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• Fan Projects to Die for: Grim Fandango Action Figures

  Despite being produced at a time when 3D graphics on the PC were shockingly ugly (in retrospect), Tim Schafer made Grim Fandango a beautiful game; taking a nod from the art associated with the Mexican Day of the Dead, LucasArts created a striking, iconic cast that didn't exactly require millions of polygons to construct. Even more than ten years later, it's easy to cruise around the world of Manny Calavera and the rest of the game's interesting, well-designed characters without the shock that usually comes with seeing now-ancient 3D--and I actually plan on replaying GF very soon because of my secret shame of never having finished the game. Until I have the time to do that, though, I can always stare at the lovingly-created action figure versions of Fandango stars Manny and Glottis--scuplted by English artist Iain Reekie--and dream of a world where these things could actually be mass-produced. Read More... Posted Apr 15 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: lucasarts, fan projects, bob mackey, grim fandango, fan art

• Xenogears Perfect Works Translated

  Classic PSX RPG Xenogears may have had its share of flaws, but its ambition was impressive; the game contained so much mythology that much of the story ended up being untold (or told poorly) due to budget problems. Fans of Tetsuya Takahashi's epic tale followed the writer through a labyrinth of Xenosaga games some years later, but most were disappointed by a follow-up series that didn't stick to the plans laid out in a little book called Xenogears: Perfect Works. This Xenogears bible, released in Japan by DigiCube in 1998, wasn't just an all-encompassing source of information for all things Xenogears; it also indicated plans for the series as a whole, as Xenogears was intended to be the fifth episode of an epic saga. Unfortunately, this book has only been available in Japanese, and is notorious for its insane resale price--so you may want to sell your copy now that a completely scanned translation (AKA "scanslation") is available on the Internet for free. Read More... Posted Apr 15 2009, 01:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: fan project, xenogears, fan projects, bob mackey, square enix

• Projects that Need to Survive: Link's Awakening 3D

  Over the years, we've seen many interesting fan projects come and go--though they seem to do more of the latter. The Chrono Trigger 3D remake? Killed by Square-Enix. That 2D Ocarina of Time thingy? The dude behind it either bought the farm or faked his own death to escape responsibility--it's never been clear what actually happened there. Now, we can add yet another ambitious projects to the list of "neat things that will befall some sort of tragic fate" with MithosK-Games' 3D reimagining of the Game Boy classic, Link's Awakening. Hey, I'm not being negative. I'm being realistic. Read More... Posted Mar 19 2009, 03:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: fan project, the legend of zelda, fan projects, remakes, bob mackey, link's awakening

• Realize the Futility of Life with The Linear RPG

  Being a serious RPG gamer involves a certain amount of lying to yourself--especially if you happen to be a fan of traditional, linear RPGs. I'm currently in the middle of Dragon Quest V (review forthcoming, I swear), and for as much fun as it is, if I were to view the game solely based on its most essential elements, I'd be rather disillusioned. For what is the Japanese RPG but a place to do nothing but sink one's time? Sorry for the formality--my mind has been blown apart by the subject of this post, and all I can do is think back to my high school English classes to form cogent sentences. The reason my world has been rendered to rubble is primarily because of Sophie Houlden's Flash game, The Linear RPG. As I stated before, there's nothing more shameful for an RPG gamer than to have his (or her) genre revealed to be a total sham, and that's what The Linear RPG is all about. The game breaks the genre down into its most simple components; you control a stick figure who wanders from town to town as the game's story scrolls by in the background, completely dependent on your progress. It's not technically a game, per se, but that's exactly the point it's trying to make; all of your traditional RPGs are essentially The Linear RPG, except dressed up with bells and whistles. Read More... Posted Mar 09 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: rpg, fan projects, jrpg, bob mackey, grinding

• Things I Didn't Know Existed: GoldenEye: Source

  No matter how snobbish we may act about it today, if you had friends and access to video games in the late 90s, then it's likely you spent an inordinate amount of time playing GoldenEye for the N64. It's really nothing to be ashamed of; after all, until Halo came out, GoldenEye was basically the only FPS in town for consoles. Today, however, it's little more than a curious relic. Anyone going back to GoldenEye more than a decade after its release shouldn't be surprised by the slow, swimmy movement and awkward shooting mechanics of Jimmy Bond--remember, the N64 controller had no second analog stick. This means that returning to GoldenEye for an N64 nostalgia trip might not be the greatest of ideas--unless, of course, you seek out alternative methods for playing the game. And this is where GoldenEye: Source comes in. Read More... Posted Feb 10 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: rare, goldeneye, fps, n64, retro, fan projects, fandom, bob mackey

• I Would Drink Syke

  Paul Robertson is awesome. And Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006--which needs to be a real video game SO FRICKING BAD--should be all the proof you need. Christ, if I had made that, I'd sit back and let the accolades roll in as I began my new life of complete motionlessness.  But Paul isn't content with just being an amazing artist, animator, and crafter of the most amazing sprite art this side of the 16-bit era; to this day, he continues to make amazing videos, if only to make the rest of us look inferior. His newest, a fake commercial for an equally fake energy drink known as Syke, is a hyper-cute, hyper-kinetic fruit salad of platformers past; if you dug the art of Pirate Baby's but not the ultra gross-out content, Paul's latest work will have you grinning from ear to ear. Check it out. Read More... Posted Jan 08 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: retro, platforming, fan projects, bob mackey, fan art, paul robertson, syke

• Devildom String Orchestra: Music, Masks, and Madness

  The hardcore American video game fan has been known embark on some pretty wild and awesome projects, even if some of them do happen to be complete fakes.  But there's just something about the industriousness of the Japanese hardcore that puts all of us to shame; just take a look at any Japanese-created levels of LittleBigPlanet, and you'll realize their devotion eclipses ours by a pretty large margin.  So what, exactly, am I getting at here?  Well, in researching Friday's post about the music of Mother, I stumbled upon a collection of YouTube videos that were too cool to keep to myself. The Devildom String Orchestra (at least, that's what I think the entire group calls itself) is a collection of Japanese musicians that arrange video game and anime music into real, live instrumentations. And they do all of this while wearing extremely creepy masks.  The most disturbing thing about this group, though, is that their videos really aren't getting the attention that they should.  You can access all of them by going to Tuengxx's YouTube page, but I've highlighted a few of the better ones below for your convenience. A very nice Chrono Trigger medley. More tunes after the cut. Read More... Posted Nov 24 2008, 11:00 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: fan project, music, chrono trigger, fan projects, bob mackey, final fantasy v, fan art, dragon quest iv

• Earthbound in 3D

  With writer Shigesato Itoi calling it quits with the Mother franchise after Mother 3, it won't be long until we start seeing remakes--or maybe that's just wishful thinking. As charming as the original Earthbound (Mother 2) was, those 3D renders of in-games towns Onett and Fourside in Super Smash Bros. Melee were enough to make any EB fan squeal with glee. In my wildest of video game-related daydreams, I've often thought of an Earthbound remake, made completely in 3D, with the characters looking just like their little clay models did in the strategy guide. Some men dream, while others do; like YouTube user cswavely, who has painstakingly rendered a few of Earthbound's town in glorious 3D. Even with that whole new axis, they feel completely authentic to the original game's stubby sprites; but I'll let you judge for yourself: More videos after the cut. Read More... Posted Oct 28 2008, 04:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: earthbound, mother 3, fan projects, mother 2, fan stuff, fandom, remakes, bob mackey, mother, shigesato itoi

• Break On Through The Underside

  Announcements about fan-run game projects have a way of making us all slump our cheeks into our fists with a sigh. This could have something to do with the tendency of fan projects to never get anywhere. Oh sure, people gather and they talk all sorts of great ideas. That's the easy part. Then comes time to translate those big ideas into ones and zeroes. Suddenly, enthusiasm dulls. Everyone's too busy with work, school and peeling their flesh off their arm inch by inch, a far less painless endevour than programming game code. Six months pass since the last update, then a year. The forums because a ghost town. The hit counter starts to roll backwards. Somewhere, a big dog barks. But maybe we need these creative failures; they make us all the more receptive to great ideas that are seen all the way through. For instance, The Underside. Inspired by Cave Story (great!), The Underside features an adorable little cat-character in exploration-based gameplay (great!!) as he tears through his corrupt world with the aid of a chainsaw (YES!!). Read More... Posted Oct 15 2008, 05:31 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: metroid, earthbound, mother 3, cave story, fan projects, nadia oxford, the underside, fan games

• For Love of the Game: Rockman 7 FC

  Most people agree that the Mega Man series went downhill around Mega Man IV. I'm with 'em. But Mega Man IV, V, and VI are pretty great all the same, which is more than you can say for Mega Man 7. Boy, do I hate Mega Man 7. Some people say Mega Man 7 is good, but they are charlatans with no taste. Everything got cutesy all of a sudden, the music sucks, and the feel is completely off, probably because the character sprites are so big that there's no room to maneuver. Luckily, some enterprising soul in Japan put his programming (and art and music) skills to the test, and came up with Rockman 7 FC, the greatest thing I've seen all week. Read More... Posted Jul 17 2008, 05:30 PM by Peter Smith with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, peter smith, for love of the game, mega man, mega man 9, mega man iv, mega man 7, ghouls n' ghosts, rockman 7 fc, fan projects, mega man 8, ghosts n' goblins, rockman 7