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Tanooki wrote:When I was on Defender for Gamecube back in 2002 they tried to slide the game out with broken controls. I griped and Midway was like, no more changes, just bugs because all they wanted was to meet the date. I went behind their backs and emailed the developer we subcontracted out to and had them sneak in a second set of controls (C and D which is a reversal of motion) after the fact and it was included in the next build. Sadly the manual doesn't even bring it up, but for those who care if you play it on the Cube stock it's the worst release control wise, best otherwise because the -1 button, you lose the vital to live(later in game) strafe feature. On C+D mode, I created an entirely new combo/aped turok+starfox64 style control method to get it included and works comfortably.

That's fascinating! Believe it or not, Defender was one of my first five Gamecube purchases. I wound up giving the game away because I found the controls so frustrating. If I ever come across this game in the wild, I will re-buy it just so I can try out your alternate control scheme.

Bravo for going behind the boss-man's back to make your product better! Respect!

Unlike some who think lesser of me I do have some form of ethics and I couldn't allow that one to slide.

I really enjoyed the game so much and they insisted on shipping it broken/incomplete control wise. I'm glad it worked out as going behind their backs with that email could have backfired. I never much care for rebirth/remaster take offs of old games but Defender I actually really did enjoy a lot and it just bugged me. I started work learning it on PS2, then when the Cube build was ready enough it ran went into that from there to complete.

I figured it would be an interesting story trying to relate back to that comment about TMNT. It's why I don't always condemn a studio who makes the game, and will lay the crap down on the publisher. At times you learn what a studio is capable of and their standards like with Platinum Games, and this one wasn't up to their level. It only makes sense they were forced to slap something together with limited time and resources and that's why the game is not great, just mediocre and ultimately tiresome after awhile. It's best to slap more of the blame down where it's really deserved.

Posted some of my childhood TMNT items a couple pages back. Been meaning to post these as well.

Time frame on rain slicker would've been about '93. Not sure why Donatello us a paratrooper .

Jagosaurus wrote:Not sure why Donatello us a paratrooper .

That's Pro Pilot Don circa 1991.
More info here:
http://turtlepedia.wikia.com/wiki/Pro_Pilot_Don_(1991_action_figure)

Link 404ed, but thanks! Will Google that.

I remember thinking my TMNT rain slicker was so cool... 25 years later... I agree.

New cartoon series announce

https://www.gameinformer.com/gamer-cult ... -of-action

Pretty ugly art style...

noiseredux wrote:Pretty ugly art style...

Seems to be a trend for everyone but Netflix.

Yeah, I'm not fan at all of most of the modern aesthetic of those animated series. I'm sure they're choosing them in part because they are cheap and easy to animate, but it really doesn't help that they are also pretty ugly.

I would like to day that most of these visceral reactions to visual changes is tied highly to nostalgia. We have a preconceived idea of what they should look like and when that does not match up, we react gutterally.

The reality is, the audience who will watch this hasn't seen much if any of TMNT. The art style is not bad, it is just different than what we saw as kids. I would remind you all that the original TMNT cartoon was horribly animated, with tons of visual errors like uncolored bandanas, wrong voice actors speaking for characters and clear cut cormers in animation that makes it look and feel unprofessional. We love the idea of the original cartoon more than the cartoon itself.

Oh, I'm not just talking about TMNT. I'm talking about lots of other cartoons on in the past 10 years or so as well. There's this highly stylized animation style that's taken over, that's always been around but is now dominating. Everything's sketchy lines or angles or primary shapes and colors. It used to be cartoons looked like comics, with somewhat "realistic" representations of the fantastical, and now it's all VERY stylized, and I don't like most of it. Sometimes it works, but most of the time I'm not a fan.