VGEsoterica
Member
I get that back in the day the concept of full motion video playing on your gaming hardware was intriguing. Suddenly the "graphics" weren't just limited to 16 bit sprites and background layers but an entirely NEW way to showcase visuals. For cutscenes this was great. Sega CD had plenty of games that were just ENHANCED by FMV and not beholden to it as a gameplay standard. Yet we did get a lot of junk like Sewer Shark, Crypt Killer, Slam n Jam....the list goes on and on.
All these games were reviewed poorly and Sega moved on from the whole FMV experiment...showing the rest of the gaming world that FMV games were NOT the wave of the future...but the way to fail at market.
So what did NEC and Hudson Soft do when it came time to decide what games to put on their brand new 32 bit 2D powerhouse console and successor to the PC Engine / TurgoGrafx? Well they decided that FMV GAMES WERE THE WAY! Who cares if Sega failed hard with it and suffered financially because of it...clearly SOMEONE at NEC and Hudson though ANIME FMV games were the way to succeed again with their console.
And what happened? the PC-FX failed HARD and it was the last time either company would release a console. The legendary PC Engine was succeeded by a console that released BATTLE HEAT as one of its showcase launch games.
Maybe calling Battle Heat a game is a misnomer...it's more like a very pretty interactive FMV that SOMETIMES accepts your controller presses and does SOMETHING on screen. What that something is feels wholly random and unpredictable. In reality calling Battle Heat a GAME is a bit unfair...it's really a technical showcase of the admittedly impressing 30 frames per second motion JPEG the PC-FX could decompress and display on the fly. Some games even used this to their advantage like Zenki with FMV layers in the background of the 2D sprite action....really nice stuff!
But...FMV gaming should have died with Sega CD and NEC and Hudson 100% blew it with their decision to try to succeed where Sega had so clearly failed.
But that makes me wonder...is there actually a GOOD FMV game? Not modern FMV stuff which can be charming in a way but a FMV game from the 90s. I am all ears lol
All these games were reviewed poorly and Sega moved on from the whole FMV experiment...showing the rest of the gaming world that FMV games were NOT the wave of the future...but the way to fail at market.
So what did NEC and Hudson Soft do when it came time to decide what games to put on their brand new 32 bit 2D powerhouse console and successor to the PC Engine / TurgoGrafx? Well they decided that FMV GAMES WERE THE WAY! Who cares if Sega failed hard with it and suffered financially because of it...clearly SOMEONE at NEC and Hudson though ANIME FMV games were the way to succeed again with their console.
And what happened? the PC-FX failed HARD and it was the last time either company would release a console. The legendary PC Engine was succeeded by a console that released BATTLE HEAT as one of its showcase launch games.
Maybe calling Battle Heat a game is a misnomer...it's more like a very pretty interactive FMV that SOMETIMES accepts your controller presses and does SOMETHING on screen. What that something is feels wholly random and unpredictable. In reality calling Battle Heat a GAME is a bit unfair...it's really a technical showcase of the admittedly impressing 30 frames per second motion JPEG the PC-FX could decompress and display on the fly. Some games even used this to their advantage like Zenki with FMV layers in the background of the 2D sprite action....really nice stuff!
But...FMV gaming should have died with Sega CD and NEC and Hudson 100% blew it with their decision to try to succeed where Sega had so clearly failed.
But that makes me wonder...is there actually a GOOD FMV game? Not modern FMV stuff which can be charming in a way but a FMV game from the 90s. I am all ears lol