By John Walker on June 25th, 2012 at 12:00 pm.
Twas on Saturday that I found myself boasting on Twitter about how great RPS is, even on the weekends. Because it is! But there was one thing missing. As Thais Weller pointed out, Danilo Dias and Pedro Paiva’s sprite platformer Oniken wasn’t mentioned. It was a gross oversight, and I can only apologise. You have to give this trailer a view.
I could tell you about it. Or I could show you about it:
I’ve had a play, and it’s as authentic as it looks. Right down to my dying over and over on the second level, as I did in every single game like this through the 80s.
It’s a weeny £3.50 on Desura.
25/06/2012 at 12:06 Dominic White says:
Good fun. It’s NES-style to a fault, but the gameplay is a solid blend of Ninja Gaiden and Strider.
25/06/2012 at 12:19 JB says:
Aah, Strider… *sigh*
25/06/2012 at 18:47 Carra says:
The sword fighting reminds me of Strider too.
And the tree levels of ninja gaiden…
25/06/2012 at 12:12 MistyMike says:
DANGER ZONE
25/06/2012 at 12:25 ReV_VAdAUL says:
I’m sure it is some kind of retro reference but it’d be nice to see the gameplay footage fullscreen rather than it taking up 2/3rds of the screen and all slanted. Gimmicks are fun and all but being able to see the game you’re considering buying is probably better for a trailer.
25/06/2012 at 12:30 Jim9137 says:
If they keep it really tiny and blurry you won’t see the pixels.
25/06/2012 at 12:40 Fwiffo says:
It’s nice to see someone revelling in the 8-bit artstyle and pushing it as far as possible, as developers at the time did. Too often I see a game lauded for “retro” graphics not actually doing this.
25/06/2012 at 14:42 Trent Hawkins says:
it’s just refreshing to see someone do an 8-bit style game that actually looks like it might be 8-bit.
25/06/2012 at 21:26 Tuco says:
No, it’s not. It’s tiresome, and it’s exactly what too many indie developers are doing these days.
I want old school gameplay, not old school 16-colors graphics.
Still, the game looks good.
26/06/2012 at 01:47 Phasma Felis says:
I know, right? If you’re going to do that aesthetic, do it right, don’t half-ass it with particle effects and smooth gradients and shit.
25/06/2012 at 12:42 Keyrock says:
It’s like Strider, Rygar, and Ninja Gaiden all rolled into one. It’s magnificent!
25/06/2012 at 13:25 Ringwraith says:
I’ve seen a game randomly break out the random 80′s pop music with no warning.
It was wonderfully strange, and never happens again.
25/06/2012 at 14:24 Servizio says:
You are already dead.
Insert credit to continue.
25/06/2012 at 14:33 Axyl says:
This looks sooo good..
Reminds me a lot of Dark Void Zero ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/45730/ ) which is only £2.99 on Steam if you’re into this sort of game.
Gonna be grabbing Oniken right away! There goes my Monday afternoon! :P
*Edit* It reminds me of DVZ because there are so few other deeply retro-styled games around afaik.
Retro City Rampage also has caught my attention ( http://www.retrocityrampage.com/ )
25/06/2012 at 14:49 ribobura osserotto says:
I usually dislike retro-inspired games, but this one actually looks quite good gameplay-wise. Plus I’m a sucker for FOTN-like cheesyness.
25/06/2012 at 15:04 squareking says:
I should’ve been thinking Contra and Ninja Gaiden, but I got some serious Batman by Sunsoft vibes from the trailer.
25/06/2012 at 16:33 Mr-Link says:
OMG, I dont know about the game itself, but that was the best video game trailer to come out in the last few months!!!! I watched it three times already!
25/06/2012 at 21:19 SkittleDiddler says:
“OVER 18 BOSS FIGTHS”.
I’m not quite sold yet. Maybe a few more misspellings would convince me.
26/06/2012 at 01:38 Kodo says:
surely a reference to all your base
26/06/2012 at 04:08 SkittleDiddler says:
“ALL YOUR 18 BOSS FIGTHS BELONG TO US!!!”
26/06/2012 at 04:43 Adam Milecki says:
I did extensive copy editing on the text found in the most recent build of the full game, but my work wasn’t present in some of the promotional stuff like this.
I also did copy editing on the manual, but my final edits haven’t yet been added to the manual hosted on Desura.
26/06/2012 at 00:28 G_Man_007 says:
Oniken? Didn’t Dr Oetker used to own that? Mmm, Danone.
26/06/2012 at 18:56 Homunkoloss says:
Hokuto no Ken meets Ninja Gaiden? I can dig that.