Classic Video Games, The 15-Pixel MegaMix
This clip made me all smiley. Twelve games in four minutes. Punch-Out! + Gauntlet = WIN
Also great is the production company's name: Alaskan Military School
(Via Waxy and GameSetWatch.)
Street Fighter Reborn
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Masters duel in Street Fighter IV.
I've been playing a lot of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (whew!) on the Xbox 360 lately. It's a beautiful update of the fourteen year old classic.
I first played the original Street Fighter at an arcade called the Gold Mine (later called TILT) at what was once called Fashion Island in San Mateo. My friend Tah'ki was the first person I ever saw play the original -- it had big pads that you actually had to punch with your fist in order to kick or punch, and Ryu and Ken were the only guys you could use.
SFII revolutionized the fighting genre, with incredible graphics, near-perfect gameplay, and tons of characters and moves to use. I wasted more quarters than I'd like to admit at the pizza place across the street from my home when I was a kid.
With art by the Udon crew and rebalanced gameplay, SSFIITHD improves on the game in ways I'd never dreamed when I was a kid. It's still tons of fun, looks better, runs more smoothly, allows for online play and is definitely worth playing for five minutes or five hours in a sitting, even if you're a relative noob like me.
I'm especially interested in the rebalancing, as the original play balance was central to the international success of the classic. Big money tournaments are still played around the world using the different variations of the classic.
Sirlin was the lead developer on SSFIITHD. He's shared a series of articles, one per character, discussing the process used and changes made in rebalancing each character. Fascinating read.
Sirlin's site is a great place to visit if you want to learn more about what's changed in this new version. His tutorial videos are also informative. Also, Offworld has links to a great video interview as well as championship gameplay footage -- well worth watching.
While I love this latest version of SFII, I'm really excited about the upcoming release of Street Fighter IV, due out in February. Udon is again responsible for the art, and it looks like they've really outdone themselves this time.
To top things off, Kristen Kreuk of Smallville "fame" is starring in The Legend of Chun Li. The trailer is in Japanese, but that shouldn't matter much to fanboys everywhere.
Make Sports Video Games Fun Again
RBI Baseball is rumored to make its return to the XBLA in 2009.
A friend picked up NBA Live '09 for the XBox 360 last weekend and had this to say:
It's complex, but you can win the NBA Championship using only the basic controls, which tells me all the advanced features are unnecessary. Hoops is all about running isos and hitting open jump shots -- I dont need to press 6 buttons to do that.
I couldn't agree more. Developers have, in their noble attempt to reach new heights in their quest for realism, made sports games too complex. They're becoming simulations that, realistic as they may be, aren't necessarily fun. Instead, developers should take a page from Mike Singletary and return to the fundamentals.
Developers should aim to make sports games with the following 10 Goals in mind:
- Consistent physics.
- Smart, fair AI.
- Updated graphics (cartoony or cel-shaded is fine... just make it look clean in HD).
- The latest licensed rosters.
- Seamless online play.
- Draft and Career modes that are quick to set up and easy to manage. (The original NES Baseball Stars is a great model).
- Minimal learning curve. I don't want to spend a month learning how to use every button on the control pad. I don't have time for that. Just because a game is simple doesn't mean it doesn't have depth. (For more, see Go, Chess, Bridge, Texas Hold'em.)
- The option to play short games that feel both fair and complete -- who wants to spend an hour on a single game?
- Polished interface design, including menus and statistics. Menus should look professional and be easy to figure out. No manual should be needed. Also, only useful stats should be kept. I don't need to know every detail, but I want to know the info that's shown in a standard ESPN boxscore. If obscure stats are used, let them flow naturally into the game -- maybe as pop-up stats or a ticker during the game. (See these links for more on elegant design and the importance of innovative details.)
- The game must, must, must be fun to play.
That's all I want. Is that so much to ask?
The recently-released update to Street Fighter II -- a 10 year old game -- is a perfect example of what I mean. Capcom didn't go overboard. Instead, they just took what worked, modified the engine to close a couple cheats and improve gameplay balance, added online play and updated the graphics. Simple. But the result is a beautiful game.
Produce updated versions of Tecmo Super Bowl, NBA Live '95 and RBI Baseball. I'll be a happy camper, and you'll have developed franchises that print money.