A Homebrew Draws Near!
A blog series by @Scrobins
Episode 51: Crater Song
Introduction:
Usually when we think of hybrid games, we imagine a game whose overall gameplay blends elements from multiple games. However some classics such as The Guardian Legend feature multiple types of gameplay as a way to weave the story together and elevate the game as a whole. Has anyone attempted both? A game that alternates styles of gameplay, at least one of which is itself a blend of g
I have a new comic strip coming out January 1. I took a break during the holidays because I was having trouble thinking of stuff to make comics about. So after thinking a lot, I decided to make a comic about cats. It's basically Marmaduke, but about a cat.
It took ten days to make 6 comics. I don't know what's wrong with me. Well, actually I do. I worked on a game and got angry at it and it made my eye hurt.
Apple. The lesser-known Tangerine (makers of the Oric). And now, allow me to introduce Banana.
But it isn't all that new. My Pokemon Mini game I was working on has a "banana" software screen as well. This is in my Game Gear game Flying Hamburgers. It used to be "Idiotic Games." Until I realized that a banana would lend itself more to color, one of the Game Gear's strengths. So I changed it to banana. And with that, I think I won't make any more changes, so consider "Flying Hamburgers"
Introduction
This is something I remember from 2003 or 2004: Enter the name of a video game character (.com) in the Address Bar, and see where it takes you.
At the time, the results were unexpected and had nothing to do with video games or characters. Here is a list of some of the sites I remember, as well as some I found out about more recently.
Websites With The Same Names As Video Game Characters
Mappy
"Mappy" is the name of the mouse character from Na
Well, it took longer than expected (because I forgot about the project), but I finished The Wasp Woman. Now it's compiling. During my bout with insomnia (it won) I noticed this and it had about a half-hour left. So I just did the whole remaining half-hour in one sitting.
I don't know why but I keep feeling sleepy and when I go lay down I can't get to sleep. It's about 4:30a.m. here. I tried to sleep at midnight, but then I was hungry for M&Ms and then one thing led to another and sudden
This is an experiment to see whether I could make a new Game Gear game from scratch. it had been a long time since I started making Flying Hamburgers so I didn't know what code I needed and what code I didn't. As it turns out, just displaying my picture took about 277 lines of code. Seems like a lot? That's what I thought. I could lessen the code by making it a 32k game, but I thought I'd go the whole way and make it a 128k game for now. I doubt I'll be using 8 banks' worth of space, and 6 banks
A Homebrew Draws Near!
A blog series by @Scrobins
Episode 50: Jingles Defense
Introduction:
I didn’t used to like puzzle games as a kid. They felt like homework when all I wanted to do was jump into an escapist adventure so my imagination could take over. This is an even lamer excuse when you learn that I loved playing the Carmen Sandiego, Math Blaster, and Number Munchers games when I was very little. But over time a sort of competitive curiosity crept into my brain. W
I've taken a little "holiday" break from my webcomic. I thought it wasn't very good anyway. All it was was stupid puns. So I decided to make a comic about a cat called "Cat." It's about a guy and his cat. He was too lazy to name it, so he just calls it "cat." I call my cat "cat," but it has a name. Here is the first comic for when I return on January 1.
It's like Marmaduke, except it's a cat. So it's like Garfield, only it's one panel, and with crappy drawings. I have five more of the
Genre: Arcade
Publisher: Nintendo
Total time played: 15 minutes
Short review: Stanley the Gardner must stop Donkey Kong from terrorizing his greenhouse over 3 “exciting” levels.
Interesting links related to Donkey Kong 3
NES Manual
Mike and Bootsy Play Donkey Kong 3
Soundtrack
That Was Fast
After spending 20 months trying to beat Battletoads I was able to knock out Donkey Kong 3 in under 20 minutes! The game is short and to the point and only has 3 d
Introduction
It's been five years since I joined Video Game Sage on November 19, 2019. This Blog focuses on where I was before I joined and what I've been doing here, such as posting Blogs that took several weeks or even months to make.
The Forums I've Been On Before VGS
GameWinners
GameWinners was the first place I joined in 2000. I stayed there until 2002 or so, then moved on to other sites. It was a typical forum site that also featured a section with
Genre: Action
Publisher: Tradewest
Total time played: 75 hours
Short review: A masterclass in early video game development featuring multiple styles over its 12 levels. But, it is mostly known for being brutally difficult.
Interesting links related to
Soundtrack
Manual
Walkthrough (You Can Beat Video Games)
Walkthrough (BadLuckBootsy)
Review (Angry Video Game Nerd)
Game Genie Codes
I’m Back!!
It has been well over a year since I last bea
So I figured out how to make my 5200 not emit sparks when I plug it in. The trick is the "standby/normal" switch on the Switchbox. Flip it to "standby" when you are plugging wires into it and back to "normal" to begin play. I'd like to program a 5200 but I have no idea how to. I know some assembly from other projects with other consoles.
But back to Game Boy. I tried a ton of times to get the "correct" yellow shade for an old sheet of paper.
I think I'll stick with this because I
I've been working on Frank the Fruit Fly 2 for the Super Game Boy. You can still play it on a regular Game Boy but it'd be better if you played it on a Super Game Boy. I've been busy putting in stuff for the Super Game Boy, like custom colors and a border. Here are a few screenshots of the Super Game Boy mode in action.
I have been trying to find my Virtual Boy to SNES a/c adapter converter but I can't find it anywhere. I know I had one, but I just don't know where it is. I have t
A Homebrew Draws Near!
A blog series by @Scrobins
Episode 49: Former Dawn
Introduction:
Many homebrew developers and fans survey the games released for their favorite old consoles and consider the quality & skill relative to the releases of the licensed era. A common question is when (if they haven’t already) will new releases reach or exceed the point where well-staffed, well-trained, well-funded companies left off? When will we get “there?” Some conceptions of “th
Do not eat a Pokémon Mini. I'm back working on coding for Pokémon Mini, more specifically Yum! I hope to fit in in 64k so I don't have to bankswitch...yet...make it seem like a bigger game than it actually is.
Yum is a lot like the Atari 2600 game "Fast Food," where the player takes the form of a giant mouth eating stuff. Now it's just white pickles to avoid and black w&w's (candy) to eat. Yum is going to have different levels with different backgrounds and different background mu
Listen to the episode here, or wherever you get podcasts!
After a long, unscheduled break, the Game Club grabs their gardening hats and Birkenstocks to take on Kudzu, a top-down adventure game set among the vines. Also: Should Nick get another Switch? Or a Steam Deck? A short discussion with an obvious conclusion.
Still need to play the game? Find links to the demo, digital, and physical versions here.
For more about Chris Totten and his work, check out his website.
And you c
Here's an update. The progress is going good. Terribly difficult at times to get the scanline count just right, but other than that fine.
Decided the game would be monotonous if it was just the ant climbing pineapples and nothing else, so I've decided to work on a different part of the game.
I have just begun work on this second part of the game. In it some blueberries will roll past Bob the ant and he'll have to dodge them.
Despite the game having two parts, I think I
I've begun working on a new Atari 2600 game. Here is a screenshot. Please note that the look of the game can (and probably will) change.
It's about Bob the ant crawling up pineapples. It's called "Up the Pineapples."
I've had a time trying to think up a new intro for my game and putting it in each Atari 2600 game I do from now on.
It even plays a short tune while the colors scroll.
Tomorrow I will work on logic for what happens if Bob climbs to the top. I want the
Introduction
I can still remember when Luigi's Mansion was first shown twenty four years ago in 2000, along with the GameCube. It was shown at the Spaceworld 2000 event held in Japan. Nintendo's American website had a banner featuring the GameCube, and a GameCube section with coverage of Spaceworld 2000.
I played Luigi's Mansion for the first time, briefly, at a Zeller's store in December 2001. They, like many other stores, had a GameCube Kiosk which I got to play for a f
A Homebrew Draws Near!
A blog series by @Scrobins
Episode 48: Steel Legion
Introduction:
As homebrew continues to grow, reaching out for modern gaming tastes with its feet firmly planted in retro technology, the bar is raised repeatedly. And in so doing, we mark meaningful benchmarks in the community’s growth which reflect the talent and creativity of developers, while also addressing what players have wanted from some of their homebrew games. With the explosion of the
What initially brought you to NA/VGS?
I was a victim of the 2012 “retro-gaming” fad, but for me the hobby never lost its luster. I kept hearing “NintendoAge” mentioned on YouTube videos, and I started lurking there around 2015, meticulously reading through years and years of forum discussions. Finally I decided to sign up and contribute to the conversation myself … exactly as GoCollect entered the scene and obliterated the site.
Luckily, enough people were flagging VGS as a haven for Nint
I bought something on eBay. When it said to check out, it said it was going to use PayPal. Well, that was wrong. It used my bank account instead of using PayPal. Why would it do that? It's not fair and it's stupid. So I guess EVERYTHING I buy on eBay from now on is charged to my bank account instead of PayPal? It shouldn't be that way! Especially if it says it's using my PayPal balance to pay for it. Why lie?
Anyway, I went back and discovered there were some things wrong with my game, so I
A Homebrew Draws Near!
A blog series by @Scrobins
Episode 47: Changeable Guardian Estique
Introduction:
Much as homebrew games stretch the possibilities of old consoles, so too does the term “homebrew” become stretched as over time a wider variety of people enter the community, and it no longer looks like the collective of hobbyist tinkerers it once did. The entrance of developers with solid programming backgrounds that predate their work in this space, such as Matt Hug
