Icy Tower and Nice (Puffy AmiYumi album): Difference between pages

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{{Album infobox | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->

[[Image:it_logo.jpg|right|350px|Icy Tower]]

| Name = Nice

[[Image:Icy_screenshot.gif|350px|right|Harold after finishing a 33-level combo.]]

| Type = [[Album (music) | Album]]

'''''Icy Tower''''' is a freeware computer game created by Johan Peitz of [[Free Lunch Design]], inspired by [[Xjump]]. In the game, the player controls Harold the Homeboy whose goal is to climb the tower as high as he can and earn points while doing so.

| Artist = [[Puffy Amiyumi | Puffy]]

| Cover = Puffy_AmiYumi_-_Nice.jpg

| Background = orange

| Released = [[January 22]], [[2003]] (Japanese release)

[[August 12]], [[2003]] (US release)

| Recorded = The Steakhouse Studio, Cello Studio, Sony Music Studios, [[Tokyo]]; Sunset Sound, Sub Jersey Studios, Vibratorium, Mansfield Lodge, Andy's house, John's house

| Genre = [[J-Pop]]

| Length = 48:35 (US)

| Label = [[Bar None Records|Bar None]]

| Producer = [[Andy Sturmer]]

| Reviews = <nowiki></nowiki>

*[http://Allmusic.com AMG] 4 1/2 stars out of 5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0amsa9qgw238 link]

|

| Last album = ''[[An Illustrated History]]''<br />([[2002]])

| This album = ''Nice''<br />([[2003]])

| Next album = ''[[Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (album)]]''<br />([2004]])

}}

'''''Nice.''''' is the third [[North American]] [[Album (music)|album]] by [[J-Pop]] group [[Puffy AmiYumi]], released in [[2003]]. (See [[2003 in music]]). The US release featured a few track changes: "Atarashii Hibi" and "Tomodachi" were replaced with "Urei", "Teen Titans Theme" and "Planet Tokyo", an English rewrite of "Akai Buranko" (Red Swing).

== Gameplay ==

The Tower consists of [[floor]]s in different sizes. The tower is of infinite height and it is not possible to reach the top. The goal is to jump on the floors and get as high as you can while doing cool jumps.

The cover is an homage to [[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]]'s "[[bed-in]]" peace protests held in [[1969]].

The character will constantly [[accelerate]] as long as it moves. The faster it runs, the higher and longer it will jump. If you bump into a wall and turn around, you will maintain most of your speed - this is a useful technique that helps doing cool jumps.

==Track listing==

As the player escalates the tower, it will start to [[scrolling|scroll]] slowly and the player will have to keep up in order to not fall off the screen. This is not so hard in the beginning since the scrolling is very slow, but every 30 seconds, an [[alarm clock]] will sound and the scrolling will go slightly faster. There is a clock in the upper left corner of the screen that shows how much time is left until the next speed-up.

#"Planet Tokyo" (Sturmer) - 3:49

#"Tokyo Nights" (Pierre Taki, Sturmer, John Fields) - 3:53

#"Angel of Love" (Suzuki Shoko, Sturmer) - 3:12

#"Sayonara" (YO-KING, Sturmer) - 3:16

#"Invisible Tomorrow" (Puffy AmiYumi, Sturmer) - 3:54

#"Thank You" (Yumi, Sturmer) - 3:55

#"Long Beach Nightmare" (Ami, Sturmer) - 3:15

#"Your Love Is a Drug" (Sturmer) - 3:33

#"K2G (Kimi Ni Go!)" (Puffy AmiYumi, Sturmer) - 4:37

#"Shiawase (Happiness)" (Okuda Tamio) - 4:20

#"Urei" (Puffy AmiYumi, Sturmer) - 3:54

#"Teen Titans Theme" ([[media:TEEN_TITANS_GO!!!!.ogg|listen]]) (Sturmer) - 3:08

#"Red Swing" (Puffy AmiYumi, Sturmer) - 3:51

=== Combos =Personnel==

'''Puffy AmiYumi'''

Combo-jumps (combos) can be made by jumping more than one floor at a time. With enough speed, it is possible to jump and land two or more floors above where you started.

*''[[Ami Onuki]]'' - [[vocals]], harmony, [[guitar]]s

After making a combo-jump, you will enter combo mode - the meter to the left of the screen will fill up and it will drain within a second. In order to stay in combo mode you need to make another jump of at least two floors high. If you manage to do that before the meter is empty, the meter will be refilled and you can continue doing combo jumps.

*''[[Yumi Yoshimura]]'' - vocals, harmony

'''Additional personnel'''

When the meter runs out or if you make a non-combo jump, the combo will end and you will be given score depending on how many floors in total you managed to climb during your combo.

*''[[Andy Sturmer]]'' - [[drums]], guitar, drum programming, [[ARP Instruments, Inc.|ARP synthesizer]], [[Moog synthesizer]], guitars, [[pipe organ]], [[mellotron]], [[percussion instrument|percussion]], [[vibraphone]], [[keyboard instrument|keyboards]], [[trumpet]], [[marimba]], [[bass guitar|bass]], [[Prophet synthesizer]], [[Fender Rhodes]], [[kazoo|vocal kazoo]], claps, [[piano]], [[acoustic guitar]], [[ARP|ARP string ensemble]], harmony, [[VOX Continental organ]], [[BVO]]

*''John Fields'' - guitars, bass, piano, [[vocoder]], [[Hammond organ|Hammond organ B3]], [[Roland space echo]], [[chamberlin]], [[Farfisa organ]], strange echoes,

*''Wookie Von Crozier'' - crazy drum fill

*''Chris James'' - drums, Wurlizer, synthesized blips and bleeps, [[toy piano]], chamberlin

*''Printz Board'' - [[flugelhorn]]

*''Bleu'' - [[12 string guitar]]

*''Dean Parks'' - [[banjo]], acoustic guitar

*''Elizabeth Lea'' - [[trombone]]

*''The Horndogs'' - horns

*''James Childs'' - guitars

*''Phillip Broussard, Jr.'' - horny chorus

*''Toishi Toshikazu'' - horny chorus

=== Scoring =Production==

*Producer: Andy Sturmer

You will get 10 points for each floor you reach. This alone will not gain you any great scores however. To be really victorious, you will have to make cool jumps, combo-jumps, for which you will be awarded <math>n^2</math> points for every <math>n</math> floors jumped in one combo.

*Instrument recording: John Fields

*Vocal recording: Thom Russo, John Fields

*Mixing: Thom Russo, John Fields

*Mastering: Kotetsu Tohru

*Mastering assistants: Phillip Broussard, Jr., Ohno, Shiota Osamu, Hatagoshi Hideyasu

*Musical instruments technician: Oba Toshimasa

*A&R: June Shinozaki

*Interpreter: Takamizawa Mai

*Art direction: Central 67

*Design: Central 67

*Photography: Uchida Shoji

*Hair and make-up: Shuma Tesuro

*Styling: Miyajima Takahiro

Players either thrive for the highest score they can achieve (by making the biggest combo they can jump), or to reach the highest floor they can.

[[Category:Puffy AmiYumi albums]] [[Category:2003 albums]]

=== Rewards ===

After making a combo-jump, you are given a reward as well as the points. The bigger the combo, the greater the reward. As of version 1.2, the available rewards are:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"

|-

! Reward

! Number of floors to combo-jump

|-

| Good! || 4 - 6

|-

| Sweet! || 7 - 14

|-

| Great! || 15 - 24

|-

| Super! || 25 - 34

|-

| Wow! || 35 - 49

|-

| Amazing! || 50 - 69

|-

| Extreme! || 70 - 99

|-

| Fantastic! || 100 - 139

|-

| Splendid! || 140 - 199

|-

| No Way! || 200 and above

|}

The latter ones are really hard to get and will require some intensive practice.

=== Floor Types ===

Every 100 floors, the floor type (the way the floors look) changes. As of version 1.2, there are 10 floor types, starting with the way floors 0-99 look and ending with the type of floors 900 and above. Icy Tower features the ability to start the game with a floor type of your choise, not necessarily the default starting type. To use this, however, you need to unlock the level types you want, by getting to the natural floor of that floor type. E.G. to be able to start the game with floor type 4 (floors 300 - 400), you have to get to floor 300 first. Note: It is not enough to see the floor type, you need to get to the real floor that this floor type belongs to in order to unlock that type.

This means that if you want to start with floor type 10 you need to get to floor 900, which requires good skills in the game.

Version 1.3 features one more floor type, which starts off from floor 1000, and can not be unlocked or seen in lower floors.

== Replays ==

Version 1.2 introduced the ability to save replays of games. This empowers the player to provide proof of his best scores and floors. The offspring of this ability is the global [http://www.freelunchdesign.com/icy_scores.html High Score List], which lists the best countries and individual players from around the world.

== Characters ==

Version 1.2 introduced the ability to play with custom characters.

Icy Tower comes with two default characters: Harold the Homeboy and Disco Dave. Icy Tower also comes with a template character, allowing fans to create their own characters, with their own graphics, sound effects, and background music.

Characters can be downloaded from the internet. The [http://hem.passagen.se/peitz/it/ Icy Tower resource page] offers some of them.

== High Score Categories ==

Icy Tower can be played in many ways. The allover goal of the game is to get a high score and a nice place in the high score list.

However, there are different categories for high scores - some are official, and some were invented by the players over the time.

=== Official ===

* Score - highest score, according to the scoring rules

* Floor - highest floor reached

* Combo - best combo jump

=== Non-official ===

* NML (N00b Masters League) aka n00b - Game without combo (combo must be 0). Most new players can't master combo jumps, so they just jump one floor at a time, so the combo in their games is usually 0.

* UNML (Ultimate N00b Masters League) - all jumps must be exactly one floor high. In NML, it is possible to make high jumps, and lose the combo after the jump, by jumping only one floor. In UNML you must touch every floor, like new players really do.

* JC2 (no official name, Just Combo 2 or Jump Combo 2) - Combo with each jump exactly 2 floors high

: JC3, 4, 5 - by 3, 4, 5 floors

* RRML (Radical Rejumpers Master League) - jump must be pressed exactly once per the game (the rejump option must be on, and the game will be played with one big long jump)

* FML (F00l Masters League) - highest lost combo (you fall before you get the combo reward and score)

* CCC (Clock Crush Challenge) - highest floor reached at a ring (last floor touched before the Hurry Up message appeared)

: CCC1,2,3,4,5 - at ring no. 1,2,3,4,5;

: CCCC (Combo Clock Crush Challenge) - making combo all the time, same as CCC

: TF (The Fastest) - The sum of CCC1 to CCC5

* NBJ (No Bounce Jump) - game without using the wall bounce technique (hard to recognize)

* TOR (Total Outcome Ratio) - score/100+floor+combo all in one game

* K+ - "coeficient of total player ability" - this is a way to rank a player in relation to others in a high score list. The rank is calculated as follows:

: Normal K+ = ((player score/WR score) + 2*(player floor/WR floor) + (combo/WR combo))*100/4

: K+ with n00b = ((score/WR score) + 2*(floor/WR floor) + (combo/WR combo) + (n00b/WR n00b)*100/5

: Combined K+ uses the higher of these two

: WR is the World Record - the highest score in the list.

== Mods ==

A few [[Mod (computer gaming)|mods]] exist for the game. Some of them are graphical mods, and some of them change the gameplay. The following are gameplay mods by RamboBones, which work only for version 1.2:

* FastFloor - the game goes slightly (~120%) faster

* ProFloor - the floors are shorter

* SolidFloor - floors are completely solid, so you can't jump on them from below

* RamboMod - enables customization of the speed and floor sizes of the game

== External links ==

*[http://www.freelunchdesign.com Free Lunch Design Website]

*[http://www.freelunchdesign.com/icy_scores.php ''Icy Tower'' High Scores]

*[http://hem.passagen.se/peitz/it/ Icy Tower Resources]

*[http://www.jonas-kyratzes.net/readarticle.php?article_id=14 A short review/analysis]

[[pl:Icy Tower]]

[[Category:Freeware]]

[[Category:Allegro games]]