Kazuya Kamioka makes games that scratch the grindy itch that mobiles are known for, in many finite games that don't allow you to whale. They are good outlets for the compulsive collector in me. They can be surreal in the way your ramen games used to be, but not because of a lack of communication, but from pride in Japanes wierd art.
Star Stable Horses is nice. Nice pet horses, mild farming, low stakes minigames where you wash, brush, feed a pony. You can play the minigames as much as you like, but get rewards on a typical mobile game grind.
Bluey: Let's Play! is licensed and very true to the show. Not a lot of gameplay but it's mostly putting scenes together with the characters. Who talk and are wise and joyful like the show.
There's a lot of hidden object games, those with characters are the same as point and click adventure games. Kitty-Q, Song of Bloom, June's Journey, Criminal Archive series, Lost Lands, Murder by Choice...
Puzzle games: Really Bad Chess, Simon Tatham's Puzzles, Pokémon Trozei! (not as good as console versions), Please Touch the Artwork.
Well none of these are really the same weirdness of old games. I guess since mobile games are more likely to have verbs like puzzle and grind, budget mobile games are more likely to have the wierdness come from being chopped up to have characters tell you to grind or spend, and explaining puzzles. In Final Fantasy Brave Exvius you play characters who attack with ghosts collected gatcha style, and grind those ghosts up in levels. Clearly the story follows the formula.
Asking fellow humans is the best way to find mobile games that don't abuse you. So glad to help. If I'm looking for new games, and don't have a human handy to ask, nor see anything made by an author I like, I will check out GDQ videos. Sometimes they are about mobile games and if they're talking at GDQ it's an actual game designer not a sweatshop pumping out clones that trick you into playing ads.
Closest thing to a recent goofy licensed game I've seen recently is Thor for DS. Oh god that's decades old at this point. There's a Rugrats game that is inspired by the goofy licensed games... I heard AVGN has a game, that is a platformer, which would be the same bucket I say. There is nostalgia for the surreal in games, but is it the same if it doesn't come from honest miscommunications?
Hmm. You have excluded all crappy mobile games from your analysis, but then again adding time crystals because cell phone game doesn't have the same charm as adding action verbs because video game. Plus, it's an effort to find the sort of community that discusses the charming non-evil mobile games. Those are a niche apart from AAA, or indie games for itch.io, or anything in between. And you're not going to get a smart phone yourself, indeed you've been ahead of the trend in avoiding it.
Gotta say, Rugrats in Gameland looks pretty inspired. But still, there's a difference between a self-conscious throwback to a wacky licensed NES games and making a wacky licensed NES game because you've got a ship date and a very limited technological palette—and I'm not sure who Rugrats is supposed to appeal to, except for Old People who remember watching Rugrats and playing NES games.
I'll have to ask forgiveness for my ignorance of crappy mobile games, for reasons which you understand. What are some of the charming non-evil mobile games?!
I somehow missed this in my email but I wish you could see how big a smile I cracked when I scrolled by this and how even bigger a smile I had when I realized you wrote it.
Absolutely loved this. I grew up around ice rinks and pizza places, we didn’t have cable, so my primary exposure to marvel was from these games and the mid 90s boom of toys. I do think there’s something very cool about that era and how basically the IP holders going “yeah sure whatever” really created a strange relationship between the kids who consumed it and the deeper world. One of my most beloved action figures as a kid was of Corsair, the marvel vs games introduced me to shuma, spiral as well as made me like onslaught which it wasn’t until I read the comics how insane that was. It’s interesting how the vs games also did similar things for capcom’s backlog, Strider Hiryu is still in conversations despite not having a game in eons. It always made the marvel universe feel so eccentric to me and one of the things I’ve really lamented with the rise of the MCU is how they’ve sorted sanded all that off.
Anyway, amazing, I could read a book about this stuff from you.
Has anyone ever hypothesized that capcoms interest in shuma gorath could be tied to the nations for lack of a better term interest in tentacle monsters?
1. I'm not sure if it's significant, but your description of Batman made me think of another massive IP SunSoft got a hold of: Looney Tunes. They published Rabbit Rampage, which has been almost completely forgotten, but once graced the cover of Nintendo Power. The game deserves a perfect score for authenticity; it is absolutely exceptional in this area. Practically every recurring character in the vast Looney Tunes universe has at least a cameo. The graphics are breathtakingly gorgeous for an early SNES game, making the player truly feel like he's inside a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The character's animations and many of the sound effects are taken directly out of the source material, even those of the minor disposable enemies. The player is encouraged to defeat the enemies populating the game in the most "Looney Tunes" manner possible, like feeding Elmer Fudd's hounds in the first level exploding bones, or placing a target on the ground that causes a giant safe to fall on the next enemy that walks on it. The title and the simple-but-ingenious plot of the game are taken from a 50's cartoon of the same name.
The people who worked on Rabbit Rampage went to an incredible amount of trouble to make an authentic Looney Tunes experience, and they succeeded beyond any reasonable expectations. That's why it's so sad that the gameplay sucks - it's somewhere between lousy and mediocre. I have no idea how the budgets for game companies used to work, but I can't help but wonder if all the effort that went into making Rabbit Rampage so true to its source material might've been better spent on gameplay, and trusting the players to make it more authentic ourselves, with our imaginations.
2. It's really striking just how ugly and soulless that 2017 Marvel vs. Capcom screenshot looks compared to the one from the '94 X-Men game.
3. My favorite incongruity from Super Star Wars RotJ: when you kill the Emperor, twin spouts of flame burst forth from his body, making him look like a fighter plane struck by an enemy missile, and then he slowly falls off the screen. Honorable mentions: Bib Fortuna shooting laser pellets out of his tentacles. Wicket's bow laying waste to everything like some kind of unstoppable rapid fire rail cannon.
(1) Yeah, I feel like something happened at SunSoft between its NES and SNES phases. I haven't sifted through the game credits, but the vibe difference between Batman, Gremlins, and Journey to Silius (which started out as a licensed Terminator game) and Rabbit Rampage, Death Valley Rally, and Taz-Mania is stark indeed.
(2) Capcom isn't the company it used to be, that's for sure.
(3) I like how Darth Vader spends most of his time onscreen flying around like a kite.
Magento? Is that the super hero that can control anything purple-ish pink? He's very powerful inside the bedrooms of 8-year-old girls.
apparently i'm dyslexic
Kazuya Kamioka makes games that scratch the grindy itch that mobiles are known for, in many finite games that don't allow you to whale. They are good outlets for the compulsive collector in me. They can be surreal in the way your ramen games used to be, but not because of a lack of communication, but from pride in Japanes wierd art.
Star Stable Horses is nice. Nice pet horses, mild farming, low stakes minigames where you wash, brush, feed a pony. You can play the minigames as much as you like, but get rewards on a typical mobile game grind.
Bluey: Let's Play! is licensed and very true to the show. Not a lot of gameplay but it's mostly putting scenes together with the characters. Who talk and are wise and joyful like the show.
There's a lot of hidden object games, those with characters are the same as point and click adventure games. Kitty-Q, Song of Bloom, June's Journey, Criminal Archive series, Lost Lands, Murder by Choice...
Puzzle games: Really Bad Chess, Simon Tatham's Puzzles, Pokémon Trozei! (not as good as console versions), Please Touch the Artwork.
Well none of these are really the same weirdness of old games. I guess since mobile games are more likely to have verbs like puzzle and grind, budget mobile games are more likely to have the wierdness come from being chopped up to have characters tell you to grind or spend, and explaining puzzles. In Final Fantasy Brave Exvius you play characters who attack with ghosts collected gatcha style, and grind those ghosts up in levels. Clearly the story follows the formula.
Asking fellow humans is the best way to find mobile games that don't abuse you. So glad to help. If I'm looking for new games, and don't have a human handy to ask, nor see anything made by an author I like, I will check out GDQ videos. Sometimes they are about mobile games and if they're talking at GDQ it's an actual game designer not a sweatshop pumping out clones that trick you into playing ads.
Closest thing to a recent goofy licensed game I've seen recently is Thor for DS. Oh god that's decades old at this point. There's a Rugrats game that is inspired by the goofy licensed games... I heard AVGN has a game, that is a platformer, which would be the same bucket I say. There is nostalgia for the surreal in games, but is it the same if it doesn't come from honest miscommunications?
Hmm. You have excluded all crappy mobile games from your analysis, but then again adding time crystals because cell phone game doesn't have the same charm as adding action verbs because video game. Plus, it's an effort to find the sort of community that discusses the charming non-evil mobile games. Those are a niche apart from AAA, or indie games for itch.io, or anything in between. And you're not going to get a smart phone yourself, indeed you've been ahead of the trend in avoiding it.
Gotta say, Rugrats in Gameland looks pretty inspired. But still, there's a difference between a self-conscious throwback to a wacky licensed NES games and making a wacky licensed NES game because you've got a ship date and a very limited technological palette—and I'm not sure who Rugrats is supposed to appeal to, except for Old People who remember watching Rugrats and playing NES games.
I'll have to ask forgiveness for my ignorance of crappy mobile games, for reasons which you understand. What are some of the charming non-evil mobile games?!
I somehow missed this in my email but I wish you could see how big a smile I cracked when I scrolled by this and how even bigger a smile I had when I realized you wrote it.
Absolutely loved this. I grew up around ice rinks and pizza places, we didn’t have cable, so my primary exposure to marvel was from these games and the mid 90s boom of toys. I do think there’s something very cool about that era and how basically the IP holders going “yeah sure whatever” really created a strange relationship between the kids who consumed it and the deeper world. One of my most beloved action figures as a kid was of Corsair, the marvel vs games introduced me to shuma, spiral as well as made me like onslaught which it wasn’t until I read the comics how insane that was. It’s interesting how the vs games also did similar things for capcom’s backlog, Strider Hiryu is still in conversations despite not having a game in eons. It always made the marvel universe feel so eccentric to me and one of the things I’ve really lamented with the rise of the MCU is how they’ve sorted sanded all that off.
Anyway, amazing, I could read a book about this stuff from you.
Has anyone ever hypothesized that capcoms interest in shuma gorath could be tied to the nations for lack of a better term interest in tentacle monsters?
A book, huh. ...tell me, were you ever into the FInal Fantasy games?
Watched my friend play and was very into 7 plus all the Kingdom Hearts stuff. Probably wouldn't be any good on a trivia night but definitely liked it.
A few random thoughts:
1. I'm not sure if it's significant, but your description of Batman made me think of another massive IP SunSoft got a hold of: Looney Tunes. They published Rabbit Rampage, which has been almost completely forgotten, but once graced the cover of Nintendo Power. The game deserves a perfect score for authenticity; it is absolutely exceptional in this area. Practically every recurring character in the vast Looney Tunes universe has at least a cameo. The graphics are breathtakingly gorgeous for an early SNES game, making the player truly feel like he's inside a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The character's animations and many of the sound effects are taken directly out of the source material, even those of the minor disposable enemies. The player is encouraged to defeat the enemies populating the game in the most "Looney Tunes" manner possible, like feeding Elmer Fudd's hounds in the first level exploding bones, or placing a target on the ground that causes a giant safe to fall on the next enemy that walks on it. The title and the simple-but-ingenious plot of the game are taken from a 50's cartoon of the same name.
The people who worked on Rabbit Rampage went to an incredible amount of trouble to make an authentic Looney Tunes experience, and they succeeded beyond any reasonable expectations. That's why it's so sad that the gameplay sucks - it's somewhere between lousy and mediocre. I have no idea how the budgets for game companies used to work, but I can't help but wonder if all the effort that went into making Rabbit Rampage so true to its source material might've been better spent on gameplay, and trusting the players to make it more authentic ourselves, with our imaginations.
2. It's really striking just how ugly and soulless that 2017 Marvel vs. Capcom screenshot looks compared to the one from the '94 X-Men game.
3. My favorite incongruity from Super Star Wars RotJ: when you kill the Emperor, twin spouts of flame burst forth from his body, making him look like a fighter plane struck by an enemy missile, and then he slowly falls off the screen. Honorable mentions: Bib Fortuna shooting laser pellets out of his tentacles. Wicket's bow laying waste to everything like some kind of unstoppable rapid fire rail cannon.
(1) Yeah, I feel like something happened at SunSoft between its NES and SNES phases. I haven't sifted through the game credits, but the vibe difference between Batman, Gremlins, and Journey to Silius (which started out as a licensed Terminator game) and Rabbit Rampage, Death Valley Rally, and Taz-Mania is stark indeed.
(2) Capcom isn't the company it used to be, that's for sure.
(3) I like how Darth Vader spends most of his time onscreen flying around like a kite.