Features

Congratulations on your third production run of Beggar Prince! Did you expect the game to sell as well as it has?

When it was time to begin producing the very first batch of cartridges, I was confident that we could sell at least 600 copies. As news of the game spread, and websites and magazines began to pick the story up, I was pleasantly surprised to see what we had actually accomplished: a steady line of interest for, of all things, a new Genesis game in the year 2006.

How large is your third run? How many cartridges are still available?

At present we have produced 300 copies for the third run, and most of them have already been sold. In all, we have now sold almost 1,200 copies of the game worldwide, to people in over 25 countries. A final number of third run copies has not yet been decided on, but it has always been my mission to make sure that everyone who wants a copy of the game (within reason) can have the chance to get one.

This is Super Fighter Team's second release; give me some history of the company.

It all began with just trying to spread the word about Super Fighter, in hopes of a completely new and redone version being put into the works. Our first commercial release was actually going to be Super Fighter Block Battle, an action-puzzle game that I designed myself. Along with a team I'd constructed, over two years of effort were put into developing the game for the Gameboy Advance. Unfortunately we hit a few snags with the link cable multiplayer mode, and we were never able to reach a favorable publishing agreement. After this experience, which saw my personal investment of several thousand dollars lost, I decided it would be better (and more enjoyable for me personally) to focus on the classic game market - something I had always wanted to do anyway. Beggar Prince came along, and the rest is history...

I understand that it was originally released in Taiwan as Xin Qigai Wangzi. How is it that a Taiwanese game made its way to a release by a company out of San Diego?

Over the past few years, I have developed a professional relationship with C&E, the company that originally produced Beggar Prince for the Taiwan market. Their president was more than happy to cooperate with us.

You seem to have an affinity for Taiwanese games, why?

I was introduced to Super Fighter, now my company's namesake, in 1993. Since, I have closely followed Taiwan's videogame market. I find these games unique, and there's always an interesting story behind them and the companies that made them.

I understand there were a lot of bugs to fix before releasing this game. Was this a difficult process? Were you able to take care of all the bugs you wanted to?

The debug process was the most detailed and lengthy part of the entire project, and at times it was certainly painful. While C&E had created a wonderful game, they hadn't allowed enough time for proper debugging. Thankfully, I was able to enlist the aid of some extremely skilled programmers from China to take care of the nastiest bugs of them all. My only regret is that I was unable to locate somebody who could reprogram the game's save function to work with the 32X and SegaCD. This just wasn't possible until the third and current production run, which is now 100% compatible with all Genesis and Megadrive systems and compatibles, including the JVC X'Eye.

Beggar Prince seems like a labor of love not a race for a profit. What is it that excites you about making games for an otherwise dead console?

Everyone has their own personal taste when it comes to videogames. Mine just happens to be rooted in classic machines. It's simple: I wanted to see some new games released for a system like the Genesis, but it seemed that would never happen. Rather than continuing to wait or just giving up on my hope altogether, I decided to just produce and publish a new Genesis game myself.

As the technology becomes more widely available and as more and more people are learning programming, do you think we'll be seeing more games for classic consoles?

That's my hope, yes - and I pray they only continue to increase in quality.

One thing I particularly enjoyed in this game was the script. Humor, while not overbearing, was definitely present in the game. There are references to Star Wars, Pokemon, and a familiar looking adventurer clad in green. How much of the script is translated directly?

First, the original Chinese script was translated into English by our translator, Yu-Chen Shih. Then, I heavily edited and rewrote the script to best fit the spirit of the game as I saw it. The problem with the original script was that it was rather flat and uninteresting in places, especially where the monster dialogue was concerned. I was very focused on introducing several things into the game from the get-go: detailed character development and enjoyable humor elements.

Was much of the humor able to be translated directly or did you need to punch it up with jokes that made more sense to an American/European audience?

The original Chinese storyline featured a few good jokes here and there, most of which were kept intact or only slightly modified for our English version.

It was a big rush of nostalgia seeing a new game in the classic Genesis case, were you a big Genesis fan during its heyday?

Though most of my friends had a Super Nintendo at the time of its heyday (they chose... poorly), I was eventually introduced to the Genesis, and I instantly preferred it. The games seemed more alive, more full of energy, and the Genesis' main sound chip (YM2612) reminded me of my favorite synthesizer: PC's AdLib (OPL2).

Did you consider releasing on some of the other platforms where a game like this might be welcome such as the Nintendo DS or Xbox Live Arcade?

The purpose of Beggar Prince is to give Genesis owners a brand new game to play and enjoy. That said, I presently have no interest to introduce it to any other machine.

Have you been happy with the reviews this game has been getting? I've seen some very glowing ones and some fairly negative, why do you think there is such a wide mix?

Some people understand and appreciate what we're trying to do here, and some don't. Overall, I am proud of what has been accomplished and very appreciative of the press we've received.

You did something fairly revolutionary with the game saves by making the battery a no solder solution which has been perfected for the third production run. What advantage does the user get from this?

Though the average save RAM battery can last for many years, when it does finally die you'll want to be able to replace it easily. Unfortunately, the usual method of replacement for Genesis games is to open the cartridge shell using a special tool, desolder the old battery from the game PCB, and then solder on a new one. I figure that's an annoyance people can do without. To replace the save RAM battery in Beggar Prince, you just need to use a Phillips head screwdriver to open the cartridge shell, and slide the battery old right out. No frustration, no special tools and no wasted time.

What's next for Super Fighter Team? Will we be seeing a Beggar Prince 2?

We're working on a few new games right now, including a fast-paced horizontal shooter for the Atari Lynx called Zaku, Super Fighter Block Battle, which is now being developed for the mobile phone - and, of course, we'll continue to support the Genesis. I'm not so sure about a Beggar Prince 2. Sequels in videogaming, as in Hollywood, are often disappointing and sometimes have little if anything to do with the original. This may be the reason why over the years, several videogame sequels have been generically subtitled: "The Revenge" (for example Double Dragon II, Cybernoid II, etc.). If we were to develop a direct sequel to Beggar Prince, it would have to be a huge, well-planned undertaking so as not to ruin the story or its characters.

Find out more about Super Fighter Team, Beggar Prince, and their upcoming projects at SuperFighter.com