I couldn't find a page on the internet about this, so I thought I would make one.
The music to the 1981 arcade version of Frogger features a medley containing:
* Children's song Inu No Omawarisan (the dog policeman)
* Children's anime Araigumi Rascal OP theme Rock River e
* Children's anime Hana no Ko Lunlun OP theme
* Children's anime Alps no shoujo Heidi OP theme Oshiete
* Children's anime Mahou Shoujo Lalabelu OP theme Hello Lalabelu
* Traditional American song Yankee Doodle
* Traditional American song Camptown Races
These are the ones I recognise. Let me know if you recognise any more!
Japanese wikipedia doesn't list Lalabelu, it lists the Moero Arthur Hakuba no Ouji anime OP theme instead. It's a Mizuki Ichirou theme, and I do own a CD of 1980s anime themes with both that song and Lalabelu in the same compilation! I personally have never heard anything recognisable as that song in Frogger, so I thought I would just mention that that's what wikipedia says but I have heard no proof.
The later ports of Frogger don't use any anime music in the soundtrack (probably copyright / licensing issues), they just don't seem right...
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Friday, November 06, 2009
Keita Takahashi's new project
Last week, the city of Nottingham became Gamecity with events dotted around the town through the duration of a few days. I wish I had known they were putting this event on this year, before it started; I'd have tried to get some time off and would have happily gone along to build Elite origami because these are so cool!
Anyway. Somewhere near the start of that, it was announced that Keita Takahashi is starting work on designing a children's playground for Nottingham City Council. He expressed an interest in doing that four years ago, and was approached by Nottingham City Council two years ago. So it's good that that's underway.
"I'll go along when it's finished, and take a load of photos!" was what I thought. ^_^
I just read an interview with him yesterday about it though... it sounds like he's glad to be away from Namco-Bandai to work on this, and he seems to have a lot of ideas, but at the same time he sounds a bit lost - like he doesn't know what's going to work and which of his ideas are good or bad.
He says that he's not suited to the games industry, which did seem evident before he said it. It's like Jeff Minter says he isn't suited to the games industry, but at least he's suited to the medium of making-machines-play-awesome-games so it eventually works for him and we do get a good game once every few years. Maybe as the article suggests, Mr Takahashi is just not suited to working for a giant company like Namco; he'd be better off with indie games or as a freelancer.
I read a comment from someone saying he's the kind of artist who is not suited to any kind of industry and it constraints - if that's true, I don't know if working for Nottingham City Council is going to be any better of a ride for him. He's only got 8 weeks to work in. It sounds like he could do with a bit more support than he's been given too; I think that he would benefit from working in a team, collaborating with (for example) a translator, a structural engineer, a landscaper, a materials specialist engineer (e.g. one who knows about the best kind of plastic, rubber, metal etc for a given situation), a child psychologist and possibly a sound engineer. Or, something like that. So that he can discover what's possible, impossible, good, bad, and the limitations of this medium, and in a short amount of time.
I do feel a little worried about him after that interview.
Part of me thinks that he would be better off starting small again, and building up from that. Perhaps designing toys for toddlers, something with soft material and no hard edges, which they can grab onto and chew on, accidentally change and discover new ways to play, and have fun. For example something like sticklebricks that aren't a choke hazard and some kind of elastic velcro hybrid without the annoying "road rash" kids get from brushing against it too fast. Give him the right materials and you'll have 100 strange cute random fun things made before you know it. ^_^ Then build up from around that.
Though I guess if there's one thing I have found out from Katamari Damacy and Nobi Nobi Boy, is that he's definitely one to realise the grand scale of things, and in great detail!
Anyway. Somewhere near the start of that, it was announced that Keita Takahashi is starting work on designing a children's playground for Nottingham City Council. He expressed an interest in doing that four years ago, and was approached by Nottingham City Council two years ago. So it's good that that's underway.
"I'll go along when it's finished, and take a load of photos!" was what I thought. ^_^
I just read an interview with him yesterday about it though... it sounds like he's glad to be away from Namco-Bandai to work on this, and he seems to have a lot of ideas, but at the same time he sounds a bit lost - like he doesn't know what's going to work and which of his ideas are good or bad.
He says that he's not suited to the games industry, which did seem evident before he said it. It's like Jeff Minter says he isn't suited to the games industry, but at least he's suited to the medium of making-machines-play-awesome-games so it eventually works for him and we do get a good game once every few years. Maybe as the article suggests, Mr Takahashi is just not suited to working for a giant company like Namco; he'd be better off with indie games or as a freelancer.
I read a comment from someone saying he's the kind of artist who is not suited to any kind of industry and it constraints - if that's true, I don't know if working for Nottingham City Council is going to be any better of a ride for him. He's only got 8 weeks to work in. It sounds like he could do with a bit more support than he's been given too; I think that he would benefit from working in a team, collaborating with (for example) a translator, a structural engineer, a landscaper, a materials specialist engineer (e.g. one who knows about the best kind of plastic, rubber, metal etc for a given situation), a child psychologist and possibly a sound engineer. Or, something like that. So that he can discover what's possible, impossible, good, bad, and the limitations of this medium, and in a short amount of time.
I do feel a little worried about him after that interview.
Part of me thinks that he would be better off starting small again, and building up from that. Perhaps designing toys for toddlers, something with soft material and no hard edges, which they can grab onto and chew on, accidentally change and discover new ways to play, and have fun. For example something like sticklebricks that aren't a choke hazard and some kind of elastic velcro hybrid without the annoying "road rash" kids get from brushing against it too fast. Give him the right materials and you'll have 100 strange cute random fun things made before you know it. ^_^ Then build up from around that.
Though I guess if there's one thing I have found out from Katamari Damacy and Nobi Nobi Boy, is that he's definitely one to realise the grand scale of things, and in great detail!
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
My extra life
I was browsing games in a branch of Gamestation today, decided to buy a second-hand copy of Super Mario Galaxy for £14.99 because it was on special offer, and when I got to the till I saw they were selling Zelda Mints (a tin of mints shaped like Link's shield), and Mario Mushrooms with sweets in. I thought to myself "I could do with an extra life" so I bought a green mario mushroom (£2.49). ^_^
There were red ones and blue ones available too, but I thought "I am big enough already, and... aren't the blue ones poison mushrooms??"
The red ones are strawberry flavour sweets, the blue ones are raspberry and the green one is apple. Mostly the tin is cool, though!
You take it's lid off and eat its brains, like a good little zombie. ^_^
There were red ones and blue ones available too, but I thought "I am big enough already, and... aren't the blue ones poison mushrooms??"
The red ones are strawberry flavour sweets, the blue ones are raspberry and the green one is apple. Mostly the tin is cool, though!
You take it's lid off and eat its brains, like a good little zombie. ^_^
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney manga
I've been reading the Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright manga published by Del Rey.
If you read the blurb on the back of the books you'll think you're going to read some mystery stories, but it's actually little random / comedy stories from loads of different authors and different artists (most of whom aren't that great) - it seems like a doujin compilation.
It requires you to have read (er, played) the 3 Phoenix Wright Nintendo DS games in order to know who everyone is and get the jokes. The first volume is Phoenix Wright based, and the second is Miles Edgeworth based, but both volumes contain the full range of cast from the games; it's just a case of the focus of the story.
They are pleasant enough for a quick read and a few chuckles, but even though it looks like a lot to read with the number of pages, there's no real depth and you'll run through them; they're rather expensive for what they are (but I am still quite glad they were translated and published in English).
If you read the blurb on the back of the books you'll think you're going to read some mystery stories, but it's actually little random / comedy stories from loads of different authors and different artists (most of whom aren't that great) - it seems like a doujin compilation.
It requires you to have read (er, played) the 3 Phoenix Wright Nintendo DS games in order to know who everyone is and get the jokes. The first volume is Phoenix Wright based, and the second is Miles Edgeworth based, but both volumes contain the full range of cast from the games; it's just a case of the focus of the story.
They are pleasant enough for a quick read and a few chuckles, but even though it looks like a lot to read with the number of pages, there's no real depth and you'll run through them; they're rather expensive for what they are (but I am still quite glad they were translated and published in English).
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Agarest - Generations Of War is out
Well, my copy of Agarest - Generations of War (Agarest Senki) arrived in the post today. The retailer sent it early because of the postal strikes, I think, so it's arrived a day before it's available in shops!
Here are some photos (sorry they're wonky and dark):
Horrible choice of fonts, aren't they? -_-;
Unfortunately, when I try to play it, it just says "You cannot play this game at the current video output setting. (80028F10)", which means "I hate SDTVs! Plug me into an HDTV or high resolution monitor!", booooooooooo. :(
I can't remember where I put the cables... I really doubt it absolutely needs HDTV.... it's just trying to show off....
BTW this game is heading for America too, here's the official website:
http://www.aksysgames.com/agarest_war/
Embarassing advertisement, isn't it?
Here are some photos (sorry they're wonky and dark):
Horrible choice of fonts, aren't they? -_-;
Unfortunately, when I try to play it, it just says "You cannot play this game at the current video output setting. (80028F10)", which means "I hate SDTVs! Plug me into an HDTV or high resolution monitor!", booooooooooo. :(
I can't remember where I put the cables... I really doubt it absolutely needs HDTV.... it's just trying to show off....
BTW this game is heading for America too, here's the official website:
http://www.aksysgames.com/agarest_war/
Embarassing advertisement, isn't it?
Monday, October 26, 2009
2010 Calendar time!
It's time for me to go shopping with calendar order / preorders! :D
Here are the ones I'm aiming for this year:
Shugo Chara! [Calendar 2010 (Kodansha Ltd.)]
Fresh Pretty Cure! [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]
ONE PIECE [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry) [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]
TV Animation [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]
(it seems to contain Precure, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, Digimon, Saint Seiya, GeGeGe no Kitaro, etc)
All That's Ultraman
^_^
Here are the ones I'm aiming for this year:
Shugo Chara! [Calendar 2010 (Kodansha Ltd.)]
Fresh Pretty Cure! [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]
ONE PIECE [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry) [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]
TV Animation [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]
(it seems to contain Precure, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, Digimon, Saint Seiya, GeGeGe no Kitaro, etc)
All That's Ultraman
^_^
Small Worlds by David Shute
This is a little game made in Flash, it plays in your browser, and only takes 10 mins. I found it an emotional experience. A picture says a thousand words.
Small Worlds
Small Worlds
Ben There, Dan That!
Ben There, Dan That! is a freeware point and click adventure for PC which you can download from the makers here.
I liked it; it was funny and the descriptions for items were good clues as to what was useful and what was not, so I didn't waste too much time being infuriated.
I would recommend this to anyone, as long as they like point and click adventures, have a sense of humour, aren't just into games for the graphics, and don't mind a bit of strong language. It's comedy based around unlikely things happening, and humourous banter between two English lads.
The makers (Ben and Dan / Zombie Cow) have also announced that they're making a third one in the series, so that'll be something for me to look forward to.
I liked it; it was funny and the descriptions for items were good clues as to what was useful and what was not, so I didn't waste too much time being infuriated.
I would recommend this to anyone, as long as they like point and click adventures, have a sense of humour, aren't just into games for the graphics, and don't mind a bit of strong language. It's comedy based around unlikely things happening, and humourous banter between two English lads.
The makers (Ben and Dan / Zombie Cow) have also announced that they're making a third one in the series, so that'll be something for me to look forward to.
Puzzle Quest - review
I bought this on Xbox 360 Live Arcade when it was going cheap a few weeks ago.
All you do is switch round coloured balls so they match, three or more in a row. Most of the time you play one-on-one CPU battles, where you sometimes use special moves to defeat the opponent, you can also forge items and train mounts in variations on the basic game.
I bought it, I played it, I didn't sleep much, I came back to it even when I didn't want to, and I finished it. And I was glad to finish, because that meant the addiction was over, and I could go back to normal.
This game is mercilessly addictive.
By which I mean that I was playing the game beyond the point where it stops being fun, just as a "default thing to do" - whiling away hours and suddenly wondering where the time went, in the early hours of the morning. Oops!
You play and play and play and then when you're done... you're tired but unsatisfied.
I don't think I'll buy the expansion pack!
All you do is switch round coloured balls so they match, three or more in a row. Most of the time you play one-on-one CPU battles, where you sometimes use special moves to defeat the opponent, you can also forge items and train mounts in variations on the basic game.
I bought it, I played it, I didn't sleep much, I came back to it even when I didn't want to, and I finished it. And I was glad to finish, because that meant the addiction was over, and I could go back to normal.
This game is mercilessly addictive.
By which I mean that I was playing the game beyond the point where it stops being fun, just as a "default thing to do" - whiling away hours and suddenly wondering where the time went, in the early hours of the morning. Oops!
You play and play and play and then when you're done... you're tired but unsatisfied.
I don't think I'll buy the expansion pack!
The Maw - review
Earlier this month, I decided to buy the game: The Maw, which was the first game made by the company who made Splosion Man, which is still my favourite game this year. I bought it on Xbox 360 Live Arcade.
Three hours after buying it, I had finished it. The following day I played for another hour and 100% completed it. I then visited my boyfriend who had bought the DLC levels (I thought they cost too much, considering the main game was so short), and 100% completed them too, though I admit that they were more substantial.
So...
Pros:
Cons:
I can see why it won independant game awards, and I am glad they made enough money on it to make Splosion Man!
Three hours after buying it, I had finished it. The following day I played for another hour and 100% completed it. I then visited my boyfriend who had bought the DLC levels (I thought they cost too much, considering the main game was so short), and 100% completed them too, though I admit that they were more substantial.
So...
Pros:
- I liked the scenario; alien worlds, getting this monster to eat everything
- Really cute and funny characters, animations and voices
- Gorgeous graphics
Cons:
- Very short game, not great value for money
- The main character walks too slowly, and I felt I was backtracking too much over grassy areas to find hidden creatures for the maw to eat
- (Xbox 360) Bizarre leaderboards - averaging out amount eaten over time.
I can see why it won independant game awards, and I am glad they made enough money on it to make Splosion Man!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
