Hi all, this one took a bit longer to put together than I intended because, well, Holy Diver is hard. Crazy hard. I made multiple attempts to capture footage and never made it past stage two. I had heard talk about its difficulty level, and for once those weren't exaggerated in the least...
Anyway, unlike most Gaiden topics, you can buy this game right now—it comes out this week, apparently.
2018-08-28 18:32:51 +0000 UTC View Post
A change of pace this week — I'm going to step away from the standard chronology cycle for a little while in favor of focusing on some side content. Look forward to videos on NEW game releases through the end of September, along with some patron requests. I'll get back to the regular Super NES Works schedule in due time; the next four games on that schedule, are sports titles, soooo I need to brace up for those.
My original plan was to power through Super NES Works in order to get the first ...
2018-08-16 17:06:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey, how about that. I'm more or less back on my intended routine.
I have to say, after putting together three consecutive 15-minute-plus Final Fantasy II videos, these past couple of projects have felt like a breeze.
Also, Darius Twin is pretty good! Simple but effective.
2018-08-08 15:56:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Well... I survived.
2018-08-06 23:25:41 +0000 UTC View Post
It feels good to get this one done! Sorry it ran late this week. I'm planning to devote the whole of my Friday to capturing footage for the next few Super NES Works entries, with an ultimate goal of having all 1991 material captured by the end of August. We'll, uh, see. Anyway, here's Final Fantasy II, part 3.
2018-08-01 21:18:55 +0000 UTC View PostWell, it finally happened. After several years of hitting a consistent weekly schedule of public video posts on Wednesdays preceded by Patreon posts in advance of that by 24-72 hours, I've hit my mortal limits and have bitten off more than I can chew. 50 minutes of Final Fantasy II analysis over three weeks in addition to everything else I have going on (podcasts, travel, book production, trying not to neglect my spouse) has broken me. So, just as a heads-up, this week's video won't be ...
2018-07-31 15:44:14 +0000 UTC View PostLadies and gentlemen, for your delectation: Game Boy Works Vol. II, in PDF form. Thank you all for your support in making this publication possible!
Print backers, I'm submitting this (and Vol. I) for printing this week.
Sadly, this file is about 450% too large for Patreon uploads to handle, soooo you'll have to accept the following Dropbox link:
It's more Final Fantasy II! And it's once again barely in under the wire. Next episode hopefully won't be quite as long as this, and it definitely won't be made while I'm traveling. So it should be up a bit more, uh, punctiliously. And then, once that's done, I can talk about games that aren't Final Fantasy II again.
2018-07-25 02:34:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Whew, this one almost didn't make it out on the public schedule. Sorry it's showing up here so late.
I'll be producing at least one more video on FF2/4 (probably two pieces), and now that I've captured all of the game outside of the final dungeon, it should be a LOT less painful.
2018-07-18 00:43:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Soooo... it turns out I overlooked the track editor mode in R.P.M. Racing (which, in my defense, is in kind of a weird place full of menus so incredibly ugly and hard to read that my poor eyes to slid right past it). I went back and checked out the editor and amended the video to address that oversight.
2018-07-10 15:01:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Kind of a weird game this week. R.P.M. Racing is not very good, but it certainly has a lot of interesting talking points. Sadly, one of them doesn't play well with YouTube's compression algorithm—this is the only known Super NES release to run entirely in the console's high-resolution mode (512x448 vs. the standard 256x224), but it trades color depth for resolution. So all those fine dithered graphics look terrible in motion. Ah well.
The remainder of the month is pretty mu...
2018-07-07 21:14:59 +0000 UTC View Post
My apologies to everyone who knows the first thing about football, because I don't. Still, I tried to make a go of it.
The next episode should get back onto the usual production schedule!
2018-07-03 02:19:37 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey folks, sorry to follow up that wild Paperboy 2 episode with something so much less ambitious, but last week was really hectic for me (between a sudden Kickstarter launch and a major household disaster). I wasn't sure I was going to be able to produce any video at all this week. But here we are, coming in right under the wire — a remastered version of Game Boy Works/World #5: Tennis<...
2018-06-26 17:48:18 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm so, so sorry about this one.
2018-06-17 20:56:05 +0000 UTC View Post
This episode wraps it up for Game Boy Works Vol. II! Expect the book (and the hardcover of Vol. I) in a few months, if you back this campaign at the book level.
I wish there had been a more exciting game to wrap this phase of the series on, but I guess there's something fitting about going on a slightly deflated note. This is Game Boy, after all. Home to lots of interesting ideas and lots of lackluster execution…
New and different things are in the wings! But first, some patron request...
2018-06-10 01:16:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Just one more entry to go before we shift focus from Game Boy for a while, and this penultimate video is… a little bit of a letdown. If you enjoy A Boy and His Blob, you'll surely, um… experience a mild sense of tolerance for The Rescue of Princess Blobette.
2018-06-02 00:15:35 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm back from my travels, and back in [Game Boy Works] action.
Leading off my return engagement here we have a pretty huge episode — not necessarily in terms of length, but certainly in terms of legwork. This look at F-1 Race and the Four-Player Adapter brings together a lot of threads that I've been pursuing over the past few months (as you'll see from some of the video and photo inclusions here).
While the 4PA ended up not being that big a deal in the gr...
2018-05-28 20:21:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Again, going a wee smidge out of chronological order here. But I did manage to chat briefly with someone who helped create Game Boy last weekend, and he gave me the info I needed for the F-1 Race episode. So I think it was worth it!
In the meantime, here be Pac-Man. Arrr.
2018-05-18 00:04:01 +0000 UTC View Post
So there's this.
Unfortunately, the one truly notable element of this game won't be addressed for a few episodes — I had to take this series slightly out of chronological order due to my travel schedule, which means a break in continuity. The first third party title compatible with the 4-Player Adapter appears before the adapter itself! Oh no!
(If you're wondering why I pushed the 4PA breakdown back a few episodes, it's because I'm meeting with Dylan Cuthbert this week and am hoping to...
2018-05-10 00:26:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey folks, thanks for bearing with me as I made it through a very challenging April. I survived, barely, and now I'm back on my usual production schedule. Thankfully, this week we have a pretty interesting game whose unusual premise and complex level designs more or less make up for its frustrating technical shortcomings: A puzzle-shooter-platformer hybrid called After Burst. It's weird, but in a nifty kind of way.
2018-05-04 01:27:53 +0000 UTC View PostJust as a quick video status update, now that the last of my advance-assembly videos has hit the public YouTube feed. I have three games' worth of footage captured, and two of three scripts written. Not only will Game Boy Works not be interrupted while I travel during most of the month of May, this volume of GBW will be coming to a close in June, after which I'm going to tackle patron requests before moving along to finish up Super NES Works 1991. After that, my hope is to jump on Virtual Boy Wo...
2018-05-02 18:12:26 +0000 UTC View PostLast update I said it would be a while before my next post, and I’m a man of my word. Just wanted to give you folks a small update. I’m going to be out of town for most of May, which means that in order to maintain a regular production schedule while I’m away from my recording gear, I need to concentrate on recording and writing three weeks' worth of footage and scripts to take on the road with me. I could put together the next episode today, but I’m going to focus instead on getting mat...
2018-04-29 15:16:30 +0000 UTC View Post
Yes, that's right… two videos in one day. The downside? It's going to be at least two weeks before I can put together the next one. Just wanted to get this one in the bag before my schedule goes insane. See you on the other side, brother. (And/or sister.)
2018-04-12 22:25:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Yeah, I'm working a couple of weeks ahead on this one — April and May are going to be insane for me, as I've landed some very exciting side projects that sadly will eat up a ton of time (and that even more sadly I am unable to talk about, d'oh!). So I'm trying to get as many Game Boy Works episodes out the door as possible before my planet implodes into a singularity of stress.
Anyway, here's Radar Mission, another pleasantly good Game Boy title. Although I kiiiinda feel like ...
2018-04-12 14:57:02 +0000 UTC View Post
A refreshing antidote to last week's very terrible racing game! This one is, instead, very good.
Sorry about the muffled audio on this one. I've been experimenting with a different recording setup, and the audio conversion needs some fine-tuning. Sorry, Roadster.
2018-04-10 21:26:05 +0000 UTC View Post
After months of revisions and additions, the next Video Works companion book has arrived! And it is… a reissue. Sort of.
Game Boy Works Vol. I encompasses almost all of the content of Game Boy World 1989 and Game Boy World 1990 Pt. 1, so you may have read most of this material already. However, this book has been greatly improved over the older versions. The printed editio...
2018-04-02 18:03:23 +0000 UTC View Post
How's that for a quick turnaround? Not that I had a lot to say about this game.
If anyone out there has a clue about how to get past the third race here, please let me know. I honestly spent more time trying to find ANY information about this game and how it plays (in any language) than I did editing the video. I find myself baffled once again…
2018-03-29 20:26:17 +0000 UTC View Post
This is one of the good ones! And that means the video was a treat to put together. Enjoy…
2018-03-29 12:10:59 +0000 UTC View Post
This one got a little gummed up by travel — I didn't get to edit it until yesterday, and I was at an airport once I did and couldn't upload (SFO is the tech capital of the earth, so naturally its airport's public wifi hasn't worked for years). Next episode will be (1) along in a more timely fashion and (2) a lot more fun!
2018-03-27 11:58:13 +0000 UTC View Post