Stumbling through Snake, Rattle and Roll
Aug. 18th, 2011 09:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davidnAs I've frequently mentioned, I grew up with Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabbit, Mylo Steamwicz and a whole host of perpetually smiling ASCII #001 characters, and so I never experienced or have even heard of many of the games that my friends remember so fondly. A couple of nights ago, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kjorteo sent me a fascinating map of how the NES game Snake, Rattle and Roll is actually one coherent environment, a rarity for level-based games, and I decided that I wanted to try it for myself.
So I went in, armed only with a vague idea of the objective of the game and the knowledge that it was meant to be very, very hard. My initial plan was to make a written post out of it, but I realized before I even started that it would take ages to remember, document and show my thoughts and reactions. So instead, I've joined the legion of awful presenters on Youtube, having stuck a microphone in front of my face so that you can experience me speaking about what I'm doing, muttering to myself or making a variety of exasperated noises.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gedsm2InUgE
This is an unlisted video for now, so that the entirety of Youtube doesn't stumble across my faltering attempt to provide running commentary - and I'm aware that watching someone do this when you're familiar with the game must be like screaming at an exasperatingly dim contestant on The Crystal Maze. It's only now I look back at it that I realize it's obvious that the segments you've picked up double as your hit points, and that your tail flashes when you have enough to exit the level, eliminating the need for checking. But I've now had requests for a couple more, so I might see if I improve on subsequent attempts.
kjorteo sent me a fascinating map of how the NES game Snake, Rattle and Roll is actually one coherent environment, a rarity for level-based games, and I decided that I wanted to try it for myself.So I went in, armed only with a vague idea of the objective of the game and the knowledge that it was meant to be very, very hard. My initial plan was to make a written post out of it, but I realized before I even started that it would take ages to remember, document and show my thoughts and reactions. So instead, I've joined the legion of awful presenters on Youtube, having stuck a microphone in front of my face so that you can experience me speaking about what I'm doing, muttering to myself or making a variety of exasperated noises.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gedsm2InUgE
This is an unlisted video for now, so that the entirety of Youtube doesn't stumble across my faltering attempt to provide running commentary - and I'm aware that watching someone do this when you're familiar with the game must be like screaming at an exasperatingly dim contestant on The Crystal Maze. It's only now I look back at it that I realize it's obvious that the segments you've picked up double as your hit points, and that your tail flashes when you have enough to exit the level, eliminating the need for checking. But I've now had requests for a couple more, so I might see if I improve on subsequent attempts.
