Press B 219: Zool: The Original Retro Ninja Platformer

[00:00:00] There is no Dana, only, you know, today on...

[00:00:26] Hello and good week to everybody!

[00:00:29] That's a normal phrasing for sure.

[00:00:31] It is just the two of us this week, myself and Sinistar here. How are you doing, sir?

[00:00:39] I am doing well. I'm glad it's Friday.

[00:00:42] That's a good thing to be glad about.

[00:00:46] How about you?

[00:00:47] I am glad I'm done with Minish Cap.

[00:00:52] Did actually finish it so that nobody could tell me I had to finish it for to understand if it was good or not, because I've heard that argument before.

[00:01:00] Well, isn't this the one in... I don't remember if it was us discussing it or if it was in the Discord in one of the channels where you said,

[00:01:10] I finished it and if there's more past the credits, I'm gonna miss it?

[00:01:15] Yeah.

[00:01:17] Nice.

[00:01:18] I finished it and then there was more and I was like, nope, there's more.

[00:01:23] And there was one more fight.

[00:01:25] And then after that, like then I got credits and I was like, if there's more, I'm done, but there was not.

[00:01:31] It saved the file after that and let me go back and do things, but yeah, I wasn't doing that.

[00:01:38] Anyway, moving on.

[00:01:42] This week we are talking about a platform game that I was actually personally not very familiar with before we did this.

[00:01:52] From 19... when did this come out?

[00:01:56] 92, I think.

[00:01:57] 92.

[00:01:58] Let's see.

[00:01:59] I've got my mind palace up here.

[00:02:02] 92 was the original release.

[00:02:05] All right.

[00:02:06] This came out originally for the Amiga.

[00:02:08] We're talking about Zool, Z-O-O-L.

[00:02:11] That's right.

[00:02:13] Now I do remember this game to a degree because when it came out, this is one of those stories about my uncle.

[00:02:21] This was one of those games that he was super jazzed about because he had an Amiga and he always would talk about for like a couple of months.

[00:02:31] This was his game that he would just mention every time I saw him.

[00:02:35] And I don't know, I just never bothered to rent it for the Genesis or the Super Nintendo and I think both were available at my local rental shop.

[00:02:47] I was going to say, did you see this in your rental shop?

[00:02:50] Yes.

[00:02:51] Okay.

[00:02:52] Because I don't know that I ever did, but once again, I'm not...

[00:02:56] I wasn't a console kid, although I came into consoles for Super NES and I don't remember this game.

[00:03:05] I came about this game later when I was looking up the Amiga, top whatever, right?

[00:03:12] Yeah.

[00:03:14] I remember seeing the magazine ads for this.

[00:03:17] I remember seeing the box on the shelf just never was something that I was like, yeah, I got to play that.

[00:03:24] And it's... I don't know if it was just something about it that didn't pull me in or what.

[00:03:30] It seemed a little, maybe to me, a little generic.

[00:03:34] Like since it was designed to compete with what Mario and Sonic and the like.

[00:03:40] And you know, I already had my generic.

[00:03:42] I had Arrow the Acrobat on Super Nintendo.

[00:03:44] I didn't need more generic platformer.

[00:03:46] Okay.

[00:03:47] Okay.

[00:03:48] Nice.

[00:03:50] Well, it's funny that you bring up, you know, whether this was supposed to be a competition for...

[00:03:56] Not be A competition, but B competition for Sonic or Mario.

[00:04:01] I mean, this was trying to create a franchise character.

[00:04:04] But when I looked this up, when I looked up the information on this, there is a promo picture on MobyGames of a magazine ad that says...

[00:04:18] Let's see here.

[00:04:19] What does it say?

[00:04:20] It says, bad news for hedgehogs.

[00:04:23] So, I mean, I think that was the target, right?

[00:04:29] Was the Sonic in particular.

[00:04:31] Yeah, I mean, the game moves very fast.

[00:04:34] So I understand that.

[00:04:36] It is wild to me that I want to say this game was initially developed by one guy and the art was done by one more person.

[00:04:44] Really?

[00:04:45] I think that's what I read.

[00:04:47] Okay.

[00:04:48] I could be wrong.

[00:04:50] It was around that time, so I'm sure it was a pretty small team just the same.

[00:04:56] It is four people that have credits, by the way.

[00:04:59] Four people.

[00:05:00] Okay.

[00:05:01] Yeah.

[00:05:02] Now, whether or not, I mean, the code was one person was code.

[00:05:06] Who was that?

[00:05:07] Was that Gary Allen?

[00:05:08] George Allen.

[00:05:09] George Allen is what it says.

[00:05:11] Yeah.

[00:05:12] I remembered his last name and the first letter.

[00:05:14] Yeah.

[00:05:15] Right.

[00:05:16] Right.

[00:05:17] Yeah.

[00:05:18] And then you have somebody that did graphics.

[00:05:19] I mean, that makes sense.

[00:05:20] Somebody that did maps and then somebody that did music.

[00:05:23] It wasn't, there was no like multiple people on any of these.

[00:05:27] It was one person to one task.

[00:05:30] Code, level design, music, art.

[00:05:33] Uh-huh.

[00:05:34] Exactly.

[00:05:35] All right.

[00:05:36] Exactly.

[00:05:37] Yeah.

[00:05:38] Well, whoever was on music absolutely nailed it.

[00:05:42] Oh, yeah.

[00:05:43] The music in this game is spectacular.

[00:05:45] Like it's the stand out to me.

[00:05:47] Yes.

[00:05:48] Now, this is something since you open this door, this is a,

[00:05:54] this was a anomaly really toward the Amiga more than any other where,

[00:06:02] you know, there was no, you know, multiple channel or I guess there were

[00:06:07] multiple channels, but basically the way that they worked is a lot of

[00:06:12] these games you got either music or you got sound effects.

[00:06:16] And this was one of those games and where it gets even worse is there

[00:06:22] was the initial release.

[00:06:24] There was no design music per level.

[00:06:27] You went into the, into the options.

[00:06:29] You selected that you wanted music instead of sound effects and you

[00:06:32] selected the music that you played the entire time through.

[00:06:36] You picked one track.

[00:06:38] Oh man.

[00:06:41] That's the tracks were fantastic, but you picked one.

[00:06:47] I'm trying to see what else this guy maybe did that I am familiar with.

[00:06:54] It looks like he did a lot of stuff that was originally designed for

[00:06:59] Amiga.

[00:07:00] Oh, he did Top Gear two.

[00:07:02] Okay.

[00:07:03] Top Gear two had good music.

[00:07:04] Yeah.

[00:07:05] Alone in the dark, the new nightmare.

[00:07:07] I think that was the dream cast one.

[00:07:10] Okay.

[00:07:11] All right.

[00:07:12] So he has, he has some, he has some, some chops.

[00:07:16] He has some chops to call forth.

[00:07:19] Yeah.

[00:07:20] I've played a few of these games and remember some of their music.

[00:07:23] So.

[00:07:25] Pat felon or felon.

[00:07:28] I'm felon.

[00:07:29] We're going to feel.

[00:07:30] I think I think it's feeling high about called him felon.

[00:07:35] But yeah, the main theme is absolutely a banger in this game.

[00:07:41] And that is across pretty much like I tried.

[00:07:46] So you gifted me a copy of.

[00:07:50] Redimensioned.

[00:07:52] Correct.

[00:07:53] Which is on steam.

[00:07:55] So I played that one.

[00:07:57] I played it on Game Boy Genesis, Super Nintendo and Master System.

[00:08:02] And that main theme is in all five of them.

[00:08:05] And it's in all renditions.

[00:08:07] It doesn't sound exactly the same, obviously, but I mean, even

[00:08:10] sometimes the pacing of the song is different, but it's a banger

[00:08:14] and everyone like even on the Game Boy, it sounds rad.

[00:08:18] That's awesome.

[00:08:21] I, you brought up the Game Boy.

[00:08:23] I watched a play video of the Game Boy version and it loses

[00:08:29] so much of the speed.

[00:08:32] It does, which I'm not opposed to.

[00:08:36] I actually, I don't hate the speed in this game, but it can be frustrating.

[00:08:42] And after playing for a while, I figured out why the speed is frustrating.

[00:08:49] Now have the same idea, but go ahead.

[00:08:51] Okay.

[00:08:52] So this is a game.

[00:08:53] Think a game that does move as fast as Sonic moves.

[00:08:58] Like at his fastest, but like all the time.

[00:09:02] There's almost no ramp up for speed.

[00:09:05] Sonic's got a zero to 60 of like three seconds.

[00:09:10] Zool has a zero to 60 of like three quarters of a second.

[00:09:15] Right.

[00:09:17] And so you're, you start a little bit and then it's instantly

[00:09:21] boom.

[00:09:22] And the problem is the camera does not keep Zool in the center.

[00:09:27] He runs in the direction on the screen that you're going.

[00:09:32] So you lose some of that peripheral vision that you kind of need.

[00:09:37] And yeah, I know the Sonic games do that too, but when they do it,

[00:09:41] it's generally you're going so fast.

[00:09:43] It's a spot that's designed to be fast and not screw you over.

[00:09:47] Whereas this entire game is designed to screw you over.

[00:09:50] I was saying that's my complaint is you get Sonic speed.

[00:09:55] As you mentioned, you get Sonic speed at speed.

[00:09:59] Right?

[00:10:00] There's there's so little ramp up.

[00:10:02] And then this game is like the worst of blind jumps at Sonic.

[00:10:08] At Sonic.

[00:10:09] Yeah.

[00:10:10] I had that problem a lot.

[00:10:12] I want to say in the Genesis one, um, it was just blind jump after

[00:10:18] blind jump.

[00:10:19] You you have to make a leap of faith multiple times in a row at

[00:10:24] some points where you're just like, I hope this is how fast I need

[00:10:29] to be going and where I need to end up.

[00:10:31] Right?

[00:10:32] And you know, sometimes it's a leap of faith because you can't

[00:10:35] see what's below you.

[00:10:36] Right?

[00:10:37] Sometimes spikes.

[00:10:38] Yes.

[00:10:39] If they're going to be, you don't know if you need to go

[00:10:41] fast enough to clear the spike pit or slow enough to not fall

[00:10:45] in the spike pit.

[00:10:46] Right?

[00:10:47] And so you don't know that otherwise it's leap of faith jumps

[00:10:51] of just off screen jump and land on a platform.

[00:10:55] And a lot of times the first try, you might miss it and fall.

[00:10:59] And then you'll be like, all right, well, I guess I have to go

[00:11:02] back all the way around and try again.

[00:11:05] Now there are on a timer.

[00:11:07] Yes.

[00:11:08] But there are checkpoints.

[00:11:10] So yeah, I did figure that out.

[00:11:13] They're activated differently in some of the versions for some

[00:11:16] reason.

[00:11:17] I want to say the Genesis and Super Nintendo are pretty forgiving

[00:11:21] where you run up, just shoot a bullet through it or touch it

[00:11:25] and it flips.

[00:11:26] Right?

[00:11:27] And now you've got the checkpoint.

[00:11:28] I did learn that the Game Boy one has the checkpoints.

[00:11:32] So here's an interesting thing.

[00:11:35] The first way I tried this game was on the Game Boy.

[00:11:38] Nice.

[00:11:39] That was the first one I fired up like, OK, let's set the

[00:11:42] bar low because I'm going to start with the Game Boy version of a

[00:11:46] multi-platform ported game.

[00:11:50] Right.

[00:11:51] And I didn't realize a lot of the mechanics.

[00:11:55] So I wasn't having a bad time, but I kept coming up short on

[00:11:59] trying to get to the end of the stage.

[00:12:02] So finally after, I don't know, four or five lives, I was

[00:12:06] like, all right, I have a feel for this.

[00:12:08] Let me switch platforms.

[00:12:09] OK.

[00:12:10] I did switch platforms.

[00:12:12] I think that's when I tried Redimensioned.

[00:12:15] So I went from Game Boy to like the modern accessible one.

[00:12:19] Right.

[00:12:20] And it was hugely different.

[00:12:22] Uh-huh.

[00:12:23] And I actually liked the new take on it that's got the double

[00:12:28] jump and all that.

[00:12:30] And we'll come back to that in a bit, but it's a lot more

[00:12:33] accessible and player friendly.

[00:12:37] Yeah.

[00:12:39] So then I started jumping into the other one, Super Nintendo

[00:12:42] Genesis and Master System.

[00:12:45] And they all have their pros and cons.

[00:12:48] Weirdly, I hate the Super Nintendo version.

[00:12:54] Not for any other reason.

[00:12:58] Well, the Genesis has this issue a little bit, but not as

[00:13:01] bad as Super Nintendo.

[00:13:04] But it's so damn busy to look at.

[00:13:08] Oh, OK.

[00:13:10] Visual assault on your senses.

[00:13:12] You can't tell what's an enemy, what's foreground, what's

[00:13:15] background.

[00:13:16] There's just so much happening.

[00:13:18] And it's all very similar color palettes.

[00:13:21] OK.

[00:13:22] And so I was struggling to like spot an enemy in the mess

[00:13:28] of like little things that are in the foreground and

[00:13:30] background.

[00:13:31] And then the background is highly detailed.

[00:13:33] And it's just all the same color palettes.

[00:13:35] So everything's just moving.

[00:13:37] Right.

[00:13:38] I hope I don't die.

[00:13:42] All right.

[00:13:43] All right.

[00:13:44] So I played mostly the Amiga version, which of course is

[00:13:49] the original and to give a little to give a little background

[00:13:52] to our listeners on why we decided to talk Zool.

[00:13:58] We we when we started coming up with ideas for this

[00:14:02] week's episode, it kind of was like, should we give

[00:14:05] the Amiga a little love?

[00:14:07] And we started talking about multiple Amiga titles.

[00:14:10] And then we ended up starting to talk about, you know,

[00:14:13] platformers and then we started to we brought up Zool.

[00:14:18] So I have to I have to I have to, I don't know,

[00:14:23] confess a little bit.

[00:14:25] I don't like Amiga platformers.

[00:14:28] And there's a very distinct reason why.

[00:14:31] And that is it's a one button system, right?

[00:14:35] At least for a long time, it was a one button system.

[00:14:39] And Zool and what's the other one?

[00:14:44] Turrican.

[00:14:46] They both use the mechanism of pressing up to jump.

[00:14:51] Yeah.

[00:14:52] And it feels just like I remember playing games back

[00:14:57] in the day where it was pressed up to jump.

[00:14:59] And I and at that point in time, my brain would

[00:15:03] grok this and just do it.

[00:15:05] But the problem is, is in a modern day, I go back

[00:15:09] and play those games and it feels so wrong to like

[00:15:14] smash up while trying to smash over and you know, yeah.

[00:15:19] I definitely get that.

[00:15:21] Yeah.

[00:15:22] So and then of course the Amiga version did not have

[00:15:27] any of the creature comforts that came with

[00:15:31] the later versions, including double jump or in some

[00:15:36] additions you could actually climb the walls.

[00:15:39] You would grab you would grapple the master system.

[00:15:42] Interestingly enough.

[00:15:43] Yeah.

[00:15:44] You can move up and down the walls.

[00:15:46] No on the Amiga, you grasp it and then you have

[00:15:49] to jump off and you know, twist yourself back

[00:15:52] to grab again and again.

[00:15:54] And you're doing this by mashing up and left

[00:15:57] or right and it just feels so it feels wrong, you know.

[00:16:02] And and so like visually the game on the Amiga is fantastic.

[00:16:09] I mentioned the struggles with having either the sound

[00:16:12] effects or the music.

[00:16:13] The music on the Amiga is still fantastic, but you

[00:16:16] lose the sound effects.

[00:16:19] But honestly that interface of one button and that

[00:16:24] one button is your shoot or punch, right?

[00:16:26] I mean, or if you're jumping in the air and you press

[00:16:29] the button, you do your little spin attack, which

[00:16:32] I actually like the spin attack.

[00:16:34] I do like that feature.

[00:16:36] Oh yeah.

[00:16:37] Yeah.

[00:16:38] I do really enjoy that.

[00:16:40] Is it is it going to be weird?

[00:16:43] I'm going to go ahead and state my favorite of the

[00:16:45] versions I played.

[00:16:46] Okay.

[00:16:47] Gameboy.

[00:16:48] Oh really?

[00:16:49] After going and playing all the other ones and

[00:16:52] getting a really strong feel of the mechanics, I went

[00:16:54] back to the Gameboy one and because it can't be

[00:16:58] super busy, I can see what's happening.

[00:17:03] And the spin jump mechanic is there.

[00:17:08] It's a little awkward because you have to like hold

[00:17:10] up while you hit the attack button while in the

[00:17:13] air and that's what makes them spin because

[00:17:16] it's only got the two buttons jump and attack.

[00:17:18] So attack by itself is shoot.

[00:17:21] But if you're in the air and you hold and you hit

[00:17:24] attack and up, he'll spin.

[00:17:28] And so between all that, I found the Gameboy to be

[00:17:32] my favorite version in playability, you know, between

[00:17:37] the old four console ports of course.

[00:17:39] I was going to say are you including the

[00:17:41] remaster?

[00:17:42] No.

[00:17:43] Redimensioned.

[00:17:44] Redimensioned, I guess we'll touch on that now,

[00:17:48] was actually very enjoyable.

[00:17:51] I really liked how it played, the double jump made,

[00:17:55] the platforming not so painful because if you

[00:17:58] messed up something, you could sort of

[00:18:01] re-correct a little bit.

[00:18:04] And then of course, you know, it zoomed out

[00:18:07] because that was a huge issue at least for the

[00:18:10] Super Nintendo and Genesis versions is that

[00:18:13] the sprite, the character sprite is so big

[00:18:18] and like all the sprites are really big for

[00:18:21] what it is.

[00:18:22] And I know back then like, ooh, big sprites,

[00:18:24] really pretty selling point, you know.

[00:18:26] Yeah.

[00:18:27] I think Rayman had a similar thing going on.

[00:18:29] Right.

[00:18:30] But it was a much slower game.

[00:18:31] And Earthworm Gym.

[00:18:33] Yeah.

[00:18:34] Uh-huh.

[00:18:35] But those didn't go 95 miles per hour after

[00:18:38] a second.

[00:18:39] Right.

[00:18:40] Yeah.

[00:18:41] Earthworm Gym was very much about pull your head off

[00:18:43] and swing, right?

[00:18:44] Yeah.

[00:18:45] Like that was platforming challenges, not blind

[00:18:48] faith platforming challenges at supersonic speeds.

[00:18:53] Right.

[00:18:54] Right.

[00:18:55] So I appreciate what Redimension did

[00:19:00] and it made a game that was almost there

[00:19:04] really good.

[00:19:06] Yeah.

[00:19:07] Like that's my issue with going back and playing

[00:19:10] the old Zools is that it's almost there.

[00:19:14] Right.

[00:19:15] Yeah.

[00:19:16] So I mean, since we're touching on the Remaster,

[00:19:19] the Redimension as it's called,

[00:19:22] honestly, there are so many times that you get

[00:19:25] a remaster that you're like, OK, it's a,

[00:19:28] you know, it's a bucket of paint on the same game,

[00:19:31] but it has all the warts of the original game,

[00:19:33] right?

[00:19:34] I feel like they with the Redimension,

[00:19:38] they gave it, they paid homage to the game as it

[00:19:44] needed to be paid homage to.

[00:19:47] But they gave you all the creature comforts

[00:19:49] that makes it very playable, very playable.

[00:19:54] Like you even though you, you know,

[00:19:57] you move forward on the screen a little bit

[00:19:59] as you get to speed because it's backed out,

[00:20:02] you get so much more landscape that you still have

[00:20:05] that time to react, you know.

[00:20:09] So really quick, I want to, if you're OK,

[00:20:12] I want to talk about how they did the manual

[00:20:15] for this game.

[00:20:16] All right, let's do it.

[00:20:17] Yeah.

[00:20:18] So so the manual for this game,

[00:20:20] this was this was actually one of the highlights.

[00:20:22] I looked at a YouTube video where they talked about

[00:20:26] this game and they talked about how,

[00:20:30] you know, the manual was was kind of this really

[00:20:33] interesting take.

[00:20:35] And I know that a number of games did this like the

[00:20:38] The Adventure Quest games on the Atari did this as well

[00:20:41] where they gave you a comic book,

[00:20:43] but the comic book was built into the manual

[00:20:46] and it's it's this, you should go look it up.

[00:20:51] You can find it on a number of this,

[00:20:53] you know, the the history websites,

[00:20:57] but it's it's Zool, the main character as an old man.

[00:21:02] And he has he has his walking stick and he's sitting

[00:21:05] in his big recliner and he's got this old man beard

[00:21:08] and he's he's telling his grandkids or his kids a story.

[00:21:13] He's like, let me see.

[00:21:15] Let me tell you how this happened.

[00:21:17] And the whole premise is he's he's a he's a

[00:21:24] space ninja and it starts out there.

[00:21:28] I was on my way home after some heavy dude and duty

[00:21:32] ninjaing like, wow, how do you how do you get past?

[00:21:37] I mean, that's just yeah.

[00:21:39] So he gets sucked into this like dimension,

[00:21:42] which is where the whole thing comes out.

[00:21:45] And he's he's talking to his computer to see if

[00:21:49] he could figure out where he is.

[00:21:51] And then the computer's giving him some information

[00:21:54] and it makes these blurb, woob, blah, blah, blah.

[00:21:58] And then it's like, Zool, you have been brought to this land as a challenge.

[00:22:03] And it's this big, like you have to prove yourself

[00:22:07] as an intergalactic ninja, but it's never signed.

[00:22:11] Like it's never signed by anybody.

[00:22:13] So like I read this and I'm like,

[00:22:15] if this had been Mario, it would have been signed Bowser.

[00:22:19] You know, if this had been, you know,

[00:22:22] any of the other Dr. Eggman or somebody, right?

[00:22:25] I mean, yeah, but this never gives you any of that.

[00:22:27] And then the ship is like, I'm going to explode.

[00:22:31] So I'm shutting down and the last couple frames is Zool

[00:22:36] breaking through the wall of the ship and leaving the Zool shaped

[00:22:39] hole in the ship and then the exploding ship behind him.

[00:22:43] And that's that's the whole thing.

[00:22:45] That's how it that's how it describes.

[00:22:48] And then it just gives you like, you know, all of the information

[00:22:51] beyond that.

[00:22:52] But and then also something very interesting.

[00:22:57] Apparently the development team was running out of money

[00:23:01] and they ended up getting a sponsorship from what's

[00:23:11] the what's the brand Chupa Chups?

[00:23:13] Yeah, Chupa Chups.

[00:23:15] It's a candy company.

[00:23:17] And so you like this is part of that busy background.

[00:23:23] When you started talking about the busy background, I pictured

[00:23:26] the candy levels that are just.

[00:23:29] Shock full of colorful candy and Chupa Chup logos everywhere.

[00:23:35] So yeah, very interesting kind of premise.

[00:23:40] And then this also was one of those games that had the

[00:23:43] copy protection that was the spinning wheel that you had to

[00:23:47] line up multiple things.

[00:23:49] And apparently it was horribly printed.

[00:23:53] So you so like the numbers and stuff would be like upset.

[00:23:57] Like, yeah, so that sucks.

[00:24:01] Yeah.

[00:24:02] Anyway, so very interesting, very interesting manual, very

[00:24:06] interesting game.

[00:24:08] This came out on the the Amiga first.

[00:24:13] Came out on the Amiga before they did the advanced graphics

[00:24:17] edition or AGA and then they they did do a re-release for the

[00:24:22] AGA as well, which introduced a an intro movie when you on the

[00:24:27] AGA version.

[00:24:29] Oh, yeah.

[00:24:31] Interesting.

[00:24:33] Yeah.

[00:24:35] Is that what the 3D rendering of him is from?

[00:24:38] Uh huh.

[00:24:39] Pretty much.

[00:24:41] So.

[00:24:43] But yeah, I mean, you know, it is a it is a the Amiga did get a

[00:24:48] lot of good games and honestly during the day, I'm sure for

[00:24:52] everybody that was used to pressing up to jump this was a

[00:24:55] fantastic game.

[00:24:57] Oh, yeah, like, like I said, my uncle swore up and down by

[00:25:00] his Amiga he was he subscribed to the Amiga magazines,

[00:25:04] which I still have a couple of I think he was constantly

[00:25:09] like he'd be like, dude, you got to try this game.

[00:25:12] It would be a game that would come out like a while later.

[00:25:15] Like I think Chuck Rock did it as well.

[00:25:17] It came out for the Amiga first or something and then

[00:25:19] consoles.

[00:25:20] And so he told me about Chuck Rock and then later it came

[00:25:23] out and on other things that I was able to try it.

[00:25:25] I was like, eh, not for me, but I see why he was also I

[00:25:30] should specify.

[00:25:32] He was a graphic artist.

[00:25:37] He also appreciate like he used to do comic books when he was

[00:25:40] younger, things like that.

[00:25:42] So this was it was really up his alley when it crossed over

[00:25:46] between like something that was artistically new in video

[00:25:50] games as well as a video game.

[00:25:53] Right, right.

[00:25:55] You like video games, you like art.

[00:25:57] So what it combined the two, this is why he was into out

[00:25:59] of this world.

[00:26:00] It was something new for video games.

[00:26:02] So whenever there was something artistically new that

[00:26:05] played decent, he was all over it.

[00:26:07] And so I think that must be why he was into this one.

[00:26:10] Okay.

[00:26:11] Yeah.

[00:26:12] Graphically, it's a fantastic looking game.

[00:26:16] As you mentioned though, it is busy.

[00:26:18] It's very busy.

[00:26:20] Yeah.

[00:26:21] Sometimes what they did not think of is sometimes less is

[00:26:25] more.

[00:26:26] Right.

[00:26:28] Right.

[00:26:29] And so I do think the, I found it interesting that

[00:26:35] Redimension is based on the Genesis version.

[00:26:38] Okay.

[00:26:39] And so it's the Genesis versions levels, which every

[00:26:44] version seems to have different levels, which is odd.

[00:26:48] Yeah.

[00:26:49] Like some similar sensibilities in the level designs,

[00:26:52] but they're different levels.

[00:26:53] Right.

[00:26:54] Okay.

[00:26:56] And it seems like it toned down the background because

[00:27:01] the background in Redimension doesn't distract me from

[00:27:04] the game.

[00:27:05] Like it doesn't hide the elements.

[00:27:08] Like sometimes on the Genesis and Super Nintendo,

[00:27:10] I don't notice the spikes because they're white.

[00:27:13] The background has white.

[00:27:15] They're on white flooring.

[00:27:17] It gets lost.

[00:27:19] I have the same issue with the Amiga version.

[00:27:22] I can't tell you how many times I would run into a

[00:27:25] pit of spikes and be like, Oh, those are spikes.

[00:27:27] Like after I was already into them.

[00:27:29] And it's not even a pit of spikes.

[00:27:31] It'll just be spikes on the ground that you can just

[00:27:33] physically run into.

[00:27:34] And unlike Sonic the Hedgehog where if you run into

[00:27:37] spikes from the side, they don't hurt you because

[00:27:39] they're not stabbing you there.

[00:27:41] In Zool, they do hurt you if you touch them on

[00:27:44] the side.

[00:27:45] Right.

[00:27:46] So that was frustrating to me.

[00:27:49] I get it.

[00:27:50] It's not a huge issue.

[00:27:52] It's this, you know, this tile bed.

[00:27:54] I understand.

[00:27:55] Yeah.

[00:27:56] But yeah, definitely Game Boy and Master System are

[00:27:59] my preferred versions other than Redimensioned because

[00:28:03] they have a solid color background.

[00:28:06] Like it's, it doesn't hinder your gameplay.

[00:28:10] Right.

[00:28:11] And okay.

[00:28:13] Honestly, the Master System, I think had a smaller

[00:28:17] sprite.

[00:28:18] And so it gave you more room to see what was

[00:28:20] going on.

[00:28:21] Okay.

[00:28:22] Okay.

[00:28:23] Let me make sure I'm not talking out of my ass on

[00:28:26] that one.

[00:28:27] Yeah, the sprite is a bit smaller and I think it

[00:28:29] was better at keeping him in the middle of the

[00:28:31] screen.

[00:28:32] Okay.

[00:28:33] So, so we saw some improvements port to port.

[00:28:36] It sounds like.

[00:28:37] Yeah.

[00:28:38] Which is really weird to me that the Master System

[00:28:41] one is the one that nailed the camera.

[00:28:43] Right.

[00:28:44] Especially for being a system that didn't really

[00:28:49] have a huge release in North America.

[00:28:52] Yeah.

[00:28:53] In fact, I don't think the system, I don't think

[00:28:55] the game got a North American release on Master

[00:28:58] System.

[00:28:59] I want to say it was Europe.

[00:29:02] Let me see.

[00:29:03] Yeah, I've got it right here.

[00:29:05] So Master System, you probably are going to get

[00:29:09] to a faster United Kingdom only for Master

[00:29:12] System.

[00:29:13] Oh, okay.

[00:29:14] So just the UK, which seems like a small

[00:29:17] market for 1992, 93.

[00:29:20] Right.

[00:29:21] But I mean, it's a superior port.

[00:29:27] Okay.

[00:29:28] Especially with the climbing that sort of eases

[00:29:31] some of the issues with the jumps.

[00:29:33] Right.

[00:29:34] Because he does, Zule does have the Ninja

[00:29:37] Gaiden sticky jump a little bit.

[00:29:40] A little, when you say a little bit on the

[00:29:43] Amiga, it is aggressively Ninja Gaiden wall

[00:29:47] jump, wall grabs.

[00:29:48] It is aggressively that.

[00:29:50] And then of course they have, you know, they'll

[00:29:52] have wall to wall where you're supposed to

[00:29:54] jump back and forth.

[00:29:56] But there will be spikes on the other ones on

[00:29:59] the other side.

[00:30:00] And the problem is, is you don't have the

[00:30:02] ability to move up and down.

[00:30:04] So your only recourse is if you're too close

[00:30:07] and you're going to jump into those spikes,

[00:30:09] your only recourse is actually to jump down

[00:30:11] and then move your way back up.

[00:30:14] Yeah.

[00:30:15] And of course, you're not using a jump button

[00:30:18] once again.

[00:30:19] I mean, I guess technically up is a button, but

[00:30:22] you're using your D pad or your joystick up.

[00:30:25] And I can't overstate this.

[00:30:27] It's not a bad game.

[00:30:29] No, no, this game is.

[00:30:32] It's almost there, right?

[00:30:35] Yeah.

[00:30:36] It was almost a really good game.

[00:30:38] Yes.

[00:30:39] And as you mentioned, you know, if I would

[00:30:43] highly recommend it's $10 without being

[00:30:46] discounted, I would highly recommend the

[00:30:49] Redimension version.

[00:30:50] I only play the Redimension version for like

[00:30:53] 20 minutes and immediately I was like, oh, this

[00:30:56] is so much better of a game.

[00:30:58] Yeah.

[00:30:59] And I did go and try the hardcore mode that

[00:31:01] plays more like the original, but it's still

[00:31:03] zoomed out.

[00:31:04] Yeah.

[00:31:05] And it was frustrating again.

[00:31:07] Not as frustrating because things are still

[00:31:12] a little bit more visible.

[00:31:13] But yeah, it's still a bit frustrating.

[00:31:17] So again, it's a mechanics issue.

[00:31:21] The mechanics were so close.

[00:31:24] Yeah.

[00:31:25] So close to being what would be considered

[00:31:28] a classic instead of, you know, something

[00:31:31] that sort of just faded into the background

[00:31:33] as time went on, which is unfortunate

[00:31:35] because as a game that was designed by

[00:31:37] four people essentially, like that's a strong

[00:31:41] and I don't know if you checked it out, but

[00:31:44] I checked out George Allen's previous game.

[00:31:47] No.

[00:31:48] Switchblade 2 was his direct like the game he

[00:31:52] did just before this one.

[00:31:54] And that one was criticized apparently for

[00:31:56] not having enough enemies.

[00:31:58] And I don't know if that means like

[00:32:00] numerically or like, I don't know if that

[00:32:04] means quantity of enemies, just placement

[00:32:08] or enemy types.

[00:32:10] I don't know what it meant when it was stated,

[00:32:12] but I did play a couple levels and

[00:32:15] Zool is an enormous improvement.

[00:32:18] Okay.

[00:32:19] It's ridiculous.

[00:32:21] Huh.

[00:32:22] Now that game that he did before this one,

[00:32:25] Switchblade, what did you say it was?

[00:32:27] Switchblade something.

[00:32:28] Switchblade 2.

[00:32:30] Switchblade 2.

[00:32:32] Was that released on the Amiga first

[00:32:36] or was that on a different system?

[00:32:38] I think that was Amiga

[00:32:41] and later it was ported to the Atari

[00:32:44] Lynx, which is the version I played.

[00:32:46] So okay.

[00:32:47] It might have been a little simplified.

[00:32:49] It's I know the resolution is lower than

[00:32:51] on Amiga and so I'm not judging the art

[00:32:54] of the game, but just mechanically,

[00:32:58] structurally, design-wise, it was kind

[00:33:01] of boring.

[00:33:02] Okay.

[00:33:03] And even on the Lynx, it's just sound effects.

[00:33:07] Okay.

[00:33:08] Gotcha.

[00:33:09] Yeah, it looks like it looks like it was released

[00:33:12] on the Amiga and the Atari ST in the same year.

[00:33:15] I don't have a date because you know this was

[00:33:18] before they really started tracking dates.

[00:33:20] Yeah.

[00:33:21] Specifically.

[00:33:22] Also games didn't really have street dates back

[00:33:24] then.

[00:33:25] It was just shipped out when they got it.

[00:33:27] They sold it.

[00:33:28] So likely Amiga first, especially since

[00:33:32] you know, Zool was Amiga first.

[00:33:37] So okay.

[00:33:39] I may have to try Switchblade too.

[00:33:41] I may have to pull it up on the Amiga core on

[00:33:44] the MISTER.

[00:33:45] Yeah.

[00:33:46] You'll have to let me know how it looks and

[00:33:48] sounds and plays on that because like again,

[00:33:50] it was one of those games that it structurally,

[00:33:54] it has a lot going for it and it just narrowly

[00:33:57] misses the mark and becomes something mediocre

[00:33:59] instead of something good.

[00:34:01] Okay.

[00:34:02] You know, looking at George Allen,

[00:34:05] he looks like he is still in the game industry.

[00:34:10] Oh yeah?

[00:34:11] Yeah.

[00:34:12] He apparently was a real-time supervision of

[00:34:15] production for Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League

[00:34:19] on the PS5.

[00:34:20] Oh.

[00:34:21] Yeah.

[00:34:22] Interesting.

[00:34:23] So apparently he was in the, he was part of

[00:34:27] the testing and feedback for the Redimension Zool

[00:34:30] makes sense.

[00:34:32] But yeah, I mean it's cool to see somebody from

[00:34:36] that era still in the industry.

[00:34:39] Yeah.

[00:34:40] That's pretty darn cool.

[00:34:42] Oh, I do want to point out the Game Boy

[00:34:46] version actually gives you a sound option

[00:34:49] where music, sound or both.

[00:34:53] So they pay homage to like...

[00:34:58] Yeah.

[00:35:00] And one of the times I played it,

[00:35:02] I think I accidentally chose just music

[00:35:04] because I was like, where's the sound effects?

[00:35:06] That's fantastic.

[00:35:08] That's fantastic.

[00:35:09] But yeah, it's pretty cool that they did that.

[00:35:12] I thought that was interesting.

[00:35:14] Nice.

[00:35:15] All right.

[00:35:16] Well, I want to bring up one other little trivia thing

[00:35:18] which can also spin us into talking about

[00:35:20] the character themselves.

[00:35:22] Yeah.

[00:35:23] Apparently a lot of reviewers referred to Zool

[00:35:28] as an ant and it makes sense.

[00:35:31] When you look at him, he looks very ant-like.

[00:35:34] I think I used to think that too.

[00:35:37] Okay.

[00:35:38] Yeah, Gremlin actually issued a press release

[00:35:42] saying...

[00:35:44] Well, a press release claiming to be from the leader

[00:35:48] of a body representing ants complaining about

[00:35:52] the misrepresentation of hardworking ants

[00:35:56] as a species.

[00:35:58] That's funny.

[00:35:59] So, yeah.

[00:36:00] So obviously not an ant,

[00:36:02] but that also kind of...

[00:36:05] The reason I wanted to bring that up is there is a sequel

[00:36:09] and I didn't get to it, but you said you did.

[00:36:12] So do you want to talk a little bit about the sequel?

[00:36:15] I watched some Let's Play of the sequel

[00:36:19] because that one was strictly Amiga

[00:36:22] and I don't have an easy way to play Amiga at the moment.

[00:36:26] So I figured I'd check out the gameplay

[00:36:29] and I think I...

[00:36:31] Like I skipped through, I checked out what each stage was.

[00:36:34] I watched a Let's Play of the person pick

[00:36:37] Zoos instead of Zool.

[00:36:39] So with Zool 2,

[00:36:41] as we discovered a little bit before the episode started,

[00:36:45] it stars three characters.

[00:36:48] Zool, his female companion Zoos

[00:36:52] and their two-headed dog, Zoon.

[00:36:57] Now I was watching...

[00:36:59] When watching the gameplay,

[00:37:01] there's bonus stages after each boss

[00:37:05] that are kind of like

[00:37:08] breakout or something like that.

[00:37:10] Oh really?

[00:37:11] So you're moving something back and forth,

[00:37:14] knocking balls up and hitting all the bricks

[00:37:16] and collecting the things that fall down.

[00:37:18] So you're getting points, you're getting one-ups,

[00:37:20] you're getting things that affect the bonus game's gameplay.

[00:37:24] You might get more balls or slow them down or whatever.

[00:37:27] But this little thing,

[00:37:30] and it looked like two little Zoos or something,

[00:37:32] just moving back and forth

[00:37:34] and every once in a while you'd hear

[00:37:36] and I was like, what is happening?

[00:37:39] Well, when we found out

[00:37:41] that that was their two-headed dog, Zoon,

[00:37:43] it all clicked.

[00:37:47] That's fantastic.

[00:37:48] I don't understand why I keep hearing

[00:37:50] why this thing just has

[00:37:53] two little Zool heads moving back and forth

[00:37:55] like they were carrying a platform or something.

[00:37:57] I didn't know.

[00:37:58] Apparently it's a two-headed dog.

[00:38:00] That was it growling? That's awesome.

[00:38:02] Yeah.

[00:38:04] But it's like the lamest sound effect.

[00:38:08] They didn't even try.

[00:38:09] All right, I'm going to have to go back.

[00:38:11] I'm going to have to go watch or play this.

[00:38:13] Yeah.

[00:38:16] So you mentioned,

[00:38:17] I got to wonder if that was kind of a direct

[00:38:24] reference to Sonic's bonus stages, right?

[00:38:28] Which play entirely differently from Sonic the Game.

[00:38:33] And I wonder if they looked at that and said,

[00:38:36] okay, why don't we put in a breakout type game

[00:38:39] instead of a weird, you know,

[00:38:43] move around the stage?

[00:38:45] Like Sonic one was very sort of like spinning Pachinko.

[00:38:50] Sonic two was the half pipe.

[00:38:53] Sonic three had all sorts of them.

[00:38:55] But yeah.

[00:38:56] Yeah.

[00:38:57] And I think Zool two came out after Sonic three.

[00:39:00] And some three had like what it had this fear game.

[00:39:04] It had the giant,

[00:39:07] I want to say sort of reverse Pachinko.

[00:39:11] And then it had other stuff too.

[00:39:14] I can't think of it right now, but.

[00:39:17] Yeah.

[00:39:19] So I wonder if that was kind of a response to because I mean,

[00:39:22] obviously they were, they were taking on from that promo.

[00:39:27] They were very specifically taking on Sonic the Hedgehog.

[00:39:31] Yeah.

[00:39:32] Yeah.

[00:39:33] So.

[00:39:34] And I will say that Zool two seems like it got more stuff right.

[00:39:40] Okay.

[00:39:41] Do you think Zool two gameplay actually kept the character in

[00:39:46] the center at the backgrounds were not as busy or distracting?

[00:39:51] They didn't have to have Chupa Chups do sponsorship.

[00:39:55] Yeah.

[00:39:57] But like,

[00:39:59] it seems like they got a lot more right in the second one.

[00:40:01] And Jake pointed out that for some weird reason,

[00:40:08] zoos like they're both ninjas.

[00:40:11] But zoos look like looks like she's wearing red leather and

[00:40:14] she uses a whip.

[00:40:16] Yes.

[00:40:18] Which that's a choice.

[00:40:22] You know, at this point, they go in for a lecture

[00:40:26] or they were going for the 16 year old crowd.

[00:40:30] I mean, maybe.

[00:40:33] You know.

[00:40:35] But I want to say around this time.

[00:40:39] For whatever reason, I was given a pack of collectible cards

[00:40:44] from somewhere and one of them wound up being like Electra.

[00:40:49] Like they were just comic book collectible cards.

[00:40:52] So maybe that was something that was like.

[00:40:54] Oh yeah.

[00:40:55] Like new on the market.

[00:40:56] And so with that, I don't know.

[00:40:58] But it gives Electra vibes.

[00:41:01] Now I think back to that age.

[00:41:03] OK, OK.

[00:41:05] So the timing, I mean, honestly, it feels like.

[00:41:10] They really borrowed a lot from other games to put a game together.

[00:41:15] And I'm not saying that's a bad thing.

[00:41:17] I'm not saying that's a bad thing.

[00:41:19] I think it really was kind of an aspect of, OK, let's let's

[00:41:24] essentially build a game like these other games,

[00:41:27] but let's create our own character.

[00:41:31] Yeah, you know what Batman Returns came out in 92 as well.

[00:41:34] It's also a leather and a whip.

[00:41:37] So I think it was just part of the cultural zeitgeist at the time.

[00:41:42] The badass woman ninja with a whip.

[00:41:45] Hey, I'm I'm I'm hell yeah.

[00:41:52] Yeah.

[00:41:54] So yeah, it's it's definitely interesting.

[00:41:57] I think she's got kind of a Mohawk with a ponytail.

[00:42:01] Yeah, I the art is is almost a little hard to tell.

[00:42:07] I mean, it's because it's that kind of aunt looking head.

[00:42:10] Yeah.

[00:42:11] But definitely a ponytail.

[00:42:14] So yeah, I think yeah, she looks like she's just got the eye

[00:42:20] mask, no head mask like Zool.

[00:42:23] So she's got sort of like the Mohawk strip.

[00:42:26] That's awesome.

[00:42:27] Not necessarily a Mohawk, but it's like it looks like it's just

[00:42:30] cleaned off on the sides and just the long hair all the way back,

[00:42:33] which is it also seems very punkish for the time.

[00:42:38] Well, I was going to say that's a popular look today.

[00:42:41] Yeah, you see a lot.

[00:42:43] Yeah.

[00:42:44] So ahead of its time maybe.

[00:42:46] There you go.

[00:42:47] There you go.

[00:42:50] Well, I did watch Zelda or the Zelda tool, Zool too.

[00:42:55] In that one, apparently the enemy like it's a the same boss on

[00:43:00] every I don't want to mislead it's not the same boss, but the

[00:43:05] boss is the same entity.

[00:43:07] Okay.

[00:43:08] And like it takes a different shape.

[00:43:11] So on the first shape of the first boss, it's a block.

[00:43:14] The next time you fight it, I think it's an orb bouncing

[00:43:17] around one of the times you fight it.

[00:43:19] It's a light bulb, but it's different things.

[00:43:21] But it usually like in most of its forms because you fight it

[00:43:25] like six times it's some sort of block or square.

[00:43:28] And apparently his name is mental block.

[00:43:31] Well, I mean, okay, this this checks this checks out right

[00:43:37] because Bowser, it was always either Bowser or Bowser's

[00:43:42] kids or Bowser's whatever, like the enemies at the end of

[00:43:46] Mario stages are really kind of all the same as well.

[00:43:50] Yeah.

[00:43:51] Dr. Eggman, right?

[00:43:54] I mean, like, yeah, it's Robotnik with different robots or

[00:43:57] machinery, whatever.

[00:43:58] Yeah.

[00:43:59] Uh huh.

[00:44:00] I mean, this checks out like, yeah, I really do feel like

[00:44:04] they basically were like, let's create a character, but

[00:44:06] then let's take a lot of of, you know, ideas from other

[00:44:13] games before instead of making our own, right?

[00:44:16] Yeah.

[00:44:17] And in all fairness, that's how we've gotten some of our

[00:44:19] best games is you borrow ideas from other games, which is

[00:44:23] one of the reasons that a lot of people, including myself

[00:44:26] aren't big fans of what software copyright.

[00:44:31] Yeah.

[00:44:32] What is it?

[00:44:33] How is that coding copyright?

[00:44:34] I don't know what the term is, but yeah.

[00:44:36] Well, intellectual property, right?

[00:44:38] No, no, no, like to copyright and mechanic.

[00:44:42] Oh, um, trademark?

[00:44:45] Or maybe trademark.

[00:44:46] I don't remember.

[00:44:47] Patents.

[00:44:48] But like, yeah, it's like a mechanic patent or something,

[00:44:52] but like Namco did it in the 90s with minigames during

[00:44:55] loading screens so nobody else can do that.

[00:44:57] That sort of thing.

[00:44:59] And likely a patent then.

[00:45:02] Yeah.

[00:45:03] It's some sort.

[00:45:04] I think software patent might just be what it's called.

[00:45:05] I'm not sure.

[00:45:06] Like Nintendo tried to do it with tears of the

[00:45:08] Kingdoms building and McKinnah.

[00:45:12] What do you call it?

[00:45:13] The physics that applied to it.

[00:45:16] Hmm.

[00:45:17] That's like, that's not new to Zelda.

[00:45:21] Like, that was not the first game to ever do that.

[00:45:23] What are they doing?

[00:45:24] Right.

[00:45:25] Right.

[00:45:26] Um, since spring's up the sanity meter from

[00:45:30] eternal darkness, that was actually pretty, pretty

[00:45:33] revolutionary for eternal darkness.

[00:45:35] That was.

[00:45:36] I remember that for sure.

[00:45:38] I don't know if you ever played eternal darkness.

[00:45:40] Yeah.

[00:45:41] I love the sanity meter.

[00:45:43] I've played some and I watched a lot of it.

[00:45:45] Yeah.

[00:45:46] And I think when my, because I watched my step

[00:45:51] brother play it and I think that green volume bar

[00:45:56] in that one actually was exactly the same as our

[00:45:59] TV's green volume bar.

[00:46:02] So it was like really messing with him.

[00:46:05] Uh-huh.

[00:46:06] Oh, I know we're off on a tangent, but the one that got

[00:46:09] me the most, oh, the one that got me the most was a

[00:46:13] crash screen.

[00:46:14] The reset and then deleting your save games.

[00:46:18] Oh, after the crash game, it said like, you know,

[00:46:21] save games deleted or whatever.

[00:46:23] And like you went into like reload and there was

[00:46:25] nothing there.

[00:46:26] Oh no.

[00:46:28] Well, and then it let you sit there for like six or

[00:46:31] seven seconds and then you're back to the game.

[00:46:34] Like, but still like that, that one was just like,

[00:46:39] oh my God.

[00:46:40] Darkness did one of the coolest, like some of the

[00:46:43] coolest stuff in trolling the player without.

[00:46:45] Yes.

[00:46:46] Actually messing with their gameplay.

[00:46:48] It was great.

[00:46:49] Yeah.

[00:46:50] Yeah, for sure.

[00:46:51] Yeah.

[00:46:52] So, um, but yeah, I'm with you.

[00:46:55] I think, I think that, I mean, honestly, first off,

[00:46:58] we're at a point where new is really hard to come up

[00:47:03] with.

[00:47:04] Right?

[00:47:05] I mean, almost, I'm not going to say everything's

[00:47:07] already been done, but so much it's like music,

[00:47:10] right?

[00:47:11] Every note has been played.

[00:47:12] Yeah.

[00:47:13] It's just what the order is and, and you know,

[00:47:15] maybe, maybe what's synthesized,

[00:47:17] synthesis you put on it or whatever, right?

[00:47:19] But like every note's been played, right?

[00:47:22] And so I'm not going to say we have,

[00:47:24] we've tapped the entirety of what could be done in a,

[00:47:27] in a video game, but I think so much of it has already

[00:47:31] been there that we are just borrowing from previous,

[00:47:34] you know, intellectual.

[00:47:35] Yeah.

[00:47:36] At this point, it's taking ideas and perfecting them

[00:47:39] rather than coming up with new ideas at least

[00:47:42] most of the time.

[00:47:43] Like every once in a while you get a Bellatro,

[00:47:46] you know?

[00:47:47] Yes.

[00:47:48] Oh, news.

[00:47:49] I don't know if you saw this.

[00:47:50] Sorry.

[00:47:51] Let's have a quick news.

[00:47:53] Yeah.

[00:47:54] Let's have a quick news moment for the podcast.

[00:47:56] The creator of Bellatro has guaranteed that it will

[00:48:00] never be sold to any sort of gambling firm ever.

[00:48:04] He wrote this into his will.

[00:48:06] Yeah.

[00:48:07] Even like posthumously, he'd like it cannot ever be

[00:48:10] sold to a gambling company at all,

[00:48:13] which is awesome.

[00:48:14] Yeah.

[00:48:15] Cause he's like, I mean, it's not a gambling game.

[00:48:18] No.

[00:48:19] The only thing that it borrows from gambling is poker

[00:48:23] mechanics.

[00:48:24] Yeah.

[00:48:25] It's not even poker game.

[00:48:26] It's poker mechanics.

[00:48:28] Yeah.

[00:48:29] So I know we already did an episode, but play Bellatro.

[00:48:33] Go check that one out if you missed it.

[00:48:35] Go play Bellatro.

[00:48:37] I think it should be hitting phones not too long

[00:48:39] from now too, right?

[00:48:40] Yeah.

[00:48:41] Yeah.

[00:48:42] It hasn't already.

[00:48:43] Yeah.

[00:48:44] He's definitely stated it's going to be,

[00:48:45] which is going to be bad for everybody.

[00:48:49] Meetings are going to become hell at work.

[00:48:52] And I think it's also got a big update coming out next year,

[00:48:54] which.

[00:48:55] Yeah.

[00:48:56] I think DLC, the first DLC, right?

[00:48:58] Is that what it is going to be DLC?

[00:49:00] I think so.

[00:49:01] And I think it's free DLC if I remember.

[00:49:03] Oh, yeah.

[00:49:04] That's just a patch.

[00:49:06] I know.

[00:49:07] That's a big update.

[00:49:08] That's the, I don't call that DLC.

[00:49:11] Okay.

[00:49:12] But in the definition of DLC, it is downloadable and it

[00:49:15] is content.

[00:49:16] But yeah, it tends to imply you pay for it.

[00:49:22] Sure.

[00:49:23] In this case, no.

[00:49:24] Well, I mean, yeah, how much of No Man's Sky is DLC

[00:49:28] and how much is the actual game?

[00:49:30] Right?

[00:49:31] Yeah.

[00:49:32] It's like 90% DLC at this point.

[00:49:34] Right?

[00:49:35] You want to go that route.

[00:49:38] Yeah.

[00:49:39] Anyway, Zool definitely give it a shot.

[00:49:42] I recommend Game Boy or Master System personally.

[00:49:45] At least if you're looking at the old ones.

[00:49:48] Yeah.

[00:49:49] And definitely, definitely check out for $10.

[00:49:53] Honestly, this game on the Redimensioned, Remastered,

[00:49:57] whatever they call it Redimensioned, but it is not

[00:50:00] just a slap of paint on top of the original.

[00:50:04] It is creature comforts in that brings it to essentially

[00:50:10] what would be a modern platformer.

[00:50:13] Yeah.

[00:50:14] Yeah.

[00:50:15] I do believe what Redimension did do it would have made

[00:50:19] it an actual contender against some of the other major

[00:50:22] platformers of the time.

[00:50:25] Yeah.

[00:50:26] Yeah, if it had played that way, we might have had

[00:50:30] Sonic and Mario and Zool.

[00:50:33] Right?

[00:50:34] Yeah.

[00:50:35] I can even get behind how zoomed in it was if Zool

[00:50:37] just stayed in the center of the camera at all times.

[00:50:40] Yeah.

[00:50:43] But yeah, the Redimensioned, but I mean, you know,

[00:50:47] I fully support learning where history comes from.

[00:50:51] So, yeah, check them all out.

[00:50:53] Oh yeah.

[00:50:54] It was definitely cool to look into this.

[00:50:56] As I said, I do have a story kind of tied to it

[00:50:59] a little bit and I do remember seeing it on the

[00:51:01] shelves back then.

[00:51:02] This wasn't one that just completely skipped over my

[00:51:05] head.

[00:51:06] It was just one I never bothered.

[00:51:07] Like I'd pick up and put it back down.

[00:51:10] Right, right, right.

[00:51:12] I looked at it at the rental store and never

[00:51:15] actually rented it.

[00:51:16] Well, yeah.

[00:51:20] With that, is there anything else you want to say

[00:51:23] about Zool?

[00:51:24] No, I thought it was a good pick for the week,

[00:51:30] for sure.

[00:51:31] Next up, we'll have to check out Vin's

[00:51:33] Glortho.

[00:51:34] Yes.

[00:51:35] I saw, I saw, I was hoping for those listening to the

[00:51:42] podcast.

[00:51:43] For like a month and a half, but right, but for

[00:51:46] those listening to the podcast, he pointed to

[00:51:49] his vinyl sleeve for the Ghostbuster soundtrack.

[00:51:52] So anyway, before we close this out, is there

[00:51:57] anything you've got going on?

[00:51:59] Anything you've been playing?

[00:52:00] You want to talk about?

[00:52:02] I've gotten back into the truck simulators and I

[00:52:07] highly recommend them.

[00:52:09] I've been playing American Truck Simulator lately

[00:52:12] and it's just, it's chill.

[00:52:17] But I'm going to argue we had this discussion,

[00:52:20] we had this discussion in Press B to

[00:52:22] Cancel, sorry on our Discord, but go to

[00:52:24] PressB2Cancel.com to find out and come

[00:52:26] join our Discord.

[00:52:28] But I had this argument.

[00:52:30] It's an RPG.

[00:52:31] Come fight me.

[00:52:33] How about you?

[00:52:36] That's pretty cool.

[00:52:37] I have played some, I want to say some Euro

[00:52:40] Truck and some American Truck Simulator.

[00:52:42] Yeah.

[00:52:43] Because I have both of those, I think.

[00:52:45] It is fun, but I'm terrible at backing up the

[00:52:48] trailers in those games.

[00:52:50] To give you a little, a little, I guess

[00:52:53] Sinistar spoiler, I use the middle entry,

[00:52:57] which generally I can just drive forward

[00:52:59] into.

[00:53:00] Ah.

[00:53:01] Yeah.

[00:53:02] When you park, there's either auto park,

[00:53:05] there's one that's like a halfway point where

[00:53:08] basically it kind of gives you a point on

[00:53:11] the map to just drive your truck essentially

[00:53:13] and place it on or there's the hardest

[00:53:16] option, which is backing it up to the actual

[00:53:19] bay, the loading bay.

[00:53:21] I don't think that was available in

[00:53:23] Euro Truck Simulator.

[00:53:25] Okay.

[00:53:26] The pulling in.

[00:53:27] It was either back it in or auto park.

[00:53:31] Nice.

[00:53:32] Well, the American version, you get the middle

[00:53:34] one and you get about half the experience for

[00:53:36] that one.

[00:53:37] And as I was telling you before the episode

[00:53:40] started, I started Outer Wilds this week.

[00:53:44] And that is a really cool little puzzle game

[00:53:48] that's just about exploring your solar system

[00:53:52] and figuring out what's going on and trying

[00:53:56] to stop it from happening because I don't

[00:53:59] think it's a huge spoiler to say this.

[00:54:01] About every 30 minutes of gameplay, the

[00:54:04] solar system resets and your cotton time

[00:54:08] loop.

[00:54:09] It's a little Groundhog Day.

[00:54:10] I'm glad you brought that up when we

[00:54:12] started talking before the episode

[00:54:14] because as I mentioned to you, when I

[00:54:17] saw the Steam page for this, I was

[00:54:20] like, oh, it's just another No Man's Sky.

[00:54:23] Why would I want to pick it up?

[00:54:25] And so I'm glad you mentioned that it's

[00:54:27] not.

[00:54:28] It's very much not.

[00:54:29] Yeah, I think exploring a small solar system

[00:54:32] for mist or something along those lines, it's

[00:54:35] very much come across the puzzle, solve

[00:54:38] the mystery.

[00:54:39] But it's like free roaming.

[00:54:41] You can just go to whatever planet you see

[00:54:43] in space, explore the planet you start on,

[00:54:46] just do whatever.

[00:54:47] I think I crashed into a moon really

[00:54:49] fast at one point and had to go out and

[00:54:51] fix my ship.

[00:54:52] I just sort of bounced off of it, which

[00:54:54] was weird.

[00:54:56] Nice.

[00:55:01] But yeah, I've heard nothing but good

[00:55:03] things about this and everybody, I will

[00:55:06] relay this to you guys too.

[00:55:09] If you're interested in an interesting

[00:55:11] narrative with good puzzling, this is

[00:55:15] one to play.

[00:55:16] Don't look further into it than that

[00:55:18] because apparently the narrative is

[00:55:20] something really special and spectacular

[00:55:22] and everybody's like, don't spoil it.

[00:55:27] So that sounds like that card game.

[00:55:30] What was that card game?

[00:55:33] That had the, you did an episode on it

[00:55:36] where it's kind of, it's a deck builder,

[00:55:40] but it's also like got the creepy element.

[00:55:45] Inscription.

[00:55:46] Yes, it sounds like kind of inscription

[00:55:48] where like there's, you look at the

[00:55:50] game from the top and you're like,

[00:55:52] that's just in this case with yours,

[00:55:55] it's just a space exploration, or

[00:55:57] it's just a card game with inscription,

[00:56:00] but there's a narrative and a story

[00:56:02] behind it.

[00:56:03] Yeah.

[00:56:05] And I mean, it's really interesting.

[00:56:07] I've dug into some of the narrative

[00:56:08] and stories so far and it's really

[00:56:10] cool how it just unfolds and gives

[00:56:12] you an idea of what's been going on

[00:56:15] and it's pretty cool.

[00:56:17] It is not voice acted, it is all

[00:56:19] reading, so something to consider.

[00:56:24] Yeah, I don't like reading anymore.

[00:56:29] But to be fair, most of what you're

[00:56:30] reading is because you're translating

[00:56:31] old text.

[00:56:33] Very cool.

[00:56:34] Well, I mean a lot of, when like

[00:56:38] Subnautica, a lot of it was reading

[00:56:40] as well and well worth reading.

[00:56:43] Yeah, in terms of like, it does

[00:56:45] give a little Subnautica vibes

[00:56:47] in terms of just like how the

[00:56:50] world just sort of builds around

[00:56:52] you as you're exploring, but

[00:56:54] you're not trapped in one spot.

[00:56:56] You can literally just go wherever

[00:56:58] and check it out.

[00:57:00] Very cool.

[00:57:01] So I actually went out past the

[00:57:02] edge of the solar system and my

[00:57:04] ship was like, we need to auto

[00:57:07] pilot you back towards the star.

[00:57:09] You've gone too far.

[00:57:12] So kind of like Subnautica where

[00:57:14] it just throws Leviathan after a

[00:57:16] Leviathan at you if you go beyond

[00:57:17] the edge.

[00:57:18] Yeah, as far as I'm aware,

[00:57:20] there's nothing combat wise in

[00:57:23] this game.

[00:57:24] Okay.

[00:57:25] There are hazards, there's fall

[00:57:26] damage, but nothing combat.

[00:57:28] That's cool.

[00:57:29] I'll have to check this one out.

[00:57:31] I did.

[00:57:32] I will say this because I thought

[00:57:33] it was hilarious.

[00:57:34] I did accidentally die before I

[00:57:36] got to the first save point the

[00:57:38] first time because I jumped on a

[00:57:41] geyser and it sent me way up into

[00:57:44] the sky and I just fell to my

[00:57:47] death.

[00:57:50] Nice.

[00:57:51] Couldn't even be mad.

[00:57:52] It was just funny.

[00:57:53] That's yeah, that's great.

[00:57:54] Did you did you ragdoll?

[00:57:56] I hope you ragdolled.

[00:57:57] No, they don't show you that

[00:57:58] because it's all first person.

[00:57:59] Oh, okay.

[00:58:00] It just you see like the pain

[00:58:02] thing happened to the screen and

[00:58:04] then it goes black.

[00:58:06] It's like game or you died or

[00:58:08] you are dead or something like

[00:58:10] that.

[00:58:11] It's like, well, take me back

[00:58:12] to the title screen.

[00:58:15] Very nice.

[00:58:16] This is a save point.

[00:58:18] That's awesome.

[00:58:19] Yeah, I'm going to have to check

[00:58:20] this one out for sure.

[00:58:22] Yeah, this was one I had been

[00:58:24] considering playing on stream,

[00:58:26] but or at least recording and

[00:58:28] putting up on the YouTube.

[00:58:30] But I was like, I think I'd

[00:58:31] just rather enjoy this one.

[00:58:34] So yeah, yeah, for sure.

[00:58:36] So far after about three hours,

[00:58:38] I recommend.

[00:58:41] Okay.

[00:58:42] Nice.

[00:58:43] And all right with that.

[00:58:45] Thank you guys for listening.

[00:58:47] This is Presby to cancel.

[00:58:48] You can check us out at our

[00:58:49] website, presbytocancel.com.

[00:58:51] Come join the discord.

[00:58:52] We always love chatting with

[00:58:53] people there.

[00:58:54] It's when it gets lively, it

[00:58:56] gets lively.

[00:58:57] Like sometimes I can't keep up

[00:58:58] with the chat, which is awesome.

[00:59:00] Yes.

[00:59:01] Some days I wake up and

[00:59:02] there's been like two

[00:59:03] conversations have happened.

[00:59:05] Right.

[00:59:06] I'm like reading for a half

[00:59:07] hour.

[00:59:08] Well, and as I said, come

[00:59:09] fight me on.

[00:59:11] Yeah, RPG.

[00:59:12] Being an RPG.

[00:59:13] Yeah, let's go.

[00:59:16] All right.

[00:59:17] Thank you very much, everybody.

[00:59:18] This has been a good one.

[00:59:20] Thank you.

[00:59:21] Good idea.

[00:59:22] Zool.