| | Super Smash Bros., known in Japan as Nintendo All Star! Dairanto Smash Brothers "Dairanto" meaning "Great Melee"), is a crossover fighting game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on January 21, 1999, in North America on April 26, 1999, and in Europe on November 19, 1999.
Players can play as and against characters from Nintendo's video gaming franchises such as Mario, Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda and Kirby. The stages and gameplay modes make references to, or take their designs from, popular games released by Nintendo. The gameplay system offers an unorthodox approach to the fighting game genre as percentage counters measure the level of damage received, rather than the health bar traditionally seen in most fighting games.
Super Smash Bros. received mostly positive reviews from the media. It was commercially successful, selling over 4.9 million copies, with 2.93 million copies sold in the United States, and 1.97 million copies sold in Japan.
The Super Smash Bros. series is a dramatic departure from many fighting games. Instead of winning by depleting an opponent's life bar, Smash Bros players seek to knock opposing characters off the stage. In Super Smash Bros., characters have a damage total, represented by a percentage value, which rises as they take damage and can exceed 100%. As a character's percentage rises, the character can be knocked progressively farther by an opponent's attacks. To KO an opponent, the player must send that character flying off the edge of the stage, which is not an enclosed arena but rather an area with open boundaries, usually a set of suspended platforms. When a character is knocked off the stage, the character may use jumping moves to (attempt to) return; as some characters' jumps are longer-ranged, they may have an easier time "recovering" than others. Additionally, some characters are heavier than others, making it harder for an opponent to knock them off the edge but likewise harder to recover.
During battles, items related to Nintendo games or merchandise fall onto the game field. These items have purposes ranging from inflicting damage on the opponent to restoring health to the player.
PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
The characters from the game are the main protagonists of many Nintendo game series. The game includes twelve characters in total as usable characters, eight characters are playable from the beginning of the game and include Mario, Donkey Kong (DK), Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, and Pikachu. Four more characters can then be unlocked by completing different aspects of the game. These players include: Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness, Jigglypuff.
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Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu is a video game for the Sony PlayStation, released by Crave in 1998. The game combines elements of role playing games and virtual pet management. It was developed by Genki in collaboration with Katsuya Kondo, character designer for the Studio Ghibli movies Kiki's Delivery Service and I Can Hear the Sea.
GAMEPLAY
Jade Cocoon is set in a world where most of the land is covered in dense forest; populated by bizarre, mostly bug-like monsters called Minions. The only safe havens are small villages, one of which is the home of the protagonist, Levant. Levant is a young Cocoon Master, whose job is to capture and purify the Minions. The Minions can then be used to fight and defend Levant, spun into silk for money, or fused with other Minions to form more powerful combinations. Fused minions take on physical characteristics of both its parent creatures, allowing the player to customize the appearance of each one, as well as its abilities. Each minion has a collection of elemental attacks which can be passed from generation to generation. Strategy generally follows a rock/paper/scissors pattern (Wind beats Earth beats Water beats Fire beats Wind), as each wild Minion has an element (although fused Minions may have more than one).
The Eternal Corridor
After the main story is completed, the player may continue to play the game in a new area called The Eternal Corridor. New monsters that were unavailable in the main game can be found in this new area.
RECEPTION
Reviews of Jade Cocoon were generally positive, praising its graphics, including the game's FMV anime cut-scenes and environment which consisted of over 600 pre-rendered backgrounds as well as its audio, sound effects, and simple interface. The game's deep monster breeding and merging system was also well regarded. However, the game was considered short alongside other RPGs of the time with a story of only 15 to 20 hours. Jade Cocoon was criticized for the inability to fight alongside your monsters, and its Silent Hill-style control scheme, making it difficult to avoid battles with some monsters
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| | Banjo-Kazooie is a platform and action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo as the inaugural game in the Banjo-Kazooie series. It was released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64.
The game is set in the fictional location of Spiral Mountain where a bear named Banjo and a bird named Kazooie live. Gruntilda the witch kidnaps Banjo's sister, Tooty, to steal her beauty via a transformation device. Banjo and Kazooie set out on a dangerous adventure to rescue Tooty.
Banjo-Kazooie was a critical and commercial success, and went on to become one of the best-selling games for the Nintendo 64.
GAMEPLAY
Banjo-Kazooie is comprised of nine non-linear 3D worlds in which the player must gather jigsaw pieces, or "Jiggys", to progress. Banjo and Kazooie are aided by Bottles, who teaches them new abilities, and Mumbo, who uses magical powers to transform them into other creatures, such as a termite, pumpkin or crocodile.
The player progresses in the game by finding Jiggys, Musical Notes and Mumbo Tokens. Jiggys open doors to new worlds by collecting enough to complete the corresponding jigsaw puzzle. There are ten in each world; nine must be found through exploration or the completion of challenges and puzzles, and one is granted by finding all five Jinjos on each world. Musical Notes open note doors that allow Banjo and Kazooie to progress further into Gruntilda's lair. There are 100 notes in each world, and 900 total in the game. Mumbo Tokens grant the player magical transformations at Mumbo's hut when the player collects a sufficient amount; there are a total of 115 tokens throughout the game.
The game uses Gruntilda's Lair as an overworld in which the player progresses. Individual levels are accessed through Gruntilda's Lair by collecting enough musical notes to open various doors. Levels in Banjo Kazooie contain a diverse selection of challenges and special items. Mumbo's skull is found in Mumbo's Mountain, featuring a transformation of Banjo into a giant termite; Bubblegloop Swamp, featuring a transformation of Banjo into an alligator; Freezeezy Peak, featuring a transformation of Banjo into a walrus; Mad Monster Mansion, featuring a transformation of Banjo into a pumpkin; and Click Clock Wood, featuring a transformation of Banjo into a bumblebee. Levels in Banjo Kazooie include (in the order that the player can access them):
STOP 'N' SWOP
Stop 'N' Swop is a special feature in Banjo-Kazooie that remains incomplete in the Nintendo 64 version of the game. Six coloured eggs and a key made of ice were discovered in Banjo-Kazooie that would be viewable in a menu titled "Stop 'N' Swop". In an ending sequence of the N64 version of Banjo-Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo would state that secret areas would be accessible via a link with the sequel, Banjo-Tooie. Stop 'N' Swop was never realised in Banjo-Tooie. The special items can, however, be collected in Banjo-Kazooie using in-game cheat codes, but serve no purpose.
MUSIC
The music in Banjo-Kazooie was composed by Grant Kirkhope and is an example of an interactive soundtrack. The themes heard in the game dynamically change style to reflect the environment and dangers to the characters.[18] For example, whenever the main characters submerge in any body of water, the music changes into a harp arrangement of the main world theme for an aquatic ambiance. The musical theme for Gruntilda's Lair takes on a different arrangement to reflect the level entrance the player is near, such as taking on music box instrumental style near the ice level entrance, or organ near the haunted mansion. The music gradually fades from one style to the next without pause, while the overall melody loops continuously. The background music of Gruntilda's Lair is believed to be a variation of "Teddy Bears' Picnic" by John Walter Bratton.
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Diddy Kong Racing is a 1997 racing game for the Nintendo 64 developed by Rareware. 800,000 copies were ordered in the two weeks before Christmas 1997, making it the fastest selling video game at the time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
A racing game like Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing also has a distinctive adventure mode. Some of the playable characters would later appear in their own franchise titles. The game was partially intended to introduce these future franchise characters so that gamers would recognise them when these games were released. In Diddy Kong Racing, a player can choose to drive a car, hovercraft, or airplane, though a certain level may require that the player picks one of these.
DEVELOPMENT
At its first stage, Diddy Kong Racing was a RTS game with a caveman/time-travel theme worked on by a team of four. The Adventure element of DKR was influenced by Disney World. At this point, DKR was known as Wild Cartoon Kingdom. Wild Cartoon Kingdom evolved into Adventure Racers. Nintendo had no involvement in DKR’s early stages. In June 1997, the game was known as RC Pro Am 64, a sequel to the RC-Pro AM titles on the NES. It was Shigeru Miyamoto that offered Diddy Kong to the game. The Pro-Am 64 team wasn’t happy with having Diddy Kong in the game but finally agreed.
PLOT
Timber the Tiger's parents go on vacation and leave their son in charge of the island they live on, leaving him and his friends to race for fun. Their enjoyment is derailed when an evil, intergalactic, pig wizard named Wizpig arrives at peaceful Timber's Island and attempts to take over after he conquered his own planet's racetracks. He turns the four island's guardians: Tricky the Triceratops, Bubbler the Octopus, Bluey the Walrus and Smokey the Dragon into his henchmen. The only solution available to the island's inhabitants is to defeat Wizpig in an elaborate series of races that involves cars, hovercrafts, and airplanes. Drumstick, the best racer on the island, failed this challenge and was transformed into a frog by Wizpig's black magic. Timber sends a letter to his friend Diddy Kong to call for help and Diddy in turn recruits his friends Banjo the Bear and Conker the Squirrel (Dixie and Tiny Kong on Diddy Kong Racing DS) while Timber gathers the remaining inhabitants of the island to help. They eventually complete all of Wizpig's challenges and confront Wizpig himself to a race and defeat him. Shortly afterwards, Wizpig leaves for his home planet, Future Fun Land. Fearing that Wizpig would again attempt to invade Timber's Island, the islanders travel to Future Fun Land for a second challenge. When Wizpig loses the second race, the rocket he rides on malfunctions and blasts him to a distant planet and peace returns to Timber Island for good.
CHARACTERS
- Diddy Kong
- Banjo
- Conker
- Krunch
- Tiptup
- Timber
- Bumper
- Pipsy
- Drumstick
- T.T.
MUSIC
The music for the game was composed by David Wise, one of Rare's in-house composers. Using the Nintendo 64's cartridge format, the music in the game could change mood across the overworld or midway through a racetrack (retaining the same tune and tempo but using different instruments) without being hampered by load times common to the disc format. However, this technique was only used on one track (Boulder Canyon), although it is used in the hub world, and in the character select screen as well. This was the first Rare game to use this technique, with it later being used in Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64 and Conker's Bad Fur Day.
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| | Panzer Dragoon is a rail shooter released on the Sega Saturn in 1995. It follows the story of Keil Fluge, a member of a hunter party who encounters a fight between two dragons, colored black and blue. The rider of the blue dragon is mortally wounded in the battle and entrusts his mission, as well as his dragon, the Solo Wing, to Keil. Keil must stop the Dark Dragon from reactivating an ancient ruin.
This chapter would introduce the basic features of the traditional gameplay that the Panzer series would be known by, starting out as a rail shooter giving the player a choice of two main offenses: a lock-on laser weapon, and a rapid fire gun weapon, as well as the ability to swing the cameras around to shoot the enemies coming from all directions.
One of Panzer Dragoon's major artistic influences was Moebius' (Jean Giraud) Arzach, a comic book series created by the French artist. He even contributed in the creative process of Team Andromeda's game with original artwork.
PLOT
The story begins showing some kind of ship approaching a large floating complex and a small speech takes place, then it cuts to a group of three humans, one of whom is the protagonist named Keil Fudge, riding some sort of horse-like creatures. The same ship seen before appears over them as they question about it, then right off the bat, they are attacked by Small ground roaming creatures, Keil manages to kill one but the other one retreats into a cave-like complex of some sort, he orders the other 2 riders to hold position. He gives it a chase, he loses it and scouts around, he sees it drop from above dead, which it was killed by something else, then a different creature, which killed the previous, appears and kills the creature he rides on. He makes run, but comes to a dead end, he is cornered but then tries to open fire on the creature with no effect. Suddenly, a small quake begins, a rock falls and crushes the creature, from above, a mysterious Blue dragon with white armor on appears. The Dragon flies down the cave that Keil just entered from, then suddenly a second dragon, this time a Black dragon with gray armor on, appears and stuns him with its projectiles, Keil falls to the ground, stunned and looks up from where he just came from. A huge explosion comes from out of the dark, it eventually destroys the rock slide blocking the tunnel, freeing Keil and killing the Creature that tried to kill him. He awakens on a cliff where he sees the two dragons engaging with each other, the rider of the black dragon kills the rider of the blue one, with a shot through the chest. The black dragon then flies away, the rider of the Blue dragon dies. The dragon eventually lets out a loud cry, Keil picks up the ancient weapon the rider was using as he rides onboard the dragon. He flies over his two companions whom he says goodbye to, as he flies to an ocean...the story begins...
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Mega Man X4 is the fourth game in the Mega Man X series. This game was originally released on July 31, 1997 for the Sega Saturn in North America. Both the Sega Saturn and PlayStation versions were soon released simultaneously on August 1, 1997 in Japan.
This game is often considered to be one of the most tragic and most difficult Mega Man games in the entire franchise, and after it the rest of the X series continued to have similarly dark plots.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is similar to the previous installments of the X series, but there are some important changes:
At the beginning of the game, the player chooses to play either as X or Zero. Unlike future games in the Mega Man X series, the player is committed to the choice throughout the game (i.e., he/she cannot switch to the other character at any time). Though both of them go through the same stages, they operate differently, and get different challenges from the terrain. They must avoid obstacles like falling debris and spikes, and destroy enemy robots to reach the end of the stages.
X wields a plasma cannon (X-Buster) on his arm that he uses to attack foes from a distance. It can be charged to fire stronger shots. When he defeats a boss, he gains a new weapon for his Buster. These weapons have limited ammo, displayed by a meter next to his health. In some stages, X can find capsules that contain upgrades that greatly enhance his capabilities.
Zero is more melee-oriented than X, using a saber (Z-Saber) rather than his usual arm cannon (Z-Buster). His Z-Buster was removed due to game balancing issues. Its power and accuracy compensate for his lack of range. Not all of his moves are weapon-basedo rather than acquiring weapons from bosses, he learns "techniques" such as the air-dash (Hienkyaku) and double-jump (Kuuenbu). However, Zero cannot upgrade any of his body parts in this game.
DEVELOPMENT
Originally, the American release of the PlayStation version was put on hold after Sony Computer Entertainment America denied Capcom permission to release it in the United States, allegedly due to it being a 2D video game; due to early American policies at the time, the American division of Sony Computer Entertainment only wanted 3D games for their system. Apparently, other Capcom titles that had fallen victim to this policy included Mega Man 8, Mega Man Battle & Chase, and the PlayStation version of Mega Man X3 (Both the last two were eventually included in the Mega Man X Collection released for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube).
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| | Mario Kart 64 is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in North America and Europe.
Mario Kart 64 is the sequel to Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Changes from the original include the move to 3D computer graphics and the inclusion of four-player support. Players take control of characters from the Mario universe, who race around a variety of tracks with items that can either harm opponents or aid the user. The move to three-dimensional graphics allowed for track features not possible with the original game's Mode 7 graphics, such as changes in elevation, bridges, walls, and pits. However, the characters and items remained 2D pre-rendered sprites.
Music for the game was composed by Kenta Nagata. The introduction music for Mario Kart 64, which is loosely based on the original Super Mario Kart theme tune, was remixed and used in the music video game Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix for the Nintendo GameCube. The game was critically well received by critics and was a best seller.
GAMEPLAY
here are four forms of play in the game: Grand Prix, Time Trial, Versus, and Battle. There are eight playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Princess Peach, Wario, Yoshi, Toad, and Donkey Kong. They vary in weight, speed, and acceleration. There are 16 tracks that are based on different locations seen in Mario video games. Each track has a unique shape, and can contain various obstacles, hazards, and short-cuts. All eight characters participate in each race. Up to four of them can be playable characters, while the rest are computer-controlled for one- or two-player races; three- and four-player races feature no computer-controlled racers. On a track, various actions can be performed to change the flow of a race. Items can be acquired by hitting a clue box. The items' uses include acting as projectiles to impede opponents, speeding up the user, or stopping opponents through the placement of bananas and fake clue boxes.
The game is compatible with the N64 Controller Pak, but only to save track ghosts in the Time Trial mode, which requires 121 pages, almost the entire standard controller pak. All other data is stored in-cartridge.
PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
In Mario Kart 64, player's can choose any one of eight unique characters to operate their kart. Koopa Troopa and Donkey Kong Junior, both of whom appeared in Super Mario Kart, did not return for Mario Kart 64. They ended up being replaced by Donkey Kong and Wario. In pre-release screenshots, a Magikoopa was playable, but before the game's final release the Magikoopa was replaced by Donkey Kong.
Characters are divided into three categories. The 'light weights' include Peach, Yoshi and Toad, who are favored for their quick acceleration. The 'heavy weights' include Wario, Bowser, and Donkey Kong and are favored for their responsive steering, and the 'middle weights', Mario and Luigi, are balanced characters.
DEVELOPMENT
n production, its original name was Super Mario Kart R, but the title was later changed due to a copyright infringement of Sega's Sonic R.
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Tomb Raider is a video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn followed shortly thereafter for MS-DOS and PlayStation versions.
OVERVIEW
In Tomb Raider, the player controls the female archaeologist Lara Croft, in search for the three mysterious Scion artefacts across the world. The game is presented in third person perspective. Lara is always visible and the camera follows the action from behind or over her shoulder. The world she inhabits is fully drawn in three dimensions and characterized by its cubic nature. Ledges, walls and ceilings sit at 90 degrees to each other, although the game designers sometimes obscure this to make it less obvious.
The object of Tomb Raider is to guide Lara through a series of tombs and other locations in search of treasures and artefacts. On the way, she must kill dangerous animals and other creatures, while collecting objects and solving puzzles to gain access to an ultimate prize, usually a powerful artefact. Gunplay is restricted to the killing of various animals that appear throughout each stage, although occasionally Lara may be faced with a human opponent. Instead the emphasis lies on solving puzzles and performing trick jumps to complete each level. As such, Tomb Raider in essence harkens back to the classical form of platform style gameplay.
FEATURES
Movement in the game is varied and allows for complex interactions with the environment. Besides walking, running, and jumping, Lara can perform side-steps, hang on ledges, roll over, dive, and swim through water. In a free environment, Lara has two basic stances: one with weapons drawn and one with her hands free. By default she carries two pistols with infinite ammo. Additional weapons include the shotgun, dual magnums and dual Uzis. At a certain point in the story, Lara will be stripped of all her weapons, leaving the player defenceless and forced to recover her pistols, a development which later became a staple of the series.
NUDE RAIDER
A development in Lara's history is the so-called Nude Raider patch. This patch was created externally and was never housed on the Eidos or Core websites. The patch, when added to an existing Tomb Raider game, caused Lara to appear naked. Contrary to rumour, there is no nude code in any console version of the game.
MUSIC
The music for Tomb Raider was composed by Martin Iveson and Nathan McCree. The game uses a solo oboe melody for the main theme. Variations of this main theme have been used throughout all of the Tomb Raider games. The soundtrack of Anniversary was composed by Troels Brun Folmann, but loosely based on the original.
The symphonic sounds of the earlier games were created using Roland Corporation's Orchestral Expansion board for their JV series keyboards.
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