Video Game Inspiration

When first thinking about this project and the idea of 2D gaming I couldn't help but remember the old retro games I used to play as a kid and still do now 15 years on. Games especially like those made for the Sega Megadrive and Playstation one, two consoles I used to thrash in my younger days. So with this in mind, I went to my collection - rather expansive lol, and pulled out a few games that were some of my favourites for various reasons.

Rocket Knight Adventures: RKA is a side scrolling platformer which was quite possibly my all time favourite on the Megadrive. The game also had a sequal called Sparkster, also the name of the main character - an opossum knight who has to fight off an evil army of robots and pigs. How cool is that? What I liked about this game was the very simple gameplay and I love the ink and paint style. This game has some quite good significance to this project also because Sparkster is an animal who possesses human like qualities, with the armour on he looks like a human just with an animal head.

Title Screen:

Gameplay:

Klonoa: A very overlooked game but one that really stood out for me as a gamer on the Playstation 1 console. The game was set around a particular world and the game pretty much involved you as the main character - Klonoa, saving that world from "utter peril". This game had amazing gameplay, it was a mix between puzzle and a side scrolling platformer. It was also in 2.5D which was pretty cool, especially for the time. This game also had a variety of colourful enviornments which really gave life to the game and this world that they created. Something I want to implement into my game. Again, the main character is an animal but possesses human like qualities. Hands and two legs especially stand out.

The orginal is actually having a re-make done which they will soon be releasing on the Nintendo Wii. This pic shows the contrast between the two. Same game but made in different times for different consoles:

Pulseman: Thinking about it more, this was likely my most favourite game. Pulseman was a very rare title as it was only released in Japan which meant me having a copy of this game was rather sweet as I would be 1 out of a very few if any that had it in New Zealand. The game was an action platformer and what I loved about it was the easy controls, a variety of attack powers and again, the nice use of ink and paint styled colouring, really giving off that cartoonish sort of style which I really like. Just adds a sense of fun to it, it being so unreal and imaginative. It takes you back to being a kid, the good times before adulthood and you had to pay bills!

Cover:

Gameplay:

It seems I am quite the fan of side scrollers, they seem to be an occurance with all my favourite games.