Vectorman V.S DKC

[Genesis Knight]

It's fact that SWA sold bucketfuls, like basically 1-to-1.

[Aarzak]

*takes said bucketfuls of SWA carts and pours them over your head*

*also takes bucketfuls with every DKC cart sold on that holiday season and pours them over your head*

*pours bucketfuls of every S3/S&K cart sold that holiday season as well*

See the difference?...........You might wanna invest in some ice patches there.

Time to hit up the Google Groups archives..........to Christmas 1994!

EDIT: Check out this thread from back on November 1994, titled "Sega's answer to Donkey Kong Country?". Looking at that thread it seems like we've only been re-regurgitating debates and topics which were dissected well over a decade ago.

http://tinyurl.com/2bvogl

[j_factor]

I don't recall there being that much ado about Star Wars Arcade. Sonic & Knuckles was a bigger deal for everyone I knew, and I remember seeing more advertisements for it. Also, 32x was a new thing that few people bought...

Star Wars Arcade might have sold amazingly for a 32x game, but remember that there were only like two or three 32x games available at the time. PilotWings 64 had great sales too, but that doesn't make it a killer app.

[Aarzak]

But you're 7 years old.........why are you even here and how do you know all of this stuff from way before your time? Current-gen noob.

(Kidding like Jason)

Yeah, S&K was definitely pushed a lot, but supposedly it was the worst selling of the Sonic trilogy and had Sega stuck with many unsold cartridges. I do know that DKC & S&K were both at the top of the sales charts (in that order) for November (or was it December?) 1994, which I recalled from a Retro-Spective on one of my last issues of GamePro (that nonsense where they revisit the events of X Month a decade afo).

[Epicenter]

Here's the thing; Vectorman was as far as I can tell, not made to compete with DKC. They're fundamentally different sorts of games- hell, one is a shooter-platformer and one is a a regular old platformer. The environments are nothing like each other, the music is totally different... the only real common trait they bear is that they both use pre-rendered 3D graphics.

DKC: DKC's a good looking game in most regards but the huge 3D sprites seemed to jump right out at you, and while that may have been cool in 1994, it just serves to make them look out of place now. Like a gimmick, really. The controls are good and the music is very nice, however. Pretty solid games.

Vectorman: Vectorman takes the graphical style aspect in a differnet direction. Your main character is made of spheres rather than 1 big sprite, and their movement is dynamic and physics-based (you can see them bounce around when you die or transform.) The rendered sprites are mixed in with genuine hand-drawn sprites for a more well rounded appearance, which I find overall less tacky than the awful shiny 3D of 1994. The levels are imaginative, the different weapons and transformations add some uniqueness to gameplay, the controls are solid, and I'm quite fond of the music. While relatively simple and not overwhelming, it adds to the game significantly. I must not be the only one who liked it since there's a remix CD of it out from John Holland, released by Sega.

But here's the thing that, in my mind, really made Vectorman special. Every level didn't rely on the same big pretty sprites as a gimmick; it had a unique graphical element for every stage. Stage 1 had lots of smooth flowing flags in the background for example, one stage has waterfalls made from lots of tiny sprites of falling/bouncing water (my favorite), the Arctic stage has some very nice lens flare effects, another has lots of TVs smoothly animating in the background... it's very dynamic and creative. It's rare, in the year 2007, for a game to make me stop and play with a visual effect instead of just rushing through it so I really have to give them points for that.

I didn't get to play either of the games til ~2003 on; I didn't grow up on either. But for me, Vectorman wins the comparison.

[j_factor]

Here's the thing; Vectorman was as far as I can tell, not made to compete with DKC.

It wasn't made for it, but it was seen and reported as such by the media.

In actuality, the Genesis game that was made to compete with DKC was X-Perts. Too bad it sucked.

[Genesis Knight]

Truth. XPerts was horrific, but I feel a bit more charitable after that one interview where the designer explained what went wrong.

[Aarzak]

But "X-Perts" came out way after the DKC1+DKC2 assault, a.k.a early 1996. Not just that, but "Eternal Champions" was long gone from many people's minds (the original got decent print+TV advertising and nothing more, the sequel didn't get zilch promotion amongst the horde of fighting games throughout 1994-1995) and Sega didn't do anything to promote it.

Doesn't help that the game was a turd and almost universally canned by all of the mags either.

We all know that aesthetic-and-gameplay-wise that VM and DKC have little to anything in common among other things, but VM WAS Sega's equivalent of the "cutting-edge" platformer that DKC was promoted as (in terms of graphics anyways). It really was Sega's swan song for the Genesis as far as promotional efforts and whatnot go. Only other Genesis game to be promoted after VM was "Sonic 3D Blast" (print+TV, moreso for the Saturn version on the latter), it's sequel "Vectorman 2 (print) and "Virtua Fighter 2" (print) and that was it.

[Epicenter]

Sheesh, the 'Ugly Fake 3D' craze reminds me of how batshit Sega went with 3D Blast. The game was pretty lacklustre in every area except for the great music. But Sega was pushing it like mad on Genesis and Saturn and even that abomination on Game Gear (which was nothing like Sonic 3D Blast but still somehow got the name.. minus the 3D bit.) It was selling in a nice cardboard box instead of the ugly Disney DVD style Genesis cart package, and came with a crappy T-shirt.. and it was something like $60-70. And back then that was probably about what $80-$90 is worth today. Pretty ridiculous.

The real games that tested the Genesis' abilities were Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Red Zone, etc. Not anything Sega ever pushed. Sometimes I think the only good games Sega had faith in for the system were Vectorman, Sonic and Ecco. They always threw their weight behind crap.

[Iron Lizard]

Wait wait wait... You like the cardboard box?

[Vehemont]

That is what I was thinking. I would prefer the case any day.

[Aarzak]

Sheesh, the 'Ugly Fake 3D' craze reminds me of how batshit Sega went with 3D Blast. The game was pretty lacklustre in every area except for the great music. But Sega was pushing it like mad on Genesis and Saturn and even that abomination on Game Gear (which was nothing like Sonic 3D Blast but still somehow got the name.. minus the 3D bit.) It was selling in a nice cardboard box instead of the ugly Disney DVD style Genesis cart package, and came with a crappy T-shirt.. and it was something like $60-70. And back then that was probably about what $80-$90 is worth today. Pretty ridiculous.

The real games that tested the Genesis' abilities were Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Red Zone, etc. Not anything Sega ever pushed. Sometimes I think the only good games Sega had faith in for the system were Vectorman, Sonic and Ecco. They always threw their weight behind crap.

Well, I wouldn't say Sega was promoting 3D Blast left and right. They were probably pissed and nervous at hell about the cancellation of "Sonic X-Treme" and had to swallow their words and pride by going with the "Plan B" (NiGHTS+ Saturn 3D Blast) that Christmas and throwing a TV ad here and 1-2 print ads here and there. It got little promotion or attention compared to "Super Mario 64" and "Crash Bandicoot", and definitely sold less than either. As I've mentioned many times before, I got a copy of 3D Blast (Genesis) that Christmas, don't think it was worth $65. The game couldn't have been more than 16Mbit.

[ary incorparated]

Wait wait wait... You like the cardboard box?

hehe lol so true,that made dk country look horrific the fact that everything except from few animations was frozen,the only thing moving was dk and the rain clouds and enemys for the rest solid stiff layer over layer photo altought some photos gave you the good image.I still would say dk country because it isn't so short but Vectorman has more potential everything,s moving lightning effects that look cool and vectorman look's cool the shading,s etc the disco alike synth music gives calmt at point,s ,just look at everything moving in screen freaking flags wave clauds move tons of explosions and the the thunder sure impressive the morphs are fun.Vectorman 2 wasnt as good indeed looked like a beta.

Can somebody tell me what makes Vectorman so special? I don't get it at all.

the echo song from paul gilbert which seems to be a replica of a song from this game

[neptun]

The graphics of DKC are fantastic. Rendered games need a lot of colours to look well. And thats the main problem for Vectorman. I know that the style is dark and not every game must have thousands of colours but in this case its a shame with the genesis hardware limitations. I dont understand why is it possible to release games like Sonic 3, which uses 128 colours and then a long time later they bring out games with such a lack.
Maybe not every programmer was talented enough or the hardware didnt allow more colours with light effects?....i dont understand!
Is there anybody who knows more about this circumstances?

[TmEE]

DKC is poor looking, and poor playing game... Vectorman may not look too good, but it lays much better.

Programmers don't make GFX usually, the artists do... and maybe the artist does not always make use of what HW has to offer as good as possible...