BeyondUnreal Screenshot Challenge

Over the last two weeks BeyondUnreal.com held a screenshot contest, where you could win one of five free Steam copies of Unreal Tournament 3 Black. To win you had to submit a screenshot from any Unreal game, wether it is funny or artistic. And guess who've won? Yeah, that's right. Good old TourianTourist made it into the top 5. And that's how my winning screenshot looks like:



Flak attack. Did you see the flak smiley? This screenshot is about 6 or 7 years old, I made it using some glitches caused by the "playersonly" command. The funny thing is, I copied this screenshot from my old computer at my parent's house last month, when I looked for my old Unreal maps, so I could post them here on this blog. But when I saw this screenshot, I thought I have to copy it too. But who knew, it would come in handy so fast? However, there is a second version of this screenshot I like even more. It doesn't have it as many flakgrenades on it, but it looks more artistic. Here it is:



Also, take a look at the four other winners. They've got some very nice screenshots in store:

UT3 Giveaway Screenshot Challenge Winners

Saved the World... Again

So, I finally found the time to play through The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console. I completed it 100%, I got all 24 masks, all 52 Pieces of Heart, etc. without experiencing any problems. With that I mean, the game didn't freeze on me, which was the major problem with the version on the Collector's Edition. On the CE version I've never been able to finish Kafei's quest, it usually froze during the Sakon's Hideout puzzle or after that, when I tried to access the menu, which was super frustrating. But like I said, the Virtual Console version is fine, it didn't freeze, no matter what I did. There might be some minor framerate issues, for example when you enter the shooting galleries or sometimes when you go from one part of Clocktown to another the music slows down a little bit. But it's by far not as bad as in the CE version, where the framedrops are very obvious and even mentioned when you load the game. However, the Virtual Console version runs at 50Hz instead of the 60Hz you get in the CE version.

Needless to say that it was very nice to play through this masterpiece of a game again, I enjoyed it a lot. I always tried to complete a maximum of sidequests all the time, for example one of the first things I did in the game was Kafei's Quest to get the Postman's Hat. Or I finished the graveyard even before Great Bay. It was a tough job to remember all the heartpieces you can get at a specific point in the game. But the large number of sidequests is the cool thing about Majora's Mask, this game is all about the sidequests.

If you haven't played this superior game so far, I would really recommend to get it now. If you were concerned about the stability of the Virtual Console version, I can assure you, you don't have to. I played all three versions of the game, the original one on the N64, the Collector's Edition version on the GameCube and now the Virtual Console version. And all I can say is, that the latter is my favorite one. It got the sharper graphics and the higher resolution, while it's stable. It's worth every single of those 1000 Nintendo Points, so get it (respectively "get it when it's out" if you live in the US).

The Moon is hitting Europe first

What a nice surprise. Normally here in Europe we're at the end of the chain, especially when it comes to Zelda, but today Europe got their Virtual Console copy of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask before the rest of the world (excluding the second PAL region Australia). Good thing I've had some spare Wiipoints, so this was an instant download for me. Right now I've completed the first three day cycle. So far the game runs smooth without any lags, frame drops or sound problems. As good as the N64 version but in sharper graphics and larger resolution. Majora's Mask costs 1000 Wiipoints, uses 256 blocks and is pretty much the best deal you can get on the Virtual Console, unless there will be any freezing problems. I will continue testing the game and report, if I experience any issues.

BS The Legend of Zelda: The Lost Adventures & Ancient Stone Tablets

The amazing streak of Zelda news lately continues. And this one is a real surprise, because no one could see that coming. Nintendo is actually going to rerelease the BS Zeldas as downloadable software for the Nintendo Wii. I guess, a lot of Zelda fans out there aren't familiar with the BS Zeldas, so let me explain. The BS Zeldas were created by Nintendo and released between 1995 and 1997 on Nintendo's Broadcast Satellaview system (BS-X) in Japan only. The BS-X was a satellite powered add-on for the Super Nintendo, which allowed you to temporarily download software. You couldn't download the games anytime you wanted to, only at certain times, like TV shows. So, these weren't normal games, they were broadcasted in 4 episodes for each game, where at the end of the fourth episode you had the chance to fight Ganon, if you completed all eight dungeons during all the episodes. Which means, if you missed one of the episodes, you couldn't finish the games. The BS Zeldas were more like special events on the BS-X, were the best players even could win prizes (there was a special highscore system based on various things like completing tasks or collecting pieces of heart).

In the games you weren't playing with Link, but with your BS-X avatar. This is pretty similar to the Miis on the Wii, just more limited, but maybe the "ancient" predecessor of this idea. Also, unlike in most Zelda games, everything had to be done in a time limit. There was always a clock on the top of the screen and each episode lasted one hour. During one episode you had to complete two (small) dungeons, so you had to hurry all the time. However, some events only took place at certain times. There were temporary power ups like infinite bombs lasting for a minute, there were special events like rainstorms or special persons appearing at special locations and some dungeons even could only be accessed at certain times. Actually those time based concepts were later reintroduced in Majora's Mask, though there you could repeat everyting as often as you wanted. Another special feature was Live Voice. A narrator was guiding the players in the right directions and special characters like Princess Zelda got voice acted.

However, most of those features will most likely not make it into the ports. The games won't be divided into four episodes, which is possible, since the original episodes all used the same overworld for each game, while each episode gave you access to new parts of the world. And it's most likely, that the voice acting and all the time based features will get cut out and that you play with Link instead of some 2D avatars, which means, Nintendo tries to make the BS Zeldas into normal classic Zelda games. On the other hand, it would be nice to have the highscore system back combined with online leader boards, but therefore you would need the time limit. It's also unclear, if these games will be part of the Virtual Console's Super Nintendo or the WiiWare system, though this pretty much won't matter except for the price. But I guess, in Europe they will be part of the next Hanabi festival.

There were two BS Zelda games. The first one is an amazing 16Bit remake of the original Zelda game for the NES. However, the overworld was different and the game came with eight completely new dungeons. And it featured two different quests like the original game, though the 2nd Quest actually wasn't any harder, but it had a modified overworld and again eight new dungeons. (As an easter egg the dungeons spelled the letters St. GIGA and NINTENDO, "St. Giga" was the name of the satellite system used for the BS-X.) The four episodes of the 1st Quest were broadcasted in August 1995, while the four episodes of the 2nd Quest were broadcasted in January 1996. The remake for the Wii will be called "The Legend of Zelda: The Lost Adventures", the title of the game seems to be a reference to "Super Mario Bros. - The Lost Levels". Zelda fans can look foward to a beautiful 16Bit remake of the original Zelda game with new dungeons.

The second game was called "Ancient Stone Tablets", broadcasted in April 1997 and fully based on A Link to the Past. It used ALttP's Light World again and featured a deeper story than the previous BS Zelda game. While Link was on his travels in Link's Awakening, Hyrule got threatened by Ganon again. Now it's the time for the "Hero of Light" (your BS avatar) to help Princess Zelda and save Hyrule. Therefore you had to collect eight stone tablets from eight different dungeons all placed on the Light World, which open a portal to the Dark World, where you finally could face Ganon. The game featured most of the items from A Link to the Past, in the final episode you can even put the gilded Master Sword out of its pedestal. The dungeons were pretty small, but got a lot of secret rooms full of hidden treasures, since this was part of the highscore system. All those hidden rooms and secrets actually made the dungeons pretty fun. However, the game is far more easy than A Link to the Past and doesn't provide much new stuff, so Ancient Stone Tablets will be more for the Zelda fans, who want to play every Zelda game ever made.

More pictures:

(The pictures are all taken from ROMs of the original games, because there aren't any official pictures of the remakes yet.)

Source: BS Zelda Homepage


Update: And of course the news aren't real. I wanted to write an article about the BS Zeldas and the possibility of converting them for the Virtual Console, but because of the date, I've turned it into a little april fools' prank.

Majora's Mask coming to Virtual Console

And even more Zelda news (what a week!), The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask will finally be released for the Japanese Virtual Console in April. Release dates for the US and Europe versions are yet unknown, but I guess somewhen this year. This surprising release may be related to storage issues solution, which went online this Wednesday during Iwata's keynote on the GDC2009. The new Wii 4.0 interface let's you load software from a SD card and the Wii supports now SD cards with up to 32GB size, which should be enough to get some larger games including Majora's Mask.

Let's just hope, the games runs better than on the Colletor's Edition version.

Source: VC Reviews

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks announced

Finally some Zelda News! Finally! In 2006 Iwata announced The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass in his keynote on the Game Developer Conference, today, three years later, he announced the Phantom Hourglass sequel called "The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks" on the very same event. So, like I've expected last year here, they're releasing another DS Zelda before the next BIG DAMN ZELDA for the Nintendo Wii. According to Nintendo.com a Nintendo DSi won't be mandatory to play the game. But I guess, that there will be some extra DSi features like downloadable content or an optional sidequest using the camera motivating Zelda fans to buy a DSi system. Nintendo does these kind of features all the time.

Spirit Tracks will feature... well, a train. Link is riding on a train and shooting with a cannon on the video materials. Well, basically so far it looks like Phantom Hourglass with a steam train on the mainland instead of a steam boat on the ocean. Everyone, who hated the Ocean King Temple and its Phantoms, will be pleased, that the Phantoms are now are supportive units. Link can control at least one of them to attack enemies and solve puzzles using a conductor's whistle. There is also some kind of a blowgun, that shoots whirlwinds.

Trailer:




My thoughts:

Well, if you take a look at my articles last year about the future of Zelda and the Nintendo E3 2008 event, you will notice, that I was expecting a second NDS Zelda and that I was excited about it. I love the gameplay of Phantom Hourglass, I'm a person, who really enjoyed the controls of the latest Nintendo DS Zelda. Also, in the article about the Valley of the Flood fake I stated, that the idea of a train running through Hyrule actually sounds nice. You put both of this together and somehow you get "Spirit Tracks", which is why I was totally surprised by today's news. But still I don't like the fact, that a good portion of the mainland won't be walkable. It's one thing to do this with the ocean, but with mainland? Right now it feels like it will completely take away the feeling of freedom. The other areas better be larger and somehow connected, and not just "islands" in an ocean of grassy fields. On the other hand, it's seems like the best opportunity of using Phantom Hourglass' 3D sea travelling engine again without actually having sea travelling in the game for a third time. That way you're going to see the new land in 3D, which is great and wouldn't be possible with a sole isometric perspective. Also, it does has some potential. Think of the minecart tracks in Capcom's 2D Zelda games, those always were clever puzzles and the railroads don't work that different.

We don't know anything about the story so far, whether it's a sequel to Phantom Hourglass, where Tetra and Link found a new land, which is somewhen in the future in danger. Or a prequel to The Wind Waker, which takes place in the Hyrule, which will later be flooded. Valley of the Flood, toon style.

And I love the idea of controlling Phantoms, it's a very nice twist after all the Ocean King Temple stress. I guess, in the later dungeons, you can control more and even stronger versions of Phantoms. And this game needs more items than just seven, one of the main complaints I had about Phantom Hourglass was the limited number of useable items. And considering that the Gale Boomerang in Twilight Princess already combined the two items shown in the Spirit Tracks trailer, this new blowgun feels like a damn waste right now. So, don't you dare to make a game with just seven items again. If there are going to be DSi related features, I would like them to be downloadable content, no camera crab. If there's a multiplayermode like in Phantom Hourglass a stage builder similar to the one in Smash Bros Brawl, which lets you design your own multiplayer levels, definitely would be nice. But it's still too early to say anything more specific about "Spirit Tracks", the trailer doesn't give away much. But I'm open minded about this game and looking forward to more infos.

DM-1on1-Hopeless

Unless I find DM-Instinct somewhere, this will pretty much be the last of my old maps being released here. This is my only UT2004 map and basically this is still a beta version, since I've actually never finished this map. Doesn't really matter though, everything making this blog less boring is welcome, I guess. I've even mentioned this map before, it's a remake of my favorite map from the N64 game Turok: Rage Wars called "Hopeless".

"Rage Wars" had a limit of four players, so basically all maps in this game were very small. Though this version is a bit larger, it's still meant for 1on1 only. The original setting was somehow futuristic, but this remake uses an atmospheric industrial setting, pretty much like DM-Rankin did. There are some triggered sounds, you will hear when somebody walks over metallic stairways or wooden ramps. Each of these spots have their unique sound, so if you study the sounds, you will know exactly, where your enemy is. The new sound effects are imported from Unreal and Unreal Tournament (basically like in DM-Spirit), I love the sound effects in these games.

The layout stayed true to the original version. And I've put the weapons in places, I've associated with the corresponding weapons the most. For example the Rocket Launcher is located, where you could find an explosive ammo pack in Rage Wars. There are a lot of weapons for a small map like this one in DM-1on1-Hopeless, but I "like to have my options open". :D However, that's it. There's still an UT2003 version of the Quake III Arena map "Fatal Instinct" I've made, but I can't find it anymore. And the rest of my selfmade maps are just crabby tryouts and already in digital heaven. I haven't worked on any new maps for four years now, which is actually pretty sad, because I had so much fun doing it. But I plan to get a new rig in the near future, which should give me the possibility of mapping for UT3. I would really love to create some maps for the newest installment of the Unreal series, maybe even a new and more finished remake of Hopeless.


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