Why Must You Destroy The Industry, PSP?

Because I know you haven't had your fill of the surreal today, Grand Text Auto has up a link to a Flash movie which depicts a climactic battle between the consoles of old and the PSP...using the end of Final Fantasy VI. Commentary available at Game Girl Advance. My favorite part is where the GBA, GameBoy, GameCube, and N64 team up to defeat the Master Famicom and Rob. Actually pretty cool, if long.

Comments

um what

[FidelCatsro]

Ok i have seen this flash file a few times and enyjoy it but this story makes no sense , are you trying to say the PSP is destroying the games industry( i never got that from the cartoon , well anymore than any of the old consoles) or just advertising the cool little bit of animation .

this flash animation is origionaly from another site iirc . i cant remember who made it though origionaly .Nice to ahve the mirror but we should give credit to the origional author(if this is the origional then i appoligise i just havnt come acros that yet)

Re:um what

[Anonymous Coward]

this flash animation is origionaly from another site iirc . i cant remember who made it though origionaly .Nice to ahve the mirror but we should give credit to the origional author(if this is the origional then i appoligise i just havnt come acros that yet)

I think you mean Orisinal.

Re:um what

[Anonymous Coward]

I think what you ment to say , but had to much manners was.
That this is one of the dumbest fucking articals to ever his slashdot . i mean come on Zonk what are you smoking ? mescalin ?.
This artical makes no sence and has no real new bar an add for a side that is hosting a file from some ot her site .. get real

Re:um what

[Anonymous Coward]

ment

artical

smoking mescalin

sence

Dumb. For once, I agree with you.

Re:um what

[FidelCatsro]

no honestly I just thought it was a bit confusing!
fcat

How to save

[Gamelore]

This flash is actually 9 files.

To save it locally, you need to download: http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/SF6-2.swf http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/SF6-2i.swf http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/SF6-3i.swf http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/SF6-4i.swf http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/SF6-5i.swf http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/SF6-6i.swf http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/SF6-7i.swf http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/SF6-8i.swf http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/SF6-9i.swf

and "The Man in Green" is the best. attack. ever.

Re:How to save

[superpulpsicle]

In the comments, it said if you didn't play Final Fantasy 6, you won't get it.

Re:How to save

[blincoln]

The only FF game I've ever played was the first one on the NES, and I still thought it was funny because of all the console in-jokes.

Most of what I assume came from FF6 just reminded me of a bunch of other Japanese RPGs I've played, if not FF1 itself.

Re:How to save

[Anonymous Coward]

You're doing yourself a disservice by not having played FF6. It's the apex of the series.

Re:Yet more Sony Astroturf

[Anonymous Coward]

On the one hand, I like your unhappiness at the disproportionate role corporations play in modern society.

On the other hand, your sig shows you to be some kind of close-minded racist. I don't recall the books making much note of what color Ford was, and I don't really see how it matters.

So, I'm torn.

psshh

[Mahou]

i posted this link already in gaming as image

Re:Yet more Sony Astroturf

[Elwood P Dowd]

He's just a troll, on both ends.

Re:Yet more Sony Astroturf

[Anonymous Coward]

6 pound of margheritas cant pay the price of sin

Ok......

[Anonymous Coward]

..... Have you even watched the flash and seen what they casted the PSP as? It your typical Final Fantasy Evil Final Boss!

And I highly doubt that a Sony "astrotufer" or a bunch of "marketing executives who are too busy snorting cocaine" would even mention other consoles such as the Sega's, Nintndos', etc, or rip-off final fantasy music and graphics.

This stuff will probably be more remembered then you and your uninformed post.

Very well done

[Otik2]

This is really a great piece. I suppose it wouldn't make as much sense if you haven't played FF VI (though the attack names would still be good), but if you have, it's almost beautiful. The dialogue, the music, the old consoles... well done.

Commentary at GameGirlAdvance?

[extrarice]

The entire GGA post is:

"Simply fantastic flash video that manages to be at once a critique of the PSP, an elegy for consoles and games past, and a paean to one of the greatest RPGs ever. It's funny, but also extremely moving. At least, to me.

(To see thoe whole piece, click on New Game.)"

Note to Zonk: The above does not make a commentary! At most it's a "hey lookit this cool thing", or a "blurb" if you're feeling generous. A commentary would be an analysis of why single-purpose consoles would feel threatened by the PSP, and how it might really be threatening the industry (or at least changing its direction), or why each platform was a perfect choice to represent each FFVI character (example: the XBox as Umaro is freaking hilarious).

Re:Commentary at GameGirlAdvance?

[joranbelar]

And did you catch the family resemblance among Relm (Game Boy Advance), Strago (Game Boy), and Shadow (Virtual Boy)? Very clever, I'll give them that :)

Holy hell

[Anonymous Coward]

That was the most boring thing I have ever started to watch. Ugh, no I didn't watch the whole thing.

Yes, I get the whole FF thing, but this is just stupid.

Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[AzraelKans]

What the? seriously guys, I understand you want to give the PSP as much bad press as possible (due to the holy crusade against the psp) but at least limit yourselves to ACTUAL PRESS not user comments or fan fiction. I mean whats the next "headline"? "Nboy23 mentions in his blog the psp suxors hard! news at 11!"?

For those unaware a good part of Nintendo fans are either consciently or subconsciently giving the PSP as much heat as possible because they believe it could hurt their beloved Nintendo if it becomes a best seller (which is not now due to its price) THIS IS NOT TRUE. The PSP is getting good sales (sort of) and the DS is still getting good sales (sort of) as many analists had foreseen they are both SHARING the market, because they are meant for very different targets.
p.e. People who want "innovation" over graphics are getting a DS (and Nintendo fans) people who care less for innovation than graphics and features (and have the extra cash) are getting a PSP. They are NOT predating each other, as many people think!

Anyway EVEN if the PSP beat the DS and the GBA by a landslide (which is not happening) Nintendo is not troubled at all for that, they are already working on a new console and a NEW handheld a bit more similar (but less expensive) that the psp (THEN we will have a handheld war NOT NOW).

So could we drop the crusade now please? all this useless bad press is giving me a headache. for console flash toons of diverse qualities go to newgrounds.com thank you.

And p.s. before saying anything else about the PSP (or the DS for that matter) buy one or ask a friend to lend you one, you cant possibly review acurately any article you've never used.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually those who want innovation AND graphics are getting a PSP too. Its capable of so much other handhelds aren't. The definition of innovation.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is DS innovative?

Touch screen based handheld gaming system

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Ayaress]

They're also not destroying the industry by any means. They're destroying Nintendo's dominance of the handheld market, but that's always been a fragile thing, enforced by half-assed competitors like Nokia (and even Nintendo themselves with the Virtual Boy), but that's always what happens when a market leader stagnates and is blindsided by a new competitor.

The PSP and GBA/DS is a lot like the PS1 comming out back in the SNES days. Nintendo was caught with hardware that hadn't changed much in years, and hadn't had serious competition in a long time. The time was ripe for somebody else to break into the market. The GBA is still very much alive, though, so at least it won't be as decisive as the SNES's downfall. We won't all forget Nintendo in six months. When the N64 came out, a lot of people I knew basically said, "What? Nintendo still makes games?" At that time, my SNES hadn't even been pluggged in since the PS1 launch.

The DS was certainly a radical change, but so far it doesn't have the game lineup. An innovative system means nothing if it doesn't have innovative games, but a completely mundane and uninnovative system can excell with innovative games, and that's what Sony wants to do with the PSP.

I just hope that Nintendo doesn't respond to the PSP like they responded to the PS1. I can't see any two ways about it: The N64 was a lousy system. Just about everything in it and its games - especially it's early games - felt to me like they were in desperation mode, trying to get something - anything, for that matter - on the market to compete with the PS1, just to keep the Nintendo name in the market.

If they produce a handheld system like that, just to meet the PSP, then they're really going to end up loosing that handheld war you see comming, and they're going to loose it badly. Nintendo's console offering still hasn't gotten back where the SNES was, and it'll be rough for them if they end up in the same position in the handheld market.

But, then, with each new generation of systems, the leaders can shift around all over the place. In 1993, could you see Nintendo virtually erased from gaming in two years? Before the PS1 came out, the word "Nintendo" meant video games. My friends would say, "Want to come over and play Nintendo?" even if they had a Genesis, because Nintendo and video game were the same words. That changed fast with the Playstation, and Nintendo was marginalized really until the Gamecube came out.

I thought the Dreamcast would be the end of Sony, and then the PS2 blew it out of the water. Before the DS came out, I was expecting a stellar system with amazing and innovative games. Now I have the system and a disappointing set of games. Those weak games made me expect another massacre when the PSP came out, but that hasn't happen yet. With the next set of consoles comming soon, who knows what happens. Nintendo might be back on top. Everybody involved has a shot, if they play it right.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Ayaress]

Innovation is a pretty loose subject in this case, too. An innovative system is nothing if it doesn't have solid and innovative games. It ends up getting delegated to gimick standing. The system feels like a waste since the games don't take advantage of what it was made for, and the games seem unfinished for the same reason.

A system completely devoid of innovation, however, can excell with innovative games. The games are great, and they earnthe system a reputation as innovative in doing so.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[bleaknik]

bleaknik's to do list.

1.) Take my Virtual Boy on my next road trip. It is clearly a handheld system. They were trying to fool me with those legs...
2.) Throw out my DS. It's obviously the same that [hasn't] changed much in years.
3.) Ignore the obvious progression of hardware upgrades.
4.) Forget the countless hours I spent playing Goldeneye, Mario 64, Zelda OOT and MM, Blast Corps, Perfect Dark, Star Fox 64...... I was clearly wrong.
5.) Learn to spell comming corrrrrecttttttly.
6.) Accept that full motion video and graphics must really make a game more entertaining. I was clearly wrong for enjoying all previous video games.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[cgenman]

Somebody meticulously and lovingly reconstructed the ending scene to a classic 16 bit RPG in flash, substituting game systems for all of the characters and a constant barrage of jokes and references for attacks, and all you can do is complain that the PSP is being misrepresented? You totally missed the point. Am I the only one that died laughing when the Master System joined with the Sega CD and 32X to create the Ultimate Sega boss? Or the Famicom summoning ROB, who gets a low battery warning, only to be squished by "the man in green"? Or the Jaguar trying to push a statue onto the Naomi's head? Or the poketstation going powermad and becoming the PSP? Naomi feeding batteries to a dying Game Gear? The SP's taking care of a family of brightly colored Game Boy Pockets, only to give birth to the DS? All of the assorted PC-Engine kit combining to form the Engine Buster, but whose "multitap" attack has no effect on the Xbox? The little Beatmania bar attack that hits for a "great?" The Playstation shifting forms to become the PSOne? The 3D0 crying out for the dead M2? ("Real2? Real2 Wake up!") The SNES being the father of the Playstation? The puny "100 MegaShock" attack?

It's the ending to Final Fantasy 6 redone. Meticulously, painstakingly, lovingly. Somebody probably spent months making this thing. This is a wonderful, massive series of jokes and memories for people in the gaming industry and the hardcore gamers who obsess over it... in other words, gaming geeks. The amount of effort and love that went into this thing is awe inspiring. They even got the crumbling effect on the PSP just about right (though it was missing a few of the cracks-of-lightning sound effects), something which unless there is a programatic shortcut for flash must have taken a ridiculous amount of time to get right. Even the battle-driven menu system is right, the level layouts are right, the original tiles are used. The visual effects are reconstructed, the audio timing is basically impeccable.

And this thing goes on for half an hour, just like the original ending. Every cinematic, every line, every in-joke from the game remade. Even in spots in the original ending where a character's hat or glove would be the only thing that appeared, here just a cartridge is left behind. This is a tremendous, if pointless, achievement.

I'm sorry if you didn't "get" it. All I can say is that there is 20 years of gaming history represented here. If you didn't find any of it funny, start hitting some yardsales and getting caught up. It's not like they were making fun of the ColecoVision or anything.

And the PSP gets to represent Kafka, who happened to be by far the coolest character in FF6/3. It's just too bad the PSP never gets Kafka's trademark laugh.

P.S. if you want to emphasize something, use the italic tag. It looks much better than SCREAMING IN ALL CAPS.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Hellad]

The SNES didn't have a downfall, it was at the end of life as the PSX came out. The N64 wasn't a bad system, it was just a bitch to program for and the carts made the games much more expensive. I am not going to argue that Sony came in at this point, but to pretend that Nintendo was putting out awful systems or awful games is a stretch. There are some great N64 games out there (some to this day are still my favorites) including Mario 64 which I would consider the best 3-D platformer yet.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Anonymous Coward]

Right, before I begin this rant, I'll moderate it a little by saying that I do agree with your main point; this article is just another example of slashdot's paranoid Nintendo-fanboy mentality exerting itself.

However, what I'm going to take issue with is your assertion that people who want innovation over graphics should go for the Nintendo DS. This is simply not true and just reflects how successful Nintendo propaganda has been in areas such as slashdot. Yes, the DS has an "innovative" control system, but in terms of what you can actually play on it, innovation is basically non-existent. Let's look at the launch lineups for both the DS and the PSP:

On the DS, the biggest launch title was Mario 64. This is not innovative. This game is... what... seven years old(?) and it's being released here with a handful of minor tweaks and a few minigames. We've also got Warioware, which might have been cool and innovative once, but has been through so many iterations that it's just plain tired now. Besides these, what else do we have? Madden? Check. Tiger Woods Golf? Check. Ports of a few movie/license games also released on every other system under the sun? Check. Looking ahead a little, I have a funny feeling we might also end up seeing a Mario Kart game and a Zelda Game. Both will probably be near-pixel-perfect remakes of their N64 incarnations.

Now let's look at the Sony PSP. Sure, you've got a few straightforward franchise games, such as Wipeout and Ridge Racer. However, arguably the biggest PSP launch title is Lumines; a quirky and off-beat puzzle-game of the easy-to-learn-hard-to-master school that normally gets the slash-horde drooling. Then there's Mercury, a bizarre little puzzle game based around fluid physics. Then there's Metal Gear Acid. Before anybody cries "sequel!", take a look at what this actually is. It's not a stealth/action game, like the previous Metal Gear games have been, rather it's a stealth/tactical card game. Sure, it upset a few Metal Gear fans who didn't get what they expected from it, but it's undeniably innovative.

So why does the DS (and Nintendo) still have this reputation for being "innovative"? Easy... it's because they're very good at playing the gaming press. Every year at E3 and the other big gaming events, that Reggie guy stands up and shouts "innovation" and "gameplay" at the audience for a while, whips the fanboys into a frenzy and gets affectionate tributes from the more gullible sections of the gaming press. Hell, even Penny Arcade fall for it most years, although I did notice a slight touch of welcome scepticism this year. At the same time, Microsoft and Sony give their spiels about integrated home entertainment systems, and the slash-horde denounces them as soul-less profiteers who must be mere days from financial ruin.

And then what happens in the year that follows? Sony and Microsoft both get vast numbers of new third-party games on their systems. Some of these are dross, some are franchise fodder, but there are usually a few real gems (and sometimes genuine innovation as well) thrown into the mix. Nintendo, on the other hand, puts out a new controller which will "revolutionise gaming" (we had the bongos this year), one or two games which require it (before it's promptly forgotten) and maybe a tired franchise game. Meanwhile, third-party developers continue to largely ignore them. (Ok, in fairness, they got Resident Evil 4 this year, which is awesome, but it's still only one game). Then the next year's round of games-shows comes up and the cycle begins again.

The PSP is not going to destroy the industry. Of the three current competitors, there is only one which actually has any desire to destroy the industry. This is Nintendo. Nintendo do not like the fact that they have lost control of the gaming industry. They always seemed to have a slight upper-hand during their battles with Sega and were generally able to set the pace of the industry. They were happy back then, in the NES and SNES generations. Then Sony came along and it all change

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Fred Or Alive]

Pedancy: It was a Mega Drive (mark 1) that joined with a Mega CD 2 and a 32X to form an ultimate Megadrive. How the hell can you confuse a Mega Drive and a Master System? hand in your console geek credentials at once! ;-) (I used the non-North American names because I live in the UK)

I kinda though it was interesting if your a real console geek, although I don't particularly love Final Fantasy VI. Mostly because I never found Kefka that villainous, more of an annoying twat with a stupid theme song. It was definitely a work of obsession though, the creators have my kudos. I'll never forgive them for making a Megadrive a bad guy though!

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well said!

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[DarkZero]

So could we drop the crusade now please? all this useless bad press is giving me a headache. for console flash toons of diverse qualities go to newgrounds.com thank you.

And p.s. before saying anything else about the PSP (or the DS for that matter) buy one or ask a friend to lend you one, you cant possibly review acurately any article you've never used.

Have you ever considered that maybe this flash animation is, y'know...

A JOKE?

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[dbooster]

Dude, chill. Breathe. It's just a fun video, not some commentary about how evil the PSP is or how it's going to destroy the gaming industry. Don't be so ready to take offense at everything, just enjoy it for what it is - a fun little animation.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[cgenman]

Doh! I started with the Genesis, and was working my way back to the Mega Drive when I hit the Master System. On the other hand, the Mega Drive did have a little Master System inside, in the form of the Z-80 used as a sound chip, so what I said wasn't completely wrong.

Now that you mention it, if that really was a Mark 1 it shouldn't have been able to combine with the Mega CD 2 without additional Hardware. Maybe they just attached the extra baseplate and I didn't notice. Either way the Mark 1 with CD 1 was a much sleeker combination unit. You must admit, though, the 32x really did make that an unholy combination.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Fred Or Alive]

Looking at the animation, you can see the plastic extension to the Mega CD 2 so you can fit a MD1 on it, although you don't see any baseplates being connected at all, the video output on that combo might be a tiny bit noisy (read: really awful). I'm no expert on Mega CD baseplates (and what you need for each MD / MCD combo), all I know is you get awful RF noise without them.

I have a Mega Drive 1 and Mega CD 1 combo, along with the Master System Convertor 1. It's nearly as big as an Xbox. All I need is a Mega Drive 32X, and I'll have the ultimate gaming system ever! For 2D shooters with hummingbirds, and interactive movies anyway...

The Mega Drive 2 / Mega CD 1 combo is the strangest looking of course...

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[brkello]

I don't think you get what he is saying. He is not commenting on the flash per se. He is commenting on how every single PSP article that gets put up on Slashdot, the Nintendo fan boys have to attack it and shoot it down. They don't own it, they have never played it, they just want to trash it because they view it as a threat to Nintendo. It really is stupid. It's like how nuts people are on this site over Apple. They love the company so much, they would trash any competitior, even if the competitor has certain things about it that are far superior.

So yeah, the flash is awesome...but you totally missed his point.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Ayaress]

It was at the effective end of its life, but Nintendo was not through with it. They continued looking for developers and had regular game releases until 1998 (They were slow, but mostly because most developers had bailed out and started making Playstation games), and even had several releases in 1999 (The last was a Fire Emblem game, which was in September or October of 1999). Nintendo had played around with the CDi and Playstation (the SNES CD one, not the one that eventually came out), neither of which panned out. The SNES was still their top console three years after they'd previously planned to replace it, and two years after it had reached the "end of its life" as you say.

Re:Seriously guys drop the crusade please?

[Anonymous Coward]

And the PSP gets to represent Kafka

No, Kafka wrote books. Kefka was an insane clown who tried to take over the world.

Fun, but loooong.

[Rob T Firefly]

In the time it took me to watch this, I could have cast three whole summon spells in FF7.

Re:Fun, but loooong.

[Temporal]

Yeah, but a single FF8 summon is still longer.

Re:Fun, but loooong.

[Anonymous Coward]

In the time it took me to watch this, I could have cast three whole summon spells in FF7.

If Square ever remakes FF7, they'll have to add a warning to the beginning of Knights of the Round: "Nope, you have already been to the bathroom today! How about reading through 'War and Peace' while you wait, instead?"

Amazing Flash

[oskard]

This may be the most impressive flash animation i've ever watched. Mario is obviously the most powerful magic attack EVER in a Final Fantasy game.

Re:Amazing Flash

[ikkonoishi]

Nope.

Two words "Vanish. X-Zone."

Re:Amazing Flash

[Anonymous Coward]

You hear that? *Whoosh* That's the sound of a joke going right over you.

Re:Amazing Flash

[ikkonoishi]

Meh I just vanished, x-zoned the joke so it couldn't hurt me.

Re:Amazing flash

[May Kasahara]

Definitely long and best appreciated by those who played FF6 though.

Oh, absolutely. It was fun just to see what characters each console represented (and some of the choices were ingenious).

had it's moments...

[osmic234]

Like when one of the evil consoles uses a multitap attack to throw 4 controllers at once, only for one to bounce off the xbox - "projectiles have no effect".

The stronger than average n64 rumble pak brings back memories as well...

A Question About FF VI's Real Ending...

[DLWormwood]

The flash doesn't appear to be perfectly faithful to what I remember being the ending of FF III/6j. I noticed (despite not having played FFIII in years) a couple of differences:

• The Pokemon Pockets (nee Terra's adopted children) fly away along with the Game Gear (nee Cid). This wasn't a plot point in the American release. I remember Terra and Locke surviving the plunge on the airship and making it back on deck on their own, without being levitated back on...
• There were flash backs of game content intermixed with the individual character escape sequences. One of these flashbacks has PocketStation/PSP (nee Kafka) absorb the PS2 (nee the Emperor) instead of throwing him off the Floating Continent.

Were there any serious subplots omitted from the US SNES release that were in the original Japanese version? Could I see these if I got the PS1 remake?

Re:A Question About FF VI's Real Ending...

[ikkonoishi]

Well whatever you do don't download the rom and translation patch since that could be thought to be copyright infringement.

You can however download the completely legal emulator since it contains no copyrighted material.

Amazing flash

[__aailob1448]

I can't begin to imagine the amount of work the creators must've put into it. Definitely long and best appreciated by those who played FF6 though.

The PSP is no weakling

[Strider_Hiryu]

I'm actually appalled that the creator of this Flash animation Made the PSP play the role of Kefka... Kefka was a frikken Pushover in FF6...

Sega Mega Tower!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Genesis, Sega CD, and 32X combine to become.......

SEGA MEGA TOWER!!!!!

ROFL

Re:Yet more Sony Astroturf

[Anonymous Coward]

For that matter, how do we know that you're not an operative sent here to make us all think viral marketing works?