08/23/2019

Tips On Beating Wind Waker HD, From An Old VHS Tape (From The Attract Mode Archive: #085)

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

The following post originally appeared on attractmo.de, on November 6, 2013.
________________________________________________________________________________

Okay, not really. But the above does a brilliant good job of emulating those “How To Win” videos that were all the rage during the late 80s/early 90s, which filled the hole that GameFAQs and YouTube eventually took over. And yes, one can find dozens upon dozens of similar examples, of modern day homages to analogue media.

But aside from getting the small details down perfectly (especially the tenor and tempo of the narrator), I just love how it’s done completely straight. Instead of going for obvious laughs, it honestly feels legit. And kudos also for going the distance; the genuine articles were also around 15 minutes long.

Its creator, Coury Carlson, has a couple other videos in a similar vein. But you also have himreminiscing about the original Phantasy Star. Again, similar tributes are plentiful, but 99.99% of the time it’s about an old NES game, and rarely something for the Sega Master System. BTW, thanks for the heads up Steve!

No comments yet

08/22/2019

Look At Those Hipsters, Doing Laundry, And Playing Pinball, Both At The Same Time (From The Attract Mode Archive: #084)

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

The following post originally appeared on attractmo.de, on November 6, 2013.
________________________________________________________________________________

Gothamist was the first to post the video above, of a laundromat that doubles as a pinball arcade in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (which is just north of Williamsburg and is slightly more affordable/less gentrified than the aforementioned hipster haven, though it’s certainly getting there, FYI). Anyhow, I’ll definitely have to check it out!

In fact, later this weekend, when I swing on by Kyle’s (he’s the guy responsible for Ghibli Souls and other fine prints in the shop), who lives in the neighborhood. Him, myself, and Noah (Sasso, aka the guy who made BaraBariBall; Kyle actually did the print for that game earlier this year) have plans to get drunk and watch anime.

I was actually planning on stopping by another laundromat in that area, one that also serves soft serve. Yeah, Brooklyn is wacky like that. I also hope that the other players at Sunshine Laundromat are friendlier than the one’s at Reciprocal, which is this skate shop in Manhattan that also has a fair assortment of pinball machines.

A few summers back, when Stern chose Reciprocal to debut their Tron Legacy machine in the form of a tournament, this one dude yelled at me breathing too loudly or something. Trust me; if you think hardcore video gamers are an odd bunch, they ain’t got nuthin on hardcore pinball wizards.

No comments yet

08/21/2019

The Super FX Chip: Oh So 90s & Oh So Sexy (From The Attract Mode Archive: #083)

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

The following post originally appeared on attractmo.de, on November 4, 2013.
________________________________________________________________________________

So after posting that hour plus long video on Russian bootleg Genesis games a few weeks back, I got into a conversation with my pal Slonie (who some might recall as being the guy behind the Tumblr that’s all about mini maps). One that centered on a favorite subject of mine, an obsession almost: special graphics co-processing chips from the 16-bit era.

The Super NES had the Super FX, which everyone knows, and the Genesis had the Sega Virtua Processor, which was only used for Virtua Racing. And the above is the title most synonymous with Nintendo’s chip, running on Sega’s console, sans any special hardware. It’s not the full game, just a proof of concept, yet it’s still mighty impressive.

In response, I was presented with the following, of another Super FX title recreated entirely in software. But this time it’s Stunt Race FX on the OG Game Boy. Again, it’s mostly just a tech demo, one that doesn’t seem all that impressive at first. But once that crane shot kicks in at the 1:44 mark, you might go ”Whoa!!!” like I did…

Back to Star Fox, it’s easily the most recognized Super FX game (you also have Yoshi’s Island, which hardly anyone knew was utilizing the chip). But what about Winter Gold? It’s by far the most obscure title. Unfortunately the game itself is kinda rubbish, but check out the oh so super banging, ultra 90’s MTV-esque intro…

Seriously, do you recall any pre-PlayStation era game to feature a sexy dancing lady? It also reminds me of that first gen snowboarding game for the PS2 that featured graphics that looked like colored pencil drawings but which never came out (and at this point, I think I just dreamt the whole thing up).

And finally, for those of you who enjoyed those clips featuring glitched up Saturn graphicsfrom a whole ago, here’s over eight minutes of Star Fox corrupted…

[The original video has been removed from Youtube.]

No comments yet