Late Update #3

So many games announced during the summer showcases! None of them discussed here!

My other reader has noted my apparent absence from this newsletter. It was only four weeks ago that I posted a new article, were they expecting a faster cadence?

The reason is nothing suspicious, and rather mundane. For the past month, I have been taking part in a remote course for diabetes management called DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating). As a recently diagnosed Type 1 diabetic - coming on four months now - it allowed me to meet some other people with the condition who have had it far longer (by which I mean decades), yet we all wanted the same goal; to better manage our health on a day to day basis. The course was a mixture of weekly video calls together, along with trained specialist nurses to answer questions, with a lot of online content learning in between. The learning online is what took up most of my free evenings, not leaving a lot of time for the more fun aspects of life - such as playing or waffling on about games. That's over now though, so I can go back to a (somewhat) normal routine.

I did manage to have some free time though, which I'll describe now before discussing what to expect soon.

Improved 64-Bit Ergonomics

A while back I bought the 8BitDo Nintendo 64 controller. I had my eye on it since last year. Recently they released a variant with the same colour scheme as the original controller - and that is what tipped the scales for me.

The Nintendo 64 and its games share pride of place in my nostalgic memories; buying that console is what brought me back into enjoying games again as a teenager, and I have several years of built-up shared experiences with its multiplayer capabilities and fond recollections of its single player games, particularly those developed by Nintendo and Rare. As a retro experience, I still really enjoy playing these games again, even if some of their mechanics have aged a bit over the decades.

One problem with playing Nintendo 64 games today though is hard to get around. It's not emulation or getting access to the games - Nintendo Switch Online provides a decent enough job for the ones I enjoy playing, and I have... other means... of playing some others. The problem is the hardware, specifically the unique, trident analog controller. At the time it was revolutionary, a clear introduction to true 3D gaming and control. The problem now is that nobody else follows the standard it laid out, not even Nintendo themselves.

I have tried, other reader, I really have. The fact is though that it is just really difficult to adjust the two analog joysticks and four face buttons of every modern day controller to a one analog joystick with six face button scheme as dictated by the Nintendo 64. Having NSO provide the ability to remap controls within the application has certainly helped, yet it still requires a mental adjustment to remember which button should perform which action, and I would usually have to make unique adjustments per game to at least attempt to get the right feel. Some games I even had to give up on, the mapping was just too esoteric.

That is where 8BitDo answered our call, by producing this fantastic controller. While its shape looks more modern and removes the third prong, the rest is clearly inspired by the original controller. The analog stick is solidly built, unlike the Nintendo original, and not prone to stick drift, yet also nests inside the eight-way octagon of the original controller; a remnant of easing the public into 3D gaming by introducing at least some cardinal directions. The best part though is the face button layout - exactly matching the A, B and four C buttons of the original, even feeling the same in size and tactility. No more juggling of button mapping and hoping you don't press the wrong button at the wrong time. By also only including one analog stick, I don't accidentally feel the need to move my right thumb down like I would for modern games.

To test my purchase, I replayed Banjo-Kazooie for the first time in over 25 years on the NSO service and loved it. While some of its flaws are more visible now - the camera in particular (of any 3D game of that era, actually) can be awkward, with some poorly judged jumps ending in disaster - and I wasn't crazy enough to discover all 100 jiggies and 900 notes for full completion, the game as a whole held up to my memory of it. Funny with a good bit of British sense of humour, excellent progression, vibrant graphics, and a truly unique level design of Click Clock Wood, as told through the four seasons and making adjustments for each one.

If I could give one criticism of the 8BitDo controller, the analog stick seems slightly more sensitive than I remember the original N64 controller to be. For some very subtle movements, I felt like I had to be a lot more careful lest I careen off the edge of a cliff. To be fair though, that could also be the NSO software emulation at fault too - I've noticed the same issue if I were playing with the JoyCons. One big plus I could give though is that the 8BitDo controller battery seems endless. I've used it for a month and I have yet to recharge it.

In a Documentary, Far Far Away...

The other half of my limited free time was spent watching television shows I had been putting off. Light and Magic is a documentary series about the history of ILM, the visual effects studio literally built to provide the effects for the Star Wars films, now a major studio in many films with cutting edge visual effects. Season one focused on the original Star Wars trilogy - how ILM were founded, how they built so many models (and then blew them up), and touching on some of the films beyond Star Wars, such as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and the dawn of CGI.

Season two, which came out a year later, focused more on the Star Wars prequel films, along with a side story around Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, I was born in 1983, the same year Return of the Jedi came out. So the original trilogy, while I adore it, is simply not part of my makeup and nostalgia - I was born into the wrong generation for it. The prequels, however, are where I was exactly the right age for them. I was there at the precise moment when everyone thought that there would be no more Star Wars films, suddenly to be wowed by The Phantom Menace. I will freely admit I went to see that film at the cinema twice - unheard of for me. Of course, we could all quibble and argue about the story, the wooden acting and stilted script, how weird it could be, and one particular "comedy" character (which I'll touch on more in a moment) - and I would agree with all of them. Still... Lightning fast lightsabre fights! Thousands of droid soldiers and space battles! A chariot race with anti-gravity rocket engines! That kind of spectacle was exciting, thrilling, and is hard to replicate even now.

You’ve got to admit, this still looks impressive

What particularly interested me about the behind the scenes interviews is how much of the old-style of ILM work still remained, even in the Star Wars prequels. Episodes I, II and III obviously used a lot of computer graphics to create that universe, particularly around pioneering digital actors and characters. Yet not everything was done with a computer, simply because the technology still wasn't quite there at the time - or it was too expensive or time consuming to wholly rely on it. Episode I apparently used the most models and miniatures than any other Star Wars film¹; the pod racing spectator stands were an enormous model, as was the Geonosis coliseum in Episode II, while Episode III had a gigantic lava world built to complete the set for the climax, with underlit, gelatinous liquid to simulate lava flows.

The most interesting and solemn part was also what made the re-introduction to Star Wars controversial; Jar-Jar Binks, the first digitally acted character. Played by Ahmed Best, Jar-Jar was reviled by certain sections of fandom; too wacky, too silly, too annoying, possibly a racial caricature, unnecessary. What was George Lucas thinking? Watching this actually leads us into that thought process. Lucas chose Best to play a comedic character on purpose, both watching a lot of old silent comedies, like Buster Keaton films, to gain inspiration. Best used his theatre experience to carefully figure out his movements, his posture, how he would work out comic timing and perform physical comedy, all while working with animators and motion capture engineers to create a character never seen before. So much work by many people went into creating him - only for so much of the world to hate him in return. There were clips of press junket interviews, of pompous journalists asking condescending questions as to why this character even exists, all while Best and Rob Coleman (the lead animator for the character) try their hardest to remain upbeat and answer as best they can, nonetheless continually being beaten down by the waves of antagonism sent their way. It is no wonder that Best bravely admits in those interviews how bad it got for him, describing the one time he considered taking one step too far off a bridge, never to return.

Yet, for all the negativity surrounding this situation, some positive facts remain. Jar-Jar really was the first digital actor of his kind, one that lived and interacted seamlessly with real life actors, and would lead us to further advances, like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films. Despite looking like madness, there was in fact a considerable amount of method to it. Best was actually more integral to all of the prequels than anyone realised, just more behind the scenes; Coleman, who was starting to panic about how to get Yoda to fight in Episode II without it looking ridiculous, leaned on Best showing him old martial arts movies and learn how a squat character could possibly face a larger foe. And, lets face it, Jar-Jar was not created to please the old-guard Star Wars fans; he exists in the films to make children laugh, which is exactly what they did. Still, it should not have taken over 25 years for Ahmed Best to get his due.

Game of the Month

Right now, I'm joining in with Good Game Lobby's current Game of the Month - Tunic. An adventure game with a familiar looking hero but with it's own unique charm - and difficulty curve, as I'm discovering! This is taking up some of my evenings now, as we get to play along and discuss the game along the way this month, sort of like a book club.

Are you interested in joining in? Visit Good Game Lobby or talk to Sey, who will merrily explain how to join the Discord server and participate.

Coming Soon

Enough blabbing, none of this explains what I intend to do next. As I'm a bit rusty on the keyboard, this update was a good start to get things going. I have plans, many plans, for future posts coming up. However, this time I'll list just a few of them; experience has taught me that it is best to start small instead of overpromising what I cannot deliver. These also act as good motivation for me to actually complete them, since it would be wrong to go back on my word, wouldn't it?

Here are some posts upcoming that I definitely want to consider and you should hopefully expect to see:

• I have a strange fascination with DOOM, and it is not necessarily about playing it. A full post will be required for me to explain more.

• There was once a mysterious console lost to time called the Sega Saturn. I owned one, but was that the right choice given the competition at the time? Perhaps a moment to reflect on my history with it is in order.

• Speaking on reflections, since I succumbed to getting a Switch 2 earlier than I expected, maybe we should look back to its predecessor, the Nintendo Switch, and consider how it changed the gaming landscape.

I have many other ideas, but they will take time and possibly research to ensure they are good; I won't be ready to announce those until I'm happy with their progress. Rest assured, I'm sure there will be other posts coming beyond these three.

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How about you? What have you been up to or discovered recently? Add to the comments to discuss further. Until next time!

1. 450,000 total models used, according to Guinness World Records