This article was originally posted on June 20, 2011 in the Passagem Secreta (in Portuguese) blog, and with the permission from the author (Rafael Fernandes) and the founder of the blog (Marcos Valverde), I publish it here translated into English.
Videocast – Sonic CD, the Most Controversial of the Franchise?
It could not be different: Sonic CDwon the poll held (in Portuguese), with more than 50% of the votes! In the second place, with only 13%, Knuckles Chaotix, and in the last place, Sonic R, for the Sega Saturn.
Check out the results of the poll
For a moment I had thought that people were voting just to screw me, due to a recent post that showed I was not very favorable to the game (in Portuguese). But then I realized that the game deserves to be loved, because I have played enough to understand it in another way, and I had much fun with it.
This article was originally posted on May 28, 2011 in the Passagem Secreta (in Portuguese) blog, and with the permission from the author (Rafael Fernandes) and the founder of the blog (Marcos Valverde), I publish it here translated into English.
Videocast: Road Rash Retrospective
More than 10 hours and 100 GB of crude pictures. Approximately 15 hours editing. 8 hours uploading. 5 minutes gargling. All that hard effort to provide you another Videocast for Passagem Secreta!
This time, the idea is to review each game of this franchise that is missed: Road Rash, one of the coolest racing games from past generations. Therefore, the video turned out to be the longest so far, with 20 minutes in length – which is still pretty fast, is not it? But rest assured, because before boredom fall over the montage, I bring a joke to break the ice! Needless to talk about the roller coaster pace of the edition, indeed!
Since YouTube let me grounded for six months due to an infamous video of Street Fighter, I had to split the Videocast into two parts to fit the 15 minutes limit on the website. Alternatively, however, I uploaded an uninterrupted version on Vimeo, for those who want to watch it there.
This article was originally posted on April 6, 2011 in the Passagem Secreta (in Portuguese) blog, and with the permission from the author (Rafael Fernandes) and the founder of the blog (Marcos Valverde), I publish it here translated into English.
Video Review – Streets of Rage Remake
One of the most acclaimed projects of the Internet had its final version released last day 3, for the surprise and happiness of the retrogaming fans. In relation to the previous games, the game doesn't have less features than they, quite the opposite: is the closest it can get from a definitive version of the series, bringing together the best of each game in the franchise and adding new elements to the gameplay that just add fun and longevity to the remake. And the best of all: it's free!
Thousands of reviews and comments acclaiming the game will come with time, so there is nothing better than present they with the specialty of this house: through a video review! To those who are already with laziness to download (because of its "gigantic" 200 MB of size) or playing it in front of a computer, watch this video and discover why this game is a real must-play!
This article was originally posted on February 8, 2011 in the Passagem Secreta (in Portuguese) blog, and with the permission from the author (Rafael Fernandes) and the founder of the blog (Marcos Valverde), I publish it here translated into English.
Videocast – Sonic and Blade Runner: the Similarities (Or Coincidences)
Do you like of "four"? Because this is the number of the newest episode of the Passagem Secreta Videocast! All right, I know the joke was horrible and many of you stop reading right there, but let's go ahead.
In this video we decided to extend the controversy regarding the post that compared the similarities between Sonic and Blade Runner (in Portuguese), published last year and that generated some controversy. To give hints about the music theory part, we invited none other than Eric Fraga, from Cosmic Effect (in Portuguese), to clarify all the similarities that the song of Scrap Brain Zone have with the main theme of the film, composed by Vangelis.
I hope you like the silly jokes, the performance of Cosmonal, and the usual narration. By the way, do not forget to comment if you still believe that this all is a big folly, or if you were blessed with the wisdom and the knowledge that only this Videocast could provide you!
Moreover, as always, I would like to thank Eric Fraga himself, for ceding his image and his time to participate here. I hope he liked this "joint contribution".
This article was originally posted on January 11, 2011 in the Passagem Secreta (in Portuguese) blog, and with the permission from the author (Rafael Fernandes) and the founder of the blog (Marcos Valverde), I publish it here translated into English.
Videocast – Galaxy Force Retrospective
This is the third video I make to the blog… Consequently, I can state that we have a Videocast, right? Well, we will see! The idea is to make at least one video per month related to some topic little known in gaming, which would deserve at least a little bit of prominence among the crowd of the Retrogamer Folliesphere. But of course I can not promise anything, all the more so because video editing is very exhaustive, although pleasant. Without further ado, let's get straight to the topic.
Galaxy Force is a game quite remembered among fans of Sega. But I doubt very much that few have actually played the arcade, that is light years ahead of ports released for the Mega Drive and Master System, which are the most popular. In fact, there should be S.S.T. Band fans here who barely have any idea of how this game is (#ThereISaidIt). In the following video, I point out the series, as well as deal with these terrible ports, with some trivia and jokes.
This article was originally posted on December 13, 2010 in the Passagem Secreta (in Portuguese) blog, and with the permission from the author (Rafael Fernandes) and the founder of the blog (Marcos Valverde), I publish it here translated into English.
Special Video – The Most Bizarre Endings of Mortal Kombat 4
With the expectations around the release of Mortal Kombat 9, what about remembering when the series was still switching from 2D to 3D? This video is an edition I made selecting the most horrendous endings present in the conversion of Mortal Kombat 4 from the arcade to the Nintendo 64. Due to memory limitations of the console, the opening and ending in CG had to be replaced with rendered animations in real time, in order to save the extremely limited space of the cartridges. So, things we witness in Mortal Kombat 4 are what we can say of the greatest representatives in graphics of the 32/64-bit era: few polygons, low resolution textures, animations deprived of characteristics, between other visual errors and failures that, although there are plenty, impressed us all somehow. So, press play and (re)discover how things evolved – a lot! – to where we are today!
If possible, be sure to comment if you also liked it, in other words, if I should do more videos like this or if I have to urgently retire! As this is my second adventure in video – the first you could check out on Children's Day – I am still collecting opinions!
This article was originally posted on October 12, 2010 in the Passagem Secreta (in Portuguese) blog, and with the permission from the author (Rafael Fernandes) and the founder of the blog (Marcos Valverde), I publish it here translated into English.
Retro Children's Day: World of Illusion Video Review
In contribution to the Children's Day Meme (in Portuguese) in which several blogs are joining, I bring you something a little different. Since we all have enough stuff to read today, we found interesting the idea of doing a video review, testing a formula that I was trying to implement some time ago on the blog ― and that was never implemented due to the lack of time resulted from the proletarian exploitation which we suffer daily. But let's not deviate from the main subject, so let's get right to the topic.
Again I present you another introduction of a video game. Since earlier this month Iwakura Productions, which was founded last year with the intention of translating games for the English-speaking public, announced that initiated the translation of Shadowrun for the Mega-CD, I decided to show you here the scene from the beginning of this game, which was released only in Japan. Watch it!
The city in a near future/A.D. 2053 TOKYO.
There are people who bravely run through that world of shadows.
They who wear the modern miracle in their bodies are called "shadowrunners".
"The last strongest Mega-CD's RPG‼"
"The last strongest!" original scenario
"The last strongest!" adventure mode
"The last strongest!" mission mode
"The last strongest!" tactical combat
"The last strongest!" Matrix mode
Kinmirai toshi/AD. 2053 nen TOKYO.
Sono kage no sekai o shitataka ni kakenukeru mono ga ita.
Gendai no kiseki o mi ni matotta karera wa "shadōrannā" to yobareta.
"Saikyō saigo no MEGA-CD RPG‼"
"Saikyō saigo!" no orijinaru shinario
"Saikyō saigo!" no adobenchā mōdo
"Saikyō saigo!" no misshon mōdo
"Saikyō saigo!" no takutikaru konbatto
"Saikyō saigo!" no matorikkusu mōdo
The text of the back cover is quite interesting when we relate it to the game's history. They present it as the "The last strongest Mega-CD's RPG‼", and it was not only the last RPG to be released to the Mega-CD, and it has also been one of the last games released to the add-on (the antepenultimate, to be exact), exactly on February 23, 1996. As for being the "strongest RPG", I can not state this with conviction.
I stay here thinking: did Compile, the company that developed the game, already know the fate of the Mega-CD and then used the information in their advertising? I confess that I did not research the subject, but it is very likely.
Well, are you curious? By the description of the box, did you like to play it?
Feel free to express your opinion and until next time!
Despite its popularity, the particularities that I will show you here went unnoticed by most players. In the game modes Senna GP and Free Practice, there are messages from the driver giving details about the circuits and the driving on them, in Japanese and English, and there lies the curiosity.
Many of you know the game I will mention here today: Shadow Dancer. It was first released for arcades and later for consoles and computers. In this text I will highlight some details of the original version of the game that, so far, have not been reported anywhere else.
Promotional flyer for the Japanese version of the arcade game Shadow Dancer (in Japanese: シャドー・ダンサー; romanized: Shadō Dansā)
Click on the image above to enlarge it
Starting with the game's introductory scene, we soon see a detail that catches our attention.
