Monday 9 April 2012

Interview with Daisuke Amaya!

HUZZAH!

Daisuke 'Pixel' Amaya, creator of Cave Story, was kind enough to let me interview him (via Email!).
yaaaaaaay!!!! :D


Note : Interview was in Japanese, and the answers have been altered to make them flow better. These are not Pixel's exact words.


First of all, I’d just like to thank you for taking the time to do this!


You’re welcome, I’m sorry for the late reply


 I am very excited for the upcoming European release of Cave Story DSi. Was it challenging to put Cave Story on the DSi?


Thank you. Cave story DSi was mostly made by Nicalis. I hope European people will enjoy it too, I am glad you are excited.

Being so used to being an independent designer, was it hard to explain your ideas to others when working with NiCALIS?

There was difficulty, especially the language barrier, but that’s what I expected. 
 The biggest advantage we had was that we were all human, there are more ways to convey what I mean than words.

What was your inspiration for Balrog? Toaster, lunchbox or bar of soap?
Originally soap.
I was going to make a common enemy with hands, feet and wings, like a small propeller soap. Balrog was their boss. That was the first Balrog.

Do you remember what the first video game you ever played was?

I think it was Mario Bros and Xevious.

What is the deeper meaning of Jil Jil?

There is nothing.
I say from the sense of language and association Jil Jil is nothing, but I don’t know what you associate Jil Jil with overseas.

Are you going to remake Ikachan for DS?

Yes

Yay! :D
Last question, do you like ice cream?

It is delicious on hot summer days. I don’t like it much, but I will eat it occasionally.


Thank you, Pixel!!!
^_^



Saturday 24 March 2012

List of highly recommended games!

Video games are so awesome. I spend waaaaaay too much time playing them, and I made a list of my absolute favourites......

This is going to be an incredibly long post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(In a random order)

1. Cave Story - PC/Wii/DSi/3DS/Mac

Duuuuuh. Perhaps the best 2D platformer ever.
Made single-handedly over 5 years by Indie game designer Pixel.
It used never seen before features, such as weapons leveling up and down rather than the characters. It had an amazing storyline (I'm a sucker for emotional games) and awesome music. And the Mimiga are super adorable! It has 3 possible outcomes.



2. Ikachan - PC (There's also an Ikachan-themed mini game on WarioWare DIY)

Another platformer by Pixel. A short game about a cute little Squid called Ikachan.
Swim, Ikachan!



3. Rhapsody - DS/PSP

A Japanese RPG (English version by NIS America) about a girl called Cornet who, guess what, plays the cornet. It has a weird storyline. She has the ability to talk to puppets. The prince of Marl Kingdom gets turned to stone by a Sorceress, and Cornet and her puppet, Kururu go to rescue him.
And then Kururu turns out to be Cornet's dead mother, who dies AGAIN at the end of the game. And Cornet marries the Prince and they all live happily ever after. Except Kururu.
And they sing really cheesy songs in Japanese a lot.



4. The Ledgendary Starfy - DS

This game is so adorable.
It also used a cutscene technique that I'd never seen before, every cutscene was an animated Manga strip.
A platformer staring Starfy, prince of pufftop, as he goes around beating up baddies with his spinny moves!
It bears resemblance to Cave Story, because it stars a race of rabbit-like creatures being kidnapped by a power-mad evil dude.



5. Pokemon Ranger, Shadows of Almia - DS

The second in the Pokemon Ranger series. I've played them all, and this one is by far the best, because it has the Ranger School, your character actually sleeps (unlike Guardian Signs, where your character doesn't even have a ranger base) and it is the only game in the Ranger series that gives you some choice over who your partner is.

 It uses the same storyline that Pokemon Ranger really have used to death -

Team of idiots steal Pokemon
Everyone says 'Nooooo, this isn't a job for a rookie ranger!'
Rookie Ranger (you) saves the day, becomes a hero, the end.

And it has the cool spinny capture system.


6. Dragon Quest IV - DS

I'm a massive fan of the Dragon Quest series, and number 4 is my favourite, because ;

1. You have the option to play as a girl

2. It is played in Chapters, each staring a different Character, and all the characters come together in the final chapter.

I don't want to give away too much storyline, so I'll just list the main characters...

You - Homeless, orphaned , half-zenithian 18 year old.
Ragner McRyan - A castle guard who is supposed to be Scottish.
Torneko Tallon - A shop-worker who is supposed to be Irish.
Meena and Maya - Orphaned French twins.
Tsarena Alena - Russian Tsarena whose Father (the Tsar) has been kidnapped my monsters.

Very Multi-national

Lots of fun. :)



7. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Series- DS/GBA/WiiWare (WiiWare only available in Japan)

A series of Pokemon games that are the BEST EVEEERRRRRR!!!!!!!!
Contains ;

Red Rescue Team (GBA) and Blue Rescue Team (DS)

Explorers of time (DS) and Explorers of Darkness (DS)

Explorers of Sky (DS)  (A remake of Time/Darkness)

All games star you, a human who has turned into a pokemon and lost their memory. You meet a partner pokemon and form a rescue team / join Wigglytuff's Guild.
For a pokemon game, it has a very dark and emotional storyline, which includes (in Blue/Red) getting hunted down by your neighbours because they want to kill you.

All games reach emotional conclusions.
In Red/Blue , your character ascends back into the world of humans.
In Time/Darkness, you die in front of your partner. (No-one ever dies in Pokemon games!)

Has an amazing soundtrack by Arata Iiyoshi.



8. Rune Factory 2 (DS)

When I first played Harvest Moon, I got bored after a few hours, so I tried Rune Factory 2, A fantasy Harvest Moon.

It was great, it had the farming element from Harvest Moon, and a really good (if a bit soppy) storyline.

It is split into two generations. Generation 1 you play as 'Kyle' (name can be changed). In this generation you can choose who you marry (although the storyline points you to Mana).

In generation 2 you play as Kyle's child (can be a girl or boy) as you try and find your dad.

And you get attacked by angry apple trees! :D




9. The Sims 3 (PC)

Make a town, make some people, destroy their lives.....

I love the Sims. The possibilities are endless. I have one Sim with 33 kids, one with 14 boyfriends, and one who is married to the grim reaper.

Fun :P




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So that's it. Phew! :P

Monday 12 March 2012

Sebastian Wolff Hunger Games Project!!!!

For those who haven't heard of Sebastian Wolff, he is an EPIC musician. The man responsible for this :http://cavestory.sebastianwolff.info/

German Seabass forever ~ ♪

ANYWAYS, a few years ago him and a musician called Matt Forman made THIS:
And they're going to do another one for THE HUNGER GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Read them NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!)

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT it's going to cost £640. ($1000 USD)

If you want to see this amazing project, DONATE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember,
Every little helps!
(Tesco, woohoo! :P )

So, right, say you get £5 pocket money. If you give your £5, and 128 other people give £5.... tah-dah! Cost covered.

So, go and do two things (pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease)

1. READ THE HUNGER GAMES (Or just wait till 23rd march)
2. Donate! Hunger Games A capella!!!!! How awesome!

Let's do this! :D

To donate : go here!
(https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=b9vR2PRUbFiNJvIHOqC4uD9IaDf2SpslRHaUTKelwmS6xwEtLD6aGgcACUy&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8dcbcd55a50598f04d927139403713ca13

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Cave Story Hamma Beads

^_^
Curly, Quote and 3 Torokos to triple the awesomeness of Toroko!!!!!!

Had an unfortunate accident involving my sister and Quote. She made Quote and Curly kiss each other then Quote's head fell off. THAT didn't happen in Cave Story!!! ;-)

Sunday 4 March 2012

Balrog Toaster

Hooray for boredom.
Balrog makes me toast now MWHA HA HA HA HA.

Curly Brace :)

Sunday 19 February 2012

Saturday 18 February 2012

Cave Story Websites

HUZZAH!
Hi ^_^
 In this post I will recommend some awesome cave story websites!!

http://www.cavestory.org/index.php - Tribute Site by Skyewelse and Andwhyisit. It has download links for Cave Story and all of Pixel's other games. You can sign up, join the forums and submit fan art. Really awesome ^_^
Add me! I'm Kanpachi! :)
P.S : If you're going to join the forums, do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES make a thread called Cheesetown. :P

http://cavestory.sebastianwolff.info/ - A website made by Sebastian Wolff which includes sheet music and mp3s for all 36 Cave Story tracks. Also includes duets (or pieces for 4 handed people) This is a video of Sebastian playing the tracks....
WOW!!!!

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA022293/ - Pixel's own website. It is in Japanese, but you should be able to translate it (depending on what browser you have). You can see how his latest game 'Rockfish' is being developed and you can see some of his artwork. But the awesomest feature is his BBS, where you can send messages and he always replies! ^_^

http://cavestory-dsi.com/ - Another Japanese site. All about Cave Story on the DSi and 3DS. Has some adorable artwork :)

http://nicalis.com/ - The website of NICALiS, the company that made Cave Story Wii. You can see some of the other games they have developed. You can also contact them, but I wouldn't count on getting a reply...

And that's it!
If I've missed any awesome sites, please comment and tell me ^_^

Curly Brace :)