Pre-Pokemon Game Freak

[Discoalucard]

www.hardcoregaming101.net/gamefreak/gamefreak.htm

This article starts off with the origins of Game Freak, as well as detailing many of their other later, non-Pokemon games. We'll be posting the rest in sections with each update. First up:

Mendel Palace



www.hardcoregaming101.net/mendelpalace/mendelpalace.htm

Smart Ball



www.hardcoregaming101.net/smartball/smartball.htm

[Malev]

Slightly better cover of the Jerry Boy manga:


Both these early Game Freak games have GameCenterCX episodes centered around them. They shouldn't be hard to find if you google them.

I plum forgot to mention the interesting tidbit of Smart Ball/Jerry Boy's 2-B boss being based on M.C. Escher's tessellated Sky and Water prints:


I kinda wish there were more/better scans of the Quinty and Jerry Boy books and manga. The 2-page comic given in the article was one of the complete manga parts with only one good scan of the first half of part 1 (Carton being transformed into a Ballerina doll) and a much-later manga with Quinty looking back through a photo album. That one wasn't chosen to be translated and shown here since Quinty was nude in a few panels. Barbie doll built, but nude nonetheless, and it was better to curtail any NSFW links.

Both Jerry Boy titles have translation patches for those interested:

Jerry Boy translation patch
Jerry Boy 2 translation patch

[Jungyin]

As I'm a fan of Game Freak, is it okay if you could link to where one can find more of the company's art, manga, magazines, and other such work? Or do such places also the include the NSFW-ish stuff too?

[Malev]

Mar 16, 2014 21:23:34 GMT -5 Jungyin said:

As I'm a fan of Game Freak, is it okay if you could link to where one can find more of the company's art, manga, magazines, and other such work? Or do such places also the include the NSFW-ish stuff too?

There's a tumblr of Sugimori art. It mostly has Pokemon artwork, but with tags you can find the other Game Freak game art.
Quinty Manga stuff Includes the semi-questionable manga short

In the Smart Ball/Jerry Boy article, there's a link to the fansite with a section with some pics from the Jerry Boy manga.

One nice new art is one of Sugimori's avatars using Beatrice from Pulseman in his current style. Seems he's interested in remaking or making another Pulseman, if he can.


And a few Quinty related pics from the magazines and book I've been able to find:
i.imgur.com/Pfjyp0R.jpg
i.imgur.com/dxH0NFK.jpg semi-cheeky

[Jungyin]

Thank you. And another Pulseman would be awesome. Maybe it could have a chance on Nintendo's eShop?

[ReyVGM]

"uddenly hype and sales exploded, leading to the start of the TCG"

What's TCG?

[Malev]

Mar 17, 2014 0:43:49 GMT -5 ReyVGM said:

"uddenly hype and sales exploded, leading to the start of the TCG"

What's TCG?

The Card Game. Should it say CCG or spell it out as the (Collectible) Card Game?

[Jungyin]

I think it would be better spelled out as "Trading Card Game" as that's the term the game uses.

[Super Orbus]

TCG = Trading Card Game. Basically a synonymous term with CCG. I seem to recall there may have been some legal wrangling over the different terms. Like Wizards had maybe trademarked the term Trading Card Game, so other companies started using CCG. Or maybe it was the other way around.

[kingmike]

The Jerry Boy article complains about the controls.
They actually did separate the fire and run buttons in Smart Ball (L/R to fire and X/Y to run, whereas X/Y did both in Jerry Boy).
Though one feature in Jerry Boy/Smart Ball that would seem like a bug is that after collecting 10 balls (ammo), you automatically trade them for one heart refill if you aren't full. I know I read one review that complained about that (understandable if you don't have a manual, which lists that).

[Malev]

Mar 18, 2014 10:51:32 GMT -5 kingmike said:

The Jerry Boy article complains about the controls.
They actually did separate the fire and run buttons in Smart Ball (L/R to fire and X/Y to run, whereas X/Y did both in Jerry Boy).
Though one feature in Jerry Boy/Smart Ball that would seem like a bug is that after collecting 10 balls (ammo), you automatically trade them for one heart refill if you aren't full. I know I read one review that complained about that (understandable if you don't have a manual, which lists that).

Oh okay, the separated buttons I didn't see since I stuck to the Japanese version after playing both games for 2 stages, since they were otherwise equal except for the mid-stage cut content I needed shots for. The stickiness and jump physics still stand, but at least you can run and leap without wasting balls or your power-up in the US release. Still, chalk that up to Game Freak's youth as a developer or deadline push on Sony's behalf, especially since a lot of those mechanics were tweaked and fixed in the cancelled sequel.

Fix for that paragraph:

The biggest issue with Smart Ball is the sloppy controls. Jerry tends to stick to walls and likes to fall off ceilings if scooted off the wrong way. Much of these problems stem from wrestling with the D-pad and especially the Run/Attack button. Jerry is a pokey blue slime by default and barely moves on walls and never on the ceiling unless he's moving fast enough. Even jumping high enough without a hi-jump power-up inside is difficult without enough dashing momentum, causing a few close quarter leaps to become frustrating to perform. The second problem, though only in the Japanese release, is the sharing of run and attack on the same button like on the NES's 2-button layout. Like Fire Mario, Jerry tosses a projectile as he starts picking up speed due to the shared button, but Jerry's ammo is very limited, costing precious balls due to having to perform a required running start or wall climb. Since any power up not health or a 1up supercedes your gathered balls, it's very quick to lose any added firepower Jerry might have, or waste your powerup from an accidental boost. This problem was rectified in the US release by placing the shoot command to the L/R shoulder buttons. One good strategy in both version is to stock up on the regenerating flowers for a bunch of balls, especially since one flower usually nestles itself near the stage boss, and collecting 10 balls replenishes one heart. It's still a bit of a tedious process waiting for the flower to grow another ball back each time, and even packing a large projectile arsenal in your slimy body, their weak throwing arc sideways or upward still requires the blue bean to stick close to baddies. Death can come quick due to level design or devious enemy placement, but the generous extra lives and multiple checkpoints helps curtail the cheapness. These faults knock the game down to merely "okay" status as the lack of a rush on Sony's side might've given time to tighten the controls.

Also, Chris Covell's fan page linked in the article mentions seeing preview shots of the game back when it was tentatively named "Jelly Bean". He mentions a different graphical style than the finished work. The pics were in the December 1990 issue of EGM. If anyone has that issue, try to scan that page.

Oh, and the link to the Mendel Palace paper ad's broken.

EDIT: Found other sites of Covell's that has Japanese mag scans of the early Jerry Boy: www.disgruntleddesigner.com/chrisc/secret/SFC_1990Q3.html#jbean




There were 2 early builds, the first very detailed while the 2nd closer to the final version. Which images from the site should we showcase here?

[bakudon]

In the screenshot, the name for the monkey game is given as ”Bazaar de Gosāru no Game de Gosāru”, while the text says ”Bizarre de Gozarre no Game de Gozarre”. Considering the name is a pun on the words saru (monkey) and de gozaru (polite copula), I’d stick with the phonetical version, but it’s ”Gozāru”, with a z.

[bakudon]

Some parts I feel coud use a better wording, from the Jerry Boy part:

”Known for his work with 80s bands like YOU and QUYS and composing the soundtrack for the anime They Were Eleven but before working on many of the Bomberman titles, Fukuda brings his chops at creating a eclectic mix of genres for the score. Yasuhiko was also assisted with 2 other new starlets to bring the music to this game, one of them an up-and-coming Akira Yamaoka getting his start producing chiptune tracks unlike his industrial edge to them.”

I’m having some trouble parsing this. So Fukuda was composing for the animation at the same time he was working on the game? Or was he done with that already (”having composed”). Shouldn’t the next sentence say ”assisted by”? Yamaoka was then known for chiptune tracks with an ”industrial edge”, and now for the first time did something without such edge?

Jelly Boy 2:

I feel the second paragraph has an overabundance of definite articles.

Paragraph 3: ”mice ... run rampart”: Should be ”rampant”.

Paragraph 4: ”Many design streamlining and changes serve...”: ”Streamlining” is an uncountable word, so it cannot have ”many” as a modifier.
Paragraph 4: ”Gone is any towns...”: Are.

[Malev]

Mar 25, 2014 2:17:46 GMT -5 bakudon said:

Some parts I feel coud use a better wording, from the Jerry Boy part:

”Known for his work with 80s bands like YOU and QUYS and composing the soundtrack for the anime They Were Eleven but before working on many of the Bomberman titles, Fukuda brings his chops at creating a eclectic mix of genres for the score. Yasuhiko was also assisted with 2 other new starlets to bring the music to this game, one of them an up-and-coming Akira Yamaoka getting his start producing chiptune tracks unlike his industrial edge to them.”

I’m having some trouble parsing this. So Fukuda was composing for the animation at the same time he was working on the game? Or was he done with that already (”having composed”). Shouldn’t the next sentence say ”assisted by”? Yamaoka was then known for chiptune tracks with an ”industrial edge”, and now for the first time did something without such edge?

Right, little fixer-upper:

”Known for his work with 80s bands like YOU and QUYS and also composing the soundtrack for the anime They Were Eleven, Fukuda brings his chops at creating a eclectic mix of genres for the score. Yasuhiko was also assisted by 2 other new starlets to bring the music to this game, one of them an up-and-coming Akira Yamaoka getting his start producing chiptune tracks that lack the industrial edge he would become known for under Konami's and Grasshopper Manufacture's studios. Fukuda would later work on multiple Bomberman titles following the release of Smart Ball.”

The Yamaoka line was in reference of an interview with him about his early video game work, stating that the music he did in Jerry Boy/Smart Ball wasn't exactly his forte/cup of tea. Actually, I don't think he got to make the sort of sound he was known for until the later half of the 90s when he could record with his guitar. I would love to hear his thoughts on many of the early Konami stuff, including working on many titles like Contra Hard Corps, Sparkster, and others with Michiru Yamane and many of those sports titles like Winning Eleven and Nagano '98. Not to mention both Poy Poy games. That's another that really doesn't match the sort of music people know him for.

[bakudon]

About Mario & Yoshi:

”There is no means for throwing more blocks to each other for better play or higher stacks gobbled away between eggs.” Actually, getting yoshies does generate extra blocks for your opponent to deal with, in proportion to the blocks cleared away by the egg halves.