Net Yaroze part 7 - games on the internet part 2
The saga of Net Yaroze continues as I cover the second part of Internet-released Net Yaroze games.
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Black Widow
Genre: Maze
Programmer: George Bain
Released: 1998
Black Widow is a maze where where you play as a black widow and avoid other spiders.
This game was made as a tutorial by Sony.
The goal is to gain points by crossing over webs, turning them your colour.
You must avoid the other spider, which is somehow able to kill you.
Three lives.
The story is that you are black widow that got lost in a jungle and ended up in a trap. Now you must colour the web back to its original colour to escape.
The game has some photos of black widow spiders included, such as the title screen and the story screen.
The game over screen has a big spider (not a black widow) eating a dead mouse.
The congratulations screen has a big spider (not a black widow) on the jungle floor. Pretty weird choices.
You encounter some foes in your quests:
* the yellow spider wanders about
* the black spider appears every 30 seconds or so and wanders about, turning webs back a colour to undo your progress
Once you turn all the webs to yellow and then to purple the game is over and you win.
The music sounds familiar: a remix version (I think) of the Terra Incognita music. Quite popular it is.
Where are they now?:
George Bain has been helping out the game industry, offering input.
I think he is still employed in SCEE.
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Zero
Genre: Fighting
Programmers: Team Rocket Punch
Released: 17/10/1997
Zero is a two-player fighting game that is based on the Street Fighter games.
The game is pretty simple: beat the other guy up.
You can't choose your character and your opponent is a pallete swap of you.
The graphics and effects are great. It's a game the game isn't more developed to really make them shine.
As said, the game is based on Street Fighter games:
* you and your opponent is called Syu; named after Ryu
* you both look like Ryu
* same kind of health bars and level bars
* the music sounds like Street Fighter music
The fighting is simple; just basic attacks. No half-circle kicks, no uppercuts, no specials or ultimates as far as I know.
Owing to its simple nature you can exploit the fighting system to win easy:
* you can juggle the opponent against the wall by launching them with /\ and timing your [] punches to keep them airborne
* you can jump in the air, so double jump and Down+[] to punch down and then jumo again, repeating
By turning the turbo speed up you cannot do those exploits as you will need to have faster reaction times than the game allows.
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Puzzle Game
Genre: Puzzle
Programmer: Yasushi Uchiyama
Released: 1996
Puzzle Game is as the same suggests a puzzle game. It plays like a reverse Pushy II.
The goal of every level is to touch the sparkling light thing.
Blue balls get in your way (don't they always).
Move them out of the way to clear a path.
The balls have an interesting mechanic: a ball in motion will travel in a straight line until it hits another ball. The end ball of the line it hits will then travel off in the same manner.
The yellow balls bounce a ball. There are scenarios where the ball is constantly bouncing back and forth between two yellow balls. The sound that makes is very annoying.
The levels start off easy but then get tricky fast.
You can solve the first three levels without even thinking. The fourth level is where the difficulty spikes.
The face buttons change the background. Everything except the plane concrete one makes my eyes bleed.
My ears also bleed from the music.
It sounds alright at first but the piano music really gets into your ears.
Not in an earworm manner (catchiness) but a grating sounds, like musical nails on a chalkboard.
To reset the level hit Select and press () on the first option.
You can make your own level with the third option. Neat.
This game idea has been done before and it has happened since thereafter.
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Assaulter
Genre: Shoot 'em up
Programmer: Z-Hiroshi (Hiroshi Hiroshi)
Released: 05/05/1998
Assaulter, also known as Assault of the Assault Machine, is a 3D vertical shooter that will test your will to live.
The only goal here is to shoot things for points. You must defend the cargo
The main obstacle is the noise, the sheer cacophony, that plays when the fire button is held.
It's like instead of one sound effect for a spam attack, every single bullet you fire has its own sound effect, and they quickly stack.
X turns your ship 180 degrees.
[] shoots.
() switches to the 3-way firing system
/\ switches to the spread-gun firing system
Pressing Start on Controller 2 makes the cargo invincible, but not you.
You have 20 hit points per life, which seems generous until you released that you have no mercy invincibility.
The escort ship has 20 hit points also. Enemy ships love shooting at it but you can shoot their bullets.
There is no music, only the constant RRRRRRRRRRRRR your firing makes.
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Silent Field
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: KBO
Released: 23/08/1996
Silent Field is an arcade style 3D shooting game.
The goal here is to destroy your opponent, whether they be computer-controlled or player two.
The controls ruin it.
You would think that Up and Down move your ship up and down the Y axis, and Left and Right would move you horizontally across the X axis.
But not! Here it is the opposite! Muscle memory kills, kids.
You can control three different ships. They all play pretty much the same.
Every ship has their own unique abilities, but being unable to control your ship renders their benefits moot.
The ship names have two different spellings.
If you wait on the title screen a replay of the last match plays. Way to rub it in.
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Fairy
Genre: RPG
Programmer: 'Kame' Nahoisha Kamei
Released: 1997
Fairy is a 2D RPG in the style of the Legend of Zelda.
The goal, I think, is to go into all the dungeons and collect the bee things. Is it the Hudson Soft bee?
You have to sit through the long text crawl every time you start the game.
Pressing Start during this text crawl crashes the game.
The game combines elements from The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link:
* health and levelling system of Zelda II
* weapon swap like Legend of Zelda
* towns are presented by Romanesque temples like in Zelda II
* dungeons to get lost in like in Legend of Zelda
The gameplay is more like Hydelide:
you have to be holding the () button whilst running into enemies to attack them, otherwise you just block by default.
Now that's archaic.
You move around really. Too fast. Great, now Sonic is implemented too? (just kidding)
You have lots to explore, which sounds promising, but then it quickly dawns on you that these expansive areas have nothing in them!
No enemies, no trees, no rocks, no doors, just water, bridges, and towns.
A lot of these screens are the same. This really is an unfinished tech demo of a game.
I have collected what I believe to be all of the bee prisoners but nothing happens. No programmed event or ending? Arr pee gee, lad!
The music is really good. This is a rare Yaroze game that has good music that isn't annoying or reused/stolen.
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Survival
Genre: Flying
Programmer: Pradip K Fatehpuria
Released: 01/04/1997
Survival is a 3D tech demo made by Sony to show off the 3D capabilities of the PlayStation.
You fly around in this airship sort of thing from FFIX and have to fly into these yellow ships. It's like a mnigame from a Gex game.
The music is amazing. I think it is used in something else.
Stan Weaver, who made the music, has some sound effects and sound design of some games, like Escape from Monkey Island and Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter.
X flies. You have to tap X, not hold it, to fly.
The game has some debug features accessible via controller 2:
Start shows debugging info
[] + D-pad moves the camera on the X axis (horizontal slide)
() + D-pad moves the camera on the Y axis (up and down)
Once you run out of lives the game crashes. Just like life.
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Anda
Genre: Shooter
Programmer: Makoto Okuzumi
Released: 01/04/1997
Anda is a 2D vertical shooter that is basically a silent 1945 or Xevious.
The gameplay is simple, arcade standard shmup, but your ship is small and grey and the background you are on is large and mostly grey.
This version of the game lacks sound and is incomplete.
After killing the boss 10 times the game will loop.
Not much else to say about this game.
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Cosmo Fight
Genre: Shotter
Programmer: Nemo
Released: 01/01/1998
Cosmo Fight is a 2D horizontal shooter set in outer space, 'cause why not?
Its basically a shmup in the style of R-Type but less defined.
Just simply fly up and down, shopping at shapes that shoot back at you.
YOu can pick up coloured capsules that grant you powers:
* Red - gun powers up
* Blue - blows up all enemy ships on the screen
* Green - speeds up ship
The readme file talks of a boss but I haven't met one because I get so bored I stop the game before encountering it.
The music is great. The readme says it is '"EDEN" by SASORIies'.
It starts off sounding like an orchestral piece and then the bass starts.
It does sound annoying when all the instruments start playing on top of each other.
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Lonely
Genre: Puzzle
Programmer: 'Lowtec' Taro Kamon
Year: 12/05/1997
Lonely is a text-based puzzle game that plays sort of like Tetris.
Every move you are given a set of 0s and 1s. You can arrange them in only the formations you are given.
You then launch these digits so that they form the bottom layer.
If enough digits match then you clear them.
As you progress you gain more and more speed.
When the timer of slashes reaches together then the combination of digits is automatically launched.
The more you clear the higher level you progress.
At certain thresholds, like for example Level 10, your selection of digits grows.
Advancing to the next level resets the speed.
The sound effects are familiar. When you get a game over it makes the Yoshi sound effects from Mario Paint.
You can advance far into the game just by spamming ().
My high score: 1000111,01001100,00110110
Level: 110
Speed: 11
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FMSX
Genre: Emulator
Programmer: Tratax
Released: 1997
FMSX is a Yaroze port of the famed MSX emulator.
The emulator comes with three games:
* Road Fighter
* Angelo
* Hyper Rally
Road Fighter: a top down racing game that plays like the driving sequence in Ghostbusters (NES) and goes on for too long.
Angelo: play as a cherub, or maybe Pit from Kid Icarus,
and push clouds around and then down into their respective colour tubes. There are other levels that are pretty much the same pushing things other things. Lots of things will kill you.
Hyper Rally: a racing game that plays just like Rad Racer that came out later. Just stay in the left lane to avoid the cars driving past you.
This emulator lacks sound, which sucks. Even the Famicom emulator had sound.
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Star Fighters
Genre: Shooter
Programmer: George Bain
Released: 31/05/1997
Star Fighters is a 2D horizontal shooter where every stage you have to fight the same annoying boss ship.
The readme file lied: it says hit X to fire but you actually have to hit ().
You can collect green gems to destroy all enemy ships on screen.
Red gems do something. Stronger attacks?
The music by Jim Black is great. Good use of bass but it just begs to have percussion.
Where are they now?:
George Bain has been helping out the game industry, offering input.
I think he is still employed in SCEE.
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Drapas2
Genre: RPG
Programmers: Soluze Developers
Developed in: 4 months
Released: 03/11/1997
Drapas2 is the sequel to 3D Dragon Paster
It starts off with an unskippable cutscene with annoying music. The music screeches on as the game starts proper.
The game has gone for a Terra Incognita sort of platforming but very wonky.
Yiu can't jump to a platform yourself, you have to approach the ledge and press X and you will jump to the next platform.
Reading scenes makes slow unskippable popup boxes of text appear. So aggravating.
You can't attack or use magic until you open some treasure chests. Seems rushed and pretty pointless.
Speaking to NPCs has their image a real life image.
Also they move in the frame between text boxes.
Another problem: you talk to NPCs with (). You attack with ().
If you attack and hit them they attack back.
If you kill them they turn into a spazzing texture and then end up in a cooking pot. Japan!
This game has a very unfinished quality to it.
The map is full of mazes to extend the gameplay.
A lot of stuff needs to be fixed and ironed out.
The music is sort of good. Sounds like a Final Fantasy track.
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Runaway
Genre: Puzzle
Programmer: 'Kame' Nahoisa Kamei
Released: 18/07/1997
Runaway in an intriguing puzzle game where you are invisible and must find the exit whilst avoiding the robot things.
To find your rough position you need to concentrate on the robots.
They inch towards you, so use them to judge where abouts on the screen you are.
As you advance levels the robot counter gets larger and I think they get faster.
Coming into contact with a robot sends you back to level 1.
The music is great, but it does hurt my ears after a while.
It has the same issue as other Yaroze music: good bass but no lead into percussion. I just want some drum action to get a good melody going but I gues that uses too much memory.
This is a cool little game. I can totally see a game like this on smartphones and tablets but with lots of premium things to buy with money.
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Panic Game
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Taisuke Fukuno
Released: 23/07/1996
Panic Game is an arcade style game where you must defend yourself against an invading army of anime girl clones by shooting them with a skidding arrow.
The physics of the arrow are akin to being on ice: the cursor slides with momentum, making it hard to click the loli whores as they approach.
Shooting consumes a 'life' regardless of whether you miss or not.
With no actual score, I guess the objective to to outlast the timer.
If you let the girls get too close they puke on you.The vomit is flesh coloured so it looks like they are all sucking huge long cocks. L-lewd...
There is no music or sound effects. Probably just as well.
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Beet
Genre: Gardening
Programmer: Koh/Ray-Net
Released: 18/09/1998
Beet is a gardening game that is more Stardew Valley than Harvest Moon.
The plot involves aliens and UFOS and galactic gardeners. Japanese.
You can choose between three different pallet swaps: blue, red, yellow.
I don't really know the difference between them.
The goal of every map is to extract the plants that are red, as this gives points.
It's not like you need to; pressing R2 clears the stage.
The map of every level reflects the level #.
Example: level 3 is has plants that grow in the shape of the number 3.
There are only 5 stages.
There isn't any sound effects or music. What a shame.
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Master Gear
Genre: Emulator
Released: 28/01/1998
Master Gear is a Master System and Game Gear emulator. It is a port of the ancient MasterGear emulator.
It comes bundled with three games:
* Enduro Racer
* Marble Madness
* R.C. Grand Prix
Enduro Race: drive your motorcycle through a track, flying off ramps, and avoiding the dirt box rally cars.
It plays like Excitebike from the perspective of Paper Boy.
Marble Madness: guide the marble through the tricky courses from an isometric perspective. It's pretty much the same as the NES version.
R.C. Grand Prix: drive a remote control car around courses and try to come first place.
Bring a sponge and towel to clean up from your bleeding ears.
The emulation of the sound is terrible.
Perhaps the PlayStation doesn't have the sound channel capabilities to emulator that 8-bit audio goodness.
Emulation on consoles back then was rough. At least the PlayStation Portable has some good Sega Master System emulators.
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Rogue
Genre: Rougelike
Programmer: K. Hayashida
Released: 31/08/1996
This game is a Yaroze port of the classic dungeon crawler game from 1980.
The goal of the game is to traverse down the randomly generated dungeons and obtain the Amulet of Yendor.
The game objects are represented by ASCII characters like letters and symbols, so it is confusing to know what you're doing.
To compound the confusion is the fact that the ingame menu is in Japanese, whereas the rest of the game is in English.
The readme file talks of a future update where the whole thing is in Japanese.
There are two version of this game found:
* 0.1
* 0.3
The 0.1 version was made 11/08/1996 and lacks the title screen and music.
The music is quite nice. It's got a piano tune that I dig. A bit repetitive though.
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