Marking the anniversary, the creators of the rap beef beat-em-up sequel share
memories of transforming Flavor Flav and Snoop Dogg into legendary video game
characters
‘I remember we visited Ghostface Killah [of the Wu-Tang Clan] and he was mad at
us!” recalls Daryl Anselmo, former EA employee and art director for 2004’s
landmark hip-hop-fused beat-em-up, Def Jam: Fight for NY. “Ghostface had a
four-pound solid gold eagle bracelet and he insisted his character’s finishing
move should be this bird coming to life and pecking out all the other rappers’
eyeballs. The limitations of the PlayStation 2 technology and our violence
restrictions meant we couldn’t pull it off. It was impossible.”
The game’s producer Josh Holmes interjects: “When Ghostface first asked me about
the eagle, Lauren [Wirtzer Seawood, another one of the game’s producers] told me
just to nod along and smile. When we saw him again in the studio for the sequel,
I apologised [for misleading him] and we quickly moved on to recording his
character’s expanded insults for the new game. I remember one was: ‘Go home and
cry to your momma. And, while you’re at it, tell her I’m hungry!’”
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Tag - Retro games
The collection comes from a mysterious (and fictional) 80s video game company
and includes puzzles and platformers, RPGs and category-defying hybrids, all in
8-bit splendour
When it comes to video games, one thing is universal: releasing one is tough.
But releasing 50? At once? That’s another boss level entirely. This is the
challenge for the team behind UFO 50. This much anticipated 8-bit anthology of
retro-styled games is finally due to release this September, seven years after
its announcement. With 50 games included, the wait is justified.
UFO 50 is a jumbo variety pack of complete video games, each with its own title,
genre and story. “They’re not minigames,” asserts developer Derek Yu and creator
of 2008 platformer Spelunky, named one of the greatest games ever made. “Every
game could exist as a full release on some 80s console or computer.”
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With a £34 mini computer and an emulator, gaming’s entire back catalogue opens
up to you to play. But there are important points to consider – not least
questions of legality
In the past, whenever I have written enthusiastically about a modern retro
console such as the Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES or the Analogue Duo, there have
been a smattering of comments below the article asking why people don’t just buy
a Raspberry Pi mini computer, download an emulator and play all the games they
like for virtually nothing. My answer has usually been ease of use and
accessibility. When you buy a mini console, you’re getting a plug-and-play
product without any complicated set-up or potential compatibility issues.
Simple.
But recently I bought a Raspberry Pi for an article on the beautiful PiDP-10
machine, so I thought I might as well check out its retro gaming credentials.
Here is what I found.
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The England player’s impromptu move took me back to the noughties, when PES 4-6
provided ‘the illusion of control in a sandbox of chaos’. It was the beautiful
video game
Football, like everything else important in life, is about stories. People
implant themselves into the narrative: where they were when they saw Maradona’s
handball, the strangers they hugged when Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored that
historic last-minute winner at the 1999 Champions League final. No doubt new
tales are already being conjured around Jude Bellingham’s scissor kick against
Slovakia in the dying seconds of Sunday’s Euro 24 match. Sport is a nostalgia
machine – and this is as true for video game simulations as it is for the real
thing. Every gamer has their favourite footie sim, but for me, and many other
players of my … ahem, vintage … it was Pro Evolution Soccer, numbers 3 to 6.
This was the early 2000s, the age of the PlayStation 2. I was a writer for hire
at Future Publishing, basically hanging out at its office in Bath, working
mostly on the Official PlayStation magazine. But every lunch time, all the
magazines would get together and play PES – especially during major tournaments,
where we’d organise our own versions. Fifa? Forget it. Konami had already proved
its ability with footie games through the excellent International Superstar
Soccer series on the Mega Drive, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, but the
introduction of PES in 2001 brought a new level of dynamism and detail. Pace was
fluid, player abilities were defined by 45 different stats, adding depth and
variety, controls were intuitive yet expansive. “These games felt like authentic
football,” says Ben Wilson who was editor of Official PlayStation at the time.
“There was genuine joy to be had in grinding out a 1-0 win. Modern football
games have as much in common with basketball as football – you shoot, I shoot,
you shoot, I shoot, final score 6-4.”
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