Remember back in March, I posted part one of a long and interesting interview with well-known genius Kenichi Nishi, creator of Chibi-Robo, Archime-DS, Captain Rainbow, Newtonica and happiness? And I probably said something like, "Shucks, I'll post part two real soon, hurpa durp!" in a dumb voice like that.
Well, here it is. A bit late I suppose, but it's not dated at all because I didn't ask any stupid questions like, "HUR, WHAT IS YOUR NEXT GAME KENICHI, THE WORLD MUST KNOW IMMEDIATELY!??"
As a result, this second half of the interview is as completely wonderful as the first. Click the link below to begin your enjoyment.
Been meaning to post about this for a few days. Cartoonist, illustrator and Eegra-friend Rebecca Clements made a pretty stunning piece of Captain Rainbow fanart. Here’s a chunk of it:
I’m in favour of raising and maintaining awareness of Captain Rainbow, hopeful that doing so might increase the likelihood of Skip’s rather subversive game being released in English one day. So how does this sound? Let’s start some sort of...
Ongoing Eegra Dot Com Captain Rainbow Fanart Festa
...where, subject to my discretion, if anyone sends me a piece of Captain Rainbow fanart, I will post it on the front page.
So, if you’d like a little extra website traffic, or a few more people browsing your DeviantART gallery, or if you just want to be on the Eegra front page because you love us so much, just draw some Captain Rainbow fanart and send me the link! (If you don’t have your own webspace, you can send me the image, but please make it no wider than 500 pixels.)
On Friday night, in Ebisu, I met with Kenichi Nishi and his partner Hikaru, for a demonstration of his iPhone game, Newtonica. But first we had dinner – and Kenji Eno turned up too! (Eno is responsible for Newtonica’s music.) The dinner is mostly irrelevant, except for a couple of pieces of trivia I can remember that came up in conversation, that may interest you:
Despite having left Skip, Kenichi was involved with Captain Rainbow (as its scenario designer), since the game began development before he left. (Speaking of Captain Rainbow, it’s soundingfantastic.)
Ko Takeuchi, one of the key designers of Rhythm Tengoku (among other things), used to work for Kenji Eno at Warp.
Following dinner, we – minus Eno, who was very busy – went to a karaoke room, where we recorded this demonstration of Newtonica. This one right here:
Then Ken performed some Oasis songs, complete with air guitar. (I didn’t film it; sorry.)
As you can see, Newtonica is a very, very simple, though fun, game; definitely worth getting if you have an iPhone, but definitely not worth getting an iPhone for.
That was the demonstration – come back later this week for the explanation: Kenichi explains the deeper meaning of Newtonica, and tells us a bit about the game’s development.
DISCLOSURE-TYPE ADDENDUM: Yes, this post originally featured more, and more detailed, bits of trivia. Turns out they weren’t ‘extra information’ so much as ‘personal information’, and weren’t meant to be passed on – so, on request, I’ve removed them. This would make me a terrible, soft, journalist, if I were a journalist, which I’m not.
It’s the 28th of the 8th of 2008, and it should not be surprising that, on so auspiciously numbered a date, destiny should draw events together to create a vortex of neato: Kenichi Nishi reports on his blog – following some anxious entries over the past couple of days – that at last, Newtonica is available for iPhone owners to buy, and what do you know, it just so happens that today is the release date for Captain Rainbow, the new and wonderful game from Skip, the company Nishi founded.
It’s not world peace, but one can’t help but feel that if God hasn’t smiled on indie gaming today, he has at least absent-mindedly flicked a booger at it.
And you know what else? I’m going to a YMCK show tonight! And one of the support acts is Sexy Synthesizer! And, I didn’t sleep at all last night, because I was busy making 2D sprites for a game. See how I lick your boogers, O Lord. They are rolling hills of candy to this unworthy mortal.
A few games have been announced, recently, that I hope are of interest to you! This may have had something to do with E3...? It seems like a lot of games have been announced in the past week.
Anyway, you’ve probably heard all about these games by now, but I’m just reminding you to care about them, and not about all those other shitty games.
Captain Rainbow is the new game by Skip! That’s exciting! You can read about it here and here and also here. The game was announced by Nintendo, and apparently the fact that it’s made by Skip – while being obvious; just look at it – hasn’t been officially confirmed, so allow me to unofficially confirm it: Hirofumi Taniguchi told me about Captain Rainbow back in January, while we were waiting in line for Fami-mode. So that’s straight from the horse’s sound designer’s mouth.
Probably safe to assume it’s hikarin doing the art; don’t have a clue who’s directing it! I’ll try to find out, but, eh, we’ll all know soon enough.
Rhythm Tengoku Gold – or just Rhythm Heaven, as they’re calling the English version – is the DS sequel to Rhythm Tengoku, one of my favourite games, and certainly my favourite game on the GBA. It’s wonderful and brilliant for too many reasons to explain in a short paragraph; I should do a review sometime. It’s by the same team who made Wario Ware, and you should think of it as ‘the game they made after Wario Ware’, because all the Wario Ware sequels were pointless and stupid, whereas you can tell that Rhythm Tengoku is a game they really wanted to make.
Whether Rhythm Tengoku Gold was made for love, or because Nintendo told them to, I don’t know. But a Rhythm Tengoku game being released internationally is good news, I reckon.
Finally, some wonnnnnderful news for everybody: Game Center CX – previously lauded here, by me – is coming out in English, as Retro Game Challenge! (And so is the TV series it’s based on, apparently.) This means that you, reader of English, will be able to play and enjoy this fun and extraordinary and important game. I really never expected Game Center CX to get an English release, so this news was an exciting surprise!
Dessgeega, in her analysis linked just above, describes Game Center CX – or Retro Game Challenge – as “a fictionalized digital history of the experience of growing up with a magic box full of secrets beneath your tv,” and I think that’s about the best summary anyone could come up with. Everyone reading this should play the game, especially our younger readers, who grew up with the PlayStation rather than the NES. I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of it!
So, those are the games I give a shit about. Is anything missing? Is there an upcoming game I ought to be excited about, but maybe I haven’t heard about it or something? Tell me – I really would like to know.
At long last, I am very, very happy to present the first half of my interview with Kenichi Nishi, the designer of LOL: Lack Of Love, Giftpia, Chibi-Robo, and most recently Archime-DS, soon to be released in Europe and Australia as LOL.
I also interviewed Fumihiro Kanaya, the programmer of Archime-DS, and Miki Tashiro of Skip, the game's publisher. This is because I am an interviewing machine that cannot be stopped.
Click the linky bit to read words -- words about Archime-DS, Skip and Nintendo's bit Generations games; words about Nishi's approach to game design; about his philosophies and dog. Meet a living treasure of the world of videogames.
Second update of the year and I'm already late. It's not my fault! There were monsters.
This is a long, long review of Archime-DS, the latest game from Kenichi Nishi, the creator of Chibi-Robo, Giftpia, and other, similarly unique and neato games. This review is so long that most of it isn't even a review. What is it, instead? Who knows. Not me! I already forgot! It is so amazing and cool and good that my brain just couldn't hold on to it.
Remember back in March, I posted 
A few games have been announced, recently, that I hope are of interest to you! This may have had something to do with E3...? It seems like a lot of games have been announced in the past week.
At long last, I am very, very happy to present the first half of my interview with Kenichi Nishi, the designer of LOL: Lack Of Love, Giftpia, 
Second update of the year and I'm already late. It's not my fault! There were monsters.
