Taito + Fez = Asterism?

OK, so I have no idea if the folks at Neutronized were at all inspired by Taito's highly recognizable style (see games like Bubble Bobble, Mizubaku Daibouken and The New Zealand Story) when they began working on Asterism's visuals, but it sure seems like that may have been the case.

At any rate, the game in question, which will be released for iOS at some future point in time, looks gorgeous.

Of course, that shouldn't be all that surprising to those of you who've experienced another Neutronized-made effort--the decidedly Parasol Stars-ish Drop Wizard, which hit the App Store earlier this year.



Unlike that earlier Neutronized product, however, Asterism seems like less of a Bubble Bobble clone than it does a Fez clone.

I've been assured there's more to Asterism than that, though. In fact, my contact at Neutronized suggests the game is "a sort of Metroidvania" that sees its protagonist regularly teleporting into parallel dimensions.

As if that didn't sound good enough, here's how the company's press department is promoting this intriguing upcoming release: "a game about stars, exploration and love."

With all of that said, who else is now chomping at the bit to add Asterism to the slew of apps on their iPads or iPhones?

In case you haven't heard elsewhere: I'm now on Instagram!

The very first thing I did after setting up my newly acquired iPhone a week or so ago was download as many games and apps as the wireless router in our basement could handle.

And given my love of photography, one of the first apps I nabbed was Instagram.

Should you be the sort of person who likes to follow others on social media, and should you specifically be the sort of person who wants to follow someone like me on Instagram, you can do so by punching my handle, rainbow_blight, into whichever smartphone you tend to choose.

You'll be seeing more of this sucker in tomorrow's post.

Or, if you don't have an Instagram-able smartphone, you can view my photostream (or whatever verbiage Instragram uses here) by aiming your browser to instagram.com/rainbow_blight.

I've only uploaded three photos so far, one of which is seen above, but more will be added in the coming days, weeks, months and (hopefully) years, I can assure you.

On a related note, I'm also on all sorts of other social media sites these days, including Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, so check them out if any of them are your kind of thing.

Please share your iOS game and app suggestions and recommendations here

In news that is sure to thrill my pal Simon, the oh-so-British proprietor of the Red Parsley blog, I recently bought my first smartphone.

Specifically, I got an iPhone.

Which means, of course, that I'm in the market for a whole bunch of iOS games and apps.



Have any of you played any iOS games or used any iOS apps that you think I should experience as soon as possible? If so, I'd really appreciate it if you'd name them--and tell me why you like them, if you're willing--in the comments section below.

Just so you know, I've already purchased the following: Drop Wizard, rainblocks and Sunburn!

I spent a few minutes with both Drop Wizard and rainblocks over the weekend, and I found the former game, especially, to be a lot of fun. (I also liked the latter, but I'm not sure it's something I'll return to all that often.)

And the winners of The Gay Gamer Giveaway™ (Drop Wizard Edition) are ...

Congratulations to the following trio for winning the Drop Wizard (iOS) codes the folks at Neuronized so kindly sent my way a week or so go:

* Rui
* Nightmare Bruce
* Justin Difazzio

Jeremy and Justin: I'll send your codes to you through Twitter and Facebook, respectively.

As for you, Rui, drop me an e-mail (bochalla at yahoo dot com) at your earliest convenience so I can get a code out to you, too.

Other than that, I'd just like to thank, once again, whoever mans the Neutronized Twitter account for being so kind as to offer up these codes.

The Gay Gamer Giveaway™: Drop Wizard Edition

Late last week, the folks at Neuronized offered me a free code for their just-released (on Jan. 8) single-screen platformer, Drop Wizard. (A game I previously discussed in this post.)

I had to turn them down, though, because I currently don't own any sort of iOS-enabled device. (At the moment, Drop Wizard is playable only on iPhones and iPads.)

Knowing that at least a few of you lovely people must own such gadgets, I quickly followed up that denial with a suggestion that I could pass along the code--as well as a couple of others, perhaps--to some of my blog's readers.



They liked the idea, so today I'm offering up three free codes for the company's lovely looking game (see trailer above), which apparently features more than 60 levels of Bubble Bobble-ish goodness.

Speaking of that Taito-made classic, if you'd like to nab one of these Drop Wizard codes, leave a comment below between now and 8 am Pacific time on Saturday morning that includes the name of your all-time favorite Bubble Bobble clone. (I'll announce the winners in a separate post later that same weekend.)

In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed in the hope that the powers that be at Neuronized eventually decide to bring this game to the Nintendo eShops, the PlayStation Store and Steam.

I'm always up for a Kotaro Yoshida-made game

Unfortunately, I don't own a device capable of playing the game in question, called PiyoPiyo Quest.

Those of you who actually own an iOS device or three and enjoy a good puzzler, though, should hunt it down and give it a go.

After all, it was made by Kotaro Yoshida, the same man who gave the world Half-Minute Hero, it features some lovely sprite work and it looks to play a bit like that other mobile puzzler all the kids seem to be talking about these days, Puzzle & Dragons.

Here's a brief PiyoPiyo Quest primer from NeoGAF user Goli, for all who are interested:

"You fight monsters by touching the different panels you can see above.

"The sword panels make Crest [the game's protagonist] attack with his sword, the fire ones make Crest cast magic, the leaf ones make Crest recover HP and the gold ones give you money, which you can use later to temper Crest's equipment and deal more physical/magical damage or increase his defense.

"The more panels you group together the better their effects. For example, if you group four sword panels, Crest will attack four times and so on."

Go here to read more of Goli's impressions.

Should any of you pick up PiyoPiyo Quest anytime soon, would you please share your impressions of it in the comments section below?

I'm not feelin' the Final Fantasy V remake that'll soon be released for smartphones and tablets

Warning: this may wind up being one of those cranky, "get off my lawn!" kind of posts, so you may want to come back later in the day (when I'll publish another post) if that sort of thing bothers you.

For the rest of you: a few days ago, the folks at Square Enix finally pulled back the proverbial curtain on the iOS (and, eventually, Android) remake of Final Fantasy V that they announced late last year.

Specifically, they released a number of screenshots of this re-imagining, one of which can be seen below.



Sadly, it seems Square Enix's designers once again are employing the rather generic art style they used while developing the Final Fantasy I, II and IV remakes that were released for the PSP over the last few years.

That's not to suggest I hate everything about the screenshot seen above (or the one below, or the others that can be viewed here). In fact, I love that the people behind this version have decided to add character portraits to the game's dialogue scenes. Also, I have to admit that the menus in this release look quite a bit better than those found in, say, last year's Final Fantasy Dimensions.

Oh, and for some strange reason I'm finding myself oddly attracted to the Lenna-as-White-Mage sprite included in the screen below.



Other than that, though, I'm feeling pretty let down by this particular remake, which will hit the Japanese App Store on March 28 for 1,800 yen (about $19--it'll hit the equivalent Android shop sometime this summer). The character sprites--Bartz/Butz, especially--make me want to yawn, while the enemies and backdrops appear to have been pulled right out of this title's GameBoy Advance counterpart.

Of course, you're looking at a guy who'd rather play the original Super Famicom version of Final Fantasy V than any gussied-up remake--unless said remake was made for the 3DS using the Bravely Default engine (ahem)--so maybe you should take my grumblings with a grain of salt.

That's just my opinion on the matter, though. What do all of you think?

I kind of hate to admit that I'm a bit curious about Final Fantasy: All The Bravest

So, what would you like to hear first--the good news, or the bad?

I think we should start with the good, which is that the folks at Square Enix just announced and released--yes, all in the same day--a new, sprite-based Final Fantasy game.

As for the bad news, well, the aforementioned title--known as Final Fantasy: All The Bravest--doesn't seem to be a "real" RPG, despite the fact that it's being described as a "pick-up-and-go RPG with massive battles."

Oh, and it's an iOS-only affair at the moment, which is a bummer for those of us who prefer to do the bulk of our gaming on dedicated handhelds and consoles.



Still, I'm curious about it. It helps, of course, that the sprites used in Final Fantasy: All The Bravest look to have been pulled from, or at least inspired by, the vaunted series' 16-bit releases.

Also, the battles look pretty crazy--although I'm feeling a bit flummoxed as to why some of the enemies (like the Goblin and Nutkins shown at the beginning) in the trailer above now seem to have sky-high HP.

Since I don't currently own a device capable of playing Final Fantasy: All The Bravest, I'd greatly appreciate it if any of you who wind up buying it would share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Nintendo's investors are idiots

I'm guessing you've heard by now that various analysts, experts and even investors are calling on Nintendo to make games for Facebook as well as for smartphones (Apple's iPhone, in particular). If not, you may want to read the article, "Mario Pressured to Jump to IPhone as Nintendo Wii, 3DS Slump," which caused quite a ruckus after it was published on bloomberg.com yesterday.

Personally, I can't think of anything worse--for investors or gamers--than Nintendo abandoning its heretofore-properous hardware business in favor of producing cheap Facebook and iPad/iPhone games. For instance, I'm not sure how the company would make more money by selling, say, an iPhone version of Super Mario Bros. for $.99 or even $5 a copy than it could by selling a Wii U version of Super Mario Bros. for $50 a copy.

I could see Nintendo having similar financial problems if it only took part of the above-mentioned investors' advice and made Facebook and/or iPhone games while also making 3DS and Wii U games. After all, surely a $.99 Super Mario Bros. game made for iPhone would negatively impact the sales of a similar Super Mario Bros. game made for Wii U, especially since the latter would sell for many times the price of the former?

Would you like to see any of these characters star 

in his or her own Facebook or iPhone game?

The only way I could see Nintendo benefitting from such a move would be if it produced and published only new IPs, or if it produced and published a mixture of new IPs and simplistic spin-offs of its existing IPs, for Facebook and/or smartphones.

That's just my opinion, of course--and I didn't exactly graduate with a degree in business or economics. Anyway, what do all of you think about these cries for Nintendo to enter the Facebook and smartphone spaces? Should the company follow that advice, or ignore it?

Is the WonderSwan remake of Final Fantasy III finally going to be released?

Sadly, the most likely answer to that question is "no."

For those of you who've never heard of the WonderSwan remake of Final Fantasy III, here's the deal: Shortly after the folks at Bandai unveiled the WonderSwan Color in 2000, the folks at Square announced they were prepping enhanced remakes of the first four Final Fantasy games for the system.

Although the first two Final Fantasy remakes were released within a year of that announcement, and the fourth was released in early 2002, the third never followed in their footsteps. (The remakes of the first two games, by the way, served as the blueprint for Final Fantasy Origins and Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls, which were released for the PlayStation and GameBoy Advance in 2003 and 2004, respectively.)

As far as I can tell, this is the only screenshot that exists of the 

aborted WonderSwan Color remake of Final Fantasy III.

Why is that ill-fated Final Fantasy III remake once again a topic of interest? Well, late last week a number of gaming sites revealed that the game will soon be released for the iPhone.

The question is, will it be a straightforward port of the Famicom version of the game, a reworked port of the aborted WonderSwan Color version, an iPhone-friendly port of the DS version or something altogether different (such as an enhanced, two-dimensional remake a la the PSP versions of Final Fantasy I, II and IV)?

I don't know about you, but I'm guessing the third option mentioned above is the most likely, with the last coming in a close second.

Yet another reason to be envious of iPhone owners

iPad (I think), iPhone and iPod Touch owners the world over gained access to what seems to be a great new app yesterday: Hudson's PC Engine Game Box (aka TurboGrafx Game Box in the States).



This free app, which comes with a copy of World Sports Competition, serves as a portal for PC Engine games, a number of which--Bonk's Adventure, Bomberman '94, Dungeon Explorer, Military Madness and Ninja Spirit among them--could/should be considered classics.

Each title costs $2.99, although a daily "featured game" can be sampled, free of charge, for three minutes.

(Via 1up.com and andriasang.com)

Trism 1.51 (aka Trism HD): Coming soon to an iPad/iPhone 4 near you

How many hairs been pulled from the heads of gamers since Steve Demeter's iPhone/iPod Touch puzzler, Trism, hit the App Store three years ago? I have no idea, but if I had to guess I'd say it's in the millions if not trillions.

That number is sure to increase once Trism 1.51 (aka Trism HD) is released. After all, the update will allow iPad and iPhone 4 users to get in on the Trism action.

No word on when Trism 1.51--or the announced-some-time-ago Trism 2--will hit the App Store, though Demeter assures both are on their way in his latest blog post.

What do you think the chances are that I'll get an iPad, iPod Touch or an iPhone before that happens? Yeah, I don't think they're very good either.

See also: 'The man behind the Americanization of Mother 3's Magypsies' and 'The Advocate: Apple's Gay Poster Boy'

Once again I wish I owned an iPhone

Full disclosure: My husband and I will be two of the last people in the modern world to own a cellphone. Or, at least, that's how it sometimes feels.

We have our reasons for living cellphone-free, of course, but I won't bore you by listing them here.

Anyway, all that said, I want a cellphone. In particular, I want an iPhone. Not just so I can call (and be called by) family and friends whenever and wherever, but so I can buy and play games like Doodle Jump, Trism and Tumbledrop.

Oh, and Magnetic Shaving Derby.



This Nyarlu Labs-developed title, which began life as a DS homebrew release (here's a video of it), calls on players to pull (and sometimes push) a razor blade across a crudely realized face using an old-fashioned horseshoe magnet.

By the way, the game's delightfully effervescent soundtrack can be downloaded (free-of-charge) here.

(Via tinycartridge.com)

Remember when I said Square Enix was planning to port Final Fantasy to the iPhone?

Well, the port has hit the U.S. App Store--at the rather attractive price of $8.99. (Attractive compared to the $19.99 price tag attached to the nearly identical PSP version of the game, at least.)

Anyway, here's a video of someone playing said port:



An iPhone port of Final Fantasy II--aka "the Final Fantasy even the biggest Final Fantasy fanboys should ignore"--is available, too, and also costs $8.99.

I'd probably pick up part one if I had an iPhone or an iPod touch. As it is, I'll probably pick it up for the PSP--if I can find it somewhere for $9.99 or less.

See also: 'You don't say: Square Enix is going to release Final Fantasy I and II *again*'

iPhone game Valet Hustle is more than just 'Tetris meets Diner Dash'

How so? Well, for starters, both of the title's main characters, Akira and Ren, are gay.

According to GameSetWatch, Akira and Ren "were expelled from boarding school after they were caught kissing another student of the same sex. Upon hearing the news, their respective fathers order them to take over the family's parking valet company."

There's more: As players progress through the game's six levels (three of which take place in New York City and three of which take place in Tokyo), they learn more about the protagonists' personal lives.

Sorry, this is the only gay-ish screenshot I could find of this game.

Andrew Littlefield, CEO of Valet Hustle's publisher, Factory Games, recently told mobile-ent.biz that the title's gay content was intended from the start to be more than just a source of titillation.

"We set out to not only create a game that is an absolute blast to play with incredible visuals and top notch audio," he said, "but we also wanted to make a social statement that gays and lesbians should have the same marital rights as heterosexuals."

Watch: Valet Hustle "sizzle reel"

I'd totally buy this game (Tumbledrop) if I owned a cell phone

Yep, you read that right: I don't own a cell phone.

Obviously, I'm no Luddite--so what's the deal? Well, it all comes down to the fact that I need a landline in order to bring home the bacon. (Actually, it's probably more accurate to say I bring home the Bac-O-Bits, as I'm hardly rakin' in the dough as a freelance writer.) Oh, and I'm too cheap to own both--so for the time being I'm a landline-only kinda guy.

Anyway, if I had a cell phone, it'd probably be an iPhone. And if I had an iPhone, I'd definitely buy Tumbledop, a cute-as-all-get-out puzzle game that hit the App Store late last week.

Here's a video of the title, which was made by Hayden Scott-Baron, and here's a screenshot of it:

Thankfully, Tumbledrop is playable on a PC, too. (Check it out here if you're cell-less like me.) That said, I'd still rather play it on an iPhone (or iPod touch).

I must have missed the 'Noby Noby Boy is coming to the iPhone' announcement

Another thing I missed: It'll be a completely different beast than its PS3 counterpart. At least, I think that's the case after watching the following WTF-ish teaser trailer.



Two additional videos that show off unique aspects of the iPhone/iPod touch title can be found here and here. I'd describe them to you but, honestly, I have no idea what's happening in any of them.

See also: 'Next up: Saturn!'

(Via tinycartridge.com)

Trism 2: Coming soon to an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad near you

Steve Demeter, the gay game developer who made headlines around the world following the release (and runaway success) of his first iPhone offering, Trism, recently announced that a sequel will soon be made available for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Unfortunately, that was the extent of his announcement--well, other than the following teaser trailer:



Keep an eye on the Demiforce site and/or Demeter's blog for more information on this much-anticipated title.

See also: 'Steve Demeter: The man behind the Americanization of Mother 3's Magypsies' and 'The Advocate: Apple's Gay Poster Boy'

You don't say: Square Enix is going to release Final Fantasy I and II *again*

I wish I could say I was surprised when I read that Square-Enix will soon release iPhone/iPod Touch ports of the first two games in the Final Fantasy series.

My actual reaction: "Huh. I thought they'd already been released on every possible platform?"

Anyway, in case you've never played the NES, MSX2, Wonderswan Color, GameBoy Advance, PlayStation, PSP or mobile phone versions of these games, you'll be able to do so soon if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch (and if you live in Japan, at least for the time being).

(Via andriasang.com)

Pac-Man Championship Edition is coming to town

Please accept my apologies for the recent string of holiday-inspired headlines. I can't help myself! I think it's because of all of the chiptune Christmas songs I've been listening to this week. (My latest obsessions: Doctor Octoroc's "Bubble We Have Heard On Bobble" and "Have Yourself a Final Little Fantasy.")

Anyway, the catalyst for the headline above: Namco Bandai is bringing the critically acclaimed Pac-Man Championship Edition to the iPhone and iPod Touch this Thursday!

I'm not sure why I'm so excited--I don't have an iPhone or an iPod Touch. Hell, I don't even have an Xbox 360. (Pac-Man Championship Edition began life as an Xbox Live Arcade title, in case you didn't know that already.)

Actually, strike that--I am sure why I'm excited--I'm hopeful that this means the game will be released on other consoles in the near (or not-so-near) future. The rumor mill suggests it might show up on the PS3/PSP PSN service at some point in 2010, which would be fine with me--though you know I wouldn't mind if it showed up on the Wii as well.

For more information on the iPhone/iPod Touch iteration of Pac-Man Championship Edition, check out this article over at GamePro.com. You may want to check out this YouTube video, too.

Of course, I can't talk about Pac-Man Championship Edition without mentioning the following video--which shows a (supposedly) fan-made NES version of the game. Sadly, it seems to be a fake (no ROM is available for download, at the very least).

Still, I'm pretty sure you'll find it as impressive (if not more so) than the iPhone version: