Parappa Creator Debuts New Title, To Be Honored At GDC

Thanks to Game Science for its article revealing the first visuals of Parappa The Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura's new title, Vib Ripple. An earlier post at Game Science has further details, mentioning "'Vib Ripple' is a similar style of game to [PlayStation 1 title] 'Vib Ribbon' but with different content. The player takes control of Vibri with a photograph as the game field, and must jump at designated points to free characters from the field. The game can use photographs taken from your mobile phone or digital camera via the USB port." Elsewhere, Matsuura is to be honored at the Game Developer's Choice Awards at GDC in San Jose, receiving the oddly named First Penguin Award, "acknowledging developers who have taken risks to break new ground."

Doesnt seem fitting...

[ZorMonkey]

I realize that he popularized (and invented?) the music rythym genre, but somehow the award doesnt seem to fit. I mean, last year the award went to the original founders of Activision. They were the first 3rd-party developer, and revolutionized the entire industry. Could you imagine if every game was programmed either by Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft? Blech.
This year, the award is going to "Kick, punch, it's all in the mind!".
It's just a whole different level of "revolutionary" I guess.

Re:Doesnt seem fitting...

[MadMoses]

I think he's worthy of an award that is "acknowledging developers who have taken risks to break new ground."

Maybe he didn't have such an impact on the game scene as Activision (yet), but he's definitely pushing into new directions. IMO you shouldn't compare Activision and Matsuura directly (Activision may have pioneered the 3rd party development in the 80s - Matsuura is innovating in a completely different playing field).

Nowadays, where most game companies crank out sequel after sequel or variations of known themes, here's a guy that had the guts to make Vib Ribbon, a game which is not relying on fancy effects (it's a black and white game), but instead tries something that no other game has tried before, generating the levels from normal audio CDs - using your favorite songs as soundtrack and level designer. If that ain't breaking new ground, it don't know what is...

Re:Doesnt seem fitting...

[Lord_Dweomer]

" but instead tries something that no other game has tried before, generating the levels from normal audio CDs - using your favorite songs as soundtrack and level designer. If that ain't breaking new ground, it don't know what is..."

It didn't generate "levels", but if you'll recall, the Monster Rancher series let you put any CD in the machine, and it would generate the monsters you fought with based on the CD. It blew my mind when I first heard about it.

Personally, I always wished I had a game for car rid

Re:Doesnt seem fitting...

[MadMoses]

It didn't generate "levels", but if you'll recall, the Monster Rancher series let you put any CD in the machine, and it would generate the monsters you fought with based on the CD. It blew my mind when I first heard about it.

Oh, I didn't know that one - that's certainly very cool, too. Was this pre- or post-Vib Ribbon?

Personally, I always wished I had a game for car rides or something which would have VR goggles, and make a level based on what I was actually seeing, working all of the enemies into my en

Vib Ribbon

[it0]

Vib Ribbon was one of the hardest games I have played. Vib constantly walks then it can reach an obstacle loop, pit, barb wire, block. For each obstacle you have to press the associated button, so the entire game is controlled with only 4 buttons no directional stuff...

It becomes hard when you get an obstacle that is a combination , for example a block and a pit (looks like the letter M) then you have to press both buttons at the same time. So then it becomes a game of quick thinking... But one of the most innovative games i have seen in years...

Re:Vib Ribbon

[Vertice123]

yes.. it was very hard, very different , but oh so incredibly much fun. it had me from the tutorial, and to this day i still load it into my ps2 when i have a couple of minutes to kill =)

Re:Vib Ribbon

[curtisk]

I agree, the game can be manic at times, and as you "devolve" the clean shapes start to distort as if static interference....its a crazy game but addicting, and its a good excuse to bust out some REAL old cds that you haven't had a listen to in a long time and see what kind of trouble they cause you.

I hate (in a good way) the songs that produce the double line at high speed AND combo shapes! Ugh!

This game looks interesting as well, using simple color and it sounds simple in the description but I'm betting

Re:Vib Ribbon

[p4ul13]

I picked up an imported copy a while back and naturally it wont play right on my US PS1 or PS2 because of the PAL / NSTC difference. I've got a mod-chip in my PS1, so I even tried playing a copy of my game after applying an ISO patch that I found online, still with no luck. Any hints?

Re:Vib Ribbon

[curtisk]

thats very odd, all imports work fine on my PS1... I take for granted that when someone says import, they mean Japan release....if you have a PAL then you must have gotten a European one.

I believe you can buy PAL/NTSC converters in that case

Re:Vib Ribbon

[SScorpio]

You could check out the ImportPlayer disk.

http://www.megagames.com/psx/psx_utils_bootcd.s h tm l#ImportPlayer

The link is to MegaGames since the original site http://www.xianaix.com wasn't up at the time I tried accessing it.

The disk was scene made, and you must have a modded PSX/PS2 to use it. Just boot the disk and select NTSC as the video mode, then swap in the game and try playing it.

There is also the ImportPlayer Lite that enables screen positioning which might bug you with the PAL -> NTSC conver

First Penguin - not such an odd name

[WSSA]

First penguin refers to the first bird that enters the water (or is it the first to leave the water?). Once one bird has done it and not been eaten by a killer whale, the rest follow with great rapidity.

So First Penguin is a very appropriate name for an award for risk-takers.

Many props to Matsuura

[Tommy2099]

The Parappa and Umjammer Lammy series are tons of fun and guaranteed girl magnets. Besides, any guy who can "mortify" [google.com] Shigeru Miyamoto with his genius is cool in my book. There's a great long video lecture with him over at Gamasutra (free registration required) [gamasutra.com] that explains some of his game design theory.

Vib Ribbon!!!

[mrseigen]

Let's hope this thing takes off in the States, maybe then Sony will release Vib Ribbon here as well! I've been looking for a copy forever.

Monkey's

[Sparky77]

Ever wonder what would happen if monkey's ruled the world?