Resolution's Peter Willington writes: The Atari produced Marble Madness is a quaint little title at first glance. This isometric 1984 racer/ puzzler/platformer hybrid wowed players of the time with its faux 3D environment and impressive early stereo sound, being ported to several home consoles and inspiring design for an – ultimately canned – sequel.
And yet… that title. Atari went with the at-the-time-popular alliteration route for the game. A snappy, two word, easily remembered name that would easily sum up to players what to expect. Marble Maze, Marble Mission, Marble Masters… no. No Mark Cerny’s first design outing was to be known as Marble Madness.
“There are many iconic platformers yet Kid Chameleon is rarely discussed so allow me to shine the spotlight on this retro treasure.” - A.J. Maciejewski from Video Chums.
Acquire, famous for games like Tenchu and Octopath Traveler, becomes KADOKAWA subsidiary. Can this mean a revival for beloved series?
I would kill to have a Way of the Samurai game with a huge budget and modern tech... The first game was one of my greatest joys on PS2 back in the day. And I really hope From Software will do something with Tenchu... I hate that they're just sitting on the IP like it doesn't even exist.
Tenchu would be superb in this day and age. Ninja and samurai games are hot right now and more is better.
"The company was unable to focus enough on its main hope"
Nope. Going back to the 32X as the reason Sega lost that generation doesn't go back far enough before the Saturn.
Sega executives need to blame themselves as to why Sega lost that generation. Not Saturn. Not 32X. Not Sega CD. Nope. Executives were the reason why. It wasn't the hardware. Those devices were either dropped early or released to soon resulting in a developer backlash the hurt the game catalog. They really shouldn't have been made at all because they should have planned their next move more carefully. It has nothing to do with the devices. Poor leadership decisions and lack of unity within the company are what happened.
Love how blame is always shifted away from what is the truth. Writing a book placing the blame on the 32X isn't the truth.
I am pretty sure there are documentaries (Youtube) around it which highlights these points. I had Sega Mega drive and NES growing up but that's about it. I didn't even know there was a war going on between these companies but I do remember thinking why I can't play Sonic cartridge on Nintendo or Mario on Sega :D
I had the Genesis and the Saturn, also had the SNES and 64, I never got a Dreamcast for some reason, but I never saw one in the stores either.
This game is infuriating but addicting. It also spawned hundreds of wannabes for home computers, many of which were superior games designed to take advantage of longer play sessions possible while sat at a computer. SpinDizzy and Airball spring immediately to mind.