Emulator Hour: Snake Rattle n Roll (NES)

You know,  I generally consider my favorite video game console to be the Super Nintendo. But lately I'm noticing more and more that a lot of my very favorite video game memories and nostalgia come from the NES.  I think this can be very simply explained by the fact that I was younger when I was playing NES, the memories are fuzzier, and somehow warmer.  My sense of wonder was strongest at that time of my life, and perhaps my sense of security as well.  

Snake Rattle n Roll is a strange and silly game.  It is also a good example of an NES game that was special to me.  I saw this game in Nintendo Power and I was mesmerized.  I really don't know why, but  I had.to.have.it.  I think it was the isometric view, with the checkerboard patterns on the ground--  It just looked like fun!  Before I got a hold of it (took a while), I used to pore over the pictures in Nintendo Power and imagine what it was going to play like.

It ended up being a pretty fun game.  And strange.  You eat colorful balls called 'Nibblie Pibblies" and your enemies included moving toilet seats and a big disembodied foot.  And one more thing:  You destroy your enemies by licking them.  A toilet seat and a foot.  By licking them.  This is just the sort of potty humor that kids love.  (of course the pun was intended)

There was something about the level design that, to me,  indicated secrets.  I always thought: how can I get up to that platform?  What's up there?  Is there a secret area?  Isometric platforming can take a bit of getting used to, but there were some cool jumps and heights  I could manage.  And some limitations as well; you could fall to your doom without actually falling, if you tried to jump to a lower platform, and fell a certain distance before reaching it.   Occasionally I did get to a hard to reach platform, and was rewarded only with my own satisfaction at having accomplished my goal.  Which is still pretty cool. Like climbing a fence or getting onto the roof of my house.  Just glad to have done it.

I got a similar sensation when I first played Mario 64.  Especially outside the castle, I just wanted to climb and go and discover what was hiding behind the mountains, around the castle.  It was Yoshi.  And you needed a canon to get there, and then you didn't even get to ride Yoshi.  Not so much fun.

I've seen modern versions of this exploration for exploration's sake, like ulillillia getting really high in Bubsy 3d levels.  Also people scaling mountains in Skyrim.  It occurs to me that that is somethign I want in a game like Proteus:  climbing.  There really isn't that in Proteus.

Discovery, where is that sense of discovery in games?

That will have to be a topic I return to at a future date.  I was talking about Snake Rattle and Roll.  A co-op game, I remember playing a lot with my younger sister.  I got pretty good at the game, but it was TOUGH.  I don't think I ever beat it.  I may have gotten to the final level once or twice, but I'm not sure if I cheated to do so.  I do know that the levels got progressively harder, and the last couple levels were skin-of-your teeth, hanging by your fingernails- TOUGH.  Like a good NES game should be.

-D

P.S. Plumbing the internet for happy nostalgia is usually a productive enterprise.  It's led me to cool stuff like a monster map of the original Dragon Warrior.  With Snake Rattle n Roll a particularly awesome bit of fan art came up:  A sewing together of the different level maps (see below) and a speed run overlaid on said map!  I really couldn't ask for a better tribute.  Bravo!

And then it turns out that the game was actually designed as a giant mountain which you scale until you get to the top and then launch to the moon and fight an ice-foot.  Of course!  Check out the image below.

http://lurkmore.to/Snake_Rattle_'n'_Roll

here is the source page for the above image

Packing Strategies for the Modern Gamer

I hope you didn't click this post hoping to find a list of smart and effective approaches to packing, with special attention to the subgroup sometimes known as the  'modern gamer.'  Because all this post is going to contain is my musings about packing.  Because I am faced with a game-related packing dilemma, and I thought I'd work it out on LIVE TV... I mean, on the internet.  On this blog.  Right now.  It's live as I'm typing it anyway!  Jaconian, I imagine you have thoughts on this subject, and I'm pretty sure you've shared them in the past.  Also, he is indirectly responsible for this dilemma as the trip I am packing for is his WEDDING  TO CONKLEDERP!  Hooray!!!

I have three portable gaming devices that get regular use.  In order of frequency of use, and in reverse order of portability, there is my laptop, my Nintendo DS and my cell phone.  I intend to bring all three.  However, for many games, my laptop requires* a funny, irregularly shaped device known as a game pad.  This is what is giving me pause.  Somehow, packing the game pad seems to push it all over the edge.  Maybe it's just because it doesn't fit nicely into anything, with its funny handle grips sticking out and power cable projecting from its midsection.  Anolog sticks catching on everything as it bounces around inside my backpack.  I just shouldn't bring it.

Yet, I find it hard letting go of my primary gaming device (laptop + controller).  Afterall, isn't it awesome that I can bring my primary gaming device with me on a four-day trip?  I think it's pretty great.   And it's pretty great that the same device is what I use for all of my computing and internet surfing.  Oh, the laptop is coming with me, there's no doubt about it.  But perhaps it comes with reduced gaming capacity, ie: without the controller.

Yes, I know this to be the right decision, but I am just really compelled to hem and to haw about it.  What I should do is use this as an opportunity to play some games that don't require a controller.  To play DS games, or some classic games on my DS emulator.  Maybe one of those Android games I bought in a Humble Bundle, but never play.  It turns out Mc Pixel is pretty fun!  God forbid - I could even read a book!

Okay, thank you for taking this time to skim this really dumb post from me.  Potts MD.

-D

*I say that the games require a controller because I really don't like using the keyboard for platformers.

First Impressions: Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP

Another Humble Bundle game!  The Humble Bundles are the best thing ever.  By the way, there's one going on right now.  11 more days. Upon reviewing my files, I recently discovered that I've bought five Humble Bundles.  Which probably accounts for about 35 of the 50 or so games in my steam account.  I'll probably never play them all, but I'm glad I gave Sword and Sorcery EP a look.  So far, at 2 hours in, I am having a great time.

The game is beautiful in a neat 'retro' way that captures my heart.  I can't explain it, but the graphics and design really mesmerize me.  The visuals are great, the sounds and the animation are also great.  Everything seems to fit in the world, and no element clashes to pull me out of my absorption in the game.  I've enjoyed the sound so much that I decided to download the soundtrack (another perk of the humble bundles).

The story follows a character known as the Scythian.  She is wandering around looking for something called the Trigon, which appears to simply be a triangle.  Except using the 'gon' suffix like a pentagon or septagon.  She encounters some people along the way to help her and some others who are trying to hinder her.  And the whole time the graphics and sound are just great.  

The controls took a little getting used to.  My only real problem was that I didn't realize that I could double-click to direct  the Scythian to walk or interact with items.  I thougth I had to hold the button down, which does work, but it also is the same action that I use to look around the screen.  Mixing the two of these up was frustrating, but since I figured it out, the controls have given me no trouble at all. 

The name is kind of stupid, and so far the writing is pretty stupid as well.   For example, the lumberjack that the Scythian meets early on is named "logfella."  And then the dog she encounters is named "dogfella."  The thing about the dialogue is that it seems to be speaking directly to the player, and not to the Scythian.  The other characters in the story will speak of the Scythian and not to her, and the Scythian herself uses the royal 'we' whenever expressing herself verbally.  After playing the game for a couple of hours, the dialogue has started to become charming, instead of annoying.  I think this comes from the consistency of the silliness.  The game seems to break the fourth wall as a rule, instead of an exception, and this somehow works.  

There are some themes that I don't really understand.  One is the 'EP' theme.  I am guessing that the inclusion of EP in the title is to indicate that the game won't be very long (I have been playing 2 hours and have 47% completion) and that maybe it indicates that the soundtrack won't be very long, as an vinyl record EP runs a standard of about 25 minutes.  The menu screen for the game prominently features an image of an EP vinyl record.  The record reacts to the players menu choices.  Another theme is the triangle, or 'trigon' theme.  Triangles feature in all of the menus, and also as the main source of conflict for the Scythian.    

I want to throw in that the lead character, the Scythian,  appears to be female, based on the sound of her grunts as she swings her sword. However, she is not portrayed as 'super-feminine' - a nice departure from so many of our video game heroines.

The game is available for eight bucks on steam, but I got it for much less, given it was a Humble Bundle.  I probably dropped $20 bucks on Humble Bundle V, and still the games were about $3 apiece.  hells yeah.

-D

I want to also make a quick mention that there was a reference to Al Jaffee in this game.  Yes, that Al Jaffee.  I think that was the precise moment that the silly dialogue began to win me over.  

Also, I want to mention again that the Humble Bundle 7 is out right now and has 11 days to go.  Pay what you want, can't beat that price!