• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

SkullMonkeys is f****d up [yet AWESOME]

R

Rlan

Member
On my way through getting some old Playstation platformers to get, I came along Skullmonkeys, possibly the most mind-melting game ever.

sm1.jpg


It looks like your regular platformer. It's your basic Run and Jump affair, but it's also very challenging. Fantastic game, pushing a lot of my platform skills to the limits. Lots of satisfaction when finishing a level.

But the design and music is just absolutely crazy, crazy stuff. Some SkullMonkeys jump towards you, but when they jump, they jump OUT OF THEIR SKIN, and then back into it again next jump. And look at this second boss:

ijoehead.jpg


JOE HEAD JOE. WHAT THE HELL?

Joe Head Joe is a guys head with Skullmonkey head, arms and legs attached. Joe Head Joe shoots fireballs from his mouth, and his eyes will pop out on occasion [and be replaces].

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Any the MUSIC! Just as crazy. When you go into a bonus room, this tune plays:

http://www.excellentcontent.com/wos/LittleBonusRoom.mp3

:lol :lol :lol

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/thumbs.aloft/wos/skull.htm is a place with a few other mp3s too.

Anyone else a fan? Neverhood, the first game, was a point and click sort of thing, wasn't it? Was the game as crazy as this? Whatever happened to these guys?
 
S

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
I'm always looking for classic platformers, when you die does it feel as if its your fault or the game? Does it often present hopeless situations? Contol is solid?
 
R

Rlan

Member
It's almost always your fault. You might land in front of an enemy and get hit. There are plenty of way to dodge enemies, he has the ability to create a Fart Klone of himself, which allows you to play through 1 minute of the game as a Clone. If you die in that time, you'll go back to where you were, no lives lost.

Controls are very solid. Not many hopeless situations, nothing to throw your controller over.

Each level is made of 17ish smaller levels. You can go to these levels by different exit points, collect 3 swirls and you can go to the bonus level. Collect 3 1970 tokens and you can travel to the 1970s! [haven't done so yet, sounds hilarious!]

Only bad thing about the game is there is NO SAVING! And it's a 1998 game, it makes no sense. Passwords for everybody.
 
K

Kolgar

Member
I approve of this thread.

Brought this game out a few weeks ago. Yes, it's woooonderful.

Especially the "beans" cinema. :)
 
S

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Thanks Rlan, i'll have to see if I can find a used copy somewhere.
 
R

Rlan

Member
Reading up on it, it's apparently crap :\

Though the creator of Neverhood, Doug Nepal, seems to be working on some recent show called Catscrath on Nickelodeon.
 
Brofist

Brofist

Member
Kinda off topic but this topic reminded me of the greatness that was Skeleton Warriors for the PSX. Godly soundtrack too.

sw-6.jpg
 
P

Priz

Member
The Neverhood was so good. Phil Harrison killed it being on PS1 in the US because it didn't have enough differences between the PC and console version for his liking. So I've been trying to track down the Japanese release of it. The game was huge in Japan, with action figures and those wristband sweat things, drink coasters, and so on. I tried and tried to get some Neverhood merchandise but always came up empty. No one could find the figures Doug talked about of everyone I asked who went to Japan. There were 3 Neverhood games in Japan - Klayman Klayman (Neverhood), Klaymen Klaymen (Skullmonkeys) and Klayman Air Hockey (Air Hockey vs. Neverhood characters).

When I first met/had dinner with Dave Perry at gdc, I was impressed with what I'd seen. The animated series and the animation in the Win9x port of Earthworm Jim impressed me. He bragged about being behind it all. I was at an event for Gabriel Byrne a year or so later (he just came from shooting "End of Days" to talk about his career and how he was convinced he was Keyser Soze until he saw the screening of the final cut) and we had dinner at Johnny Rockets before the event. In walks a group of people and this really tall guy with a Klayman hat. I asked "Hey, aren't you Doug Tennapel?" and we started chatting. He mentioned he was in town at a con to promote Gear (which Catscratch came from). I went to check it out, picked up some comics, and we've been friends ever since. I'm amazed every time I see him he remembers me instantly. At San Diego Comic Con last year, he offerred to give us a tour of his works on the way back if we stopped by the Nickalodeon gallery on the way back to the bay area but we took some random freeway and were lost most of the way up until we hit around the area of Magic Mountain on the drive back.

When I first met Dave, I was impressed. Now that I know he took credit for all of Doug's work, that REALLY pissed me off. Everything he told me that night that he did - all Doug's. WTF? Delusional egomaniac. Here's from an interview:
An earthworm called Jim? Explain how your brain came up with that one, if you can?

That’s simple. My big brother’s name is Jim. When I created the hero, I wanted to give him an all-American name. Dave Perry thought Jim wasn’t heroic enough. He suggested "Lance". Can you imagine that? "Earthworm Lance"? This must be what Dave Perry means when he takes credit for creating EWJ!

How much of the original Earthworm Jim design did you ‘create’? This is somewhat shrouded in mystery.

It genuinely hurts me that I still get this question from journalists. Before I was ever hired at Shiny, I had an independent comic featuring Evil the Cat. I had created Earthworm Jim (who lives in Turlock, CA, my home town), Peter Puppy, Snott, and Psychro before Shiny even existed. After I joined Shiny, I created Prof. Monkey for a Head, Doc Duodenum, the Queen, Princess What’s her Name, and the Pocket Rocket. I came up with all of Jim’s sayings (e.g., "Grooovy", "Woaaah Nelly") and provided his voice. I drew the "head-whip" concept and the Robo-chicken, Fifi the Junkyard dog and Chuck. My Shiny contract says that I will get credit for creating Earthworm Jim. After all of this, Interplay/Shiny have the nerve to run a Wild 9 national advertisement saying that Wild 9 is "from the creators of Earthworm Jim".

Is it upsetting to you that Shiny is continuing the Earthworm Jim series of games without you?

It isn’t upsetting that they are continuing the series, but rather, that I’m the only one who can make the real Earthworm Jim. Those who see Jim appear in Clayfighter and Jim3D feel like they’re seeing a different character. They’re right. That’s not Jim. That’s what upsets me.

Do you have much input or own any of the intellectual property to the EWJ franchise?

I have a small level of approval and creative control which I contractually have to share with Dave "Earthworm Lance" Perry. They’re supposed to pay me a minimum royalty on every Jim thing sold but Interplay’s lawyers have loop-holed their way around having to pay me a cent.

The Neverhood as a company is signed to Dreamworks. How did you manage to get such a big name to back you?

Spielberg likes Earthworm Jim. He knew who really made the character, so he funded my company.

I don’t believe many people in America and Europe realize that The Neverhood was released on the PlayStation only in Japan. Why didn’t the game come out on the PlayStation in the U.S. or Europe?

Ask Phil Harrison [Sony’s Vice President in charge of third-party relations and R&D] about the lack of Neverhood on the PlayStation in America.

Were you surprised with the relative success of the title in Japan, given that not many Western titles ‘cross over’ successfully?

If Sony had let us release Neverhood here in America on the PlayStation, you’d see a lot of success over here too. Mr. Shimomoto – a big cheese at Sony Japan – and I had dinner in Japan, and he said he wished there were more games like Neverhood on the PlayStation. I was blown away! He co-funded prime time television ads for Neverhood in Japan to support our release. I admire the sophistication of the Japanese market and would love to do more games for them in the future.

The strange thing is that our game was generated in America, and this was the first game in which the Japanese saw its American flavor as a good thing.
Click to expand...
 
T

Tarazet

Member
Shiny was such a great company. I loved Earthworm Jim, Wild 9, Skullmonkeys, MDK, and I really miss those days..
 
G

gblues

Banned
I used to have a copy of this game. I'd gotten it used, and my damn copy had a scratch that caused the last damn level to freeze my PSX!!

But yeah, that beans vid was fricken hilarious.

Nathan
 
J

Johnny

Member
I picked this game up years ago for like $5 and it was a real treat. The core game is pretty average as far as platformers go, but the Tennapel Touch(TM) really shines through and makes it an instant classic. I really love the idea of claymation graphics too.
 
B

BobTheFork

Member
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
You got it right! The neverhood games are some of my all time favs. I'm a sucker for claymation, and I love the neverhood and skull monkeys. Both games have some of the best music ever. I have a link somewhere in here to a site that sells a total 3 game Terry Taylor soundtrack for the NeverHood, Skullmonkeys and Boombots(never played), I'll try to throw it up here.

Edit: BANG got it. EVERYONE GO HERE AND BUY THIS F'N CD.... NOW!!!!!
http://www.danielamos.com/store/

If you can still get a copy, get the neverHood. It has one the the best 'making of' videos for a game ever. LOL and I just remember the GAINT clay wall that records all history. You could spend a few hours reading the full backstory of all the characters you never ever saw.
BTW Everyone should be required to watch "the battle of robot Bill" MEEEEEEE BILL!
 
J

Johnny Konami

Member
I'm a big fan of the Neverhood. I like Skullmonkeys too, but mostly for the Terry S. Taylor soundtrack. Besides the bonus room, I think my favorite thing in it is
the FMV where he sticks the the beans in his eye for no apparent reason

At work not too long ago, they were getting rid of some of the old games they had there (and I have no idea why we had this there) but I snagged a copy of Boombots then. I wasn't as enamoured with it as I was with the Neverhood. I suppose it's a decent game, and at least Mr. Taylor has graced the music. :)

And yeah, go get Imaginarium. Fat Boys got nothing on Taylor's beatbox skills.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Locked
Why Jedi Survivor's seamless gameplay puts God of War and Ragnarok to shame
24
3K
RagnarokIV replied
Blasphemous II | Review Thread
Analysis Review Hype 2
93
7K
Northeastmonk replied
SkarredGhost: Quest has sold 20M units, so why isn’t VR mainstream yet?
34
2K
Wonko_C replied
RDR2 is almost a perfect game for me. (SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!)
2 3
112
4K
danklord replied
Sand Land | Review Thread
Opinion Analysis Review
12
1K
bender replied
Top Bottom