Posts tagged Wayforward at DS Fanboy

Posts with tag Wayforward

Rumor: Contra 4 and Ninja Gaiden coming to DS Download Stations?

Posted Oct 22nd 2007 11:30AM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Rumors

GoNintendo's "inside guy" is usually spot-on with his scouted information on upcoming Download Station games, but keep in mind that this tally is anything but official. According to the mole's report, this Version 7 update to the in-store wireless stations will feature a total of twelve game demos and five videos, all of which you can see after the post break.

Playable demos for Contra 4 and Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword top the gossip, promising to bring run-n-gun shootin' and ninja-of-the-night flippin' to our handhelds soon. Once this update hits, we are going to be on these two titles like gravy on mashed potatoes. Who knows, we might even eat some mashed potatoes with gravy while we play the demo. These are crazy times we live in.

Continue reading Rumor: Contra 4 and Ninja Gaiden coming to DS Download Stations?

'Even on Normal difficulty, Contra 4 is brutal'

Posted Oct 19th 2007 9:50AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Video

Normally, we're too weaksauce for exceptionally difficult games, but we want Contra 4 to be hard. Maybe that's because we want it to last for a long time (ideally the rest of our lives.) According to IGN's Craig Harris, it took over an hour of retrying just to make it all the way through the first level of the game while recording video. And the video is split into two parts, which makes us suspicious that developer assistance did not occur around the midpoint.

The video depicts most of the first level, if not all of it-- we can't tell with the split. It really seems to capture the same feeling as the Jungle level of the first Contra, but with the level of red guys running at you ratcheted way up. We can't believe we're really going to get to play this game soon. It'll be sad to stop posting news and previews about it, but on the other hand, we won't care about our jobs anymore.

Contra in LEGOs is formula for greatness

Posted Oct 18th 2007 9:50PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Fan stuff

When two beloved things like Contra and the DS collide, it's hard not to feel giddy all over. As the release date for Contra 4 gets closer and closer, we thought there was no way that our lust for this game could grow even stronger.

Well, as it turns out, we were dead wrong.

Upon viewing an image of this NES classic in LEGO form, we were forced to schedule endless sobbing into our daily routines until Contra 4 is released. Since we'll be able to play the original game on our Contra 4 carts, we wonder if we'll be thinking of LEGOs now as we take advantage of that glorious feature.

As an added bonus, skinny coder's flickr gallery has pictures of other NES classics that he made in LEGO form, including Duck Hunt, Castlevania, Metal Gear, Excitebike, and Bionic Commando. We absolutely recommend checking them out. Which "LEGOed" classic is your favorite?

DS Fanboy Review: Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck

Posted Oct 18th 2007 5:51PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Reviews

Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck is a very rare game: it has mostly mediocre minigames, and yet is one of the most compelling games released this year. It absolutely triumphs in most aspects not related to gameplay and a few that are; most notably-- and this isn't the boldest thing I'll say in this review-- it is the best Looney Tunes material created in any of our lifetimes. It completely redeems a license and character that have fallen into obsolescence. Forget that Back in Action ever happened. (Sorry if I reminded you that Back in Action happened.) This is a Daffy who can genuinely get away with a Captain Picard reference.

Continue reading DS Fanboy Review: Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck

Contra 4 packed with extras, shirtless robots

Posted Oct 12th 2007 9:50AM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News

Ever the fan pleasers, Konami has loaded Contra 4 carts with enough bonus features to make you completely forget about that fiasco with the cancelled preorder set. Bask in the invigorating glow of unlockable content done right:

Original NES versions of Contra and Super C
A 20th Anniversary Virtual Museum (box art, screenshots, and info on every Contra title from all territories)
Two digital comics from Contra artist Atsushi Tsijumoto
An interview with Contra Producer Nobuya Nakazato
Five hidden characters, including a Probotector model

We have a long-documented distrust of robots, especially humanoid ones armed to their android teeth, but we're sure that European gamers are rejoicing over the return of their reskinned heroes. Just don't be surprised when they burn down your homes and subjugate the entire human race the first chance they get.

[Via NeoGAF]

The Duck Amuck/Esurance/Leapster connection

Posted Oct 8th 2007 2:50PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Interviews, News

Can we admit to something? It's not that bad, but ... we kind of like the animated Esurance commercials. They're shrill, and senseless-- why is she stopping to get car insurance while being chased? And why is she being chased? And why is she always meeting that one David Seville-looking guy for the first time? But we overlook all of that stuff, because the geometric art style is brilliant, and the commercials are gorgeously animated. Whenever we watch one of those commercials, we hope that they are leading the animators into fantastic new opportunities.

We were then pleased to learn that the Flash animation for Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck was being done by Ghostbot, the company responsible for the Esurance ads. We don't know if a DS game is really a step up in prestige from a national advertising campaign, but at least the subject matter isn't horribly banal. Besides, doing official Daffy Duck animation for Warner Bros. seems like Real Prestige as far as the animation world goes. So, good for them! They're using the original 1953 "Duck Amuck" model sheets, too, which shows some wonderful attention to detail.

This information comes out of an interview between Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and WayForward designers Rob Buchanan and Jeff Pomegranate. Apparently WayForward and Ghostbot already had a connection, after Pomegranate worked on a Batman game with them for the Leapster. Which means that something good came of the Leapster after all.

Contra 4 boxed, dated, and ready to own your face

Posted Oct 5th 2007 6:45PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News

Every single step Konami and WayForward take in their march towards Contra 4's November 13 release seems in service to the series' fans, the faithful run-and-gun followers. From its recent Nintendo Power poster to rumors about preorder gifts and bonus retro titles, our excitement, long-thought dead after the Bioware/Sonic debacle, grows stronger with each news item that comes in.

NeoGAF forumite The Main Event posted a press sheet revealing Contra 4's packaging artwork yesterday, and we couldn't be more pleased. It has everything we could ever ask for -- extravagant explosions, guns firing at unseen enemies, and a menacing alien watching over the entire scene. All Konami needs to do now is bundle a bottle of baby oil with every purchase so that our shirtless muscles can glisten while we play the game. Flex and shine past the post break for a look at the scanned pages.

Continue reading Contra 4 boxed, dated, and ready to own your face

Ping Pals as springboard to Contra 4

Posted Aug 23rd 2007 9:50AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Interviews, News

How do you make us suddenly love WayForward's maligned Ping Pals? By portraying it as leading directly to our probable Game of the Year 2007, Contra 4, and the surprisingly interesting Duck Amuck, that's how.

MTV's Stephen Totilo interviewed Matt Bozon of WayForward about the doomed project (which turned out not to be so doomed-- it went on to sell over 90,000 copies despite being totally redundant), discovering that what seemed like an inconsequential chat client was an extremely intensive undertaking.

""We had to prototype the game in the first 24 hours, having never seen the hardware, which is a huge testament to our programmers," Bozon said about the period immediately following their discussions with THQ. Bozon had to abandon his original concept of a DS game-- two gameplay tasks in two screens-- in order to fast-track Ping Pals.

"The design doc for that thing was actually a bunch of sticky notes on a dry board, and about every four hours we would redesign the entire game for that entire five-week span because the technology kept shifting. We were working 24 hours a day. There was no point locking the door because there was always somebody in there."

Hearing about the hardships involved with the development of that game, we actually feel pretty bad about making fun of Ping Pals all the time. They didn't want to spend so much time making Ping Pals. Nobody wants to make Ping Pals.

The good news, of course, is that WayForward got DS development tools and official DS developer status out of the deal. And, with the experience of Ping Pals and a number of no-doubt lucrative licensed games behind them, they've achieved a level of success that allowed Bozon to successfully pitch a minigame collection based on the "Duck Amuck" cartoon to Warner Bros. And their abilities got the notice of Konami, who handed over a very important franchise to the Shantae creators.

Duck Amuck release date erased, redrawn as cowboy

Posted Aug 17th 2007 4:30PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck, originally set for a September 18 release, has been pushed back to October 9. Too bad-- this is one of the few minigame compilations we've actually been looking forward to. Playing licensed games is like playing Russian roulette with five bullets in the gun-- except instead of dying, you waste some time and money when you lose. So basically it's nothing like Russian roulette. Anyway, the point is that we're ready to play the game to see if it is as clever in execution as it is in concept.

If the game gets pushed too far into the Holiday 2007 Danger Zone, it'll get completely lost among bigger releases. We really don't want to see that happen.

Duck Amuck screens: have you harassed a cartoon duck today?

Posted Aug 10th 2007 1:10PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Screens

Gamespot's new screens of Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck highlight the central idea of both the game and the cartoon: messing with Daffy Duck. Immediately previous to the screen seen here, Daffy was presented with a trophy.

The minigames revealed in this new set of screens include: whatever kind of game would involve blowing up Daffy with what used to be a trophy (obviously), firing Daffy out of a cannon, and something in which Bugs Bunny exhorts you to "Use your Noodle" in which Daffy is suspended over a hot cauldron as vegetables are added to a broth and a timer goes down. The question is, is the point of the game to help Daffy escape or to cook him?

Contra 4 controls give us pause (and other buttons)

Posted Aug 4th 2007 5:10PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News

We've reached the point where every single Contra 4 news piece that comes in has us gripping the arms of our chairs, afraid that we'll fall from the dizzying heights of ecstasy that we've just been sent to. The experience is both exhilarating and terrifying.

Even this image of Contra 4's control setup, taken at one of Comic-Con's demo stations last week, gave us cause to throw our office windows open, yelling out our excitement to the pedestrians below. Press B to jump! Press Y to fire! Press L to switch weapons! How great life is!

IGN goes hands-on with Contra 4, cries

Posted Jul 27th 2007 2:50PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News

Greg Miller of IGN got a little extra facetime with our beloved Contra 4 at Comic-Con ... which was probably not a good idea, because Contra is all about face-beatings. While it seems the controls are smooth and easy to pick up, all other forms of ease end the moment you step into the big blue man pants. This is hostile territory, and everyone wants a slice of your ass. Just thinking about it makes us cry with joy. We do so love a good beating!

But did Miller enjoy the game? It seems so, though he spends most of his preview writhing in pain over the punishing brutality of Contra 4. If you ask us, that just means everything is as it should be, and we continue our campaign of impatience as we wait for this one to hit shelves.

Gallery: Contra 4 DS

A few more seconds of Contra 4

Posted Jul 23rd 2007 10:40AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Video

All we need to be happy with our job right now is a short Contra 4 video every day, so that we can watch it and think "YES CONTRA 4 OH DUDE YES," and then share it with you in a similar manner. We've been happy to see more and more Contra 4 videos and impressions posts come up after E3, now that the writers have had time to wake up from their awesomeness-induced comas.

GamesRadar's Charlie Barratt is the latest to give us the gift of Contra in motion, with a video that starts with the wall boss we've already seen, but then moves on to a waterfall set piece that's new to us. The animation, the graphics, the levels, and, of course, the music-- it's all perfect. It all looks like a real Contra game. Looks like Contra 4 is going to continue the series' tradition of blistering our planet with its LMDs.

Friday Video: 2D Friday in full effect!

Posted Jul 20th 2007 5:30PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: Friday video

We're taking that whole walking in a straight line and jumping on everything to heart, because, y'know, we're linear like that. We also like our destruction with a heavy dose of bouncing around. And also, guns.

Can you guess what video we might be choosing to celebrate today? If not, we can only guess that you haven't been paying attention to our very particular tastes. That's okay -- we forgive you. Or we will if you head past the post break to check out this week's featured video.

Continue reading Friday Video: 2D Friday in full effect!

Duck Amuck: This is a close-up

Posted Jul 18th 2007 5:30PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

However Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck ends up, we'll be confident in saying that the art and animation are technically spectacular. Some of the scenes from the Chuck Jones-directed original short have been redrawn directly, allowing comparisons between the game and the real thing. Have you ever seen a DS game that looks so close to its source material?

Before you say "oh, it's just Flash," keep in mind that someone had to draw every frame of animation in this clip, no matter what program was used. And that real 2D animation of any kind is becoming scarce these days. Are we hyping a licensed minigame collection now? What a fresh feeling!

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