Vay returns

[Cobra]

http://www.gamedb.com/ss/products/edition/4156

Hopefully a lot more classics find their way onto the iPhone soon

[Darth Sidious]

I hope that's ironic...because porting classic, forgotten gems onto an i-phone is just so wrong in its wrongness that words cannot describe this fiasco...
Cell Phones are NOT a valid platform for video games, based on the fact alone already that western cell phones appear to be far inferior to Japanese cell phones that already sport graphics on PSX/DC level, which excludes some partially interesting titles from a possible western release (Before Crisis, Final Fantasy IV: The After).
Bu seriously...playing an RPG, for Christ's sake, on a cell phone? That sounds like a torture for the eyes and the mind alike. And...are cell phones even capable of fully playing Vay? Including cutscenes and spoken dialogue sequences? We're talking about a Sega Mega CD game, after all, not some NES game that actually could be ported without any losses.

Sorry if I'm sounding bitter, but each cell phone release sounds like a wasted opportunity to me...especially with real handhelds like the DS and the PSP being so darn successful, so developers could as well put their games onto these systems.
And as for a classic such as Vay, I would have vastly preferred a full remake on DS or PSP perhaps, featuring high-res 2D graphics, new, fully animated cutscenes and fully voiced dialogue sequences as well as an overhaul to the gameplay, particularly the battle system (so, a remake similar to the Lunar remakes on PSX). Now THAT would have been interesting...and a title like Vay would have deserved a bigger comeback, I think.

So, I hope more classics will arrive on DS and PSP either as remakes or part of collections (aren't collections such as Sega Genesis Collection, Gradius Collection and Capcom Classics Collection awesome compilations tailor made for a handheld? And in Japan, there even is an RPG collection on PSP, featuring titles from the Tengai Makyou / Far East of Eden series...).

[Cobra]

You'll find the iPhone doesn't suffer from the typical phone limitations.

The biggest being memory. Most mobile phone games are limited to just a few hundred KB. Developers pride themselves on how much they can cram into that available memory.

iPhone developers on the other hand are imposed with a generous 2 GB limit on size of iPhone applications.

As the Sega Nomad was great for RPGs and easy to read, the fact that almost the entire surface area of the iPhone is the screen I would think or at least hope it'll be just as good if not better as far as easiness to read is concerned.

[Sirgin]

Pfft, I hope this is a one-time thing.

People are getting so greedy these days it's unreal. Trying each and every way to earn some more dollars

They think that, because more people will own iPhones than DSs/PSPs, there's more money to be made there? How do they know how many iPhone users actually want an RPG on their phone?

It's kind of like stabbing handheld gamers in the back saying: "Hey! We've got a great handheld game here! But we're gonna be assholes and not release it on a handheld! Haha! Now go get an iPhone."


I'm not trying to say that the iPhone isn't capable of playing these games, it'll probably be more than fit for it. They should just release it on a handheld, and nowhere else (except maybe like Wii Classics or however it's called)

[Tan]

I'm indifferent to cell phone games myself. I don't care one way or another for them but that's not to say there isn't some value to them. RPGs on the other hand are different. Dialog sequences, boss battles, micromanagement etc that you wouldn't want to pause for an incoming call disrupt the purpose of having a cell in the first place.

In that regard Nokia had the right idea with the NGage. A handheld with a phone tacked on is more suited for games than a cell phone trying to be a handheld. I've always found with electronics that the more you try to do with one device, the less functional each feature is as opposed to a standalone product. Sure an iPhone can do the things a video player, MP3 player, palm pilot and laptop can, but not as good as any of them individually and certainly not as good as a DS/PSP/GBA.

[Sirgin]

RPGs on the other hand are different. Dialog sequences, boss battles, micromanagement etc that you wouldn't want to pause for an incoming call disrupt the purpose of having a cell in the first place.

My thoughts exactly. It's one thing having a couple puzzle games on a cell phone but an RPG is a completely different story.

I wonder what these companies are thinking when they decide they want their (remake) RPG released on a phone rather than a handheld. Are they trying to prevent gamers from actually buying the game? Or are they really just trying to lure casual gamers/phone owners? An RPG isn't exactly something that a casual gamer will pick up anyway so it's a waste of money, time and effort in my opinion.