Wolfchild speedrun

One of the most memorable games of my youth was Wolfchild. This can be attributed to many things, but for me it was The Game. The cyberpunkish story, the atmosphere, the graphics and music, the gameplay – Wolfchild had it all. And metallic howling of werewolf during the transformation…

I remember this commercial from Amiga Power or some other Amiga magazine.

The intro sequence, although today it may seem boring and uninteresting, back then made the kind of impression on me that today might be similar to watching Animatrix or some perfectly produced anime.

The forest level with its dark backgrounds and strange music remains for me one of the most vivid memories of 16 bit era. Also, the moment when the player beats the first boss and starts falling down from crumbling spaceship – this was really an innovative approach to already established shoot’em up genre.

As for the music – I even asked one of my friends, Arek Maciejewski (now a respected businessman), to record the music track on a tape recorder for me to listen (yes, we didn’t have CDs back then…). This music is still my soft spot – I have it in mods and also two great remixes.

Why do I reminiscence like this at this moment, and, what’s more, publicly?

The answer is that I have just discovered a video of Wolfchild speedrun on Youtube, which caused a surge of memories. So whether you are a nostalgic like me, dwelling on the 16 bit past, or a young PSP user who has never owned a Gameboy (the last 16 bit gaming machine) and never heard of Amiga, I invite you to discover the retro charm of Wolfchild story

Thanks for bringing this to us, Cubex!

Wolfchild speedrun

One of the most memorable games of my youth was Wolfchild. This can be attributed to many things, but for me it was The Game. The cyberpunkish story, the atmosphere, the graphics and music, the gameplay – Wolfchild had it all. And metallic howling of werewolf during the transformation…

I remember this commercial from Amiga Power or some other Amiga magazine.

The intro sequence, although today it may seem boring and uninteresting, back then made the kind of impression on me that today might be similar to watching Animatrix or some perfectly produced anime.

The forest level with its dark backgrounds and strange music remains for me one of the most vivid memories of 16 bit era. Also, the moment when the player beats the first boss and starts falling down from crumbling spaceship – this was really an innovative approach to already established shoot’em up genre.

As for the music – I even asked one of my friends, Arek Maciejewski (now a respected businessman), to record the music track on a tape recorder for me to listen (yes, we didn’t have CDs back then…). This music is still my soft spot – I have it in mods and also two great remixes.

Why do I reminiscence like this at this moment, and, what’s more, publicly?

The answer is that I have just discovered a video of Wolfchild speedrun on Youtube, which caused a surge of memories. So whether you are a nostalgic like me, dwelling on the 16 bit past, or a young PSP user who has never owned a Gameboy (the last 16 bit gaming machine) and never heard of Amiga, I invite you to discover the retro charm of Wolfchild story

Thanks for bringing this to us, Cubex!

Games music remixed

Recently I was toying with the idea of writing something about game music. I thought I would be original if I wrote about game music remixes that I like. As it often happens, someone had the same idea and wrote about it a bit earlier – namely John Bardinelli, a freelance writer, whose blog I happen to follow (you can read the article here).

I felt a little discouraged by that, but nevertheless didn’t want to give up on the idea, especially since my favourite game music remixes are completely different.

So without further ado, I present to you my list :

1. Wolfchild level 1 by Paul Blackford – This is my all time favourite. Not only is Wolfchild the Amiga game that made the strongest impression on me when I was a kid (as you can read in this post), but also this is an excellent electronic theme on its own. I simply loved Wolfchild music when I was a kid – I would listen to it from a tape recorder, since I didn’t have Amiga (you can download it from here).

On a side note, I used to listen to this remix all the time when I was in Japan (from my PSP), so now it makes me visualis both of Wolfchild and Japan. This combination of happy memories probably makes me a little biased, but music is a subjective matter after all.

2. The Wolfchild Rebirth Project by Lomaxx – This is the remix of the same Wolfchild tune, level one background music to be precise. I wonder if anyone will ever take on the other music from this game – the second level (forest) had great score as well, not to mention the main title. Still, this remix is very faithful to the original – almost the same, but as if better instruments were used.

3. The Sin War by Daknit, Bard of Tarot – Unfortunately, this song has mysteriously disappeared from the internet. I have downloaded it from OC Remix some time ago, but it is not there anymore. Anyways, even though some might not like the music itself, the grave male voice accounting the tale of the Sin War from Diablo game makes this piece extremely climatic. It’s a pity it is not easily found nowadays.

4. Here I would place ex equo two remixes of Final Fantasy VI theme : Terra Black Crystal by Kaijin and Terra in Black by Ailsean – I just can’t decide which one I like better. They both make an attempt of remixing the main theme of the game, which is a memorable score by itself, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, and they both do it well. When I listen to them, I see three gargantuan machines marching slowly through the snow fields towards cozy lights of sleeping city of Narshe. Mining town lays dormant ahead, not knowing yet what havoc will be released on it when the approaching soldiers arrive. A green-haired girl sits on the top of leading walker, snowflakes melting on the slave crown on her head…

5. Nazi Requiem by Mazedude – This is an exception amongst these remixes, as I actually don’t remember the original Wolfenstein 3D music that got remixed here (because at the time I didn’t have a sound card yet and played on PC speaker only). Still, the heavy and sad ambiance of this piece together with a distant voice of Adolf Hitler (a bold idea to use his speeches in the background) is not to be underestimated. There is also a little anecdote : my German friend Andreas saw the title in one of my folders, played it and then I had to explain that I actually am not a Nazi… A bit of misunderstanding there, but we sorted it out.

As a bonus, I would like to encourage you to visit Mark McWane’s homepage and listen to the music there. I didn’t include it on the list, because music in question does not necessarily qualify under remixes. It is a faithful rendition of soundtracks from Duke Nukem 3D and Blood, with a little bonus of Shadow Warrior main theme. Since I was always a fan of Blood, I obviously prefer its climatic music. I am a little disappointed that Mr McWane didn’t finish the orchestral arrangement of Blood soundtrack, because it sounded even better than the real thing.

I hope you liked the choice presented here. This has given me the idea to write about some free game music that is available out there next time. Check this page sometimes for updates and if you want to share a comment, don’t hesitate to do so.

Amiga emulation on the PSP

One of the main reasons to buy my PSP was being able to emulate Amiga. Yes, at the time I was thinking of getting it I didn’t care so much about the games, but was absolutely excited by the possibility of being able to play Amiga games anywhere on the go. After having bought my PSP in January 2006, however, I realised that things weren’t yet all that good in the emulation department. I haven’t been able to play my beloved Wolfchild, a game that I had so fond memories of.

I didn’t have Amiga back then, because my parents couldn’t afford one, so I had to play this game at my friend’s place. I was totally enchanted by the atmosphere of this game – I even had my friend record music tracks from the game for me to listen on my tape-recorder… Although the game was very hard, the combination of music and artwork created incredible experience that I can’t forget even now, many years later.

Wolfchild – now on your PSP.

Anyways, the developers are working (albeit a bit slowly) and things did get better over the course of last few months. As you can see above, I was finally able to play Wolfchild on my PSP. I used PSPUAE 0.60 and with a frameskip of 2 it was running at a speed which I wouldn’t yet call decent, but definitely playable. That taking into account playing in fullscreen and with sound. Loading time was a bit of a drag, but obviously this version of PSPUAE has progressed in terms of compatibility and speed, as compared to half year back. I do hope that in a few more months this game is going to be 100% playable with a perfect framerate.

I also checked a few other games (SWIV etc.) and although some frame skipping is necessary to get reasonable speed of emulation, the results are highly promising. I am waiting for another release.

Oh, and by the way, there are two excellent remixes of the first level background music available on the web – one by Lomaxx and one by Paul Blackford. I highly recommend downloading them.