ROSS’S GAME DUNGEON: CAPTAIN ZZAP

Why does your HUD disappear after the first 3 minutes?

I really have no idea how Ross managed to pull 2 Freeman's Mind episode PLUS Game Dungeon.

Unless Ross started to save money on food...

Damn, I feel sorry now.

Why does your HUD disappear after the first 3 minutes?

Sometimes Ross will zoom in on the main action. Especially if the HUD doesn't really change/add to the experience. Happens a lot when he reviews older games.

Speaking about confusing title changes, the only game that comes in my mind is Puzzle Bobble. For some unknown reason, they changed the name to Bust-a-Move in the western market, even though I think the former name was more appropriate. And to make matters even more confusing, a game series called Bust a Move came later in Japan, but had to change the name to Bust a Groove in the west because Puzzle Bobble was using the name Bust-a-Move for the western release. My brain hurts...

Games like this are why I don't exactly miss the "good old days" of game design. Sure, back when this was the best we had, games could still impart a sense of wonder with primitive graphics. But on the flip side, tough-as-nails first-person segments that send you all the way back to the beginning of the entire game if you lose once. And it's not like the game was punishing you for not being as adept as it expected. They were counting on you having to make several attempts to beat it; the whole point was to pad out the gameplay so you'd feel like you'd gotten your money's worth. But in the end all it accomplished was most people getting frustrated and giving up.

Have to say, though, I kind of like the mechanic of making it a timed mission and then giving you a time penalty for dying. Imposssible Mission (now that might be a game worth Dungeoning, if you don't think it's too well known or straighforward) did the exact same thing. I like to imagine that time you lost was because they had to send a new guy in to take your place. Or I would, if it didn't explicitly contradict the lore in both cases.

"Conflict of interest aside, did they think Zzap Magazine would have their backs if they got sued? Even though they would have no power at all over that?"

I suspect it's more a case of line-of-sight naming. The developers probably had copies of Zzap Magazine lying around. When they decided to change the game's name, they looked around for inspiration and their eyes came to rest on one of those copies. "Why not call him Zzap, that sounds science fictiony?" And the rest was history.

This fits with the overall laziness of the whole copyright infringement.

btw, I was really amused by this section of the review:

Lastability

83% Though the first two stages are relatively simple to complete, the third stage offers a significant challenge.

This strongly implies that if the final level hadn't been so insanely difficult, Zzap Magazine would have given the game a much lower score!

Hey, folks. I'm about 90% done with the subtitles for the Captain Zzap episode, but I think it's time for me to be laid up sick as well.

I'll finish the other 10% after I feel better. Blaagh.

Oh. Something I forgot to ask before. You said of the jungle "Santa has no eyes here", which immediately reminded me of what Freeman said about Haiti: "Les yeux de Dieu ne regardent pas beaucoup là." ("The eyes of God do not look much there", according to Google Translate.) Are these both based on an expression I'm unfamiliar with? Google had no results for "God has no eyes here", and I didn't feel like punching in every variant I could think of when I could just ask. It's a pretty awesome way to describe a place as inospitable, at any rate.

Also, did anyone else notice that the game is spelled "Captain Zzap" in the title screens, but "Captain Zapp" on the box art? Just another layer to the madness.