Messages

1

Gaming / Re: Disappointments of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and What Not to Repeat

« on: June 26, 2025, 06:19:05 am »

You’ve raised some fair points especially on boss variety and world depth. A quick question, do you think these design choices were aimed at a younger audience or just development constraints?

I don't think its either, even though Mario games are always light-hearted.

I don't actually know how the Super Mario dev teams' mindsets are, nor how they work, but I kinda feel its not from dev constraints. What I think is that with all their time spent on making new environments, enemies, and levels, they kinda not bothered with sparing time for making another new array of bosses in Wonder, intentional or not. All we got were Bowser Jr. and Bowser as the game's only bosses. That is what I find EXTREMELY disappointing in a new Mario game.

And, no, the Koopalings don't need to be constantly reused again. I mean, they're alright as bosses of their own, but new villainous talent should be made a bit more often.

I've seen more creative minds that employed lots more variety than that, and especially with loads more game storage space we already got in many outlets that doesn't warrant less bosses in any way.

What I always expect from any new installment are not just new enemies, but new bosses; not reskins, resizes, or recolors, just new, original bosses. And Wonder clearly doesn't have any. Period. Not even a single chosen enemy turned into one by any resource needed, even by a Wonder Flower.

Some past Mario games had them step up a bit in bringing new bosses, but that's been kinda lacking lately, and that can be very harmful for later, new games and other devs trying to seek new inspiration sources for theirs.

2

Map Gab / Re: Sonic Advance - Sonic Colors Maps' sizes

« on: June 22, 2025, 07:53:19 am »

You want to know about this one, small, minor disappointment about the larger Sonic maps?(no, its not that they're too large or long.)

There's no Super Sonic option enabled to breeze past them quickly.

Having all 7 Chaos Emeralds already won through Special Stages, there's no option to enable Super Sonic, or any playable characters' super forms, to zoom through the largest maps yet quicker than normal.

Through Sonic Advance and up to Sonic Generations' 3DS version(not counting Lost World's 3DS version), only Super Sonic has been reserved to play through the Extra Zones and defeat the true final bosses there, but nowhere else. I mean, for me, its kind of hollow not to get these chances for speedrunners across the world to partake in beating regular stages, nor bosses, as Super Sonic. I mean, its OK to speedrun them as normal, but to do them as Super Sonic, that would've been quite more enjoyable.

Well, using Boost does it, given that Sonic Rush does introduce it, but, its only speedrunning through them quite less the time that way, clever bypassing tricks in their layouts or not.

I mean, if another new 2D Sonic game could be made(not made in the likes of Sonic Superstars, mind you) with us enabling Super Sonic again, and its maps made larger and longer, even surpassing Asteroid Coaster Act 2's size from Sonic Colors DS as the longest yet, I could imagine speeding through all the dangers the larger levels can offer as Super Sonic, and speed right through the whole level in less than minutes time, giving the greater satisfaction of conquering them quicker than normal.

Can any of you imagine that? I can.

3

Gaming / Re: Spark the Electirc Jester... Played it?

« on: June 18, 2025, 08:09:37 pm »

All three games have been sitting in my Steam wishlist for over a year thanks to a video praising the series by Nitro Rad.
I just... don't have enough free time to watch/read/play everything in my *huge* backlog. So it'll probably be a few years before I buy them, and a few more before I actually *play* them.

*sigh* Someday...

Well, when you can get to it after you purchase the first game, I'm sure you'll have a blast and like the maps' layouts. Just hope you'll endure the more longer stages.

4

Map Gab / Re: Eternal Daughter

« on: June 16, 2025, 03:10:31 am »

Well, that's one more Metroidvania map jotted down for the atlas, especially a free one. Nice work, KoBeWi!

5

Map Requests / Re: Full map set for Sonic the Hedgehog's games

« on: June 10, 2025, 08:06:34 pm »

Uh, G.E.R., I think you left out mapping all the Challenge Missions that are unlocked after finishing each Act in all 6 main Stages, and then the last by finishing all 2 unlocked Missions from "Sonic Colors DS".

Those Missions, while serving as the game's side content are, yes, slightly modified layouts of already existing Acts with blockades with different objectives, but they do offer some replay value.

And, as you may or may not remember, there are 2 Red Star Rings found in each Mission, alongside the 5 in each Act.

Just thought I'd let you know.

6

Gaming / Spark the Electirc Jester... Played it?

« on: June 08, 2025, 08:54:33 pm »

Any in the VGMaps community that may need to know, I have come across a rather neat 2D game that has some Kirby, Mega Man X, and Sonic influences, but stands well on its own as an indie game.

It's "Spark the Electric Jester".

It shows the main hero, Spark, setting out to reclaim his job as a rather entertaining jester after being "let go", inadvisably, and stop a robot rampage threatening the world, led by a rather unknown individual, and must plow through swathes of robots to get answers, including a rather obvious look-a-like robot copy of himself(Fake Spark, I call it), and save the world, with some allies Spark may meet on the way.

Its been made by one whole person, who some of you may be familiar with some Sonic the Hedgehog fangames, preferably "Before the Sequel" and "After the Sequel".

I'm talking about LakeFeperd. He made those previous fangames with Clickteam's Multimedia Fusion 2 engine, until he upgraded to Fusion 2.5, paired with a framework, "Sonic Worlds", which was also used by Galaxytrail(not Feperd, mind you) to make Freedom Planet.

It got funded through Kickstarter to help out finish the game, despite no stretch goals being funded, unfortunately. The music was done by composers Feperd picked while he kept working on the game.

I found a few YT videos about it, including playthroughs, and watched some.

Here's one to watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEbz95ypPX0

I'm fond of the game, because of its familiar speeds to Sonic, and it harbors plenty of content, including an unlockable, tougher campaign as Fake Spark himself. The game holds a total of 16 Stages, each having at least a mid-boss in most, and a main boss at the end of them.

I've seen how long each stage can be, and later stages can go for more than 5 minutes, especially the later stages that have more than one map. And, speaking of maps, they are LARGE. I mean, QUITE LARGE, as in within, or above, the size range of 20,000s, mostly horizontal. There's even a few stages that go vertically taller, or deeper. I mean WAY tall or deep.

Comparably, their maps' sizes are much more larger than Freedom Planet's, but the map amounts in stages are lesser than the latter.

The few things that kinda bother me in that game are the minor, numerical grammar problems in the dialogue. I mean, just mainly lacking of commas, periods where question marks should've been, etc..(I've been paying attention while watching)

The story did get an overhaul in a patch update(unusually in a game, but, understandable), because its former plot didn't felt consistent and in-line with specific elements in its story.

The more bothersome thing of it all, for me, is that it didn't get a port to a Nintendo console first, before Feperd went to work on its sequels.

In my perspective, any console port after launching a game in PC, if such a choice was made first, should've been a priority before doing another or a sequel. Even more, Feperd went to port sequels to consoles WITHOUT doing the first game. It could've been given a better priority, at least. I could've enjoyed playing it on a Nintendo console.

If anything, Feperd could contact any console porting team to do the work on porting the first game.

Though, should that be made, I would mind a few updates and cosmetic changes to improve the adventure, like additional sound ambiance in stages, grammar corrections, maybe a speed  boost, refined and streamlined defeat sequences to bosses, the timer stopping for doing conversations and resuming after finishing them, resolved inconsistencies with the bosses' health bars' appearances(that should've been lesser for mid-bosses and perhaps more for main bosses), and, OH! I almost forgot...

In a prior Kickstarter demo, the game's second stage, F.M.(Flower Mountain) Canyon, HAD a mid-boss to fight, plainly called Tank SECR-01. A later demo removed it, and I felt disappointed it got removed. It should be reinstated to make it less dragging and more fun.

Here's an image link showcasing that mid-boss itself, as proof, from the game's artbook album - https://i.imgur.com/eAnzSua.png

To add more on it, here's the mid-boss' whole body sprite - https://tcrf.net/images/e/e5/STEJ_tank.png

And, in accordance to its artbook launched for free later, the 10th stage, Luna Base, HAD a boss planned, but for some reason, it got scrapped, leaving that stage to be the only one WITHOUT bosses, even a mid-boss that should've been fought midway.

Luna Bay's Scrapped Boss Pattern Design Doc. - https://i.imgur.com/a9N0OjD.png

Luna Bay's Scrapped Boss 3D model - https://i.imgur.com/mmCEe0K.png

I should say this, Luna Bay needs all-new bosses, or at least, at least have a new mid-boss or two in it, THEN have a new main boss in the end that's more fun to fight and would suit well to use the magma against Spark.

I happen to come across YT vids from SparkleGem that's working on a mod to the first game that may give a few updates and changes, called "Spark the Electric Jester: Recharged".

Now THAT'S sounding like a good name for an updated edition to the game! One that's worthy of a Nintendo console port!

I leave these video links for you to see what I mean.

Spark The Electric Jester: Recharged Mod Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex3vLbxv5k8

Spark The Electric Jester: Recharged, Shopalo's Goods Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTUK-RKjRNM

Well, overall, aside from it not being mapped yet, Spark the Electric Jester is a fun game to play. If you've not played it, give it a go. You'll enjoy some of the hi-speed action and adventure!

And, of course, if you want, give Feperd a good talk on his Twitter Account, here - https://twitter.com/LakeFeperd

7

Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: June 08, 2025, 05:57:58 pm »

I think its neat to keep track of any game's maps in progress via colored indication. The blue marking helps, but I think for games that may have one or more mappers working on them, maybe a different color would help to better differentiate.

Other than that, your changes to your list are good.

8

Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: June 07, 2025, 05:51:49 pm »

Hi, Jon.

I was able to scout for more yet-to-be mapped games for your list, and did bring up some more Metroidvanias, and in one of your topics about them, I've lined a few up in order about the largest map yet, which is "Afterimage", at the top of my latest post's list there.

I still try to inform you of whatever games I can find, when not swamped with anything else or trying to keep myself out of boredom.

If you've not played it yet, maybe give it a go when you can. I was able to uncover just about every area in the overall map, and there are so many.

I don't know the actual overall size, but I can only say this, it tops Hollow Knight as the largest Metroidvania map yet(and any game map, in general, so far). Even I felt a bit exhausted a few times when still trying to find every path in every corner of every area. Still fun, though, having played it.

9

Map Requests / Found Giana Sisters DS Maps!

« on: June 03, 2025, 08:14:26 pm »

This has been untouched in very long since Wario Bros posted, but, I have to bring this matter up, anyway.

I have found the entire collection of Giana Sisters DS maps uploaded onto a Fandom Wiki Page that has them!

The maps were made by a member called GianaSistersFan64, and the name is quite obvious of what a big fan of the series that member is. Many of them are not viewable unless anyone makes a membership account.

Alternatively, but fortunately, I found the same collection on The Spriters Resource uploaded by that same member, as well as a few other games' maps in the series that member did there, and they're available to see in full, rather than locked by a membership to the website.

The page to where the game's maps are is there, just below a section called "Level Maps" - https://www.spriters-resource.com/ds_dsi/gianasistersds/

Looks like that person saved Wario Bros whatever amount of  time and effort spent on doing it.

If anyone in the VGMaps community is around, please try to get in contact with GianaSistersFan64. The maps are still yet to be uploaded on this site.

10

Gaming / Creativity Towards Mini-Bosses

« on: June 03, 2025, 05:14:04 pm »

Well, the one other thing I would like to talk about mini-bosses are the thought, effort, heart, and, oftentimes, soul in giving mini-bosses their unique, original designs... along with making them not too repetitive in their appearances.

The Mega Man and Kirby series do have many games that feature mini-bosses, though their amounts and originality really differs.

Many Mega Man games have mini-bosses, but only in select stages, not in each. The one thing is some are fought more than once mid-way through select stages, even with hazards place in to make these battles a bit tougher, like Paozo from Mega Man 9, fought not once, not twice, but THRICE in Concrete Man's stage, all in a row. Granted, that game was made for WiiWare, as well as PSN, and XBLA, and that's fine by me, but still.

Being that many were made for NES, SNES, and PS1(despite the CD's storage size that could've guaranteed some more, then), it seemed like there weren't much, due to the former's carts holding little space for game content at the time, even on SNES because the sounds are comprised of recorded DPCM samples, at least until Mega Man Zero, ZX, and ZX Advent, had a bit plenty more in these games.

Mega Man 11 was first game in the whole series to have a mini-boss fought in each of its main stages, and that gave me some satisfaction in fighting them in their own chosen stages. I fought them, and it was more fun.

Kirby's Dream Land, the first Kirby game, debuted mini-bosses, Poppy Bros. Sr., Lololo, and Kracko Jr., all original, and Kirby's Adventure introduced many new mini-bosses that went on to become recurring in many games to come, such as Bonkers, Mr. Frosty, Grand Wheelie, and Bugzzy.

What I don't find it select games in that series trying to make any regular enemy a mid-boss, like Waddle Dee, for instance. Sure, it may seem like any one enemy's trying to prove capable of being one, but it doesn't do any good being original, nor uniquely creative.

We had more new mini-bosses in later games, but others weren't chosen to reappear, like Batafire, Bombar, Gao Gao, Miasmoros, Water Galboros, Super Bonkers, Box Boxer, Big Metalun, Tedhaun, Rolling Turtle, Boxy, and Phan Phan. King Doo, Blocky, Gigant Blade, and Kibble Blade did reappear, but I feel they're more better favorites chosen for their reappearances as somewhat of a priority than having new mini-bosses to fight.

Kirby: Mass Attack does have mini-bosses, mostly unique, others slightly.

Super Kirby Clash have different variants of select mini-bosses and regular bosses, being mostly about battles and such, being a spin-off; Kibble Blade was given, Frost Kibble Blade, Bonkers was given Spark Bonkers, Kracko was given Venom Kracko, and Gigant Edge was given Gigant Edge was given Ignite Edge, and Ice Dragon was given Electric Dragon. all neat variants with designs that stood them apart.

Here's image links about their concept art...

Venom Kracko and Frost Kibble Blade - https://cdn.wikirby.com/b/b7/SKC_Venom_Kracko_and_Frost_Kibble_Blade_concept_artwork.jpg
Ignite Edge, Spark Bonkers, and Electric Dragon - https://cdn.wikirby.com/7/72/SKC_Team_Elementrio_concept_artwork.jpg

What I find quite disappointing from Kirby: Star Allies, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land is that they only have one new, debut mini-boss, whereas all the rest are just recurring mini-bosses from past games, the latter given "Wild" re-appearances. I can easily recognize their designs.

I'm feeling in my mind sometimes the designers behind Kirby are kinda having their own creative blocks in trying to create new minibosses in new games. Its a bit worrisome because it takes away brevity, and it doesn't add much to the series' overall bestiary total.

Zelda's Tri-Force Heroes' worlds in The Drablands all have mini-bosses fought at the end of their second dungeons, being stronger variants/alternatives of past and recent monsters, such as Electric Blob King from Buzz Blob Cave, Electric Blob Queen at Abyss of Agony, Freezlord at Snowball Ravine, Grim Repoe at Palace Noir, and Gigaleon at Deception Castle.

The reason they were not fought again in later dungeons is because they were given their own designs to stand out from normal monsters, and it keeps the game's brevity and ensures no single mini-boss gets fought more than one time. I find it enjoyable to fight unique mini-bosses without having to face them too many times or as downgraded enemies.

SMALL FACT: All the bosses, even the mini-bosses, were all designed by Grezzo's designer, Mikiharu Oiwa. That was confirmed true by that designer's answer via a post in Miiverse, while it was up.

I don't know if its more tougher to create new mini-bosses than normal bosses in new games, despite the more available RAM memory and stronger CPUs guaranteeing lot more than just bigger 2D levels and more mini-bosses to place them in, which I really like, but I think it shouldn't be. We have loads of tools, programs, and inspiration sources to create them. The matter is utilizing and harnessing them.

I felt like speaking more about them because their attention should be given more.

11

Gaming / Re: Mini-Bosses... Favorites?

« on: May 31, 2025, 03:35:41 pm »

I beat it on an emulator with the help of a ton of savestates. The game punishes you hard for even the slightest mistake, so savestates help a lot. Savestates are also helpful considering it's a long game with no passwords, which it really should have had.

I wasn't thinking about mapping it. It was just a childhood game that I never beat and a game praised by many so I just wanted to finally play through it.

Oh, yeah. That tough. Yeah, I kinda thought the same about what it should have had. No wonder.

I only meant the maps are available to see, not you to map it, because it was already covered.

Well, that's fine, and good for you that you finished it.

Not sure. Hard to say without actually playing the game. It felt a bit overused, but on the other hand it gave the game a coherent and characteristic style. That's something I feel is important in games. If you can tell what game/series/company it is just by a random image or sound clip, then it has good characteristic/soul (not sure what's the right word).

Characteristic is that word, but yeah, soul works as an alternate. Don't worry.

Well, when you get the chance, you can purchase and play the game. It's still up on Xbox(the  later consoles, at least) and PS3(still standing, thankfully. don't ask why, but, yeah.).

12

Gaming / Re: Mini-Bosses... Favorites?

« on: May 30, 2025, 11:17:06 pm »

I didn't know they had names. Thanks for telling me.

No problem. Many do have names, all differing on their own design.

Thanks also for the concept art/development doc links. It's always interesting to see the groundwork behind a game.

Yeah. It is. I kinda feel some indie game devs should follow more organized groundwork and pacing for their games and their schedules. It got games out quite fast, even though delays do happen for quality improvement and necessary polish work. I mean, they don't really have to be too tough or strict, but, still, I worry about their games and sequels' development times.

I've only played "Blaster Master (NES)". It has some cool (and big for the NES) bosses for sure. Nice graphics and music too, but it's way too difficult. I also don't like the controls, especially with the Wall 1&2 upgrades. "Blaster Master Zero" looks fun though and something I want to play sometime.

Guess you had a tough time trying to get to the end. Well, there's already maps, so no need to fret about getting by.

Oh, yeah, for a bit of backstory, for those that may like to know, the game first launched in Japan as "Chō Wakusei Senki Metafight", which is Japanese for "Super Planetary War Chronicle: Metafight", and it showcases its own protagonist, Kane Gardener, and the setting is Planet Sophia the 3rd, found in the near center of the Epsilon Galaxy, and orbiting it is the NORA Sattelite, home to the Science Academy of NORA itself, where Kane got trained to defend the planet from evil within Sophia's defense forces.

The backstory's from the game's Jap manual, but it tells quite a lot. Anyway...

Speaking of evil, a large horde of alien invaders, called the Invem Dark Star Army(the name for the series' enemies, blandly called "Mutants" in the localized NES game), has attacked the planet, and the leader behind them is Lord Goez(I kinda felt throwing that title in with his name makes him more villainous as an intergalactic conqueror. "Emperor" is fine, too, but, I went with the former.), and seeks to be the galaxy''s supreme ruler, unopposed.

Having no time to waste, Kane Gardner jumps into the fray with his all-purpose weapon tank, the "Metal Attacker", designed and developed by his obvious lover, scientist of Sophia's defense forces, Jennifer Cornet, and sets off to clean out the Invem Army, defeat Goez and save Sophia the 3rd.

The premise does fit more with the original setting, but the overall endgame goal is pretty much the same. Its only that the localized game has a slightly different story, which we all know has Jason Frudnick finding his pet frog Fred, and undergoing an identical adventure as Metafight's. I think Metfight's original story stands a bit more to me... and it was rather interesting to know some lore beneath it.

The bosses, that are Goez' top monstrous enforcers, they all do have names; Chlameatle, Gizzala, Z-88, Geroll, Lobsgator, Neo Gizzala(the copy-and-paste ice reskin of Gizzala), Fire Geroll, (fire reskin of Geroll), and Skelevenom(the penultimate boss before Goez, or in the localized game, "Plutonium Boss")

The enemies also have names. You can see them from this link, here - https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Blaster_Master/Enemies

The Blaster Master Zero trilogy neatly blends with the storylines of Metafight and Blaster Master together for a more unified storyline, and the palettes are all NES-styled, but clearly Hi-Bit, all the same(no past tech constraints included). The soundtrack and the sound effects, past and new, are all made through Famitracker, obviously, with the S5B sound chip expansion to accommodate Sunsoft's sound chip usage. You can notice that by ear.

I think you'll find the trilogy's gameplay quite enjoyable, the first giving some changes, even including mid-bosses in each area, and a very neat surprise at the end(if you can find all items and upgrades first), and the sequels improving so much more(with more surprises to find, too). Even the sprites from effects and bosses are undeniably big, as in screen-filling big, on some.

Yeah, these games are not yet mapped, but I have no idea of any existing tools/programs that covers ripping Inti Creates' maps... or if any have been made yet, but that's for another time.

Give it a go. You'll enjoy the rides Inti Creates and Sunsoft(the companies behind it by team-up) made. And, enjoy kicking Invem filth!

Of course, if you, and anybody else, too, really want to see the whole bestiaries of the whole trilogy, I've got image links of the trilogy's booklets that cover it. You might need a regular translator for it(just regular, to be exact), because its all in Japanese language. You can post the translated names when ready, too. I have no idea what their names are, either.

[SPOILER WARNINGS AHEAD!]

Blaster Master Zero Booklet, Pages 05 & 06, Enemy - https://kappa.vgmsite.com/soundtracks/blaster-master-zero-original-soundtrack/05%20Booklet%20p%2005-06.jpg
Blaster Master Zero Booklet, Pages 07 & 08, Boss Mutant - https://kappa.vgmsite.com/soundtracks/blaster-master-zero-original-soundtrack/06%20Booklet%20p%2007-08.jpg
Blaster Master Zero Booklet, Pages 09 & 10, Boss Mutant(continued) - https://kappa.vgmsite.com/soundtracks/blaster-master-zero-original-soundtrack/07%20Booklet%20p%2007-08.jpg

Blaster Master Zero II Booklet, Pages 11 & 12, Enemy - https://kappa.vgmsite.com/soundtracks/blaster-master-zero-2-ost/Image007.jpg
Blaster Master Zero II Booklet, Pages 13 & 14, Boss Mutant - https://kappa.vgmsite.com/soundtracks/blaster-master-zero-2-ost/Image008.jpg
Blaster Master Zero II Booklet, Pages 15 & 16, Boss Mutant(continued) - https://kappa.vgmsite.com/soundtracks/blaster-master-zero-2-ost/Image009.jpg

Blaster Master Zero III Booklet, Pages 11 & 12, Enemy - https://vgmsite.com/soundtracks/blaster-master-zero-3-ost/Booklet%20p.%2011-12.jpg
Blaster Master Zero III Booklet, Pages 13 & 14, Boss Mutant - https://vgmsite.com/soundtracks/blaster-master-zero-3-ost/Booklet%20p.%2013-14.jpg
Blaster Master Zero III Booklet, Pages 15 & 16, Boss Mutant(continued) - https://vgmsite.com/soundtracks/blaster-master-zero-3-ost/Booklet%20p.%2015-16.jpg

Honestly, when you find and face Skele-Venom(well, the bigger one, to be exact), you'll find its more monstrous variants, Skele-Veros, and Metal-Veros, quite challenging(I chose to go with those names because they're more original sounding than their generically inputted names, "Skeleton Boss", "Cerbeboss" and "Metal Cerbeboss").

I haven't played "Hard Corps: Uprising", but I took a quick look at some YT-videos and I understand why you pointed out the green lights style. It's everywhere.

You like it? Really accentuates their technological style. Even in some stages.

13

VGMaps Social Board / Hatch Engine Curiosities

« on: May 30, 2025, 01:59:57 pm »

I kinda have a few curiosities in regards to Hatch Engine's adaptability to frameworks, like the OpenMania Framework, for instance.

I don't know anyone that has prior experience with it, but, does that engine adopt to custom-made frameworks?

I mean, I could only imagine it being compatible with custom frameworks based on those from past games, even indies, carried over from other engines' workings and such.

Well, yeah, anybody can create one, but what steps are needed to do it and have it adapted to a specific game of anyone's choosing?

What I already gathered, Freedom Planet was made in Multimedia Fusion 2 before it upgraded to Clickteam Fusion 2.5, and despite the impressive feats on it, other limitations kept the game from increasing its potential and expanding, as was formerly planed, such as DLC support and a better game patching pipeline, I think. That, and it had a previous map size constraint, regardless of their amounts in any 2D stage.

I already know Hatch is compatible with Tiled's own .tmx format, and it can handle big maps; my one example was Sonic Galactic's Coral Garden Act 1, whose size is, just from one video I've seen a bit after Demo 2's launch, but was taken from before it, 64,000 x 11,200. Unusually long and large being the game's second Zone, but yeah.

Guess it was made at that size to have its map layout designers to create a unique path for Knuckles in Act 2, even including an exclusive mid-Act mini-boss for him to fight. I've tried it, and it was more fun. Don't know if Act 2's one whole big map, or divided into 3 maps.

Video link's here as proof, just for anyone to watch(small advisory, the video has the Act's map layout not yet finalized, so its different from before it got changed for Demo 2's launch) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TviqDQ1lGog

At mark 13:18, look at the level map's size, just below "Camera".

I really felt a bit of exhaustion at first playing it, but, that Act was fun to play through. And, it did take any player about 6 minutes to get to the end and face the mini-boss.

Spark the Electric Jester was also made in CF2.5, and the game was neat for any that played it.

I wonder if such games would be compatible with Hatch Engine by custom frameworks that retains all the familiar workings made in existing engines, but with none of the dragging constraints and outsourcing to other companies for console porting. I also wonder if it can be capable of console porting.

Makes me think of such games as these receiving updated re-releases on Hatch and having additional content built from scratch.

Oh, and the engine's next update is already in the works, 1.4, and I guess, from my recent visits to its Github page, a user there, Lactozilla, is spearheading development now. If anybody's up to it, volunteer as contributors to its development.

14

VGMaps Social Board / Re: 3D Art inspired by Level Art / Level maps

« on: May 29, 2025, 09:13:59 pm »

Apologies for reviving this post, but the airships look amazing. Looks fitting for an airship infiltration.

Believe it or not, there's a rather funny coincidence about the airships' artwork and old-fashioned based aesthetics...

They harbor some strong resemblances of some airship themed stages, mostly likely from Frozenbyte's latest game in their Trine series(never heard of it? its a rather neat series), Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy; the 17th level, The Magnificent Airship, where the framed Heroes of Trine, Amadeus(the timid, but good-minded, box conjuring wizard), Pontius(the eponymous, heroic knight) and Zoya(a rather leeway, but good-hearted, thief), board Lady Sunny and Lord Goderic's(the game's main villains) central airship in their attempt to rescue Amadeus' triplets, Agnes, Julius, and Lucius from their grasp, only to find hordes of the villains' Clockwork Knight Army(the mechanical, construct-themed automatons), and complications, standing in their way, or maybe tiny hints of Sky Battalion from Freedom Planet.

They all look rather captivating. Wonder how more would look good in pixel art and in tilesets?

15

Gaming / Re: Nintendo Console History

« on: May 29, 2025, 05:19:18 pm »

Well, I'd keep a careful eye about Nintendo, as many people have. Their consoles have been thrilling, but what their plans and "changes" to their next system people have seen stands against physical media and game preservation as a whole.

Those "Game-Key Cards" aren't such an "evolution" as Nintendo wants people to think and themselves claim it to be. I feel, in my perspective, and out of my own great concern, as others that stand for physical media and game preservation that share such concerns, not to mention game ownership protection, so to speak, they're just a mere repeat of what happened to certain games' discs on the Xbox 360 that seems to have full data/on-disc DLC on their games, but haven't; that content in them were locked, and only required a price to actually play them/download from said disc.

I read that kind of story before, but, believe me, it did cause problems to any that thought they had full games.

Why would any game company try to "evolve" their own physical media that speaks the polar opposite of preservation at the behest of game collectors and preservationists all over the world?

Regular discs and carts always work very well, their sizes of which do get increased from time to time, and preservationists have been fighting to protect them.

People that have heard and seen the truth about theses Key-Cards have caused them to be against Nintendo for their anti-game preservation actions, merely mirroring to what happened with WiiWare, DSiWare, and 3DS eShop only games.

Not only that, the way how these cares are, they're trying to create more repetitive steps to playing and switching between physical games numerous more times.

And, people also strongly fear that should Nintendo's servers for that system go off, regardless of any digital game getting delisted from the marketplace in and at any situation, all their Key-Cards are permanently useless. Not everyone has fast Internet connection speeds and routers.

Nintendo, turning a blind eye to gamers and game preservationists, indeed.

Honestly, I feel Nintendo's trying to bankroll the Switch's hybrid console blueprint success quite too much because of its same features... and present management's vision. And, what the successor system offers is still the same, bland experience, in UI, sounds, pretty much as the original.

Since the Gamecube, Nintendo's consoles had their own charm and senses of identity that stood them out as regular game consoles. The DSi was the first handheld to have that kind of charm and identity, and improved on the 3DS. The Switch lacks it, and so is that new system... well, even more, to be precise.

People are advising not to purchase the Game-Key Cards after this. I'm all for preservation, but given the severity of its situation, I'd advise not to. I greatly worry for those people saving physical media.

I pray for things in the gaming industry and the game preservation business to sharp turn a 180 for the positive...