“In my last job, I made a game called Chibi-Robo!” said Freakyforms director Hiroshi Moriyama, at the beginning of a new Iwata Asks interview focused on the downloadable 3DS game. “And the last game I made was called Okaeri! Chibi-Robo.”
In fact, Moriyama directed the first two Chibi-Robo titles (and likely the third, but I’m not sure he has the director credit on that?) while at Skip. He explained in the video interview that he was inspired to make Freakyforms when his niece found Chibi-Robo too difficult to play.
I’m totally not surprised that Moriyama used to work at Skip. Basically, whenever something weird and creative comes out of Japan, especially if it’s published by Nintendo, I assume that it was made by someone who was either Love-de-Lic staff, or staff of a company founded by someone from Love-de-Lic (like Skip).
This video is worth watching just for the surreal moment when Iwata proudly beams as he talks about being hesitant to greenlight the game.
Secret transformations in A Kappa’s Trail. The first outfit is Captain Rainbow’s titular hero, and the second one is possibly Puddy from Magical Starsign. You can find a Pigmask costume (Mother 3) in the game, too!
I know that Brownie Brown, which developed A Kappa’s Trail, also created Magical Starsign, but I’m unsure if they actually contributed to Captain Rainbow. Perhaps the studio just wanted to pay tribute to Captain Rainbow’s developer Skip Ltd.? If so, it’s a kind gesture.
This is probably the closest to an official release we’ll see for Captain Rainbow in the States. Too bad that the cameo is hidden in a DSiWare game no one bothered to buy.
“Sonic 5” from Dotstream. With Art Style: Light Trax releasing on WiiWare today, I thought it proper to dig out a track from the unofficial bit Generations soundtrack I downloaded years ago and share a song with you.
Dotstream, for those of you hearing that name for the first time, is Light Trax’s GBA predecessor, and it was a beautiful game with minimalist graphics, simple but addictive racing mechanics, and a bangin’ soundtrack.
I like what I’ve seen/heard from Light Trax so far, which doesn’t surprise me; it’s rare that Skip Ltd. lets me down. Check out the Lumina 3 track from the 600 point game:
This remake looks great, but I still wish it was a portable release instead of a home console game. Maybe there’s still hope for a 3DS follow-up? Can you picture it? Lines in three dimensions. Cross your fingers.
Here’s a random photo of Dotsream’s manual. I’m posting it for no other reason than it looks neat:
GiFTPiA intro with English subtitles. Skip’s GameCube adventure is one of the candidates for a fan translation by Kirameki, who already translated the game into Italian.
If you’d like an English version of one of the “lost” games by Kenishi Nishi, a “communication adventure” about a boy helping people in his town to earn money for a coming-of-age ceremony, you can vote on the poll at Kirameki’s site (and buy the game on eBay or something). Other interesting options include the second DS Chibi-Robo! game, Square Enix’s Sigma Harmonics, and Segagaga, whose other fan translation project appears to be stalled. :/
Art Style: Boxlife ending song and credits (from the Japanese release). This starts off like the theme I posted a year ago, but there’s a lot more to it! There are sections in this track where you’ll hear vocaloid dialogue, but I’m unsure if that’s actually in the song or from the person who ripped this video.
One of Tiny Cartridge’s biggest failures (and we have many of them) is we didn’t convince enough people to care about, much less buy this wonderful DSiWare puzzler. If you or any other DSi owner you know still hasn’t bought this amazing game, please put down 500 points and grab this shiz. Your system deserves to have something magical in its life.
Bit Generations-style boxes for WiiWare’s Art Style games (click for a larger version), including the recently revealed Light Trax and Rotozoa, by Stephen Gibson.
Gibson used the Dotstream title instead of Light Trax because he wanted to use the Japanese logos and titles for the covers. Nintendo hasn’t announced Light Trax for Japan yet, but it will likely use the Dotstream name for the title considering the marvelous GBA game it’s based on.
Gamespot has a video interview with Nintendo’s localization team that shows some footage of Art Style: Light Trax and some of its modes. It looks great on a big screen, but I’m disappointed this isn’t a handheld title — the original Dotstream is a perfect portable experience (especially if you have headphones on you).
With a new Super Mario Galaxy 2 trailer, glossy Metroid: Other M screens, and an array of release dates all revealed at Nintendo’s Media Summit this morning, there were a few second / third-tier news items that you might have overlooked today. Since we relish in covering second / third-tier games, we’ve gathered several quick stories and trailers that caught our fancy.
1. Attract Mode will begin selling its limited edition Cave Story shirts alongside the game’s WiiWare release on March 22nd. Designed by James “HARVEYJAMES” Harvey and Mitch “spacesick” Ansara, these tees were approved by Cave Story creator Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya himself.
After a two-week break chilling at beach resorts, riding carabaos, and eating balut in the Philippines, I’m back home and ready to resume my blogging duties. But before I begin laying down posts willy-nilly, I’ll share several delightful items from the past fourteen days that I found waiting in my email inbox and newsreader.
Skip, the Japanese studio that brought you Chibi-Robo and the unappreciated but wonderful Art Style games on DSiWare, is working on two new titles for unannounced Nintendo systems: Light Trax and Penta Tentacles
UK gaming radio show One Life Left hosts a semi-regular segment in which the entertaining Mathew Kumar elects a “Best Worst Game”, inviting listeners to try out interesting but flawed titles, such as Skip’s Art Style: BoxLife:
“When I was a student, fresh in my first year, I decided to get a job in a factory rather than somewhere sensible like at a Carphone Warehouse. The hours were longer, but I knew it was going to pay more.
So, when I went for the interview, thanks to my university education, I was given a job in quality assurance. My job was to open the boxes the factory produced, check them, then reassemble them. And so I did this for 12 hours a night, every night, all summer.
I never had the feeling that what I did had any point or any idea that the boxes were going to do anything useful. And all the money that I made was just frittered away on the pointless improvements to my life. They were just pointless. …
[BoxLife] captures everything about that one summer I worked in a factory and its sublime education in futility for the uninitiated.”
My transcription likely isn’t 100% accurate, as I couldn’t pick out a few words from Kumar’s thick Scottish accent. You can listen to the segment yourself in this week’s episode of One Life Left, starting around the 46:45 mark.
Chibi-Robo! Happy Rich Big Sweep! Japanese trailer.
Perhaps after Skip wraps up development on this (releases July 23rd in Japan), the studio will redirect its resources back to more Art Style games? That’s my hope at least.
