September 12, 2015

Hyrule Warriors hopefuls part 2, low-res pixel style!

I made some cruel, harsh decisions when deciding who to include in my previous speculative Hyrule Warriors post. So here’s another, and with slightly relaxed conditions: I’m less concerned this time if a potential moveset is already covered in the game to some extent. This let me draw and consider some fun and nostalgic characters, as well as alternate costumes from a broad range of Zelda games. Some of them to add interest use a common or unique item from the games that aren’t necessarily associated with them, but Hyrule Warriors already does that so it’s cool. Now for a breakdown of origins, weapons, and concepts.

Pig Ganon (Zelda 1 etc). Dark Trident -> Nightmare Trident -> Trident of Power (Darkness). Swings his trident and uses dark magic bolts. Like a smaller version of Boss Rush mode Ganon, with a more versatile moveset. Costume: Great Moblin from Oracle of Seasons/Ages.

Sahasrahla (Link to the Past, etc). Cane of Pacci -> Cane of Somaria -> Cane of Byrna (Light). Uses his cane to summon crushing blocks and waves of force. Costume: Old Man from Zelda 1.

Happy Mask Salesman (Majora’s Mask etc). Happy Mask Sack -> Grateful Mask Sack -> Faithful Mask Sack (Darkness). Swings his sack and throws masks; combo finishers use the effects of various masks, such as the Blast Mask for an explosion, Gibdo mask for a paralyzing scream attack, etc. Costume: Lake Scientist from Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask.

Din (Oracle of Seasons). Rod of Seasons -> Rod of Change -> Rod of Nature (Fire). Din moves acrobatically, swinging the Rod of Seasons to call forth sudden plants, snow squalls, or burning sunlight. Costume: Rosa Sisters from Majora’s Mask.

Nayru (Oracle of Ages). Harp of Ages -> Harp of Echoes -> Harp of Time (Water). Sings and plays her harp, sending waves of flowing energy out. Costume: Marin from Link’s Awakening.

Farore (Oracle of Seasons/Ages). Gust Jar -> Gust Bellows -> Whirlwind Jar (Lightning). The Gust Jar sucks enemies in and blows them away with gusts of wind. It was borderline whether to swap her weapon with Makar’s slingshot, either would work. I also envisioned her using Lana’s Book of Sorcery, as happens in some DLC Adventure maps. Costume: Jim of the Bomber Society in Majora’s Mask.

Ricky (Oracle of Seasons/Ages). Boxing Gloves -> Blaino Gloves -> Tornado Gloves (Lightning). Ricky gets up close with flurries of punching attacks and makes use of his special Tornado Punch. Costume: Moosh from Oracle of Seasons/Ages.

Onox (Oracle of Seasons). Gerudo Flail -> Subrosia Flail -> Dark Dragon Flail (Fire). Like Link’s Gloves but with fiery explosions and partial transformations to his dragon form, as with Volga and Ganondorf. And yeah my sprite looks crap but moving on. Costume: the Magic Armour from Twilight Princess.

Veran (Oracle of Ages). Shadow Medallion -> Quake Medallion -> Nightmare Medallion (Darkness). Similar to Cia’s dark magic but also summons swarms of insects. Focus Spirit uses her fairy-like form. Costume: Queen Ambi from Oracle of Ages.

Beedle (Wind Waker etc). Hook Beetle -> Tough Beetle -> Horned Beetle (Lightning). Beedle uses Skyward Sword’s Beetle item similarly to the Spinner, shooting out copies of it that grab enemies and fling them. Some of his specials use bait to call seagulls or pigs to attack. Costume: Business Scrub.

Medli (Wind Waker). Grappling Hook -> Grappling Whip -> Dragon Whip (Fire). Similar to Cia’s whip attacks, the Grappling Hook swings around and can grab and throw enemies. It also has fiery effects and her Focus Spirit finisher summons Valoo. Costume: Laruto from Wind Waker.

Makar (Wind Waker). Fairy Slingshot -> Hyper Slingshot -> Scattershot (Water). The slingshot can fire multiple seeds, and the combo finishers use different seeds from the Oracle games for different effects. Could swap with Farore’s Gust Jar, I can’t decide. Costume: Monkey from Majora’s Mask.

Uncle Rupee (Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland). Green Rupee -> Huge Rupee -> Rupoor (Darkness). Smacks foes around with a large rupee with an evil aura, also shooting out streams of rupees. Some specials involve transforming into his giant rupee head form and slamming the ground. Costume: a Giant from Majora’s Mask.

Hero’s Shade (Twilight Princess). Blue Lantern -> Magic Lantern -> Flame Lantern (Fire). The spirit uses a combination of his sword and a lantern to throw sheets of flame. Costume: His armour parts are recoloured green to resemble Link.

Phantom (Phantom Hourglass etc). Phantom Greatsword -> Darknut Greatsword -> Phantom Ganon Greatsword (Darkness). The Phantom takes mighty swings with its large sword, with the occasional flame or rolling attack. Costume: Silent Realm Guardian from Skyward Sword.

Scrapper (Skyward Sword). Sand Wand -> Nice Sand Rod -> Lanayru Sand Sceptre (Lightning). This Ancient Robot floats around, summoning pillars and streams of sand to attack. Special attacks throw a pot of water or pumpkin soup. Costume: Kakashi from Tingle’s Love Balloon Trip.

See also: my pixel art of existing HW characters.

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1u2D9iQ
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: zelda the legend of zelda hyrule warriors hyrule warriors legends pixel art 
September 10, 2015
[Review] Rayman: Hoodlums’ Revenge (GBA)

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And here we round out the Rayman 3 era of games; it’s much shorter than Rayman 2 with its many spinoffs. And even this group can’t shake a deep connection to Rayman 2, despite my feelings that each numbered entry was fairly distinct. For example, Hoodlums’ Revenge once again bases its soundtrack mainly off of Eric Chevalier’s R2 score (for the fourth unique game since R2 itself). Make no mistake, it’s in the R3 mold through and through, but it also reintroduces Yellow Lums as a collectible (they also replace yellow gems as the low-value pickup ideal for starting a combo) as well as Green Lums as checkpoints, and Blue Lums as they appeared in Rayman 3 GBA, but now paired with the Throttle Copter powerup can. As with R3GBA, it enhances the connection between the games and makes the world feel more full and alive.

Unfortunately the game itself is mediocre at best. It’s ambitious as a pseudo-3D isometric platformer on a system not powerful enough to do true 3D satisfactorily, like Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge, but it just doesn’t work too well. I guess Backbone felt it necessary to restrict the levels to right angles to aid the platforming, but it makes the world feel artificial in the process, a problem none of Rayman’s games have had so far. Even then, it’s difficult to determine your position and height relative to the ground, which coupled with the somewhat dodgy hit detection makes the game frustrating to play.

Water is now deadly to Rayman apparently. There’s a mercy in that you take only minor damage from landing in it once and can bounce back out, but the second or third bounce will invariably kill you. This does let them introduce the new mechanic of the coracle-style boat, as well as the fire immunity can for running on lava. Speaking of new gameplay, Globox is playable here, either solo or in some levels you can switch between them to solve puzzles. It’s a nice addition and gives that same feeling of buddies on an adventure that Rayman 3 had (the plot rehashes R3 pretty shamelessly). But Globox is slow and gets spooked by Hoodlums; you must drink plum juice to hit them. It’s not as fun playing as him since he has less options, but at least he doesn’t have to make tricky jumps and can’t fall into water.

Despite this appearance of variety, the game is quite short on content. Few levels, few music tracks, and short on visual variety in its too-bright environments. Shortness can be a virtue but the repetitive music is much less so. At least the Teensies you rescue from the requisite cages have a plethora of amusing one-liners (and they even have an unused Teensie tribe design from R3 as one of the randomly picked dialogue portraits, although the sprites are all palette swapped Minimuses).

The plot is ridiculous. Globox is possessed by Black Lum powers (for the third time), only this time it’s some kind of residual essence left by Andre from Rayman 3. As you progress he gets more belligerent as Andre influences his mind directly (which is a bit different to R3) until finally you find out that he’s been transformed somehow into a clone of Reflux. Which makes no sense. There’s also a lava monster boss that looks exactly like a Knaaren for some reason. There is some amusing dialogue between a temporarily-aggressive Globox and an unobservant Rayman but there’s little explanation for the Hoodlum activity, etc.

So Hoodlums’ Revenge is an attempt at a handheld Rayman game that’s not simply a 2D platformer, but it’s flawed in almost all areas of execution. The best I can say is “it’s fine”. Trying to keep a combo going is still engaging and combat is… well, fine, as long as you use the lock-on. As expected, it’s ultimately derivative of R3 but has its own small flourishes. It’s not good, but I guess that’s OK.

And that’s it for Rayman 3 stuff (R3GBA, R3, this, and that one Flash game). You can keep track of my Rayman Quest here. Up next we’re starting on Raving Rabbids stuff, stay tuned.

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1tvwqnF
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: rayman rayman hoodlums' revenge backbone entertainment review ubisoft gba 
September 9, 2015
Lufia: Ruins Chaser, low-res pixel style! For my final Lufia/Estpolis pixel art, here’s the characters from the cancelled Lufia III for Playstation, called Ruins Chaser. It was to be set further into the future, with a bit more of a modern spin on...

Lufia: Ruins Chaser, low-res pixel style!

For my final Lufia/Estpolis pixel art, here’s the characters from the cancelled Lufia III for Playstation, called Ruins Chaser. It was to be set further into the future, with a bit more of a modern spin on the usual Sinistral formula. Even though the game never got beyond concept stages, it had some nice-looking character concepts. My favourite’s Lily, how about you? Although I like how Cion and Cecil turned out here. More information on the game here and here.

Cion, Cecil, Yu, Lily, Albert, Michelle

My other Lufia pixel art: Curse of the Sinistrals (DS), Rise of the Sinistrals (2), Ruins of Lore (4), Fortress of Doom (1), The Legend Returns (3).

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1trqcVZ
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: lufia lufia ruins chaser pixel art estpolis 
September 7, 2015
Yoshi’s Woolly World, low-res pixel style! This game has a great visual style. I tried to replicate the look of a woven wool texture by alternating different shades of colours. As for whether it worked, I leave that up to you. Here’s the game’s...

Yoshi’s Woolly World, low-res pixel style!

This game has a great visual style. I tried to replicate the look of a woven wool texture by alternating different shades of colours. As for whether it worked, I leave that up to you. Here’s the game’s characters that are involved in the… well, calling it “plot” is a bit strong.

Green Yoshi, Red Yoshi, Poochy, Kamek, Baby Bowser

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1tijpog
(Notes: 8)
  
Filed under: yoshi yoshi's woolly world pixel art 
September 5, 2015
Lufia: The Legend Returns, low-detail pixel style! As expected of a Lufia/Estpolis game, the characters are fun and I’ve become attached to them. It’s impressive to have a cast so large and for so many to still be useful. Their designs especially are...

Lufia: The Legend Returns, low-detail pixel style!

As expected of a Lufia/Estpolis game, the characters are fun and I’ve become attached to them. It’s impressive to have a cast so large and for so many to still be useful. Their designs especially are cool, lots of unique colours which makes them interesting to draw. Plus, you get a dragon in your party!!

Wain, Seena, Dei, Aima, Randolph, Melphis, Mousse, Deckard, Ruby, Yurist, Isaac, Milka, Egg Dragon

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1tZehjG
(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: lufia lufia the legend returns pixel art 
September 3, 2015
[Review] Yoshi’s Woolly World (Wii U)

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Whenever a new Yoshi game comes out, the only sensible question is “Is this a worthy successor to Yoshi’s Island?”. This time the answer is: yeah, probably.

It certainly feels like a Yoshi’s Island game. The mechanics in this game are either taken from YI, or seem to arise naturally as a consequence of everything being made out of crafted materials. It creates a mix of warm nostalgia and appreciation of clever new ideas. The game also looks amazing, with everything being knitted, felted, woven, or what have you, as well as incorporating buttons, knitting needles, etc.

It’s not all good news though. The health system is a more basic health point thing like Yoshi’s Story. I’ve seen a lot of baby backlash, ie. “I’m glad that annoying Baby Mario isn’t in this one.” That’s WRONG. The babies are great, they tie gameplay and story together in a meaningful way and provide motivation and a unique mechanics. That being said, the more streamlined system is more conducive to co-op and there’s circumstances where your partner acts something like a baby. The game is also devoid of story in that irritating Nintendo way; especially disappointing because its developmental predecessor Kirby’s Epic Yarn is entirely justified in-universe and coheres with the other Kirby games. This game hangs in an obscure plot void, its connection to other Yoshi or Mario games unclear.

Also the music is a very mixed bag. It frequently changes genre but it’s often boring. It sucks because Yoshi’s Island got so much right including story and music, but this game falls short of fulfilling every aspect despite its promise.

But enough fanboy whining. This is one of the most accomplished 2D platformers in the last few years, which is saying a lot when DKC Tropical Freeze and Rayman Legends are still current. Here’s one of my typical short praise lists: good controls, good level designs, amazing looks. To be more specific, it always feels like you’re doing something different in a level: you’ve got your normal left-to-right but also ascending, finding your way through a maze-like cavern, managing a Chomp Rock, not to mention the transformations. I found myself saying this a lot about different things in the game: it’s just like Yoshi’s Island (and that’s a good thing!).

And the game has Poochy! Always a plus (along with other things that caused me to spontaneously exclaim with excitement). You can even use him anytime with the badge system, but he’s not always useful depending on the level. And he doesn’t come to bosses with you. Boss battles are usually a highlight for Yoshi games; these are good, but the mid-bosses can be a little bit simplistic and I got irrationally angry over the re-use of said midbosses: you fight the same two 3 times each. It’s maddening that they would just drop the originality ball and let it roll under the fridge like that. Ok that analogy got away from me but the other bosses are quite good.

Since I played this totally in the company of my lovely wife, the co-op experience must be addressed. It’s great! The game is friendly and has concessions for new players, to the point where she remarked that this was the first ever platformer that she actually enjoyed. The co-op mechanics themselves are fair—as long as one player survives, they can revive the other as normal (and no life counter, thank goodness!) but you may find it quick to cut one player off when scrolled off screen. The amiibo implementation seems like a hack job, adding a simple clone into the co-op framework.

I feel like as with Tropical Freeze my high expectations for this game caused me to be overly nitpicky. But at least some of my criticisms are valid, or I think so anyway. Woolly World could have been even better than it was but for some fairly fundamental choices, but it’s still the best Yoshi game since Yoshi’s Island, which is all any Yoshi game could hope for.

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1tR42hr
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: yoshi yoshi's woolly world wii u good-feel review 
September 2, 2015
[Review] Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (PS3)

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What I’d heard about Rayman 3 led me to expect it to not fit in as well with the other games, with Michel Ancel not being involved and all. Playing it was a pleasant surprise, as I enjoyed it quite a bit! It actually fits quite well as a follow-up to Rayman 2; sure it does some things differently but what sequel doesn’t? 2 itself was very different to 1, after all.

So what’s new in Rayman 3? Well, it has a score system, which is the counter you can see in the corner in screenshots. Defeating enemies and collecting the gems scattered around gives you points and doing such actions in quick succession builds a combo meter for more points. The gems themselves are new; Lums appear as part of the story but only red ones (and black). Also new are the cans which give you a temporary power-up as part of a costume (and also double your points while they last). The scoring system has been integrated well into the game as a whole, even unlocking silly little minigames which is its only purpose apart from score-chasing, which people are into. Always thinking about your score is an interesting twist, planning your collection to maximise your combo.

Also new are the cinematic elements. There’s more plot, and the situation changes as you progress. The game is also fully voice-acted, more so than the Playstation versions of Rayman 2. Characters will natter at you throughout, and for the most part it’s endearing unless you have to replay a section. I guess John Leguizamo (Luigi Mario himself!) is the only real big name, but he does Globox, a major part, and he does a great job at it. He’s depicted as simple-minded but written well with lots of jokes. He plays off Andre, the Black Lum who Globox swallows early in the game, so there’s constant banter and contact with the antagonist a la Banjo-Kazooie or Portal. Billy West (who played Rayman in the Animated Series) is Murfy, unfortunately only for one level with many wisecracks and fourth-wall breaks. David Gasman’s Rayman doesn’t talk much, and the other minor characters aren’t bad except the three Teensie doctors you see for plot, who are crude German, hippy, and Asian stereotypes respectively.

This aspect of Rayman 3—the voices, I mean—may turn people off, but I liked it as part of what this game was trying to do. In fact the whole game left me feeling positive; the levels are well designed, it looks gorgeous, it expands the Rayman universe in clever ways. Sure there might be too many shoe-racing segments but it was just nice to play a 3D platformer again. The power-ups help change up the gameplay every now and then while restricting your moveset to keep things simple. It even made me feel a bit emotional at the end, when Globox starts feeling attached to Andre, and there’s a scene right at the end where you as a player have to transform him back into a Red Lum—reminiscent of the final moments of Snake Eater (ok I haven’t played it but I’ve heard about it).

So you can tell I would recommend this. It’s not on as many platforms as Rayman 2 but it’s easier to access the best one in this case, as the Rayman 3 HD port for last-gen consoles is it. You do miss out on the unique minigames on the GCN version when connected to a GBA, though. It may feel a little more linear than Rayman 2 but later levels open up a little more, with some doubling back and plenty of secrets to discover, and there’s still platforming here despite a bigger focus on combat. But again, I prefer to appreciate the game for what it’s trying to do rather than comparing it directly to Rayman 2′s gameplay. But that’s just me reacting to my perception of this game’s reception. Anyway, enough waffling, it’s fun.

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1tMWuPR
(Notes: 12)
  
Filed under: rayman rayman 3: hoodlum havoc ubisoft ps3 review 
September 1, 2015
Zelda’s costumes, low-res pixel style! After my post on Link’s different outfits, I needed a Zelda one too. It’s a lot of her costumes that aren’t your basic pink dress, except for the Zelda 1 version so I guess I have no consistency! Basic dress...

Zelda’s costumes, low-res pixel style!

After my post on Link’s different outfits, I needed a Zelda one too. It’s a lot of her costumes that aren’t your basic pink dress, except for the Zelda 1 version so I guess I have no consistency!

Basic dress (Zelda 1), Animated Series Zelda, casual dress (Link to the Past), Sheik persona (Ocarina of Time), Tetra persona (Wind Waker), dark cloak (Twilight Princess), Phantom Zelda (Spirit Tracks), ritual dress (Skyward Sword), fancy pants outfit (New 3DS Kisekae commercial)

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1tHsE2Q
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: zelda the legend of zelda pixel art 
August 30, 2015

Hyrule Warriors hopefuls, low-res pixel style!

Despite myself I’m anticipating Hyrule Warriors Legends on 3DS, and wondering who else they might add to the game besides Tetra and King of Red Lions. I decided to not only draw some characters that I think have potential, but even to come up with a weapon set and concept for them, and as a bonus a recolour to use as an alternate costume.

Crazy Tracy (Link’s Awakening). Bobber Fishing Rod -> Lure Fishing Rod -> Sinking Lure Fishing Rod (Water). She flings the rod, snagging different fish and hitting the enemy with them for different effects. Yeah I transferred fishing to her, so what? Costume: based on her appearance in Captain Rainbow.

Kaepora Gaebora (Ocarina of Time, etc). Roc’s Feather -> Sage’s Feather -> Light Spirit’s Feather (Lightning). He uses his mighty wings for wind attacks. Costume: the Light Spirit Eldin from Twilight Princess, who is also an owl.

Saria (Ocarina of Time). Fairy Ocarina -> Ocarina of Wind -> Ocarina of Time (Lightning). Works like a combination of Zelda’s Wind Waker, Sheik’s harp, and Lana’s spear to summon winds and trees. Costume: based on Fado, the previous Sage of Wind in Wind Waker.

Skull Kid (Majora’s Mask, etc). Kokiri Pipe -> Lost Pipe -> Sacred Pipe (Darkness). Skull Kid uses his pipe/flute/trumpet thing to blow darts and blasts of wind, and summon puppets. Costume: based on Majora’s Wrath/Incarnation.

Malon (Ocarina of Time, etc). Pocket Cucco -> Golden Cucco -> Pocket Ooca (Light). Malon throws her Cucco around, and is also able to summon cows, horses, and Cucco swarms. Costume: based on Anju.

Dampé (Ocarina of Time, etc). Gravedigger’s Shovel -> Ikana Shovel -> Big Poe Shovel (Darkness). The shovel is used as a hammer-like weapon and to dig up dirt and rocks, but can also summon Poes, Stalchildren, etc. Costume: his ghost form in the Adult era of Ocarina of Time.

Nabooru (Ocarina of Time). Gerudo Sabre -> Iron Knuckle Sabre -> Sabre of Spirit (Light). Nabooru is an acrobatic fighter and uses her sabre in spinning attacks and to summon sandstorms. Costume: Aveil, Nabooru’s Termina counterpart.

Twinrova (Ocarina of Time, etc). Sorceress Broom -> Linked Broom -> Icy Fire Broom (Darkness). Kotake and Koume are merged, but in their smaller crone form. Each alternate string finisher has either an ice (water element) or fire effect. Costume: based on Gwonam from the CDi title Link: The Faces of Evil. Ok, I just threw plausibility out the window, but it was just too perfect!

Maple (Oracle of Seasons/Ages). Apprentice Broom -> Potion Master’s Broom -> Ringed Broom (Lightning). Maple swings her broom, scattering rings and throwing potions that explode. Costume: based on Irene from A Link Between Worlds.

Vaati (Minish Cap, etc). Mage’s Cap -> Picori Cap -> Light Force Cap (Darkness). Vaati uses gusts of wind (lightning element) and beams of dark magic to attack, and briefly transforms into his Four Swords form for special attacks. Costume: based on Ralph from Oracle of Ages.

Ashei (Twilight Princess). Resistance Rapier -> Snowpeak Rapier -> Knight Captain’s Rapier (Light). Ashei uses her rapier more heavily than Zelda, and on some of her attack finishers Yeto jumps in out of nowhere to assist. Costume: based on Hena the fishing hole woman.

Linebeck (Phantom Hourglass). Sea Chart -> Treasure Chart -> Ghost Ship Chart (Water). Linebeck whacks his enemies with a rolled-up map, splashing water and throwing Rupees. He also orders a fire-element cannon strike from his boat in some attacks. Costume: based on the skeletal Piratian captain from Oracle of Seasons/Ages.

Staven/Byrne (Spirit Tracks). Spirit Claw -> Demon Claw -> Lokomo Claw (Darkness). Staven attacks with his huge clawed gauntlet, extending it to grab and also flinging dark energy. Costume: based on Anjean.

Groose (Skyward Sword). Poacher’s Saw -> Master Carpenter’s Saw -> Secret Seashell Saw (Fire). Groose only has one useful skill in the game, and that’s constructing the Groosenator. Consequently, although you never see him use tools his weapon is based on the traded saw from Ocarina of Time, although I picture him with a small hammer also in his off hand, and pulling out bits of timber for his combos. Needless to say, the Groosenator will also figure into it; striking enemies, flinging bombs and also flinging enemies. Costume: based on Mutoh the carpenter boss from Ocarina of Time, etc. Since Mutoh is bald, I thought it would be extra funny to remove Groose’s beloved hair!

See also: my original Hyrule Warriors pixel art of existing characters, and Hopefuls part 2.

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1t7wglV
(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: hyrule warriors the legend of zelda pixel art hyrule warriors legends 
August 29, 2015
Link the non-Hero, low-res pixel style! I got to thinking about some of Link’s costumes that aren’t your basic green tunic. Turns out there’s at least six. Outset Link (Wind Waker), Engineer Link (Spirit Tracks), Fancy Pants Link (New 3DS Kisekae...

Link the non-Hero, low-res pixel style!

I got to thinking about some of Link’s costumes that aren’t your basic green tunic. Turns out there’s at least six.

Outset Link (Wind Waker), Engineer Link (Spirit Tracks), Fancy Pants Link (New 3DS Kisekae commercial), Ordon Link (Twilight Princess), Skyloft Link (Skyward Sword), Trainee Link (Hyrule Warriors)

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1t3Ifhd
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: the legend of zelda pixel art link 
August 28, 2015
Link’s transformations, low-res pixel style! We interrupt your scheduled constant Rayman content for a Zelda-flavoured break. I wanted to draw the Majora’s Mask transformations and then also threw in Bunny Link from Link to the Past and Wolf Link...

Link’s transformations, low-res pixel style!

We interrupt your scheduled constant Rayman content for a Zelda-flavoured break. I wanted to draw the Majora’s Mask transformations and then also threw in Bunny Link from Link to the Past and Wolf Link from Twilight Princess (which turned out great!).

Deku Link, Goron Link, Zora Link, Fierce Deity Link, Bunny Link, Wolf Link

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1s_tLbT
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: the legend of zelda pixel art 
August 27, 2015
[Review] Rayman 3 (GBA)

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Despite the name, Rayman 3 GBA is almost totally based on Rayman 2, but it also plays very much like Rayman 1. As such it goes a long way toward making the series feel cohesive and bridge some gaps. The speculation is that the team at Ubisoft (the Rayman PC wiki claims it was made by Ludi Factory, but I don’t think that’s true after reviewing names in the credits) was working on a 2D iteration of Rayman 2 for GBA when Rayman 3 was in development, and at the last minute added a few enemies and design elements from 3, along with the name and boxart for branding purposes.

As I said though, the gameplay very much makes it a sequel to Rayman 1. The large, detailed sprites also help it to look and feel like an extension of it, although as with the Rayman 1 GBA port (and Tonic Trouble GBC) they leave the playing area feeling cramped. (Another quick similarity to TT GBC: unused content from the main game makes its way in here in the form of Scaleman the Hoodlum boss who appears in R3 concept art.) You have Band Land-style sliding, swinging from Purple Lums, telescoping fist attacks, etc. Ly of course takes the place of Betilla to give you new abilities, some of which are unique to this game. Funnily enough the map screen is a hybrid of Rayman 1′s world-level overview and the 2D traversable screen of Rayman 1&2 GBC. Most of the environments (which look pretty nice) and setpieces though are taken from Rayman 2.

The plot involves the Black Lum (possibly Andre, although that doesn’t sit perfectly with the theory that this is a prequel to 3) inhabiting Globox as in 3, but Globox is not heard of again after that. Razorbeard seeks the power of the Black Lum and apparently joins forces with it at some point, and you have to fight through Robo-pirates, Black Lums, Zombie Chickens, and the occasional Hoodlum to stop him and his Grolgoth (again). The usual cages must be smashed, but it’s never actually established who is in them. Teensies appear in Rayman 3-style guise only at the end of each world.

R3 GBA also follows R1 in terms of its difficulty. Extra lives are scarce and deaths come easily. Without savestates I might even have ragequit as I did with the original game, where I didn’t have such conveniences. Luckily I was able to complete it, as I found the meshing together of series elements to be fascinating. Hint for finding yellow lums and cages: in each section, try walking left from the starting point. You’ll be surprised how often that grants rewards.

I couldn’t test the multiplayer modes, or the extra minigames from connecting to Rayman 3 on the Gamecube via the special Link Cable. The multiplayer seems to be expansions or competitive versions of existing gameplay; I haven’t mentioned the Mode-7 car racing levels, which control pretty badly. The GCN link though supposedly does some cooperative stuff using both screens, which sounds interesting.

I should mention that this game was ported to the Nokia N-Gage. It ends up looking better, with slightly smaller, cleaner spritework which may actually expand the visible play area, despite the horizontally smaller screen. Not sure about that, but it probably sounds much worse. There’s no way to emulate N-Gage games though so the GBA will do. There was also a version for Symbian that’s greatly cut down compared to this version, which I’ll talk about later when I cover other mobile games.

I have to reiterate how much this draws from the 3 main classic Rayman games to make something that feels cohesive. For that reason it’s essential for Rayman fans and really deserves its place as a “Rayman 2.5″. It looks really nice and has great conversions of Eric Chevalier’s Rayman 2 score to sound good as well. Just be prepared to use savestates if you’re going for 100%, especially on the kart racing or waterskiing levels.

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1swJYLx
(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: rayman rayman 3 ubisoft gba review 
August 26, 2015
Mystical NPCs of Rayman, low-res pixel style! After drawing the casts of Legends and M, I felt that some of my favourite characters were missing, so I put them together in their own picture. You won’t see them all in the same game, but these are the...

Mystical NPCs of Rayman, low-res pixel style!

After drawing the casts of Legends and M, I felt that some of my favourite characters were missing, so I put them together in their own picture. You won’t see them all in the same game, but these are the powerful movers and shakers of Rayman’s world: fairies, magicians, and gods. I went with the later designs, mostly because they look better, although Polokus/Bubble Dreamer came out pretty wonky. Also Origins’s Magician (Ales Mansay) is a different guy to the original Magician (Andrew/Pierre).

Betilla, The Magician, Ly, Polokus

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1sriMkl
(Notes: 11)
  
Filed under: rayman rayman 1 rayman 2 rayman origins pixel art 
August 25, 2015
Rayman the Animated Series, low-res pixel style! Erk, all these characters were really hard to draw. I can’t say that I’m super happy with any of them, besides Rayman. Oh well, I still like them as an ensemble, and as part of Rayman’s extended...

Rayman the Animated Series, low-res pixel style!

Erk, all these characters were really hard to draw. I can’t say that I’m super happy with any of them, besides Rayman. Oh well, I still like them as an ensemble, and as part of Rayman’s extended friend-o-sphere. See my write-up of the animated series here.

Rayman, Betina, Flips, Lacmac, Cookie, Inspector Grub

12:00pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1sm_3MG
(Notes: 17)
  
Filed under: rayman rayman the animated series pixel art 
August 24, 2015

So I finally did what I had been intending, and converted my personal spreadsheet for tracking Donkey Kong Card Game card image status to Google Docs. Here you can see all the cards that exist and whether or not an image of them has been archived. I’ve updated my DKCG megapost to reflect this.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17kJcX4H7_JUXxoOqmwOiTfFvgy75fhjEgwix4cQCKko/edit#gid=806467283

10:20pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwu1sj-42l
Filed under: donkey kong card game 
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