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Double Dragon iPhone Interview

April 7, 2011

Hi all welcome to another Capsule Computers interview. This time MasterAbbott sat down with Mr. Ryosuke Jinno, Project Director (Brizo Interactive) the creators of Dragon Dragon on the Apple iPhone. Anyone that’s a fan of the Double Dragon franchise should take the time to read through this indepth interview with Ryosuke there’s quite a lot of really cool information about how Brizio created the remake to this legendary 2D side scrolling beat em up.

Enjoy the interview.

1. When was Million Co. Ltd/Brizo Interactive first established – Where are your offices located. What other titles have you developed in the past?

Brizo: The company was established in 2002, and is located in the 2F Toyoda Bldg., 5-3 Hiroshiba-Cho, Suita-City, Osaka. We develop iPhone versions of the well-known titles made by big companies. Since it is confidential, I can’t reveal the titles, but we cover almost all genres including Fighting, Action, Adventure, etc. We’ve worked on the very famous titles such as Double Dragon, Tamagocchi, Sonic, and Ragnarok.

2. While creating Double Dragon on the iPhone, did you communicate or speak to the original developers Technos Japan and designer Yoshihisa Kishimoto? If so what input was provided from them?

Brizo: We didn’t work directly with Mr. Kishimoto, but Million supervised us. We’ve been trying not to ruin the original world setting/perspective and disappoint fans.

3. What was your main reason for creating this remake of Double Dragon on the iPhone opposed to creating it on another console?

Brizo: In terms of developing Double Dragon, this iPhone version is our 3rd title after making a mobile game for North America/South America called Zeebo (and a console version for South America). We decided to make Double Dragon iPhone not only because we’re a mobile game developer, but also because we’ve noticed that there are so many fans who were waiting for Double Dragon on iPhone. In addition, we’ve done a lot of research into the technical aspects of iPhone, and we were confident we could re-creat Double Dragon’s world.

4. How many developers did it take to create Double Dragon? How long was development? Where there any issues with development? And what did the team do to overcome them.

Brizo: A total of 15 people worked on this title in jobs such as Programmer, Designer, Planner, Director, and Debugger. It took about 10 months, including planning.

The most difficult part was unexpected technology changes, as the device itself was changed during development, and the SNS functionality was added.

Also, we had a difficult time trying to decide on the design—specifically, how we would keep its 2D pixel theme as well as Double Dragon’s “tough” image. However, since we were very particular about what we wanted to create, I’m confident that we did a good job.

5. During development, were there any ideas that couldn’t quite make it into the final build of the game?

Brizo: There are still a lot of people in the US who haven’t updated to iOS 4.0. We assumed that most of users would have updated their iOS versions, so now, we’re planning to release updates for those who use older versions of iOS.

6. From all the Double Dragon remakes on all the different home and portable consoles which one do development team believe was the best one ?

Brizo: I’m tempted to say that is this iPhone version, ha ha ha. However, I’d like to think that it was the design of the original arcade that helped Double Dragon gain the fanbase that it has.

I remember when I was kid I used to play the Double Dragon arcade all the time. I put a whole lot of coins into the one in front of the local convenience store.

We respect the original Double Dragon very much.

7. What was it like redesigning the original Double Dragon characters and recreating them into a modern game?

Brizo: It wasn’t too hard to redesign the original Double Dragon since the world was already established. We were very careful about how we could maintain that world, and how we could approach users in Europe/America in such a way that they would still see the game as exciting and exotic. The 2D pixel images might be outdated but that is the technique that Japan developed, and we’re very proud of it. It was challenging for us to use this technique on such an advanced piece of equipment.

8. Where did the ideas and inspirations come from when creating the three new never before seen levels and the three new boss characters.

Brizo: Those are the result of a lot of internal brainstorming. We knew Abobo, Brunov, Chin, and Willie had to be in the game, but we thought it would be kind of boring if there weren’t any women. So, we added in some ladies.

9. Why was Marian’s hair changed from Brown/Red to Blonde ?

Brizo: To be honest, we didn’t really think too hard on that. Ha ha ha! If fans don’t like it, we might want to consider changing it!

MasterAbbot’s Reply : NO its ok .. leave it how it is 😉

10. Please explain the reason behind mixing characters from both Double Dragon 1 and 2 in this remake of Double Dragon on iPhone. Were there characters you wanted to add but couldn’t and why?

Brizo: Initially, we wanted to pull every good aspect of Double Dragon into this game. Considering the entire volume of the game, that would have been 30 playable characters and 6 stages. If possible, we wanted to use all the characters, but we didn’t because, the game would have started to drag, and it would have frustrated players.

11. This is the first time in any Double Dragon game that will allow you to gain experience. What characters can gain experience? Is this option only available to Billy and Jimmy Lee?

Brizo: Only Billy and Jimmy can gain experience, since they’re the main characters. We’ve added other playable characters mainly just as a bonus, but if people really want those bonus characters to be able to gain experience, we’ll consider it.

MasterAbbott’s Reply : Yes it would be great to also level up the other characters in the game especially the bosses.

12. At the beginning of the game in the original Double Dragon the Black Warriors approach Marian, punch her and then take her away. Why was this removed from this remake?

Brizo: We’ve removed this part because it’s shown in the opening movie. We were actually discussing whether or not it should be in the game right up until the end of development. I guess you really wanted to see it, huh?

Also, in the original Double Dragon, Marian is taken away in front of the Billy and Jimmy’s house, and then Billy comes out of the garage. We actually questioned why Billy didn’t notice Marian was taken, since it happened right in front of his house, which was another reason why we changed it.

MasterAbbott’s Reply : YES BRING IT BACK !! LOL It’s a classic moment in the game just like how Marian is lowered down by the rope at the end and dangling in the air in the final level. Please bing it back !! PLEASE !! 😉

13. Some of the original level designs have been changed and enhance but also cut down quite a bit from the original arcade game. What were the reasons behind this?

Brizo: Because it’s an iPhone game.

This is not a game that you can use a joystick and put in detailed commands that way, so we focused on making it easy to play. That is why we removed the difficult actions and functions.

14. What would Billy do if he found out that Jimmy had a crush on Marian?

Brizo: They’ll fight it out in Double Dragon mode. Ha ha ha!

We don’t get this kind of question a lot from Japanese fans, so I love it!

It’ll be fun to make the story about splitting the brothers up, but we want to keep the original main story. Ha ha ha!

MasterAbbott’s Reply : YES Do it !! That would be fun to play and see !!!

15. Trophies / Achievements are what drive a number of players to play games now-days.. Give us a run down on how you came up with and all the achievements in the game, what you think is the easiest, funniest and hardest achievements to obtain.

Brizo: We as a developer understand each level of difficulty (high, mid, low) as adjusting the game. We’ve discussed over and over about which achievements we want to have, and how those should be achieved.

The hardest one to gain would be the achievement of No Damage Clear. There are only a few people who’ve gotten it, even in my company.

The most interesting achievement would be “I’ll give it to you because I feel sorry for you.” This is recieved when the player fails No Damage Clear.

16. Certain fans already playing Double Dragon have expressed an interest to have an online option to play Double Dragon over the internet with friends all over the world. Do you believe that this option might be added to the game at a later date?

Brizo: Of course, we’re considering it. However, from a technical standpoint, there is some difficulty when it comes to perfect online play via Wi-Fi.

For Double Dragon specifically, Billy and Jimmy’s movements, as well as their opponents’ movements and the positions of obstacles all have to be synced up during an online match. Because you have two players on the same screen, there is a huge amount of data the app has to deal with, so you have to make sure it can do that with the iPhone’s specs and interact with the communication infrastructure as well.

There are a lot of games out there that seem to be using “Sync and Share” functions, but actually not many of them are successful about maintaining that function.

We are aware, of course, that we’ll need to catch up with that technology in the near future.

17. Will there be any further updates or enhancements to Double Dragon on the iPhone moving forward.

Brizo: Of course! We’re preparing both major and minor improvements and updates, so look forward to them!

MasterAbbott’s Reply : WOO HOO !!! CANT WAIT !! 🙂

18. Will this release of Double Dragon make its way onto other consoles / hand helds such as Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, Nintendo 3DS or PSP. If so will it be enhanced and beef up with more gameplay / levels or characters?

Brizo: Let’s just say we’re considering that.

19. What was the best part of developing possibly the best 2D fighting beat ’em up game ever created for its time?

Brizo: Probably that I was able to be part of the development of this game, and that we were given a great deal of freedom.

Our next challenge will be to incorporate what we hear from reviewers and our users into the game. If you look at it that way, then the “best part” is probably still yet to come.

20. (Spoiler Question) At the end of the game Billy and Jimmy Lee drive off into the sunset with Marian.. Right at the end before the screen fades, there is someone looking at them on the side of the road … WHO is this mystery man??

Brizo: The son of a character from the game. His hair color might give you a hint, but I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination. Perhaps it’s hinting at a sequel?!

–

There you have it, another great interview done. Capsule Computers would like to thank Mr Ryosuke Jinno-San for taking the time to answer our questions. We wish them the best of luck moving forward and can’t wait to see what else they release in the future.

Lets us know what you thought of the interview. Leave a comment below

Majesco Reveal “The Hidden” Coming Soon for the 3DS…

Dustin Spencer

April 7, 2011

Majesco have already announced a couple of titles they will be publishing for the Nintendo 3DS, but the latest announcement for the hidden may hold the most interesting use of the actual handheld to date. In The Hidden, players will use the Augmented Reality function to turn the portable into a “portal to the astral plane” as you hunt for paranormal entities through-out real world environments. Thrown into the role of a paranormal investigator, it is now up to you to capture and destroy all the supernatural entities you may encounter.

Majesco also spoke more about this upcoming release which is being developed by 1st Playable Productions:

“The Hidden is a great example of exciting content mixed with compelling technological innovation on the Nintendo 3DS,” said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco Entertainment. “This immersive experience leverages many key features of the new system– including the camera, gyroscope and Wi-Fi capability–to deliver a rich 3D adventure with multiple layers.”

As a member of the elite G.E.I.S.T. squad, Ghostly Entity Investigation and Strike Team, you must work with your team to track, capture, shoot and eliminate evil spirits, including fast-moving Kamikazes and Tanks, solid phantoms armed with claws. Explore different real-world locations to find and destroy new ghosts. Battle and defeat powerful entities using a full arsenal of high tech tools and upgradeable weapons, including the Plasmatic Disruptor, Ectoplasm Sensor and Spectral Shield. Navigate through tunnels to access a hidden dimension and collect power-ups to fight off dangerous threats. You will also use the Circle Pad and Nintendo 3DS gyroscope control to shoot and destroy ghosts, while keeping a log of your otherworldly discoveries made at previously visited places using the Location History feature.

Sounds like a modern day, real world version of Ghostbusters, and that is a good thing for sure. I have loved every second of the AR function and if this title plays as awesome as it sounds, I think we may see quite a winner with The Hidden. The Hidden also is scheduled to hit just time for Halloween when it hits stores this October. We will continue to bring you more updates as they arise for this title, so stay tuned!

Namco Bandai to release Pac’n-Jump

Kyle Moore

April 7, 2011

Here’s a game release that might have you jumping for joy! Namco Bandai are about to release a new game for iDevices called Pac’n-Jump. The game is a clone of the iOS hit Doodle Jump, but with Pac-man themes of course. Pac’n-Jump is a tilt controlled platformer that has Pac-man jumping from platform to platform, eating power pellets and avoiding or eating ghosts along the way. If Pac-man isn’t enough classic Namco arcade nostalgia for you, then good news, Pac’n-Jump will have a number of levels based on Namco games such as Rally-X, Dig Dug and a forever personal favourtite of mine, Galaga. Pac’n-Jump is due to be released on April 7^th.

SSX: Deadly Descents Contest – Win a trip to the developer’s studio!

J. Bradshaw

April 7, 2011

Its no secret that I am super excited for the next iteration of the fast paced, wacky snowboarding game. And now EA is offering fans, like me, to get in on the development of the game.

In order to fine tune the game and promote it, EA is having a contest on their Facebook page to win a round trip to the studio where the game is being created. All you need to do is write a strictly enforced 100 word essay explaining why you should be chosen to win. The prize will not only include a trip to see and play the early build, but you can also give your feedback to the team building the game. You better head over there fast though, as only 5 people are being chosen and the contest ends on April 15, 2011. Board on over to the FB page here: http://apps.facebook.com/ssxconetst/contests/103490?ogn=facebook

Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D 3DS Review

Benjamin Webb

April 7, 2011

Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D 3DS Review

Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: 3DS
Release Date: Out Now!
Price: $59AU Buy Now $39.99US Buy Now

Overview

Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D is a game that takes place on a more ancient Earth where dinosaurs rules and battled their way to supremacy. There are four groups of dinosaurs for players to choose from, each with their own distinct look and feel; Predators, Hunters, Defenders and Chargers. Each group has their own subset of dinosaurs from players to choose from and each group has its own particular advantages. The game also has an extras area to view things that you have unlocked; as well as other things, like streetpass, credits and a trade menu.

Story

Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D’s story is that basically an evil Arkosaurus is threatening the land and it’s up to the player to gather a party of dinosaurs to take into the Arkosaurus’ lair and end its evil scheme. Well, at least that’s what I assume is happening. The Arkosaurus’ plot is never really delved into aside from a few lines to let you know that he is evil.

Primeval Earth, 15o million years ago. The dinosaur races shared the ancient land respectfully. Under the protection of the four great chiefs, the fury of the Arkosaurus was contained.

Contained you say? How is that he broke out?

One day, unforeseen cataclysms struck the land. The four great chiefs disappeared and the Arkosaurus seized power, rallying the tribes of malevolent dinosaurs. The world stood on the brink of utter destruction.

Fair enough.

While the story may be a bit basic, the game is likely to have been developed with children in mind, so any kind of complexity within the story may have been too confusing for younger gamers. Which is a fair call, it’s better to have a basic story that you can get everyone behind, rather than put on a long and convoluted plot involving several teenaged dinosaurs running around a city and having the main protagonist be a fraud and etc. Simple, but maybe too simple. As I said earlier, you’re not really given much backstory to the Arkosaurus, other than he was contained and that he broke out because of a fluke. I would have liked to have seen a little more from the Arkosaurus’ backstory, just so that it would make it easier to get on board with killing him later.

This is all done on the + pad. Touch screen is a no go.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D is quite basic, but that doesn’t mean that it’s bad. Essentially players need to guide their selected dinosaur down a linear path and battle 4-5 other dinosaurs along the way. These battles are always in sequence and can never be skipped. Between battles, there are generally long stretches of landscape with a handful of breakables that sometimes drop bones or other collectibles as you break them. Along with the breaking of stuff, like dinosaurs bones, sticks and rocks, there are also smaller dinosaurs which you can scare into dropping loot for you to upgrade your dinosaur with. After traversing the long stretches of land between each battle and defeating each opposing dinosaur, you will reach the levels boss and you have to defeat the boss to move onto the next level.

Each level in the game is set up the same, start at point a, travel to each new point with a new enemy, kill it, then end up at the end point with the boss and kill that. The levels are set up differently, but I’m sure I noticed that a few environments were seen elsewhere in the game. For instance, for each of the dinosaurs I played as, I passed through a giant tunnel in a desert and a volcanic mountain – with each of them having a layout that was incredibly similar between each dinosaur. I understand when it’s a dinosaur of the same base type (example hunter), but when ones a charger and ones a defender (and each is on a separate continent) it starts to look a little lazy. Though, I must admit that the repetition in environments does not detract from the fun all that much.

Each enemy has a particular strategy to them, which the game informs you of for the first time you encounter that particular enemy. While it may seem effective to utilise an enemies weakness, I often found that the weak-point sometimes took a bit long to appear and would switch to a more quicker strategy… such as ramming the enemy off the side of a level. In this game, players battle an enemy dinosaur on a platform with the ends leading off an edge (think Super Smash Bros.) and each combatant must either knock their opponent out, or knock their opponent off. It’s quite simple.

There are three types of attacks for players to utilise, which are: basic and rapid physical attacks, charging and a special attack. The physical attacks are where your dinosaur attacks using their own body, charging rams your opponent back; closer to the edge and the special attack is used to deal damage and push your opponent back. I’m assuming that each class of dinosaur, Chargers, Defenders, Hunters and Predators, has their own unique advantages and disadvantages, but outside of movement I haven’t really noticed a difference between them.

Speaking of movement, out of all the dinosaurs classes, the only dinosaurs that don’t handle like a school-bus are the hunters. I’m serious, none of the others seem to glide or have any kind of grace in their movement, they move as heavy as they appear to be. Which is both interesting and annoying simultaneously. It’s interesting because it gives you a sense of feel with the dinosaurs, but it can also be annoying because sometimes you’ll miss the thing you’re trying to crush and it takes a little bit of work to back up and try again.

The boss fights probably have the strangest difficulty curve in the game, with the first being initially difficult and with subsequent bossed getting easier. That is, until you reach the final boss where it’s back to being tough as nails. While each boss is built to be beaten a certain way, I found it easiest to avoid using the strategy that you’re supposed to use and just went on a more push-back type stratagem. This made the fights terribly easy as it would only take a handful of hits to ring them out as opposed to the whole bunch of hits it usually would have taken to drain their HP to zero.

This however almost changes with the final boss battle of the game. The final boss has a much faster rate of attack and much more harder to notice cues as to which attack it is going to be doing next. This makes it hard to dodge it’s attacks which increases the challenge a fair bit. I think this is one of the few boss battles in a game that I have enjoyed in a while, which is something in the games favour. While the boss is hard to work out, once you do, it becomes way easier and is almost simple to pull off. It’s all about learning the moves and then pulling them off one after the other.

Overall the gameplay is a bit wavey, but it isn’t to the games detriment.

And he’s almost off the edge.

Sound

Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs features a rather compelling soundtrack and series of effects. I can’t complain about the music or the sounds, which is good.

The sound effects in the game sound similar to the way you would expect them to, for instance, stepping on a branch will yield a crunch. The dinosaurs have a particular roar that will let out at certain times, like when a player selects one or when a player hits Y while running around, that sound surprisingly authentic and aren’t irritating at all. Each hit a dinosaur lands on an opponent is greeted with an effect that correlates to that action and seems to fit wonderfully.

The background music is there usually, with jungle beats and similar music to accompany the gameplay. Though often, it will play at the beginning of the level then kind of just stop. I’m not sure if it’s a bug or expected behaviour, but it suits the game quite well. Somehow it adds a sense of length to what what’s happening, whereas if it was just fast paces, then it would feel much shorter.

Open the door; Get on the Floor; Everybody walk the dinosaur!

Minor Gripes

This game has one minor personal gripe with me and that’s with it’s 3D feature. At maximum I found that the 3D effect was too strong for me to handle and too hard for me to focus on. While turning down to 75% or below made it more enjoyable, I feel as though the maximum 3D effect has been aligned incorrectly as I have no problems viewing maximum 3D in other titles.

No touch screen support! This game could have made decent use of the touch screen, but I found that I couldn’t even use it for input when naming my dinosaurs… talk about a bit odd.

Overall

Overall Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D is a rather fun game aimed at a younger audience. It provides a solid amount of time to complete fully, but can also be picked up and played in short bursts. There are also a few extra that can be earned through collecting items which also increases the re-playability of the title. This is a title that I would heartily recommend for parents to get their younger child as it is both enjoyable and challenging. A considerable purchase for any parent.

Skullgirls to use GGPO

Adam Tabor

April 7, 2011

Let’s face it lag in online games can kill it for any gamer. This holds true with fighting games as it requires precise controls to pull of moves and combos. One delayed button press can make a difference between winning and losing. GGPO technology was made to allow people to play fighting games online just as good as good as playing next to someone in your own living room. However other than PC emulation GGPO has yet to be used in a commercial fighting game until now.

It has been announced that the downloadable fight game Skullgirls will be using the GGPO online technology in the game. President of Autum Games stated that using this tecenology in the game will enhance the games online features. This is something fighting game fans have been asking for a while now, let’s see if Skullgirls can convince the bigger game developers to implement it in the future. Skullgirls will be out on Xbox Live and PSN this summer.

Otomedius X trailer released; surprisingly coming to America

Travis Bruno

April 7, 2011

At first glance when you start up the trailer you will think that there is absolutely zero chance that a game like this would be getting a Western release. Well you are wrong in that case because Otomedius X, also called Otomedius Excellent, will end up getting a release date for the U.S. but it will be later this year due to delays. Originally the title was set for release on the Xbox 360 in Japan this past year but due to delays it is currently set for release on April 21st according to Andriasang.

Either way this trailer shows off plenty of gameplay and introduces us to a handful of the characters that we will be able to play as when the game comes out as well as enemies players will face. The characters are all anime styled girls including a catgirl pirate that you can see above. The game looks like it will be a bullet hell shooter with side scrolling action as opposed to vertical based. Catch the trailer below.

MX vs ATV Alive brings bar to bar racing to light

Travis Bruno

April 7, 2011

There are some people who don’t know what bar to bar racing means, can you believe that? Well honestly I can because I barely follow either of these sports but regardless of that James “Bubba” Stewart is here to tell us what exactly bar to bar racing is.

In the trailer we see a small amount of gameplay but the majority of it is real life video showing riders getting wiped out. Apparently MX vs. ATV Alive will allow you to potentially crash other riders as you crash into them around corners. This video brings to mind another racing game involving motorcycles that should be made into a full fledged game again. Road Rash anyone? Either way fans of the series or those intrigued by the game will be able to pick it up in May when it releases for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Capcom unveils mysterious countdown with DD

Travis Bruno

April 7, 2011

Leave it to Capcom to give us a countdown until release and then place a very vague outline in the background. As you can see on Capcom Japan’s teaser website http://www.capcom.co.jp/DD/ there is a counter that is counting down as you read this. The current time places the announcement in six days but until then we have nothing to do but sit and guess as to what it will involve.

The silhouette appears to have dragon wings attached to someones back and the current website address is DD. Capcom recently trademarked the name Dragon’s Dogma which would match up perfectly with the initials but what exactly could that Dragon’s Dogma attach to. Or is it an entirely different thing altogether, it is anyone’s guess at the moment.

Cut the Rope to be magical in latest update

Travis Bruno

April 7, 2011

Chillingo’s Cut the Rope has been on the top of the App Store for quite a long time. The simple but addicting puzzle game with the little green monster that wants nothing but candy seems to be a big draw on anyone who owns an iPhone or an iPad. In an effort to keep fans of the game happy Chillingo has released many updates with new levels and content.

Their latest update will add a new Magic Box to the game where players will recieve a bunch of new levels featuring magician themed levels. Also sine it was updated today you can already be playing these levels now. Also as you see in the trailer the candy can change into an Easter Egg, now it is up to you to find out how to use this little secret in your own game. If you haven’t picked up the game yet it is only $0.99 cents on the App Store.

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