Final Fantasy 7... for the NES?

(Article originally posted at FPSX Games as a guest piece, so be sure to check them out.)

That's right, I said it. Final Fantasy 7 for the NES. Or the Chinese-made, knock-off system, the SUBOR rather. It's none-the-less playable on the NES through an adapter, but I digress..

We all know and love this monumentally epic gaming experience, first released on the Playstation by Square (back when they were just Square, as opposed to the Square Enix of today). It had everything; gorgeously beautiful polygons, an epic story with all the feels, and a fantastic battle-system and game play. It was and is to this day a great addition to anyone's gaming library. Since its release, more than 10 million copies have been sold, and it has been elevated to a high status as a paragon of games.

I'd laugh and say you were lying if you've never heard of Final Fantasy 7, assuming you the reader are at least minimally a gamer or just slightly nerdy. I dare say no game has had nearly as long lasting and significant an influence on all of Nerd-dom. You can see it in the games that succeeded it, in our conventions and cosplaying, in comics and mangas (and by extension, hentai.... (rule 34! :O)), the merch still comes in droves, and there have even been a number of spin-off movies and games!

Geez, what a bad-ass!

What is little known though, is that there was the unlicensed port of Final Fantasy 7 that I mentioned previously. Developed in the early 2000's, this was developed for the Chinese's SUBOR which was essentially an NES or Famicom gaming system. After this, an English patch was developed for this which is how I played and was able to follow along. But anyways, unlicensed or no, this was a huge feat for the team of developers.

Some liberties had to be taken, however, given the restrictions of the hardware involved. One of these liberties taken was the shedding of some of the optional missions and characters. Also, the battle system was changed to be more like the Final Fantasy's of old. Aside that, this was pretty much the whole kit and kaboodle, with the original story very faithfully followed.

You're so pretty, Miss Cloud!

I thoroughly enjoyed this and my criticisms are few. The biggest problem I had were with the battles themselves. I'm not sure if it was just me, but they seemed a lot longer and drawn out than say a typical old-school Final Fantasy battle, or also a battle in the Playstation Final Fantasy 7. I usually get some amount of satisfaction out of the battles provided I'm not just in grind-mode, but the battles got to be almost horrendous. Just trying to get to the next area, I wanted to pull out my hair!

The only other major problem I had was the mishaps that occurred translating the original Final Fantasy 7 story with all the cut-scenes and luscious visuals, over to the NES-esque format which had cut-scenes reduced to pure dialogue and sprites moving minimally. This is particularly apparent and egregious once you meet up with Aeris in the church. It was hard to follow what exactly was going on without the full visuals and the action of the original cut-scene. Especially if it's been literally years since picking up and playing the original game.

Aside from that, it was a pretty enjoyable experience, and it was really neat and impressive. I recommend tracking it down for yourself to at least try it out. If anything, it's quite a marvel of skill on the part of the Chinese development team, and deserves some pretty hefty kudos.
Below is a short video I made to complement this article visually and give you a brief look at the "NES Final Fantasy 7".

Happy Zombie-Jesus Day!!
Thanks for reading!

New Retro - Meteor Mess 3D

So a while ago, I came across the project Meteor Mess 3D. For those whom did not read my previous post about it, Meteor Mess 3D is a re-imagining of the classic point and click Lucas Arts adventure game, Maniac Mansion. If you're also unfamiliar with Maniac Mansion, you ought to track it down as it has significance in gaming history. Essentially, Maniac Mansion tells the tale of Dave and his companions saving Sandy from the mad Dr Fred whom is under the influence of a maniacal meteor entity. As far as the game play, you select three of the unlikely cadre of heroes, all with their own special abilities and effect on the overall story/puzzle line, and you take every item not nailed down and use them to solve a number of classic adventure game style puzzles. Anyone who's played theses sorts of games knows what I mean. ;]
It's a great classic game, and one I highly recommend. It's because of this that I became excited for Meteor Mess 3D by German developers Vampyre Games. I may have given it a little crap in my video (albeit I gave the disclaimer that at that point in its development, it was pretty beta), but they've kicked it up a couple notches and it's looking pretty damn good, and sounding pretty damn good. As I've stated, I can't wait to play a final product (it's going to be free, but I'd pay for it if necessary). Especially a final product in which I can blow up the mansion. Mwahahahaha! Here's a quick gander of the latest incarnation:

Dave is starin' down that week-old roast..

Looking good, right? Especially the character models. Much improved. Click on the picture to check out the progress of the project, to check out the Vampyre Games group, and give 'em your kudos and support and so forth. I personally think that this undertaking is great. Maniac Mansion paved the way for many more similar point and click adventure games like Gabriel Knight, Sam and Max, Monkey Island, Clock Tower, and many others. I think it's especially important to preserve and keep alive classic games like these, and not just for the nostalgia. A game like Maniac Mansion had a huge impact with its original, innovative game play, the gorgeous animation (I think it was), and its sometimes dark humor. It was truly a unique experience, both then and now, and as such we gaming geezers need to pass it down, so to speak. Lest we condemn the whipper-snappers of today to naught but mediocre FPS's and city-planning simulators with god awful DRM-nonsense.

But anywho, below is the video of what is now the previous version of Meteor Mess 3D. It is my premier video on my youtube channel, and while it is a decent first attempt, I have some things to keep in mind for the next video shall we say. Input is welcome, as always.
Thanks all!

Another Updated Maniac Mansion!

So in my previous post I had mentioned the Maniac Mansion project being done by Edison Interactive... I've also discovered another similar project which I am also excited for! Vampyre Games currently has in works a 3D re-imagining of the classic Lucas Arts game. They likewise are giving it their own name, Meteor Mess 3D, and so far it looks really killer. And they even have a demo up, which I plan on trying out and potentially vlogging about. I'll include a link below so you can check it out yourself, which I recommend you do. Maybe even try out their demo, and get amped!

The infamous dungeon; seen myself locked in there many times in the original game.