DemonKow

This was fantastic. It's amazing to hear that even in its released state the FF4 he found it embarrassing - when it came out I'd never heard anything like it in a game and can still recall the opening notes kicking the door in on a story like we'dnever seen. FF6's "Darkness and Starlight" remains the high water mark for setting how "big" a video game could dream to be, not just with the soundtrack. It sounds corny given how humble the games look today, but that coming out of such limited technical means of the platforms is still mindblowing.

The 70s prog influence really shows in his "Black Mages" projects, with Emerson Lake and Palmer influence just blasting out. I think one common thread is that his music seems to prioritize joy, regardless of the tone.

Great piece!

I love this idea. There's something to be said when you bring up a game and everyone remembers THAT part. Like the original TMNT reservoir level or... probably any part of Super Ghouls and Ghosts.

I beat this stage exactly once way back when, and immediately game overed on the next stage. To emphasize the rage of this quit, I went to play outside for the rest of the day.

Good catch on the shadow.

Not gonna lie, most Simpsons games on consoles were pure garbage, and i tried so hard to like them. But the Simpsons brawler arcade game was the most fun that didn't feature the Ninja Turtles and I will die on that hill.

But its great to hear someone call a spade a spade and admit that not all of their catalog needs to be revived.

Battletoads is brutal at times???

I can reference this game obliquely to any gamer of a certain age and they just give a knowing head nod. I completed Super Ghouls n' Ghosts (once) and I can't tell you much about what happens after level 3 of Battletoads.

...I'm totally getting this.

@gingerbeardman that is a fascinating project and great context. I think people take standardization for granted these days like it was always a thing. There were times we would pull up text files and just have complete gibberish as in an example you noted, going from DOS to Mac, and basically we would just have to resort to printing and manually typing.

We were also a lot younger and had no clue this was why 😅

I always love hearing talk from developers who obviously love video games, and discussing the fascinating little bits of distilling the identity of the game to make it clearly a Final Fight game but not a retread.

It's the piledriver, btw.

Gotta say, I'm a sucker for that Era anime aesthetic (because I'm old), and with weirdo cast and lots of reading?! Late 80s/early 90s me cries with joy.

The only thing generative AI is capable of is deriving from other sources, and as such can only create derivative content. I can think of no company that provides more value to than EA.

Still got that bumpin' tune from the last level in my head from time to time. Fantastic piece of the late 80s here.

I have to agree the biggest crime here is marketing, at least in the US. It's not a terrible game, it's in line with the Carmen Sandiego games as intended. I don't know that the technology made that super workable until a few years later ( or just on PC).

I'd be happy with a straight remaster if that's all we are to get (with NA Terranigma release!). It'd be nice to get a full remake Trials of Mana style tho if they want to get fancy, but I'm worried S-E's lost appetite for that kind of thing.