www.FlyingOmelette.com
Questions & Answers
Archive 3


Question #60
FROM: Mike Matei

Hi, I saw your website kid icarus shrine. I made a painting of a kid icarus scene and I'd greatly appreciate if you would put it in your fan art section. I have attached the painting.
Best,
Mike Matei


Dear Mike,

That's an amazing piece of artwork you've done there. (Love the Eggplant Wizard!) I'd be more than happy to add it to the Fanart section of the Kid Icarus Shrine as soon as I get my problems with the computer straightened out. For now, visitors can see it right here:


(Click for full-sized image)


Question #59
FROM: Eric Arnol-Martin

Hi I was wondering if we could trade links (link exchange/reciprical linking). I will add a link to your site, and you will hopefully add a link to my site. These links could help raise our pagerank on Google (Googles web-site ranking system). I would absolutely appreciate a link exchange!

My URL is:
http://www.videogames101.net
Please tell me what URL you want me to link to.

Once I add your link and update the page your link will be found at:
http://www.videogames101.net - Click on links on the frame.

Thanks!
Eric Arnol-Martin


Dear Eric,

I'd be more than happy to exchange links, but because my old computer got fried, it might take me a day or two to get around to it. (On top of everything else, I injured my right thumb, so typing is a little difficult for me now, too.) Bear with me if I make typos:

Generally, there's just one URL for this site and that's http://www.flyingomelette.com, unless you want to link to a specific section for some reason. But every section should be accessible from the main page. And good luck with your site! Those Tomb Raider walkthroughs look like they could be really helpful.


Question #58
FROM: Joe Blow

Hey ~FO, I'm wondering what kind of jobs game gosus have. So what do you do?


Dear Joe,

I just work an office job, mostly data entry. It's nothing special, but it pays the bills and puts food on the table, and keeps this website running. Unfortunately, I don't have a real college education and at this point in my life, it's looking more and more doubtful that I'll ever get one. What is a "gosus"?


Question #57
FROM: PW

Hello.

I have a strange code for Kid Icarus. You start at the final level with invincibility and maximum fire power.

DUVANS MAMMOR
KOMMER BORTOT

The strange thing is that the words are swedish and the code is in fact a readable swedish sentence!

DUVANS = the dove's
MAMMOR = mothers
KOMMER = comes/are coming
BORTOT = away

A translation will get this result: "The dove's mothers are coming away."

Best regards,
PW


Dear PW,

Thanks for the code! Fascinating stuff. I'm seriously beginning to wonder about that game's password system. Along with this one, we also had the "DANGER !!!!!! TERROR HORROR", "ICARUS FIGHTS MEDUSA ANGELS", "PAKING PAKING PAKING PAKING", and "KidKid Icarus KidKid Icarus" codes, all of which granted invincibility while starting you at various points in the game. Were all of these passwords intentionally programmed in or is it just that the password system doesn't check against bad codes very well and the right combinations can have a similar effect as Game Genie codes? The "8uuuuu uuuuuu uuuuuu uuuuuu" code actually causes the final level to loop about 3-4 times before you reach the end boss (plus Pit is invisible in the level start cinema, though you can still see the three treasures.) I imagine that code may have been used to debug the final level without having to restart it over and over again, but who knows?


Question #56
FROM: Jan

first of all, thanks a lot for creating your website, it's simply an awesome place for all retro gamers. I have a request about renting/buying a textlink on flyingomelette.com Since I started an Abandonware Website (Download-Full-Games.com), I'm looking for textlinks from other Retro Gaming Sites to mine. Of course I would like to offer you something in exchange for a link. This could be for example a download account on my website for 500 Classic Games / 10 GB Data. Or I make a small donation to your Paypal account. If you would prefer something else, just let me know.

Thank you and keep up the great work,

Jan


Dear Jan,

I'd be more than happy to link your site. That's quite an impressive collection of downloads. I'll be adding it to my Links page today, and let me know if you want something specific for your site's description. If you want to make a donation to the site via Paypal, you can use this button:

Of course, all donations to the site will go towards the costs of building and maintaining it.


Question #55
FROM: CB007

You've mentioned that you're currently playing LandStalker while writing (or preparing to write) reviews for the previous three games you completed.

Now, I've found that I have trouble remembering some important details of one game after I've started a new one. And after playing three new games, my memories of that first game would certainly be very diminished.

Since I never took my reviewing very seriously, I didn't keep detailed notes or write rough drafts. How do you keep yourself organized and avoid forgetting what you want to say about a game that you haven't played in some time?


Dear CB007,

Taking detailed notes is the best thing to do when playing games if you plan to review them afterwards. I usually type quite a bit about my impressions of the games I'm currently playing in the "Game Progress Topics" on the forums. Then what I'll do later is copy and paste every post I made about a single game into a Worddoc (it's a good thing I did that for Blinx or else I would have lost all my notes on that game in the ezboard hacker attack.) Even if my opinion of the game by the time I'm finished it doesn't match what I said in my earlier posts, or even if I said something in the earlier posts that is later proven to be wrong as I get farther in the game, I still think it's a good idea to write down as many thoughts as you can. Because if my mind doesn't change, or if I'm not proven wrong, then I'll still have those posts.

I don't always think it's always absolutely necessary, but replaying a game multiple times before reviewing it can also help solidify the experience into my memory. I played all three paths of Eternal Darkness, and beat Resident Evil 0 on all three difficulty settings. I don't always want to replay an RPG or an extremely long 3D platformer right away (like Donkey Kong 64), so I do as much optional stuff as I possibly can to extend the playing time. Even so, it has been so long since I finished Eternal Darkness, that I probably will replay one path of it before reviewing it.


Question #54
FROM: Vance Rowan

in hydlide, the graphics are not bad because of the bars on the left and bottom they are just bad, because it was a cheaper game.... maybe you didn't play it much, but you die just walking around because, certain area's slowly take your heath away when you walk on it over a certain distance......., and it also will take you allot longer to regenerate (get your heath back) on these terains if you can at all.... it somewhat depends on you strength/level and what terain.... it's not a game glitch and you regenerate you heath by sitting still.... you can even die on the green grass if you move enoph, then you have to sit still and rest.... and when you die you don't have to start over again, you can go to the menu and press save, but it only saves it temporarily (until you turn the game off) . then before you turn the game off, you write a code down. this temporary save, is so you don't have to write don't so many codes.....


Dear Vance,

Okay, we're defending Hydlide now. Solstice, I could understand, but Hydlide? Ever since I first put that line in my review about how I died just standing in one spot doing nothing, I had a flood of people telling me that never happens. Well, I thought it was possible that I imagined it, so I tried playing the game one more time. I didn't play it but 5 minutes and it happened again! How do you know it isn't a glitch? If it never happens to anyone else whose played this game and it's apparently not supposed to happen, yet it happened on my copy twice, then it's either a super-secret way to die or a glitch. I don't believe it had anything to do with the terrain because it happened right in the first area, both times. And, yes, I already know how the saving system works.


Question #53
FROM: Vance Rowan

and the reason in Journey to Silius all the enemy's are white and gray is because there suppose to be metal, what other COLOR WOULD YOU HAVE THEM? PURPLE? all the music in the game was fliping awsome it deserves a 10/10


Dear Vance,

Journey to Silius looks pretty good, especially for an 8-bit game, but I have the same dominant impression of it that I had of Alundra - there's an awful lot of grey. It's fitting to the game's setting and theme, but I don't think it would have hurt to add a little more color here or there. The Level 3 boss, for example, is a gold/bronze color that still looks like metal. Blaster Master had metal enemies that were red, and was a more colorful game all around. But, geez, it's not like I even really care all that much about it. As for the music, well, I'm glad we agree on something.


Question #52
FROM: Vance Rowan

hey, the only sounds that are the same in Journey to Silius and blaster master is the missile, not all of them. and where did you find that Journey to Silius was originally supposed to be based on the movie, The Terminator? and with Solstice why did you give it a bad review it's a great game, not it's fault you can't control it right. the story isn't all that bad, a princess got taken away, and he is trying to get her back, what did you expect? a 15 minute cut-seen in 3D? that goes over his whole life?, because that is basically all there would be, evil guy, takes princess, he try’s to get her back, I don't know how you would put if any other way. if you take some time you can learn the controls good, the controls are fine..... the game is fun, I got two copies of it, one still has it's box and manual I thought the music was fine.... I though it was challenging, and the reason is you have to time the jumps, it's not the controls, that are bad, and you have to move pieces and get keys to make certain items appear you said The first and foremost problem is the lack of a save feature, well hate to break it to you but almost every Nintendo game does not have a save future, so you should never expect one. the game is long but not that long. the graphics are fine, the reason the rooms are the way they are is, if you think before you comment sometimes instead of jumping to conclusions, the rooms are different sizes some take up the whole screen, maybe you just didn't notice, and some rooms don't, they can't stretch the small rooms the fit the screen, because the would take allot of space, and it would be very weird, and it would throw you off. Stop being to critical of the games.


Dear Vance,

You're the one who needs to think before you comment. Plenty of NES games have save features. You don't even know what you're talking about. One as long and complicated as Solstice really needs to have one. The main problem with the controls is the lack of shadows (and LandStalker suffers this problem, too, only it seems even worse.) I was still able to "control it right" enough to finish it, but I didn't have a whole lot of fun doing it. I have no idea what you're talking about with the full-screen issue there. Yes, some rooms are larger than others. No, not even the larger rooms take up the whole screen. Equinox, the sequel of Solstice, completely blows Solstice away because the designers apparently looked at every problem Solstice had and fixed it: the controls, the lack of a save feature, and the lack of boss battles. It still has the issue of the lack of shadows, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere near as much of a problem, I think mostly because the controls are better and also because of the larger, higher-resolution graphics. And, yes, gamers have a right to expect more from a game's story than just "Hero rescues princess", even in NES games. Solstice was released at about the same time as Crystalis, but Crystalis's story is thought-provoking and original, and it does it without having 15 minute 3D cutscenes. Even Magic of Scheherazade, which was basically about saving princesses, had a lot more interesting stuff going, plus a great plot twist near the end that redeems it. I do like Solstice's music. Tim Follin is a pretty damn good composer. I even converted my own midi of the main theme, although I turned off the channel that had the ringing bells.

The thing about Journey to Silius originally being a Terminator game is widely-known through various sources, and The Cutting Room Floor (http://bmf.rustedmagick.com/cr/journeytosilius.htm) contains screenshots of the hidden text in the ROM that refers to the Terminator copyright information. And there are plenty of sound effects that were reused from Blaster Master (not really that big of a deal to me, though), not just the missile.

I'll stop being too critical of games when gamers stop lying.


Question #51
FROM: SethraShnoo

Two questions:

1. I know you said you wanted to reserve lengthy explanations for a dedicated page, but is there one Image Arcane character in particular whose evolution and origin you think is the most interesting that you could explain?

2. About how far into LandStalker are you and what do you think of it so far? I beat that game a long time ago, but I remember thinking it was rather "average". Like a mix of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Solstice that was probably at least better than Solstice, but not as good as A Link to the Past.


Dear Sethra,

1. Yes, there are definitely some characters whose evolutions are more interesting than others, but I don't know if I could narrow it down to a specific one. Again, I'll probably point to Jack Sheen and Nucleo McRaven, which are both character ideas I had sitting around for years. In their cases, I even had the names picked out long before I drew any characters associated with them. And the current designs of both no longer resemble the original versions much at all. Nucleo Amadeus McRaven was a name I had made up for a Merlin-type wizard with a pointy hat, but I never actually drew the character. I got the idea for the mountain devils partially from watching a nature special about mountain lions and partially from a problem I had with a lot of cartoons of the era: Cartoons often had entire races of creatures, like lizardmen or catpeople or something of the sort, that were evil. And I used to always think, "How can the entire species be evil? Wouldn't there be at least one that might not want to be evil?" And thus Nucleo became the one mountain devil who wasn't bad. But even that has changed significantly, as I wouldn't call the entire species "evil", though their society has definite problems. Mountain devils themselves went from being a cat-like race to a conglomeration of different things, like gargoyles, dwarves, and hobbits. Jack was originally a more typical dragon (another problem I had is that dragons were almost always evil in cartoons), but I had a problem relating to him. I narrowed the problem down to the fact that he wasn't wearing clothes, which made it hard for me to see him as the angsty, troubled child he's supposed to be instead of as an animal. But a typical dragon looks ridiculous in clothes, so I had to redesign him to look more humanoid.

2. So far LandStalker hasn't impressed me at all, which is kinda sad, since I really liked Alundra and Alundra 2 and some parts of Dark Savior. I had heard before playing it that LandStalker was mediocre, but it's even more mediocre than I might have imagined.


Question #50
FROM: SethraShnoo

I already know that the character Loro was based partially on my cousin, Benjamin Strykolova, and the character Bandit is based on a real pet rat you used to own. Are there are any other characters that are based on real people or pets or perhaps other sources of inspiration?


Dear Sethra,

Most of my characters are completely made up and the only person whom they may purposefully share traits with is myself. Unfortunately, most people I've known IRL have either been too boring or too obnoxious to base a character on. In fact, this is probably the reason many of my characters exist - out of the need to have more interesting, humorous, and ambitious people in my life, I created them. I also think many of my characters have had far more interesting origins and evolutions than just "s/he's based on someone I know". I haven't even based too many of my characters on people I've known on the internet since most were created many years before there was a public internet. Kin-Liu was pretty much created for Kiera, as she didn't appear until the Minerva Project. I've decided to keep the character in the new series because I just don't think Harken works as well on his own. Likewise, Loro was created for BJ as part of that whole "giant lizard" joke, but the character in the new series will bear little resemblance to Mr. Strykolova. The "Who's Who of Image Arcane" section already explains how the idea for Christopher Paladin sort of came from a pigeon, but the character took on a life of its own in the series.

That's not to say that Image Arcane isn't rooted in reality at all (the mountain devil society in particular was a metaphor for my home town), but explanations about this would probably be better left to a dedicated page. Incidentally, I've been watching my DVD's of the first season of The Muppet Show and I can clearly see how this show had been the #1 influence on the R.A.U.


Question #49
FROM: David Lucier

Hi,

My son is looking for the soundtrack to Sega's 'Nights into Dreams' and/or Christmas Nights. You know a lot more than I do about such subjects and I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. I do know that the CD (and the Remix CD) are out of print. I'd appreciate any response.

Thanks,

David Lucier


Dear David,

Unfortunately, I don't really know where to suggest looking besides ebay and Chudah's Corner. But I sympathize with how difficult it is to find game soundtracks that are out-of-print. I tried tracking down the soundtracks for Kartia/Rebus, Albert Odyssey Gaiden/Legend of Eldean, Alundra 2, and Donkey Kong 64, but they've either been impossible to find, or much more expensive than I'm willing to pay when they do turn up somewhere. Good luck in your search!


Question #48
FROM: Swoosh

Are you a guy or a girl?


Dear Swoosh,

Woman.


Question #47
FROM: GC

I read you review about NES"Ring King" on your web site. I happened to be a BIG FAN of the arcade version of the game back in college. I was wondering if you know if I could find "RING KING" for use on a PC???


Dear GC,

Sorry. I don't know of any way, legally or otherwise, to play Ring King on a PC. I do remember seeing the arcade game years ago, but I never actually played it myself. I hope it's better than the NES port.


Question #46
FROM: David Crane

I ran across your reference to my game ³A Boy and His Blob² and the ³unproven rumor² that Blobert was based on the Shmoo. (You know, of course, that the way false rumors spread is to couch conjecture as an ³unproven rumor.²)

But that¹s OK, A Boy and His Blob is from a long time ago.

The fact is that Blobert was inspired by a cartoon show from my childhood ­ way before the Shmoo ­ called The Herculoids. This was a humanoid family that lived on a planet with several alien friends, including a flying dragon and a rock monster. Two of their more talented friends were Gloop and Gleep, who were shape-changing blobs.

To a fertile pre-pubescent mind there would be no better companion than a shape-changer. What mischief you could cause! I remembered these blobs fondly when creating A Boy and His Blob. And the idea of using a shape-changing companion as a tool to help you to navigate a platform adventure was quite unique for its day.

So rumor quashed, once and for all?
--
David Crane
Skyworks Technologies


Dear Mr. Crane,

Oh my...First of all, this is only the second time someone who is actually involved in making videogames has emailed this site, and the first time someone as legendary as you are has, so forgive me if I seem a little starstruck. Thank you so much for taking time to write in about this. I've since removed the entry from the Cameos Database and updated Oddities 10 with this information. Yes, I defintely agree that the game was very unique, and that's one of the reasons I liked it. It's the first sidescrolling platform game I can remember that made you think about each situation on the current screen as opposed to the standard "run, jump, and gun" of most other platformers of the era. Thanks for setting me straight on this issue. I apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused.

Ever since I first saw the previews for A Boy and His Blob in Nintendo Power magazine, I had wondered about the similarity to the Shmoo. It's always great to have a childhood mystery solved. I am not sure what else to say except thanks again for taking time to write to us here at FlyingOmelette.com, as I'm sure your schedule is quite busy.

(For more shape-changing blobs, see Morph in Disney's Treasure Planet and Cupil in Skies of Arcadia.)


Question #45
FROM: NoaH

Hi.

I've recently created a website for one of my art classes and have used some of your music, as well as linked your site. I was wondering if you were ok with this, or if I should remove your link and music. I actually have a Q about the music

When I try to copy it, I only get abou 8 seconds, is there a way I can use a whole song? Just out of curiousity.

I don't want to get into any trouble and would hate to have anyone get mad at me. afterall, it is only an art project. Please let me know how you feel about the situation.

Thank you


Dear NoaH,

I have no problem with using the music for an art project, especially if you're giving a link back. So feel free to use whatever you need. I am unsure about the 8-second problem, though. First of all, is this happening with the midis I've converted or the MP3s/WMAs on the Downloads page? If it's the midis, I've noticed that sometimes midis I've converted with NSF2MIDI don't work right in Windows Media Player. I use Nullsoft Winamp and they play just fine in that. If the problem is with Media Player, you might want to try downloading Winamp, as it's free and doesn't contain any spyware. If it's happening with the MP3s and/or WMAs, then I'm not sure what the problem could be. Make sure the file has downloaded completely before trying to play it. Also, I don't mind if you use the files on your site, but you have to upload them to your own server because if you try to link directly to the files here, that won't work. Good luck with your project!


Question #44
FROM: Codie Martin

I was wondering something about Image Arcane. In the assorted character "mysteries", including but not limited to what Honen Calzoun is, Harken and Kin-Liu's connection the CRASHER ship, or where that Seth dude came from, do you already have the answers to those questions planned out (i.e. whether Honen is a robot or not)? Or do you still need to decide on the answers?


Dear Codie,

The answer depends on the character. There is an explanation for Harken, Kin-Liu, Seth, the CRASHER space fortress and how they're all related, but if I ever did get working on writing the series again, it would be far too big a spoiler to mention at this point. However, for Honen Calzoun, there is no explanation for what type of "creature" he is. That's part of the joke of the character. There are some characters I haven't quite sorted out all the details on yet, but I'm either reserving them for when I need a character to fill a specific role, or I'm probably not going to use them ever again, except for maybe a very brief cameo.


Question #43
FROM: Paulo

Hi, i am a desperate player who try to find an old NES game, i cant remeber its name because it is in japanese!!! but the game is about a chinese guy who throws bombs to his enemys, is a one player game, and the hero (the chinese guy) try to save his girfriend.

The game is like a cartoon, the graphics are cute and i remember that in some point of the game, the hero fights with a man in the roof of a house and hi can only use his bombs, he cant near to much to the man because a dog in the botton of that house is going to kill him,

I hope you know what is the name of the game that i talk about it

Paulo

PD: sorry for my english!!


Dear Paulo,

I have no idea what game that could possibly be. It doesn't sound familiar to me at all.


Question #42
FROM: James FP

Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving and I hope everything's going well for you and Crawl.


Dear James,

Thank you! I hope you had a good Thanksgiving holiday, too.


Question #41
FROM: DemiSonic

The character you compared to Sir Kibble on Oddities 24, the little green robot, I can confirm is a enemy from Shade Man's level in Mega Man 7.

Also, have you ever noticed the similarity between Pikachu (http://www.liamnet.demon.co.uk/PicturesPoke/Pikachu-Waving(Index).jpg) and the Keaton (http://www.planetnintendo.com/nindb/nus/images/cam/nzs_3b.jpg) from Majoras Mask?

I hope it can help with your website,
DemiSonic


Dear DemiSonic,

Thanks for telling us what game the little robot is from and what level of the game, but I guess we still don't know what his name is (if he even has a name).

Yes, the Pikachu/Keaton comparison used to be in the Cameos Database until it was voted down because Keaton is actually a Kitsune (legendary Japanese creature depicted as a fox with 9 tails) and not an electric mouse. The similarity in the way they look is striking, but probably just coincidence. (Vulpix and Ninetails from Pokemon are also based on the Kitsune.)

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