Momodora is a charming metroidvania platformer by redein(Guilherme Martins) that has you playing as a nameless girl who's in search of a sacred item that can bring her dead mother back to life. Some of you might recognize the name redein from his previous release Bubblegirl Rozy, which was his contribution to the Action 52 OWNS collective as his remake for Bubblegum Rosie.
As with his previous release, a heavy Cave Story influence is almost undeniable at first glance. Everything down to the tilesets used seem to be directly plucked from the backgrounds of Pixel's classic game. Even the music in the game is made with pxtone, a little music-making program released by Pixel himself. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all. I do believe Guilherme will eventually adapt into a style of his own, and I enjoy seeing his work progress through the few games he's created and made readily available on his website.
Gameplay is your usual metroidvania fair. As you progress through the underground caves you'll find a number of weapons to aid you on your adventure, along with different artifacts and hidden objects to collect and fill up your inventory. Some of the weapons and enemies are even direct homages to their Pixel counterparts, like your second weapon being similar to the Polar Star from Cave Story, and a spinning enemy that looks like it came right out of Guxt.
Despite what the "Cave Story ripoff!!" detractors have to say, if nothing else it will serve as a fun time-waster, or at the very least it will give you fond memories of playing Cave Story before you go off and play the real thing.
A new trailer was leaked earlier in the week for Nikki And The Robots. For those unfamiliar with the title, it's an upcoming action platformer by a Germany-based development team called Joyride Laboratories. While it doesn't show much in the way of actual gameplay footage, what it does give a glimpse into is a game that, if nothing else, will be sure to delight it's players with a fantastic art direction and music choice.
What we do know about the game is that you are in control of a shinobi-clad cat girl by the name of Nikki, who's made it her mission to get in the way of Dr. Lacroix's evil plans to take over the world using his legion of robots. What gives this game a unique idea in the gameplay department is that Nikki refrains from using any weapons. Instead she can take control of Dr. Lacroix's robots and use their powers against themselves or other invading robots.
Nikki and The Robots will also feature music from chiptuners from the 8BitCollective website, with Xylo and Cerror contributing the music found in the above trailer. Mix that in with a completely retro graphic styling and a lush color palette, you're in for one hell of a aural and visual sensation.
No set-in-stone release date as of it, but Joyride Laboratories are promising a 2010 release! Definitely keep this one on your radar folks, wouldn't want to miss out on this sure to be next big thing in the indie gaming scene!
I guess, in my 20 some years on this Earth, you could say I've never really known what it was to be loved. At least not in that somehow unique form of love that can only be expressed from a parent. The only reason I use the word "unique" is because I'm guessing that form of love has to be different from something experienced from a friend or boyfriend/girlfriend. Though I have no experience with the former, so guessing what it feels like will just have to be left to my imagination.
Either way, in lieu of putting any effort into raising me, they left whatever latest video game console to do the job for them. "Why waste any time doing it ourselves" is the general consensus I've always assumed my parents came to when they bought me my first console, a Sega Genesis around the age of 2 or 3.
I can't say it was a completely bad thing though. Surely against the best of my parents knowledge, they're the ones who actually gave me a tool to escape their own brand of neglect and emotional abuse. It's a bit of an ironic situation, actually being grateful to your parents for providing you with a means to drown out their bullshit.
Nowadays I no longer use video games as my escape because I've drilled it into my head that I only have a year or 2 more living with them before I graduate from college and they'll be washed off my hands clean for good. I can't deny how valuable it was that I did have that medium for the first 18 years or so of my life that I was able to use and completely lose myself in.
There was even a point in my life where my parents thought it'd be a neat idea to see what it was like if they never had a son, so they dropped me off at my grandmoms place and sort of just left me there for an extended period of time. I've since blocked out a huge portion of my memories during this period. The one thing that stands out though was the way I dealt with the crushing loneliness, and of course it was done with the help of video games. I even became acquainted with my favorite video game during this time, Final Fantasy IX. So, it wasn't all bad.. right?
There's a problem with escapism though. Eventually, your problems will catch up with you, and whatever you used to keep those bottled up feelings in the back of your mind at bay won't be enough to hold it back anymore. Close to four years ago, I've realized I was just running away from my problems at home. I used video games(as well as a slew of other things I won't touch on here) as a thinly-knitted blanket to hide under when shit got to real. One day I just had a feeling, a crushing and sudden realization where I truly felt alone in this world. I lost all interest in anything I held dear to me, including my previous hobby and escapist tool of video games. This led to a year long depression, and a tough time in my life that still remains a tough issue for me to speak openly about.
I think it goes without saying, that rough patch nearly destroyed me. Without the help of some good friends and a newfound, general sense of direction for my life, I wouldn't have been able to make it out of that alive. To this day I'm not 100% sure how I was able to get over it. I do however have a few ideas. One of them being a realization that it just doesn't matter what my parents say to or think of me. It would have certainly been nice to grow up with their love in my life, but even without it I still have plenty of other people who do think of me beyond just being a burden in their life. It was around this time too that I decided to go college, which is part of that newfound sense of direction I mentioned above.
The biggest help during this time though was a return to interest for my old hobbies. Mainly music, comics, and of course, video games. It was a year long gap where I didn't keep up with any video games news at all, so I had a lot to catch up on. I remembered that sort of magnetic pull towards the niche clique of gaming that I adored so much, so I set off to find what I've missed during this down time. Somehow I came across Kotowari, a personal gaming blog run by one man and powered by his love for gaming. Everything he reported on during that time was something that really interested me, and helped propel me back into one of my favorite pastimes. Since then I've become very good friends with him and his girlfriend, who happens to be the designer and programmer for his site. They've become irreplaceable friends to me, and we even got to meet in person and vacation together a few weeks ago in LA, and even attend E3 during all of this! I can't thank them enough for helping me through that tough time in my life, however indirectly it might have been, and for that I'm forever grateful.
What I've learned through all of this is that, no matter what problems you have to live through in your life, it's best to face them head on instead of finding ways to keep yourself distracted. While I'm glad that video games are such a huge part of my life, I truly regret hiding behind them for all those years, and letting my emotions bottle up until I finally cracked. I didn't want to face reality, so for a long time I continually ran away from my problems. You just need to sit back, relax, and not let things get the better of you.
Jonatan "Cactus" Söderström introduced his latest game to the internet a few days ago with a freshly uploaded trailer onto his YouTube page. Norrland was made for the Kulturbygden in Sollefteå art exhibition, where the theme was "Kärlek i Norrland", or "love up north". After watching the short 2 minute trailer, it seems the game is based around one man's solo hunting trip, and whatever shit he gets himself into. The game is coated with Cactus's trademark retro-era graphics and trippy, filth-covered color choice.
Cactus said that this game is all about the atmosphere and style, so if you're expecting anything else than this game isn't for you. What little we do see of the gameplay from the trailer, it seems to play some part as a scrolling shooter/platformer, with a visual style reminiscent of his previous game, Shotgun Ninja. Although there seems to be more than just a platformer on offer, as an underwater swimming level and a solo climbing section can be seen in the trailer. Cactus also says Norrland explores the prejudice that people bare towards country folk. Seeing how that view will be expressed in this game will be an interesting one for sure.
After the exhibition came to an end, Cactus decided to hand-make ten physical copies of Norrland. He's put all of them up for sale on eBay. Seeing how only ten copies exist and that this particular game is from one of the most prolific and adored indie game developers, these auctions will end with a very high price tag. Are you a bad enough indie gamer to score a copy? Well you have less than a week to decide on whether or not you want to bid! I know I'll be trying to get myself one of these rare discs. Check out the trailer and eBay auctions below.
Out of nowhere, one of the most prolific indie developers in not just the Japanese scene, but on the global indie scale, released two new games today. The first being a complete version of a beta game he released nearly two years ago originally as Teppomanto, and a completely new title named Nozumou.
For Ikiki's first release of the day, Teppoman 2, at first it seemed like nothing much was changed from it's original beta release. After getting more into it though, you will experience a ton of new content, including new wepaons, levels, enemies, and a tighter gameplay experience overall. This updated version sees our old hooded hero with a new affinity for bananas, so your eventual endgame is to penetrate an underground fortress holding a stockpile of our heroes favorite brown bananas. The heroes previous skills are still present in Teppoman 2, and just like the beta build they'll need to be mastered to the fullest. A number of guns and bombs are also available throughout any given level, and proper execution and swiftness will need to be practiced if you want to make a successful runthrough of Teppoman 2.
The second game, Nozumou, is a one player arena-type game where you'll see yourself in control of maddened Sumo wrestler who, for whatever reason, needs to destroy all of the other sumos occupying his ring. Nozumou is pretty straight-forward, and it's all about gaining a high score. Four rice bowls are arranged in the arena, and they can be picked up the increase the size of your Sumo so he can easily defeat his more hefty challengers. I haven't figured out any proper strategy to properly play the game and garner a really high score, but I'm sure that there is one, as there is for everyone of Ikiki's other high-score based games.
Ikiki's trademark and oddly-placed, ill-fitting voice sampling returns for both of his new games. As is his solely-made, uplifting music the perfectly fits his unique art style. It's been quite a while since we last from him, and the indie-scene was a little less fun without his presence. Fans of Ikiki's past action platformers and high-score games will find both of his new releases more than enjoyable. Be sure to grab them both from the download links at the bottom!
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