Translation of elma-article in pelaaja

[Kiiwi]

Moposite has a news about a finnish gaming magazine which published an article about elma. Unfortunately, though the article is available, it's all in finnish, so i thought that those who are incapable of reading the undisputedly coolest and best language in the world, might get curious. So i made this translation.

For all u poor ppl that can't understand finnish (this translation isnot word to word accurate)....If u were interested

Before the Trials HD had even flashed in the collective radar of Xbox360 players, many players all around the world were enjoying the over the top, physic based biking to the full - well, when they weren't plunging their fists through the wall or cursing the game into the deepest circle of hell that is. Some wiseass might think i'm talking about trials2: second editon or even the original Trials2, wrong, those who paid attention might have noticed that the topic of the article was Elasto Mania. My personal 1st touch to the game was in 1997 when i found a true gem among games. A strong physic based game, in which mindless driving and doing cool tricks were the name of the game. how cool! That game was action supercross and we played it like hell....but only the shareware version, since i didn't have a credit card and registering would've meant sending money to some distant country somewhere in europe. The surprise was big when few years later i found that a similar game existed on a computer of Niinisalo's noncommissioned officiers training facilitys cabin. In that game too, u would ride a bike through ridicilous labyrinths, do sick physic based tricks and collect apples. Elasto mania would keep the tenants of the cabin in it's grip night after night, tough cups were held to get the title of the best kuski. Little did we know at the time that we were playing one of the true legends of the shareware world.

Simple magic

The similarities between AS and ELMA weren't a coincidence of course since ELMA is the descendant of the legendary moped revelry. Hungary's surely most famous video game was developed by balázs and csaba rózsa and little did even they themselves guess how legendary their game was destined to be. And not in vain, elasto mania had all the makings of a true classic to begin with. The basic idea couldn't be simpler: a moped man rides his bike around a 2D map collecting apples. Why apples? Story doesn't tell. But picking these apples is all but easy, for the labyrinths are really the stuff of fantasies, weird tunnels, floating islands and the terrifying drops require apart from daring and determination, the skill to max out the, let's say flexible physics. Perhaps the name Elastomania originates from the fact that the suspension in the bike is totally mindless. As long as u drop on the wheels, the bike can take about anything u can throw at it. But that's not all. The real gurus can eg. flip the front wheel over an edge so that the rest of the bike hangs from it like from a liana, and thus making gimmicks like that you are supposed to collect the apples, with the best possible time ofc. On paper the idea seems baffling but the game itself is pure magic. Anyone who has played the Trials knows this since it's the same basic idea. horridly hard monkeying around in which u can get the basics quickly but mastering the game takes years. So it can't be a mere coincidence that ppl are still playing it with a boner, over 11 years after 1st being published. It has gathered many fan communitites around it that are manufacturing levels, graphic mods and who knows what else. And surprise surprise, maybe the most relevant and active one of these hails from finland. Those interested should thus go to the moposite.com where you can find everythin about the game and a bit more.

[Lousku]

I also enjoy translating between Finnish and English. Good job. Also, thanks, I wouldn't have seen the article without this post.

[Kiiwi]

Thx! there are few errors tho' but orka fix DD

[Hosp]

Nice, Kiiwi! I was mega curious about what that article was saying. :)

[Chris]

Thanks for this.

[Mats]

Thx, finnish isn't easy understandable

Why apples? Story doesn't tell.

No particular reason. As I remember when I made the first graphics for the
game I probably put them in the game thinking that I will later on change
them into something better suited for the game, but then I just did not
change them.