Chakan the Forever Man

Hey, does anyone remember this game? Chakan the Forever Man? I hear it get talked about from time to time on here and it's pretty good.

Most of you probably know that it was based on a comic book, by a guy named Robert A. Kraus. Here's the reason I'm starting this thread: I fucking know this guy.

I haven't spoken to him in years, but he was one of my dad's gym buddies and I actually got to meet him and got some comics and stuff from him. He's a super cool dude and you should definitely check out his stuff some time.

I pretty much made this thread just to see how many people have heard of this character and this game, because the character holds a very special personal meaning to me.

Other urls found in this thread:

rakgraphics.com/chakan-books.html
twitter.com/AnonBabble

I have rarely if ever heard anyone talk about Chakan on here. I played it never knew about the comic or cared. I really fucking hated two of the portals because one brought you to a place that was straight up sadistic in it's level design and the other was pixel perfect platforming. I liked the purple dude with the flail though I thought he was cool.

I never realized that progression in the game was capped by difficulty at the time and I think that's pretty Jewish.

All I know about the game is apparently getting the real ending is hard as balls and requires playing through like the whole game twice and then beating a boss you only get one attempt at.

I remember one dude talked about it. Posted this badass 3D rendered version of the character. I thought that was cool as hell.

You're the best swordsman to ever live, and Death challenged you to a fight, you win but now you're immortal and on a quest to die and Death openly mocks you and calls you a little bitch for winning because of his butthurt. Even though you can and do die in the game and get game overs but that's besides the point you're immortal. You take on four tyrannical evil dudes in charge of various places due to reasons which are explained in giant walls of scrolling text I never read in this quest through some portal place and each portal's difficulty is indicated by how hard it is to get to it. Example the underworld where the first level requires some precognition the first time through without dieing requires a specific kind of jump to climb the stairs while the water level can be reached by simply walking and is beaten by simply walking slowly and attacking everything that comes near you with the occasional jump can be reached be simply walking in one direction. It's a platformer and you attack with the directional buttons and pushing/holding the attack button at the same time. You can hold in that direction for as long as you want until you need to move and can pretty much do it any time you wish even in mid air which is good because you're going to need it for the various tools you collect in the first level of each of the various worlds. You also get a menu for potions which you can mix and match for various beneficial effects, you collect them in each level and outside the easiest difficulty you have only a limited number of them. Chakan does not have falling damage outside specific damaging traps and bottomless pits but only if he hits a certain arbitrary invisible line otherwise he can fall infinitely. His spin sword attack makes him go higher.

We got like 4 copies complete in box at my game shop these past 3 weeks. It looks very cool, and I love the genesis, but I'm not familiar with the IP or the game.

I wouldn't say it's one of the best games for the Genesis but it's not bad, kinda like Vectorman.

It's hard as fuck though and some stages have some pretty spooky music.

As an aside, does anyone else notice how similar Caleb from Blood is to Chakan? I mean, first time I played Blood I couldn't stop thinking "this guy is basically Chakan."

I have a long love of the game, but I never beat it (I should some day). I like the story of how it was designed "backwards" so that the best work was put into the final levels, and the early levels were the rush job at the end of development. The idea that they wanted to reward the hardcore player the most was very interesting.

I've only read one of the comic stories, it was pretty standard indie comic of the day, but that was the charm. Chakan being some sorta undying Clint Eastwood type hunting all the evil in the world is simple but appealing.

I was also hyped for the Dreamcast game when it was announced, but it of course was cancelled. It honestly sounded a lot like a Monster Hunter style game the way they talked about it, as you'd have to stalk and then use the environment, traps and your skill to take down demons monumentally stronger than you.

Does Kraus still work on books? I read there was a live action movie, but I've never been able to find a copy (if it really existed).

Something about Dark Tower and an undead immortal badass Clint Eastwood from the talks about the devs of both those games.