belts,
vanishing platforms and intermittent gas ruptures (which
STAR LIGHT send up gouts of flame) all combine to make this a hellish
Speed freaks will adore Star Light, as Sonic stage that will require all your skills to negotiate.
can really zoom through it. Many of the levels
are filled with loops and enable Sonic to reach
hyper-fast speeds. It has a real rollercoaster
feel to it, but care must be taken as while FINAL
there are only a few enemies they are oen This isn’t really a zone.
impervious to Sonic’s attacks. It’s where Sonic must
face off against Dr
Robotnik for the final
time. It’s little more
LABYRINTH than a short corridor
The maze of Labyrinth Zone can be a real which ends in a large
headache to navigate. In addition to having room filled with
to make your way from some trickily dangerous energy
designed stages, many of the levels are balls and plungers
mostly underwater. Sonic can only hold his that try to crush poor
breath for a limited time, so you need to Sonic. Kill Dr Robotnik
find an air bubble or drown. for the win.
a lot of pressure on us not only in Hedgehog helped to bridge the gap Sonic’s contribution to Sega’s
regards to the music but the sound between those two markets more success certainly cannot be
FX and jingles. We fixed these quite successfully than any Mega Drive underplayed. But looking back on
a lot to allow them to make players title previously released, and became this most important of Sega success
feel good while they play the game.” an instant hit. And when Nintendo stories, which aspect of Sonic the
finally released the SNES in North Hedgehog is Naka most proud of?
nitially Sega of America had America later that year, it led to one “I think the fact the game is
doubts about Sonic’s American of the biggest and most memorable designed to be very fast but can
appeal, concerned that console wars in gaming history. also be controlled, and allow you to
Americans wouldn’t know what Following an aggressive marketing zip through the game nicely, is the
a hedgehog was. However, following campaign by SOA, Sonic quickly part which I am most proud of,” he
a few tweaks by SOA become synonymous with concludes. “Many thanks to Sonic
to soften up the Sega. And when Sega of Team members for putting great
character for Japan gave into its initial effort into this part. I am also proud
Western gamers, reluctance to offer the of Sonic being played by so many
a change that game as a pack in with people around the world. Thank you
at first didn’t go Genesis consoles, Sonic so much.”
down too well with the went on to play
members of Sonic Team, an even big role
Sonic the Hedgehog was in helping Sega take
finished and released in 1991. majority share of the
Looking more coin-op than North American games market
console game, Sonic the away from Nintendo.
Famicom in just three months. Changes released. “We started with a small R&D
were made at the request of management team, without actual dev kits. We only had
to differentiate the two versions – this a hard copy of specification documents.”
also due to the limitations of the available “The Super Famicom was definitely
Mapper chips. It was still an impressive more powerful than the Famicom,
achievement, and the game sold copious especially in graphics and sound,” states
amounts in America. Ueno, “but the CPU is a bit more difficult
Ueno continued to work with the to work with as it’s more like a slightly
Famicom on Japan exclusive games like faster 8-bit CPU with integrated bank
Ganbare Pennant Race! and MADARA. » Curiously, statues of vampire hunter registers,” he continues, detailing the
In later years, he supervised Konami Sypha Belnades seem to stand outside technical side of SNES development.
classics such as Contra III and Axelay, Dracula’s castle. “Unlike modern consoles, we had access
and played an integral role in the to all the hardware registers and we had
Lethal Enforcers series (including as an
actor in the sequel). But, his first 16-
We started with a small to figure out how to use those effectively,
which I really enjoyed. But, it took us
bit role was Super Castlevania IV – aka
Akumajo Dracula in Japan – as the
R&D team, without actual dev some time and experiments to find the
right ways to use various tricks during
main programmer, enemy and boss
programmer, as well as overall director.
kits. We only had a hard copy of actual gameplay.”
CVIV was the ninth release for the
STAGE 5
STAGE 4
This is a short stage and there’s no boss at the end.
This series of stages nicely Also, the timer has been reduced, because we wanted to
shows how powerful increase the feeling of rushing forward as players finally
the new hardware was: entered Dracula’s castle. Now it really begins!
boss transparencies and
jointed sprites, plus Mode
STAGE 3 7 for the rotating room,
spinning bridge, and final
Although there are no golem boss. I think it
branching paths in Super shows Super Castlevania
Castlevania, we tried to at its best.
make every stage different.
There are four sections in
this stage: you start outside,
enter the caverns, climb a
waterfall and finally, enter
the moat area.
STAGE 2
Konami released a promotional video
from early development. If you compare
it to the final release, you can see how we
polished the river section by adding more
background details and improving the
transparency effects. We also redid the
Medusa boss.
STAGE 1
Some names were changed
during translation into
English. In the Japanese
1
original, the flying horse
heads were called ‘Uma no
Namakubi’, loosely meaning
‘freshly severed horse head’.
In the English release it was
changed to Mr Hed.
STAGE 6 STAGE 7
You only see one swinging
chandelier at a time because 10 To keep players interested we continued to add new things
to later stages. Here you will encounter the moving book
Mode 7 only rotates a single platforms, and also two unique regular enemies: a giant
large background layer. If you’re centipede and a carpet monster that pushes you into spikes.
stuck on the boss check the wall
before the steps, we hid a 1UP.
Also, did you find the crying man 9 STAGE 8
8
and his dog?
I’ve been told players ask
about the blood changing
STAGE 9
Always keep an eye out for
any whip hooks high up.
There’s one area where you
need to swing across to reach
some power-ups. If you fall,
you’ll notice we placead the
hooks slightly too high to
reach from the ground.
3
STAGE 10A
It would not be a proper
Castlevania game without
a clock tower and spinning
STAGE 10B gears. The Super Famicom
allowed smoother
I don’t think many players discovered this at animation for the cogs
the time, but there’s a secret area just before turning. Using your whip to
the final staircase to Dracula. Today with the hang from moving chains
internet, I think players have found all the also allowed for new styles
secrets we added – or have you? of gameplay.
BASEBALL BAT
QWhile it doesn’t have the
insane reach of the lead pipe,
it’s a lot quicker.
SPECIAL
QWant some extra attack
» Here’s a
loo power? Then summon an
We’d argu k at the Western an
e that Bare d
Knuckle is Japanese box art. extra police car with this.
a much co
oler name
.
GOLD BARS
QSuitably rare, which is
hardly surprising as they
reward you with a hefty
5,000 points.
plenty of benefits over the SNES ex-police, and have sworn to bring expanded with the addition of lovely And then there were the bosses,
port, most notably the fact that you Mr X to justice. stretches of beach, an exhilarating a weird selection of mayors that
could play with a friend, boosting the lift ride (no scrolling beat-’em-up is ranged from claw-wielding maniacs
enjoyment of the game. Sega’s game e were keen to know complete without one) and the final to wrestlers that looked like the
allowed you to choose from three the involvement that arduous trek through a corridor that Ultimate Warrior’s lost brother. Other
brawlers who had all been slighted Seimiya had during the leads to Mr X’s penthouse, which memorable bosses were a giant fire-
by nemesis Mr X, who controlled the game’s production. “As effectively doubles as a boss rush for breathing fat man, and Mona and Lisa,
city and even its police force. Like an artist, I worked on a wide range, all the previous bosses. Unsurprisingly two female adversaries who were
Final Fight each character is unique, from the player character, terrain, and there was little originality to Streets Of effectively more powerful palette
each with their own strengths and the Boss, etc,” he explains. “It was Rage’s look with Seimiya admitting swaps of Blaze Fielding. Seimiya
weaknesses. Adam Hunter is clearly my first time working on the player that Sega was simply delivering what found himself working on both the
based on Haggar, being a slower, but character, so I had to go through a it believed the public wanted. “Final enemies and the bosses, a task he
heavier-hitting character, able to make bunch of re-takes.” It may have been Fight, Double Dragon… many arcade found quite rewarding. “The design
mincemeat of groups. Blaze Fielding a baptism of fire for the young artist, games back then were using the team would give me a request with
on the other hand plays more like but the constant redesigns certainly realistic game settings, and I think it the background story of the character,
Guy, being far quicker than her two paid off. Like Final Fight, Streets Of was simply a trend,” admits Seimiya. dot size, and reference materials for
male counterparts, but unable to take Rage has an interesting mix of gritty It may have looked very similar to actions,” he recalls. “I created the
heavy hits. The last character is Axel urban environments and cartoon-like some of the more popular brawlers characters based on those kind of
Blaze, the everyman of the group who characters. Many of the levels are of the time, but Sega’s game still materials. It was challenging to come
has Cody’s all-round abilities but is quite similar to Capcom’s game, with managed to stand apart thanks to up with how to animate characters
hampered by a slightly weaker jump locations based on downtown streets its varied locations, interesting level with a limited number of dot images.”
than his two companions. All three are and industrial areas. The variety is design and challenging bosses. While we were discussing the
It also boasted a menagerie of various bosses of the game an
» There are a variety of weapons in the game. Use them » The music on this stage is incredible. It’s a pity you
wisely as they have limited uses. can’t hear it. It’s really good. Honest! interesting enemies and bosses that interesting piece of information came
came in a variety of shapes and sizes. up. While Seimiya was reluctant to
In addition to the usual street thugs, share his favourite creation with us,
there were guys who looked like he did reveal the following about the
rejects from Teenage Mutant Ninja rather unimpressive pair of bosses
Turtles, dominatrixes with vicious found on level 5. “I do not remember
whips, crazy-haired planks juggling all the details, but there was a special
axes and flaming torches and well- boss for stage 5 instead of Mona
dressed martial artists. and Lisa,” he recalls. Maybe one day
BOSS RUSH The mayors of Streets Of Rage and how to defeat them
ANTONIO ABADEDE
QBoss number one is pretty straightforward. Dodge the arc of his DIFFICULTY QHe may look like the Ultimate
giant boomerang and move in for a flurry of punches of throws. Just Warrior, but there’s nothing
be wary of his powerful kick that has quite an impressive reach. ultimate about this easy boss.
While his punch is extremely
SOUTHERN powerful you can see easily
QWe hate this guy. His claws take huge see it coming. Simply sidestep
amounts of energy off you and he’s fast. Your him and unload your fury until
best bet is to try and sneak up to him and his knees buckle.
DIFFICULTY deliver groin kicks. Don’t jump near him. DIFFICULTY
up with your fellow fighter to perspective. The finished release » A nice touch to this stage is the constant
bobbing of the ship you’re on.
pull off trickier moves, while is exactly what Sega planned to
pressing A summoned a make. “There were lot of assets
police car that fired a rocket that killed that did not end up in the final game,”
off most enemies. Sadly, Seimiya admits Seimiya, “but features were all
didn’t have much involvement with built in the final game.”
the fighting mechanics, simply telling Streets Of Rage’s release saw
us: “I was pleased with the tag-moves it receiving critical acclaim from
which rewarded users to co-op with journalists and strong sales. Its
a friend.” success on Sega’s 16-bit console
Another aspect of the game that saw a cut-down version appear on compositions – again by Yuzo Koshiro
Seimiya was a fan of was Streets Of the Game Gear in 1992 that lacked – to its beefier sprites and larger
Rage’s scintillating soundtrack. While Adam as a playable character and a range of combat moves. In fact, many
many will argue that the best tunes PAL-only Master System release in still regard it as the pinnacle of the
are found in the second game, it’s 1993 that dropped the co-op play. We genre. Seimiya worked on the sequel
still impossible to play the original were keen to know if Seimiya had any as a background artist. He was also
without whistling or tapping your involvement with these inferior ports, involved with 1994’s Street Of Rage
foot to the techno-infused tunes, only to be told: “No, I did not take 3, infamous for its boxing kangaroo
as they perfectly complement the part in those projects”. The original and the large amount of changes that
we’ll find out what that boss was frantic on-screen battles. “[The Mega Drive version has popped up were made between the Western and
supposed to look like, but it at least music] was very important, and in various guises since, with one of Eastern versions of the game. There
explains why the two female fighters thus we used Yuzo Koshiro for the the most impressive being M2’s 3DS was even a comic series, but again,
lacked the imagination found within score,” admits Seimiya, “as we did version, which creates a 3D playing Seimiya had nothing to do with it.
the rest of the boss gallery. for the last game.” The game he’s area for the game, adding a scale of Although usurped by its superior
talking about is The Revenge Of depth to proceedings. sequel, Streets Of Rage remains
lthough Streets Of Rage’s Shinobi, a rather superb sequel that While Streets Of Rage was a big an entertaining brawler and an
bosses were tough, the married the arcade shenanigans success for Sega, it was the sequel, important release in Sega’s 16-bit
three main characters were of the original game to Koshiro’s released in 1992 that really made battle against Nintendo. It’s a pity
more than equipped to eclectic and bombastic score. There gamers take notice of the franchise. then that, the odd update aside, Sega
deal with them. All three had access were additional connections to The Everything about it was bigger and has done very little with the franchise
to a flurry of kicks and punches and Revenge Of Shinobi, as Streets Of better, from its incredible music since its 16-bit glory days.
were also able to pull off flying kicks Rage’s director Noriyoshi Ohba had
and use handy back attacks. Nothing overseen Shinobi as well.
revolutionary compared to what had In fact Seimiya feels that Ohba’s
come before it, but the controls were directorial style is what led to Streets
tight and responsive, meaning you Of Rage’s unusual multiple endings,
always felt in control of the fighting. one of which gives you the option
While enemies could grab and throw of teaming up with Mr X instead
you, you were far from defenceless, of trying to defeat him, telling us:
being able to land on your feet with a “I guess it was his style to add a
well-timed press of the jump button bit of spice to the script.” We also
and even attack enemies while you discovered that Streets Of Rage was
were being held. You could even team basically complete from a gameplay
hen you look back at the history 1995 expo, but the game didn’t materialise until
of the series, The Legend Of 1998. But the game that started this tradition was
Zeldaa occupies a funny space in The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, t the game
Nintendo’s planning processes. that marked Link’s move off of 8-bit platforms.
a game arrives in time for a console launch,
If a Zelda In planning the launch of the 16-bit SNES
it’s because the game was heavily delayed on platform, Nintendo identified two basic software
the previous generation of hardware. Yet Zelda a is needs: new properties that could demonstrate the
never overlooked when a new Nintendo console power of the new hardware, and more of what had
is being planned – in fact, it’s often one of the very made the NES successful. For the former category,
first things considered for a new machine. Our Nintendo chose racing and flight games that would
first look at The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker be impossible to achieve on rival consoles, and
came before the GameCube had hit the shelves, delivered a one-two punch off F-Zeroo and Pilotwings
but the game launched over a year into the life of in November and December 1990. For the latter,
the machine. A demo of what would eventually Nintendo chose to immediately develop follow-ups
become The Legend Of Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time to its most popular NES properties – the Super
was shown to attendees of Nintendo’s Shoshinkai Mario Bros.. and The Legend Of Zelda a series.
However, creating a new Zelda was a bit other, overlapping worlds,” he explains. “In the
more difficult than creating another Mario end, we decided it would be best for us, the
HYRULE’S game – Mario games were all very similar, developers, as well as for players to have this as
HEROES but The Legend Of Zelda and Zelda II: Link’s
Adventure were very different games. This left
two worlds; one light, one dark. We felt the best
way to represent this overlap of light and dark,
The A Link To The Past the Nintendo EAD team with some big decisions and to represent the changes between them, was
developers we spoke to to make regarding its approach to the new game. “In to use the same slanted top-down view used in the
Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link, we wanted to include original The Legend Of Zelda game.”
sword combat with a variety of different moves into
the gameplay, and so decided the project would use t’s rare for a company to discard the major
a side-scrolling view that made use of our experience changes made to a sequel, but it would prove to
from Super Mario games,” explains Takashi Tezuka, a be a wise decision. Quite apart from the fact that
Takashi Kensuke veteran Nintendo developer who served as director for Zelda II has become known as one of the weaker
Tezuka Tanabe both The Legend Of Zelda and The Legend Of Zelda: A games in the series as time has passed, there was still
Director Script Writer Link To The Past. “We made two Zelda games for the a lot that Nintendo could change and improve in going
NES, both making the most of that hardware. But then back to the old top-down format. Even very basic
with the next Zelda for the SNES, we were able to add things were overhauled, such as the way Link moved
even more new things to the gameplay.” around the environment – for the first time, he was
The final decision on which structure to use was able to move diagonally as well as in the four cardinal
driven by the concept of the game, according to directions. Rather than using a simple thrust, Link
Tezuka. “When we were starting the project, we would actually swing his sword in a more realistic arc.
experimented to see if it was possible to include a According to a 1992 Famitsu interview with Shigeru
multi-world structure into the game. Our plan was that Miyamoto, this combination of new features actually
events in the hub world would have an effect on the gave way to another new feature. With the addition of
» The memorable rainy intro to A Link To The Past was only possible
with the power of the SNES.
» Soldiers take pig form in the Dark World, and you won’t see any » Climbing the mountain to Hera Tower is dangerous, thanks to a
other humans. constant rain of rocks.
HERA TOWER
QAtop the mountain, this fortress guards the final
pendant you’ll need to obtain the Master Sword.
You’ll need the Moon Pearl located here, too.
LOST WOODS
QThis is where you’ll find the Master Sword, truly
awakening Link as a hero. But you’ll need three
pendants to claim it…
HYRULE CASTLE
QThis is where Princess Zelda is being held at the
beginning of the game, and where you’ll later fight
Agahnim. The boomerang can be found here, too.
KAKARIKO VILLAGE
QMost of the residents of the town here are
terrified of Link, and some will summon guards to
attack him. You can grab a bug-catching net here.
DESERT PALACE
QThe power glove here is key to lifting heavy
rocks, which you’ll need to do to claim the
second pendant.
EASTERN PALACE
QYou can grab the all-important bow here, as
well as collecting your first pendant. You’ll have to
fight for it, though!
SAGE’S HIDEOUT
QThe man who’ll set Link on his path to heroism
is taking refuge from the forces of evil here, and is
holding onto the Pegasus Boots for you.
» Tarquin waited patiently for the corner kick, unaware that a huge number 3 was hovering menacingly above his head. » The amazed crowd looked on as two giant footballers stared each other down. Clearly, this would be a match to remember.
World Of Soccer arrived, it brought with it explains. “The fact we bothered to include interview, Jon expressed hope for the
management, player trading and more. “I 80-odd international leagues brought us Xbox Live Arcade version of the game,
still maintain that SWOS is the best player- an immense amount of loyalty.” “The last time I saw it, it looked very good.
manager game on the market,” says More recent Sensi efforts have fared I’m excited about what this version could
Jon. “I think we wanted to add a ‘world’ of less well, however. “The problem with 3D do, because it’s more traditional Sensi”
football to the original Sensi, as well, but versions of Sensi, such as Sensible Soccer
we just didn’t have time. But for SWOS, ‘98, is that it’s a very, very fast game, and o, what is it about Sensi that
we included every league we could find – the animation can’t keep up in 3D,” says keeps people playing it, and has
24,000 players, 1,500 teams. We had two Jon. “As for the recent Codemasters fans clamouring for authentic
full-time guys just researching data for us!” version… well, if there’s a problem with remakes over a decade after » “No pressure!” yelled the manager, as Gerald
prepared to take the penalty, trying to ignore the giant
Jon reckons SWOS remains the most it, it’s that it wasn’t finished properly the release of the Amiga original? “It scoreboard showing his team’s slender lead.
‘global’ game that he’s ever played, “I before it came out. It’s not a bad game, stands up on a lot of fronts,” considers
can’t think of anything else that so but Sensible Soccer is almost perfect Jon, who is now working on a brand new
comprehensively acknowledges the for what it does, and the only way you football game called Sociable Soccer. A SENSIBLE
rest of the world’s existence.” And for get that is by putting the game through “First, it’s still the only place some people ACCOLADE
In March 2007, Henry Lowood,
Jon, this is perhaps the main thing that the mill at the end, and I don’t think we will see their country mentioned in any
he is most proud of, “Sensi has become pushed it as far as we could.” Still, even game – certainly as an acknowledged curator of the History of
Science and Technology
an international game, similar to the such disappointments haven’t diminished part of the world, with living, breathing Collections at Stanford
Subbuteo I played as a child,” he proudly the appeal of the original, and during the football teams and life there, equal to us University, with academic
and every other country. Second, the researcher Matteo Bittanti,
gameplay holds up: it’s still fun – maybe a games journalist Christopher
bit basic… it certainly looks basic – but it Grant and game designers
Steve Meretzky and Warren
invites people in to pick it up quickly and Spector, formulated the ‘ten
get involved. Third, it was very successful: most important videogames
it was number one in the charts for a long of all time’, presenting the
time, and every year that it came back, it list at the Game Developers
Conference. Sensible World Of
topped the charts.” Jon also reckons the
Soccer made the list, alongside
game stands for certain values, “Not just such gaming giants as Tetris,
in gaming, I think it goes beyond gaming. Warcraft, Doom and Civilization.
I think Sensi stands for a certain era in “That is the biggest accolade
entertainment when things weren’t quite I think any of our games has
ever received, and it’s also
so in-your-face, market-led and stuffed the biggest accolade I’ve ever
down your throat until you couldn’t avoid had professionally,” says Jon.
them.” For Jon, and many others, Sensi “I mean, this is about the ten
is therefore something of a ‘game for the most important games of all
time. Also, Sensi’s from the
people’. “This all underlines why people
only European developer on the
still want the game,” says Jon. “So many list – aside, perhaps, from Tetris,
people have told me they nearly blew their which is Russian – and it’s
degree playing Sensi, or that they spent the only sports title and the
their whole teenage life playing the game. most modern game there.”
Certainly, it makes the CU
» Brian the goalie’s team-mates wondered if his heart was still in it. They felt like Sensi belonged to them, and ‘Screenstar’ seem
This was the tenth match in a row that he’d spent lying face down in the mud. that it was a part of them,” he concludes. somewhat insignificant.
T H E U LT I M AT E G U I D E T O
DEMON
LOST SOUL
IMP FORMER
HUMAN
THE MARINE
CACODEMON
CYBERDEMON
let you drop Hell’s finest in just a couple of blows. iconic weapon and one that doesn’t stop feeling
powerful until the armies of Hell start to roll out their
toughest champions.
ROCKET LAUNCHER
QWhy waste time shooting at something when
you can just blow it up outright? When you want to
leave no evidence (except for quite a lot of blood),
explosives are where it’s at.
CHAINGUN
SPIDER QPut all of that spare pistol ammo to much better
MASTERMIND use with this bullet hose of an alternative. Trust us,
it’s a lot more effective than that little pea shooter
you start off with.
BFG9000
QStep 1: aim at room full of demons. Step 2: pull
trigger. Step 3: wait. Step 4: cackle maniacally as
everything around you evaporates. Step 5: repeat as
necessary.
FORMER
HUMAN
SERGEANT
PLASMA CANNON
BARON QMelt your foes with streams of raw energy with this
OF HELL magic future gun that’s probably powered by science
in some way. We don’t really care how it works. We’re
just glad it does.
PLAYSTATION
QRather than a straight port, PlayStation got an odd
mixtape of most of the original levels and a bunch of others,
including most of Doom II. It was well received and runs just
fine, even adding a little of its own visual pizazz in places.
SNES 3DO
QIt’s a minor miracle (read: clever SuperFX trickery) that QWith performance that struggles even when windowed,
Nintendo’s 16-bit machine can even run Doom at all. Visual the most dangerous enemies sadly absent, and a bizarre
fidelity, framerate and sprite work take a hit, but it still slowed-down rerecording of the great soundtrack, this is
manages to arrive almost feature and content complete... considered one of Doom’s weakest ports with good reason.
IOS
QIf you’ve ever wanted to play Doom with touch controls,
you’re a buffoon. The hardware’s up to the task but the floaty
controls just feel all wrong. Not that it matters anyway – it’s
never likely to be updated to be compatible with iOS11 now.
PC9801
QThe differences between western and eastern PC
hardware weren’t kind to Doom. Sound is weak, although it
But of course, as your own arsenal grows more
also struggles more in the performance department than
powerful, so do the minions of the darkness. Doom
the PC versions we got over here.
manages to do an awful lot with a relatively limited
pool of enemies, each level ramping up the pace and
escalating challenge as you edge closer to the exit.
It has to do this by design, since death at any point
flings you back to the start of the map and strips you » Despite being set on Mars, there’s a certain element of Gothic
of all your weapons and ammo. You’re back to square design in Doom’s visual style.
one and suddenly, those early rooms packed with
zombies and Imps that you melted with hot laser Id’s second masterstroke was to identify the
death first time around don’t seem quite so easy. Later popularity of modding around Wolfenstein and to
levels mitigate this a little by placing a decent weapon build Doom with this in mind. With more widespread
upgrade near the start, but it’s usually something a availability and awareness (and again, greater ease of
rung or two below what you could have had at that sharing as the internet rose in prominence) came even
point if you’d managed to stay in one piece – a cruel more love for this aspect of the game, with thousands
but crucial risk/reward mechanic there to make sure of maps, mods, conversions and much more besides
XBOX you respect every encounter and never let yourself get flooding online message boards and FTP sites, and
QOnly available as part of the Doom III special edition, this too swept up in the frenzied pace of the action. otherwise exchanged between avid Doom fans. This
port is exactly what you’d expect from newer hardware – a embracing of user-generated content also had the
near-perfect copy of the PC original, albeit lacking the oom’s masterful game design wasn’t knock-on effect of kickstarting the speedrunning scene
potential for user-made maps and mods. the only factor behinds its wild success, as we know it, with skilled players using in-game
though – id had a few more tricks up its command line tools to record and compare demos of
sleeve, both built on similar ground to their fastest runs. This functionality was pretty heavily
techniques employed in taking Wolfenstein 3D buried in Doom but evolved in subsequent id games
to market. The shareware release of the game was and culminated with Quake, released even further into
the most widely influential of the two, giving away the the internet boom and spawning dedicated speedrun
game’s entire first episode, Knee Deep In The Dead, sites that are still running to this day.
and encouraging fans to share it with friends and Doom didn’t just cement the framework of the solo
colleagues and buy unlock keys to upgrade to the full first-person shooter – it established the entire package,
game if they liked what they saw. This led to Doom with its entertaining deathmatch multiplayer mode
going viral years before going viral was even a thing, quickly becoming a LAN hit and later evolving into one
with the hot new game finding its way onto machines of the first examples of the genre where online play
in IT labs, universities and offices around the world. was possible. Truly one of the most important and
PLAYSTATION 3 This model had worked pretty well for Wolfenstein, influential games of all time, Doom is the keystone
QAvailable either as part of Doom 3 BFG Edition or via the but Doom took it to the next level, the game such a that supports the weight of the entire FPS genre as
Doom Classic Complete bundle on PSN, these versions are, step forward that everyone wanted a piece of it, and it we know it, and an alternate timeline where it never
predictably, extremely faithful to the original. Amazing what was perfectly timed to catch the rise of home internet happened – or where it did but in some completely
2006 hardware can do with a 1993 game... availability while still able to be shared, traded and even different form where perhaps you could talk to the
copied as before. For once, copying that floppy was onsters – would make for fascinating viewing. It’s
something we were actively encouraged to do. impossible to know how different things would be
without the influence of this nigh-timeless classic,
but we don’t really need to know. All we need to
know is that it did happen, that it was (and still) truly
magnificent, and that it’s still happening – following a
2016 reboot that couldn’t have been more in keeping
with the original’s tone and breakneck pace and an
upcoming follow-up in Doom Eternal, it’s wonderful
to see the Doom legacy still at 200 per cent health a
quarter of a century down the line.
» This opening sequence was one of the first shots Westwood filmed. The only reason it’s in
silhouette was because the developer was still learning to use chroma key techniques.
COMMAND &
CONQUER 101
QBuild a base, gather
» C&C ’s cutscenes certainly hold up well. Westwood’s drive for
resources, recruit an better storytelling helped it make fantastic CG video.
army and destroy the
enemy - that’s C&C in a
nutshell. The emphasis is
on building the right units We were just too
to counteract the threats
that you might come up aspirational to take
against, controlling them
with a cursor to issue
Dune II and just iterate on
commands. Base building
focuses on a tiered
it, we wanted to be much
system to unlock more
powerful units.
bigger and much bolder
Louis Castle
hese days it’s impossible to really think of founders of Westwood Studios. “I think it was even
Westwood Studios as anything other than called Swords And Sorcery, and it was going to be a
‘that RTS developer’. While its former real-time strategy game.” Louis tells us of its origins
days were certainly spent expanding on with a notable indifference, but then of course these
the franchise it became known for, there were days the genre term is a lot more familiar; back then
a number of years, games and genres the PC the acronym ‘real-time strategy’ hadn’t even been
developer tackled long before it found its niche. coined, let alone entered the mainstream
There’s no ignoring the significance Command & consciousness. “We had done a few strategy
Conquer has had, however, if not for the company games for SSI,” states Louis, “and we had done
itself then for the entire games industry as a this Eye Of The Beholder series which was a role-
whole. It really is a big deal. playing game series that was real-time as well.
» Kane’s appearance in the
The game essentially created a genre and went So we had taken these very complicated rules of Brotherhood of Nod missions
on to defend its reign against a multitude of a Dungeons & Dragons game and distilled them was expertly handled, but it
was his charisma and acting
competitors from the likes of Warcraft and Total down into a real-time role-playing game.” Louis that turned actor Joe Kucan
Annihilation, to Age Of Empires and Stronghold. adds that Westwood was “all about real-time at into the future mainstay of
But the story of Command & Conquer began the time” and so it would aim to combine its past Command & Conquer.
many years earlier, with Westwood Studios cutting experience, allowing for the work on its own
its teeth on work with SSI. IP – the fantasy-themed RTS named Swords And
“Command & Conquer started with us working Sorcery – to begin in earnestness.
on a game that was going to be a swords and The early start on its prototype would be deflected,
sorcery game,” says Louis Castle, one of the co- however, as the company came to work with Virgin
COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND &
CONQUER CONQUER: CONQUER: CONQUER: CONQUER: CONQUER: CONQUER: CONQUER:
PLAYFORMS: COVERT RED ALERT TIBERIAN SUN RED ALERT 2 YURI’S REVENGE RENEGADE GENERALS
Various OPERATIONS PLAYFORMS: PLAYFORMS: PC PLAYFORMS: PLAYFORMS: PC PLAYFORMS: PLAYFORMS: PC
YEAR: 1995 PLAYFORMS: PC, PlayStation YEAR: 1999 PC YEAR: 2001 PC YEAR: 2003
Various YEAR: 1996 YEAR: 1996 YEAR: 2000 YEAR: 2002
DIFFERENT
PLAYABLE SIDES
5 The commando
unit was purposely
powerful, and often
to focus on your assault.
INSTALLATION
Real-time strategy
SCREEN
2 It was novel for there
to be distinct sides to
play as, especially with
only given in single unit
quantities. It made them
far more valuable than the 9 There was a time –
when Windows became
units that differed from one rest of your forces, and dominant over DOS – where
another. GDI’s units were was a precursor to hero installation screens were » The opening mission for GDI
often slower and stronger, characters and unique made to be a little more is thrilling – even now – with
while Nod favoured speedy stage-specific units that jazzy and in keeping with clever scripting on Westwood’s
part to make it feel like the
was going to be the next thing. And so skirmishes with cheaper – we’d later see in a number the game being installed; Normandy landing.
that’s what, I think, made it fun.” but weaker – units. of RTS games. Command & Conquer
As the team learnt more about new did this first, theming its
military tech, a clearer vision for the GUERRILLA KILL COMMAND installation screen around
game began to form. “It was mostly MISSIONS
magazines and periodicals,” says Louis
of the team’s research, “and from a 3 Despite heavily
employing the idea of
6 In addition to the
context-driven clicks,
Command & Conquer also
a military computer and
even having it voiced by the
in-game AI assistant ‘E.V.A.’ » Of the early RTS games,
technology point of view we looked constructing a base and added the ability to hold – the one who repeats “unit C&C was best suited to
at the white papers. We were in the building an unstoppable the Ctrl key to force a unit lost” over and over again. micromanagement gameplay
– or directing specific units or
libraries and subscribing to all these force, Command & Conquer to attack. In this way you groups of units to better counter
publications just so that we would get also introduced guerrilla could create kill zones with SELECTED UNIT enemy forces.
a sense of what the people who were missions. These levels gave artillery, destroy walls HEALTH
really into military kit were thinking was
going to be coming. So we assumed
that anything that was talked about as
you a specific set of units
to use to survive the level,
often in a bid to teach you a
and fences and even attack
your own units. 10 Dragging to select
units featured in
Warcraft, but it required
possibly coming was already here, and GROUP a button press. C&C used
that was basically what inspired the SHORTCUTS a permanent drag-to- » --------------------------
------------------------------------
units – so the Orca was the VTOL aircraft
that was very sketchily talked about and
was maybe plausible and Aaron just ran
7 Issuing group shortcuts
is a key aspect of RTS
games these days, but
select option, and, since
controlling large groups
was so important, the ability
with it. The whole idea of the Mobile C&C introduced the ability to see all units’ health was
Command Centre, that was actually new unit or means of attack. to save groups of units so included by Westwood.
novel – I don’t mean novel in games, but CENTREING that they could be quickly
out in the world.” It was important for VIEWPOINTS accessed and ordered
Westwood to create a military universe
that was believable, so grounded in
reality that it felt like something a real
4 Though Warcraft was
heavy on the keyboard
shortcuts these were for
about at any time. This was
necessary to micromanage
the movement and attacks
military force might actually use. “In fact spells and construction. of certain units to better
we even got a call from the US military,” C&C smartly enabled counter (or defend)
laughs Louis. “They were like, ‘Who
» [PC] The pre-mission map was a
neat little touch, adding to the sense
of your chosen faction’s progress
against the opposition.
COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND & COMMAND &
CONQUER 3: CONQUER 3: KANE’S CONQUER: CONQUER: CONQUER 4: CONQUER: TIBERIUM
TIBERIUM WARS WRATH RED ALERT 3 RED ALERT 3 – TIBERIAN TWILIGHT ALLIANCES
PLAYFORMS: PC, PLAYFORMS: PLAYFORMS: UPRISING PLAYFORMS: PLAYFORMS:
Xbox 360, Mac OS PC, Xbox 360 Various YEAR: 2008 PLAYFORMS: PC Web browser
YEAR: 2007 YEAR: 2008 Various YEAR: 2009 YEAR: 2010 YEAR: 2012
DEVELOPER
HIGHLIGHTS
EYE OF THE TANK RUSH GO COMMANDO FROM AFAR SNEAK IN KITING
BEHOLDER QIt has since become QThese units are the most QUsing some long-range QA sort of spin on the tank QThese days it’d be tricky to
SYSTEM: DOS synonymous with RTS powerful in the game by far, artillery is a great tactic rush, the Brotherhood Of successfully kite an enemy’s
YEAR: 1991 games yet while the idea of and though they can’t endure since it’ll let you ruin certain Nod has the Stealth Tank unit force into an ambush or turret
LEGEND OF the tank rush wasn’t core to excessive amounts of attacks structures or units before that could sneak into a base traps you’ve set up, but it’s
KYRANDIA PICTURED the gameplay – you’d need – or, indeed, Nod’s infamous the enemy even knows undetected. They are weaker still a viable strategy in C&C –
SYSTEM: DOS a mixture of tank types, flamethrower units – a single what’s hit them. These units than GDI’s equivalents, but especially against the AI. Get
YEAR: 1992 for example – the strategy commando could still wreak will obviously need to be the Brotherhood’s units give their attention and in many
THE LION KING hasn’t really changed to this havoc among an enemy base protected, however, since a great recon advantage that cases – when the AI feels it
SYSTEM: Mega Drive day: build a lot of armoured before he was finally put it won’t take much to find means you can more easily can survive – it’ll simply follow
YEAR: 1994 vehicles, then roll them all into down. The unit would return in your heavy firepower and pick holes in their defenses you to your reinforments and
an enemy base. future instalments. decimate it. and exploit them. ultimately its death.
are you talking to?’ and we said, C&C would be a “great strategy game”.
‘We’re just making shit up.’ We said they Elements like the new units and menus,
were more than welcome to come and the cutscenes and even the context-
visit the studios, and they sent a person sensitive cursor control all improved
out to come and look at everything and, on the concepts set up by Dune II.
» It was possible to come up for a brief period of time, we were doing “We got the context-sensitive mouse
with your own strategies when
tackling the tougher missions, concept work for them. We did a few working,” says Louis, adding that it
which felt more rewarding when drawings for new weapon systems that was inspired through Westwood’s own
they succeeded.
they were thinking of using – but it was game Kyrandia. “There we wanted to
just too much aggravation for the money make a point-and-click adventure game
that they would pay. It was pretty funny: and context-sensitive just made it much
we imagined what the future would be, easier to play.”
we visualised it and the US military came But those in-game cutscenes really
to us and said, ‘Hey can you help us with helped make the game standout. While
» -------------------------- some presentations?’” other developers were beginning to play many of those people were Westwood » The build queue
------------------------------------ was adapted on
around with storyline elements through Studio employees: “We had Erin consoles to allow
s integral to the experience introductory scenes, Westwood really running in front of a white sheet and scrolling through
as the story was, it was pushed the boat out by utilising both used chroma keying to create the scene the list of items
and was perhaps
important to get that CG and live-action videos to bookend with soldiers running along the deck of a the only way it
gameplay just right, after each of the game’s missions. “We had ship at sunset. The guy who was doing improved over the
DOS equivalent.
all the idea of an RTS was still very Erin Powell who really wanted to be a exercises at the beginning of C&C was
» Missions were smartly new and Westwood knew there were moviemaker – and he ended up going another one of our artists, the ones who
designed to introduce new units
or structures, advertising and improvements that needed to be on to make movies – and he was really are on the skateboards and the streets
utilising their abilities in certain made. The developer looked to Dune II into 3DS Max and then we had a couple – well, we literally went out onto the
ways to teach you how to play.
for inspiration of what needed to be of guys like Rick Parks and some others freeway outside of Las Vegas and filmed
changed, and what should remain the who were really into Lightwave and a skateboarding scene for an energy
same. “We wanted a catalyst for this so there was a bit of rivalry between drink without getting any permits or
World War that we wanted to create, the two. They would go back and forth anything – and it was like, ‘This is totally
and so that’s how tiberium was born; trying to outdo each other making these ghetto.’ We had a great time.”
you know, it’s a space-born element amazing 3D sequences.” While much It wasn’t until Westwood brought in
that came to Earth and changed of what would be created would be far a man named Joe Kucan that the quality
everything. So that was similar to the too intensive for the hardware of the of these scenes really took off, however.
spice [in Dune].” Everything else was time to run it, Louis claims that it could “Joe Kucan actually came in acting and
built from scratch to ensure – as be repurposed for advertising. This directing all of our film sequences,”
Louis puts it – that tug-o-war of one-upmanship led to says Louis, “he did a fantastic job. A
further and further advances until, lot of what made C&C what it is falls
eventually, it was decided to squarely on Joe’s shoulders as it were,
record live-action footage he wasn’t just our talent director he
with real people. And was also in charge of casting and of
course he played Kane. So we got super,
super lucky with Joe.” With proper
actors coming in to play the different
main characters, C&C was able to
really create a cinematic feeling to the
game, making the divide between GDI
MORE GAMES
TO TRY
Still need a real-time strategy
fix? Look no further than these
WARCRAFT II
QIt was the second game in the Warcraft
» The N64 port used 3D models, though the missions were
the same. Here’s the GDI starting mission. series that really proved that the franchise
was a force that needed to be reckoned
and the Brotherhood Of Nod feel all with, which was itself followed by
the more tangible to its players. “We Warcraft III – a
wanted to make sure that the choice legendary and
between GDI and Nod wasn’t just a innovative RTS
choice of A or B or a racial choice – we » The styles of GDI and Nod affected everything, from the design of structures, the types of weapons available. game that solidified
wanted it to be philosophical. So are you Blizzard’s success.
about socialism? Nod was about the
uprising of individuals, there’s too much
concentrated wealth, ‘The big countries
We literally went out onto the freeway DUNE II
QThough it may be a little clunky to play
can’t push us around’, ‘Everybody has outside of Las Vegas and filmed a – since many of C&C ’s input innovations
the right to self-governance’ – there’s hadn’t yet been developed – it’s still a
some important things inside of Nod that skateboarding scene for an energy drink fascinating look at the earliest glimpse
I think are important concepts. But on of modern RTS.
the GDI side it’s like, ‘Oh, well, we’re the without getting any permits or anything Westwood might
good guys’, but they’re pretty awful too. Louis Castle not have known
You’re going to use your military might it, but this game
to enforce your will onto other countries, GDI’s strength was in its defenses – tells us of the decision and how it was created a genre.
what right do you have to do that? It’s with stronger armour across the board chosen for expediency to release a
about what makes it the right of the – Nod made up for it with speed and version of the game with multiplayer TOTAL ANNIHILATION
West to go into these Middle Eastern brutality, in particular the flamethrower available. “I think that was one of our QThere are few traditional RTS games
countries and take their resources.” unit. This balance was necessary if biggest mistakes as a company, we that have ever achieved the popularity of
Westwood Studios was to release a should’ve built our own online platform C&C, Blizzard’s Warcraft and Starcraft
he two different sides gave game perfect for multiplayer, but sadly – we paid for it again and again. I wish and Age Of Empires, but Total Annihilation
Westwood a chance to that’s where the RTS stumbled. “The we had bitten the bullet and just gone is certainly among
integrate a little colour to the problem was we were ahead of our off and done our own communications the elite few that
units and structures, with time,” states Louis. “There weren’t system, but sadly Westwood Online have. It’s 3D engine
GDI donning a more clinical, militaristic really defined protocols for doing was built upon the framework of was a revelation at
style while Nod felt considerably more internet-based play and such. The game software that wasn’t designed to do the time.
ragtag. There were differences in unit was built back in 1993 and 1994 before what it did.”
playstyles, too, and while balance was a Windows 95 had come out – which Not that any of that really mattered, STRONGHOLD
concern Westwood still felt the need to helped standardise the internet.” Built in the end. For all its flaws surrounding QThough the concept was familiar with
offer up those distinct flavours. Where off the codebase for IRC chat, Louis multiplayer C&C was a thoroughly Stronghold – build a base, gather resources,
compelling title, whether you played command military units – it offered such
it only in single-player or multiplayer. a unique style of play that it stood out
Releasing in 1995 for DOS with the Gold among many other
version – adding multiplayer and various RTS competitors.
improvements – in 1996. The game Its castle building
even went on to release worldwide ports features were of
to PlayStation, Sega Saturn and N64 particular note.
throughout 1996 and 1999, with C&C
becoming a smash hit – selling well over AGE OF EMPIRES II
3 million copies. Dune II might have been QHere was a game that took RTS gameplay
the birthplace of modern RTS, but it was and added its a twist on the base building
C&C that not only standardised it, but mechanics; the idea was to progress
popularised it too. It went on to establish through the epochs to unlock options. The
one of gaming’s most reputed franchises series covered a number of titles but it was
across three Tiberium Wars, three AOE II that many remember fondly.
Soviet invasions in the Red Alert series
and even the series’ first fully 3D RTS
in Command & Conquer: Generals – all
the while duking it out with Blizzard and
its set of RTS games. While Westwood
Studios and C&C have since fallen at the
hands of Electronic Arts at least we’ll
» The limitations of the N64 cartridges meant that though it could handle 3D graphics it didn’t have the space to store the always have this truly important heritage
videos, with mission briefings using still images with audio. to look back on.
Ukiki Snufit
Koopa Trooper Chuckya Boo
Moneybags
ow do you introduce a
brand new concept but
Spiny Amp still retain your identity
Mr Blzzard and heritage? It's a
tricky thing to do, and a task that
has tripped up countless games
developers over the years. But for
Nintendo the formula has always
been simple – take an old property,
find a way to update it with new
technology, and reintroduce it to
the market. The Nintendo 64’s 3D
games were most definitely a brand
new concept, and Nintendo‘s ace
Goomba Pokey Mario was the man for the job.
Of course, it’s weird to think of
Bullet Bill Super Mario Bros as an “old” series,
despite its longevity. The plumber’s
adventures have been ever-present
for decades, after all. However, it
was a series that slowed down
Cool Cool Mountain Big Boo’s Haunt Hazy Maze Cave Lethal Lava Land
QMario gets a warm reception QMario’s ghostly persecutors are QThis subterranean stage is QBowser gets to show off his inner
from the penguins in this chilly back, and once they take over the filled with the worst kinds of egomaniac here, as he’s made a
stage. The cosy mountain lodge you castle’s courtyard you’ll be able to nasties – Monty Moles, Snufits and gigantic sliding puzzle featuring his
start off next to hides a dangerous visit their spooky home. Like with Swoopers. This is also where you’ll own image. Of course, he’s done
ice slide, which forms the basis of Super Mario World’s Ghost House first encounter the Metal Cap, an this in an environment where he
many star missions – you’ll race on stages, puzzling is the order of the item that turns Mario into a shinier, feels at home, which means you
it and even hunt red coins on it. day here. heavier version of his usual self. should expect hot lava.
Shifting Sand Land Dire Dire Docks Snow Man’s Land Wet-Dry World
QThis dusty desert features QThis area contains the pride of QThis freezing stage is even colder QIf it seems like the water level
everything you’d expect, including Bowser’s naval fleet, an enormous than Cool Cool Mountain, and you’ll is never consistent in Wet-Dry
a pyramid and some hazardous submarine! Who knew he even find more penguins here. Less World, watch where you jump
twisters, as well as the Pokeys that had a naval fleet in the first place? friendly are the Mr Blizzards and into the level’s painting – the
seem to inhabit dry areas within the You need to visit this stage to fight the icy Bully. There’s a lovely igloo higher you go, the higher the
Mushroom Kingdom. As you might Bowser a second time, but it’s here, but our favourite bit of the water. There’s a neat town area
imagine, the pyramid is central to worth it to meet one of the game’s level involves riding a Koopa shell here that seems to have been
many of this world’s stars. most memorable companions. to grab red coins. abandoned to the floods.
Tall Tall Mountain Tiny-Huge Island Tick Tock Clock Rainbow Ride
QAs the name suggests, this rocky QSize matters in this stage, as QThe trickiest timepiece of all time QMario goes sky-high
course is a hefty beast to scale, our hero encounters two portraits hosts some fiendish challenges, as for the last of the game’s
and you’ll need to do so for your to enter it. If he visits the small well as pendulums of impressive regular stages, hopping
first star. At the lower levels, you’ll one, Mario will be comparatively scale. It’s also the area that most between floating islands
encounter big mushrooms, and one enormous, but on the large island clearly illustrates the difference on magic carpets. You
of the stars involves relying on a he’ll be tormented by enormous between the game’s two major won’t find a wing cap here,
primate to lead the way. Good job Goombas. Both sizes of island are versions – the DS version has been so Mario won’t be doing any
he’s not from the Kong family! required to gain certain stars. extensively reworked. flying of his own.
Metal-Head Stomp On Big Boo’s Balcony Wing Mario Over 100 Coins Somewhere Over
Mario Can Move! The Thwomp Course: The Rainbow Course: The Rainbow
Course: Course: Big Boo’s Haunt Course: Rainbow Ride Course:
Hazy Maze Cave Tick Tock Clock QMake your way to the third Peach’s Castle Q100 coins? That’s a goal Rainbow Ride
QAs Metal Mario, you need QThere’s a lot of tricky timed floor of the house in order to QYou need to work out a route in every level, but it’s a QGo find the Bob-Omb Buddy
to follow a brown path across platforming to do before you have a scrap with your foe, – you’ve got access to cannons particularly nasty one in (he’s in the coin maze, where
the floor of the underground reach the Thwomp of the title, Big Boo. You can beat him by and the wing cap. Remember Rainbow Ride because death you found the third star) and
lake in order to avoid slipping and you don’t need to attack hitting him from behind. Then that Mario can fly straight resets the counter, rendering then get to the cannon on the
off course. The trick here is to it – you just need to hitch a ride you need to make your way to through the transparent all your progress pointless. The airship. Now shoot towards
go quickly – you’ve only got a on it in order to get the height the roof of the house to claim clouds, and stop off for new only advice for this one is to be the far-off platform – aim well
limited time as Metal Mario. needed to reach the star. the star. wing caps periodically. very careful indeed… or die!
DS Excess
The story didn’t end
Pyramid Puzzle Blast To The Lonely Can The Eel Come Elevator Tour on the N64…
Course: Mushroom Out To Play? In The Volcano If you have a genre-defining 3D
Shifting Sand Land Course: Course: Course: platform game under your belt from
QIt’s a long and arduous trek Tall Tall Mountain Jolly Roger Bay Lethal Lava Land the debut of your 3D-capable home
for this star, as you need to QThis one’s a real pain to QHang around Unagi’s hidey- QTricky platforming is the console, it seems almost silly to leave
find five very particular coins obtain – there are lots of ways hole to lure him out, then catch order of the day. Get into the it lying dormant when you introduce
in this puzzling level. Two are you can do it, but we feel the the star on his tail. The key is volcano, then prepare for 3D to another new market. Thus,
on platforms near a sand duct, best is to find the portal in the timing – if you don’t move as precision platforming – you’ll Nintendo brought Super Mario 64 to the
and the other three are located mushroom clump, get to the soon as he does, you’ll likely need to recognise when the Nintendo DS when the handheld system
where the sand moves to the cannon and shoot your way need to surface for air. checkered platforms are about arrived in stores at the tail end of 2004.
first floor. to victory. to drop into the lava. However, Super Mario 64 DS was far
from a straightforward conversion – it
actually ended up being an enhanced
remake of sorts, with changes to quite
a few aspects of the game.
game ever to receive a maximum Developers around the world aren’t The biggest addition was the
score of ten from Edge. If there was shy about admitting that the vast inclusion of three new characters –
a single blotch on the otherwise majority of 3D videogames from Luigi, Wario and Yoshi, each with their
spotless record of universal acclaim the time owe something to Super own special attributes for jumping,
that Super Mario 64 received in its Mario 64, whether they drew power and speed. The game also
day, it was that the camera system inspiration from its mission-based includes new missions for a total of
was not quite perfect. That didn’t structure, Mario’s movement, the 150 Power Stars, up from 120 in the
matter a jot as the game was an camera design or even the game’s original, and some of the game's
absolutely enormous hit, selling fun hub world. It’s an astonishing graphical elements have been updated
11.62 million copies – or to put it accomplishment, especially for the new hardware.
another way, it was bought by over for a launch game – a perfect Super Mario 64 DS wasn’t critically
a third of N64 owners. demonstration of its hardware, a successful as the original, in large part
revolution in game design and a due to the digital controls players had to
n fact, the only problem for best-seller. Games like Super Mario make do with, but it was a hit in sales
Nintendo was topping it. Super 64 don’t come along every day, or terms. 11.06 million copies have
Mario 64 ended up being the even once in a generation. Super been sold, putting it only slightly
best-selling game for the N64, Mario 64 might well be the kind of behind the N64 game.
as a sequel spent years in the works forward jump for videogames that
but ultimately never made it into comes along once in
full development. The eventual a lifetime.
Gamecube sequel Super Mario
Sunshine was a great game in its
own right, but not the revolutionary
experience that its predecessor had
been, and even the astonishingly
creative Super Mario Galaxy
borrows much of its game design
from Mario’s first foray into 3D.
Beating Super Mario 64 was a
nice problem to have though,
especially since everyone
else was playing catch-up.
GAMES TO PLAY
BEFORE YOU DIE
Steven Spielberg’s Jaws fits development culture that fostered creativity, was
ultimately responsible for this deservedly
into it somewhere, as Samuel celebrated RPG.
At the 1995 SIGGRAPH computer graphics
Roberts discovers… convention in Los Angeles, the company formerly
known as Square presented an interactive demo
to the world that showcased its Final Fantasy
OF FINAL FANTASY VII oversee their conception. This was also the first
project where Tetsuya Nomura would be the
sole character designer, who, having contributed
Not featuring Cloud in a dress work to Final Fantasy V and VI, replaced Yoshitaka
Amano from the previous titles. A Famitsu
interview with Nomura (translated by Andriasang)
That death… see Nanaki and his children
You knew it would be this running through a canyon, Zack and Cloud escape explains that Cloud was essentially his creation,
before emerging onto a vista yet Kitase told us that determining both the
– shocking, sad and brilliant
that shows an abandoned
Nibelheim looks and personalities of every one of Final
on the part of the Squaresoft In this flashback, the events
team, a certain character is Midgar, overgrown and of the Nibelheim incident Fantasy VII’s iconic cast of characters was
murdered by Sephiroth at free of the technology that are fully disclosed. We “largely the responsibility of [Nomura]”. It
the climax of the game’s first drained the life of the planet. learn that Cloud borrowed marked a sea change for the series. Gone were
act. It’s notable because it Zack’s identity, and that the primarily medieval, dreamy heroes of Amano,
is so brutal, but this brave The President is dead this member of SOLDIER and in came a fresh, exciting array of heroes that
move to take the character When Kitase alludes to Jaws, was gunned down by would have an extensive impact on Japanese
out of the story meant Final he’s referring to this scene Shinra outside Midgar. This popular culture – not to mention birth a string of
Fantasy VII would be forever where the player reaches the sequence is made all the ideas that would be appropriated into character
remembered by players. top of Shinra Headquarters more sad when you’ve earlier clichés, like spiky hair and giant swords. Amano
and finds the President encountered Zack’s parents would still contribute character sketches and the
Omnislash dead, impaled by Sephiroth’s in the town of Gongaga,
iconic meteor logo, however.
The entire game builds to katana. It’s a brilliant way where both his mother
to bring the villain into the The immense back story for these heroes
this final conflict between and father are completely
Cloud and Sephiroth, story, having him lurk just unaware of his tragic fate. and villains was fine-tuned by scenario writer
where the hero slices down out of reach. Kazushige Nojima, while many of the actual
the grey-haired villain Emerald Weapon narrative ideas came from a unique exercise that
in spectacular fashion, Summoning Knights of swims out of the once again showed Squaresoft’s experimental
using his final Limit Break, the Round darkness approach. “When designing the game, we asked
Omnislash. All right, so it Knights of the Round was all staff on the Final Fantasy team to submit
Late into the third disc,
isn’t necessarily the first time easily the most lavish possible episode ideas for character back stories
heading into the ocean
you use Omnislash, but it’s summon spell in the entire and created the overall stories by putting these
with the submarine
still a thrilling component of series up until that point. together,” says Kitase. “It was the scenario writer,
gives the player a few
the game’s conclusion. The animation for the attack, Mr Nojima, who managed to put together a
surprises, including the
Ultimate End, sees 13 knights final whereabouts of the complete and detailed story from this massive
battering the enemy with
The Weapons emerge a slew of extraordinarily
Turks, Shinra’s agents pool of ideas, a process that was much like
out of the crater whose paths cross yours putting together a jigsaw puzzle.”
powerful moves; a just throughout. That’s before
Sephiroth unleashes This exercise led to an intriguing collection
reward for the exhausting you see bubbles emerge
Weapons on the planet, giant process of breeding a Gold of stories across the cast of heroes, with one
boss-style creatures that, out of the black, though – main plot driving it all: the planet’s impending
Chocobo to get it. when the fearsome Emerald
when put together, look like destruction at the hands of Sephiroth, where
something out of a Japanese Weapon drifts towards you in
monster movie. The idea
Sephiroth walks into terrifying fashion. Brr! It’s an
he would harness the world’s natural defences
– known as the Lifestream – for himself. The
of the optional super-boss the flames absolute bitch to kill, too.
cast of Final Fantasy VII, including the tortured,
is a Final Fantasy staple – The highlight of the entire
Nibelheim flashback, told unfocused Barret; last of an ancient race Aeris
here, they’re made a key
from the village of Kalm
Getting the Highwind (or Aerith – a misspelling in the game’s
turning point in the story, in Final Fantasy as a series is
another example of Square’s early on in the story, is an translation, as you probably know); and down-
ingenious in the way it lets
pioneering FMVs. eye-opening cinematic where and-out pilot Cid Highwind; as well as more
you manoeuvre around the
Sephiroth turns away world. When you get the esoteric faces like the tomb-dwelling, optional
500 years later… from Cloud into the flames, Highwind, you can go almost companion Vincent Valentine, struck a chord with
After the credits, we’re after the twisted warrior anywhere in the entire world, gamers, as their stories dovetailed skilfully with
treated to this brilliant but burns the town to the a gloriously freeing reminder the main narrative.
somehow chilling scene, 500 ground. Perhaps the most of the diversity of locations These small tales, even Sephiroth’s, traced
years into the future. We visually recognisable part within the game. back to the all-encompassing Shinra plot device
of the game.
– this corporation that is draining the planet of its
resources. Given that Final Fantasy VII was made
in the mid-Nineties, you could draw obvious
parallels with the real-world environmental issues
THIS PLANET AS MY VESSEL With insight from Final Fantasy VII’s art director, Yusuke
Naora, we pick out key locations from the story
The Northern
Crater DEVELOPER COMMENTARY
DEVELOPER COMMENTARY
Forgotten Capital Midgar
”
battleship and industrial furnaces.
Rocket Costa
Town Midgar
Del Sol
Corel
Nibelheim
Junon
Gold
Cosmo Saucer
Canyon
DEVELOPER COMMENTARY
Gongaga
Cosmo Canyon
“ The concept of this
area had been finalised as
a valley and observatory DEVELOPER COMMENTARY
like the Grand Canyon, so
I had the designers put in Gold Saucer
more of a medieval feel,
with fantasy elements
such as the clockwork ‘cosmic spheres’
“ As there were a lot of mini-games in the title, I
set the question of, ‘What would an amusement
park in this world be like?’ and made sure
planetarium and the gyroscope compass.
” everyone had fun when designing this area.
”
Junon Nibelheim Gongaga Corel
A port town that is also a As more observant players will This sad little town is the Barret’s hometown-turned-post-
military base, Junon is attacked know, after Nibelheim was burnt location of an exploded Mako Shinra-wreck, this is where you
later on by Sapphire Weapon, down by Sephiroth, the entire reactor, with the citizens can catch the lift to the far more
where the giant Junon cannon town was rebuilt by Shinra and mourning their lost. Like a jolly Gold Saucer. There’s a ruddy
ceremoniously takes it down. the citizens replaced with its sister town of Nibelheim, in superb chase sequence here later
employees in a cover-up. a strange way. in the game, too.
The Northern Crater
This is where Jenova landed Costa Del Sol Wutai Rocket Town
about 2,000 years before the start An utterly bizarre, Spanish-style A more culturally differentiated Built around a launchpad, this is
of the story – a creepy, expansive holiday town with a relaxed locale to everywhere else, Wutai where one of the more interesting
crater where the climax of the atmosphere, players could later is the sole town on the far characters, foul-mouthed pilot
game takes place. buy an overpriced house in this western continent, and marks Cid Highwind, hails from. It’s
pleasantly different part of the the only location where the a cheerful moment when they
world map. heroes team up with the Turks. finally get the rocket into space.
The Anatomy of
SWORD
& SORCERY
Though there is a whole load of swords for you to
He carries a big sword and equip to Cloud that you gather throughout the game,
always seems miserable, but just none are as iconic as his famous starting weapon, the
how much do you know about gigantic Buster Sword. It’d never work in real life, of
Final Fantasy poster boy Cloud? course, but then never would Cloud’s unfeasibly pointy
hair. Besides, Final Fantasy VII is a game about a
half-alien madman trying to destroy the planet being
stopped by a magic wielding team that includes
a man with a gun for an arm and a talking cat.
In other words, forget about realism and
embrace that badass sword.
TROUBLE
& STRIFE
A poster boy for angst, Cloud’s sullen demeanour
early on in Final Fantasy VII has earned him a not-
undeserved reputation as being a bit of an arse.
As the game progresses, however, Cloud softens
up a little as we get to know his backstory and the
arrogant, uncaring front he puts up is broken down.
Cloud begins as a former member of elite military
unit SOLDIER, working as a mercenary for
freedom fighters AVALANCHE. However,
there’s more to Cloud’s past than
meets the eye…
SUPERSTAR
As well as being the protagonist of Final
Fantasy VII, Cloud has made a number of
JACK OF other appearances. He appeared in the Final
Fantasy themed fighting game Dissidia Final
ALL TRADES Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts
Cloud is unquestionably the best character in 2, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Chocobo
Final Fantasy VII from a gameplay perspective, in Racing, amongst others. He’s even made
part because he’s an all-rounder with high stats in all an appearance in a film (albeit a rubbish
categories. He’s got good attack power, meaning you’ll one) in the form of Final Fantasy VII:
probably want him in the front row to dish out damage. Advent Children.
But he’s also the second best magic caster after Aeris,
so you can focus on magic with him if you choose. If
that’s not enough, Cloud’s got the most powerful
Limit Breaks in the game, his signature
move and final Limit Break being the
devastating Omnislash.
21 years ago, first-person shooters were for PC gamers and Rare made very
pretty platformers. Then GoldenEye came along and changed everything. We
gather together four of the original development team – Dave Doak, Steve
Ellis, Karl Hilton and Graeme Norgate – to tell us how they turned a film
licence for a mysterious new console into the definitive console FPS.
Paul Drury plugs in the joypads…
» Proof of the amount of work the boys put into GoldenEye’s presentation. saw we had put in Connery, Dalton and
Moore as well as Brosnan. We thought
IN THE KNOW
it would be great for marketing and
even some screenshots went out with
Connery in his white tuxedo. Then an
edict came down from on high and we
had to get rid of the other Bonds, so
on the day we had to take them out we
played this epic deathmatch – first to a PUBLISHER: NINTENDO
hundred kills – which went on for about DEVELOPER: RARE
three hours. Mark Edmonds played as
RELEASED: 1997
Moore and won by one kill. It went down
to the wire…” SYSTEM: NINTENDO 64
P
ub bores the world over be silenced. in – he tended to float around – and said
We know who the best Bond is. It’s he was leading a team to do a Bond
Roger Moore. Wait, come back. We game. I’d been highlighted as someone
have empirical evidence. who might be interested and of course
“Right near the end of development”, I was, but in the back of my mind I was DEVELOPER
explains Dave Doak, “a guy came in from
EON who owned the Bond licence and
thinking, Oh God, a film licence. The
previous ones had been 2D Robocop or
HIGHLIGHTS
TIMESPLITTERS
The first thing I did was model the gas SYSTEMS: PS2
YEAR: 2000
I
multiplayer was technically nitially, the intention was to do a 2D
possible”, admits Steve. “It side-scrolling platformer for the SNES,
was an experiment that didn’t a genre that Rare excelled in after the
begin until May… and the
game came out in August! I
seminal Donkey Kong Country, but Hollis
trawled through the code to insisted the game should be in 3D and by expectations of what a game could about games to run projects. We hadn’t
find anything that referred to produced for Nintendo’s enigmatic Ultra and couldn’t be. They turned naivety worked on a game before but the
the player and made it work for 64, which was still in development. He into ambition and the enforced isolation difference was we were having to do the
more than one. I got it going for also made explicit his design model: of this happy band – “Rare organised work. Our wish-list of features would
two first and then frame rates
meant it couldn’t work for all Sega’s lightgun arcade hit Virtua Cop. teams into separate barns and you be things we knew would be good and
levels. Karl went off and built Karl: “When I got involved, the first only had keys to your particular cell we could do. There was some smart
the Complex and Temple and thing I did was model the gas plant. We block”, quips Dave – meant that the hiring and cherry-picking of people. We
had strict instructions not to put put a spline (sic) through the level so newbies on the team had to find their all had ambition and were hardworking.
more than so many polygons
and textures on screen. Then it
was just a case of playing it.’
Graeme: “I first saw it as GoldenEye’s not your University project’ Tim
four-player split screen and
said, ‘Wow Martin, you’ve got Stamper told us one day! As heads of Rare, the
Stampers probably had to make a lot of excuses
multiplayer!’ He was, ‘Oh no,
no, you didn’t see that, it’s a
complete secret…’ The concern
was that half the coding team STEVE ELLIS ON WHY THE GAME APPEARED TWO YEARS AFTER THE FILM
was being allocated to some
frivolous thing that might
you could follow a route like in Virtua own way. That’s how he managed to get that much
not work. The Stampers had
actually said, no multiplayer. Cop, but it didn’t go further than that. “Because it was most people’s first content out of us.”
Chris Stamper wondered that We decided to take it off the rails. Some game”, explains Graeme Norgate, “we Martin also encouraged the team to
if you had four view ports of those early builds had bits missing did things we might not do again draw on their love of the Bond films they
on screen so you could see because you’d never be able to see because it was too much work. We had all grown up with. He recognised
what others were doing, how
could it possibly be fun?!’ them and I remember going back and didn’t take the easy route. If something the inherent appeal of playing as the
filling in the holes.” sounded like a good idea, it was like, suave hero who had defined cool for so
GoldenEye was forging its own path, a ‘Yeah let’s do it!’ The world was our many aspiring young agents over the
departure from the Rare games that had oyster! Only afterwards would you find it preceding decades. No longer would
gone before. When you consider that was a world of pain.” you simply be a floating gun as in Doom.
this was the first project for eight of the At least it was a world of their own Now you were England’s deadliest and
nine team members, that was perhaps making. “It was untrammelled by coolest weapon.
to be expected. They may have been arseholes”, explains Dave. “Nowadays, Karl: “I remember the first time we
inexperienced, but they were unfettered publishers get people who don’t know got Bond’s hand in with the watch. We
» The sniper rifle, a joy to use and essential for getting the drop on the enemy.
A
key part of that appeal was amount of time, it did a larger radius test corridor and a room.” on Perfect Dark, but left Rare
the infamous Licence to Kill. and I think there was a third even larger This sense of freedom to try new in 1998 to set up his own
GoldenEye was a first-person radius after that. It meant if you found things, to experiment with level company, Zoonami. Visit
its website www.zoonami.
shooter of course, but the decision to one guy and shot him in the head and design, play it exhaustively and let the com for a transcript of the
recognise body-specific hits introduced then didn’t fire again, the timer would experience determine what direction fascinating speech he gave
a new subtlety to the genre. Shoot a reset. It wasn’t realistic but it meant the development would go was crucial to at the European Developers
guard in the leg and he reacts differently less you shot, the quieter you were, the how the team worked. They weren’t Forum in 2004 on the making
of GoldenEye plus details
to if you less enemies came after you. If an NPC enslaved to a rigid design document,
of the company’s recently
blasted that hadn’t been drawn and was just meaning everyone could contribute to released game, Zendoku.
him in standing in a room waiting was alerted game design. Nothing was set in stone. “Think Sudoku meets ninjas”,
the by gunfire, it would duplicate itself and Not even the hardware. he says helpfully. Martin’s
one went to investigate. You can see it favourite Bond girl is Jane
Seymour and he assures us
C
happening sometimes – if you go to the onsidering how the finished he could have triumphed over
right place and make a noise, you see GoldenEye feels so suited to his former colleagues if he’d
more enemies spawning.” the N64, it’s easy to forget the been part of the developer
Stay hidden, keep quiet, make every machine didn’t exist for the first year deathmatch and we’ve
convinced him to be a future
shot count… almost inadvertently, and a half of its development. The team
castaway for Desert Island
the team had invented stealth was using SGI Onyxs, hugely expensive Discs. Result.
gaming. Of course you could Silicon Graphics machines, guessing
still go in all guns blazing, but at what the specs of Nintendo’s new
once players got to grips console might be and using a butchered
with the sniper rifle and Saturn controller to playtest. As it turned
realised that enemies out, when they finally received the
had distinct blind finished console they were pleasantly
spots to exploit relieved. Despite costing a fraction
– they could of the SG workstations, fortunately
only ‘see’ Nintendo had come good on most of
U
tangible legacy to those that
nfortunate, but not a disaster. And yet? Why is it crap? We never had to fog… maybe we could change the fog
worked on it. Steve: “Free they coped with the reduction in answer those!” settings? Can we use that more than
Radical Design was set up admirable retro fashion. “A lot of Perhaps the Stamper Brothers’ once? Maybe in the Egypt setting?”
on the back of GoldenEye. It GoldenEye is in black and white”, admits greatest contribution to GoldenEye was For a game with more than its fair
led us to signing a deal in the Karl, rather surprisingly. “RGB colour fending off such enquiries and allowing share of wanton destruction, the team
first place. It opened doors
for us to do what we’ve gone textures cost a lot more in terms of the team time to develop a 3D game in became remarkably good at recycling.
on to do.” FRD has gone on processing power. You could do double what were still uncharted waters. Being The radar on multiplayer mode is actually
to become a major creative the resolution if you used greyscale, so a able to play Mario 64 on the new console an oil drum texture, which explains the
force in FPS development, lot was done like that. If I needed a bit of was a key influence. cloudiness on the right, and sometimes
producing the TimeSplitters
colour, I’d add it in the vertex.” Dave: “When Mario arrived it was whole levels were created with the
series and currently working
on Haze for PS3 due out later As their semi-colourful Bond world clearly a step forward. Martin was detritus they had to hand.
this year. Success has seen the was taking shape on the small screen, obsessed with the collision detection, Karl: “As the engine got better, we
Nottingham-based company the film it was based on was nearing which was obviously doing it in 3D were very good at reusing things. We
grow enormously and with 160 completion. The team had received the and GoldenEye was essentially using decided we’d do the meeting room
employees and relationships
with publishers such as EA, script very early in development and a 2D method. And our story was only from Moonraker, which I just loved. We
Ubisoft and LucasArts, have visited the set at Leavesden Studios, about shooting stuff – we needed other couldn’t do it round, that was just too
the boys ever considered going housed in an old Rolls Royce factory, things. We started putting in objectives, expensive, but we did a square version
back to Bond? Karl: “It’s been half a dozen times. “We had really like meeting people in a level and back and linked it with being under the shuttle.
suggested at times by people,
good access”, says Karl. “We could then that involved some complicated AI. Dave said those chairs just have got to
but publishers have to pay so
much for the Bond licence it walk anywhere and photograph what Finding Boris, guiding him through and fold down like in the film so we did it
puts them off. Actually, it would we needed. After the first few visits, I making him decode something… that with door code. I remember one chair
be good to do GoldenEye realised we needed textures. I started wasn’t easy! Other levels, you could hear always folded wrong, but it would have
again with new technology taking photos of walls!” the barrel being scraped – collect five taken so much coding to get it right, it
and do things we wanted to
first time.” Before we all get Visiting the filmset undoubtedly arbitrary pieces and go here, but Mario was like, hey, leave it as a bug! The
too excited though, he adds: helped cement the game world in the had plenty of that shit, which is pretty shuttle was made from reused satellite
“If FRD did a Bond game I’m minds of the team, but it also reminded boring. We punctuated it with stuff textures and to make it take off, we used
sure it would be good, but Rare that the clock was ticking. While like go and blow this thing up! Like the grenade explosions. That whole level is
there’s no GoldenEye magic
trying to release the game in tandem canisters at the end of Arkhangelsk. It’s something of a big hack job, but it’s one
dust you can sprinkle on.”
with the film had never been considered in the film and we could have just said of the nicest looking.”
a viable proposition, the thought of it go here and press X – Karl had built that GoldenEye was always good at giving
not appearing until the next Bond movie in the background but it wasn’t going you the big picture, from the dramatic
hit cinemas instilled an understandable to explode. But wouldn’t it be nice if it bungee jump down Byelomorye dam
sense of urgency. did? So the canisters became a ‘prop’. A at the opening to the final shoot out on
» Ahh, the beauty of the doorway. It provides a perfect » (From left to right) Karl, Steve and Graham were more than happy to revisit
bottleneck to take out enemies. GoldenEye’s multiplayer when Retro Gamer turned up with its N64.
GOLDENEYE
I
t wasn’t the only occasion when the copies were sold worldwide and it explosions, the environment mapping
nearest warm body was put to good remains the biggest selling N64 game (look closely at a shiny surface and
use. Alongside the faces of Pierce in the USA, outdoing Mario 64, Ocarina you’ll notice a low resolution reflection
Brosnan, Robbie Coltrane et al, Bea Of Time and Mario Kart. “Actually, I of your surroundings), body-specific hit
Jones scanned in virtually all the staff at was concerned it wouldn’t be able to reactions and the tasty option of dual-
Rare. At the start of each level, five faces compete with Turok”, admits Karl. “That wielding weapons. “Didn’t Halo 2 invent » Dave Doak discovers that he still has that multiplayer
from the extensive collection are picked looked better and had a better frame that seven years later?” chuckles Karl. magic. Just not enough to beat Steve Ellis.
at random and plonked on the bodies of rate… and dinosaurs!” The list goes on, yet more fundamentally,
your adversaries. All the development Laughter all round and an appropriate they proved that a story driven FPS, a
team are in there and Karl remains rather juncture for the team to pick up their genre previously confined to PCs, could
proud of the manly scar added to his pads and revisit the game that marked triumph on a console. Countless others
own mug. More cameos were to follow, their entry into the industry. As Steve have followed, but GoldenEye remains
explains Steve. plays through the opening level, a benchmark.
“There are a few monitors in the memories are triggered like sticky And the winner? Appropriately
game – one has Dave in sunglasses and mines. How Martin had done a 3D gun enough, Steve, the creator of the
a Russian hat Karl had bought in Berlin, barrel that had to be dropped due to multiplayer mode that everyone loved,
there’s one with Mark in a bowler hat frame rate issues; how code had been nicks it by a single critical kill. Then the
on a skateboard and another has Karl written to let you drive the van, but it defeated trio realise he’s been playing
doing a Python silly walk. We were just caused too many problems if you got as Oddjob, whose diminutive stature
the vehicle stuck in a dead end; how the bestows a distinct advantage and the
unreachable island you can see far in the room echoes with cries of cheat and
distance from atop the dam originally demands for a rematch.
had a solitary guard patrolling it; how GoldenEye: still inflaming passions
they’d had to label certain wall textures twenty one years on.
here absolutely had to come a time Nineties after the release of Policenauts for the ill-fated
when videogames became like movies. multimedia console, but development was soon shifted
We’re desensitised to it now, having to Sony’s PlayStation. The intention was to build a
experienced the explosive set-pieces truly cinematic stealth experience that would garner
of Uncharted, the masterful pacing of The Last the reputation of being the greatest PlayStation game
Of Us and the grandiose narratives of games like ever made, and looking back at it now – to play it again,
Heavy Rain, but another game hit all three of these slowly and thoroughly, after all these years – really does
buttons and did it a long time ago. In Metal Gear encourage that way of thinking. This was a game that
Solid, achieving a cinematic effect didn’t reside solely was light years ahead of its time back in 1998 and still
in graphics, voice acting or cinematography, but in a offers a more accomplished and considered experience
glorious cocktail of all of these individual facets and than most triple-A games since.
more that resulted in what is still one of the greatest From the very start, Kojima’s desire to create a
overall presentations of all time. videogame that bore all the hallmarks of a movie is
Coming off the back of two Metal Gear titles for the apparent, as Solid Snake infiltrates Shadow Moses
MSX, Hideo Kojima and his team had endeavoured island to prevent a terrorist cell from launching a nuclear
to develop Metal Gear 3 for the 3DO in the mid- weapon. The terrorist group, made up of ex-
PIXEL PERFECT One of the best things about Metal Gear Solid was its vast array of
weapons and items you could use
Les Enfants
Terribles
The games that followed
METAL GEAR SOLID 2:
SONS OF LIBERTY 2001
QThe most derided MGS game caused quite
the stir when it was released, by shelving
Snake as a protagonist for new guy Raiden.
MIND READER
QBefore the boss fight, Psycho Mantis famously
reads your memory card to see how much you’ve
saved and how many times you’ve died, as well as
other games that you’ve played before. Creepy.
METAL GEAR SOLID
1988
HOSTAGES SNATCHER
QDeveloped by New Frontier, QOne of Kojima’s earlier titles,
Hostages had you infiltrating Snatcher brought adventure and
an embassy and rescuing, you sci-fi together – two things that he
guessed it, hostages. later explored heavily in MGS.
1994
GOLDENEYE 007
QKojima has said
before that he’s a
1997 massive Bond fan, and
we like to think that this
timeless shooter imparted
some inspiration.
that still holds true today. Kojima and the way that you could knock on a wall
his military advisor, Motosada Mori, to distract an unsuspecting sentry and
worked hard to ensure that the military the fact that your footsteps left tracks in
aspects of the game were authentic, the Alaskan snow that could be tracked
with the use of suppressed weapons, by the enemy. We’d just never seen
chaff grenades and mine detectors anything like it before, and although such
contributing to a more serious military mechanics are child’s play nowadays,
simulation than many of Metal Gear they really stood out back in 1998.
Solid ’s contemporaries. Obviously, there
was a lot there that was exaggerated f course, if you wanted to
– nanomachines aren’t a thing, funnily experience complete and » In this early confrontation, Kojima forces you to resort to
enough – but the attention to detail utter realism you wouldn’t shooting rather than sneaking.
remains to be startling. Each weapon be playing a videogame, and
feels intuitive, and even though you’re Hideo Kojima, as you’ll know if you’ve
playing from what is effectively a top- played Metal Gear Solid or any of its
down perspective there’s a tangible sequels, understands this better than
sense of control to what you’re doing. most directors out there. There are
And this sense of realism extended numerous occasions on which there’s
to the game’s ace in the hole – its a nod toward breaking the fourth wall
stealth. We can remember playing the with a little knowing humour, like Meryl
demo version of Metal Gear Solid prior shrugging towards the camera when
to the game’s release and being blown you tread on a mine before Sniper
away by the ability to huddle against Wolf and the references to pop culture » Environments are pretty varied, considering the fact that
walls to avoid line-of-sight detection, when you’re desperately trying to the whole story takes place in one location.
LIQUID SNAKE
QWe’d argue that this is one of the greatest showdowns of all time – a bare-knuckle
fist fight between two brothers on top of a massive robot. Incredible.
HOW TO BEAT THEM: Liquid is kind enough to tell you to stay away from the edges,
so heed his advice. Other than that, it’s best to just keep moving around and throw in
as many punch-punch-kick combos as possible – you don’t have much time to beat
him, so make each combo count. DIFFICULTY RATING
hen all is said and done, a great That Ocarina Of Time is a game bursting at Back in 1986, when that first game in the
game is measured simply by the seams with memorable moments like these series was released, technical constraints meant
the journey you’ve taken – that all wrapped up inside one epic adventure makes Miyamoto could only project the core themes of
moment when you reflect on the it not only the best Zelda game in the series but, Zelda on the screen – staples such as the three
hours you’ve invested and ask yourself ‘was it for many people, one of the greatest videogames central characters, the Triforce, Hyrule, the sense
really worth it?’ as well. It’s a game that takes you on the most of freedom, and of course the dungeons. And
The best games in history have all provided perfect kind of adventure, one that anyone of any as early as its first sequel, it was clear Miyamoto
us with memorable adventures we’ve enjoyed age can easily relate: you’re the hero, you scale was beginning to think more about how, having
taking a commanding role in, adventures we’ve the castle, defeat the villain, rescue the princess, smashed the pegs into the ground, he could
felt a strange polarised sense of disappointment and in doing all of that restore peace to the land start erecting his true image for Hyrule using the
and pleasure at seeing the credits roll, enjoyed and become the stuff of legend. modest powers of the NES.
paying a revisit to once or twice, and have While there can be no question that the original The Adventure Of Link, while widely branded
provided us with memories we will likely carry The Legend Of Zelda was a true watershed as the ‘black sheep’ of the series, shares a
with us forever – because we were there and moment for videogames, and Ocarina owes number of striking similarities with the franchise’s
we made them happen. For you, perhaps these it a sincere debt of thanks for putting the core golden calf. The sequel added side-on platform
include something as simple as rescuing Pauline pieces in place, it was merely a small portion, a sections that transported gamers into the heart
from the clutches of Donkey Kong, or maybe you compromise if you like, of what series creator of Hyrule, with this new viewpoint used to create
remember specific parts of bigger pictures most Shigeru Miyamoto had actually envisioned for village sections filled with people with which Link
fondly – like the time you finally found you could Link, Zelda, Gannon and the land of Hyrule. Since could interact and converse with during his quest.
pull off Dragon Punches on command (grasping Ocarina ’s release, Zelda’s creator has revealed Not only would this help to breathe a greater
the natural technique and not simply following that Ocarina Of Time marks his true original sense of life and immersion into the world, but
inputs), slaughtered your first Cyberdemon, or vision of the world – it is the land of Hyrule he also weight a greater sense of responsibility on
crossed the finish line in OutRun. imagined, finally brought to life. the shoulders of the player too.
» As the title implies, Ocarinas play an essential part in the story. Throughout his quest Link learns new songs that he must play to solve puzzles.
he sequel also had a stronger emphasis sequels too. The ocarinas, for example, which Ocarina didn’t actually appear until the end of
on action. Link could now cast spells play a big part in helping you progress in the November, two years after the launch of the N64
(in Ocarina Of Time Link could do the story, made their first appearance in the Game in Japan, following a number of delays.
same, and a new magic meter allowed Boy game Link’s Awakening, while A Link To The Designed on a heavily altered version of the
him to perform special charge attacks) and Past ’s dark and light realms also returned, with Mario 64 engine, Ocarina ’s creation was handled
earn experience points to improve his attacks. Link aging seven years in the game to see the by Nintendo’s EAD branch, with different parts
While this levelling up mechanic was promptly devastating effect Ganondorf’s rule has had on of its creation overseen by various teams headed
dropped by the series soon after, this aspect of the kingdom of Hyrule. up by different directors. Each team focused
character development still played a big part Ocarina Of Time was first unveiled at on areas such as scripting and story scenarios,
in Ocarina Of Time’s gameplay – just now it Nintendo’s Space World event in December Link’s actions and camera controls, and coming
was done by the far more interesting means of 1995. Shown to a floor of astonished and excited up with the various items for him to use in the
acquiring new gadgets, items, additional heart attendees, Nintendo announced that the game game. As the development progressed, further
containers and better weapons during the quest. would be ready in time to become a launch teams were added, overseeing aspects such as
But while Ocarina appears to be inspired most game for its successor to the Super Nintendo, sound and special effects in the game. Finally,
by The Adventure Of Link, the game also took a the Nintendo 64. But with the launch just a year Kensuke Tanabe, writer on A Link To The Past,
number of popular ideas and themes from other away, that projection proved a little ambitious. returned to once again pen the script for the
game based on a story idea that had been
When the project started, the team working on the hatched by Shigeru Miyamoto
Becoming Adult
Taming Epona THE SEQUEL A Link To The Past was the first game to
NAVIGATING HYRULE FIELD by foot is fine to begin with introduce the dual-realm mechanic to the series. Proving
but later on in the game you’ll be covering a lot of ground; so popular, it was then reintroduced brilliantly in Ocarina.
it’s a good idea to pay a stop to Lon Lon Ranch located near When Link enters the Sacred Realm his concentration is
the centre of the field. Visiting there as a child, Link meets momentarily distracted by the Master Sword, allowing
Malon, the owner’s daughter, who teaches him to play Ganondorf to seize the Triforce. When Link awakens seven
Epona’s song on his ocarina. When he returns as an adult, years later, he’s an adult, and the kingdom of Hyrule has been
and learns that Ganodorf has handed the ranch to devious cast into darkness and despair as a result of Ganandorf’s
range hand Ingo, Link uses the song to tame Epona and bust abuse of the powerful relic. Link is given a startling glimpse of
her out. She is then his to ride in Hyrule Field. what the future holds should he fail in his quest.
The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
System: N64 Year Released: 2000 System: Game Boy Color Year Released: 2001
System: Game Boy Color Year Released: 2001
There are some people who actually prefer this to Oracle Of Ages marked Nintendo’s first collaboration
Oracle Of Seasons ’ counterpart shares similar elements
Ocarina Of Time, and it’s easy to see why that might be with Capcom on its popular series. Linking together with
with Majora’s Mask, in that you must manipulate the
the case. Unlike Ocarina, Majora’s Mask is structured Oracle Of Seasons (a password allows you to continue
flow of time to achieve the vast majority of your goals.
around a constant three-day cycle that sees Link your adventure) it’s an enjoyable quest that sees Link
It’s another grandiose adventure that shares a fair few
changing into a variety of different characters, as he manipulating the seasons to solve a slew of clever
similarities with A Link To The Past, and was further proof
tries to stop Termina, the alternate world of Hyrule being puzzles. It lacks the imagination of Link’s Awakening but
that Capcom could treat the Zelda franchise with just as
obliterated by its out of control moon. remains a worthy handheld adventure.
much respect as Nintendo.
The Legend Of Zelda: The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap
A Link To The Past & Four Swords System: GameCube Year Released: 2002 System: Game Boy Advance Year Released: 2004
System: Game Boy Advance Year Released: 2002 Many were put off by The Wind Waker ’s cel-shaded The Minish Cap is another fine effort from developers
Although A Link To The Past wasn’t a new game, it was visuals, which is a real shame, as they enabled Miyamoto Capcom and dovetails nicely with the events of Four Swords
significant here as it introduced the smaller standalone to convey a sense of emotion in his characters that had and Four Swords Adventures. In addition to introducing a
adventure Four Swords. Created by Capcom, it’s a clever never been seen before or since. The expansive ocean talking bird hat called Ezlo and a variety of excellent new
little four-player game that was expanded for the later travelling put some off, but everyone else discovered items to collect, The Minish Cap also shrinks Link down
GameCube release. A Link To The Past was changed very another incredible adventure that easily captured the for the vast majority of the game, which gives it a very
little, but it’s surprisingly well-suited to gaming on the go. spirit of earlier games. distinctive look and adds plenty of fresh new mechanics.
» This odd stealth section, which sees Link avoiding guards to reach
princess Zelda, is one of the less impressive sections in the game.
The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
System: GameCube/Wii Year Released: 2006 System: DS Year Released: 2009
As good as Twilight Princess was, it was more a retread Although we enjoyed Spirit Tracks, there was a distinct
of ground covered in Ocarina Of Time than it was a brand feeling that the franchise and well-used formulae
new adventure. It was also hampered on the Wii thanks of the past were beginning to run out of steam. The
to controls that, while decent, weren’t as accessible or train sections proved disappointingly simplistic and
intuitive as expected. Our advice would be to make the monotonous, while the dungeons lacked the pizzazz
effort to hunt down the more expensive – but far more and cleverness of precious offerings. It’s still a great
satisfying – GameCube offering. adventure, of course, but we’re used to more from Link.
The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
System: 3DS Year Released: 2013 System: Wii U/Switch Year Released: 2017
Link's first original 3DS game is actually a sequel to Link's latest adventure made its debut on both the Switch
SNES hit, A Link To The Past. As a result the game world and Wii U. It greatly improves the Zelda formulae of old,
is instantly familiar, but it's set up so that you can pretty creating a huge open world for Link to explore in any way
much tackle any dungeon you wish. There's also a he chooses. Filled with magical moments and finely tuned
brilliant new ability for Link which allows him to become mechanics, it's an excellent game that cherry picks all the
paper thin so that he can access brand new areas that greatest moments from open world games and delivers
would otherwise be impossible to reach. them in an unmissable package.
your stay in Hyrule as pleasurable as possible, so halfway through the adventure. Upon
that you’d tell all of your friends to pay it a visit, unsealing the Sacred Realm, Ganondorf
or maybe even decide to revisit it again yourself. pilfers the Triforce and Link is sealed in
the Sacred Realm and must work out how
he story of Ocarina Of Time is set before to escape.
the events of the first four games in It is once you reach this point that events
the series, and sticks to the traditional take a dramatic turn. Seven years have now
Zelda template: Link must venture into passed, and when Link awakens he is met by
a series of enemy-filled dungeons, find a desired one of seven sages whose job is to protect the
object and then make his escape by defeating Triforce. Now a young adult, Link learns that
a gargantuan boss blocking the exit route. Ganondorf has used the Triforce to cast the
However, Ocarina, like A Link To The Past before kingdom of Hyrule into darkness. Hope now
it, is split into two very distinct sections. The rests with Link reawakening five dormant sages,
first, which is set in a lush and vibrant-looking by travelling to five temples in Hyrule to defeat
depiction of Hyrule, sees Link as a young boy, Ganondorf’s monsters and break his evil spell.
under orders from princess Zelda to retrieve If he succeeds, the sages can trap Ganondorf
three Spiritual Stones that will grant him access inside the Sacred Realm and restore the kingdom
to the Sacred Realm where the Triforce is kept. of Hyrule to its original state.
Simply getting to this point can take players The moment that Link steps outside and
around a week – more should they embark on sees the effects Ganondorf’s reign has had on
many of the side-quests – but this is less than Hyrule – sapping it of all life, colour and beauty
» The music in the game was composed by Koji Kondo, who was responsible for creating the music in all of the main Zelda games.
and turning it into a dark, depressing, shrivelled expecting to find a friendly face, Link learns that games to ever see release. Garnering high
up shell of its former self – is one of Ocarina Of its original proprietors, Talon and his daughter, acclaim and rave review scores across the board,
Time’s many rug-pulling moments. Hyrule now have been mercilessly booted out of their home and making history by scoring the first ever 40/40
looks ashen and volcanic; the walking dead by Ganondorf, and ownership has now been in Weekly Famitsu, the only other game sequels
replace the fizzy townsfolk; and Kokiri Forest is handed to Talon’s deceitful stablehand Ingo. This, to have ever had the same kind of impact are
overgrown with deadly flora and vegetation, no and many other changes for the worse you learn perhaps Street Fighter II and Nintendo's very own
longer a safe haven for Link, but the perfect place about, which soon add mounting weight to the killer app, Super Mario 64.
for evil to thrive.
frustration of its slow-motion Water Temple to be bettered in any meaningful way – Nintendo
dungeon. However, its lush, beautiful 3D world, is clearly hoping the 3DS will help encourage
fluid controls, masterful storytelling, game those who missed the game first time around
design and incredible pacing make it as perfect a to pick up and experience one of its most finest
game as you could probably ever hope to play. and accomplished videogames. The muddy
Nintendo 64 visuals may have lost some their
hat its influence and popularity can magic since the game was originally released,
still be felt to this day is a mark of its but that’s never been Zelda ’s formula for success
impact and legacy. Having already and it never will be, as the recently released
been re-released twice before, first with Breath Of The Wild proved. As we said at the
Ocarina Of Time: Master Quest for GameCube start, the mark of whether a game is good or not
in 2003 – a revision of the game featuring new is always judged by reflecting upon the journey
puzzles and tougher dungeons to tackle – and it’s taken you on. No game series on any format
then for Virtual Console, the game is once again proves that better than Zelda, and few games,
thrust back into spotlight with a new remastered if any, offer a journey as magical, memorable
– and, dare we even say, definitive – edition and timeless as Ocarina Of Time. It remains as
for the 3DS. As well as rendering the Hyrule in enchanting to play now, as it did the very first
» Ocarina features plenty of epic bosses, made more interesting by their
stereoscopic 3D, Ocarina Of Time 3D has made time we experienced it. A true imposing shapes filling the screen and clever attack patterns.
subtle improvements to the gameplay, full classic we'll never get bored of
use of the console’s in-built touch-screen for playing.
item selection, and gyroscope technology to
offer motion-controlled aiming. It also came
packaged with both the original N64 and
Master Quest editions of the game, as well
as a brand new boss rush mode for fans to
hone their Z-triggering skills with. In short it's a
superb update of a classic game that highlights
just how far ahead of the curve the original N64
classic was at the time.
Clearly proud of what it achieved with Ocarina
Of Time – creating one of the most enchanting
and perfect game worlds, and setting an early
benchmark for all 3D adventures that has still yet
ver the years there span, the writing on the wall was lead systems programmer Tak Hirai
have been many games becoming clear for the Saturn as North about his role in the development of
hailed as triumphs of American sales lagged, developers Shenmue for the Dreamcast, he replied:
game engineering, struggled with the notoriously difficult “I was responsible for managing a
as milestones of progress in the setup of the system’s hardware, and team of 87 programmers. I also made
industry and as huge leaps forward support from Sega of America began final judgements regarding the overall
in terms of depth and gameplay. Of to fail. Work on the Saturn version was program behaviour of the whole
these titles, few have encountered halted; it was clear that if the Shenmue game. Managing this huge team of
as many difficulties or been as saga was ever going to see the light programmers was a nightmare since it
beloved by its fans as Shenmue. of day, it would have to be done on a could take more than 14 and a half hours
Within its development, the series different console, and Sega had just the a day just speaking with each person
has outlived two consoles, racked up console in mind. individually. If I only spoke with each
a monumental price tag and created Thus was the beginning of Project programmer for ten minutes, you can
a fan base that has endured nearly a Berkley, the codename used for the see how it would add up.”
decade since the last release. early development of Shenmue on In terms of his own programming
As many Shenmue fans will already the still pre-launch Dreamcast. Several workload alone: “I was in charge
know, the series’ beginnings were videos of these Project Berkley tech of not only constructing the coding
rooted deeply in another Sega-AM2 demos can still be found on the internet. environment but also coding a
series, as a planned RPG expansion It is interesting to note that the age of fundamental processing architecture to
of the Virtua Fighter universe intended these demos marks Shenmue out as make system programmers easier to
for the Sega Saturn; a genesis that can possibly one of the very first games to work with. I was also in charge of the
still be seen not only in the character begin development for the Dreamcast. character system, rendering pipeline,
modelling, but in the source code as The Project Berkley moniker remained lighting engine, and also optimising the
well. The brainchild of Yu Suzuki, even attached to the project for some time, performance of these systems. I had
in the final release of the game, Ryo’s sticking long enough to appear on the my hands dirty on playing around with
character ID remains ‘AKIR’, a shortened teaser disc attached to the Japanese SH4 assembly [programming language]
form of ‘Akira’. Although it is difficult to launch release of Virtua Fighter 3tb. This on the Dreamcast to tune up the
pin down exactly when the game grew disc was, for most, the first glimpse of performance. Small and detailed codes
beyond these humble roots, it would AM2’s new project. used in the cut-scenes such as physics
certainly seem that it came late in the simulation of phone cords, handcuff
project’s two-year-long development lthough it’s tempting to chains in the second chapter, and trailing
for the Saturn or early in the Dreamcast blame much of the cost of visual effects of the car signals were
development. In fact, it’s hard not to Shenmue’s development on also done in my spare time. I finally
develop a knowing smile looking over the difficulties encountered ended up creating around 200 source
early pictures of the character that would during the Saturn era and the shift in files out of more than 300 files in total.”
become Ryo while comparing them development from the Saturn to the To this day it’s amazing that the
to images of Akira from Virtua Fighter Dreamcast, it would not be entirely project was completed at any cost.
2. Even in the video of a development accurate. Regardless of the change to Although it’s possible to point to
version of Saturn Shenmue, packaged the more coder-friendly console, the other games released in the same era
with the Dreamcast Shenmue II release, Shenmue project was still no laughing with a similar scope of story, we’ve
the resemblance to Akira is obvious. matter. The sheer cost of manpower encountered nothing on the same level
Despite the obvious amount of and organisation for such an undertaking in terms of the game systems. With
progress made during this two-year is immense. In fact, when we asked such a large team and array of smaller
MINIGAMES
You really can’t talk about Shenmue without
mentioning the sheer volume and playability
of its mini-games. Although purpose-built
mini-games such as QTE Title and darts
were not entirely unheard of in RPGs and
adventure games of the time, the inclusion
of full classic arcade games such as Space
Harrier and Hang-On was a unique touch. The
mini-games were a big part of bringing the
entire experience together, of giving
you the feeling that you could do whatever
you liked with Ryo’s time. Throughout the » The variety of moves was nothing short of astounding.
existing series, we were treated to a wide
variety of mini-games, including Space
Harrier, Hang-On, After Burner, QTE Title 1
and 2, darts, pool, slots, Lucky Hit and a
We can still recall our awe,
few variations of dice-based games. It’s a
selection of games that would have done
watching the fish in the koi pond
early entries in the party game genre proud.
birds that would scatter realistically as the breadth of little extras is fantastic.
you charged towards them. You could choose to spend your time
collecting toys, drinking sodas, buying
s the creation of the game crisps, taking care of your stray cat
progressed, of course some or playing games at the local arcade. It’s
of the features originally a funny thing, as truly engrossing
planned for the game did as the story of Shenmue is, that it is
have to be scrapped, even in a game quite linear, allowing only a few hidden
as epic as Shenmue. Of these features, scenes without any true branching
the most talked about certainly had to of the main storyline. That said, the
be the ability to ride a bicycle, which funny thing is that we’ve never felt at
was demonstrated in one of the early all constrained while playing Shenmue,
tech demos. We couldn’t resist the urge which we believe is a result of these
to ask Hirai just why this feature didn’t extras. Somehow the ability to waste
make the cut and what other features a day playing darts, to choose dried
failed to make it into the final version fish over milk to feed your cat, to
that he may have liked to see on the satisfy your voyeurism by rummaging
published discs. through Ryo’s drawers, or just to give
“Actually, I was the first guy who Ine-san a call during your lunch break
implemented the bike-riding feature,” all comes together to give you an
he explains. “This was done at the early amazing feeling of freedom. Seemingly,
stage of the development. We originally that was no accident.
intended to begin the game in China, “We created a lot of innovations
so I made it as a showcase to see how never seen before Shenmue,” says Hirai.
it looked when you rode the bike in a “I would say the hardest part of this
meadow. Another programmer took project was to imagine and create a ‘you
over that part of the project and worked can do anything’ kind of feeling, which
on the vehicle programming at the end did not exist in that era.”
of Shenmue. I personally think that we Shenmue’s impact on the gaming
had to cut this feature out from the industry was huge, opening a door to a
game because there wasn’t a significant new sub-genre of games that did not
enough advantage for the player to ride previously exist. Even beyond this, it
a bike through the city over simply opened our eyes to what could be done,
running around in Yokosuka. and it raised the bar just a little in terms
“During the development, there of the effort and forethought that we
used to be special features, like the demand from game designers.
player being able to lift up an object like “I think that Grand Theft Auto owes
a house and throw it. Fast-forwarding Shenmue a lot for its great success,
or rewinding the day and night cycles even after coming into the 3D realm,”
worked great for debugging the game, posits Hirai. “Everyone I’ve met also
so I wanted to leave these features in mentions the detail quality in Shenmue.
the final product as Easter eggs.” I’ve been told: ‘Don’t do so much on the
Regardless of what features failed to quality to the extent of making a cod in
make an appearance in the published a pond swim smoothly.’ Some even said
version, the final release suffered from this to me out of fear, since we might
no lack of things to do. Above and make this level of quality an industry
beyond the systems discussed earlier, standard! It might be simple to say it’s
middle of a story they have not become officials have been clear that there are » Although many gamers preferred the Free Battle system,
the QTE fights could be quite cinematic.
attached to. All of these factors came currently no plans to continue the series.
together to form a death sentence. Sales Regardless of official word, there have
were dismal. been several hoaxes over the years
regarding pending announcements
ny possible third entry was from Sega, some of which have
left in a nearly impossible included footage from an ill-fated tie-in
condition. It had no console called Shenmue Online: a massively
and, in the minds of the multiplayer conceptualisation of the
executives, no market. To continue Shenmue universe publicly announced
the series, much of the initial cost and in 2004 as a joint venture between
time spent on character modelling and Sega and JC Entertainment. » The rumours about what happens when you swallow
watermelon seeds are true, apparently.
environment building would need to Development work on Shenmue
be abandoned and re-created, making Online ran into difficulties a year after its
any possible climb to profitability for announcement when JC Entertainment
the series a steep and difficult one. withdrew from the project. Due to
Due to the sudden cancellation of the the nature of the joint development
series, conjecture has been widespread agreement, it became unclear as to who
for years as to what state the third in would continue to hold the rights to the
the series was left, with some even Shenmue Online concept. Seemingly,
maintaining that a playable build exists Sega did continue production on the
somewhere, however unlikely this may title for some time after the split, but
be. It was clear that the Dreamcast little to nothing has been heard about
would not be continuing far into the the project for several years. Although
future during the production of the it has never been officially announced
second game; Sega had no intentions that development has been cancelled, it
of building another console to shift seems unlikely that the game will ever
development to, even if it felt that it see the light of day.
could be made profitable. In the face of these cancellations
All of this logic, however, couldn’t and years of delay, Shenmue fans
kill all hope of playing out just a little were handed some hope recently when
more of the Shenmue story. We had Sega announced the inclusion of Ryo
to ask Hirai if he was aware of any Hazuki in the kart-racing title Sonic &
development on a third instalment in any Sega All-Stars Racing, a decision made
form. This was all he had to say on the by Sumo Digital that garnered much
subject: “There was none that I know attention. Ryo would pop up again in
of, but I personally would love to see this Sumo’s superb sequel and he’s also
saga continued.” getting ready to feature in HD remasters
Although there have been several fan- of the original two Shenmue games.
based campaigns for a third Shenmue, Lastly, and perhaps most importantly,
Sega has been stoic regarding the is the announcement of Shenmue III,
possibility of a third entry, often citing which should finally put to rest many
the poor sales of Shenmue II, and Sega questions fans have about the series.
Thanks to Tak Hirai, James Mielke and all the folks at Q Entertainment for taking time 100 GAMES TO PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE | 193
to make our interview possible and to circumvent any language barrier between us.
GAMES TO PLAY
BEFORE YOU DIE
Halo was the game that changed a genre and helped Microso
gain a foothold in the industry. Adam Barnes delves into how the
evolutionary shooter was made
» The Grunts of Halo, aka Unggoy, are its most memorable enemies.
They’re weak, barely a threat, but almost cute in the way they run
away each time the bigger soldiers are killed.
or purification of the genre connected multiplayer that DEVELOPER they could, the majority
Jaime Griesemer
Halo was originally built
for. “There was some
HIGHLIGHTS of multiplayer was made
by outside hands. Its
political conflict over Halo MARATHON foundation, then, relied
entire row of number keys to switch many ways, believes Jaime, this move networking back then,” says SYSTEM: MAC, PC entirely on those solid
between multiple weapons, you have was fruitful to Halo in the long term, Michael. “A small group of YEAR: 1993 gunplay mechanics, but
at most one button, so we kind of had since it required Bungie to think about guys on the Xbox side of MYTH: THE it was clear soon after
to limit the number of options you had the game’s design rather than simply the fence thought it was a FALLEN LORD Halo’s release that this
available. And also one thing that was expand upon what it had done before. bad idea to have networked SYSTEM: MAC, PC would be its legacy.
a big deal at the time was memory, “When you have no outside constraints games before there was YEAR: 1997 “I think we were all
so if we could let you arbitrarily switch – and the PC is very much that kind of Xbox Live. Then later there ONI PICTURED true believers,” says
between ten different weapons, what platform – you just add,” claims Jaime. was a desire to support SYSTEM: MAC, PC, PS2 Michael, claiming the
would happen was you would switch “You just build on what came before. automatic networking only YEAR: 2001 entire team knew it had
to one we didn’t have alerted in the You just do the same thing you did last – ie you would become a made something very
memory and so you wouldn’t be able to time but plus one, and you’re never server if nobody else was special. “The long-lasting
draw anything for a third of a second.” forced to cut or limit or restrain yourself on the network and if there was a legacy of the game has been a pleasant
The move from PC to Xbox was and a lot of really good design happens server you would just auto-join it. We surprise as well,” he adds.
a costly one, going from a world of when you run into these arbitrary really thought that the game would And while it’s no doubt been a
possibilities – at least on a technical constraints that you can’t change. It be awesome in college dorms.” And surprise to those who worked on it, it’s
level – to one that required overcoming lets you get rid of the cruft that builds it was. The decision to include a LAN quite easy to understand the long-term
a lot more restrictions and barriers. In up. And I think Halo wasn’t [as much] setup arguably made Halo stand out, impact Bungie’s game has had.
CONVERSION CAPERS The best and worst versions of Capcom’s classic gruesome death.
DEVELOPER
HIGHLIGHTS
VIEWTIFUL JOE
SYSTEM: VARIOUS
YEAR: 2003
P.N.03
SYSTEM: GAMECUBE
YEAR: 2003
KILLER7 PICTURED
SYSTEM: VARIOUS
YEAR: 2005
scrubbing the slate clean for a whole player just right was a very arduous for the greatest design challenge
new roster of horrible foes and process of refinement,” Kobayashi during development of this game, in
challenges to overcome. admits. “It’s just one part of the fact, Kobayashi cites this exact issue
The shift of premise was necessary game but you really need to nail it as the main hurdle in the game’s
in order to avoid burning fans out as it influences every other aspect development. “Probably the process
on zombies, but the switch to more of the gameplay.” Ever since, we've of working out what kind of creatures
action-centric gameplay was a little played countless third-person games should show up in the second half
less expected. “We took a look at where the camera just feels 'off' in of the game,” he confirms. “By
games that were popular in the a way that's hard to describe – too that point you’ve become more
» This nightmare is terrifying
and requires lots of bullets to
western market at the time, around floaty, perhaps, just slightly too far accustomed to Ganados so keeping
put down. 2005, and it was clear to things interesting while
us that games which let
you aim and shoot with
It was clear to us that remaining true to the
atmosphere of the game
precision in that third-
person style were the way
games which let you aim and is a difficult balance.”
Capcom clearly had its
to go,” reveals Kobayashi.
Many thought this shooter
shoot with precision were the fair share of challenges in
steering the franchise in
pandering was the
downfall of the ill-received
way to go this bold new direction,
so it's interesting how
Hiroyuki Kobayashi
Resident Evil 5, but it the team decided to pass
turns out the wheels were already in away or maybe too stiffly attached these onto the player. One such
motion to develop greater interest to athe player character – which just example of this is the inventory
in the western market a full decade adds more weight to the argument system – gone is the simplistic small
ago. Granted, later sequels have had that Resi 4 did this better than pretty grid where every item, regardless
a tendency to stride boldly into full-on much all games that had come of bulk or weight, takes up one slot,
shooter territory where Resi 4 merely before and indeed many since. replaced by a much larger grid in
» Mercenaries was an excellent had a bit of a paddle (be careful of Way to go, Capcom. the form of the upgradeable attache
minigame and is in most later
games now. Del Lago, guys...) but still, if you want case, where item size determines
to point fingers and name a culprit here were other challenges how many 'blocks' it takes up. The
for the recent action bent, you'll only ahead of the team due to existing system for micromanaging
find yourself prosecuting one of the the quicker pace of the your inventory had become stale
greatest games ever made. game, too. Players would and overly simple by this point
It's all too easy to take great game quickly grow used to enjoying (just take an Ink Ribbon, a healing
design for granted, and even from huge-scale encounters (either in item, your primary weapon and
the various pre-release builds of terms of enemy numbers or sheer some reserve ammo, leaving room
» The weapons of Resi 4 are
amazingly satisfying to use and the game, you can really get a feel size) and where the tension of the for ferrying puzzle items around)
occasionally messy too. for just how many different camera original games allowed for minimal but this ingenious new mechanic
placements the team must have gone enemy placement for maximum made us think about what we were
through before settling on the version effect (thus slowing the rate at which carrying and why, becoming almost
that shipped. Beta footages shows players could adapt to each enemy), a mini-game in its own right. “Funnily
a hybrid of fixed and aim-based having them appear in bigger enough, Tetris was the inspiration,”
cameras, while you can see various groups and more frequently meant Kobayashi laughs. “I thought it would
heights, depths and angles that all that something had to be done to be fun if you had to play a puzzle
offer different takes on the action avoid having people feel they had game where you tried to fit the pieces
» The sniper rifle becomes
especially useful for when you
in that early footage. “Getting the mastered a new enemy type in a in together as best you could without
have to protect Ashley. position of the camera behind the matter of minutes. When pressed any gaps to maximise efficiency.”
» It’s not just dragons – vampires became a big part of Skyrim thanks to the Dawnguard add-on.
And yes – you could be one.
battle against the actual beasts, take a side in live your own life, and pickpocket as many
a rebellion, and generally save the world in an innocent farmers as you like.
epic, dozens of hours-long adventure. This freeform approach to playing the game
What makes Skyrim so very special, though, extended into Skyrim’s RPG systems – 2006’s
is that you’re just as likely to do all of the above Oblivion had already made steps to make
» The College of Winterhold is home to some of Skyrim’s best quests – but if you
enrol as a mage, you won’t necessarily be trusted in these lands.
as you are to go on a flower-picking escapade, things less rigid, and in Skyrim it was even less
or to learn new recipes for horker stew. The so. Sure, you could concentrate on one or two
end of the world can wait – we mean, it literally sorts of powers, skills, or abilities – but at no
can wait: if you choose not to bother with the point were you ever condemned to having to
main questline, the random dragons prowling use them for the length of the game. Don’t like
the giant world map won’t appear and you’ll how your character plays? Play a different way.
be able to play through the majority of Skyrim’s Bored of being a bosmer archer? Be a bosmer
side-quests without being hassled by the with a warhammer.
gigantic scaly fire-breathers. It was layers on layers of freedom for the
player, and while this lack of rigidity upset some
n any other game it might have been of the RPG old guard, the fact is most of us
seen as a negative that some players fell in love with the opportunity to experiment
might immediately lose track of the Skyrim put in front of us. And then, as soon
central plotline and go off to do their as you’ve learned its systems and explored its
own thing. But it’s easy to see how Bethesda world, there’s a large core story experience to
planned for this – you’re not railroaded in a set play through. And it kept on giving.
» Even years after its release, Skyrim still has the power to make you wander aimlessly through
its countryside, mouth agape at the gorgeous vistas.
direction or chided, or hurried on for dawdling. There were two main stars of Skyrim. First,
You can take your own time, do your own thing, naturally, was the dragons – the once-mythical,
Enderal: Falskaar
The Shards Of Order QAdding around a quarter of the landmass of
QA total conversion five years in the making, vanilla Skyrim and about 25 hours of content might
Enderal is effectively a new game, completely free, seem like a job for a team of at least a dozen. So hunting stags, a babbling brook. It was easy to
that you plaster over the top of Skyrim. It offers obviously Falskaar was made by a single 19-year- get lost in Skyrim, even when you knew exactly
dozens of hours of questing and exploring, new old – with the help of volunteer voice actors, where you were.
characters, races, powers and abilities, and offers writers, and some artists/designers, naturally. It is
brand-new graphics, sounds and voice acting. a brilliant mod, and well worth your time. t was also – sometimes – easy to get
lost in Skyrim through no fault in your
own, or to glitch through the world, or
lose a saved game. It’s not something
that would usually be brought up in a piece like
this, but it’s fair to say Skyrim – just like previous
Bethesda titles – had more than its fair share of
bugs. But the playful, open nature of the game
lent itself to a happier reaction than might have
been expected – giants whacking the player
hundreds of metres in the air was accepted
Stones of Barenziah Open Cities Skyrim as funny; flying horses were encouraged as
Quest Markers QOpen Cities is a mod that brings the feel of Skyrim brilliant; and setting a pot on a shopkeeper’s
QSome mods create new realms – even new back to that of its precursor Morrowind – not by head so you could rob them without them
games on top of Skyrim – but some of the best changing a huge amount, but by tearing down seeing a thing was a stroke of genius Bethesda
mods just fix something. The Stones of Barenziah walls. It’s shocking how much more immersive the never did bother to fix. It’s fair to say that a lot of
quest requires you gather 25 gems, without any world becomes when you can walk in and out of Skyrim’s quirky bugs actually made it an even
idea where they are. This mod adds quest markers cities without having to travel through a door, and it more memorable experience.
to them. Cheating? Maybe. Useful? Definitely. makes exploration all the more fun. Released in 2011 on PC and consoles of
the day, Skyrim never did really go away and
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