Better Late than Never

Last week saw the European release of Westone Bit Entertainment's long-lost arcade game Clockwork Aquario. Thanks to the tireless efforts of publishers ?ININ Games and Strictly Limited Games, the abandoned '90s platformer is finally available to purchase on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, bagging itself a legitimate Guinness World Record in the? process.

Yes, Clockwork Aquario now officially holds the record for the longest time between a video game project starting and its final release. At 30 years, (1991-2021), the cutesy adventure beats out previous record-holder Duke Nukem Forever (14 years), which will at least give the new coin-op a bit of a marketing boost for its North American launch next week, even if it is somet??hing of a dubious accolade.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YbN_pnWass

Originally developed for the arcade market, Clockwork Aquario was abandoned by original publisher Sega just a sliver from completion, as Sega believed that "the moment" had passed for cute platformers, with arcade players fully invested in fighters and racing games. The collaborative efforts of ININ Games and Strictly Limited secured the rights to the forgotten title back in 2019, before bringing together members of the original development team �including programmer Takanori Kurihara, composer Shinichi Sakamoto, and Wonder Boy creator Ryuichi Nishizawa �to finally complete the project.

Clockwork Aquario finally launched in Europe, for PS4 and Nintendo Switch, on November 30 �a very happy end to a very long tale. The North American release will hit digital stores on December 14, with a variety of physical editions already available exclusively at Strictly Limited Games. Will anything break this record? Can anything break this record?

It's unlikely... but never say never... Right, Dead Island 2?

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Hideki Kamiya is the ultimate Ninja-Kid

They say that three things are inevitable in life: Death, taxes and Hamster re-releases. In fact the retro-loving publisher has been so dogged in its efforts to bring classic arcade and Neo Geo titles to modern platforms, that it is bag??ged itself a World Record for its efforts.

Awarded at last week's Tokyo Game Show, Guinness World Records recognised Hamster Corporation for the most consecutive week??ly releases on the Nintendo eShop, currently standing at 133 and counting. These releases, (which I've personally found myself recording every week for almost three years now) include classics from the golden era of arcades, alongside a string of fantastic Neo Geo fighting games and shmups.

To be fair, Hamster set out this battle plan a long time ago, openly announci??ng in 2017 that it hopes to re-release at least 800 games in all. Hopefully, we'll see the company push a little further into the late '80s and early '90s with their Arcade Archive releas?e, bringing a se??lection of some of that era's entertaining and memorable titles.

Also, in related news, Hideki Kamiya of Resident Evil and PlatinumGames fame also picked up his own World Record after attaining the highest score on Arcade Archive's release of 1984 platformer Ninja-Kid. Kamiya notched up an impressive 158,680 in Caravan Mode, demonstrating that even?? industry legend??s can find time to rock the classics.

_{Photo credit: Guinness World Records}

Hideki Kamiya an?d H??amster achieve Guinness World Records [Japanese Nintendo]

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'Wha-Hoo!'

The eminently likeable voice actor Charles Martinet has entered the Guinness Book of World Records after having passed a milestone. Thanks for the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Martinet now h??olds the record for the most recorded video games voice-overs for a single chara??cter.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sees Martinet pop the big 100 for his portrayal of Nintendo's most recognisable star, Mario. Of course, Martinet voices many characters in the Super Mario Bros. franchise, including Wario, Luigi, W??aluigi and the baby incarnation of the famous digital brothers.

Martinet, released an image to his twitter account of him receiving the official Worl??d Record award.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now on Nintendo Switch.

With Craig receiving my record certificate @GWR for most video game voiceover performances as the same character – 100, as Mario – on 7 December 2018 upon the release of #SuperSmashBrosUltimate #woohoo! Many thanks to #Nintendo and #GWR pic.twitter.com/ICfKlK9hO1

— Charles Martinet (@CharlesMartinet) December 14, 2018

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This one's for the animals

In case you didn't know, Okami already has a Guinness World Record. Strangely it boasts the "least commercially successful winner of a Game of the Year award," which it won in 2006 after selling "just" 600,000 copies, a qualifier that Guinness refers to as "dismal" on their official website. It's a sort of back-handed award in that it highlights Okami's multiple GOTY wins.

Now 12 years later it's poised to net yet another more flattering award in 2018. According to Twinfinite it was announced during Capcom's New York Comic Con panel that Okami had?? been given the honor of "most critically acclaimed video game starring an animal character."

Exact details like review scores or what other data "critically acclaimed" entails were not shared, but either way this award is a great way to honor the folks over at Clover: many of whom are still in the industry over at Platinum Games: most notably Hideki Kamiya and Atsushi Inaba, director and producer for Okami respectively.

Okami Just Earned An?other Guin??ness World Records Award [Twinfinite]

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Billy's on the case

'80s gaming rockstar Billy Mitchell has recorded a short statement regarding the controversies of recent days, whereby his high score records on a selection of games were removed from Twin Galaxies, after assertion of his falsifying multiple Donkey Kong runs.

The video statement was filmed at the Midwest Gaming Classic by Old School Gamer Magazine (of which Billy has an associati??on). Mitchell, wearing the tie that will forever make h?im a hero in my eyes, speaks of an investigation underway to clear his name and restore his legacy as one of the highest scoring arcade gamers of all time.

"In a professional manner, not in a shock jock mentality, designed to create hits" states Mitchell. "We will show that everything was done professionally, according to the rules, according to the score??board... Everything will be transparent, everything will be available... Witnesses, documents, everything will be available to you."

??Displaying his trademark coolness, Mitchell appears convinced of his ability to prove his past achievements fair and true. One can't help but wonder if anyone would care about this story had Mitchell not played this charismatic "villainous" persona, and how much of the ongoing drive to usurp his scores was founded in wanting to see the "baddie" fall from grace.

There's no denying that Mitchell is a ridiculously skilled video game player, his perfect Pac-Man score is a mind-boggling feat of memory, patience and pixel-perfect control, but, as this situation continues, the Floridian native risks this recent revelation becoming the defining mark for his entire gaming career. It will be interesting to see the case for the defence, if and when Mitchell is ready to pre??????????????????????????sent it.

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'I've been too busy having all the sex'

In what can only be considered a monumental mistake, Xbox gamer Ray 'Stallone83' Cox lost his 'highest Gamerscore' world record, which he has held for eleven years straight, after he stopped?? gaming momentarily to have ??marital relations with the love of his life.

The tragedy occurred this weekend as Ray, in a rare display of amateurishness, married his b??eautiful fiancee Cindy before jetting off for an exciting honeymoon. This foolhardy decision allowed Stephen 'smrnov' Rowe to overtake him and claim the ?title, popping a new gamerscore record just shy of 1.6 million.

Rowe has stated he has no interest in officially registering his score with Guinness World Records, rightly so, as it's All About The Games. In the meantime Cox, who for some reason isn't cutting his honeymoon short despite this news, is expected to get back in the hunt for the top-spot once? he returns ho??me.

Well,? hope it was worth it, Ray...hope it w??as worth it...

Gamerscore world record broken [Xbox Achievements]

I've been too busy having all the sex. pic.twitter.com/aFNpwuaDY1

— Ray Cox IV (@Stallion83) July 4, 2017

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10,000 people attended

Did you go to Minecon in London this weekend? Did you take literally everyone you know with you? Well congratulations, in doing so, you a?nd everyone else have broken a world record!

According to Guinness World Records, Minecon 2015 has been the “Largest convention for a single videogame”, as 10,000 people descended on the city to celebrate Minecraft.

Talking to MCV, GWR Gam??er&rsquo??;s Edition deputy Editor Stephen Daultry said:

"For a multi-genre games convention to attract 10,000 fans is a big enough feat in itself, But for a convention dedicated to a single video-game to get that number is nothing short of astonishing. This record is testament to the incredible fandom around Minecraft and the game's ability to unlock the imaginations of millions of gamers around the world.”

This is especially impressive when you consider the price of the tickets, which cost a pretty hefty £129 ($201). Maybe the younger members of the Minecraft?? fandom going with their parents helped bolster the numbers a bit?

London'??s 'Minecon' breaks a Guinness World Reco?rd for attendance [MVC Pacific]

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This is definitely an impressive speedrun

Back in Pokémon's heyday, it was difficult enough to catch 'em all with legitimate friends, additional cartridges, and?? link cables, ?let alone do it in record time. One talented 21-year-old speedrunner from Ohio who goes by the name of Shenanagans Smash did just that, without trading, but with the help of several glitches.

Shenanagans Smash collected all of the original 151 Pokémon (including Mew) in a mere 2:20:19, a time that makes me weep and feel inadequate. Of course, it's important to note that this speedrun makes copious use of a process known as "Dsum manipulation" and other glitches that are used in the run to select what types of Pokémon appea??r in the wild, enable the player to skip the Pewter City entirely, and manip??ulate many other facets of the game.

You can find more information on those processes here, and it may be a little less impressive given the fact that this isn't a "legitimate" run in that the speedrunner didn't sit down and actu?ally play the game proper (you can't catch Mew without glitching), but you still have to adm?it it's some kind of feat.

A New World Record For Catching The Orig??inal 151 Pokémon Quickly [Kotaku]

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Play Minecraft for 25 hours to make those years up

Wanna know what you have to do to be the best? The new Guinness World Records 2015 Gamer's Edition hosts a diverse listing of various gaming records. Wanna have the largest Tomb Raider memorabilia collection in the world? You'll have to beat Rodrigo Martin Santos, who owns 2,383 Tomb Raider-rel?ated items. That's personally not one I would go for, but if that's your goal, I wish you w??ell.

Other records covered include:

• Rarest Legend of Zelda series game: A copy of The Legend of Zelda, thought to be a prototype, sold in August 2013 on eBay for $55,000.
• Oldest gaming voice actor: Christopher Lee played Saruman in LEGO: The Hobbit, which debuted April 8, 2014, aged 91 year, 314 days.
• First video game character featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: Sonic the Hedgehog was the first character to receive this honor, debuting in 1993. Strong winds blew the balloon into a lamp post and it was punctured, which was a peek into the future of the series.
• Tons more!

I actually like?? these books. They're great for a short read and I keep one by my toilet. There's a lot of cool info, and ??each entry has the release date for the next game in the series (if applicable). 

Guinness World Records 2015 Gamer's Edition is available now and retails for $14.99, but it's on sale now for $9.07 on Amazon.

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A new Guinness World Record

The largest collection of videogames, according to Guinness, belongs to Michael Thomasson. He's got 10,607 games, up from the last Guinness World Record holder's collection of 8,616 titles, reports The Associated Press. My first reaction to hearing the new number was to wonder how anyone could have time to play all of these ga??mes (excluding our own Chris Carter).

"I probably get three hours of playing in a week," said Thomasson, who teaches animation? and game design at Canisus College??. "If I'm lucky."

My favorite part of this story is that he sold his collection -- twice, actually -- which is something many of us can relate? to. The first time was to pay for a Sega Genesis and the second sale was to help cover his wedding. Thomasson estimates his current lot to be worth between $700,000 - $800,000.

NY man's 10,607 video games secure Guinness title [AP]

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There are quite a few entries in the Guinness World Records that many would consider superfluous, but no matter how ridiculous some of them may be, they always have something in common -- objectivity. Everything can be measure?d, weighed, quantified, or otherwise reduced to a value that everyone can agree upon as accurate, bar?ring any accusations of cheating or the like. At least, they used to. I don't know when Guinness started running user polls, but that practice needs to stop yesterday.

For the Guinness World Records 2012 Gamer's Edition book, 13,519 votes were collected to bring us the "definitive list of the greatest video game endings of all time." By "definitive," Guinness means not definitive at all by their own admission that "the list will cause heated debate." The titles that dominate, which come almost exclusively from t??he last decade, don't determine anything other than how m?uch of a popularity contest these polls really are.

Call of Duty: Black Ops tops the list as supposedly having the greatest videogame ending ever. Oooooh! Zombies! Mind-blowing plot twist right there. Do the entries get any better further down the list? Well, #11 is Super Mario Bros. That game doesn't even have an ending! The Princess just tells you to play hard mode! And Sonic Adventure 2 is just... wrong. You can check the full list below. Admittedly, some of the games have decent endings, but there is no ?rhyme or reason to the order. Seriousl??y, this did not need to be a thing.

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops
2. Halo: Reach
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
5. God of War
6. Red Dead Redemption
7. Portal
8. Metal Gear Solid 4
9. Final Fantasy VII
10. Heavy Rain
11. Super Mario Bros.
12. Pokemon Black and White
13. Halo 3
14. Halo: Combat Evolved
15. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
16. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
17. Portal 2
18. Grand Theft Auto IV
19. Mass Effect 2
20. Super Mario Galaxy 2
21. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
22. Kingdom Hearts
23. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
24. Shadow of the Colossus
25. Assassin's Creed
26. Assassin's Creed II
27. Metal Gear Solid
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Super Mario Galaxy
30. Mass Effect
31. Kingdom Hearts II
32. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
33. Sonic Adventure 2
34. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
35. BioShock
36. Gears of War 2
37. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
38. Fallout 3
39. inFamous
40. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
41. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
42. Super Metroid
43. Half-Life 2: Episode Two
44. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
45. Call of Duty: World at War
46. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
47. Crysis 2
48. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
49. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
50. Resident Evil 4

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The folks at Guinness were kind enough to send me an early copy of their Gamer's Edition of the Guinness World Records 2012 last week. It's a really fun read, packed with 200 pages of gaming trivia and oddities, smartly sorted by gaming genres. Factoids, high score charts, and even a tagline quiz are included. Every couple of pages I found a WTF or an Oh, neat bit, and then I'd go looking fo?r someone else to tell. This stuff is kind of lost on a non-gamer, so I ?saved a few notable selections for you:

Most game data illegally downloaded: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, weighin?g in at 15.77 Petabytes (that's a 7.19 GB torrent at about 2.3 million downloads).

Most Endings in a Japanese RPG: Chrono Trigger, with 14 in all. Note that this re??cord goes to the DS version as it has one more ending t??han the SNES original.

Best-selling Avatar item on XBLA Marketplace: Night Vision Goggles from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Microsoft doesn't say how many sets of these virtual goggles were sold, but I'm sure they're h?appy with the money they made at $3 a pop.

First arcade game boss: 1980 shmup game Phoenix was the first game to h??ave a harder-than-normal character placed at the end of a level.

Guinness World Records 2012 Gamer’s Edition is available now in the US for an MSRP of $14.99 at your favorite bookseller. Amazon has it for for only $9.96. 

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