Activision and being a problem for developers. Name a more iconic duo. I remember hearing about the camera thing some time after looking into the game, and being disappointed after reading about it. It’s such a waste honestly, the old camera looked way better. People write off fixed cameras but I’ve always found them to be cool, especially in horror and adventure games.
What a gut punch to hear the director had passed towards the end of the video. Whenever I hear this it always hits me hard. Satoshi Kon, Miura and likely others I don't remember at this time..
That is why I like when people call "cinematic camera". Because that is exactly what is: a camera angle that mimics the movies. I fell people lost that after the over the shoulder camera became the standard for the majority of game in third person view. Thanks for another excellent video, Hero man! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Shame they didn't just include an option to use the original camera in the international release. Being unable to opt out of intrusive changes to the western release of games is the standard even to this day though so I'm not surprised.
Never expected you to do a video on this subject regarding blue stinger. I've always liked blue stinger, but going through the Japanese version with the camera angles gave me a newfound appreciation for what climax and shinya nishigaki were going for and I consider it one of my favorite games on the DC. It still isn't without some faults, but it's a lot more immersive to go through where as the US camera just makes it more of a hassle to go through, not helped by the increased damage input. Games like Blue Stinger just don't get made often anymore and Nishigaki's passing is one of the great losses in the game industry, but at the same time I'm thankful he at least made 2 memorable games for the DC.
I feel like "why wouldn't you pick the one [version] that follows the creator's original vision?" is a question this channel asks a lot in its vids. Rightfully so!
It's not that one system is better than the other inherently but the fact that the game was envisioned originally to be using one and then slapping on the other in the last minute what's the problem. On the opposite side there's Spyro which implemented a pseudo-fixed camera system for the Japanese version and, as you can guess, it made the game much worse as well.
surprised you didn't bring up the sonic connection with the VOs all being Sonic Adventure alumni also great use of ever17s ost for the bg! really fits!
I am so happy to see more Blue Stinger content near 30 years later. I grew up with the Dreamcast and I'm glad to see more and more people are learning about these gems. That ending as a kid made me so confused and exited for the next game until my neighbor told me the creator died when I was a kid. 18:26 That is an awesome cameo that I never knew about.
How is HyperBigHero so good with research? I'd be so curious the progress to finding and collecting all articles and other writings for these games. I bet the original copies of these games are probably long gone. Hero should probably work as a private eye, imagine the types of video essays we'd get then?
It's true all my Dreamcast games disintegrated into dust about 9 years ago. Game preservation needs to be taken seriously or HyperBigHero will be out of a job for sure.
Also, BLUE Stinger has some really Nice japanese only merch. I think It has a drama cd or idol single music disc, cant recall which... Found It on Amazon but couldnt buy it
I heard about the Japanese version having fixed camera angles but never knew how ambitious they were in execution. Those are some wild angles! I'll have to play the Japanese version next time I'm craving a Hassy.
God, ever since Catwoman smashed her apartment and made her little neon sign go from saying, "HELLO THERE" to, "HELL HERE", I just love it when neon signs fail and deliver an entirely different message.
What a bizarre video to even make- not going to lie I never thought anyone would ever talk about this. I remember years ago watching the old gameinformer playthrough they did years ago and they mentioned it then and honestly I feel both systems work for and against you. Oh, bluestinger, the game I got with my dreamcast the year it came out or something like that lol. Also shoutouts to the music video STING ME
What a strangely niche topic...this is what youtube was made for. I think Nitro Rad briefly touched on this topic in his review of Blue Stinger. Appreciate the deep dive.
Cameras that just trail behind whatever direction your character is facing are the absolute worst... So Activision mandated a cinematic experience be turned to total trash? It's no wonder I never heard of this game until now.
I was just thinking about cameras *and* video games and then this video appeared on my feed, great to see uploads are still in colour after all these years.
Kind of surprised there isn't a camera restoration hack for the game. Could be something as simple as transplanting localized language files into the Japanese version.
Kinda bizarre that the camera is emphasized here, yet at the time there's at least praise for trying to improve cameras as a whole. I suppose it depends on the genre of the game since Soul Reaver did it well without issue, since it should be noted that this was trying to use a fixed camera better than its RE "compeition". But as good as these camera angles were, I think it would be just as effective if there were no tank controls and big showy areas had a small cutscene to show the great environment for a few seconds. Alternatively, God of War 1 had fixed camera angles but they made them feel way more dynamic, and of course no tank controls helped as well.
Well. With the cutscene comment. Taking control away from the player each time they enter a new area would get tiring fast and would just confuse the overall style. Constantly switching between cinematic and immersive makes both seem worse
People hate on fixed camera angles way too much. Absolutely adored them in the classic resident evils and PS1 horror games. Like there is a massive argument made for cinematography and atmosphere to be made for them, but whiny gamers who want bland 100% same camera angles and homogenised control at all times in a horror game just completely misses the point of the experience. Now we'll likely never get fixed camera angles ever again, despite them being a legitimate design choice.
I really don't think the change is because of whiny gamers, back in those days gamers didn't really have this massive sway over the industry with their opinions online the way they do now. It's more because it was just seen as an innovation and publishers/devs always try to keep up with new trends. Though I agree more modern games would benefit by going back to it. A good modern example is Until Dawn and other Supermassive studio games, it works well to set the atmosphere in those.
3:10 that's fucking interesting! If I ever get my Dreamcast modded to play more than 1 region, I'll have to remember that. (Although it might just be easier to get the ODE instead)
If i tell you that i was searching for this game for years and all of the sudden RU-vid just recommended your video i guess you wouldn't believe me, i'm just shocked right now, and happy cause i finally found the game!
I had the opposite experience. Owning the JP version myself I had no idea the English version had a different camera angle. Seeing it now makes the game lose some of it’s charm.
10:23 that's explained it perfectly. I really got annoyed so much in that part that I thought this game is horrible. Now I learned it wasActivision's mess. A great video to show how camera angle change a game. If a game designed in fixed camera changing it just ruins the game completely. Because fixed camera angle games always had this cinematic feeling in their mind, it wants to show what director wants to show player like in a movie. Resident Evil Remake is one of my all time favorite games. It is a perfect cinematic experience and with the help of hd remaster it looks beatiful. Knowing Blue Stinger is different in JP version is good now Im gonna continue and after that gonna play JP version.
It's nice to hear someone's opinion on why fixed camera angles are better in some circumstances that isn't just "If you don't get it, you're not a REAL survival horror fan"
I’d love to see someone do a comparison like this for MGS3. I always preferred the original fixed camera version, but that opinion seems to be very unpopular.
It be nice if this got a remaster, and they give you a choice of camera modes and maybe a 3rd improve one or some kind remix of both with RE4 cam style.
Or if someone made a mod for the Japanese version, translating it to English. This should be possible too, and it's already "translated" so it would mostly be patching it in.
I think it's more of a scripted/on rails camera than a fixed one since it does a lot of panning and zooming, also they seem to have preferred smoothly moving the camera to the next shot instead of simply cutting to it whenever possible even when it wasn't the best option. A shame that the improved Xbox port never materialized, the game would have definitely benefited from some hindsight and that second thumbstick. It'd be cool if one of the publishers specialized on retro games ever decides to port this one to modern platforms.
I loved this game and launch! (Still do). I didn't know about the original camera system. Janky cameras were kinda par for the course at the time as this is pre PS2 and Xbox so I didn't think much of it. Backing into corners were the only time it really bothered me. I still quote Dog's line from near the begining of the game. It's delivered in such a stilted way it's been stuck in my head for 25 years. "God damn son of a *****!"
You know what the U.S. version does for me? Reminds me of Extermination, a game on the PS2. Not saying anything bad towards Blue Stinger, but towards the different camera setting. Amazing how one little thing can change things. Still bummed about hearing about the passing...
I can actually understand Activision's thought process with this decision, even though I think they made a mistake. Blue Stinger is clearly a very special game, and must have given that impression back in 1999 as well, but it didn't sell well in Japan (despite being _really_ Japanese), so I feel like Activision must have assumed there was something wrong with it. It couldn't be the graphics or gameplay, because they were both really good, so they probably fastened on these bizarre, experimental camera angles as the problem. They may have even heard from Japanese sources that the camera angles were an annoying distraction; I've only been looking at it for 20 minutes and it already seems a bit overblown. What Activision failed to consider is that a game's camera isn't some modular element that you can freely alter without affecting the rest of the game experience. A game's camera is an essential part of its presentation. Fixed camera angles are dramatic and can be used to tell a visual story that runs alongside the verbal story that all games have, while a freely controllable or player-centered camera tells the player that this is a playground to explore and that they're meant to pay attention to many things, not just what you see as soon as you enter a room. Both camera styles can do a lot to enhance a game's atmosphere, but only if they complement the overall aesthetic and style of gameplay. Resident Evil and Silent Hill both have a combination that works brilliantly for setting a mood: fixed camera angles with tank controls and dark, realistic graphics. Blue Stinger's visuals are more vibrant and cartoonish, which makes it feel a bit pulpier than the games that clearly influenced it, but it still has fixed camera angles and tank controls because it's still trying to tell a visual story, and stripping the fixed camera angles away ruins that. Activision also clearly didn't realize how much they upset Nishigaki by insisting on this change. There was probably a way to combine the advantages of an overall floating camera with a few carefully chosen fixed angles to enhance the presentation when it would do the most good, editing the fixed angles rather than removing them, but Nishigaki wasn't in any mood to suggest that or do his best to make the new camera system work, because he'd been insulted and had his creative vision trampled on. While it must have been gratifying to him that the game was a minor hit in the West, it's a shame that a project with so much creativity poured into it isn't better known. Blue Stinger could have been as well known today as something like Alan Wake; instead it turned out more like the video game equivalent of Samurai Pizza Cats.
Mandatory comment here, but I miss when games were more experimental with camera and gameplay systems. Besides indie games it's only gotten more homogenized across the board. But indie games rarely if ever are able to bring the production values like these old games did for their time.
Activision made the right choice but the developer could’ve implemented the new camera less lazily, like still having it switched to fixed for moments necessary for gameplay, such as, the door with the key on the roof.
I don´t get it. Why not just make it an option for the player to decide what style of camera they want to play with, instead of just throwing the whole original camera system out?
Yet again, shifts and changes in the game industry founded in "do what is new" instead of genuine improvements. So much good thrown away because it isn't the shiniest, most innovative brand new concept. Fixed Camera makes this game look so much cooler even with all the faults it brings.
Never forget that nothing good happens from western devs and Japanese devs mixing. Best case scenario, you get a frustratingly average game that reminds us why we should stay in our own lanes. At worst, shit like this.
Love it when people come to headass conclusions from a video that had nothing to do with that. Save your cultural purity nonsense - the only reason you know about Japanese games is because of people of all kinds coming together.
