succubus1997
Rookie
I joined this site primarily to post this idea to the masses (and I'll probably keep posting if people dig this.) My idea is as follows:
In 1991, a company called Asmik released a game called WURM: Journey to the Center of the Earth on the NES. I used to own it when I was younger, but I have since lost the original copy. The other night I got a wild hair up my ass and downloaded a ROM of it for poops and giggles. Now that I'm older and I can fully understand it, I have to say, I was floored. It's amazing.
In case you're not familiar with the premise, the story is that in the future there are these massive earthquakes, and as such, the governement decides to send teams underground to check them out. That's how the game starts, just BAM!, you're down there. But from there the game goes off on its own. It mixes 2-D sidescrolling shooting, top-down shooting, sidescrolling exploration, and even an FPS sequence. The game transitions nicely between all of the various gameplay modes. In the shooting stages, you pilot your ship, the VZR, through underground caverns a la Gradius. You have a shield bar and a fuel bar. Your shield can withstand any amount of damage as long as it has time to recharge and your fuel can be refilled by defeating enemies that drop fuel icons. you can switch between a tread crawl or a flying mode for your ship to navigate with. You can also activate your drill to help move through certain bits of rock. Simple enough. the top down segments are essentially the same, just a different perspective, but it adds some nice variety. The exploration of the game, I feel, is its lowest point, but not by much. You exit your ship, find an item/person, go to a locked gate, proceed to next area. It's just that it can get kind of confusing traversing the caves when you don't have a map. Your means of attack are a gun with limited ammo and your kick. The controls take a little time to get used to (B to shoot, A to jump, UP to kick) but it's simple enough and there aren't too many enemies. Again, the segments are short, so theyr'e over before long. You've found whatever it is that your'e looking for and now it's on to the FPS section. The top of the screen is your information and the rest is the area that your'e in with whatever beastie you're fighting. The screen scrolls endlessly to the left or right and all you control is a simple reticle to fire with. After a few moments of dodging attacks, a menu comes up and you can speak to your comrades. Talk to the right crewmen and they offer advice and statistical info on the enemy thus increasing your 'possibility' percentage for defeating the enemy. Get it up to 100%, pop a cap off up in its ass, and you win. There ar about four or five areas in the game, each with its own list of gameplay modes. None are particularly long, I beat the whole game in about half an hour.
The graphics are nice, showing enough variety in color and environments to keep underground caverns from becoming boring. The enemy models in the FPS segments in particular are worth mentioning, as ample detail went into their animations. The game as a whole has a distinctive anime look during the cutscenes, giving it a fresh look. The character portraits are expressive and gives each character their own feel. (When I was little, the main character Moby, was the very first game girl to ever catch my fancy. I thought she was hotness.) The sound is decent, the music is original and fits the game well. the controls are a little unorthodox, but for everything they pull off, they work without a hitch.
Now the story is what really took me aback when I replayed it. It starts off a little hazy and nothing is explained to you (the player or the character), just earthquakes and goofy names. But as the game progresses, you start to learn of these various underground civilizations that have been warring for millions of years. The story is given to you in cutscenes that happen between every segemnt of the game, thus actually delivering a story, quite uncommon for an NES action title. The end of the game straight up kicked me in the nuts. STRAIGHT UP. It involved various scientific theories based on real life lost continents such as Mu, Atlantis, and Lemuria. But what got me was the overwhelming anti-war message the game delivered, on a Metal Gear Solid level. I was very surprised to find a truly intelligent and engaging story for such a short game, especially an action title for the NES. Damn.
This of course brings me to my idea. Someone desperately needs to remake this game. Not a PSP or DS port, but a fully realized console port. I know it will never happen, and that sucks, but man, if someone like Square or Capcom got a hold of this and gave the attention it deserves.....it would be fantastic. I say Square becuase of their work Kingdom Hearts and Front Mission, Capcom for Devil May Cry and Mega Man. Sigh....
If anyone were to download a ROM of this game and try it out, you would do yourselves an amazing favor. So please, as my first ever post, please PLEASE check out this game.
In 1991, a company called Asmik released a game called WURM: Journey to the Center of the Earth on the NES. I used to own it when I was younger, but I have since lost the original copy. The other night I got a wild hair up my ass and downloaded a ROM of it for poops and giggles. Now that I'm older and I can fully understand it, I have to say, I was floored. It's amazing.
In case you're not familiar with the premise, the story is that in the future there are these massive earthquakes, and as such, the governement decides to send teams underground to check them out. That's how the game starts, just BAM!, you're down there. But from there the game goes off on its own. It mixes 2-D sidescrolling shooting, top-down shooting, sidescrolling exploration, and even an FPS sequence. The game transitions nicely between all of the various gameplay modes. In the shooting stages, you pilot your ship, the VZR, through underground caverns a la Gradius. You have a shield bar and a fuel bar. Your shield can withstand any amount of damage as long as it has time to recharge and your fuel can be refilled by defeating enemies that drop fuel icons. you can switch between a tread crawl or a flying mode for your ship to navigate with. You can also activate your drill to help move through certain bits of rock. Simple enough. the top down segments are essentially the same, just a different perspective, but it adds some nice variety. The exploration of the game, I feel, is its lowest point, but not by much. You exit your ship, find an item/person, go to a locked gate, proceed to next area. It's just that it can get kind of confusing traversing the caves when you don't have a map. Your means of attack are a gun with limited ammo and your kick. The controls take a little time to get used to (B to shoot, A to jump, UP to kick) but it's simple enough and there aren't too many enemies. Again, the segments are short, so theyr'e over before long. You've found whatever it is that your'e looking for and now it's on to the FPS section. The top of the screen is your information and the rest is the area that your'e in with whatever beastie you're fighting. The screen scrolls endlessly to the left or right and all you control is a simple reticle to fire with. After a few moments of dodging attacks, a menu comes up and you can speak to your comrades. Talk to the right crewmen and they offer advice and statistical info on the enemy thus increasing your 'possibility' percentage for defeating the enemy. Get it up to 100%, pop a cap off up in its ass, and you win. There ar about four or five areas in the game, each with its own list of gameplay modes. None are particularly long, I beat the whole game in about half an hour.
The graphics are nice, showing enough variety in color and environments to keep underground caverns from becoming boring. The enemy models in the FPS segments in particular are worth mentioning, as ample detail went into their animations. The game as a whole has a distinctive anime look during the cutscenes, giving it a fresh look. The character portraits are expressive and gives each character their own feel. (When I was little, the main character Moby, was the very first game girl to ever catch my fancy. I thought she was hotness.) The sound is decent, the music is original and fits the game well. the controls are a little unorthodox, but for everything they pull off, they work without a hitch.
Now the story is what really took me aback when I replayed it. It starts off a little hazy and nothing is explained to you (the player or the character), just earthquakes and goofy names. But as the game progresses, you start to learn of these various underground civilizations that have been warring for millions of years. The story is given to you in cutscenes that happen between every segemnt of the game, thus actually delivering a story, quite uncommon for an NES action title. The end of the game straight up kicked me in the nuts. STRAIGHT UP. It involved various scientific theories based on real life lost continents such as Mu, Atlantis, and Lemuria. But what got me was the overwhelming anti-war message the game delivered, on a Metal Gear Solid level. I was very surprised to find a truly intelligent and engaging story for such a short game, especially an action title for the NES. Damn.
This of course brings me to my idea. Someone desperately needs to remake this game. Not a PSP or DS port, but a fully realized console port. I know it will never happen, and that sucks, but man, if someone like Square or Capcom got a hold of this and gave the attention it deserves.....it would be fantastic. I say Square becuase of their work Kingdom Hearts and Front Mission, Capcom for Devil May Cry and Mega Man. Sigh....
If anyone were to download a ROM of this game and try it out, you would do yourselves an amazing favor. So please, as my first ever post, please PLEASE check out this game.
