Phantosanucca's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hunter Zero Ep.1]

A great vision of things to come...

Well, what can I say? You're really pulling out every trick up your sleeve for this series. The cinematic feel to it is surprisingly professionally done, for a sprite movie. With the orchestrated music, the intro credits, and the style all it's own, it nicely creates the feel of an epic movie.

Certain flash techniques used to give it an even greater cinematic feel (such as the camera angles) have not gone unnoticed. The sprite work is smoother than ever, the use of layers is well portrayed, and it all works like a charm. It's just handled really really well.

Your flash movies have always been known for having innovative and creative selections of music, and this case is no different. Heck, with more theatrical soundtrack pieces, and more Devil May Cry songs, it just gets better and better from your past flash movies.

The story however had some strange things that I had noticed. They aren't very big. Just small points that I happened to notice throughout all of my nitpicking. For starters, Zero seems very cool and subdued, when Capcom portrayed Zero as a raging maniac out to kill anything that moves before the Megaman X series. Also, Protoman's lines sound as if they were written for Megaman. I don't know, it just doesn't sound like he would normally say them. However, with the slight innocence and, maybe helpless feel to his words, it gives the feel that Protoman has softened up since the last time he was in the spotlight. I guess it adds a bit of growth and dimension to his character, so maybe his script isn't that bad after all. And the writing itself HAS gotten better since your previous series, so I guess it's all the more better, huh? ^_^

Also, I wonder if King will be making an appearance later on in the series. Since he didn't actually die in Megaman and Bass, maybe he could pop in and help Proto and Mega later on? I dunno, I guess it just seems kinda lonely with only Protoman and Megaman as the good guys...

Well, I looks forward to the next episode, which I'm sure you're already hard at work on... But I have one question:

You say this is your last sprite movie series... Will you be finishing up the 2nd episode of Not Another Sprite Movie? Or has that been scrapped altogether?

Good luck with your future projects.

-Phantos. :)

CheveLoco responds:

I wanted to give this series a more "theatrical" feeling, the soundtrack it's what i spent the most time on. Thinking of good songs that could fit the action wasn't easy let me tell u but i think in the end it was good.

About the character development well i know zero looks a lil too cool but it's just the beginning so his character will develop more as the episodes goes on, he still is killing anything that moves though :P. And protoman, well in this episode and part of the second, he will be the only one showing up so having the usual laid back-and-man-of-few-words protoman would make the movie pretty bland, he might have softened up too like u said.

Don't worry megaman and protoman won't be the only ones fighting, expect a surprise for the next episode that i believe will make everything even more interesting(and balanced :P)

About Not Another Sprite Movie 2, yeah it will be finished, it'll most likely be released in between hunter zero, i am halfway done with the movie so it won't be scrapped. I wasnt going to include a clip from the movie but the file size didnt allow it.

Thanx for the review!

[Grey Mushrooms: Part 2]

Not bad!

At first it seemed almost like any normal Mario movie. Mario fighting koopas making Luigi look weak, italiant stereotypes, etc. But I LOVE the direction you took with the second half. The writing alone makes this worth checking out. Funny stuff man.

Also, I can see why you asked us to watch it in low quality. Otherwise, some of the sprites have that crappy blur to them that you sometimes get with Flash.

Good job. :)

-Phantos

Lambtaco responds:

Thanks. I was actually able to eliminate most of the blurring by using the snap to pixels option, but that didn't help during the motion tweens.

[Bomberman Z z z]

Bombermaaan!

I rather enjoy these little Bomberman shorts. He's a very underrated character nowadays... The graphics are very nicely done, the sound effects fit nicely and are all on cue, and the humour is very present and considerably funny.

That's all I need... Although I could have done without the sheep in the speedo, this was still a humourous little movie.

Good job. :)

-Phantos

[Sprite Survivor - 2]

Damn

I was about to begin episodes of a series almost exactly like this idea next month.... Damnit...

Well, let me begin by saying that you should really just go search for better sprites, rip them yourself, or go to some place like the Shyguy Kingdom to get better sprites. It seems that you don't really have a lot for each character, and there are more out there that can make the battle scenes look a LOT better. It just seems kind of clunky and awkward when their attacks are just tweening the standing sprites...

As for the hand-drawn stuff, I admire that you made hand-drawn backgrounds. Personally, I would have used pre-existing video game backgrounds to create the feel of a Video Game Survivor concept, but the bg's here actually look nice. They're varied, simple, and you make a lot of use out of them. Especially in the scene with Cecil and Shadow with the collapsing rock.

As for the concept, neither the thought of Survivor, nor the thought of video game characters in a Survivor game are relatively new, but you managed to make it entertaining without having to resort to insane amounts of budget or flash techniques(though I'm sure there were plenty in this).

The writing is very humourful as well. Especially the Sailor Moon incidents.

And finally, why did I give a 10 for Interactivity? Because you're letting the audience decide who goes. That's not a common thing to be found in most flash movies, so I commend you for it.

I'd like to see Randi and Sailor Moon leave, even though she'd make a great running gag.

Well, best of luck to ye in the future.

-Phantos

PS: I'm still gonna make that series. It probably won't be as good as this, but let it be known that I did not go out to rip off this series in any way. In fact, mine is based off of the happenings of an actual online game I set up, whereby players took to the game in their own way, but will simply have a video game character representing them in the movies. So... yeah. Just so you don't think I'm just copycatting your work or anything...

Hell-Fire responds:

Now that is a long review. Just the way i like em. Survivor isnt my idea wouldnt ever think that anyones copying me. Unless if you let the audience vote out people, i think thats sorta my idea because no other series has it. But anyway thanks for teh long review and votes

[zelda, behind the legend]

Really nothing special

I guess we should start off with the title, which seems a tad misleading. It makes one believe that the movie is going to be some sort of behind the scenes parody, when in actuality, it's just a poorly cultivated parody in general.

Whatever attempt there is at plot is not only portrayed with little effort, but it is evident that such a plot was haphazardly thrown together beforehand as a stupid joke that dragged on and overstayed it's welcome. Not that you can actually understand what the hell is going on, what with the gaudy sound and the half-assed animation quality. Now, I'm a man who can admit his flaws. And as such there are few great movies here at Newgrounds that I myself consider of lower artistic quality than my own. This is one of those few. I don't know why this wasn't blammed. This has all of the traits of a movie scoring less 1.50, and yet it has a score around the 3.80 area.

I'm sorry if this review seems harsh, but in all honesty(which is the style I lend to all of my reviews), this is not a nice-looking movie, this is not a nice-sounding movie, and it's not an enjoyable movie. I could forgive the first two points if there were quality in the writing, or with anything else besides art and sound, but there really is nothing special about this flash. Keep note that the only reason this was saved was due to the unrelenting stupidity of the average Newgrounds voter.

-Phantos

RogerregoRRoger responds:

yeah well okay here goes:
1)yeah the title is bad, i suck at thinking of titles, orginally it was the behind the legend of zelda, even worse..
2) Whats so bad about the plot?You expect a finalfantasy movie mate? Most movies on newgrounds have only the plot of random guys killing each other, this one actually HAD a plot..And don't say there was NO effort.
3)half assed animation?Can you poin me an other FRAME BYU FRAME animation made by a amateur thats better, huh?
4)What are you talking about, lower atristic then yourself?YOu dont even HAVE a flahmovie on newgrounds, you dipshit! jeesh, loser!
5)1.50? yeah whatever..i guess sprite movies about a pixelated mario who kills link for no reason is much better, eh Van Gogh?

[-The Escape-]

Hmm... Quite a complex decision to make...

Do I consider this a good flash or a bad flash? That seems to go throug the minds of few voters here at Newgrounds. I however, am taking the time to think this one through.

Well, let me start off by saying that the cinematography was almost as good as any modern movie, tv show or music video. I don't know how you did the things you did with the "camera", but it just looks so professional.

The background animation is immensly fluid and detailed. Very nice treat for the eyes(save for the compression). I wish I could say the same about the animation for the characters. They seem very cheaply animated. Few frams of animation, an ALMOST complete lack of shading, and almost no detail or even form put into them. It's the only part of this movie that seems rushed.

You used a nice selection of music. Although you forgot to credit the 2 tracks from Lineage II at the beggining. Yeah, I knew. I was in the beta too. O' course I couldn't pay for the game, so I just deleted everything except the mp3's from my comp. The only half-decent part of the game. ^_^

But enough about that.

Whatever storyline there is.... is.... well... without sound, or even text, or even some sort of animated backstory, there really is no plot. It's just a bunch of faceless characters doing things that you can only barely make out, only because the animation is so rigid and uncreative. I'm sorry, again, I bash the animation, when in fact at times, there is clear effort shown. But without a clear story, what's the point in watching this? And better yet, what's the point in making this flash at all? Why bother going to those lengths to make something like this, if no one has any idea what's going on aside from the gore, when it seems to me that you're at least TRYING to make it so much more than that?

So do I think this is a good flash movie or a bad flash movie?

Well...

I don't hate it... I don't love it... It's better than average... It's not terrific...

Though flawed, I'd say this lands square between very good and great. Sorry if you were expecting more... Then again, so was I... Then again, I can't draw nearly half as good as that, so maybe I should be voting 5 anyways...

GAH! Moral dillema! Now I don't know what to give this movie!...

...

Ah hell, 1 vote is meaningless here, so who cares?

Good job.

-Phantos

[Megaman X OLB ep.3]

Oh dear...

The score I give this movie is not based on the fact alone that this is a sprite movie. But this is almost exactly the same as the last movie. You used the same backgrounds, the same music, the same damn Megaman Zero soldier getting killed sprites that have only been in like 3 flash movies to date and they're already overused.

And what's worse, the way the sprites are positioned just looks clunky and offensive to the eyes in almost every scene. There's a lot of blurring(which I know can be hard to get rid of), they all move in unison which really detracts from the credibility of the film in general, and the whole movie just seems choppy. The framerate should be increased, and a couple of more frames of animation put in for each character.

And please, please, PLEASE, if you're using a group of the same sprites, and you want them to go in one direction to another, make them move at individual times. It just makes the whole thing look more REAL. The way it is now, it's like some sort of ugly puppet show.

This was basically 5-10 minutes of 32-Bit Vile sprites kill those damn soldier sprites. Save for when they decide to kill a bunch of Searchman.exe's, and when X in Bass.exe's robe comes onto the scene.

Frankly I had higher hopes of this series when I first started watching, but this is clearly a hack job. I notice the time difference between when this came out, and when Episode (3?) came out. And each time you keep saying that "this is the end!", and then we see a To Be Continued sign at the end...

Take the time to make new backgrounds, work out the bugs, and really make the finale, whenever it comes out, to be something special. The longer we wait, the better it will probably turn out, right? Don't feel obligated to churn one out every week or something. If anything, working on it longer just builds up suspense. And isn't that a vital part to a good story? ;)

Please, take the time to make the next one really something special. You can do much better than this. We've seen what you're capable of. And maybe a little more of that nice hand-drawn animation would be good too. I liked what you did with the mangled X in one of your movies.

I hope to see a thrilling conclusion... one of these days. ;)

-Phantos

Kaosboy85 responds:

Wow, all I can do is clap, your review is by far the best i've gotten as far as beign helpfull. And the basic solution to everythign you said is that I've decided that i WILL NOT try to put them out every week because a rushed flahs = a crappy job. I have to give you credit for picking up on almost every aspect which was lackign because of a wanting to meet a deadline, and also being I think the only one to figure out the deal with the "unknown" person. Ep4 wont be out for a looooong time, but you and I know this is a good thing. Thank you very much for the review!

[Hunter Zero Trailer]

Bobandgeorge.com would love this.

Oh HELL yeah! I didn't even know you were going to go past the Revenge series. I figured you had just stopped it at that. So this really came out of left field for me. Now I finally have something to look forward to over the coming months. :D

I love the cinematic scope you've put into this. It really really feels like a movie trailer now. Especially in the opening sequence with the nicely animated rain, Shadow Man's scene, the fittingly awesome music(what music DID you use, by the way?), and in the little teaser at the end. It all screams with cinematic style. Even the writing has improved greatly since your most recent movies!

With the last series, they had all sorts of friends to help out against the threat. Duo, Dr. Light, The Robot Masters. Now they're dead, and the only remaining Robot Masters for some reason, are once again on the side of evil, serving out their master's final purpose. I don't know why you chose the particular Robot Masters you did, but I think it lends an interesting taste to the overall concept.

If you ask me, I think Megaman and Protoman are toast. But, I could be wrong. It is, after all, only a trailer.... A ass-kickingly-cool trailer at that.

Can't wait to see how "The Cataclysm" unfolds. :)

-Phantos

CheveLoco responds:

Well i was going to stop after Bass' Revenge but i guess then ending was a huge cliffhanger for some and couldn't be left like that.
The song i used is from DevilMaycry and i think it was perfect for this.
I just picked the old robot masters cuz i think they're better than the new ones.
thanx for the review!

[Mm-Real Adventure/Intro]

A diamond in the rough

I got an e-mail from you asking me to view this movie. Saying it was your first.

Now normally when someone e-mails you to watch their first movie, with sprites, you're probably thinking "Oh no, a newbie. This is gonna be awful." Imagine my surprise when I found out how much quality there is to be found in this flash.

First off, the only graphical issues were minor. However, things like Megaman's giant mouth during his speech, and the speech itself, are simply unnoticeable flaws when you look at everything else that's going on. Great presentation, and really good use of the effects for the character movements. It has clever choreography during the fight scenes, and it all runs smoothly, which is what matters most when making a Flash movie.

I loved the music selection. Even the Sonic boss music, which although isn't the best music in the world, added an "out-of-place" kind of mood to the scene where sonic and friends fight Megaman enemies(which in itself, is out of place). The music is really what sets the tone for this piece, and I think it all pulls off without a hitch.

I foresee great things from you in the future. And to think, if you hadn't sent me that e-mail, I never would have seen this underrated gem. I really do not know why this has such a low score. It's easily the best of any "first movie", this site has seen in a long time.

Best of luck to you in the future. :)

-Phantos

(And to those who read that I would never review again... screw it... I'm a judgemental son-of-a-bitch... I just won't judge the people making the flash I'm reviewing anymore. :P )

[Draw Like A Pro]

Thanks a bunch :)

Though I have a question... You refer to something called an "alpha"... And when you mention it, it's in reference to adding something of a lighting effect to the drawing. What is this "alpha", and where can I find it in Flash?

Thanks again for the detailed lesson in animation. Even though I have the artistic ability of a piece of toast, it was nice to see how these animations are made. It takes a lot of effort, a lot more than I had originally thought, so I thank you for taking the time out to teach us a little something about animation.

-Phantos