The Super Nintendo Turns 25

[Originally published on Sub Cultured as The Super Nintendo Turns 25]

The Super Nintendo – or the SNES for short – celebrated its 25th birthday this week. Granted this may not mean much to the Sega faithful from the 80’s and 90’s, but as I’ve mentioned in previous posts I was a Nintendo kid growing up. My formative game time came courtesy of the original Nintendo Entertainment System. The Super Mario Brothers / Duck Hunt double cartridge for NES sank so many of my hours that it would be tough to tabulate how many fire flowers I digitally ingested or how many rounds I popped off on my Zapper light gun. When I discovered RPG’s and action/adventure games, that would put my hours logged shooting ducks to shame. I liked the obscure stuff – the stuff that none of my friends had, so I had some stock in trading cartridges with them like Yo! Noid and Seicross. And of course, my personal favorites Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, The Legend of Zelda, Ninja Gaiden and The Goonies II.

My friends and I all thought we were in the golden age of video games, but little did we know that the next-gen console introduced at the turn of the decade would change how the game is played forever. And you know, we were kids. That’s not an exaggeration even given my penchant for hyperbole – in 1990 the Super Nintendo, affectionately known as the SNES, changed everything.

Back then terms like “16 bit” didn’t really mean much to me – all that I was able to see then was how I could do more things, and how games were deeper, and how the technology now existed to make better music and more memorable stories. We had a unit at home now that brought the flash of the arcade to our living room, and gaming went from single player to social time with friends. But still, what was so special about the SNES that brought about this change? It even overtook the Genesis, its 16-bit rival from Sega, which was already on the market with a number of games available.

First off on the list of excellence was the SNES controller. This was the first console controller to feature six buttons with triggers on the corners to make gameplay more complex and fun. This stomped on the Genesis, which only gave us 3 buttons to play with. Sega was forced to make a 6 button version in 1993 to keep up. Anyone who’s played Street Fighter II Turbo and tried to pull off Vega’s jump dive on the Genesis will more than surely attest to what kind of pain was removed just from having more buttons. And that was one of the things that made it great – a six button controller made arcade fighters playable without a cabinet, and more importantly, without the aforementioned pain. It played right into the control scheme of the Street Fighter series with 3 punch and kick buttons each. Even Mortal Kombat titles needed 4 to be played cleanly – 2 each for punch and kick buttons. So instead of standing around in an arcade bleeding quarters into a game for play credits, round robin “winner keeps playing” sessions were how we did things. And good lord was it fun – the multiplayer of our time.

The controller setup was copied and used as a standard for generations to come. Look at your current PS4 and XBOX One controllers. They may have a couple of extra triggers and thumb sticks but what is the core control? 4 buttons, arranged in a diamond, with triggers on the side. Even though it was a big jump from the A and B buttons on the 8-bit NES, it let players have a control method that became second nature.

The controller was only as good as games that were made for it, and the titles pumped out in addition to arcade fighters for the SNES were legendary. Upgraded games with familiar characters came to life on the screen, starting with the Super Mario World title that shipped with the console. That game on its own took existing IP and brought it into a new generation with scrolling levels, a vast world map to travel and multiple power ups.

Even the pure graphical power, clearly able to be seen when dozens of cannons with moving projectiles came at you on side scrolling levels in World 8 left a player wondering what else this machine could do. The Legend of Zelda was upgraded and we had a new adventure with A Link to the Past, arguably one of the greatest video games of all time. And with each game release, developers showed what was possible by pushing the SNES engine – Pilotwings. StarFox. Donkey Kong Country. F-Zero. Each great in their own way, each memorable for different reasons, and each being a genre flagship on which future titles for future systems would stand on the shoulders of. It was quite literally a Super Nintendo. Better tech meant more colors, music with enough tones to provide mood, and it even dabbled in 3D gaming with the help of the SuperFX chip (self contained without the add-ons Sega was investing in, I might add).

And I must make special mention of one of my favorite games of all time, Uniracers. Thanks for wrecking that one for us, Pixar Legal.

Final Fantasy fans in particular were given installments II and III in the series, re-branded from the Japanese IV and VI. Again, these games opened the door to what was possible when technology allows for good storytelling, and elements and themes of these games are even visible in the upcoming Final Fantasy XV.

The SNES became more than just a game console. It was a solid proof of concept that games as a medium could tell a story and draw players into a virtual world where they could connect with their characters, require them to even take notes on some of the more complex puzzles, and give greater choice to the player on how he or she wanted the game to go. It launched an era that made games evolve from mindless entertainment to a real digital experience. And from indie developers to triple A studios, it’s a legacy that still influences what a game should be.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

Since the initial inception of Final Fantasy on the NES in 1987, Square-Enix (previously Squaresoft) has developed a pretty consistent formula in the release of all their titles.  And for the most part, it’s worked – now I’ve got some perspective on this, as I’ve played every (non-MMO) edition since I was a wee brown lad.  Go ahead, I’ll pause a moment so you can marvel at my advanced age, kids.

Granted the formula will always have some tweaks to the core to freshen the mechanic from time to time – summons were added, job roles and classes in V, items like materia in VII, that annoying draw system from VIII, then grids and maps for skills and upgrades in X and beyond.  And this all revolved around a two pronged attack of a massive world to explore along with a tried and true turn-based combat system. And the gaming and RPG gods did smile, as they saw that it was good.

Then Final Fantasy XIII happened.

Much the like the compendium of Final Fantasy VII, which included a multimedia immersion into that universe, XIII was supposed to have gone a similar (read: NOT identical) route.  These games were all to share a mythology in a series calledFabula Nova Crystallis, and in addition to the core XIII titles, there were two additional games that were going to be thrown into the mix – Final Fantasy Agito XIII an Final Fantasy Versus XIII.  Agito was released for mobile platforms but we never really saw much of it in the US, and Versus basically vanished into vaporware.  It was a real shame at the time because they looked like a different take on the traditional title. Lightning’s adventures in XIII as the core were pretty polarizing though, leading most people into a love it or hate it scenario about S-E’s most recent entry to the franchise.  True, XIII was a lot more interactive story than game, and the exploration piece of a traditional Final Fantasy game didn’t appear with as much gusto, but I for one still enjoyed it.

Well, after playing halfway through then giving up then starting over and having far more appreciation for it as well as Lightning herself.

To distance them from the XIII universe, these two games were split off into separate entities.  What we knew as Versus XIII became Final Fantasy XV (the demo Episode Duscae of which was reviewed by Colby here), and from the ashes of Agito XIII rose Final Fantasy Type-0.  And you know what? I can only describe Final Fantasy Type-0 as the greatest documentary I’ve ever played.

In most RPG’s you’ll find that there’s three types of movies.  One is full motion video.  The second is dialogue and animation using the game engine. This one has a third – History Channel style explanations of battalion movements and war maps with dates and voiceovers so the player can understand the meta of the war at hand instead of just what they’re playing through.  It gives it a very strange but satisfying documentary feel, and these types of clips to me work very well in tying everything together and keeping me immersed in the lore and world events. This game becomes, in fact, an interactive retelling of the accounts of the war between the Crystal States of Orience, and it pulls it off very well.

That aside, the gameplay is a stark departure from what we know from most of the Final Fantasy games.  It’s full-on action where skills are thrown on the fly – there’s no waiting for a turn, there’s no running to escape a battle encounter or random encounters like in previous games of the series (think kind of like Crisis Core). The four buttons at your disposal on the controller map to 4 commands – generally one standard attack, a special, a magic, and a defensive skill.  These can all be changed out with different skills and spells as your characters level up and gain ability points.  Much like X and titles beyond it there are three party members that can be deployed at once – one that you directly control while the other two work on AI.  You can freely switch which character you control if ever you need a different skillset for a certain enemy or you’re just running low on health.  It’s a fun system that allows on-the-fly style change in how you attack the game.

To add more customization, there are twelve characters (there’s two add-ons too but they don’t fit the theme) from which to pick your team, each one with a different weapon and style that fits different scenarios.  Each character is named after a playing card rank (Deuce through Ace with no “Ten”) and have their own equipment and spells, all of which you have control over.  Ace himself uses playing cards as a weapon at range, while the other two characters you begin with, Nine and Queen, use a spear and a sword for more melee-oriented combat.  In addition to their own offense each character has their own defensive style that can help you out in a jam.  Ace’s “Wall” for example helps when taking ranged attack without cover.  Fast switching between each character to utilize their skills becomes as much of a skill to learn itself, but when you do, boy does this game get fun in a hurry.

The story is a fairly simple tale of power and struggle between kingdoms in a different age – in this case starting in year 842 in the world of Orience. The Militesi Empire invades the dominion of Rubrum (our characters) unprovoked, using technology to snuff out the magic Rubrum relies on for its military using their White Tiger Crystal, destroying much of the countryside in its assault. Rubrum’s crystal, the Vermillion Bird, grants them the power of magic and Eidolons to defend themselves. Militesi and Rubrum are two of the four Crystal States, with Concordia Kingdom and the Lorican Alliance rounding out the other two.  And thus war begins, with you controlling the Rubrum Akademia’s legendary Zero class, hoping that one of them will become the fabled Agito to bring balance to the end time, or tempus finis. So yes, there are four crystals in the game as is always somewhat expected.  Where this ties in with Fabula Nova Crystallis is that the crystals are sentient, and create l’Cie to do their bidding, serving the same role the Fal’cie did in XIII.

Square-Enix also went through some effort to add a lot of familiar elements to the game, softening a bit of the shock of being this different to previous games in the franchise – not only within the Final Fantasy universes, but more specifically from within Fabula Nova Crystallis.  Summons are called Eidolons and there are branded magic users called l’Cie like in XIII. There’s Magitek armor like in VI.  There’s four crystals (for the purists fine, yes, back then they were “orbs”) like there have been since day 1. And possibly the greatest homage to a previous game in the series, twelve people genetically enhanced to serve a greater purpose, all referring to the scientist that created them as “Mother.” Final Fantasy VII? Feel a little bit like Sephiroth clones and Jenova anyone?  It helps give you a familiarity with the game even though it’s a brand new environment.

In all, good fun, and a different flavor of the Final Fantasy universe that’s a a breath of fresh air.

Square-Enix trolls fans with Final Fantasy VII for the PS4

By now I’m going to guess that you’ve heard about the monkeyshines and shenanigans that occurred at the recent PlayStation Experience event.  But if not allow me to set the scene for you:

Our boy Shinji Hashimoto from Square-Enix comes out on stage to tell the audience something that many Final Fantasy fans have been clamoring for for almost 20 years –Final Fantasy VII, hailed by many RPG fans as one of the greatest games of all time, would be coming to the PlayStation 4.

If this is new to you then I know what you’re thinking kids – because I’m sure I was one of the many that did the same thing.  you’re replaying a next-gen version of the Bahamut ZERO summon in your head, trying to picture what the Gold Saucer would even look like, creating mental images of Midgar and that awkward Wall Market scene with Beautiful Bro.

But then reality sets back in.  Yes, Final Fantasy VII will be available for the PS4.  No, it is not going to be awesome.  It will be the same as the one released in 1997 – a port of the PC version of the game to be available in the spring of 2015.

We all got trolled.  Again.  And this time they did it to our faces in front of a huge hall full of people, getting them super excited then taking out their knees.  Here’s some video from Kotaku’s Fahey showing the presentation.

Now those of you that know me know how I feel about remakes in general – a lot of times to me they’re a cheap cash-grab with no discernible advantage to the older version outside of convenience to pick up some additional revenue to a market they haven’t sold to yet.  And in the process, while throwing away creativity and the opportunity to do something new for the fans, they repackage our childhoods and try to sell it back to us.  It happens all the time.

So you may be curious then – why this article about this recent event is getting my attention given this opinion of mine I’ve just shared.

Here’s the thing.  I’m not mad the remake isn’t happening.

I’m mad at how things have played out over the last decade or so in general, especially with this game company on remakes.  It was easy to remake the titles from the NES and SNES era – there’s something like 5 versions of Final Fantasy IV running wild over a number of consoles among a few others.  They’re decades old games remade with PSX graphics.  VIII’s on Steam and I’m not sure who really cares about a IX remake – and these are two additional Final Fantasy titles also originally released on the first PlayStation.

(S-E remakes for Android devices also have an always-on requirement, which already irk my ire, so this on top of that really sticks in my craw.  But that’s another story for another day.)

But for VII, they give fans hope.  In addition to the original game, Square-Enix developed an entire universe around Midgar, with spinoff games and video titles like Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core, Last Order, and topping them all off with the feature length Advent Children in 2005.  But it didn’t stop there.  In 2006 to show off graphical capabilities they released a technical demo for the PS3 engine (watch it here, it’s wonderful).  This demo featured the intro to Final Fantasy VII redone using the PS3 engine.  It was glorious.  Midgar looked great, the train details down to the sparks on the tracks were sharp, what we saw of Aeris was lovely, and Cloud’s eventual entrance on the train platform was done with style.

AND THAT’S THE DIFFERENCE.

Square Enix showed us what one of the most revered games in modern history could look like, while having no intention of ever delivering.  We saw what could be, and the fact that they used that property for the demo sparked many rumors that a remake was in the works.  Since then, the game has been released in its original form on PSX, a 4-disc PC edition, a download on Steam, and playable on the PS3 through the PlayStation store.  Someone could have paid for 4 copies of the same game, with not much more than the addition of trophies and achievements added to their total gameplay experience.

Well I guess there is some sort of charm about huge pixels on TV’s sized like they are these days.

Still though.  Colossal who cares.

But we’ll never get delivery on the vision of the future Square-Enix had shown us with that demo.  They’ll continue to make money on every copy of this that was sold on multiple platforms from 1997 to today.  The game has still been wildly supported by its fanbase, some of who will buy every version of it out of loyalty and let’s be honest, to some extent mania.  Fans will keep assuming it’ll happen because Square-Enix keeps supporting the product and dropping hints unofficially while officially denying it.  For the same reason, Square-Enix will keep selling it.  And this dance will go on for a good long time.  And to think, this all would have never happened if only the PS3 was back-compatible.

Bottom line – if you’re waiting for a next-gen Final Fantasy VII remake, I wouldn’t hold my breath longer than a Knights of the Round summon.

PAX Prime Part 1: Intel and Square-Enix

Let me tell you, I was glad to get to Seattle a night early before the festivities of PAX 2013 started Friday morning.  After the flight from east coast to west it was weird (yes, weird) to see the Pacific Ocean on the weather map on the local news instead of the Atlantic hazing on the time difference but hey, I was there for PAX so it was cool.  The Penny Arcade Expo spanned the total volume of the Washington State Convention Center with exhibits, vendors and meeting rooms scattered not only throughout the place, but the nearby Sheraton for panels and another building across the street for BYOC gaming (yeah, that’s “bring your own computer”) and press.

Intel

The day picked up early – instead of taking advantage of media getting an hour early access to the floor, I opted to go across the street and check out Intel’s press event showing off some gaming laptops and mobile devices from partners that were packing Intel parts.  The Razer Blade we’ve already seen, but this was the first time I got to get my hands on its rival from MSI, the GS70.  The GS70 has all the bells and whistles of a gaming machine at 17″ – nVidia graphics, the latest i7 inside, 16GB memory and huge storage space – but weighs less than 6 pounds with its ultralight aluminum chassis.  Before i got to play with it i picked it up and kind of moved it around in the air (under the watchful eye of the Intel folks) and can tell you the weight’s no joke.  And they had it running Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, which looked all sorts of candy-like delicious.  The chips inside ran with Intel’s Iris graphics built in, which are reported to support 4K Ultra HD (on up to three screens) and much quicker video editing and processing than the 3rd generation i-core chips that came before.  I can’t really vouch for how well my eyes can tell that precisely, but they can tell that the screens looked pretty damn good.

They were also showing off their Next Unit of Computing (NUC) devices – tiny little boxes (as you can see from the image) that pack some power and seemed to have grown since I saw them at PAX East earlier this year.  Instead of Ivy Bridges, the guts of these units were running i3 and i5 Haswell core chips (with turbo) and Intel HD graphics 5000, which isn’t bad for starting at $400.  The outside featured network, USB 3.0, HDMI and DisplayPorts.  So what did they do after showing us the specs on these units?  We got to game on them.  There were a few stations there that were driven by a NUC stuck to the back of the monitor, that still provided a high-grade gaming experience that I would expect from a desktop build.  They mentioned that they were going to release a Pro edition, which we’ll keep an eye out for.  To be honest I’d consider using these in the enterprise too in pro mode. On a personal note, what was probably the nicest part of the Intel show had nothing to do with going over specs or gaming on their ultrabooks – it was the business card raffle from which I won an i7 4770K processor.  So guess what kids? It’s build time.

Square-Enix

S-E had a decent amount of stuff lined up for PAX goers – I didn’t check out all of them because there were a couple reruns from PAX East but there were still some things worth seeing.  First and foremost we know they’re big on remakes and remasters, so there’s no surprise thatKingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix, Final Fantasy X/X-2 Remaster and Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut all made appearances at their booth.  KH 1.5 and Deus Ex were reruns from PAX East, so I started by taking a look at the remasters of Final Fantasy X/X-2.  The gameplay graphics are definitely sharper and a cut above how they looked on the PS2, when back then they were amazing.  The CG cutscenes also looked pretty good, but not as much of an improvement from S-E’s PS2 edition of the game.  Otherwise, I heard mumblings of rumors that the remaster would be delayed from this year to next.  While it makes sense, I’m not going to say it’s true since I didn’t hear it straight from Square-Enix.

The other game I was glad to finally get my hands on was Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns.  Having played the first and second one through, the series kind of grew on me, and Lighting became one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters of all time.  I knew the gameplay on this one was going to be a little bit different than the previous games in the XIIIuniverse, and did like what I saw.  Lightning is a solo player (at least in the demo) and the overworld work that has to be done is more than just walking around and only being able to jump where there’s a flashy spot on the ground.  The demo featured a slice of the game where you have to chase Snow down, of course learning the mechanics of the game on the way.  Similar to paradigm shifts Lightning can switch between classes on the fly to unleash a broad range of attacks.  These classes each have a different orientation – in the case of this demo it was defense/life, attack power and magic.  It almost reminded me of the dress spheres in Final Fantasy X-2, just done a lot better in the combat style of the XIII universe.  Staggering your opponents changes a little bit, but the core concept is similar.  I for one enjoyed it, and as I am a glutton for completion, will definitely be picking it up to close out the trilogy.

They also showed some trailers for Thief, Final Fantasy XV and the Kingdom Hearts 1.5/2.5 HD Remixes in the theater section they had set up.  I’m going to link you the one for Final Fantasy XV.  It’s a rerun from E3, but boy is it delicious.

As for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, S-E seemed have a good (maybe?) problem, actually suffering downtime because they weren’t expecting as many western players as they have.  Director Naoki Yoshida admitted this freely, that he thought players would let others giveFFXIV:ARR  a try first before jumping in.  The server loads were supposedly spread out properly as of today, and more importantly to some, the restriction on YouTube playthroughs and videos has been lifted.  Other than that, new updates will bring more Primal fights, the Gold Saucer in-game (once they get three mini games to kick it off, woot!), and maybe some new jobs and classes.  On that as far as class mounts go for the hopeful, not much more information has been revealed  - but if you want a unicorn, roll a conjurer.

Stay tuned for the next segment tomorrow featuring my faves from the Indie Megabooth and a gameplay review of Dying Light.  Also later in this series will be the 2K roundup featuring X-COM and Borderlands 2, as well as my pick of the litter for the best of PAX 2013.

First Look - Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII was a little... well, different, than its predecessors in the Final Fantasy heritage.  They changed whatever was left of the classic formula from soup to nuts, from the overland battle encounters to the new ATB fight system, the whole stagger tactic, the Eidolon system and gestalt versus summons, bloopity blah, bloopity blergh, bloopity blooey.  The list goes on.  And as expected, most of that held into Final Fantasy XIII-2 starring Lightning's younger sister Serah.  But in Lightning Returns, the latest game in the XIII universe, Lightning takes a page from Vincent Valentine's book in Dirge of Cerberus and flies solo as the only playable character.  There are no parties of three or team paradigm shifts in the sense we're used to, just Lightning being a badass starring in a one woman show.  Seems a little strange for a Final Fantasy title, but if any of you unlocked her Army of One ability in FF XIII, then you should find it wholly believable.

... Even though you (well I) had her in Commando mode all game only to find out that this ultimate ability of hers is in her Ravager tree and then you have to switch up your parties and ALL your paradigms to re-align stuff with a crystarium points farm and...

Sorry.  Got kind of carried away there.  But while I'm on that point, come on guys. Come on.

At any rate, the video (which you can see here on IHOGeek's YouTube channel) and screens for Lightning Returns provided by Square-Enix show our heroine jumping from ledge to ledge and over/through obstacles to get around on the overworld map instead of just running around to the next checkpoint, more the way Dante or War would in Devil May Cry and Darksiders.  And that mechanic is both the reason I'm looking forward to it as well as the reason I fear for it.  I'll get into that in a bit.

Once in a battle Lightning seems to be freer in her movements and attacks in taking on enemies - able to issue commands and change up style on the fly.  So while there's still some of the elements of the XIII universe that we know and love left untouched, in battle mode it looks like menus and auto-attack has been replaced with assigned commands, with each of the four main buttons on a Xbox 360 pr PS3 controller mapped to something different.  An example from one of the fights in the trailer, the player has the four commands set as Light Slash, Heavy Slash, Evade and Blizzaga.  Each of these four commands look like they will change when Lightning changes paradigms - and from what we can see so far those are called Divinity, Enchanter and Cerberus corresponding to defensive, magic and physical styles.  Seems to me like that would provide a ton more options that a single character has, which is a direction that needs to be taken when she's the only one you've got.   An arsenal at the ready and tweakable skills look to make it so that players can make Lightning their own.

Now back to what I was saying before.  As I mentioned, the action/platformer element of this game is both the reason I want to play it and the reason I fear for it.  Square-Enix did the same kind of thing in their Final Fantasy VII universe - spinning off a different genre of a game with Dirge of Cerberus.  DoC featured Vincent Valentine in a first person shooter style game, and while it was fun, I felt like they didn't go all in with it, and it was enough of a departure from the lore to seem like an attempt to expand the franchise.  Now in that sense, Lightning Returns isn't in the same boat.  It's a legit part of the FF XIII continuity.  My hope is that these elements are added the right way, and act as an enhancement instead of simply another method of trying to keep the franchise fresh.  Either way, I'll be playing through Lightning's final journey for sure.

Oh, and by the way kids - the game will limit you to 13 days of play time to get it done.  Secret methods notwithstanding, finish in 312 hours or the world ends in chaos.  Have fun!