This interview is a part of KiNOX's website.

    Tuxedomask (a.k.a. Vampire Hunter D) has been around the scene since some years.  He has been in road with some great roms release groups (GiTM, NPS and Vertigo2099) in the NES ROMs craze.  He's running the NES World Jukebox and he's also a part of a great emulation site, Vintage Gaming.  In this interview we talk about his interest, about some events and informations about the past of the scene and his though about it.  He mights not "be know" by everyone who don't follow the scene closely, but that's also a reason why we've interviewed him, for educative purpose.  I highly suggest you to read it if you've some minutes on your hand.

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself (Age/Sex/Land :P)?
    Well I am 22, male, and I live in California, USA.

2. When did you discovered emulation?
    Well I actually discovered emulation before I even knew what it really was. My first view of an emulator to come was that demo release of VSMC way back that came with the MODE7.EXE demo. But my real experience with a working emulator came with the original release of VGB for DOS and Pasofami with SuperPasofami around that same time. That was in 1996 about a year after I got online with my collect account.

3. Were you in the console/arcade hacking scene before discovering about emulation?
    Actually as I said before I had stumbled upon those emulators above and prior to that the only games I had tried to hack before were a few I had for the PC. I never could stand those password checks inside my favorite games of the time, Tie Fighter and Speed Racer so I took them out. Shortly after though, I did try figuring out a few things when I did get into emulation. Unlike many even at that time it wasn't for the free games and what not. I was one of the few people that tried to figure out what file format Pasofami used to make games work. I remember at one time working with EFX for hours on end trying to make Karnov run on Pasofami but we could never get it quite right. At that time I was able to make a few things run and made them available for download, but the games were nothing too special.

4. Do you've any console misc toys you currently own and that you wanna talk about?
    Well I have been using consoles since the original lot of the NES came out here which developed me into a Nintendo kid. As a matter of fact I still have that original NES, and it works like a dream all these years and thousands of hours later. After that I had also picked up the Gameboy(and all incarnations of it), a SuperNES, and a N64. For a short time I had a Turbo Duo, but I traded it up for a Dreamcast. The DUO was fun, but I just liked the CDs(which I kept) and Magic Engine can handle that for me nicely. Also as of recently I did pick up a GBXchanger which I use primarily to just test out stuff I'd like to get for the Gameboy Color, as we all know Nintendo doesn't do shareware for Gameboy.

5. What's your favorite(s) platform(s) and why?
    As I pretty much covered it a second ago, my favorite platforms have been the stuff out of Nintendo. If I really had to focus though to be more specific I'd say that the 8 and 16bit systems are those I truly care the most about.

6. What's your favorite(s) emulator(s) for this/those platform(s)?
    My favorite emulators for the platforms above that have them would be FWNES for 8bit Nintendo, for Gameboy a so far unreleased GB emulator, and on SNES I use ZSNES as these are best around. I am not into Nintendo 64 emulation though as I don't find current "console" emulation all that moral, I consider it warez which I don't do. I will admit though I have used UltraHLE before to see how my new(at the time) Monster 2 3DFX card would handle with it and for the 2 games I tried(Mario 64 and Wave Race) it was nice.

7. What's your favorite games?
    To be honest I really don't have a favorite type of game or platform, though I do tend to favor the 8 and 16bit stuff more. A few years back though if you had asked me I would have probably said adventure games most of all, but that's not the case now. There is though one style of game that I don't bother with though pretty much at all and that's sports games(racing and Mario Golf GBC aside). Those don't appeal to me much as they typically have a pattern you can learn and then whomp the CPU each time afterwards. There are a few game series that I have always stuck to through all the incarnations for the most part. Those games would be Super Mario, CastleVania, and Zelda. Other games will always have a place in my heart too (or pocket in this case) would be Tetris on Gameboy. Whenever I take out my Gameboy with me that almost always seems to end up sitting in the unit when I go, or in my pocket next to it.

8. You've been know as VmprHntrD, what this nick meant and what was the reason to choose it?
    Well, tough question as I'll try and remember this. Generally when I pick a nick unlike some who base it from randomness or something they saw elsewhere I try to pick something that fits my personality at the time. Vampire Hunter D(VmprHntrD) though a famous horror anime which I do enjoy was not the reason I just took it. At the time I just felt somewhat like that character in demeanor I guess. I tended to do things alone and liked to do them my way hence the nick.

9. While we're there, why have you changed of nick? I personally think that we should stick with one nick to be identified as the real name you get in real life ;-)
And why did you choose that internet name, Tuxedo Mask?
    To make it simple the nick was taken by an element that also got the one I had before VmprHntrD. A gay person on the IRC took the nick one night and didn't want to give it up. The last time I lost my nick, when I changed to VmprHntrD I didn't learn it was snagged until I started getting messages from people who wanted ungodly cyberacts done to them. After that I changed it but quick, and because it happened again I changed it before I'd get that kind of message again.

    Like my response to the last question I picked the nick as it fit my personality, which had changed some since the last anyways at the time. I really didn't want to change the nick and I agree about sticking to one but the reason above was more than reason enough for the change. I am happy with the new name which I obviously swiped from the Japanese Manga(and anime) Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon. Unlike most with the nick as you'd assume I'm not a big nut about it, but I do have my fair share of translated pocket manga of that story.

10. You've been in some console hacking group (see roms release group), can you tell us which one and what was your function(s) and the orientation of the group?
    Well yes I have been in a few and released a few select games on my own too before getting into the group stuff. Alone I had put out 5 packs of NES games, 2 which were Pasofami, and the others in iNES format. After that I had moved between 3 groups which were GitM, NPS, and then Vertigo2099. In each group I primarily took the games that were dumped, added/cleaned up their iNES format headers. Then I would package the stuff and send them out for most the time in all three.

11. I've heard that sometime ago, some war happened between NPS (NES Preservation Society) and Vertigo2099, if my information is right you were in NPS at this time. Could you tell us a little bit more at what happened in this war? And how come NPS kinda "merged" with Vertigo2099 after?
    Damn I wish my memory was better so I could answer this well. Anyways, yes I was in NPS at the time, and there was almost a war between the two groups. Essentially it was believed that a handfull of NES games(I think 5) were supposedly setup for NPS to release, but instead Vertigo did which set off some feuding. Anyways I don't remember how all the events went, but we worked out a deal and the two groups merged. What was left of NPS, me and imid (the NES game copier) joined up with Vertigo and things were much easier afterwards.

12. You're running the NES World JukeBox (http://nwjb.vintagegaming.com/), since when and how did you get the opportunity to run it at first?
    That site is probably my favorite online project. The site was actually an original section of NES World which was created by Acey. He had no time to run that area at all and since I knew him at the time I offered to take it over, which I did. That was about 3 1/2 years ago I believe and it still is growing today. Originally the site had I believe around a dozen digital music tracks. Now though the site has currently over 700 pieces of digital music (much I put together myself), around the same amount of MIDIs, and recently I added a NSF archive too. Beyond music though I have expanded the site to cover some of my other stuff such as a few Game Guides I made, some translated screen savers, windows themes, and more.

13. Talking about NES Music, do you listen to video game music a lot or do you make them only for archiving purpose? And if you do, which one(s) are your favorite?
    Actually I used to listen to the stuff quite a bit up until not too long ago. I still do though, but I tend to listen to MIDIs a bit more now that in this computer I have a Sound Blaster Live! card. I will when I have played a game, or when I'm just doing stuff and I want something to listen to I will load something up. Some game music is just damn good and is worth a listen to even when you are not deeply immersed into a game at the time.

14. What do you think about the NSF format, do you prefer it over MIDI and the other format?
    Honestly I don't prefer or think less of it over the MIDI or any format. NSF is the actual music, so in that repsect it is better. Then again with MIDI and other formats you can change things, maybe update them with real samples over the old abilities of the NES which can enhance a tune.

15. Some people are claiming that you're the one with _THE_ skill for make the most neat NES MIDI around, can you tell us your secret about how you make them?
    Umm, actually I never heard that before, but thanks for saying so, even though I don't make MIDIs, I just archive them. Mainly the stuff that I had been doing for a long time were MOD format music which I then switched over to XM as it was better. To be honest I don't do the music all on my own as I can't read a note of it if my life depended on it sadly (thank you lame piano teacher of two years). I typically in most cases use a program to scan a MIDI to get the note structure that I can't do on my own. From there I open up Fast Tracker and do the rest setting the samples and so on to make it how I want it. At this point I can change notes and other bits to my specifications, but I do need that starter help or I would be lost sadly. I'm sure Lk1 in #emu is happy to see me admit this, but I tell anyone who asks so nyah. :p

16. You're a good friend with fanwen, the author of the famous fwNES emulator, and you're also running his english official mirror (http://fwnes.vintagegaming.com/). Do you know anything about the futur release of fwNES or any other fanwen's emulator that you can reveal to us, i'm asking this because I've seen on your page a cool link (http://fwgbc.vintagegaming.com/)?
    Well hmm...I do know quite a bit about what's going on with him recently in relation to his FW emulators and other bits but I am not sure entirely what I can talk about. Basically FWNES due to popular believe is not dead or on hold at this time. He has added some great stuff into the emulator and when I can reveal things to you about it you can find that at its homepage you nicely named above. And yes that cool link does exist, as it was well known about a month or so ago a mystery emulator surfaced and was discovered by many to be the work of fanwen. That emulator is fwgbc, and I really can't talk about it sadly as he wants it under wraps up until its released or I'm otherwise told. The domain does exist as does the account, the emulator is very far along in progress and I wouldn't be surprised if fairly certain that cryptic comment I placed up on the domain is replaced with the emulator and its page.

17. I know for a fact that sometime Dave of Dave's Classic emulation news site (now know as Vintage Gaming Network) have let you the responsability to maintain his site while he wasn't there sometime ago, do you remember when was the first time this happened, how much time it happened and how come you were the one that he picks?
    Yes I have helped him out twice before prior to the change to VGN. Basically on both occasions he had to go out of town either for vacation or on an important matter. During the two times I have maintained the page it was for about a week each time. I really shouldn't try and second guess why he would pick me, but I guess he trusts me enough with his page he spent years on building enough to let me manage it while he was gone.

18. You're also now a news poster over Vintage Gaming Network, is doing the news on a regulary base for VGN is different than when you used to do the update for a short time over Dave's Classic, do you get the same feeling?
    Yes, I was made part of the team working on the page once he decided to change it over. So far the experience has been good, though it is much harder I feel than when I was helping with the original page. For the time being I haven't been able to manually upload files via FTP, nor edit HTML in Edit as I like to do. I've been using scripts which I guess I will have to get used to which is ok, unless he can get that changed which would be better. Either way it's fun working on the page, and I like it as much as I did before in the past.

19. Even if you were a part of a few groups, I've recently heard that you disliked the "group/release" system for some reasons, what are those reasons?
    Yes, I have been getting down on that whole group bit. Admittedly for about a year before I got into emulation I was into old warez, now known as abandonwarez. Back then I didn't care for the group mentality either, and it seems to have seeped into emulation sadly in the same way. I am not against a group having their info files and what not, but the thing that always nagged me were the filenames things were backed up into. Sadly this has swung over and now is present in emulation. The problem is the 8 character limit the groups have been setting on their names they give their filenames for their releases. It's very hard to tell what a game is when after the groups initials are at the start of the file name leaves like four blanks left. If you have a long name like Space Station Silicon Valley, and the zip is XXX-SSSV.ZIP I dunno what that is. I guess I'm just picky, but why can't it be XXX-Space_Station_Silicon_Valley.zip. Not just that got onto my nerves, but also it seems that each group is in some competition to beat out the others, though competition isn't bad it can lead to bad files which won't work and confusion. All those things I tried to escape, but it came back in the end. Vicious circle, no?

20. Beside the group system, what's your beef about the emulation scene?
    Where's the beef? But that old Wendy's ad from the 80's aside I don't have a real beef. The only thing that has got on my nerves in recent memory are just how with all the publicity emulation has received a lot of people have shown up who just think its another form of warez and freebies. Because of that we get people who ask, and more who demand X game or something which gets really annoying. They don't care about the work that went into making what will run it, or the work in making X game avaliable for them to use.

21. Do there's someone or some people that you're particulary admiring in the emulation scene or even in real life and why?
    Well in emulation there are three people that stand out to me which are fanwen, zsKnight, and Dave from VGN. Fanwen and zsKnight have always been more than coders who allow us to play games to me, but more like friends. When I talk to them its not always business as in, this works or doesn't in this beta. I've talked about more personal stuff with their lives and sometimes conversations have gone on for extended periods. With Dave though, he's always been good to me either in public on IRC, or in private chat. Though he might come off as a jerk to many, if you really talk with him though he's not...a Jekyll and Hyde thing I guess. ;) I enjoy helping out on his page and I'm glad that it still exists to this day, and I hope to continue helping out with it in the future.

22. A load of emuscene people hates the idea of commercial emulators, I particulary think about iNES/VGB and Marat Fayzullin, Bleem, MagicEngine, and there's also a lot of Macintosh emulation related stuff that are shareware. What's your though about those?
    Well in general I don't like emulators that come at a charge either, but probably not for the same reason. In respect to those that can offer a service other than obvious blatant piracy such as Magic Engine and Bleem I don't mind to pay. When it comes to the works of emulators that just allow people to play the roms they find for free online I find that just plain sick. They are not providing any kind of positive service no matter what they say, especially in the case of Marat. Marat's emulators that he charges for are not the best on the block, to be nice. He even goes as far in his readme's to insult and alienate the users that he expects $35 out of for his product that doesn't work right in the first place.

23. Do there's any free emulator(s) that you will actually pay for if you had to?
    If one of the few free emulators I have now had come out as pay first instead of free I'd say that I'd buy ZSNES and fanwen's stuff.

24. What's your other(s) interest(s) beside emulation and console stuff?
    Well I have a few other interests, but I doubt I'm all that interesting too. Obviously I love consoles and handhelds from Nintendo mainly and made a hobby of collecting games from them, including the 5 Game & Watch's I have. I've even built up a nice small library of around 15 Super Famicom titles, some which is rare stuff. I do collect other offbeat gaming things too such as my Donkey Kong Coleco and my Mattel Electronics Hockey machine which is just two years younger than I am. Aside from games though I do like anime and manga some and have collected just a few things relating to them. I've got a few Sailor Moon pocket manga, and a Dragon Ball too. I even have an 8" plush Luna (the purple cat from Sailor Moon) which sits on my PC box. Aside from those I do have some Pokemon stuff as well such as an 8" Pikachu sitting on my monitor and those talking/moving figures. Other than that I do like to collect other stuff such as small nicnacs, baseball cards, comic books, and the occasional antique. Mainly I don't do too much though as I've been trying to survive the whole college experience, but that personal hell of books and papers will be over in a years time.

25. Did you ever had any programming experience? If so in which language?
    I tried to pick up C++ at school, but that went off less than stellar. I learned the hard way I don't have the math skills, patience, those type of logic skills, nor attention span to handle it.

26. What's your though about Open Source emulator, do you really think that it helps?
    Typically I don't see a problem with an open source emulator. From the start though if an emulator isn't made open source I don't think it should be until it's fairly complete. I feel that way just because then people can see how the things properly work so they can learn from it as well.

27. Just wondering if you do know since you've been on the net longuer than me... A lot of people are referring to Node99 as the first emulation news site around, is that true? didn't there was some others emulation news site before Node99 to your knowledge?
    Actually I recall that page very well as it was one of my favorites from the beginning. That site sprung up around the exact same time Archaic Ruins did, but both came a slight few months after Dave's site hit the web. Many don't remember this though, but his had been around even longer before but just as a Commodore64 site if I recall correctly.

28. Beside the page you're working over now, I've heard that you wanted to do a more professional site, so i'm asking if you've some project for the futur?
    Well yes I have been considering doing something a bit more professional though along my own personal interests. As of recent the participation on the NWJ has dropped off, though Dave said it was the time of year, that I do not know. Because of this I had this idea I formed back in August, but hadn't really tooled around with until this month which is a review site for Gameboy. I love to play games, and I love to review them. I would love to establish a Gameboy review, news, mailbag, etc type site which will cover past, present and future releases for whatever incarnation of the Gameboy pops up. Unlike most sites though which I feel are swayed by the freebies they get from gaming places I will have an honest approach as I will have to pay for the stuff I review mainly. My review style is much like what you would find from the 80s and not the 90s. I wouldn't dare and try to compare some game from almost a decade ago to something now as many for some sick reason like to do. I will review on Graphics, Sound, Theme & Fun, Play Control, and Challenge if I get this thing online. So far I just have 2 test reviews I did with a few pictures of the games, other than that just a few bits of html that form the idea of how I'd like it to look.

29. What are your(s) prediction(s) for the emulation scene in y2k?
    Predictions I am not the best at but I doubt any great changes will occur in 2000 as they have this year. Unless someone can figure out how to make Dreamcast GDROMs run on the PC I just see mainly upgrades to emulators, and a new one pop up here and there. I'm sure somethings that have came in the past may perish in 2000 or live on, same with anything new that might pop up too. So basically I see emulation going on as it is unless some power from above finds a sure fire way to make our lives hell like the IDSA would like to do.

30. Thanks for have conducted this interview, any last words?
    Well I'd like to thank you for having me do an interview with you. I didn't really figure anyone would want to hear my two cents as I had only done one before a few years ago, so thank you for thinking about me.

   TuxedoMask
NES World Jukebox tanooki@flash.net

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