Youtube stuff

I was just looking around and found this user's videos...just curious if anyone else has seen these and if they're related to the upcoming movie?

Thoughts anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/user/JulesWorld

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Putting the "Con" in Condor....Ooooo... shiny red button!

These have been around for awhile... there had been rumours about a new BOTP series, and I think they were related to that.

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The game is gone. It appeared with little to no publicity, and disappeared as soon as their contract was up. I doubt most people even knew it was there.

James

I played it... the first one was fun...I almost beat the whole thing...

but the best part was the in-between segments...and you can still see those on the Game trailer...

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There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

Don't feel too bad for having missed it. While I never played the game myself, though I did see some of the visuals, and I was distinctly underwhelmed by what I saw.

Actually, I wrote a little about it in my section for the last issue of the Bird Scramble APA. Here's what I had to say then, and I can't say I've changed my mind any since then:

"The finale for the evening was a video made of an online BotP game that came and went with no fanfare and almost no one knowing it existed. I'd heard this was coming, but never heard that it actually went online. The graphics were okay, though from what Greg (The poor devil who actually played the game that the video was made from) said, it was nearly unplayable. The interstitial scenes, mostly with Zark and Mark or the Spirit and Zoltar, were awful. The voice acting was among the worst I've ever heard, and their attempts at humor were both juvenile and insulting. If the people working on the game had so little respect for the property, it's just as well that the game came and went unheralded."

James

It's not worth enough, especially since you're flying a barely controllable plane to do so, or when you have to put up with sequences where the Spirit keeps commenting on Zoltar's lipstick, or where Zark is being portrayed so stupidly that even people who don't care for Zark find it insulting. Honestly, the "humor" in these sequences were of a level that stopped being funny to most people by the time they reached High School.

Yes, as fans, we do make fun of aspects of the show. The difference is that we do it out of love. The people who did the game did it in a mean-spirited way. In many ways, the difference might seem slight. But in all the ways that count, it means a great deal.

James

Japan has had a few video games with Gatchaman themes. The latest one is a simulation of the Gatchaman pachislot machine, playable on the PS2. Prior to that was Tatsunoko Fight and Gatchaman: The Shooting, both for PS1.

The main selling point of the Pachislot video game is the video game aspects included in the pachislot machine, where you get to have battles between Jun and the Lady Captain or the God Phoenix versus King Dragon. It's those things that make it more than just a simple slot machine.

Tatsunoko Fight was a fighting game, where you had two different Tatsunoko characters beating each other up. Three characters from each of the Tatsunoko hero shows (Gatchaman, Casshan, Hurricane Polymer, Tekkaman, and a new hero named Volter) were represented in the game. From Gatchaman, you had Ken, Jun, and Katse. Initially you could only choose to play the main male heroes, but as you progressed through levels, you unlocked various aspects, allowing you to play the female and villain characters.

The main selling points for Tatsunoko Fight are just the fun of playing the different Tatsunoko characters, as well as trying to see their special movies in action, coupled with voice work that was done by the original TV series voice talent.

Gatchaman: The Shooting was part of the "Simple Game" series, which meant that it wasn't designed to be in-depth or very elaborate. Instead, it was designed to just be basic, fun, and nice looking, all of which it accomplished. Of the games, it's actually the one I've enjoyed the most.

It's a basic scrolling shooter game. It has four sections, during which you play a different Ninja Team character (Ken, Joe, Jun, and Jinpei. Ryu gets kinda shafted in this one). You go through a section with the character travelling on foot through enemy territory, finally facing off against an Iron Beast. You then play through a round with the character's G-Mecha to, once again, face off against an Iron Beast. Once all four characters have completed their tasks, you take the God Phoenix in a fight against Governor X and Katse in the Devil Star. Once you win, everyone except Katse celebrates, and you can start the game over again. Like I said, simple, but fun.

The big selling point for this game are the graphics, most of which are based of the series itself. The characters are using their individual weapons against the Gallactor forces, and the Gallactor forces include not just your average Gallactor member, but also the Micros robots, the crab bulldozers, Shutterkiller, the dragonfly mecha, and more, before you finally face off against level bosses like Turtle King, Hebi Cobra, Snake 828, and Magnecheck. It's those touches that sell the game, despite the simple format.

Unfortunately, all of these games came out at the tail end of the lifespan for their particular game systems, which severely hampered their long-term shelf life. A shame too, since they are fairly fun!

James