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Messages - zfunk007

#1
Not yet. My friend Jimmy is still working on translating it. It was a long interview and Mr. Niitani spoke only in Japanese (he had trouble understanding the questions in English) so Jimmy had to translate for him on the fly. But hopefully it will be translated before Christmas. I'll post here when it's done. We talked about all sorts of things, but the second half of the interview is just about The Guardian Legend. I plan on releasing the first part of the interview (about Compile and their other games) on my website. The second part I am going to use for my video I am working on for The Guardian Legend. But when I have the full transcript I'll post it here.

Also, if you are interested in some of the takeaways from the interview I posted some in the SHMUP forums. Just scroll down and look for the same screen shot I posted here. The info is below that:

https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=61265&start=30

*EDIT*

Also, I asked him your question. His response was no, they had no expectations at all. With the Guardian Legend, their goal was to make a game that was truly unique, but there were no expectations attached to it. Interesting answer....
#2
Interview went great! XD

#3
The interview is tomorrow morning. But I got you covered there ;)
#4
I think you'd be surprised. He seems like a really nice guy and wants to talk about it. We specifically mentioned that the Guardian Legend is the primary topic we want to discuss. So yeah, by all means, if you have questions, let me know and I'll do my best to include them. The interview is set for Tuesday of next week.
#5
Hello all, it's been quite a while since I've posted here. But it doesn't mean I love TGL any less! That being said... I have some pretty exciting news that I wanted to share with you all....

I will be interviewing Mr. Moo Niitani himself this week! I'm assuming anyone who frequents this board knows who he is, but in case you don't, he is the founder of Compile and oversaw development of every game they released. He was also the director of The Guardian Legend, so I honestly can't think of a better person to talk to about this game. I was able to track him down through social media and had a friend of mine (who speaks Japanese) reach out to him. He was very warm and accommodating and eager to talk. So the three of us have setup a Skype chat for later this week. Mr. Niitani does speak some English, but it is limited, so my friend will be there to translate when needed.

When the interview is done I plan on doing an article devoted to the interview as well as a full blown video on my YT channel. My channel is called SHMUP Master. The video will detail the making of the Guardian Legend and explain why it is one of the most influential games of all time.

I also reached out to Hardcore Gaming 101 about that video they posted of the Guardian Legend design documents (I noticed there was a thread about them here in this forum as well). They were kind enough to supply me with high resolution scans of all 29 documents. My friend from Japan is in the process of translating them to see if there is any interesting information. I plan on using those in my video as well.

Lastly, I want to ask you guys, the community, if you have any questions you would like me to ask Moo Niitani about The Guardian Legend, or any Compile game. I plan on having my questions done and finalized by Wed with plans on doing the interview either Thursday or Friday. So get them in quick if you have them!

I'm excited! I get to talk to the creator of my favorite NES game! That doesn't happen everyday!  XD

#6
Hey everyone, part 2 of my expansive article on The Guardian Legend is up at 1 More Castle:

http://1morecastle.com/2013/10/the-completist-presents-the-guardian-legend-part-2/

And in case you missed part 1 you can find it here:

http://1morecastle.com/2013/09/the-completist-presents-the-guardian-legend-part-1/

In part 1 I mostly talked about my personal experience with the game growing up. I focused on my first memories of the game as a kid, the story and what little history is available on the game. It's a shorter article that is very personal and sentimental if anything.

In part 2 I really went nuts. It's over 7000 words with over 100 screen shots, instruction manual pages and Fan Art (pretty much all that I got here). I went through the game area by area, corridor by corridor and turned it into a kind of funny story if you will. It isn't simply a walkthrough but more of my personal experience and feelings while playing through the game. All the major bosses are included (and most of the Mini-Bosses) and I just wanted to pay tribute to as much as I could. For the final boss fight I also did something a little different that I hope people will enjoy. Almost a narrative of sorts.

And last but not least, I gave a BIG plug to this website. In both articles, you will notice that every time the words "The Guardian Legend" are mentioned they are highlighted. This acts as a link to this website. So if someone reading gets curious all they have to do is click one of the MANY times I mention "The Guardian Legend" and they will be re-directed here. I also gave a personal thanks and acknowledgement to this website at the end of my article with a big screen shot of the home page.

Well that's it! Please, let me know what you guys think. The article is extremely long and may take a couple of sittings to get through but it's worth it. Thanks for the support!
#7
Quote from: RubyC42 on September 21, 2013, 01:56:13 AM
daaaam that's a lot of text, gotta be a while to read it all XD

although very interesting that you kept a snapshot of you ripping the game's cover back in those days

Oh yeah, and I didn't know that snapshot even existed until I started digging through a cabinet full of pictures at my parents house about 2 months ago. Totally lucky and totally awesome!
#8
Thanks guys! I am putting the finishing touches on part two as we speak! It will probably be live by this Friday. And let me tell you, its insane. I took over 100 screen shots of the game including all bosses and areas, shots from the instruction manual and fan art from this site. It's a behemoth of an article but my labor of love. I will post the link here when it goes live. Thanks for the support!  :bluelanderbig:
#9
Hey everyone! You can check out part one of my article here:

The Completist Presents: The Guardian Legend

http://1morecastle.com/2013/09/the-completist-presents-the-guardian-legend-part-1/

Please leave me feedback in the comments section below the article because I'd love to hear your thoughts as well as some ideas from you guys on anything you might want me to add for part 2. Hope everyone enjoys! It was a labor of love! :bluelanderbig:
#10
Fan Art / Re: Header for my Column
September 10, 2013, 06:05:51 PM
Thanks guys! I can't wait till the article is up so you can read it!  :redlander:
#11
Fan Art / Header for my Column
September 09, 2013, 10:41:26 PM
Hello, I mentioned in my introduction that I am working on an article on The Guardian Legend for the Retro Gaming website 1 More Castle. I have a column on the website called "The Completist" where I talk about my personal experiences playing through retro video games from start to finish.

For the Guardian Legend however, I had to do something special. So I redesigned my entire header with a Guardian Legend theme. Below is my normal header that I use and the redesigned one so you can see the difference. My article will be released in two parts. Part 1 will be up later this week and part two will follow two weeks after. I will post a link when the article goes live. Let me know what you think of my header. Hopefully it is "high enough quality" for this forum lol ;D



#12
Introduction Area / Re: New to the Site!
August 26, 2013, 01:25:40 PM
Also! If any of you are on twitter lets follow each other!

I'm at @zfunk007
#13
Introduction Area / Re: New to the Site!
August 26, 2013, 01:19:10 PM
Wow, thanks for the support guys! I've actually been doing quite a bit of research on the web about this game and as far as I can tell there is next to nothing on the history of the game, how it was made, who was involved, etc. It's very disheartening. So if any of you know of a place where I can find information about how this game was developed I would appreciate it. I guess maybe it's just the fact that it's a lesser known game. But there has to be something out there!

The only information I've really found are small "shrine" websites devoted to the game, dozens of gamefaq type sites with cheat codes and passwords, a couple of what seem like defunct projects to remake the game, ROM hack websites and a lot of retro reviews (quite a few that are very short and poorly written, but also a few gems that are very good). There also seems to be a cultist obsession with the different box arts for the game because I have found more articles pertaining to TGL box art than pretty much anything else.

In my article I'd also like to include links to all the good websites and reviews I can find (this site will be front and center!). I just want to inspire people to play this game because it is just fantastic. When I finished it last night I honestly felt like just starting over and playing it again. It's that good.

Anyway, like I said, if any of you know of a place on the web to get any good info on TGL I would appreciate it! Thanks!
#14
Introduction Area / New to the Site!
August 25, 2013, 04:41:05 PM
Hello everyone! Just registered with the forums here and it is great to see that there is actually a Guardian Legend community! I had no idea. I'm so glad I found this awesome site!

As far as how I discovered the game, my uncle bought me TGL for Christmas in 1989. It took me and my brother a while to get into it (mainly because we had trouble beating the opening shooter level, which I find hilarious now) but I think by mid 1990 we were engrossed in it. Just such a fantastic game. I make it a point to play through it every 5 years or so. And as a matter of fact, I just (literally) finished it for the third time which is what led me to this site. Although I wasn't able to actually beat it until about 2005. It just takes a little dedication which I'm thinking I lacked in my teens and earlier (I was 10 when I got the game).

And one more thing, I write for a Retro Gaming website called 1 More Castle and my article next week is going to be a huge write up on TGL. My goal is to attempt to make it the most detailed and in depth article on the game anywhere on the net. It's going to follow my personal journey with the game throughout the last 24 years and also a trip through the game itself. I will post the link here in the forums once the article goes live.

Great to be here guys!