TOMATO RELEASES EARTHBOUND ZERO ‘EASY PATCH’
In a wrap-up post of all the various goings-on that have been going on following the release of the fan translation to Nintendo cult-hit GameBoy Advance RPG Mother 3 (known in the West as Earthbound), pseudonymous project lead ‘Tomato’ has noted the release of his new patch for the notoriously difficult NES original, Earthbound Zero, which makes the game a bit more friendly to newcomers and the more casually curious by doubling experience and money from each fight.
For the uninitiated: Earthbound Zero is considered by retro collectors one of the original Nintendo’s holy grails — an officially translated but never released debut title in the series that would go on to achieve what can only be described as essentially-rabid cult success when it made its Western debut with Mother 2 as Earthbound on the SNES.
After whetting players’ appetites with Earthbound, Nintendo has repeatedly and some-might-say-sadistically teased the West by steadfastly withholding further releases, including both the GBA Mother 3 sequel, a remade Mother 1+2 GBA package, and, as it was later discovered, that original NES release which never saw the light of day (more on that can be found at Lost Level’s lengthy breakdown of its eventual discovery and release).
Until the day Nintendo pulls back the lid on a “ah, sorry, we were just teasing” Virtual Console/DS blowout, Tomato’s new patch is probably the best way to get a feel for just why the cutely subversive series has garnered that cult status.
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GIMME INDIE GAME: DANIEL BENMERGUI’S I WISH I WERE THE MOON
Daniel Benmergui’s I wish I were the Moon is likely the only explicitly Italo Calvino-inspired game you’ll play all year, and, even in its prototype form, is cutely innovative to boot. Benmergui created the game to show at Tokyo Game Show’s Sense of Wonder Night — one of the first summits to show off independent games and those seeking to do something new (and was the place where the void-painting game The Unfinished Swan first appeared before its preview video swept the blogs).
Even as quickfire and seemingly simple as the game is, I wish I were the Moon‘s photo-mechanic — unjustly overlooked outside of a handful of games like Pokemon Snap, Fatal Frame, and PC Engine/PlayStation oddity Gekisha Boy — brings a welcome change of pace, and tells a lovely and/or heartbreaking story at the same time.
Ludomancy » I wish I were the Moon
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CAPCOM STIRRING UP MONSTER HUNTER PORK RAMEN
If you’re still kicking yourself over missing the chance to pick up a Mega Man E-Tank sports drink, be forewarned that late November will bring more Capcom culinary delight with the release of Umai’s Monster Hunter Tonkotsu Ramen. Be brave enough to purchase a case of the stuff and import house NCS will also throw in a canvas shopping bag, though nowhere is it assured the stuff wasn’t concocted by rambunctious chef-hatted Felynes.
[Monster Hunter Tonkotsu Ramen – Import Preorder]
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TONIGHT I’M GONNA PARTY LIKE IT’S 1899.
You might’ve had an easy guess given the current political happenings who would win Rock Band’s presidential contest, but you’d be dead wrong, and, thanks to “Shane,” gloriously so.
Presidential Winner [Rock Band]
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BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT
By the time you’ve read this description, you will have already rescued the princess.
[‘fast mario‘ via Waxy]
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DUOFORM OPENS GAMES FASHION LABEL SUPERCOMBO
Added to the list of outfits churning out games related clothing you wouldn’t instinctively want to cover with a sweater vest when venturing out into public (which currently includes America’s Meat Bun, the UK’s Way of the Rodent Shop, and Japan’s King of Games) comes UK label Supercombo.
Supercombo is run by the Duoform Network’s Pete Harrison, who also oversees the more directly art/design related Funkrush fashion label (including some fantastic stuff from vinyl toy/designers Tado, Jon Burgerman, Squink and DGPH), and currently includes such wares as this Trifarce tee, and this One Night Only tee, which — it must be said — bears more than a small resemblance to Meat Bun’s own Fight Night design.
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CRAYON PHYSICS DELUXE OPENS PRE-ORDERS
If you’ve kept even half an ear open to the indie games community over the past year, Kloonigames’ Crayon Physics should already be a somewhat familiar name. Developer Petri Purho’s elegantly concepted and deceptively complex game was the winner not only of the Grand Prize Award at the 2008 Independent Games Festival, but also the recent recipient of the Offworld Award for Most Screamingly Obvious Game Still Not Announced For The DS (a void publisher Majesco has smartly moved to fill with similar forthcoming title Marker Man Adventures, which, I will hazard to guess, is an enhanced handheld port of HatsForMyPencil’s Marker World).
Despite unfulfilled platform preferences, it shouldn’t pass your attention that Purho’s full version of the PC game, Crayon Physics Deluxe, has just gone up for pre-order at his newly unveiled website, promising a full 70 levels in the eventual release, as well as a full level editor, ‘and more.’ There’s currently no firm release date, but those that pre-order the game will be given access to the beta version when it becomes available.
If all of this is news to you, have a look at his original proof of concept demo still available at his site, where Purho has been challenging himself to post a new game developed in under a week every month for nearly two years.
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BEDROOM, ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?: DEAD KENNEDYS EDITION
Though I’m sure there’s no way I’ll be able to nail Jello Biafra’s tight-throated warble, there still beats a sliver of my idealistic 15 year old heart that was born ready to snarl my way through Rock Band’s just-released Dead Kennedys pack (“California Über Alles,” “Holiday in Cambodia,” and “Police Truck”), which will surely be the game’s most-bleeped release to date.
Other releases this week include a Mission of Burma pack (“That’s When I Reach For My Revolver,” “Mica,” and “That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate”), the Century Media Girls of Metal Pack 01 (“Closer” and “Swamped” by Lacuna Coil, and “Forever” by In This Moment) and Crooked X’s “Gone.”
Rock Band: Various Tracks [Rock Band]
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THREE DOG’S WASTELAND TOP 40
It was bound to happen sooner or later, but law blog Legal Geekery appears to have got to it first: hidden in amongst (honestly pretty fascinating) posts on public urination and how sexual harassment law might actually shake out in TV’s The Office is this full Galaxy News Radio playlist and lyrics from Fallout 3, one of this year’s top obsessions.
Once you’ve spent tens of hours creeping through metro tunnels and history museum wings exploding Super Mutant skulls with a single dead-eye shot of your Lincoln’s Repeater as these songs echo gaily off the brick, and even if you’ve sworn to yourself that you’re taking a bit of a break because god dammit there’s work to be done, it’s hard to even read these words without getting nic-fit type twitches to jump straight back into the Wasteland.
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EXPOSE THE WII’S HIDDEN MII-TRANSFER MENU.
Unbeknownst to most, Nintendo has snuck undocumented functionality into the Wii’s Mii Channel which is filed under curiousity for now, but will likely come in more handy further into 2009 as the company begins to tie its Wii and DSi together more tightly in the West.
First intended for pedometer-enhanced Personal Trainer: Walking (which, along with Math and Cooking, is confirmed for eventual U.S. release), pressing A, then B, then 1, and then holding 2 on your Wii Remote while in the Mii Channel will bring up a new menu item to connect to a DS and transfer Miis to more portable form, and, as seen in the video, kit them out (as we’ve all been waiting to do) in smart jumpers and workout clothes.
[[Personal Trainer Walking] First Look & DS-Wii Connection, via Tiny Cartridge]
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