One Mr Bean talks Namco, T.F., Bullet Hell, and more

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Get to know the people that make great videogames

8 days ago on Sup Holmes (now on iTunes) we welcomedMichael Molinari to the program. Michael has been developing games since high school, starting the the Team Fortress fan gamesT.F. Larry: Guard Duty and its sequel T.F. Larry: Reinstatement. Inspired by the increasing quality of CGI special effects in films such as Spider-Man, a lifelong passion for Basketball, and of course, a love of videogames, Michael set out into the world of videogame development.

This led to a career of balancing more personal projects like How My Grandfather Won The War,[Together],…But That Was [Yesterday], andBasketBellewith work at Namco Bandai’s now defuncted iOS division. It sounds like Michael learned a lot from his time at Namco, mostly about hownot to do things. From being blocked off from utilizing Namco’s most iconic I.P.s, to seeing the creator of such hits as Mr. Driller shuffled into positions far below his worth (mywords, not Michael’s), there were many fore-tellers of doom to be seen, and Michael was their to witness them all first t first hand. After rapping up work on Rocket Fox, the iOS studio at Namco-Bandai was closed, and Michael was off on his own. That led him to Adult Swim Games and the release Soundoger+ — a love letter to high intensity rhythm games like Pump it Up and pacifist bullet hell shmups like Ikaruga.

We discussed all these things, plus Michael’s thoughts on the importance of streaming and local multi-player in his life, the joy of discovering new ways to experience games (like the Green Demon challenge in Super Mario 64), suffering the bad fortune of being in the first batch of Steam Greenlight games, and a lot more. Thanks again to Michael for appearing on the show, and be sure to tune in next week when we Adult Swimember continues with the Crazy Viking Studios, creators of Volgarr the Viking.