The Underside: Johnny Five Aces Trailer

By: Derek Yu

On: August 14th, 2008

That crafty Mr. Podunkian, a man who is of, shall we say, a contentious nature, has released a new trailer for his magnum opus, The Underside. This one reveals the game’s strong Earthbound vibe. But there shall be no quarreling today over the particulars of his inspiration for the game – I just want to say that it looks good and I’m really looking forward to playing it! Good work, Arthur!

And as a bonus, here’s some awesome Underside fanart from Annabelle Kennedy.

(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)

Posted in Community, Previews, Videos | Tags: AnnabelleKennedy, ArthurLee

AmnEn

Oh dear, here it starts again…
w

this looks nothing like cave story
w

no seriously
Seth

Earthbound rip-off

Also: Kid Icarus rip-off
Cranky

This game looks neat, want play! now!
Mr. Podunkian

as a bonus here’s some pretty mediocre aquaria fanart from mr. podunkian:

http://www.deviantart.com/download/94710390/naija_by_ThePodunkian.png

let’s be friends derek, you’re a good guy, i’m a good guy. let’s be two good guys together.
Nosgoroth

Gimme gimme gimme!
Omen

Nothing like Cave Story? Watch the trailer again and be amazed! I’ve never played Earthbound or Kid Icarus, but I have played Cave Story and can say I’m looking forward to this game.
Kvalsternacka

Looking forward to this one.
Groogokk

It’s obvious this is a Cave Story clone. So what?
hroon

It certainly has developed it’s own identity since I last saw some footage. Gameplay looks tight.
Dusty Spur

Why do I get the feeling the side-looping areas will bug the shit out of me because I’ll totally suck at them.

Looks pretty tight!

Also, that fanart is adorable.
haowan

Looking good.
http://www.0xdeadc0de.org/ Eclipse

it looks very nice, too bad the developer buried this game to a mere clone, it got his personality, but if he likes to keep using cave story’s ripped sprites around he will end to take the hate of everyone who played Pixel’s masterpiece for nothing…

waiting foward for another demo
Ferretypie

He drew all the sprites himself, Eclipse.
robolee

It has the same GUI and controls as cave story and maybe features some same looking tiles but that’s about it.

But it’s hard to make square tiles that don’t turn out to look like the blocks in every other game that uses tiles, I think I’ve seen that block in at least a hundred other tiled games.

The fact that you fall into a cave is probably HOMAGE to cave story… That’s really all the similarities, but hey even if it were named “cave story 2” I would still download every version released.
fucktratnaucedomtards

There cannot be enough Cave Story!! Evar!!1
Ichi

cave story ripof-*is shot*
moon_rabbits

I love the giant kitty. I want it i want it i want it i want it.
radishlaw

I think Cave Story rip-off should be a competition…that way nobody will say it anymore…
Trotim

Braid rip-off
Ara

Cave Story, yes!
iom

So this is the game that cave story ripped-off…
Fishy Boy

I think TIGSource needs a filter so that if you say Cave Story rip-off, it replaces Cave Story with a random game. At least reading comments would be more interesting that way.

This game will gather one million asses, and kick them all at once.
Zeno

Podunk, that mediocre fanart is my new wallpaper.
doka

Grand theft auto rip-off!
Annabelle admirer

Zeno: Mediocre? :o
Melly

I see a looooooooooongcat.

And awesome.

A lot of that last one.

I wanna play this badly.
Mark

This game looks very good. I’m looking forward to playing it. How about a demo or something?
Bezzy

Dudes, if he invents a lot of cool things, I stop caring about the Cave Story thing.

So many games stand on the shoulders of giants. All he has to do is make sure he doesn’t simply crouch on one.

Looking awesome.
Ichi

halo 3 ripoff

We should start a “Cave Story Ripoff” Competition.
Koholint

I was skeptical at first, but this game looks like it’s really come into its own.
v-rus

I wonder why he wouldn’t change the HUD, just a slight bit, so that this game didn’t look like a cave story ripoff.
corpus

Look, cuntfaces. It is not Cave Story. All he borrowed was the aesthetic. The metroidvania genre was invented, rather cunningly, not by Cave Story but by Metroid, Castlevania and their ilk.

It looks awesome, anyway. It gets better every time I see it, and the dialogue looks delicious.

I’m a big fan of EarthBound.

Kennabelle’s fanart is also fantastic.
Josh

corpus ripoff.
arrogancy

Billy 6 aces is still a step up :P
Ara

Corpus, what is this metroidvania you speak of? Portmanteaus are so 2007, cuntface.
harkejuice

super pang ripoff
Gutter

Johnny 5 Aces?

That sounds like a western…

CALAMITY ANNIE RIPOFF!
http://www.antehero.com player2

I have been waiting for The Underside for so long! I thought the project might have jumped off a cliff, but no. I am a very, very happy man right now. It looks incredible, and the dialogue seems masterfully written.

To Mr. Podunkian: I think it is devastating when a wonderful game is marred by grammar mistakes and such. I’m a professional editor, writer, and researcher, and if you would like someone to help clean up the dialogue, I would totally help out for free. Not that I saw any mistakes, but they do happen, and a second or third eye is always critical for a tight product. Contact me by email or through my blog if you’re interested. Again, keep up the outstanding work.
falsion

Nobody caught the Zybourne Clock reference?
falsion

I can’t believe nobody knows who Johnny Five Aces is, or Zybourne Clock for that matter? Argh..
Sausage

Cave Story Ripoff!!!!!!!
Adam

lol. It’s looking great, but the cannons are totally from Kirby Squeak squad >_<
moon_rabbits

Hopscotch ripoff.
Optrirominiluikus

yo mama ripoff
Johnny 5

NO DISASSEMBLE!!
wormguy

Holy crap do I want to play this.
deadeye

for anyone interested, this is the original concept sketch for Johnny Five-Aces:

http://art2.server05.sheezyart.com/image/159/1595028.jpg
http://toadsanime.deviantart.com Toadsanime

I suppose it was inevitable that the whole ‘Cave Story rip-off’ judgement thing would occur once again.

1) This seems influenced by Cave Story, Kid Icarus and Earthbound and not just Cave Story alone.
2) It just so happens that one ‘clone’ is announced. So what? We’ve had plenty of great clones of all different games in the past. This has many resemblances to Cave Story, and for that, I’m glad.
3) We haven’t had something as close to Cave Story since… uh… Cave Story. The Underside looks like it could be some sort of spiritual sequel to said game. That, my friends, is more than a good thing in my eyes.