The real Spanish inspirations behind Maldita Castilla

Late last year Spanish indie game maker ‘Locomalito’  released his latest ‘big’ game…  The beautifully Ghosts n Goblins-esque Maldita Castilla.

Just prior to the game’s release, I got chatting to ‘Loco’ (real name, unknown) and he told me a bit about the inspiration he’d got from researching Spanish history, characters and landscapes.

For example, the main character is based on El Cid (immortalised in the statue below). He was a well-known Spanish hero, who inspired many myths.

 

 

Demo release interview: Sir Arthur’s Spanish cousin

Spanish indie game maker ‘Locomalito’ has just released a demo of his latest ‘big’ game..  The beautifully Ghosts n Goblins-esque Maldita Castilla.  Time for a release-day interview!

But just before we do;  a quick recap.

Just over a year ago,  ‘Loco’ released his biggest game yet – the Gradius-like shmup Hydorah (interview, screenshots). Since that time, he’s released a number of smaller titles, like the Manic Miner-esque L’Abbaye des Morts and he vertically-scrolling gross-em-up Viriax. Both were fantastic, but I had the feeling that they were just entrees compared to the main course of Maldita Castilla .

Now, Locomalito spills the beans on Spanish heroes, dirty monitors, favourite arcade music and the levels you’ll never play…

C’mon baby, do the Locomalito…

You gotta swing your hips now…
(Sorry. Right year – wrong smash hit)

1987.

Around the world, gamers are battling the Bydo empire in Irem’s R-Type. And in a little Spanish arcade… a young boy has made it all the way to the last level! (Respect! I never made it further than level 4. -Ed) He’s excited. He’s hitting the buttons. He’s screaming at the enemies. And all the while, some bemused teenagers are laughing at him. “What a loco-malito!” they said. (If your Spanish is a little rusty, it means “little sick mad kid”.)

Ghostbusters game – first look at the intro

Gametrailers has another WORLD EXCLUSIVE (their caps, not mine) with the intro of the soon-to-be-released Ghostbusters game in lovely HD.

Click here, and keep humming that song for the rest of the day.

Sure, a brand new Ghostbusters game isn’t Indie, nor Coinop. If anything, it’s NuRetro™. (©JOMG ;)) But since my gaming handle has always been “Mr_Staypuft“, it’s the mostest excitingest “new” game due all year…

Get slimed this June

Atari has confirmed their upcoming Ghostbusters game will be coming out in June.

“Bustin’ makes me feel good!”

Game On – part 3

Welcome to day 3, of our GAME ON Spectacular, at Just One More Game.

So far, we’ve looked at gaming from mainframes in the 50’s… to multiplayer gaming in the 00’s.

Today, we wrap up our coverage, pose a bit of constructive criticism, and ask for your input.

As always, there’s more, much more…  after the jump…

We interrupt our Game On coverage…

…for this urgent* trailer!

…WANT!   And YES it’s coming to PC!

*For those who don’t know, my online handle is “Mr_Staypuft”.
(He’d be the big white dude THROWING A CAR.)

Game On – part 2

***NOTE: If you are looking for “Game On 2.0 – in Launceston Tasmania” you need to follow these links.
This page here, is about Game On 1.0 in Melbourne/Brisbane. ***

Yesterday was day 1 in the life of Just One More Game.
Thanks for all the nice comments in forums. 🙂

Yesterday also saw “part 1” of our Game On walkthrough, taking us from mainframes to the arcade.

(Much, much more after the jump…)

Game On – part 1

Well… here goes!

Just One More Game (J-OMG) is a new blog, dedicated to 3 segments of the videogame world… Retro, Indie & Coinop. All three genres feature in my first story, split over 3 days.

Game On is a travelling, playable, history of videogames launched in 2002, at London’s Barbican gallery. Since then, it’s toured the world, most recently at Melbourne’s Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). The city of trams set a new world record for Game On attendance (129,372 people over 4 months). This was particularly impressive, as the previous record holder (Chicago) has three times the population, and ran their exhibition 40% longer.

Game On’s second Australian season opened on November 17 in Brisbane… at The State Library of Queensland. There it will stay, for the next four months. And already – I’m wondering… can Brisbane beat Melbourne’s record? I hope it does. Despite my loyalty to my old town – an even greater response to Game On’s second Aussie outing would be a big win for videogames.

Now, let’s take a guided tour, with Conrad Bodman. He co-curated the original exhibition six years ago, with Lucien King from Rockstar Games, and has been refining it ever since. 

Note: Photographs are from Melbourne, but Game On Brisbane has around 80% of the same content.

Oh, and if you don’t want any “spoilers”, CLOSE YOUR BROWSER NOW.
(Much more after the jump)