The GHZ Forum

In the early nineties there was a children's program on British television called Bad Influence. It was about video games, and was presented by 90s CITV superstar Andy Crane, who I now presume to be long-dead, and also the not indaequate bosom of Violet Berlin, whom I caught presenting some cheap video game show on cable TV a few years ago, bosom intact. Even watching now I am unable to discern whether Andy and Violet ever actually played or understood video games to any serious extent. I think Andy was probably just out to impress his kids-- he has that smack of desperation to him-- but maybe Violet was the real deal, I don't know. She at least has an open-minded haircut.

For some members of the forum, the show needs no introduction, of course. I'm sorry for wasting your time, J-Man. But this post will not have been in vain, because guess what? There's hours of the damn thing up on Youtube. (It's interesting, isn't it, the way that the criminals of our past are being punished by the modern age. You could probably say something stupid on TV with confidence in 1992, safe in the assumption that the review of Sonic 2 in which you said of one level "it's called the Casino Night I think it's set in Las Vegas" would perish in the archives of television studios just as it did in your classmates' minds-- unsuspecting of the digital revolution that awaited just beyond the turn of the century that would see your broadcasted blunders preserved forever online, ripe for the mocking. And those fifteen years haven't done you any favours, kid.)

So I was making my way through the first series-- and I highly recommend it, by the way-- when something curious happened. At the beginning of Episode 4, where that critical review of Sonic 2 shows up, Violet Berlin holds up a piece of paper and says "this is a copy of the first ever rough sketch of Sonic."



Violet's bosom then explains, suspiciously, that the picture was given to her by "Mr Kunari, his creator, when I was in Japan recently." Mr Kunari? Sonic's creator? Who was this Mr Kunari? A fabrication? An imposter? Miyamoto playing a joke? We may never know, unless you guys know something I don't, which is quite possible. It's not like I've been paying attention recently.

Anyway, that isn't even the highlight of the episode. Further on Andy Crane visits a special school and mocks some disabled children, tormenting them with cruel virtual reality games that primitively mimic a world they cannot possibly experience and also look excrutiatingly boring to play, and later thinly masking his terror as a disabled child enthusiastically identifies a car sign. There's also a good bit where Violet points to a computer monitor and explains that "this flat screen is a window on a virtual world," adding mysteriously, "this world was designed for the police." And those of you who aren't J-Man might be amused by a special report from the excitingly-named Z Wright, who provided British children a dizzying look into the video game scene of America-- a land, it seemed to me as a child, where everything was bigger, better, and had more people called Z in it. (Z mentions, tantalisingly, that a cartoon based on Sonic is rumoured.)

You can never go back.

Edit: oh yeah, here's the link.

Hey, it's the one guy who made The Panzer Lagoon.

Are the people in America called "Z" called "Zee" or "Zed?"

Cuckooguy wrote:Hey, it's the one guy who made The Panzer Lagoon.

That was some other guy.

G. Silver wrote:Are the people in America called "Z" called "Zee" or "Zed?"

Actually, when I was a kid, it took me a long time to learn that we the UK are supposed to say 'zed' and not 'zee'. I know it was the same for other kids; we all grew up with Sesame Street, after all, just like you guys. The spread of American media through the world has influenced our culture in interesting ways. Or worrying ways, depending on your perspective. Hey, baby, howcome we don't talk on MSN no more?

So you were to busy watching these videos and masturbating to Violet to post here?

It also would have made things easier if you had linked to the video in your post. Took me way to long to find it (one whole minute as opposed to, like, 10 seconds).

Does anybody remember violet being a character in Micro Machines? That was a real event back in the day.

Also Nam Rood is amazing.

Violet Berlin has apppeared on every British TV show about video games. Ever. She also occasionally wrote for Channel 4 Teletext's Digitiser. I don't think I've ever seen her writing in a print magazine though.

If I were to guess, I'd say that this moon-man was the lucky individual whose mascot design was chosen in that corporate contest in 1990.

I don't have any way to verify this except possibly digging through boxes of old EGMs, but I want to say I have some interviews with a Mr. Kanari as well. I might just be thinking of Tom Kalinske (former SoA president) though.

Well look who decided to show up.

Could it be Minoru Kanari? So it seems that Naka wasn't alone in this "I created Sonic I'm very important where are my free hookers 'n blow" take-Ohshima's-credit fad.

Also, hi Pop.

Pop's back! Things were bad, but now they're good! Forever!

Cuckooguy wrote:Hey, it's the one guy who made The Panzer Lagoon.

On a completely off-topic tangent, I finally caved and bought Panzer Dragoon Saga. Eagerly awaiting that package. Not so eagerly awaiting my parents telling me I should have put that money toward college, even despite how I set all that money aside, week by week, EXPLICITLY for this game...

On-topic, I've never heard of a Minoru Kanari, but it definitely sounds like the right answer. His production credits sure are skimpy! And yet, the games he DID work on are all generally regarded as friggin' awesome, so... Although it somewhat bothers me that neither Sonic 1 nor Sonic 2 is listed in there, despite this being the timeframe of Popcorn's video thingamajigger.

Shadow Hog wrote:On a completely off-topic tangent, I finally caved and bought Panzer Dragoon Saga. Eagerly awaiting that package. Not so eagerly awaiting my parents telling me I should have put that money toward college, even despite how I set all that money aside, week by week, EXPLICITLY for this game...

It's still really good. Really, really good. I played it through for the fourth or fifth time this last summer, and I'm thinking about doing it again this Christmas. (I think there are less than five or six games I like enough to regularly replay from start to finish.) There's something about the beautiful strangeness of the Panzer world that fascinates me endlessly, and PDS is the only game in the series that explores it in depth. The battle system remains the best of any RPG ever (honest) and the aerial battles with Atolm are still beautiful. And Azel is still cooler than a cucumber.

If it helps, you could think of the PDS purchase as a free rental with a huge deposit payment. The value of the game only goes up each year, so you could always sell it on again once you've played it. (Bear in mind, though, that if you don't like it you're obliged to give it away to a loving home for free. That's the understanding.)

Shadow Hog wrote:On a completely off-topic tangent, I finally caved and bought Panzer Dragoon Saga. Eagerly awaiting that package. Not so eagerly awaiting my parents telling me I should have put that money toward college, even despite how I set all that money aside, week by week, EXPLICITLY for this game...

1. Panzer Dragoon Saga is always on topic. It is the topic.
2. I am excited for you getting to play it for the first time! Every RPG I have ever played is measured against the PDS Gold Standard, and since the first time I played it in 1998 it has remained my favourite video game.

Popcorn wrote:And Azel is still cooler than a cucumber.

This guy? This guy gets it. Popcorn, I had forgotten how much you got it.

Hee hee, thanks. Just one quip, though:

Locit wrote:I am excited for you getting to play it for the first time!

Well, if you want to be anal, it's more like my third attempt at playing the game - but this time, it won't be half-assedly emulated. Plus I never really got much further than reaching the caravan after touring the desert with Gash, and watching a video on YouTube purporting to be a "demo" of the game has revealed locations that AREN'T dark or desert, which has me curious.

My only regret is that I went with the auction that warned there was a 1/8" crack on the center of the fourth disc - my measurements purport that this won't even REACH the data layer, but I'm a bit worried. Even still, Discs 1-3 should be just fine, so...

That video is painful to watch. I'm actually glad it's no longer the 90's.

I know that Sega didn't protect their property as well as they should had back then, but why would someone give a British video game TV show the original sketch just to show on TV for a few seconds?

It seems a magazine was produced to promote the show. The publication only lasted for 2 issues, but both editions contain articles on Sonic 2. The second issue takes a closer look at the drawing by Mr Kanari.

Scans can be found here

^_^

Got it Friday.

Christ, Disc 1 goes fast. I'm beginning to see why they considered enough for a demo. Still would be a long "demo", though... I'd probably have cut it off just after meeting Gash.

Also nice to see Zwei music when you're fighting Guardian Dragon. Cute touch, wasn't expecting that.