Tuesday 29 September 2015

Super Adventures in Face Editors

Today on Super Adventures I'm taking a quick break from taking quick looks at games to indulge in a bit of Snake cloning.

The more character creators and appearance editors I come across in games, the more of an urge I have to make them fight each other and see which comes out the winner. Plus I'm curious about how face graphics have evolved over time and I want to compare them. To do that though, I'll need to attempt to recreate the same character in each editor, and after giving it some thought... I couldn't think of anyone better for the job than iconic video game hero Solid Snake, star of the Metal Gear Solid series. No seriously I really tried to think of someone better, even asked a few people for suggestions, and this guy's the best choice we came up with.

My plan here is to pick a few of the games I remember featuring a face editor and try to recreate his face in them. And by 'a few' I mean 'basically all of them'. So if you've ever wanted to see 40 or so screenshots of Solid Snake's face in a row... I have a feeling you're going to be disappointed with my results. But I'll try my best!

(Click the images to view them at a more sensible resolution)

Tuesday 22 September 2015

Inspector Gadget (SNES)

Inspector Gadget SNES title screenInspector Gadget SNES title screen
Developer:AIM|Release Date:1993|Systems:Super Nintendo

This week on Super Adventures I'm finally taking a look at this Inspector Gadget game like I was asked to.

It's obviously based on that famous 80s cartoon about the inspector who has gadgets. You know, the one where his dog and niece do all the work while he stumbles through danger like a cyborg version of Inspector Clouseau... I think. To be honest I haven't seen the series since I was in its target age demographic so I'm way fuzzy on the details, but I can at least remember that the girl's called Penny and his dog's Brian. Or is that 'Family Guy' I'm thinking of?

'Inspector Gadget' was actually the very first animated series to be presented in stereo and... oh hang on I'm looking at the cartoon's Wikipedia page here, just give me a second.

Okay here's some video game trivia for you: this is the third Inspector Gadget game released, it only came out on the SNES, and it doesn't start with the proper cartoon theme tune! Plus it was apparently developed by a company called AIM and published by Hudson Soft. AIM aren't very well known (to me anyway, I'm sure Iron Man's fought them a few times), but they've already had a couple of their games onto my site: SWAT Kats, which was based on another cartoon, and Fausseté Amour, which probably wasn't.

Tuesday 15 September 2015

Tales of Monkey Island (PC)

Tales of Monkey Island logoTales of Monkey Island logo
Developer:Telltale|Release Date:2009|Systems:Windows, OS X, iOS, Wii, PS3

This week on Super Adventures, I'm jumping from the oldest Monkey Island of ancient Lucasfilm times to the shiny new one from Telltale: Tales of Monkey Island. Well it's relatively new; it's still six years old now.

Telltale Games was actually formed due to LucasArts' belief that adventure games were over, but after they proved otherwise with games like Sam & Max: Save the World LucasArts' new president was willing to lend them the keys to their top pirate-related game franchise. And thus the world was blessed with a brand new Monkey Island adventure! LucasArts managed to release Special Editions of Monkey Island 1 and 2 around the same time as well, before their next change of management led to a renewed focus on Star Wars dance games or whatever. They're owned by Disney now though and they've let Double Fine remaster Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle, so who knows what's going to happen next with Monkey Island.

I'm going to be playing through the whole first episode today, so I'll likely end up spoiling all of it. I’m certain I've finished it before but I hardly remember a thing about it right now so I may struggle a bit. Oh hang on, there are two things I remember: I remember a doctor’s chair puzzle being good and a map puzzle being terrible.

(Click the screenshots to view them at a higher resolution.)

Monday 7 September 2015

The Secret of Monkey Island (MS-DOS)

The Secret of Monkey Island title screen VGA PCThe Secret of Monkey Island title screen VGA PC
Developer:Lucasfilm|Release Date:1990 (1992 CD)|Systems:DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, FM Towns, Mac, Sega CD

Today on Super Adventures... I'm sitting here listening to the Monkey Island theme. It's one of the all time greatest video game themes in my opinion and the internet agrees with me on this one. Here now that I've hyped it up, have a YouTube link: Secret of Monkey Island CD - Opening Themes.

By the way, it's The Secret of Monkey Island's 25th birthday this month! Or maybe next month, even creator Ron Gilbert says he doesn't know for sure on his blog. Either way it definitely came out in late 1990, just at the point where Lucasfilm Games was being renamed to LucasArts (it has both logos on the box). I actually only found out today which makes this the second time my site's benefited from anniversary serendipity this year, after I accidentally celebrated the Amiga's 30th birthday a few months back. Fate's not often on my side but it does seem to like my website at least.

The Secret of Monkey Island is about as famous as adventure games get, designed by famous developers Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, who also gave the world the famous Day of the Tentacle along with the also famous Monkey Island 2. It's so famous in fact that there's nothing I can tell you about it you don't already know, and nothing about it I don't already know, so me showing it off right now is utterly pointless on every level! But stick around anyway, it'll be nostalgic. Plus I made GIFs!

Semi-Random Game Box