Pac-Man Land?!

Want proof Pac-Man was a big hit? Take a look at Pac-Man Land, located in Six Flags over Texas from 1983-1985. Pac-Man looks kind of creepy...

Courtesy of Kotaku.com

Footnotes: Mario in Punch-Out!

I love seeing Mario in Punch-Out! It was a humorous little addition to the game, and it gave the game a Nintendo look.

A few days ago, this article went up on Wii.com explaining the history of Punch-Out!! and how it came to be remade on the Wii. Included in the article are some easter eggs, the golf prize version of Punch-Out, and developer interviews. It is a great read, so I highly recommend you take a look.

In the making of the game, it turns out Makoto Wada simply drew Mario as the referee without permission. This would explain why he looks a little funny. Back when the NES was first starting out, there was no approval system to use Mario's image (which was a fairly new character).

So...is this a counterfeit Mario? I suppose in a way, it is!

Apologies

Sorry I missed some posting the last few days everyone. I had some work-related things I had to deal with. No worries, everything should be back to normal this week.

Cowabunga! Turtles in Time

Growing up, I didn't own a Super Nintendo. It's too bad, because I missed a lot of great games, which includes Turtles in Time, arguably the greatest beat em' up of all time. I remember playing it at a friends a few years after it came out, and I was blown away, even if the Playstation was already out by then.

Well good news for anyone else that may have missed it. Ubisoft has put out a remake of Turtles in Time on XBox Live! I'll definitely be picking it up, so I highly recommend you do the same. It is available right now, so go download it!

Dreamcast: A Tech Flop?

According to this article on MSN.com, the Sega Dreamcast is one of the 25 biggest tech flops in the past decade.

I guess economically, the Sega Dreamcast was a flop. There were thousands of consoles still unsold in the Sega warehouses when they canceled the Dreamcast. But technical wise, I thought the Dreamcast was a solid system. It had a lot of great games on it and I hear it is still pretty popular over in Japan.

I still have my Dreamcast. Do you?

Exclusive Preview: Historical Gaming

Premiering soon will be my new show, Historical Gaming. I'm pretty excited about this idea, and I think you will be too after reading about it. Below is a quick FAQ about the show.

What is Historical Gaming?
Historical Gaming is a show that takes an in-depth look at historical games. It not only gives you information on the actual game, but information on the history it pertains to. For example, a video on God of War will provide information on the greek mythology that inspired the game, as well as information on the game itself.

There are a lot of review shows...why this?
Simply put, I'm a history nerd. I play mostly history-related games, and I figured it would not only provide good information on subjects, but give people a better idea on whether or not they should buy the game. Not only that, I am covering games from Atari to X-Box 360. There are a lot of history games that span every console!

Sounds kind of boring...
Well if you don't like history, I guess it could seem that way. My idea is to bring the entertainment of video reviews and integrate a history lesson into them. I think everyone will enjoy it!

Is this going to be on YouTube?
Of course, in fact the first episode will premiere simultaneously on YouTube and this website. After that, it will premiere here first, and then on YouTube. I'm not sure if these will go on Retroware TV or not, that is up to the staff over there.

When will it premiere?
I want to say 2 weeks, but I'm gonna say ASAP. I'm pretty excited about the first episode.

Footnotes: The Pacman Frog

Everybody panic! Video games have infiltrated the scientific community. I think video games have hit it big when you have an animal named after a popular video game character. I stumbled across this interesting find while researching for a future Gaming Historian episode (gee, I wonder what the topic is?).

Pictured here is a Ceratophrys, but most scientists around the world call it a Pacman Frog! This is due to it's large mouth and abdomen, similar to the popular arcade character, Pac-Man. These are extremely popular pets in households because they are very easy to take care of and don't require a lot of water (because they are very poor swimmers!).

Personally, I've never owned a pet frog before. When I was little I would always try to capture the lizards when my family went down to Florida, but never the frogs. However, I wouldn't mind trying to raise my own Pacman Frog, especially if they are easy to care for.



The one pictured here is albino, but I thought it would be a great picture because it is yellow, just like Pac-Man.

Random Review: Mountain Dew Game Fuel

As some of you may know, I am a gamer (wow, really?). So when I stumbled across Mountain Dew Game Fuel at a gas station, I decided to try it, despite the World of Warcraft picture on the front. Anything to help fuel my gaming must be delicious.

According to the bottle it is a citrus cherry flavored soda. I'd say that taste is pretty accurate. It's pretty delicious, but I couldn't see myself drinking a lot of it. It is pretty potent, and after I finished the drink, I played video games for 12 hours straight.

All jokes aside, I'm not sure why it is a game fuel (probably to just cash in and appeal to gamers), but it is tasty. Donatello enjoyed it, so give it a try!

Ben & Derek's Totally Random Show

I'm featured in the latest episode of Ben & Derek's Totally Random Show over at RetrowareTV.com. Actually, I think I am in just about every episode...but nevertheless, check out the latest episode!

Click Here

Monday Musings

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Onto today's update.

The new episode of The Gaming Historian is now on YouTube and this website. I'm working on creating a text version, so expect that tomorrow. I've gotten a lot of good feedback on this first part of the history of Sonic, so hopefully you enjoy it too.

Second, I'm working on some projects for Retroware TV. These will be exclusive to RWTV, so I'll let you know when those go up. However, I am ALSO working on exclusive videos for this site. The long delayed trailer should hopefully be ready this week. I've just been messing around with different recording settings, but I think I have finally settled on something.

Finally, make sure you check out Footnotes! These are cool little facts about the industry you may not know.

Enjoy your Monday (although I'm sure most of you won't...it's MONDAY).

Weekend!

The Gaming Historian is going on vacation! I'm heading with the girly up north for some quality relaxation. In the meantime, I'd like you to check out one of my favorite shows on YouTube, 2-Bit Gaming!

Kain is a very talented video maker and his show, 2-Bit Gaming, covers many aspects of the video game industry. Below is one of my favorite episodes, where he covers the Game Boy. Enjoy, and be sure to subscribe to his channel!



2-Bit Gaming Channel

Footnotes: Nintendo's Advanced Video System

Back in 1985, Nintendo released the console we all know and love, the Nintendo Entertainment System. Ah, such great memories with the toaster. Blowing on the cartridges, catching them on the edge, replacing corroded pins....ok so maybe the NES wasn't brilliantly designed. But it worked, and people loved it. The NES went on to sell 61 million units worldwide and is currently Nintendo's best selling console (although the Wii is following closely behind).

The NES came out in 1985, but it's incarnation in Japan, the Famicom, was released 2 years earlier in 1983. During the 2 year span between the two systems, Nintendo was trying to find a way to bring the Famicom over to the United States. Lance Barr was hired to redesign the Famicom for America, and here is what he came up with.



This is the Advanced Video System! It premiered in 1984 at the Consumer Electronics Show. It had a keyboard, zapper gun, controllers, joystick, and even a cassette player. Not to mention all the controllers were wireless (thanks to infrared technology). While people were impressed with the AVS, no one wanted to purchase it. Remember, this was right after the video game crash, so memories of Atari were still fresh in peoples minds. Luckily the NES was redesigned to look like the toaster, given ROB the Robot, and sold as a toy!

I was able to snap a shot of the AVS last year when I visited New York City. You can view it on display at the Nintendo World Store in Rockefeller Plaza, as well as many other cool items.

The Gaming Historian - Sonic The Hedgehog (Part 1)

Hard At Work!

Sorry guys, I can't say much about today. I have been finalizing this new episode! Remember, it comes out tomorrow. Don't miss it!

The Gaming Historian - Sonic the Hedgehog (Preview)

I know a lot of you have been waiting for this episode, so I hope you are excited for Wednesday! This episode has been a massive undertaking, and I am STILL not finished. I decided I had to make Sonic fans happy...so I went through EVERY sonic game and scrapped every piece of information I could find. I think the fans of the series will be pleased.

So check back Wednesday for Part 1. A new part will be released every 2 weeks. Check out the preview!

Footnotes: Birdo's Gender Confusion

Welcome to Footnotes! These are short interesting facts about video games that are not well known. I thought about making a video series for this, but I figured text versions are just as fine (and would save me a lot of time!). These are exclusive to the website, so come back every week for a new Footnote.

Our first Footnote is on Birdo. Growing up I always assumed Birdo was a female. She had eyelashes, a bow in her hair, and was usually associate as the female counterpart to Yoshi. Mario has Peach, Luigi has Daisy, Toad has Toadette, so Yoshi has Birdo....right?

While researching Super Mario Bros. 2, I was going over the original manual when I stumbled across this interesting quote from the enemies section. Please note Birdo and Ostro's name were accidentally switched in the manual.


HE!? That's right, according to the original manual, Birdo is actually a male. This is also true in Japan, where Birdo is known as Catherine. This would make Birdo, as far as I know, the very first transsexual video game character. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Birdo trophy describes her as "indeterminate gender." Today, Nintendo pokes fun at the gender confusion of Birdo. She is actually a character in the game Captain Rainbow (which is only available in Japan as of now). She speaks with a deep male voice and gets thrown in jail for walking into the women's bathroom.

I think it is pretty safe to say that today, Nintendo feels Birdo is a female, even if they poke fun at her every once in a while.

Fanart

Click on the image for the full version. E-mail your fanart to gameflop@gmail.com.


Thanks to Robin Flodin!


Thanks to Brittany Forks!

Ikaruga!

I learned today from a friend that Ikaruga is only 400 Microsoft Points on X-Box Live. DO NOT miss out on this deal for one of the greatest shoot em up games ever.

If you didn't notice, I released a new Game Quickie yesterday on Mario Tennis. I had been playing it on and off for the past week so I decided "why not do a Quickie on it?" Don't forget, it is in beautiful widescreen now!

Tomorrow I'll be showing off some new fanart. If you have some fanart, feel free to send it to me and I will be more than happy to put it on the website. It also gives you some exposure! E-mail any fanart to gameflop@gmail.com

See you tomorrow!

Game Quickie - Mario Tennis

Game Quickie takes a look at one of the greatest tennis (and Mario) games ever created. Now in Widescreen!

Recommended? YES

8,000 Subscribers!

Today The Gaming Historian Youtube Channel reached 8,000 Subscribers! This is a big achievement for the show, and I just wanted to thank everyone who has subscribed and enjoyed my work. Believe me, without you I would not be doing this.

Today is Monday, so I have a new poll up on the right. I was simply curious on what everyone's current console of choice is right now. Right now mine is the Xbox 360, but maybe yours is different.

I know I said I would premiere the trailer of my new show last week, but I hit a snag with my recording. I figured out how to record in widescreen, so I had to go back and re-record some footage. Widescreen is definitely the new standard for videos, so all future Game Quickies, Gaming Historians, and anything else I put out will be shown in widescreen.

see you tomorrow!

The People Have Spoken!

It looks like Rare will be the subject of a future Gaming Historian episode! Rare is a pretty old gaming company that has made a lot of great games, so expect it to be a pretty big episode.

Look for all sorts of good stuff coming Monday. Have a good weekend!

Poll Ending Soon

The biggest announcement for today is that the poll for the next episode is ending soon! So be sure to vote for the next topic (this won't necessarily be the NEXT episode since I am already working on the next one, but maybe the next episode?).

Tomorrow is going to be another good day as I have another Game Quickie going up at Retroware TV. I'll be sure to post the link tomorrow!

Today was a bit of back tracking, as I had to re-record some game footage to widescreen (since I know how to do it now). No biggie, but I had to backtrack about 3 hours of progress.

That is all from me today. Goodnight!

Hump Day

Today is Wednesday, which means that it is hump day! Surprisingly, I was able to get a lot of things done (video wise).

For starters, I finally figured out how to record through my Dazzle in widescreen. This was extremely important for the new show I will be previewing later this week. I also got another Game Quickie done, which should be on Retroware TV Friday.

Now for the big news of today: Battlefield 1943 has launched on X-Box Live! for 15 dollars, you can play this update of Battlefield 1942 with the all new Frostbite Engine (used in Battlefield: Bad Company). I love the Battlefield games, so be sure to check this one out if you are a fan. I'll be playing online all night probably!

Game Quickie - World of Illusion

World of Illusion takes everything Castle of Illusion did and made it better. Find out how!

Recommended? YES

Website Launch +1

Hey everyone!

Thanks for the overwhelmingly positive feedback on the website. I hope that you continue to come back everyday for new updates. So what is going on in the world of The Gaming Historian?

Well it is summer time, so that means no work for me. That also means more content from me. Currently I am working on the latest episode of The Gaming Historian (topic is secret), as well as creating an all new show. What is it about? The trailer will premiere this week exclusively on this website! I am very excited about it and I think a lot of people will enjoy it (especially the history buffs out there).

Now to answer some FAQ's about the website.

#1: Does this mean no more YouTube videos?
Absolutely not. YouTube is where I started and most of my fans found me on Youtube. However, as with previous videos, they will premiere first at Retroware TV, then put on Youtube a few days later. This is for several reasons. The big reason is for you to check out Retroware TV and enjoy all of the other content posted there. The other reason is that I make a small amount of money when you view my videos at Retroware TV. This helps greatly in supporting the show!

#2: Will you keep this up once you start teaching again?
Definitely. Last year was my first year of teaching and it was pretty stressful. However, I feel I have a better grasp on things in the classroom, which gives me more time to work on my real passion (making these videos). If I could work full-time on these videos, it would be a dream come true.

#3: Does this mean more new episodes?
Of course. I planned to make new episodes anyways. What it REALLY means is that you can expect new original, exclusive content from me (because I can post it here!)

Well, that is it from me today. Expect a new Game Quickie this week as well. Til' tomorrow, adios!

Welcome to The Gaming Historian!

On behalf of...myself, welcome to The Official Gaming Historian website! This was an idea I had a few weeks ago to have my own personal blog about the show as well as archive all of the work I have done.

But this website is more than just a archive. Here you will find daily updates on the show, as well as exclusive videos, text versions of every Gaming Historian episode, and more!

So be sure to check back every day on gaminghistorian.com!

About The Gaming Historian

The Gaming Historian is a side project I started while attending Elizabeth City State University in the Spring of 2008. My love for history and video games combined into an idea, so I decided to create the first episode on the NES 2, a console a lot of people don't know about but are very curious about.

The feedback was overwhelming to say the least. I was featured on ScrewAttack and received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Because of this, I continued the series and I haven't stopped since.

After a few more episodes, I joined the team at Retroware TV. Lance and John were extremely supportive of my show and we all became great friends. The Gaming Historian premieres at Retroware TV first, before YouTube or this website. I strongly urge you check out all of the other great shows there too!

Along with The Gaming Historian, I also make Game Quickie, short video game reviews of some older games I have been playing. I tend to make random videos as well, and you can see them all here!

I graduated from Elizabeth City State University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and a minor in Secondary Education. I am a licensed North Carolina Secondary Education teacher in the Social Studies subject.

Game Quickie - Balloon Fight

In this episode of Game Quickie, we take a look at one of the best NES launch titles, Balloon Fight!

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Mercs

On this episode of Game Quickie, we tackle Mercs for the Sega Genesis, a great run-n-gun game from Capcom. Nifty!

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Castle of Illusion

Featuring awesome graphics, music, and butt-stomping, Castle of Illusion is easily one of the finest platformers on the Sega Genesis.

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Baseball

The first baseball game on the Nintendo, the appropriately named "Baseball" isn't the greatest, but it's still a classic. Game Quickie takes a look at this heavily ported NES launch title.

Recommended? NO

Game Quickie - Abadox

If you are looking for a challenging game with goofy box art, look no further than Abadox, a great shoot em up on the NES.

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Galaga '90

Galaga '90 on the Turbografx 16 is awesome, but does it really have to have the number 90 in the title?

Recommended? YES

The Gaming Historian - Universal v. Nintendo Case

Back in 1982, Donkey Kong was on top of the video game world. Nintendo had firmly put their foot in the North American video game market with the addictive arcade game. Donkey Kong was featured in breakfast cereals, Saturday cartoons, and a board game. Despite this success, Nintendo was still a small company and found themselves up against Universal Studios involving a lawsuit over a trademark violation of King Kong. The Universal vs. Nintendo court case was a major turning point for Nintendo as a company, and was an inspiration around the world for other small companies. Nintendo took on a giant...and won.

The year is 1981. Arcades are a big business, and Nintendo has just released Donkey Kong, the brainchild of Shigeru Miyamoto. During this time, Tiger Electronics (the creators of those handheld games you usually find at Wal-Mart) took notice of Donkey Kong and how great of a game it was. Inspired, they developed a game based on King Kong as a handheld. As is standard in creating a product, Tiger Electronics contacted Universal about making licensed King Kong games as handhelds. The only other active license at the time was with a company that made King Kong costumes. Universal did a trademark report on King Kong and found little. This was all standard procedure and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Universal granted Tiger Electronics the license in September of 1981, completely unaware of Donkey Kong.

The following year, Universal performed another routine trademark report. This time Donkey Kong came up because Nintendo and Coleco were trying to reach an agreement for a cartridge license of the game. The trademark report still saw nothing suspicious, and dismissed Donkey Kong. Sid Sheinberg, however, president of Universal Studios, had other plans. Sheinberg and his lawyer, Robert Hadl, tested a Donkey Kong machine and thought it infringed on King Kong. Universal wanted in on the video game industry. Warner had recently purchased Atari and Sega with success, so why not Universal? They already had much success in the movie and music industry. To get in, Sheinberg would use his copyright case against Coleco…

Sheinberg invited Arnold Greenberg, president of Coleco to California to meet. Greenberg assumed the meeting was about a potential venture with the two companies but instead, Sheinberg confronted Greenberg about Donkey Kong. Sheinberg stated “we are going to sue you if you don’t give us some kind of royalty on Donkey Kong.” This was bad news for Coleco as their console was going to be shipped with Donkey Kong pre-packaged. Universal agreed not to sue Coleco if they paid royalties on every cartridge sold and promised future ventures with Universal. Coleco agreed.

After the behind the scenes deal was finished, Sheinberg’s next move was to go after the remaining companies. Universal contacted Nintendo and several companies that licensed Donkey Kong, including Mattel (for their Donkey Kong board game) and Ralston Purina for their Donkey Kong cereal. Nintendo met with Universal and Coleco on May 6th to discuss the trademark issue. Representing Nintendo was Minoru Arakawa, head of operations for Nintendo of America, and Howard Lincoln, Nintendo’s legal counsel. Robert Hadl, the lawyer for Universal, demanded Nintendo pay royalties on Donkey Kong. Lincoln responded firmly with “we are not going to buy the Brooklyn Bridge.” Lincoln claimed that Nintendo ran its own trademark search and had found many unlicensed uses of King Kong. Hadl replied that he had a chain of title and would send it immediately to Nintendo. This chain of title would prove Universals claim to King Kong. Hadl never sent it.

Nintendo had no idea about the agreement made between Coleco and Universal, but Lincoln knew something was abounding when Coleco urged Nintendo to give in to the demands of Universal at the meeting. Arakawa was shocked by Lincoln’s decision to fight Universal. Remember, Nintendo was still a relatively small company and Arakawa was not used to dealing with legal issues, especially with a company such as Universal. On May 21st, Nintendo met with Universal one last time. Sheinberg and Hadl assumed they were going to negotiate, but they were sorely mistaken. After a small lunch and some small talk about Universal investing in Nintendo, Lincoln broke the bad news to Universal. After further investigation, Nintendo had decided to not accept Universals claim to King Kong and that Nintendo would not pay royalties. Sheinberg was furious and famously shouted “You’d better start saving money to pay your attorney’s fees, I view litigation as a profit center.”

On June 29, 1982 Universal filed suit against Nintendo claiming ownership of King Kong and claiming Nintendo had infringed upon its trademark. The remaining companies that had licensing deals with Nintendo all gave in to Universal except for Milton Bradley and Ralston Purina, which stayed with Nintendo. Ralston Purina tried a 5,000 dollar settlement, but Sid Sheinberg found it “the most stupid thing I have ever heard of” and threw them out of his office. The epic battle between David and Goliath was about to begin.

To represent Nintendo, Lincoln hired John Kirby, a lawyer with Latham and Watkins. At first glance, John Kirby didn’t seem like a good lawyer to Howard Lincoln. “When I initially met him, I wasn’t all that impressed. He was kind of disheveled looking and out of sorts.” But Kirby was one hell of a lawyer. He had a reputation for defending his clients adamantly and had won big antitrust cases for Pepsi. Howard Lincoln and John Kirby flew to Japan to speak with Hiroshi Yamauchi about the case. Yamauchi did not like lawyers, and here he had two standing in front of him. He made himself clear when he stated “we MUST win.” After interviewing Gunpei Yokoi (creator of the Game Boy) and Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Donkey Kong) and other staff members about the game, the two headed back to the United States to prepare for the case. Then came the discovery that would change everything.

Howard Lincoln’s instincts were indeed correct. Universal did not own the rights to King Kong. In fact, Universal had recently won a court case PROVING that King Kong was in public domain. They had the case so they could create a remake of the original film (which got less than stellar reviews). Howard Lincoln also discovered the agreement between Universal and Coleco, and Sheinberg’s motive to enter the video game business and push away competitors. These new motives made the case very clear. Because of his help and his firm decision to fight Universal, Arakawa offered Howard Lincoln the job of Senior Vice President of Nintendo. Lincoln, who had been working almost exclusively with Nintendo anyways, agreed and put in his thirty days notice at his law firm on December 7th.

The case took place in the New York courtroom of US District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet (date here). Nintendo had Howard Phillips (who you may recognize from the Howard and Nester comics from Nintendo Power) play Donkey Kong for the entire courtroom to show there was no infringement on King Kong. Furthermore, John Kirby presented a testimony from Shigeru Miyamoto, who explained that he initially named the ape character King Kong simply because King Kong was a generic term in Japan for “menacing ape.” John Kirby also brought up the older court cases that Universal filed to prove that King Kong was public domain, and that Universal had filed the suit KNOWING they did not own the rights to King Kong. He also mentioned Sheinberg’s statement of viewing litigation of a profit center.

Robert W. Sweet had heard enough. He concluded that Nintendo did not infringe on Universals rights because they did not even own the rights. And even if they did own the rights, the game Donkey Kong had nothing to do with King Kong. Sweet criticized Universal for even bringing this case to court knowing full well they did not own the rights to King Kong, and thus Nintendo would be awarded damages. Universal would appeal the case several times all the way to the US Supreme Court, but failed. Nintendo was awarded 1.8 million dollars. Soon after, the companies that had licensed Donkey Kong began suing Universal to get back any royalties they had paid to them, including Coleco and Atari. Universal settled with most of them.

This case not only gave Nintendo a hefty amount of money, but it also established them as a legitimate company, and one that could handle themselves against the bigger companies. It was an inspiration to not only the video game industry, but any small company trying to make it. So what happened next for everyone involved?

Howard Lincoln was appointed senior vice president of Nintendo and continued to work with Nintendo for several more years, becoming Chairman in 1994. After leaving Nintendo, he took over as chairman of the Seattle Mariners baseball team, which is owned by Nintendo. John Kirby was rewarded with his own sailboat, christened “Donkey Kong” Many say he is also the inspiration for the Nintendo character “Kirby”. He continued his job for many more years before retiring in 2007. Coleco would soon leave the video game industry and begin selling dolls. The company closed its doors in 1989.

And as for Universal? Still hoping to enter the video game business, they bought a small company known as LJN to create video games. LJN put out poorly made games, especially on the NES as well as a few accessories such as the Roll’n Rocker. Universal soon sold LJN and abandoned the video game business.

And as for Nintendo? Well....you know!

The Gaming Historian - The Video Game Crash of 1983

The video game industry is booming these days. Some games are rivaling hollywood movies in terms of sales, and the technology is beyond what anyone would have imagined 10 years ago. But back in 1983, an event happened that would change the video game industry forever. Poorly made games, a ton of systems to choose from, superior technology, media frenzy! What happened to the industry back in 1983? It crashed. Now, I try not to bore you guys when I do these shows, so I'm not going to be going into financial details about the stock market and company sales figures and what not. Hopefully, by the end of this episode, you will know the main reasons why there was a crash.

Let's start with the first reason. Poorly made games. Pac Man is easily one of the most successful arcade games of all time, and according to a recent survey, the most recognized video game character of all time. After its release in the United States in 1980, Atari obtained the license to port the game to its Atari 2600. Around this time, there was about 10 million Atari's in US households. With this data, Atari decided to manufacture 12 million copies of the game. Atari was so confident with their game, they made MORE games than there were consoles, hoping consumers would buy an Atari JUST TO PLAY PAC MAN. Todd Frye, a leading programmer at Atari, was asked to do the port. Frye eventually showed them a prototype of the game. Rather than miss the approaching 1981 holiday season, Atari PUBLISHED THE PROTOTYPE. It was a disaster. The game barely resembled the original, and consumers were upset, many asked for refunds. Overall, about 7 million Pac Man cartridges were sold. Todd Frye was given a royalty on every copy sold, so it didn't matter if the game was bad or not, he made a huge sum of money. But Atari had to accept the losses with the extra 5 million unsold.

Another disaster was E.T. E.T. was released on June 11th, 1982 in movie theaters. It was a big success, and soon it was licensed to become a video game. Steven Ross, head of Warner Communications (which owned Atari), told Ray Kassar, CEO of Atari, that he wanted the game out by Christmas. The game was a disaster and to this day it is still considered one of the worst video games of all time. About 5 million cartridges were produced, and almost all of them came back to Atari. With millions of unsold cartridges sitting in an Atari warehouse, Atari dumped them in a New Mexico landfill, steamrolled them, then poured cement over top. Atari had lost 536 million dollars by the end of 1983.

These two games really made consumers lose ALOT of confidence in the video game industry. That's not to say there were other bad games. Believe me, there were alot. For instance, if you sent in proofs of purchase of Purina dog food bags, you could get a copy of Chase the Chuck Wagon. That's right, dog food companies had video games. There was a flood of games being released during this time, and many stores could not even keep up, let alone have enough shelf space for them all. Console games went from being 30-40 dollars to about 4 dollars in a bargain bin during the crash.

Let's take a look at another reason for the Video Game Crash of 83; too many consoles. In todays time, we have 3 home consoles competing against each other: The Xbox 360, the PS3, and the Nintendo Wii. Well, back in the early 80's, you had dozens of consoles competing against each other. Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Colecovision, Intellivision, Coleco Gemini, Vectrex, Magnavox Odyssey II, Fairchild Channel F System, Emerson Arcadia 2001, I could keep going. Not only that, but some of these consoles had interchangable software. For example, the Colecovision had an expansion module that would allow you to play Atari 2600 games. Can you imagine if that happened today? What if Sony announced a device that would allow 360 games to be played on the PS3? Since the Atari 2600 could be reproduced with standard parts, this was legal. Coleco also released the Coleco Gemini, which is basically an Atari 2600 clone. The US Market was flooded with consoles, and consumers had way too many choices and not enough information.

This brings me to my next reason for the Video Game Crash of 1983. Loss of publishing control. Activision was the first third party publisher of video games. Because Atari would not credit their game designers, several programmers from Atari left and founded Activision. Many noticed this, and soon tons of developers and publishers began making their games and putting them on shelves. See how this might go wrong? Today, all games for consoles are controlled by the console manufacturer. You won't find an xbox 360 game without this logo on top. When the manufacturer loses control of this, the market is flooded. This is exactly what happened. They were everywhere. You know Columbia House, the company that sends you flyers in the mail that offer 5 dvd's for 49 cent each? They formed the Columbia Cartridge Club to sell video games. Some companies even experimented sending games through cable television! Regardless, this flood of games was just bad for the industry.

Today, we rely on computers for just about everything. Internet, news, even this video. Well during the early 80's, personal computer were first being put into american households, and guess what? They contributed to the crash. During the 70's, a computer would run easily over 1,000 dollars. But by the early 80's, they had come down in price. Computers offered not only superior graphics and sound, but also other uses such as word processing and accounting. Many consumers felt that owning a computer was a strictly better investment than a console. Computers were also much more widely distributed. PC's such as the Commodore, the Atari 400, Atari 800, and the Radio Shack Color Computer were all technologically superior to consoles and were competitively priced as well.

So what happened as a result of all of these events? Consumers lost confidence in the industry, and business analysts saw no long term future for the business. The industry came to a sudden halt in 1983 and would last for 2 years. Now keep in mind, this was bad mostly for the businesses. Due to the crash, all of the consoles and games were marked down to bargain bin deals, and this was good for consumers. Even though arcades were beginning their downfall, they were still popular. Thus many people don't even KNOW about the Video Game Crash of 1983. The Video Game Crash was primarily bad for the industry, not the consumer.

The North American Video Game Crash of 1983 did have some long term effects. Starting with the Nintendo, new measures were taken to control third party development. One example would be the lockout chip in the Nintendo Entertainment System. The most important change however, was the shift of the video game market from the United States to Japan. Even today, Japan has a majority control over the home video game market. Atari never fully recovered from the crash. Warner Communications sold the company soon after, and when Atari tried to reenter the market, they found themselves far behind Sega and Nintendo. Atari called it quits on hardware after the Jaguar failed. Many other companies such as Mattel and Coleco simply abandoned the video game market.

It was not until 1985 with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System that the industry would recover.

The Gaming Historian - SNES 2

The Super Nintendo Entertaiment System. For anyone who grew up in the 1990's, this might have been their preferred console of choice. Released in August of 1991, it brought graphics and sound that were superior to its #1 rival, the Sega Genesis. Following the success of the NES, the Super Nintendo was another hit for Nintendo. Then came the Sony Playstation. With it's CD-based games and amazing graphical capabilities, Nintendo had to move on. On September 29th, 1996, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 to North America. Despite the rise of CD-based consoles, Nintendo stuck with cartridges for their new console. Then, one year later, in October of 1997, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo 2, a smaller, lighter version of the Super Nintendo. Why?

If you have seen my earlier episodes, I have already covered the NES 2. Now, the NES 2 had some noticeable improvements over the original model and was probably worth buying. But what about the SNES 2? Why even buy this model? I'll admit it, it looks alot sleeker and its much more compact, but there is little incentive to upgrade from the older model. But Nintendo didn't make the SNES 2 for those already owning a Super NES. It was for newcomers to video games, and an excellent budget system.

By examining the specifications of the SNES 2, its easy to determine that the SNES 2 was much cheaper to produce than the first model. By taking out features that seemed unnecessary and redesigning the system, Nintendo saved alot of money by scrapping the old model and continuing with the redesigned model. Many gamers thought the Super Nintendo was being redesigned to incorporate the CD based attachment Nintendo was rumored to release. But the SNES 2 had no expansion slot like the original version. The SNES 2 was released in October of 1997, a full year after the Nintendo 64. The Nintendo 64 retailed for 199 dollars, and the Playstation retailed for around 150 dollars.

With the approaching 1997 holiday season, Nintendo surveyed that many people were still avid 16 bit gamers. They also noticed that many consumers were hesitant to commit to the larger price tags of consoles. Thus, to appeal to those who never had a Super Nintendo, or those who wanted to get into gaming, they released the SNES 2. It retailed for 99 dollars and came bundled with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It's a perfect successor to the last Super Nintendo Bundle, which came with Super Mario World. They also released a similar looking model in Japan, named the Super Famicom Jr. Surprisingly, one month later, Nintendo released their last first party game for the Super Nintendo: Kirby's Dreamland 3, on November 27th, 1997.

So while not technically a "better" Super Nintendo, the SNES 2 is still a nice substitute for the original. It fits nicely on to shelves, is very lightweight, and it still does what the Super Nintendo is supposed to do: Play games. Production of the Super Nintendo ended in 1999 in North America. By then, the next generation of consoles were in full swing. Still, the Super Nintendo enjoyed a long life span and gave us lots of great games. If you can find a SNES 2, It's a nice piece to add to your collection. I picked mine up at a yard sale for about 10 dollars. If you wanna pay full price, they are about 50 to 60 dollars.

To wrap this up, I wanted to mention that since the SNES 2, Nintendo has not released a redesigned home console in North America. The Nintendo 64 did have some color variations, as did the Gamecube, but thats about it. Will there be a new Wii model for us in the future?...We'll see!

Game Quickie - Super Adventure Island (SNES)

Master Higgins returns in the third installment of the Adventure Island series, but is it worth playing if it is so frustrating?

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - 10-Yard Fight (NES)

10-Yard Fight may be the first football game on the NES, but it certainly is not the best.

Recommended? NO

Game Quickie - Pinball (NES)

The appropriately named Pinball was an original NES launch title but is it worth picking up?

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Mighty Final Fight (NES)

Mighty Final Fight is a humorous version of the original Final Fight, and was released on the NES in 1993. How does it stack up to the rest of the series?

Recommended? YES

The Gaming Historian - Halloween Special

In my opinion, one of the scariest things in life is history. All the death...destruction...chaos. Where do you think we got the ideas for Dracula? What about the White Witch of Rose Hall? I mean, this stuff is real! Regardless, scary events, people, and ideas can all be combined into video games, creating truly horrific experiences. So, lets talk about Halloween!

Celtic farmers believed that on one day every year, the season of life would meet the season of death. When the dead would walk amongst the living. Tribes would light up great bonfires and dress up as demons to distract the dead. This holiday was known as Sawin. Because this holiday was considered Pagan, Pope Gregory III established All Hallows Day on November 1st, which honored all the saints throughout history. He hoped to distract the Celts with this holiday and get their minds off demons and the dead. The Europeans accepted All hallows Day, but decided to keep their traditional holiday as well. Sawin then became known as All Hallows Eve...which eventually turned into Halloween. During the mid 1800's, while Ireland was going through a Potato Famine, many Irish immigrants came over to America and brought the holiday with them. Bonfires became Jack o Lanterns, and soon the holiday of Halloween was established. But what about Trick or Treating? Back in the middle ages, this was known as souling, where poor beggars would go from door to door praying for the souls of the dead in exchange for food.

But you didnt come here to learn about THAT did you? You want to know about games! Horror and games go hand in hand. It's the thrill of horror meeting the excitement and fun of games. Games like Resident Evil...Silent Hill...Alone in the Dark. But where did the Survival Horror genre orignate from? Believe it or not...it dates all the way back to 1981 on the Sinclair ZX81. If you want to play the very first survival horror game, check out 3d Monster Maze on the ZX81. Not only was it one of the first survival horror games, it was also one of the first 3d games and one of the first FIRST Person games on a home computer.

The game starts out in a carnival I'm assuming, where a creepy looking clown challenges you to enter the maze with T-Rex for "entertainment and exhilaration." If you accept, you are thrown into the Maze with the monster. Due to hardware limitations, the game has absolutely no sound, making it even more creepy. There are only three buttons to learn, go left, go right, or go forward. While trying to find your way out of this maze, a body of text updates you on the T-Rex's whereabouts with statements such as "Rex Lies in Wait", "He is hunting for you" "Footsteps approaching" "REX HAS SEEN YOU" and "RUN HE IS BESIDE YOU" or "RUN HE IS BEHIND YOU." If you die, you are sentenced to roam the maze forever. You can appeal this sentence and have a 50% chance of either starting all over (the game resets) or you are put back into the last maze.

For such a simple game, it has quite a twisted plot. Malcolm Evans, the creator of this game, intended it to be a learning program. Colleagues suggested they add the T-Rex for entertainment, and so you have 3d Monster Maze. Unfortunately this game was never released in the United States. I'm pretty sure it is free to play online though, so turn out the lights and check it out. It's kinda creepy, and a landmark achievement for the video game industry. Now many people, including the Guiness Book of World Records, claim that Alone in the Dark is the first 3d survival horror game. However, I feel that this game should be considered the first.

Alot of people have been asking for the history of the Resident Evil and the Devil May Cry games. Lucky for you, one person had a hand in both. Shinji Mikami. Shinji Mikami, born on August 11th, 1965 is the creator of the Resident Evil Series. After working on a few disney games, including Goof Troop and Aladdin on the Super Nintendo, Mikami started development on a horror adventure game. Capcom had previously released a horror adventure game called Sweet Home on the Famicom, which was based on the movie of the same name. Mikami wanted to take the genre a step further.

The result became known as Biohazard (or Resident Evil to us North American folk). It featured fully 3d characters, pre-rendered backgrounds, and zombies. For promotional purposes, it was deemed a survival horror game. It became one of the best selling games on the Playstation. Resident Evil is one of the top franchises for Capcom to this day. It's popularity even spawned some live action films...which got some mixed reviews.

With the release of the Playstation 2 looming, work began on a new Resident Evil. Hideki Kamiya was set to direct with Shinji Mikami producing. They visited Spain to visit several historical castles for level design ideas. During early development however, many felt the game strayed too far from the resident evil formula. Instead of abandoning the idea, it simply turned into Devil May Cry. Devil May Cry is like the father of intense action games, such as God of War. Not only is it a frightening experience, it's extremely entertaining with puzzle solving, awesome boss battles, and even the awesome game over screen.

Today, Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya are working together at a new company, Platinum Games. Apparently they are developing a new game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 called Bayonetta, and will apparently "blow the doors off the action genre."

The Gaming Historian - Kirby

Kirby is one of Nintendo's most popular franchises. Isn't he adorable? Kirby was created for beginner gamers, but he eventually ended up becoming a staple character for Nintendo and appealing to a wide audience of gamers. But where did this pink puff ball come from? The answer may surprise you. Kirby has always been such a simple character. He's basically a smiley face with two little arms and legs. Nevertheless, he remains one of Nintendos most popular characters, appearing in many different video games, a television show, even manga.

It began...as a blob. It was 1991, and at the young age of 19, Masahiro Sakurai was given the task by his company, HAL Labs, of creating a game boy game for beginners that would be easy to complete.

Sakurai had his idea in place. But before they could begin graphics and coding for the game, he needed a placeholder graphic for his main character, who he dubbed Popopo. So, he drew a blob with two eyes and a smile. Over time, Sakurai and the rest of his staff began to grow quite fond of their little blob. It was cute....simple....it seemed perfect in a game for beginners. Sakurai decided to expand on this character. He added two arms and two legs, and presto, Kirby was born. After the game finished, development, HAL Labs took their creation to Nintendo. His name was soon changed from Popopo, to Kirby.

So how exactly do you come up with the name Kirby? The most common belief is that Kirby is named after the vacuum cleaner company, Kirby. It would make sense since a vacuum cleaner sucks, and sucking is kirbys main ability. However, Another belief is that he is named after John Kirby, Nintendo of America's former lawyer who represented Nintendo in the case vs Universal Studios over Donkey Kong. Theres also a rumor that John Kirby received a copy of the game Kirby's Adventure and apparently he got a good laugh out of it. However, Sakurai has been quoted as saying he does not remember how he got his name.

When Kirby was presented to Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, wanted Kirby to be yellow. Sakurai however, intended Kirby to be pink. Sakurai had his wish granted, and the first game, Kirby's Dream Land (known in Japan as Kirby of the Stars) was released. In the first game however, Kirby lacked the ability to copy enemies. All he could do was suck them in and shoot them out at enemies. The game was relatively easy, but was popular nonetheless. Kirbys Dream Land was in black and white due to being on the Game Boy. Thus, when it was brought to North America, Kirby is depicted as being completely white on the cover.

Less than a year later, Kirbys Adventure was released on the NES. This time, he was correctly shown as pink on the North American cover. Kirby's Adventure introduced Kirby's copy ability. Sakurai added this ability to give the more hardcore gamers some gameplay mechanics to mess with and make the game more challenging. Beginner gamers could still suck up enemies and spit them out as usual as well. Kirbys Adventure was released on May 1st, 1993 in North America. The game really pushed the NES to the limit with its impressive colors, catchy music, and scrolling levels.

After the spinoff games, Kirbys Pinball land, Kirbys Avalanche, and Kirbys Dream Course, Nintendo released the finest evolution of the Kirby series with Kirbys Dream Land 2. It featured new powerups, puzzle solving, and animal friends to help Kirby out. The game also had increased colors when played on the Super Game boy. Kirbys Dream Land 2 is my personal favorite in the Kirby series, because growing up, it was probably the #1 game in my Game Boy. It was just that good. I was obsessed with finding every little secret in the game, as well as experimenting with all of the different powers that combined with each animal.

Kirby reached a milestone in his career with Kirby Super Star, released on September 20th, 1996 on the Super Nintendo. It featured 9 different games on one cartridge, and is widely regarded as the greatest kirby game of all time. A remake of the game, Kirby Super Star Ultra, is currently being made for the Nintendo DS.

After his success with the Kirby games, Sakurai and Hal Labs created a new game that many people are familiar with. Super Smash Bros., which premiered in 1999 on the Nintendo 64. Sakurai left HAL in August 2003 and worked with Q Entertainment. This collaboration resulted in Meteos, an addicting puzzle game released in 2005. He then formed his own company, Sora. He is currently working on new titles since completing Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

The Gaming Historian - Sega Dreamcast (Part 2)

The launch of the Playstation 2 on March 4th, 2000 was a huge success for Sony. On launch day in Japan, 600,000 Playstation 2's were sold. Since there were only about 1 million Dreamcasts sold in Japan, and about 2 Million sold in the United States, Sega concentrated their efforts in the US Market. Peter Moore stated "you have to fish where the fish are biting." Sega also split up their in-house development. Rather than keep top designers such as Yuji Naka, who programmed Sonic the Hedgehog, and Yu Suzuki, creator of Shenmu under Sega's roof, they split them up into independent developers for the Dreamcast. This was actually a smart move, as these new independent developers could experiment and vastly expand the Dreamcasts library. However, the power of the Playstation 2 was obvious. Many developers of Dreamcast games hoped to see their creations on the Playstation 2 one day.

On March 10, 2000, Microsoft announced the X-Box. Microsoft noticed the Playstation 2 taking over living rooms and having the ability to do more than just play games. Their new console was being made to compete against that. Sega was now on a clock. Either they build up their user base now, or fall. Sega of America soon announced SegaNet. For 21.95 a month, you could take advantage of Sega's internet service, which would allow fast online gameplay, web browsing, and more. If you signed up for a 2 year subscription, You would recieve a Dreamcast and a keyboard for free. However, things were still not looking good. Many executives at Sega openly advocated ending Sega's hardware business. The playstation 2 was on it's way, and the Gamecube was announced. But, Sega had a small gleem of hope in September of 2000.

Due to part shortages in Japan, Sony could not ship as many consoles to the US as it had hoped. Not only that, but the launch titles for the Playstation 2 were not impressive. It also cost twice as much as the Dreamcast. Dreamcast sales surged during the 2000 holidays, but it was short lived. On January 24th, Sega announced that they would discontinue the Dreamcast. They had plenty of inventory stocked up, and with bad sales, there was no need to produce any more consoles. Sega officially stated they were pulling out of the hardware business and now making games for multiple platforms.

Many new games were still being released for the Dreamcast and even some accessories, such as a Broadband Adapter that replaced the 56k dial up connection. But basically, the system was ending. It took 22 months for Sega to sell 6.5 million Dreamcasts. It took Sony only 15 months to sell 10 million Playstation 2s. So here is the ultimate question: what went wrong for Sega?

Here are a few reasons why the Dreamcast failed.

#1: The Playstation 2. It was simply much more powerful than the Dreamcast, and the inclusion of a DVD Drive really hurt. Believe it or not, DVD's were not very popular in Japan before the Playstation 2. After the PS2's release, the DVD market exploded. The Xbox and Gamecube announcements were like a nail in the coffin.

#2: The Dreamcast lacked third party support. Many of the Dreamcast games were made by Sega, and some third party developers such as EA Sportsrefused to make games on the Dreamcast after the Saturns failures.

#3: Game Piracy. During the release of the Dreamcast, another new technology was gaining popularity on PCs....the CD Burner. Hacker groups online soon began ripping the images off the GD-Roms via the Serial port or Broadband Adapter, and creating images that could be put on a CD-R. Because the Dreamcast requires no hardware modifications to read CD-R discs, pirated Dreamcast games were extremely popular.

As of now, 10.6 Million dreamcasts have been sold. So why do people love the Dreamcast? Maybe its because it felt like a real gaming system. After Sega's previous flops, the Dreamcast was a breathe of fresh air and a reminder that Sega could still make awesome systems. Even today, independent developers make games for the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast is just a great console, and an amazing finale for the company. Sega...you will never be forgotten...your name will forever be immortalized in history.

The Gaming Historian - Sega Dreamcast (Part 1)

Throughout history, empires have come and gone. The Mongols, The Romans, The Franks, they were all once great empires of the known world. Even in the video game world, once great companies eventually fall. Look at Atari. The once powerful company that brought gaming into households now publishes Dragonball Z fighting games. One company that will never be the same, is Sega. What was once the #1 rival to Nintendo's hardware machine now makes software for various companies, including Nintendo. Sega's final days were with the Dreamcast, the first 128 bit home console, and the first home console to come with a modem out of the box. Although the Dreamcast is basically dead, it is still considered one of the greatest gaming systems ever put out by Sega.

Our story begins with the Sega Saturn. After Sega's repeated attempts to keep the Sega Genesis alive with the Sega CD and the Sega 32x add-ons, they finally decided to release an actual new 32 bit console. It was supposed to be launced in September of 1995, but Sega wanted to jump ahead of the new Sony Playstation, so they pushed the release date forward to May 11th, 1995. This move irritated many developers for games of the Saturn, who suddenly did not have time to take advantage of the saturn launch day. Despite this, Sega launched their new 32 bit console May 11, 1995, about 4 months before the release of the Sony Playsation. However, Sega was about to get a rude awakening.

I'm going to explain this pretty clearly. The Playstation launched on September 9th, 1995. By this time, 80,000 Saturns had been sold. On the first day alone, Sony had sold over 100,000 Playstations. I dunno if I can describe that as an epic fail or just a big slap in the face. To make matters worse, the Nintendo 64 launched on September 29, 1996. Nintendo sold 400,000 systems within four months. Suddenly, Sega was in 3rd place. By 1997, Sega controlled only 12 percent of the console market. It was obvious that this once prominent company was slipping away. Sega realized their situation and decided on their last ditch effort. A brand new 128 bit system. Codenamed "Katana" in development, Sega officially announced the Dreamcast on May 21, 1998. It would include a 56k Modem for online play, stereo sound, and a 3d graphics chip made by NEC. The games were made on GD-Roms, which were double density CD's that could hold over 1 GB of data.

The Dreamcast launched on November 27, 1998 in Japan. The launch seemed successful, but due to a shortage in graphics chips from NEC, Sega felt it went horribly wrong. Sega shipped about 450,000 systems in the first few weeks, but felt "200,000 to 300,000 additional units could have been sold if we could have had enough supply [graphics chips]." Then came the worst news Sega could possibly imagine. On March 2nd, 1999, Sony officially announced the Playstation 2 in Tokyo, Japan. The Playstation 2 was expected to launch in the next year and would have amazing capabilities. To compare, the Sega Dreamcast could render 3 million polygons per second. The Playstation 2 could render 60 million polygons per second. The Dreamcast provided 56k dial up capabilities, while the Playstation 2 would support broadband internet. It would also have games on both a CD and DVD. The Playstation 2 would also be capable of playing DVD movies.

Even before the launch of the Dreamcast in America, the system was already obsolete. The Playstation 2 was simply a more powerful machine, and with an expected release date in the next year, Sega's plan was this. Install a huge fanbase and provide alot of great software before the arrival of the PS2. Sega's Bernard Stolar responded to the PS2 with "Sony's machine sounds impressive, but the fact is, its still on paper. Dreamcast is here now. While Sony is working to create that hardware, Sega will already be in the marketplace with Dreamcast."

As launch day approached however, Sega ousted Stolar and replaced him with Peter Moore. Yes, Peter Moore. Many know Peter Moore today as the President of EA Sports and as the former vice president of Microsofts Interactive Entertainment Business division. Peter Moore began his work for Microsoft based on his experience with the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast was hyped up with ads stating the launch date, 9/9/99 for 199 dollars. The North American launch was a big success for Sega. Retailers were demanding the console after selling out. Sega sold over 500,000 units in just two weeks. Much of the success can be credited towards the great launch titles and online connectivity right out of the box. Titles such as Soul Calibur, Sega Sports NFL2k, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, and of course, Sonic Adventure. In total, there were 15 launch titles with the Sega Dreamcast.

By the end of 1999, Sega had sold 1.2 million Dreamcasts. However, the Playstation 2 was still looming over them like a rain cloud to ruin their day.

The Gaming Historian - Mega Man

Capcom, which was founded in 1979 in Osaka, was looking to expand to the home video game market, particularly the popular Nintendo. They had previously released a few ports from their arcade games, such as 1942, but were hoping to create a whole new franchise for the consoles.

At the young age of 22, Keiji Inafune joined Capcom. He had just graduated from college and was looking to become an illustrator. His first project was working on street fighter, but was then assigned to a new project: come up with a hit franchise for the home consoles.Seemed easy right? Not exactly. While Tokuro Fujiwara was the director of the project, Inafune was given the task of designing the characters, instruction booklet, logo, and boxart. He was even responsible for taking his designs and turning them into pixel form. Thus, Keiji Inafune is the creator, and father, of Mega Man. Inafune grew up on anime and decided that characters were going to be important in the game. Not just any characters, but detailed characters. Inafune noticed many NES games that lacked these qualities. "We wanted to make sure that the animation and the motion was realistic and actually made sense."

Inafune was also limited to a 56 color palette. Knowing that he wanted good detail on this character, he chose the color blue, since it had the most colors in the NES palette. Inafune even admits " The Blue Bomber is really blue because of the Nintendo, not anything else."

Platformers and side scrollers were the top games on the NES. Sales charts could tell anyone that. Thus, the game was going to be a side scroller. The concept of the game was based on rock paper scissors, in that every boss and weapon has a different strength and weakness. Inafune's love for music also played a large part in the creation process. Quote, "to base characters on that, that's something that we all can understand, and we can all...buy that concept." Thus, why the japanese know the blue bomber as Rockman. Rockman's sister's name is Roll. Future characters such as Treble and Bass also had names based on musical references. This is also why the music in Mega Man is so incredible. It is an important part of the game.

Rockman was released to the Japanese and Americans in December of 1987. However, Capcom executives in America made a few changes. They didn't really understand WHY he was named Rockman (also because the name Rockman was copyrighted), so they came up with Mega Man instead. Also, the Yellow Devil Boss was renamed to "Rock Monster" due to Nintendo's strict rules of religious referencing. And of course, the most infamous change of all......the cover art. From what I do know, it seems that this cover art was made overnight by Capcom USA's marketing department.

Mega Man was critically acclaimed and sold more than expected, but it was not the huge hit Capcom thought it might become. However, Inafune and everyone involved in the project still felt that the series had life. Capcom gave them another chance, and Mega Man 2 was released in Japan on December 24, 1988 and in North America in July of 1989. The 2nd game in the series was both critically acclaimed and extremely popular. Since Mega Man 2, the series has become Capcoms leading franchise, even beating out Resident Evil. Now, I know there are tons and tons of Mega Man games out there, but for now I just wanted to show you how the blue bomber was created in the first place.

The Gaming Historian - The DexDrive

The Sony Playstation was released in the United States September 9th, 1995. It was a CD based home console that used memory cards for game saves and data storage, although it is not the first console to use memory cards. That would be the NEO GEO AES, which was released in 1990. The Playstation was a huge success in the video game market, and soon companies were throwing together accessories for it. One such company, InterAct, developed a device that made quite an impact. The DexDrive. So what exactly did it do?

The DexDrive was actually not a "drive" at all. It was more of a memory card slot than anything. Basically you could hook it to your PC, put your memory card into the device, and transfer game data. The possibilities were endless. The DexDrive had alot of benefits. For one, you no longer needed to buy more memory cards. Just transfer old game data to your PC, clear it off the memory card, and save some more. You could also download other people's game saves, characters, levels, any game data and put it on your memory card. And of course, you could download team rosters for your sports games. EA Sports even endorsed this product. It was that cool. PSM Magazine said it best with "it opens up a whole new world of exchange.."

Luckily, these things are actually not that hard to find. I was able to find a Playstation DexDrive and a N64 DexDrive brand new, for about 5 bucks each. Hooking up the DexDrive is fairly straightforward. Simply plug the device into your computer, plug the AC Adapter up, and install the software with the floppys. Unfortunately, my floppy drive no longer works, but if you simply google Dexplorer, you will be able to download updated software. The Dexplorer is software is simple as well. Open it up, plug in your memory card, and you can view your game data. As you can see, I have Final Fantasy 7 and MedEvil data on here. I can backup, restore, duplicate, re-format the card, e-mail data, and delete data.

Although InterAct went out of business in the following years, the DexDrive's impact had been made. A few years later, The MaxDrive was released by Datel for the XBox and Playstation 2. However, with the advancements in online capabilities for consoles, these types of devices were dying out and simply not needed anymore. The Dex Drive is important because it introduced some of the benefits of going online to consoles. Soon after, the ability to go online became a staple for home systems, and the current generation systems such as the XBox 360 and the PS3 take advantage of some of the features the Dex Drive was capable of. For example, the 60 and 80GB PS3's have flash memory card readers built into the system.

Pick up a DexDrive if you can, it's an interesting piece of history, extremely useful, and well worth it for only 5 dollars. Hope you guys enjoyed this weeks Gaming Historian. Remember, any topic suggestions, e-mail me, gameflop@gmail.com.