Yagawa: Genius? Or Bloke With Hair?

[phase3]

Battle Garegga & the Death of the Artist

At what point does a game designer's intended game mechanics cease to be relevant?
At what stage did Battle Garegga become the meta-game it has become?

In my opinion, the answer to both questions is the same: "immediately."

If you watch Star Trek and all you get is "Gene Roddenberry is smart" then you are doing yourself and the series a disservice. The context or intention for any given work is merely supplementary to your ability to enjoy it. It's in observing and appreciating it that the work's value is ascertained, and that will measure differently for each individual. That includes the "artist."

Our lord and savior. He died for our scrub-ishness.

This is truer than it has any right to be. The question is: did "YGW" even exist? And if he didn't, would it make any difference? In my research, I have come to the profound conclusion that Battle Garegga may perhaps be the inevitable end of the line in terms of game design. A transcendental object at the logical end of a once thriving culture. A 4th dimensional, interactive tombstone.

A Bible, perhaps.

or something

[Shepardus]

why do people keep forgetting that batrider exists

[Squire Grooktook]

YGW's just a game designer who's not afraid to screw around a little.

AKA a good game designer.

[GSK]

I've been (very slowly) reading the book from the Rev.2016 premium pack and not only did they not interview him but it seems like they tried to avoid mentioning him directly wherever possible, presumably because he declined to contribute. Maybe he knows better than to demystify his signature work, maybe he's just painfully reticent, I guess we'll never know.

[ciox]

Genius, but not because of Garegga.

Spoiler

[trap15]

I've been (very slowly) reading the book from the Rev.2016 premium pack and not only did they not interview him but it seems like they tried to avoid mentioning him directly wherever possible, presumably because he declined to contribute. Maybe he knows better than to demystify his signature work, maybe he's just painfully reticent, I guess we'll never know.

My understanding is it's the latter (there've been several mentions of this in interviews with others iirc), and that everyone else from the team knows, understands, and respects it.

[BIL]

Battle Garegga
Hwaa! Accidental creampie!
All's well that ends well

[Despatche]

At what point does a game designer's intended game mechanics cease to be relevant?
At what stage did Battle Garegga become the meta-game it has become?

In my opinion, the answer to both questions is the same: "immediately."

The correct answer is "never".

The "metagame" is a disgusting Sirlin-esque meme created by people who don't really understand the process of making or even playing a game. Fans don't know what they want and like to make things up, which is then blamed on the designers, always fun.

As a side note, if a game has frequent updates, then any metagame will devolve into a hell of rounding everything down instead of rounding everything up, or even trying to actually stabilize everything.

[Bananamatic]

kick master was the only good yagawa game

[Plasmo]

why do people keep forgetting that batrider exists

Batrider is so very different to Garegga. All the aspects that make Garegga special, are absent from Batrider. It's merely a very good game which is easy to pick up and enjoy. I love both of them.

On the other hand, both, Ibara and Pink Sweets are less shallow again. They are both no Garegga though.

[Sumez]

kick master was the only good yagawa game

Kickmaster is honestly pretty awesome

[soprano1]

kick master was the only good yagawa game

Holy shit, didn't know that.

[trap15]

He also programmed Low G Man, which is a spectacle of horrible programming and bad design.

[Xyga]

Whether he was a punk or a genius at game design I don't give a crap, the games are there and they speak to a demographics of shmuppers, not all of them, so what ?
Ayatollahs of the absolute game design truth religion shitting on everything people love can suck dead armadillo scrotums, and those who listen to them because they're so shallow they can't have their own taste and opinion, can eat their own brain tumors on a toast.

[Klatrymadon]

He also programmed Low G Man, which is a spectacle of horrible programming and bad design.

Wow, I had no idea - what an intriguing piece of genealogy. I adored this game as a child. Its core mechanic of jumping onto things and impaling them with your spear was irresistible, as was the soundtrack, and it had some really unforgettable scenes (or at least ones which have stayed with me), like the boss fight in which you'd leap up through the insides of this great clanking machine to attack its head.

It was an absolute mess.

[Squire Grooktook]

Whether he was a punk or a genius at game design I don't give a crap, the games are there and they speak to a demographics of shmuppers, not all of them, so what ?
Ayatollahs of the absolute game design truth religion shitting on everything people love can suck dead armadillo scrotums, and those who listen to them because they're so shallow they can't have their own taste and opinion, can eat their own brain tumors on a toast.

Snooty armchair game designers simply don't have what it takes to make good games, and never will till they get off of their fucking armchairs.

[dinosaurjerk]

kick master was the only good yagawa game

hell yeah

[monouchi]

He understands the beauty of Gun Frontier, so he is a genius.

[ciox]

Kick Master needs some love, crummy but well-intentioned unofficial remake, shitty cash-grab official remake, something. There were some romhacks like one that added achievements if you used the right emulator, and a Russian translation that also edited some sprites like the XP items would tell you how much XP they gave, not much of anything.

[DEL]