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Snakes In The Ball Pit => Yay, I get to talk about me! => This Is A Thing I Made => Topic started by: Cleretic on August 16, 2015, 10:53:28 pm

Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on August 16, 2015, 10:53:28 pm
I've posted about my interest in this subject on here before, and since I really enjoy the subject, I finally decided to make something out of it. So, I have.

Here There Is An Ice Key (http://herethereisanicekey.tumblr.com/) is where I'm going to post everything I can gather about cut content. What it is, how we found it, why it was cut, and its legacy. My first post is about Czar Dragon, a removed boss from FFVI, but things are only going to get bigger from here. I've started realizing that even sites like The Cutting Room Floor don't post about some really big stuff, so I think I'm actually going to be introducing people to things they'd otherwise have never heard of.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Runic on August 17, 2015, 06:20:58 am
Horray! I'm definitely into stuff like this, so I'll check it out!
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: QueenSyreen on August 17, 2015, 05:26:39 pm
Oh, cool! I like this sort of stuff too, this niche blog appeals to me
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: TurkeyPopulationGuessingMan on August 17, 2015, 06:59:34 pm
A pretty interesting read. I can't wait to see what else you find.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: goombapolice on August 17, 2015, 10:50:13 pm
That was a fun fuckin read.and I am following like a mad motherfucker.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Lemon on August 18, 2015, 11:47:42 am
Are there any plans where you sing this title to the tune of I started a joke (https://youtu.be/Dq6YmSVAOG8?t=14s)?
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on August 19, 2015, 01:59:33 am
Are there any plans where you sing this title to the tune of I started a joke (https://youtu.be/Dq6YmSVAOG8?t=14s)?
Lemon, August 18, 2015, 11:47:42 am
If I ever find myself doing a podcast or Youtube videos on this, that's now a frontrunner for the theme.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on August 20, 2015, 08:10:28 pm
I'm not going to post every time I update this, but I'm really proud of this one because there's really no centralized location for any information on it. The Snow Queen quest from the first Persona game. (http://herethereisanicekey.tumblr.com/post/127198690779/revelations-persona-the-snow-queen)
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Old_Zircon on September 03, 2015, 11:48:59 pm
I love this stuff.

This reminds me of the poster that came with my grade school best friend's NES (I got mine the following Christmas and it didn't have the same poster) that had a synopsis and screenshot from an overhead-view Nightmare on Elm Street game that let you play as Freddy.  We all wanted it, but as far as I know it never actually existed, at least not on the NES.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Old_Zircon on September 04, 2015, 12:11:16 am
(http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/jjaammeessnneess/P1050904.jpg)

I guess it didn't come with  his NES, probably his copy of Jaws. It was almost exactly like this one, but I don't think it had the Rock N Roller on it, I don't even remember that thing existing.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on September 04, 2015, 01:29:08 am
I miss those foldouts. They disappeared sometime during the GBA/Gamecube era. I suppose it's fair enough, since chances are if you just bought a game you weren't really in the market for a new one, especially back then.

I just looked that up, by the way. It looks like while nobody ever said why that version of the game was abandoned (the Nightmare on Elm Street game that did eventually get made was very different and quite shit), the assumption is apparently that they would have had trouble getting stores to stock it. A Texas Chansaw Massacre game for the Atari 2600 was a colossal failure for that reason.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Old_Zircon on September 04, 2015, 02:55:08 pm
I'm not ashamed to say I owned the NES Nightmare on Elm Street and enjoyed it more than it deserved.  I think I even beat it once or twice.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Ike on September 06, 2015, 01:53:29 pm
(http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/jjaammeessnneess/P1050904.jpg)

I guess it didn't come with  his NES, probably his copy of Jaws. It was almost exactly like this one, but I don't think it had the Rock N Roller on it, I don't even remember that thing existing.
Old_Zircon, September 04, 2015, 12:11:16 am

The AVGN covers the Roll 'n Rocker in this vid:
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Old_Zircon on September 07, 2015, 10:33:03 am
I can't handle AVGN videos, and I'm not really able to objectively say how much his due to his schtick itself and how much is due to him looking EXACTLY like a coworker I had for a few years who was kind of really like that.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Emperor Jack Chick on September 07, 2015, 10:58:06 am
I can't handle AVGN videos, and I'm not really able to objectively say how much his due to his schtick itself and how much is due to him looking EXACTLY like a coworker I had for a few years who was kind of really like that.
Old_Zircon, September 07, 2015, 10:33:03 am

yeah he's pretty awful.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on September 07, 2015, 11:22:53 am
I never liked AVGN either, which is a shame because I (obviously) find exploring the more obscure and unremembered parts of retro gaming interesting. It's great to dig up the weird esoterica of gaming's past, if only to remember that the days before 3D graphics, or widespread online connectivity, or wherever you draw that line between 'retro' and 'modern' isn't actually always good. In fact, most of it's probably not.

One of my inspirations for this project was Jeremy Parish, who does Anatomy of Games (http://www.anatomyofgames.com/) and Game Boy World. (http://www.gameboyworld.com/) He talks about these sorts of things in a way that lets them stand by themselves, good or bad, in a way that can often be interesting. Game Boy World's mission statement means that it's kind of full of stuff that isn't all that interesting, and that's kind of by design, but his writing style really elevates what would otherwise be boring.

(My other inspiration was realizing that neither TCRF nor Unseen 64 are fun to just browse, because of how much uninteresting information is there without even a way to liven it up.)
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Old_Zircon on September 07, 2015, 12:17:06 pm
Yeah, I think letting things stand on their own weirdness is almost always the way to go.  There are people who can make the whole "mock outrage" thing work (Ashens) but they're the exception and usually a big part of why it works is that they don't make it the main event or overplay it.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Mu. on September 08, 2015, 11:09:50 am
Yeah, I think letting things stand on their own weirdness is almost always the way to go.  There are people who can make the whole "mock outrage" thing work (Ashens) but they're the exception and usually a big part of why it works is that they don't make it the main event or overplay it.
Old_Zircon, September 07, 2015, 12:17:06 pm

I think that part of the reason it works for Ashens is that a lot of the stuff he looks at is genuinely not even worth the kind of contempt he gives it (who could actually get mad or frustrated at or with pound shop/dollar store stuff?) and that his mock outrage is much more understated than other internet clowns. I still got bored of him after a time though.

Anyway, I've read all the entries and I like the blog. It's well written and interesting. Even stuff I already knew is enhanced by your reasonable speculations as to why it got cut out. I think you do a good job of livening up the information available at places like TCRF.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Old_Zircon on September 08, 2015, 12:09:58 pm
Yeah, I think letting things stand on their own weirdness is almost always the way to go.  There are people who can make the whole "mock outrage" thing work (Ashens) but they're the exception and usually a big part of why it works is that they don't make it the main event or overplay it.
Old_Zircon, September 07, 2015, 12:17:06 pm

I think that part of the reason it works for Ashens is that a lot of the stuff he looks at is genuinely not even worth the kind of contempt he gives it (who could actually get mad or frustrated at or with pound shop/dollar store stuff?) and that his mock outrage is much more understated than other internet clowns. I still got bored of him after a time though.

Anyway, I've read all the entries and I like the blog. It's well written and interesting. Even stuff I already knew is enhanced by your reasonable speculations as to why it got cut out. I think you do a good job of livening up the information available at places like TCRF.
Murphy, September 08, 2015, 11:09:50 am

He's at his best when the mock outrage has a sort of world-weary "let's get this out of the way" attitude, where it feels like he's subtly making fun of the whole Youtube Mock Anger thing.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: goombapolice on September 09, 2015, 10:18:45 am
Your article on the cut Shiva sidequest in Dark Souls was a really great read!
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on September 10, 2015, 05:10:33 am
Thanks! That's one I like, because while it's so recent, it's still so familiar in how it appears. It's the sort of cut content you probably imagine when you think about it, where everything points to this character being relevant, they're just not. I remember Oblivion had some similar things to raise eyebrows at now that I think about it, things clearly intended for a quest that just isn't there. My favorite of those is probably Nerastarel's House. But it just looks so much more out of place in Dark Souls, which is otherwise such a tight package.

There's also the fact that it's... well, it's done. To any reasonable extent, it's done, it wouldn't have taken long at all to patch it together. The fact that it's so finished means that it must have been cut very late, but there's no clear reason why.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: goombapolice on September 10, 2015, 06:44:31 am
That's what's so mysterious to me! I'm certain all they had to do was cut the audio and then bang more content for an already huge game.

Do you ever plan on doing a writeup about all the audio files found of the dude that gives you the estus flask? He was apparently going to play a much bigger role in the game.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on September 10, 2015, 09:33:07 am
Dark Souls is on the list of games that I also want to do a wider look at, covering all the notable cut content that isn't quite substantial enough for a full feature. The first one of which is going up tomorrow, actually.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Knitting Machine on November 03, 2015, 05:19:23 pm
I just want to say I love this blog, and the stupid Sonic stuff totally gives me awkward teenager flashbacks. Good job!
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: goombapolice on November 03, 2015, 07:22:50 pm
the Goldeneye articles were great. I had no idea there was THAT much cut content still there
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on November 03, 2015, 10:01:03 pm
I just want to say I love this blog, and the stupid Sonic stuff totally gives me awkward teenager flashbacks. Good job!
KnitOneKillTwo, November 03, 2015, 05:19:23 pm
Sonic's one of my favorite series to look at, partly because he's a great through-line of the actual industry. Like Mario, he's been around for most of it and so you can learn a lot about how games were at the time, but unlike Mario Sonic isn't entirely good. When you look at Mario you see everything done right; great care is taken with Mario, you see them dealing with small starts, hardware constraints, generational jumps, adapting to new mechanics, dimensions and genres with such skill that you'd think it isn't very hard.

Then you look at Sonic. Every possible thing that could have gone poorly during game development since the nineties has, at some point, happened to Sonic. Bungled efforts into another genre like Sonic Chronicles, weird and poorly thought-out spinoffs like Knuckles Chaotix and Shadow the Hedgehog, overwrought stories like Sonic Adventure, just outright shit like Sonic 2006; between the end results of questionable titles and poor developments, freak accidents leading to lackluster (or nonexistent) titles, and Sega somehow leaking development ROMs like a goddamn sieve, Sonic teaches so much about what can happen in game development.

the Goldeneye articles were great. I had no idea there was THAT much cut content still there
goombapolice, November 03, 2015, 07:22:50 pm
Goldeneye is just a fascinating game in general, because I don't think a lot of people around the development expected it to be any good at all, let alone the classic it became. It was a licensed game in a genre that just hadn't worked on consoles, so it should have been shit, and it didn't get nearly the amount of care that went into other Rare titles. I like to imagine Goldeneye development was just a bunch of people that, resolute in the knowledge that their effort didn't entirely matter, just went fucking nuts seeing what they could pull off while technically making a rail shooter, until somebody at some point took the rails off (this actually did happen in development) and they slowly realized they had accidentally made a great game.

Still, it means that a lot of the care that went into other games at the time, like Banjo-Kazooie and Diddy Kong Racing, just wasn't taken. And it shows, with the amount of loose threads visible if you're observant.

we're not even done with Goldeneye somehow
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Emperor Jack Chick on November 04, 2015, 12:21:00 pm
Oh hey, I just read your article on the Gambler and I have a minor bone to pick.

See the game to which you are referring is Dota Allstars, which was a split/remake of the original original Dota, which was developed by a dude named Eul. Allstars was a pretty radical departure, actually.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on November 04, 2015, 05:29:28 pm
Oh hey, I just read your article on the Gambler and I have a minor bone to pick.

See the game to which you are referring is Dota Allstars, which was a split/remake of the original original Dota, which was developed by a dude named Eul. Allstars was a pretty radical departure, actually.
jack chick, November 04, 2015, 12:21:00 pm
That stage of Dota is really confusing to look at historically for all these reasons. I do know that Allstars over time became the 'real' Dota, and that the Gambler's removal happened around when Icefrog got onto the project.

A lot of my research went into just trying to find out when certain things came into the game, to confirm any suspicions on what the Gambler might have influenced. I guess a few other things fell into the cracks when I did.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Emperor Jack Chick on November 04, 2015, 09:37:39 pm
Oh hey, I just read your article on the Gambler and I have a minor bone to pick.

See the game to which you are referring is Dota Allstars, which was a split/remake of the original original Dota, which was developed by a dude named Eul. Allstars was a pretty radical departure, actually.
jack chick, November 04, 2015, 12:21:00 pm
That stage of Dota is really confusing to look at historically for all these reasons. I do know that Allstars over time became the 'real' Dota, and that the Gambler's removal happened around when Icefrog got onto the project.

A lot of my research went into just trying to find out when certain things came into the game, to confirm any suspicions on what the Gambler might have influenced. I guess a few other things fell into the cracks when I did.
Cleretic, November 04, 2015, 05:29:28 pm

guinsoo is the dude who built allstars.

the only reason i'm aware of this is 1) i have a stupidly good memory 2) i was, for a time, a competitive wc3 player. dota was "that dumb easy shit" we played when we weren't laddering

btw love your posts! :D <3
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Frank West on January 14, 2016, 01:26:16 pm
I fell behind on reading this, but I just read the TF2 article, and I'd like to say that we do KINDA have video of the invasion version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N40r5c79nk") of the game. AFAIK, this is all code that was pulled during the half life 2 leak, and then laboriously made to work by a group of fans, and I think all assets other than the player characters models you mentioned are borrowed from other source games. So, we don't have video of what it looked like, but we can see roughly how it played.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Knitting Machine on January 14, 2016, 09:10:23 pm
I completely forgot about the gritty Mega Man X reboot idea.
Title: I started a blog about cut video game content
Post by: Cleretic on January 21, 2016, 07:09:18 pm
I completely forgot about the gritty Mega Man X reboot idea.
Knitting Machine, January 14, 2016, 09:10:23 pm
If I had to pick any cancelled game to be a real, finished product, it would be Maverick Hunter. Because then we'd basically just get a new Metroid Prime trilogy.