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Interview with Henk Nieborg

With my humblest apologies to Henk, I never did post this interview from March 2008. Here it is now, please enjoy!

NFG:
Contra 4: According to the credits, you were responsible for bosses and backgrounds, the latter typically being a specialty. Is that accurate, or did you have a hand in other parts of the game?

Henk:
Yes, I was the senior background artist for Contra4 and did [i]most[/i] of the Bosses. At first the Bosses weren't on my to-do list but they wanted to have consistency in the overall look, and gave the remaining bosses to me as well after seeing the result of another artist. Personally, I just wanted to do as much as possible on this game. I would have loved to do more but due to time limitations and a serious eye virus infection I wasn't able to do more. Also, It was quite an ambitious project looking at the development time. All had to be done within 3 months you know. :)

Three months is a very short time. Were you satisifed with the final result, given the time pressure? I mean, did you deliver the graphics with a smile by the deadline, or were you clamboring for every extra minute?[Continue?]

Aug 20 08 - 16:50 | NFG | Games | link | insert credit

Remaking Street Fighter

So Capcom's remaking their seminal beat-em-up with all-new high-def graphics for the XBox 360 Live Arcade. It's gonna be the same gameplay we know and love with a glorious new skin.

But Capcom's not alone in doing a Street Fighter remix. While the PC Engine version of Street Fighter 2: CE was the best looking 16-bit version of the game, it turns out that NEC Avenue didn't do the best job possible when porting it to the PCE. Their choice of colours was often poor, and despite having two and a half times more storage than the next largest HuCard, they cut a lot of detail from the backgrounds as well.

Determined to right this wrong, some hardcore fans are adding more details, sourcing graphics from the arcade and other console ports, and converting them to the PC Engine's tile-based 9-bit colour palette. Then they're going to shove the graphics back into the PC Engine game, creating the ultimate 16-bit Street Fighter.

Check out these screenshots:[Continue?]

Mar 31 08 - 21:03 | NFG | Games | link | two credits

Vdigi VDW2 Wii VGA Cable Review

Ahh, yes! Ever since the heady days of the Dreamcast, I've longed for that pixel perfect display that Sega's VGA box delivered. I've tried many tricks and products - some that I'm not proud of, but the relentless pursuit of RGB glory continues undeterred. So how does my latest attempt to dodge the $300+ XRGB converter line fair? Let's find out![Continue?]

Feb 15 08 - 23:51 | Blaine | Review | link | one credit

Interview with Henk Nieborg

Near the end of 2005 I interviewed Henk Nieborg, one of the greatest pixel artists around. He's been pixelling since the earliest days of the C64, and he's still going strong today - he recently completed all the backgrounds and boss art for Konami's recent DS release, Contra 4. The interview was printed in my book (Amazon.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.com), and is reproduced in its entirety below. I've also included a couple of bonus quotes that didn't make the book. Please enjoy!

Henk Nieborg has been pushing pixels for a very long time, since before mice left the lab and before colour palettes needed two hands to be counted. Back in 1985 Henk could be found "pixeling with my joystick on a black and white TV". Since he couldn't afford his own colour TV, Henk would memorize the Commodore 64 colour palette, draw the images in black and white, then check them on the colour TV in the living room. He used to make pixel art in the early days with Koala Paint and a suzo joystick.

Henk has been the principle artist on many games, all featuring a distinct style, with incredibly lush backgrounds and very detailed sprites. From the very first efforts with the Commodore 64, to his first commercial release on the Commodore Amiga, Henk constantly worked to improve his skill and the results are unparalleled.

Ghost Battle (Amiga)

Ghost Battle was the first published game for Henk, and it garnered considerable praise. It also landed him a full time job with Thalion, an intensely popular but short lived German publisher of computer games. His next game was Lionheart, a game which sold well considering its platform, but not well enough to keep Henk employed with Thalion who, like most publishers of the day, peaked early and soon folded.



Misadventures of Flink (MegaDrive)

The Misadventures of Flink was next, released for the MegaDrive and MegaCD. It featured some of the most impressive graphics ever released for the MegaDrive, with backgrounds and sprites that did astonishing things with the relatively muted palette offered by the hardware. Flink looked great but was released too late in the MegaDrive's life. It wasn't supported well by its publisher and it achieved unremarkable sales.[Continue?]

Dec 10 07 - 21:07 | NFG | Games | link | ten credits

Famicom Disk System Manual

It's a sad truth that modern manuals don't encourage consumers to learn technical things about the stuff they buy. Back in the day if you bought a home computer it'd have a descirption of every connector, a copy of basic and a brief programming guide. Now you're lucky if there's room to describe the power switch after fifteen pages of epilepsy warnings and fancy icons telling you not to leave your expensive hardware outside in the snow.

The good old days, then.

When Nintendo released their Famicom Disk System they included with every unit two manuals: One with an adult-oriented description of the system, its functionality and so on. They also included a kid-friendly comic that detailed not only how the system should be used and the things you shouldn't do, but also the inner workings of the device. Included were cutaway drawings, explanations of magnetic media, troubleshooting advice, flying space aliens with tails and the obligatory hot foreign woman to ensure the reader was paying attention.

Naturally we couldn't let a gem like this languish in Japanese. We've translated the book and created an English Famicom Disk System Guide. Please, enjoy.

Nov 27 07 - 16:37 | NFG | Games | link | three credits

A Short Crysis Review

Far Cry was awesome, totally cool, with a wicked setting and solid game beneath the unparalleled graphics. Crysis is the sequel, the game that many people - myself included - had firmly in mind when building a new PC not long ago. Read on for my review... And please, beware of spoilers![Continue?]

Nov 24 07 - 18:45 | NFG | Games | link | insert credit

Xpand Rally - A Brief Review

It's a little known secret that I love racing games. Not just any kind of racer though, but the rare breed that strikes a balance between simulation and arcade action. Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Sega Rally for the Dreamcast are two examples. Race, upgrade, race some more. Realistic as I want it to be, with consequences for driving off the road but not so real that I get bogged down in minutae.

The other day, while casting about for something to play, I stumbled across Xpand Rally for the PC, available on Steam for $9.95.

What a bargain. (Read on for screenshots and details!)[Continue?]

Sep 11 07 - 08:34 | NFG | Review | link | insert credit

Sega 7-disc Hotel Saturn

This one seems to have been lost, I don't know why but no links were found to the page from ... well, anywhere!

So here's an oldie but a goodie: The Sun-Seibu Hotel Saturn 7-game changer!!

Sep 01 07 - 07:48 | NFG | Games | link | insert credit

Another Site Redesign

I just can't help myself some days. In lieu of actual content, here's another new look. I'm very pleased with the way this turned out. Still a few parts to fix, individual article pages are still broken, but the hard part's done.

Here's the intro from Zoom's Phalanx for X68000. This GIF is made from 153 sequential images, captured using animget. The timing is off, I had to adjust the delay for each frame by hand, but it's pretty close.

Aug 26 07 - 22:18 | NFG | Games | link | one credit

Banned in China!

Add this one to the list of quality-assured awards for NFG Games: Banned in China!

At least, according to the Great Firewall of China tester.

[update] It turns out the GWoC tester doesn't work very well. This site remains accessible to users within China. <ominous voice> for now... </ominous voice>

May 11 07 - 08:59 | NFG | default, Games | link | two credits

PC Engine Modem - Unveiled!

According to one Japanese source the PCE Modem, or Tsushin Booster, was released as a prototype to 20-30 PC Engine groups or fans, for monitored testing. After this, up to 100 'final' units were produced before NEC pulled the plug and ordered them destroyed. The 20-30 early units were not recalled, and some of the 100 final units were spared, so with a run of anywhere between 30 and 130, the booster is possibly the rarest production PCE accessory.

Chris Covell has managed to find a PC Engine modem in Japan. He won't say what he paid for it, but it was almost certainly a vast blow to his wallet. It was, however, a blow he took for all of us: he's posted the details for everyone to enjoy. Everything's up there: a look at the software, the documentation, and the hardware itself.

Surprisingly it's a 300-1200 baud device, which at the time (early 1990s) was beyond slow. By this time in the real world 14.4k modems were available, more than ten times faster. Normal modems, however, didn't come with groovy sprite editing software. On the other hand, with a PC and a normal modem you had a keyboard. Programming and communicating with a PC Engine pad was probably not fun for very long. For reference, here's an old PC Engine Yahoo auction I saved.

[UPDATE] An anonymous donor has offered up the Tsushin Tool ROM for download. Grab your own copy!

Apr 09 07 - 07:19 | NFG | Games | link | insert credit

XCM Component to VGA Review

It's astounding as time goes on that popular products, such as the XRGB line, become harder and harder to find. Even older versions. People are wising up to the beautiful picture one can get with a fine upscaling device. The days of the universal composite to VGA converter are happily coming to an end as more and more devices are transcoding component into three colors and some syncs. The question remains, though, pound for pound and dollar for dollar - what's your best investment?[Continue?]

Feb 21 07 - 12:57 | Blaine | Games | link | five credits

Sonic the Hedgehog Sprite History

A large part of my book was sprite history analysis. I've been posting segments from the book here, and the newest one is now available:

Sonic Sprite History.

Please have a look if that's the sort of thing you like. Also, if you haven't already, check out the Castlevania Sprites and the original History of Mario Sprites.

Jan 02 07 - 22:27 | NFG | Games | link | one credit

New Japanese gaming ads

I have a weird interest in Japanese commercials, and not those 'zOMFG how funny!' ones that seem totally otherworldly, but normal, every-day commercials. They're fascinating to me because of their differences from what I'm used to in Canadian (and to a lesser extend, Australian) ads. I think they're a fascinating insight into a different culture.

So I record them. I've got over 300 on my server in Japan for everyone to enjoy (if you're into that) but the reason I bring it up here is a recent crop of game ads I recorded.

These are perhaps less interesting culturally, but they're about games so... here they are!

Pink PSP
New PSP Colours
Secret of Mana 4
DS Cooking Generations
DS Chocobo
PS2 Gundam S
Wii Kororinpa
DS DragonQuest
DS Card Fighters

There are over 300 more available!*[Continue?]

Dec 31 06 - 08:44 | NFG | default, Games | link | three credits

USB Cell + Wiimote Review

The ultimate in geek batteries, USB powered AA cells, meets the Nintendo Wiimote head on.[Continue?]

Dec 27 06 - 13:50 | Blaine | Review | link | three credits

Alien Crush Re-Review

The Turbo Grafx 16 classic revived on the Wii's Virtual Console. It seems awful stupid to be reviewing a game that is over 16 years old - I mean, what could I possibly say that you can't find with a quick Google search? Good question. Only one way to find out...[Continue?]

Dec 16 06 - 10:54 | Blaine | Review | link | one credit

Nectaris on Wii VC

NFG's Patron Saint of Strategy Games, Military Madness, hits stateside next week.

Audible waves of angst from Australia expected to coincide.[Continue?]

Dec 14 06 - 11:52 | Blaine | Games | link | two credits

Nintendo Wii: Kororinpa Review

One game that gets too little press in the Wii's launch lineup is the Japan-only release of Kororinpa from Hudson.

Bottom line: It's a great 3D Cameltry. Read the Review.

Dec 10 06 - 10:37 | NFG | Review | link | insert credit

Send Anonymous Email To My Wii

Wiimail at you![Continue?]

Nov 23 06 - 15:18 | Blaine | Games | link | two credits