Consoles, Games and Emulators.

The MX vs. ATV series isn’t about subtlety. Forget worrying about gear ratios and brake bias; in this game, it’s all about hopping in some rip-roaring, smoke-spewing off-road beast and tackling the dirt, mud, and sand with reckless abandon. And, you know, that’s okay. That’s what the game is there for. Nevertheless, as we work up to the game’s release, it couldn’t hurt to know a little bit more about what the game will have to offer when it’s released in mid-December. In the first of our series of developer diaries for Untamed, we hear from Rainbow Studios’ lead technical game designer Elliot Olson on the subject of one of MX vs. ATV: Untamed’s new game modes: X-Cross tournament.

Tackling the X-Cross Tournament

By Elliot Olson
Lead Technical Game Designer, Rainbow Studios

When the design team at Rainbow Studios sat down to create our first concepts for MX vs. ATV: Untamed, we knew Untamed was going to continue to evolve the tradition of our previous MX titles with massive open worlds, a huge variety of vehicles, and diverse event series. We wanted to raise the bar by pulling all of these gameplay elements into one championship series, though; [this] has always been a design challenge for the team. Previous single-player career modes always focused on our outdoor nationals and supercross events, which we still have as part of our championship mode. As a result, however, our fans never got to prove their skills in modes like freestyle or our long waypoint races. High scores and fast lap times are great, but it lacked that bada** championship mode to pull all of the elements together and determine an off-road warrior. The main question that remained was, “How can we combine eight event series and still allow the user to select the game modes that they prefer to play the most?”

Enter the X-Cross tournament. This isn’t your typical linear championship series. X-Cross is all about mastering vehicles and the environment, and doing it on your terms. MX has never been about supergrueling twitch gameplay. It’s about rhythm racing, setting up for a series of jumps, finding the right line, and destroying the competition. X-Cross also lets players discover and experience everything the game has to offer.

When you first dive into the X-Cross tournament, you’re not going to be forced directly into one race. Instead, you’ll see options, three of them in fact: supercross, nationals, and an all-new gameplay mode, opencross. Are you a hardcore SX fan? You’ll want to jump into the supercross series, where you can race against the top pro riders in chaotic 12-player races. Learn the lines and scrub over jumps to shave off precious seconds on your lap times. Do you just like tearing up the terrain in the outdoors? National tracks are where you can display your off-road dominance in 10 massive, open worlds. Want to dive directly into a machine race? Opencross gives you the ability to master the machines and compete in long-form off-road races. Having trouble with a particular event mode? Keep your progress and jump right into one of the other brackets because you can always come back later to master that specific series.

As you work your way through the early brackets, you’ll find similar events have been clustered around your chosen path. Paired up with supercross is a revamped freestyle mode. We’ve added all the latest freestyle tricks, the ability to link stunts together, and all-new ground stunts to create the ultimate stunt combos. As you work through the national series, you’ll also find supermoto events. Supermoto combines the best of on-pavement street racing with off-road edge-of-control racing to create an amazing sense of speed. Finally, with opencross we’ve pitted all vehicle types together in one race to determine the true off-road champion.

Towards the end of the brackets you’ll also find our minimoto series and our all-new endurocross mode. While it may be easy to laugh at a big dude riding on a tiny 50cc bike, these bikes pack a lot of punch and result in some of the most chaotic crash sequences in the game. Endurocross is a brand-new event mode we’ve added based off of a real-life racing series. In endurocross, all of the elements of the off-road (water, mud, logs, rocks) are brought indoors to create an intense new technical racing experience.

While the path you’ve chosen to the final race series can vary, all roads lead to the X-Cross championship series. This is the mother of all events, and will challenge you on all the racing and freestyle abilities you’ve learned in the earlier brackets. If you’ve made it this far, you’ve got the chops to compete, but the competition is tough and will have no problem with kicking up dirt in your face. Prove your worth and the championship is yours for the taking.

You’re woken in the middle of the night by a girls voice. You jump out of bed, not knowing whether the voice was a dream or not, to find your uncle ready to go out for battle. “I’ll be back by morning” he says as he leaves, “Don’t leave the house!”.

Featuring a vast world with dozens of characters and loads of huge dungeons to explore filled with traps and puzzles, Link to the Past is Link’s first 16-bit appearance and remains one of the best games in the Zelda series to date. Other RPG’s released for the SNES include, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Equinox, Illusion of Time.

Super Mario Kart is one of the best, if not the best, game on the SNES and perhaps one of the best games ever made. Mode 7 graphics created using the DSP chip, superb courses and excellent handling make it a real pleasure to play.

It’s also 2 player split screen compatible, with three modes of play; Mario Grand Prix, Time Trial, and Battle Mode where you attempt to burst the three bubbles orbiting your opponent, using whatever power ups and weapons are to hand!

Street Figther 2 Turbo is one of the most memorable figthing games. This classic game, was the first Super NES game in use more than 16 Mb. It used 20 Mb !! Super NES port of the game that single-handedly kick started the fighting game craze, Street Fighter II introduced, among other innovations, combos (by accident, nonetheless!) and the now-standard half/quarter circle and charge moves found in countless other fighting games. Never before had the world experienced a fighting game that offered players an in-depth fighting system, let alone amazing (at the time) graphics. Innovations aside, the game is just plain fun. The sheer amount of people who still play Street Fighter II to this day is a true testament to the game’s timelessness. An eclectic group of world warriors, some of the most memorable sound samples in history, an uncompromising fighting system — what’s not to love?

Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Platform: Super NES
Genre: Fighting
Release Date: 07/11/93 

Let me set the scene: Way, way back in the day, (1992 to be precise) I walked into my local games retailer to have a look around. There were rumours that, in our tiny town, they had somehow managed to get hold of Nintendo’s new console, the successor to the mighty NES. Not only that but it was on display to the public and was playable. A few friends and me decided to check out the rumours. On the way various bits of info that we’d all heard were spouted out. “ I heard Mario gets to ride on a dinosaur!” “I heard its even bigger then Mario 3 with wicked graphics!” “I heard it’s so powerful it costs a small fortune”. You have to understand we were fairly young. We arrived to a surprisingly empty shop and optimistically walked in. What happened next I’ll never forget for it was the first time I ever got to play Super Mario World and I’ve been playing it ever since.
 
 

 Back in 1990, Sega’s Mega Drive was making fairly big strides in terms of the market against Nintendo’s NES, because it was more powerful, it had better graphics and it had a game you might have heard of called Sonic the Hedgehog. This cheeky blue spike ball appeared to be beating Mario at his own game and Nintendo needed to get their 16bit console out with a killer launch title that would put Mario firmly back on the platform throne. Legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto was put in charge of making Mario 16bit but what he achieved no one could have imagined. Super Mario World was as close as gaming perfection could get.
 
   
Bowser had once again stolen the Princess, this time whilst Mario and Luigi were soaking up the sun in Dinosaur land. Of course plot was never a Mario games major concern. Rescuing the princess meant traipsing through 96 levels, from creepy forests to chocolate mountains, to reach a final confrontation with the dastardly Bowser. The game was one or two player and was bundled with the SNES when it was first launched.
 
 
   

 The first thing that would strike you was the graphics. They were bright, bold and clearer then anything the Megadrive had to offer. It didn’t move as fast as Sonic but each world had its own style and the game as a whole was incredibly individual and yet familiar if you had played Mario before. It also featured some fairly technical (for the time) transparency effects and made full use of the SNES’s sprite rotating and resizing abilities, with the final Bowser battle being the best example of this. It didn’t quite match Nintendo’s other 16-bit big launch title, F-Zero, but the graphics did an admiral job of creating a fun and vibrant atmosphere. It’s a testament to the game that the graphics were hardly touched in the recent Gameboy Advance remake.
 
   
The sound was fantastic, with the SNES instantly making a mockery of anything Sega had to offer. It featured crystal clear instruments and noises and unforgettable jingles that would be whistled for days after hearing just once. However, the most impressive thing I found about the sound was the way it added to the atmosphere. When you are in a cave the music is backed by dripping and eerie echoes. In the ghost houses you have to put up with creepy single strings fading in and out. And who can forget the first time you jumped on Yoshi and a whole bongo drum beat seamlessly joins the music.
 
 
   

 The core of the game, the reason it is loved so much is how it plays. Mario controls exactly like you would expect and when he has the cape he flies like a dream. Also, when upon Yoshi’s back, eating up monsters is so simple it becomes second nature in no time. The levels are all widely varied, with each one being different from the last, and there is an intelligent difficulty curve that makes the game feel difficult but never unfair. However, it’s really the depth of the game that makes it stand out. There is so much to see and do on each level that you never really feel finished. Most levels have more then one exit and some are incredibly fiendish to find. You can complete the game straight through, and the game shows the number of exits you have found next to your save game, but you will never feel satisfied until you have the full 96 next to your game. And that’s the beauty of the game. You’re always left wanting more and not once do you ever feel bored.
 
   
Looking at the game in 2007, it’s still hard to find fault. It was such a perfect piece of platforming in its day that its still fantastic fun to play now. Since nearly all platform games are 3d now there has not been much of a revolution in 2D platforming so it’s safe to assume that Super Mario World was and is the peak of the genre. Now that Nintendo saw fit to release it on the GBA hopefully it will open up whole new audiences who missed out the first time, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll release and new 2D Mario. After all, that’s where Mario is most at home.