An Oddly Fun Experience | Madagascar Video Game (Garbage From Your Childhood?)

[@swivelmaster]

Hey so I worked on the game and.... the reason it doesn't follow the movie is that the script of the movie was changing even while the game was in development. We received a semi-final version of the script with eight or nine months left before the game was going to come out, which we only had access to for a day, and then we had to throw in a bunch of cutscenes to glue the story together based on what had changed. I actually wrote the scene where the main characters first meet the lemurs because it was missing from the original game script!

[@swivelmaster]

Also, the lemurs don't blink because animation is really expensive from a memory perspective and adding the extra 'bones' to accommodate blinking for the dozens of lemurs that needed to be on screen at a time would have blown out our memory budget.

[@swivelmaster]

Also, the answer to most to all of your "why" question is "because it's fun" It's actually much to Dreamworks' credit that they didn't micromanage the game and dictate stuff like character abilities and minigames, because if they did it would have been a lot less fun.

[@TheFrozenCavern]

Hi. I'm actually pretty surprised someone who developed one these games even saw this. I can imagine that working with a changing script is a nightmare and since licensed based games are usually tied to the movie's development, I guess that adds to the stress of it. Still, the story you had to work with was a fun and chaotic one. For the animation, I'm actually going to college for game design currently, and I don't know the full details about characters having to blink. I'm surprised blinking is so intense on a game. Regardless, I'm glad you had fun developing the game. Though I had some issues with it, it was really fun for me to play the game years later and also look at the game critically. You and your team(s) work has not gone unnoticed.

[@dimitriwarchief301]

I really wanna know the original script of this film. Im so curious

[@swivelmaster]

@@TheFrozenCavern well, animation data is expensive, so if the blinking was actually part of that, it would have increased the total size of animation data for all the non-main characters by a few percent, which is a lot. It could have been cheated by swapping the eye textures to an eyelid texture at random... but I guess nobody thought of that or it was just not a priority! I remember talking about the animation budget for the lemurs and being told that they couldn't have nearly the same level of fidelity as the main characters, so that's that. Dealing with the changing script wasn't a huge deal because nobody came from Dreamworks and said "You have to change the game to match the script!" The push to match the game to the updated version of the script came from us, out of a sense that it just made sense to do it. I wrote a bunch of these scenes because I felt really strongly that we had to have them, and in hindsight.. I think I wrote too much and the cutscenes are too long! But maybe not, because I read a lot of reviews for the game and nobody complained that the cutscenes were too long.

[@benm5970]

The Penguins level and Marty's Escape were like the kids version of the Arkham games

[@chefboyrd4911]

Ben McDonald definitely lost on purpose to replay

[@chefboyrd4911]

Anna Ember serious?

[@chefboyrd4911]

Anna Ember Talented guy.

[@swivelmaster]

Those games weren't out yet at the time, the joke was supposed to be Metal Gear Solid :)

[@GMira-archive]

omg I'm SO glad I wasn't the only one who remembers this was a thing and played it back then. o_O

[@jamieharrell5321]

Are you kidding me me and my brother would play this game nonstop when we had it for the PlayStation but man there was so many adult jokes in this game it was hard to count plus Phil Lamar did an awesome job Marty

[@giraffeman326]

Toys For Bob really did an excellent job on this game considering the era when it came out.

[@bandicootsauce4569]

I actually used to play the Shuffleboard mini-game against my Dad. He'd usually beat me at it, too... which was actually a nice change, because in general, my Dad was - and still is - hopeless at video games. He's the kind of person who wants to play the game HIS way and not the way the game developers actually intended. Basically, he was part of the 'PC master race' before its time... which is ironic, because he can scarcely figure out where the power button is on most PCs.

[@NoahClevinger]

I used to love playing this game all the time growing up. I’m pretty sure I still have the same copy somewhere. Very, very nostalgic.

[@TheFrozenCavern]

I mainly play Escape 2 Africa when I was younger (and don't worry, I'll get to that game soon enough) and enjoyed it. I'm worried that opinion might change though.

[@JaydenXV]

Yoo my mom rented me this game YEARS ago from Block Buster.

[@TheFrozenCavern]

I think I remember owning this when I was younger, but I hardly remembered any of it. Most of my time was spent playing Escape 2 Africa. Of course, I'll have to get to that game soon enough.

[@jamieharrell5321]

Oh my gosh Jaden 2602 Who doesn’t remember getting games from Blockbuster heck me and my sister one time rented nightmare before Christmas Oggie revengeI love that game so much that’s how I got hooked on the Tim Burton stuff including the movies and plus one time I accidentally called the soul robber soul whopper don’t ask me how I was a weird child when coming up with that name and plus I loved blockbuster it was the only place you can get a good movie watch it on a movie night and then return it and pick a different movie but it’s stinks when they had to shut down though

[@bandicootsauce4569]

I wish we could still rent games. That could've saved me - and by extension, my immediate family - literal THOUSANDS of dollars in the last ten years.

[@GhabulousGhoti]

This game is kind of a hidden gem IMO. I'm not sure if it would make a Top 5 Licensed Games list for me, but it's definitely one of the better ones out there. Really my only complaint is how bad the graphics look, even in comparison to other licensed 6th gen games. That, and some of the bullshit coin locations, but those aren't really a big deal. Great review! (BTW, I kinda wished you had asked me before using my gameplay footage. Not a big deal, but I would have seen this review a heck of a lot sooner if I knew it existed :P )

[@TheFrozenCavern]

As far as DreamWorks games go, this is definitely up there for one of the best ones I've played so far. And yeah, sorry about not asking about the gameplay footage. That's my bad. Glad you enjoyed the review.

[@michelleschrock9141]

I loved the penguin level. The part where you need to use the crane to throw the crew into the sea was my favorite part of the game. 🚢🌊😄

[@rusting_away767]

I was scared of this game. I thought I broke or glitched the game when I got those cosmetic upgrades and didn't know how to turn them off. I'm not a native english speaker, so I suppose you could say I was mildly confused playing the game as a kid. Also, Alex trying to eat Mort in that one minigame gave me nightmares.

[@TheFrozenCavern]

I actually did get scream due to Alex suddenly roaring and running at me when I played the game for this review if that makes you feel better. Lol. As for the cosmetic stuff, I can understand why someone would get confused by that if it's in a language they aren't familiar with.

[@sebastiankulche]

This game, aside from its mediocre graphics in some areas, and some minigames can be annoying, this is surprinsingly very solid. Very few games based on movies are pretty good. Good review ;)

[@TheFrozenCavern]

Yeah, the games (aside from Madagascar Kartz) are actually pretty dang good all things considered. I'm hoping to get at least a similar level of enjoyment from the third game whenever I get around to that.

[@chefboyrd4911]

Smashing the watermelons was the most difficult mission for me besides maybe the melman in the streets mission.

[@makennashuter6606]

It was the smashing crates mission for me 😫😱 or hoovering around as melmon at the beach mission!

[@Jroobelucios]

Just played again recently and I can say that the hardest parts is the 20 mushrooms in a row memory minigame, the mole chasing minigame, and the Mort fruit jump game. I found everything else straightforward. Not easy, but not frustrating. :)

[@1fishmob]

I remember when I was a kid, I somehow glitched the game during Alex's first stage on Madagascar and managed to get back the very beginning of the level. There were no enemies, npcs, or as such so when I got to the mushroom area, I could not progress forward.

[@MiyuKawasaki]

Yes yes that's actually possible, takes some time to get it working tho if you want to do it again

[@Joker-qn1cr]

6:20 those worms scared the shit out of me as a kid.

[@Spacething7474]

4:04 Ah yes, I love Batam Arkham.

[@Exzimius]

Did Alex really turn into a cannibal when they're all different species?

[@CrazyGreenFluff]

fur anthro / furry characters, species is more like race is for humans. so yes, it still counts as cannibalism :)

[@dfox6222]

Omfg I died when you showed that King Julien was voiced by the same person who did Marluxia! Also now I'm imagining Axel being the delivery guy having to deal with Marty and his friends' shit! Running around in the city and stuff! XD

[@TheFrozenCavern]

Dude, seeing that KH voice actors took place in this game was hilarious to find out.

[@GreatStuff350]

Rico didn't talk in the movies He 'talked' (made his garbled noises) The Penguins of Madagascar (show), Penguins of Madagascar (movie), and Christmas caper

[@DennisTamayo]

Don't forget, Kat Cressida (voice of Dee Dee) voiced characters in the game.

[@JackGamer-yl7hp]

This is so sick, to see someone do reviews on all of my childhood games. Ive just been watching reviews of all the games I played as a kid. Its also cool how you make your own anime charcter for the videos.

[@TheFrozenCavern]

Thank you, though the character isn't my own. He's from a game called Danganronpa.

[@JackGamer-yl7hp]

@@TheFrozenCavern Oh, well even if hes not your own character design still really good editing and awesome videos.

[@camreyes1819]

That’s the best intro ever

[@TheFrozenCavern]

While I watched that cutscene, I 100% got Moto Moto vibes. And that's just what I used.

[@jamieharrell5321]

I won’t lie that’s a good intro plus frozen cavern what’s the name of that song that has simple and clean but it’s the remix version

[@hvostgallika]

the jungle music in this game gives such vibes 🌴 🍹 ✨

[@geekforeverpixelgamingsurl5007]

Huh... Didn't expect the review to be this positive. Guess I might buy this game during my next shopping spree online. Thanks for that recommendation.

[@TheFrozenCavern]

Honestly, the Madagascar games mostly are pretty dang good. The only not good game I've played so far is Madagascar Kartz.

[@geekforeverpixelgamingsurl5007]

@@TheFrozenCavern Don't you mean DreamWorks Super Star Kartz ? I remember playing this one and it was... Meh.

[@geekforeverpixelgamingsurl5007]

@@TheFrozenCavern Well I'm going to take a look at that review as well.

[@CrazyGreenFluff]

i love this game so much, i played it a ton as a kid and now im re-playing it!! the second game is always gonna be by #1 fav tho ^.^

[@LynxYTx]

5:08 bro are you serious?? bees like flowers because of the pollen bro, have you ever seen a bee before?

[@nicolascangele5548]

This game is pretty amazing

[@wileck6716]

this game is nostalgic lmao

[@hydreigoncommander2043]

I used to call this movie the "move it move it" movie

[@liamjackson6572]

Just found your channel and I'm a big fan. Can you please review the Madagascar 2 game and Spongebob: Battle for Bikini bottom? Those games were my childhood!

[@TheFrozenCavern]

I plan on doing both of those games at some point (BfBB probably sooner than later considering the remake happening). I loved playing both of those games as well. So, I'll be excited doing those games when I get around to them.

[@liamjackson6572]

Thanks bro. Keep up the good work!

[@thearchivist8143]

I remember having this game in Dutch, because I'm from Belgium. And the voice actors of the game are the same as in the movie :)

[@TheFrozenCavern]

Lucky you. Still though, the voice actors we got for the English version aren't that bad. It's just that having the original voices are always a plus.

[@drogo0170]

I remember playing too much of the Minigolf in this game

[@ottofort]

i couldnt do the penguin level because i was too scared by it so i just asked my dad to complete it

[@JackfromIreland]

The boat just like me fr

[@soulcross]

I’m loving the new sprites!

[@st0pidiam996]

This game was my childhood

[@TheFrozenCavern]

Out of all of the Madagascar games, I played Escape 2 Africa the most which of course I'll get to reviewing as well.

[@skullhyena5014]

You, good sir, just earned a subscriber

[@peterhalliday6492]

Nice review

[@TrueInvisible]

have you ever made a video that had nothing good in it, everything is bad or ugly, that you skipped the "good" portion completely?

[@jamieharrell5321]

OK so Madagascar is my favorite for three reasons one it was so much fun to play with on the PlayStation to two there was so many breaking fourth wall moments it was hard to keep track of and three Wilbur the warthog oh my goodness and when melmen kissed them and they had to censor the part that was the most funniest adult joke I’ve ever saw plus does anybody know the song that opens up before frozen cavern talks about the game because seriously I love it it’s like a remix version of simple and clean with another song does anybody know what the name of that song is?

[@angelxeno4383]

Review motto motto

[@sebastiankulche]

What version would you recommend? PS2, Xbox, Gamecube or PC?

[@-watsoga434]

I think Moto Moto likes you *music plays*

[@matthewbolitho-jones]

I like Madagascar

[@bozidarsavicnt114]

what is the name of the soundtrack on 7:25, btw great video

[@TheFrozenCavern]

Lemur Rave from this game. And thanks.

[@bribribribribribribribribri]

the name of the actual track is "Salvarsan"

[@NicholasRSims]

What if Foosa King was in the movie ?

[@cryedge8532]

Игра детства!!1 Такая ностальгия.

[@billybois5745]

I remember that i got a pirate copy of this game and ghat it was comoletely in French, qnd i fucking loved it, even when i didn't understood a thing, and i guess that what pished me to learn that language

[@2supinointhesky566]

yo why garbage this game is sooo good

[@peanutsgamer8021]

It's not Simon it's Mason

[@trtl_4z996]

I found nagito's youtube channel

[@nocomments-e6g]

Always. Always I get only 96 coins.

[@nicolascangele5548]

100/10

[@TALBTICK]

Have you played madagascar on ds??? Well if you haven't it's bad

[@benm5970]

Whenever Marty fell out of the sky and landed on the Fusa King I was always like “Um, where did he come from? Was there a wormhole in that river or something?”

[@TheFrozenCavern]

Yeah. I at that point you kinda just accept everything that happens or you don't. As you could probably tell, I just accepted things.

[@luukbeemster636]

Ai watch the movie ik ga Ala wit hij love it

[@sams4054]

wasn't alive in 2005 but i did have the game for ps2 because an ex of my mom whas an alcoholic and she left him and i kept his ps2 what a fun time my favorite level whas defenetly the penguins boat level but oh boy the spanish ddub for the game is crap honestly now the ps2 is broken but i do have an og wii so i could buy the gamecube version now i wonder because i always wanted madagascar 2 for ps3 never got to buy it tho i had madagascar 3 on ps3 and its i don't remember actually its kind of weird u have these missions that julien throwed mangos at walls and you placed posters on them to promote the circus? kinda weird but ok also the penguins of madagascar (tv show game) whas fun from what i remember then again i whas a toodler back then soo and the movie game i remember it eing eh idk if i got it from this contest the nickelodeon website whas holding u could win a copy of the game for 3ds yeah i defenetly bought it or maybe won it doesn't matter

[@zertvert]

Hearing the soundtrack again after many years bought back so many memories! I have the Russian version of the game, even though I couldn't (and still can't) speak a word of Russian, so 90% I had no idea what was going on. After watching your lovely review on it, I might actually revisit it.

[@ArtemyMalchuk]

Are you maybe from Finland? I know, you guys used to drive to Saint Petersburg for russian playstation bootlegs. Sadly, genuine russian version doesn't exist, but it would have been neat. Fun fact: in Russian PC bootleg, they've mistaken Melman's abilty name for HELL rather than HELI, and thus translated it.

[@zertvert]

@@ArtemyMalchuk Close, but I'm actually from Estonia. I got the game from my local Maxima. Since that was the only place in my town I could get games from at the time, so the language didn't really matter. I wasn't actually aware that there's no official russian ver. Thanks for sharing this info. That Maxima sold many other russian ver. of games, perhaps those too were bootlegs. Though those games still made my childhood.

[@ArtemyMalchuk]

@@zertvert I got curious and voila, there is an official Russian PC release, it even has dub. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bF7ckKiloLKgaKM. Seeing your comment I somehow thought of PS2 version first, which 100% never had Russian.

[@zertvert]

@@ArtemyMalchuk Ah, my bad, I should have specified I was talking about the PC release.