Taro Omiya

Taro Omiya

Software Engineer, Game Designer

  • Weekly Game Music: Caravan for 2 Pianos (Flyable Heart)

    โ€”

    by

    Taro Omiya
    in

    New week, new music. ย I know I’m a week late, but forgive me on this one: I was moving. ย In any case, here’s a fun piano tune,ย Caravan for 2 Pianosย from a Japan-only erotic visual novel,ย Flyable Heart. ย The playful composition byย Ryo Mizutsuki sets the tone for this comical adventure

    Flyable Heartย protagonist, Syo Katsuragi, successfully transfers to a highly-prestigious high school,ย ลŒtoriryลran Academy. ย Little does he suspect that a generic Japanese harem adventure awaits him! ย Upon entering, Syo is unfortunately (or fortunately) tossed into the girls dormitory, as the boys dormitory is crowded. ย Even worse (or better), his roommate is a robot. ย To make the best out of this unexpected (or expected) situation, he consults with the academy’s student council andย Ryลran association. ย Which consists mostly of girls (go figure).

    As with any visual novel,ย Flyable Heartย plays a lot like a choose-you-own adventure books. ย The majority of the game is about reading through a story, occasionally interjected by a few choices one can take toย veer the outcome.ย There isn’t much else to it, actually.

    Flyable Heartย was released on the PC in 2009.
    [social_share/]

    Read more: Weekly Game Music: Caravan for 2 Pianos (Flyable Heart)

  • Weekly Game Music: You Can’t Handle My Style (Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People)

    โ€”

    by

    Taro Omiya
    in

    New week, new music. ย I’m feeling the summer laziness, so lets go with a silly song this time. ย Here’s a really long song title,ย You Can’t Handle My Styleย from the equally ridiculously titled game,ย Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. ย By now, it should be no secret that the song was sung by Matt Chapman himself, the voice of Strong Bad from the comedy flash website, Homestar Runner. The music itself was penned byย Jared Emerson-Johnson from Telltale Games.

    Strong Bad’s life is…certainly abnormal, even for a cartoon character. ย From beating the snot out of Homestar Runner; taking over other character’s self-declared countries; proving himself to be the best rock band; making an indie (in this case, horrible) action spy movie; and fighting a dragon created by his skills of an artist, Strong Bad is all about awesome(ly bad). ย The humorous game makes mischief and naughty tricks an essential necessity to progress.

    True to Telltale’s style,ย Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive Peopleย is an episodic point-and-click adventure game that, surprisingly, contains little text. ย Dialog trees and items are represented by icons, and observations are made almost always through a dialog. ย In an interesting twist, traveling to different locations involve “unlocking” them via conversations, plotting them on any location of the map, and teleporting there. ย Much like the flash website, the cartoony game contains hilarious and witty dialog (if we disregard the first episode, that is…)

    Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive Peopleย was originally released on the Wii and PC in 2008. ย It was later ported on the Playstation 3.
    [social_share/]

    Read more: Weekly Game Music: You Can’t Handle My Style (Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People)

  • Weekly Game Music: To The Ends (Small Worlds)

    โ€”

    by

    Taro Omiya
    in

    New week, new music. ย A while back, I mentioned a flash game calledย Small Worldsย inย Strange Free Games. ย It’s music, it turns out, are from Kevin MacLeod‘s collection of Creative Commons compositions. ย The one below is calledย To the Ends, a mysterious music that slowly draws you in.

    Small Worldsย can be played in your browser here.

    “There is too much noise.” ย An odd beginning for a game. As a 3-pixel high character, you traverse through each world, heavy under a dark fog. ย By traveling farther, however, the fog slowly gives away, providing an after-math of a certain event. Since the story lacks any other narrative, however, the player must come up with their own conclusion in what the game meant, and what each landscape stood for.

    Despite this ambiguity, it’s atmospheric gameplay is intriguing. ย Nothing can kill the 3-pixel character, so you can explore at your own pace, at your own leisure. The character can merely move and jump, but by doing so, your width of vision increases. As a consequence, the game begs for exploration, even to dead-ends, as more and more of the stage is revealed.
    [social_share/]

    Read more: Weekly Game Music: To The Ends (Small Worlds)

  • Weekly Game Music: Some Like it Red Hot (Viewtiful Joe)

    โ€”

    by

    Taro Omiya
    in

    New week, new music. This week’s music isย Some Like it Red Hot, baby! ย Two cool dudes, Masakazu Sugimori andย Masami Ueda, manage to capture the exciting and flashy nature of a city. ย It best fits the rad superhero action game,ย Viewtiful Joe.

    Viewtiful Joe, is, like, an action game about a stupid nobody named Joe. ย The loser is such a hopeless fanboy of Captain Blue, man! ย Even ends up being the only audience in a movie re-run, with his, you know, hot girlfriend Silvia. ย Poor girl. ย Anyway, Silvia totally gets kidnapped into the movie world, and Joe gets sucked into it by force. ย But wait, it gets better! ย Joe gets this rad V-Watch, turning him into a red-suited action hero. ย Man, those pants are tight!

    Anyhoo,ย Viewtiful Joeย is this action-packed 2.5D beat’em-up all the cool kids are talking about. ย To spice up his action, Joe can make time run slower or faster, allowing him to solve puzzles, cream enemies, or just look plain wicked. ย On top of that, the game has this sweet cell-shaded graphics that totally makes it look like a cartoon. ย It’s just how Joe rolls.

    Viewtiful Joeย was originally released on the Gamecube in 2009. It has also been ported to the PS2 as well. ย It’s hardcore, dude!
    [social_share/]

    Read more: Weekly Game Music: Some Like it Red Hot (Viewtiful Joe)

  • Strange Free Games: Dear Esther

    โ€”

    by

    Taro Omiya
    in

    New week, new game. ย Since indie gameย Dear Estherย is all the rage these days, it’ll be great to look back at what started it all,ย Dear Estherย prototype version. ย So, without further ado, lets get started with the intro

    Dear Estherย is a first-person narrative that adds vocal interjections as you travel and observe the island. ย Each narration is supposed to be relevant to the view at hand, including writings on walls, landscapes, etc. ย Frequently, the narrative will contradict itself, leading to a surreal and disjointed experience.

    The free, Half-Life mode can be downloaded at Mod DB.com.
    [social_share/]

    Read more: Strange Free Games: Dear Esther

  • Weekly Game Music: Around the World (The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift)

    โ€”

    by

    Taro Omiya
    in

    New week, new music. ย This week: a music track from a game based off of a movie.ย Around the World, composed by Atlus Plug, provides a speed-inducing experience using Asian instrumentals. ย A fitting composition for the frankly titled game,ย The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift.

    As expected from the title,ย The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift is a simple racing game that takes place on Japanese highways. ย Apart from your own rival you’re driving against, you have to swerve around non-racing cars, lest you spin out inappropriately. ย As with the movie,ย Tokyo Driftย opts for realism, using real-world models for racing.

    The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Driftย was released on the Playstation 2 in 2006.
    [social_share/]

    Read more: Weekly Game Music: Around the World (The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift)