Difference between revisions of "Blog:Floating Runner (PlayStation)"

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Hey, it's a 3D platformer that came out before ''Super Mario 64'' and before analog control became standard on consoles. That's something, right?
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<small>[[User:CRV|CRV]] ([[User talk:CRV|talk]]) 23:11, 5 September 2015 (CET) [[Blog:Floating Runner (PlayStation)|[permalink]]]</small>
  
In ''Floating Runner'', you lead either adorable bounty hunter Lay or adorable priestess Cress on a journey to find seven crystals to save Crystal Land. As adorable as this game may be, it's marred by a lot of annoying, little things, and they're not all attributable to the growing pains of the genre. Let's list them... (Plain old paragraphs are so cliché.)
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Hey, it's a 3D platformer that came out before ''Super Mario 64'' and before analog control was standard on consoles. That's pretty cool, right? Right?
  
:'''1a)''' Your default weapon shoots in an arc, and you have a projectile limit. If too many fall over the edge of a platform, you have to wait a second or two for those to dissipate before you can shoot more.
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In ''Floating Runner'', you lead either adorable bounty hunter Lay or adorable priestess Cress on a journey to find seven crystals to save Crystal Land. Adorable enemies will try to stop you, but you can stop them with your adorable weapons.
:'''1b)''' Other weapons are available, but you actually have to find them at their particular location in one of the worlds. And they also shoot in an arc. And they use gems that enemies leave behind, which you lose when you die, which is often.
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:'''1c)''' You can also stomp on enemies, but they tend to move around a lot.
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:'''2)''' You have but two camera angles that you can switch at will - an overhead angle and a slighly higher overhead angle, which is only useful in maybe a couple situations.
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:'''3)''' When you continue, you only have half your health, and there aren't too many health potions around. (Yet the first stage has five!)
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:'''4)''' The stage layouts can be disorienting. (The camera might play a role in that.)
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:'''5)''' Jumping from platform to platform can be tricky.
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:'''6)''' The game just feels tedious after a while.
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[[Image:Frmanual.jpg|thumb|''Floating Runner'' manual]]
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But it's not all bad. The stage select system is unique - at the end of each world, the crystal cycles through different colors representing the other worlds. The frame rate is brisk. On a personal note, I find the game charming, despite its faults, and I don't have any desire to get rid of my copy. The music is nice, and I like the mix of flat-shaded and texture-mapped polygons. It's an interesting historical footnote.
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And just who developed this historical footnote of a game? If you dig around the disc, you'll find a T&E Soft copyright and credits (none for sound, though). There's no mention anywhere else that the average player would see. The staff names suggest this was done at T&E Soft Osaka (which was computer game company Xtalsoft once upon a time), where games like ''Red Alarm'' and ''Blaze & Blade'' were done.
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As adorable as everything is, there are problems, and you can't blame them all on age. Some make the game unnecessarily frustrating to play at times and could have been avoided. Let's run down the list:
  
Finally, let's take a moment to look at the Western packaging, especially [http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/File:Frcase.jpg the inside of the case]). Yuck! At least someone had the good sense to use the Japanese art on the case and inside the manual (see right).
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:'''1)''' Your default weapon shoots in an arc. There are other weapons, but you have to find them scattered throughout the different worlds.
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:'''2)''' The enemies are way too fidgety.
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:'''3)''' Stage layouts can be disorienting. The lack of camera controls doesn't help. (You can only switch between two angles.)
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:'''4)''' Controls are slippery, making jumping on platforms tricky.
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:'''5)''' There aren't too many health potions around. (Yet the first stage has five!)
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[[Image:Frmanual.jpg|thumb|The inside of the US manual uses the original Japanese artwork, unlike the cover.]]
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Better weapons and less ponderous stage layouts would have gone a long way in making a better game, but it's not all bad. The frame rate is brisk. The music is pleasant (though sometimes repetitive), as is the mix of flat-shaded and texture-mapped polygons. It's still a charming game.
  
P.S. I never bothered much with Games Done Quick stuff, but I was impressed by this speed run.
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For many years, it was a mystery who developed this pioneer software. There are no ending credits. Xing is the only Japanese company name that appears in-game or on the game, but they were just a publisher.
  
{{#ev:youtube|XSfsvZlymPs}}
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Modern technology allows us to look inside the data and find [https://tcrf.net/Floating_Runner:_Quest_for_the_7_Crystals an unused T&E Soft copyright notice and list of credits]. It's not clear if they were supposed to be displayed on-screen. It's bizarre that a company like T&E Soft would make a game like this and leave their name off.
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''Hydlide'' creator Tokihiro Naito talked very briefly about ''Floating Runner'' during his interview in ''The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Volume 2''. He didn't know anything about it, unfortunately; he was about to leave T&E Soft and had little interest in their in-house games. He said it may have been developed by the Osaka branch. A check of the names suggests that is the case. (T&E Soft's Osaka branch [formerly Xtalsoft] is where games like ''Red Alarm'' were also made.)
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D4 Enterprise, the company behind [https://www.amusement-center.com/project/egg/ the Project EGG service], acquired the rights to T&E Soft's back catalog in 2019. ''Floating Runner'' can be found in [http://www.d4e.co.jp/license/page/7 their list of properties].
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{{#ev:youtube|0lLAzt6LXyI}}
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<small>Post updated January 31, 2020</small>

Latest revision as of 05:12, 31 January 2020

CRV (talk) 23:11, 5 September 2015 (CET) [permalink]

Hey, it's a 3D platformer that came out before Super Mario 64 and before analog control was standard on consoles. That's pretty cool, right? Right?

In Floating Runner, you lead either adorable bounty hunter Lay or adorable priestess Cress on a journey to find seven crystals to save Crystal Land. Adorable enemies will try to stop you, but you can stop them with your adorable weapons.

As adorable as everything is, there are problems, and you can't blame them all on age. Some make the game unnecessarily frustrating to play at times and could have been avoided. Let's run down the list:

1) Your default weapon shoots in an arc. There are other weapons, but you have to find them scattered throughout the different worlds.
2) The enemies are way too fidgety.
3) Stage layouts can be disorienting. The lack of camera controls doesn't help. (You can only switch between two angles.)
4) Controls are slippery, making jumping on platforms tricky.
5) There aren't too many health potions around. (Yet the first stage has five!)
The inside of the US manual uses the original Japanese artwork, unlike the cover.

Better weapons and less ponderous stage layouts would have gone a long way in making a better game, but it's not all bad. The frame rate is brisk. The music is pleasant (though sometimes repetitive), as is the mix of flat-shaded and texture-mapped polygons. It's still a charming game.

For many years, it was a mystery who developed this pioneer software. There are no ending credits. Xing is the only Japanese company name that appears in-game or on the game, but they were just a publisher.

Modern technology allows us to look inside the data and find an unused T&E Soft copyright notice and list of credits. It's not clear if they were supposed to be displayed on-screen. It's bizarre that a company like T&E Soft would make a game like this and leave their name off.

Hydlide creator Tokihiro Naito talked very briefly about Floating Runner during his interview in The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Volume 2. He didn't know anything about it, unfortunately; he was about to leave T&E Soft and had little interest in their in-house games. He said it may have been developed by the Osaka branch. A check of the names suggests that is the case. (T&E Soft's Osaka branch [formerly Xtalsoft] is where games like Red Alarm were also made.)

D4 Enterprise, the company behind the Project EGG service, acquired the rights to T&E Soft's back catalog in 2019. Floating Runner can be found in their list of properties.


Post updated January 31, 2020