seaman
Latest
Nintendo registers suspiciously Seaman-ish trademarks
Nintendo has registered two trademarks in Japan that sound a heck of a lot like a certain man-faced fish from the Dreamcast days. Mysterious Partner: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face and Mysterious Pet: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face are the two terms in question, and when we hear the term "fish with a human face," Seaman is the first aqua-dude that springs to mind. There have been murmurs in the past of a Nintendo-fueled Seaman revitalization on the 3DS, the most recent being a Nikkei report from February of last year. The report posited that a Seaman revival was the first step in a larger Nintendo master plan to revive defunct competitors' products on the 3DS. Since then, Seaman creator Yoot Saito has designed Aero Porter (as part of Guild01) for Nintendo's handheld. He also tweeted a picture of a Santa-themed Seaman about a year ago, which remains as unexplained now as it was the day he posted it.
Santa Seaman's implications cannot be fully ascertained
Yup, that's a Santa Seaman all right, and we're just as desperately curious to find out why it exists as you are. The weird thing was tweeted by Seaman creator Yoot Saito, who also said that it was time to begin thinking about the end of the year, according to Andriasang's translation.We have so many questions. Is Saito hinting at some kind of holiday announcement, or even better, some kind of holiday release? Do kids these days even remember Seaman? Is this related to that Nikkei report? Was this whole post just an excuse to publish that picture of Santa Seaman?Answers, in order: We hope, probably not, maybe, and definitely.
Nikkei: Seaman finds new life on the 3DS
Back in the summer of 2010, a tantalizing prospect came up: Seaman on the 3DS. It was teased by Yoot Saito, the creator of the Dreamcast original, and since then we've been all about it. We've been so about it.According to a report from Japanese news outlet Nikkei Inc. (via Andriasang), Seaman is the first of many rival-published games Nintendo is aiming to bring to the 3DS. The report mentions Seaman as an example of the types of games Nintendo is looking to revive on the 3DS, yet sadly offers no further detail on the impending update.Saito, along with three other notable Japanese developers, is working on a special 3DS project for Level-5 called Guild 01. Saito will design one game, to be included with the other three from Suda 51, Yasumi Matsuno and Yoshiyuki Hirai.
Yoot Saito teases possibility of Seaman on 3DS
If you were to take the entire 3DS lineup announced at Nintendo's E3 press conference last week, and roll all our anticipation for said titles into a single lump, it probably wouldn't match the scope of our excitement for this faintly teased remake. A fan of Yoot Saito recently asked the idiosyncratic game developer on Twitter about the chances of getting a new Seaman title on the 3DS. According to Andriasang's translation, Saito responded to this query by saying he couldn't mention specific details, but said fan should keep hoping for said game. The fan went on to (understandably) voice his excitement for the prospect of Seaman 3D, which Saito once again responded to, saying his development team would work to meet the fan's expectations. We know we've been hurt before (how's that Seaman 2 localization coming along?), but we could really go for a portable version of that scaly little sardonic bastard.
Happy (belated) 10th birthday, Seaman
We try not to inundate you with birthday posts at Joystiq. They're typically not very exciting and they frankly make us feel really, really old. But this is one occasion we just can't let pass. It's been just a few days over 10 years since Seaman first emerged from the nautilus in Japan.To mark the blessed day, 1UP's got a great interview from Famitsu Weekly with creator Yoot Saito, who manages to take humility to a whole new, utterly perplexing level. "Seaman received a lot of praise for its concept, but I don't think it's that original," he says. "I think it's something everyone's thought of before. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people have thought at least once in their lives that it'd be funny if a fish had a human face and could talk."Sure, Yoot. We've all been there.
Apple rejects Yoot Saito's iPhone game, dev staff considered Seaman DS
We're more than willing to give Apple's do-everything-device the benefit of the doubt if they want to try to make it a legitimate gaming platform, but when we hear a story like this, we can't help but develop a few hangups. Yoot Saito, developer of the unsettling/brilliant Seaman, recently wrote a blog post describing the fate of his in-development iPhone game, GABO (a spiritual successor to Seaman, but with a caveman instead of a manfish). That fate is unfortunately grim -- according to Saito, Apple gave the game the axe due to "unpleasant" gameplay.He also mentions that the game's development staff had considered going to work on Seaman DS before working on GABO. We'd like to know how much money they'd need to follow through with this ambition, as well as the mailing address to where we should send said funds. [Via Offworld, Translation via Kotaku]
Yoot Saito working on Seaman-related game for iPhone
Oh wow, we're embarrassingly excited by this news: Yoot Saito is working on what appears to be a reworked version of Seaman 2 for the iPhone called Gabo. Though it's only headed to Japan at the moment, a worldwide release seems to be in the cards, judging from a shoddy translation of Saito's blog. The only bad news is we'll have to remember for 364 days to give thanks for the universe's kindness.Though there doesn't seem to be any voice recognition in Gabo, what Saito's currently showing off (in a video you can see after the break) looks just delightful.
DS Fanboy poll: Remakes of choice
Earlier this week, we asked you, our dear readers, to discuss games you'd like to see given a spit and a polish for the DS in this age of remakes, and as usual, you came through in a big way. In fact, you gave us so many fantastic suggestions that we've decided to split our selected list into two polls instead of just doing one. We can't include everything suggested, obviously, but we've prepared a selection of bigger releases and more obscure titles, and we're going to let you vote every day, just in case you want to throw your support behind more than one game. Once you've voted, we will profile the top two results from each poll and examine exactly why they would be well-suited to our favorite handheld. So try to vote for the titles you think are the most suitable, those that would most benefit from the kind of treatment we're seeing with the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy titles ... and hey, vote for the games you'd just like to see in portable form as well.And if you just can't decide ... well, that's why we're letting you vote more than once! You can vote your heart and your brain, and the cream will rise to the top.
Today's driest game video: Seaman 2
GameTrailers shows off a few brief Seaman 2 videos, our collective pick for today's video. While not yet announced for release outside of Japan, Seaman 2 taps into the risky, creative side of gaming we laud. Admittedly, those gambles don't always pay off, but when they do, they're why we play games.The videos show a few people playing the game, even Japanese schoolgirls! And while we question the focus-group style of the clips -- the clips could have easily been created by an ad agency and actors -- they give a glimpse into this simian sequel to the previous underwater pet title.See the clips after the break.
Seaman 2 unearthed for Japanese PS2 owners
Half-man. Half- ... well, this time he's just a man, albeit a very tiny one.Sega announced today a sequel to its off-beat Dreamcast pet simulator Seaman. Instead of a talking man-fish, Moscow scientists have brought to life miniature Neanderthals from the prehistoric ages. 1UP has the scoop and more details on the game's storyline.Seaman 2 will make its Japanese debut next year on the PlayStation 2 -- there is no word yet on a U.S. release. The game features a unique controller with built-in microphone so that you can communicate with your little buddy. Will the custom PS2 controller be compatible with the PlayStation 3, or will this game require us to keep the current-gen Sony console lying around?
