Originally posted by Gunstar Green
Were a lot of those made by the same developer?
I'm glad you asked. I just spent the last few hours hunting down the proper developer/publisher info (and submitting the correct data to GameFAQs when their info was incorrect.) I have no f'ing clue why I found this so interesting that I could actually focus on it for so long (I'm stuck on dialup, so even simple research takes forever, nevermind the fact that every f'ing game company in existence has to pack their website full of flash.) But I'd been kicking around the idea of putting together a web page with all of this information on it, so when I saw the new rendition of TCRF, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to do something with it.
Here's what I've extrapolated:
Not surprisingly, many of those games were developed by the same companies.
Of the 30 games that contain jpg images (used or hidden), Magic Pocket developed 8 of them. Vicarious Visions developed 4, Helixe and HumanSoft each developed 3 while Tantalus Interactive, Acclaim and Backbone Entertainment developed 2 each. (ImaginEngine is a subsidiary of Backbone.) One game each was developed by Artificial Mind & Movement, Cave Barn, Neko Entertainment, Rainbow Studios, Raylight Studios and Revolution Software.
Of the thirteen developers who utilized jpgs, 7 are located in the US and 2 are located in France while Australia, Canada, England and Italy host one developer each.
Other random stats:
22 of the 30 games are licensed properties, based on TV shows or movies.
10 of the 30 games are based on CGI animated properties
4 of the 30 games include photo-realistic jpgs in game (both baseball games, That's So Raven, and Elf)
Of the 30 games, 9 were US only releases, 2 were European only releases, 13 were released in both the US and Europe and only six were released the US, Europe and Japan.
In total, there are approximately 1,820 unique images. That's counting the images from one version of each game. (i.e. only the US version if the game were also released in Europe and Japan.) Altogether there were 3711 images. (Almost all of the CGI movie-based games (Pixar and Fox) appear in multiple 2-in-1 carts.)
One game, Legendz: Yomigaeru Shiren no Shima, produced a file that contained a valid JPEG header and footer but is not viewable. (I tried Windows Preview, GiMP and XnView. XnView claims the file is corrupt and if XnView can't view it, I don't suppose anything can.) Also, the file is 80.5KB, which is exceptionally large for the GBA jpgs. (Actually, looking into this, I see there is also an unusually large image (310KB) from Winx Club that isn't viewable either.)
The largest viewable image is 41.4KB from Elf. The smallest is 419 bytes, from The Incredibles. The average file size is 6.1KB. The smallest one is just a black screen. I might have thought that was a bug except Broken Sword also has an all black jpg, albeit 89 bytes larger. (The Incredibles black image is 240x96, Broken Swords is 240x160, which is, of course, the GBA's native resolution.) I can't find a way to sort images by resolution in XP or I'd comment on those, as well.
The game with the most images is Dragon Ball Z - The Collectible Card Game with, I shit you not, 666 images. (Had it been any other #, I would have went with Over 9000.) The game with the least number of images is Big Mutha Truckers, with 1. (Boy does that game suck ass.)
Not included in any of the data is the game labeled by GoodGBA as Kibouiri Pangasi DEMO. I'm not entirely sure but this seems to be a port of a PC hentai game to GBA. I couldn't tell if it was an official port or fan made but I thought it best to deem it irrelevant for the purposes of... whatever the fuck it is I've been doing for the last 9 hours. Not having a life, that's what I've been doing.
Anywayz, there are 2 images which might be unused, I'm not entire sure:
http://picpaste.com/Ratatouille__U__gba_25.jpg (Apparently PicPaste doesn't allow posting inline images.
This one is definitely used in Cars. However, this particular jpg was ripped from Ratatouille. It's the very last jpg contained in the game. I'm not sure if it was accidentally included (both games were developed by Helixe) or if there's an advertisement for Cars somewhere in Ratatouille (both movies were made by Pixar.) I started playing Ratatouille today and it's a surprisingly fun game (lots of variety) so I'll probably play all the way through it and see if I can find that image.
http://picpaste.com/Urban_Yeti__U__gba_1.jpg
This one is from Urban Yeti. I'm not entirely sure what's up with it. All of the other Urban Yeti jpgs are images of the Yeti. This one is actually the first one contained in the ROM, as well. It might be part of the game or it could be some sort of developer's joke. Personally, I think the entire GAME is a developer's joke... you start out as a yeti rampaging through the city, looking to get laid. After hearing a female yeti's call, you determine that she's located on the other side of a toll bridge. Being a yeti, you aren't in possession of any cash, so you get a job in a soup kitchen and have to earn $4 so you can cross the bridge. And that's just the very beginning of the game. I promise you I am not high. That's really what the game is about. Not coincidentally, the developer isn't just out of business, the technology company he formed after the game development company died also went out of business. But yeah, I don't know if that image appears in the game or not. And I'm not sure I have the testicular fortitude to find out.
So yeah, I've no spent more time gathering useless information regarding GBA jpgs than I have looking for a job and/or getting laid in the last month. I'm going to bed.
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