Sly Dog Studios is a very nice effort put forth by this fellow, basically walking you through some difficult games in the NES library. He does it in such a way that doesn't completely hold your hand, but rather gets you the necessary info, like 'there are some powerups in this room,' citing which powerups, but not telling you the precise location, which leaves some exploration for you, still. It is actually tips, in the true sense of the word, not a straight walkthrough, which is hardly ever done these days.
His work takes the form of Youtube videos, which you can find through his profile. He's been doing one per week, and aside from a holiday break, shows no sighn of slowing down. In addition to the tips aspect, this is a great way to see further into some of those difficult games without going through the frustration of doing it yourself. He talks through these, all with a soothing NPR-like voice, and sounds like the 30 year old basement dweller we would all wish someone giving us NES tips to be. He also never shows you the ending. He can be funny at times, but recently has been trying just a little too hard at that - more on this in a minute.
First, I'd like to share some highlights. Golgo 13 - he provides useful maps, and seems particulary entranced by Golgo's 'meetings' with the ladies. Double Dragon 3 - hard game, very useful tips here. Karnov - this one's my favorite of his, showing how tips really should be done. Also quite fun to see the game in action. Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde - impossible game, but he shows you how to get through it, basically. Or you can just watch this and avoid the game entirely.
So, all good stuff, and a great way to see some games from the past that you may not have played through to completion. He doesn't have a wide fanbase though. You may have heard of the Angry Nintendo Nerd - the guy who complains senselessly about how old games aren't very good. It's rather pointless and trite, because, well - games were limited back then. His video about Double Dragon III is flippant and unfunny - but has over 140,000 views. Sly Dog Studios' video has just over 1,000. So there's a disparity here, and I've seen Sly Dog Studios attempting to insert more direct humor, which I think is a mistake, though...perhaps it'd make his work more popular. I'm hopeful that after this, his views will pick up though, and he won't have to sacrifice his dry style for a more loud and obnoxious one. So go to, internet!
The much anticipated Nintendo DS Super Robot Wars has been given an official title - Super Robot Wars W, and a release date - march 1st 2007. There are 18 anime series featured in the game, most notably Voltron (who'll probably get totally served). Bear in mind though that Voltron is actually called Go Lion in Japan (as in five lions, geddit?), so if you're looking for for Voltron in this list you might get confused.
The screens of the game look promising and indicate a similar setup to that of SRWJ on the GBA (at least the mecha roster is comparable, though unfortunately minus both the mighty Layzner and Cougar). One thing is certain though; Banpresto need to get those money vats prepared. Otherwise what will they have to swim in when all that cash comes flowing in?
Seguing as if by magic to the screens of Gundam Musou, this looks to be pretty bloody amazing really. It features mecha from the original Gundam up to and including that of ZZ Gundam (which will introduce some interesting balancing issues). The game has also been in development for close to two years and it's looking pretty damn swanky already. This will sell the PlayStation 3 in Japan like some crazy thing (think of a swarm of several million locusts hungry for mechanical things and you get the general idea).
This is a little late on my part but I'm having a hard time tearing myself away from the game. As of the 28th December Armored Core 4 received an optional patch.
Optional in the fact that the player can choose which "Regulation" they wish to run the game under (this is undertaken in the System menu for those that are curious). The main changes in Regulation 1.10 are:
- PA recovery time quickened (so you can OB more now)
- Solid shell PA defence strengthened
- PA defence of light parts strengthened
- Solid shell effects repaired from scratch
- Tuning strengthened
- Balancing of energy weapons (they were a bit powerful)
In English all that means that the game has been balanced and made more open. You can OB now quite freely without worrying that your PA will falter, plus online versus matches will invariably last longer than 30 seconds. All in all, this is a sage and necessary patch to keep the online community thriving and it was pretty quick off the bat too. With any luck, From Software might keep this kind of behaviour up.
I just got an email from jamie woodhouse, the creator of QWAK - a completely homebrew project for the GBA of which there are only 300 copies available. The cost is 15 pounds, or just under $30. Homebrew though it may be, the came comes on a proper cart, shipping included (though I don't know if he banked on people ordering from outside the UK). You can check out gameplay videos on the site, as well as jamie's background here. Turns out he's an Amiga developer who turned to the GBA later in life, most recently working with DSI on those 'classic arcade' ports, doing things like Lunar Lander.
QWAK is a port/update of an old game he did for Amiga. The newest version was done by Team 17, of which he was a part, and it really does look quite nice. The 'only 300' bit was enough for obsessive-compulsive me, so I ordered mine. We actually mentioned the downloadable demo some time ago, as well.
While I'm at it, mathew carr, the creator of Blast Arena, a similar but more lo-fi project, has announced that he may do a second run. Let him know if you're interested.
According to Rakuten, MileStone's third shooter, which has been out in arcades for roughly a couple of months, is getting a DC release on the 8th of march. Such a quick port is unusual (and points towards a cold reception of the arcade version in Japanese game centers) but it was not unexpected, though there have been rumors of a Wii port going around for a while now (which given MileStone's history might still materialise, along with a PS2 port).
My opinion of the game is that it's a mildly enjoyable shooter in the same vein as Radirgy was, though if you never end up playing it you won't be missing out on anything. Visually it's a slighly better-looking Radirgy, with a nice drum & bass soundtrack and an easier to understand system. It also has three selectable difficulty modes so it's quite friendly to beginners, though it certainly won't do much to whet their appetite for more.
They're all quite nice, and are done with acrylic paints, then sprayed with a finisher, so they shouldn't wear badly (theoretically). Bit of a monster price point though, with $125 'buy it now' each. But if you're that kind of weirdo with that kind of money, there aren't any bids yet, and under 30 views each. Half the fun of finding something like this before everyone else is seeing how high the view counter goes once the blogs get ahold of them! Thanks to NeoGutsman for the link.
Whilst raucously celebrating my birthday, From Networks went into dissolution with its former partner Dwango. This is an ongoing story with Sammy investing in From Networks for a new MMO (called Strugarden), that Dwango had originally started.
For those unfamiliar with From Networks they are a sibling company to From Software and recently worked on Chrome Hounds.
Longtime insert credit friend francesco fondi, who does GX Magazine, which we mentioned some time ago, has a new project. It's called Gamers, and much of it is dedicated to retro games. The magazine is in italian, but still worth picking up - nice graphical design, a translation of an insert credit-published article (the Idol M@ster review), retro game/girl photos from Julie (of Samurai Girl fame - I'll get to that in a later post), some videogame music history, hardware hacking advice, and lots of other nice stuff. As of right now, the Gamers website only redirects to an email - but I think that's the only way to get it if you're outside of italy anyway! This issue was supposed to have content from me in it, but...well...you know. The next one will!
Those wonderful people at GungHo, who brought us the brilliantly titled Yogurting, are in the process of developing a Hokuto no Ken MMO. Admittedly, from the promotional movie, it has the graphical sophistication of a bad PlayStation 2 budget title (with shocking animation to match). Yet, the thought of making someone's virtual head explode without the use of any guns is a bit of a draw (with added whiny adolescent voice coms to sweeten the deal). It's scheduled to appear sometime "later next year" (in the second quarter though the game's already been delayed once apparently). No word on an international release as yet though.
We normally wouldn't have made a post like this one, but we believe our readers deserve to be informed also about this kind of stuff, especially these days. Toys n'Joys is a Hawaii-based game shop which sells US games but also imports from Japan. It has become known by those who buy through the internet for its unlawful methods. Basically, they send you used items or bargain editions where you paid for brand-new and original ones. It doesn't matter what you saw or read on their website nor where you clicked to do the order. It even won't be relevant at all if you mailed them previously with the pertinent instructions. They'll send whatever they think that can "do the job". Of course, there's no use for mailing them later asking for an explanation. They lie at their "return policies" too, since you'll never get the money corresponding to the shipping costs for sending the items back, either. Now you know, in case you didn't yet.
I found this last week when browsing for something or other - a very nice database of arcade game reviews, with some unusual stuff. The reviews are usually from old magazines, which hightens the appeal even more. It's run by a guy named Arttu Ylärakkola, who likes cats. There's various other weirdness too, like clips from the Salamander anime, and Xexex soundtrack booklet, and tips for making a MAME cab. A very good site to bookmark and browse.
It's an original Banpresto production -- something of an homage to shounen fighting / adventure anime series of yore. It looks cute and interesting! It's called Draglade, and the website comes complete with cheesy anime license-like intro music. Visually though...well see for yourself, eh? Planned for march 07, for the DS, published by Banpresto. Thanks to Neo Gutsman for the link.
Okay, not really. Still. They're not exactly sneezing rainbows over it. A survey of Famitsu readers in this week's issue asks the readers "Do you welcome Dragon Quest IX on Nintendo DS? Does it make you happy? Are you in love with the very idea of it?" (Emphasis added.)
40.3% say "Yes"
46% say "No"
5.2% say "Neither"
8.5% say "I'm not sure yet"
A little gray-area statistical analysis shows that the opinion is currently favoring the negative. Realize that "Neither" means "I'll buy the game anyway" and "I'm not sure yet" means "For someone reason, I'm being indecisive about my feelings." So we're sitting in at 45.5% saying they shall definitely purchase the game, and 54.5% saying they either don't want it or maybe don't want it.
The next question is the doozy: "Do you like the idea of action-based battles in a Dragon Quest game? Will they change your world for the better?" (Again, emphasis added.)
6.8% say "Neither yes nor no"
19.9% say "I'm not sure yet"
19.4% say "Yes"
53.9% say "No"
It's important to note, however, that the people who vote in Famitsu polls are usually the type of people to actually buy the magazine at least twice a month. So they're a little abnormal. They do not represent the wider population.
This is why Famitsu always has the "Retailer" corner, where they ask the retailers the same questions. In Japanese, "Retailer" means "What we think normal, game-buying people will think".
When asked if they like the game being on DS, retailers said:
47.5% -- Yes
22.5% -- Neither yes nor no
10% -- Not sure yet
20% -- No
One retailer says "I'm just glad it's on the hottest-selling system in Japan." Another says "I predict the game will appeal to all ages this way." Yet another says "I don't believe there are too many people who would buy a DS just to play this game." The fourth retailer says "I don't know if we'll have enough DSes in stock!!" Keep in mind that the third retailer is from Fukuoka, where they also have the ocean, and that the fourth retailer is from Aichi, and probably wears a toupee made of shredded Brillo pads.
When asked if they liked the idea of action-based battles, retailers said:
15% -- Yes
32.4 -- Not sure yet
12.5 -- Neither yes nor no
40% -- No
A retailer from Fukushima says "New users will adapt to the system easily. What about all the hardcore fans being BETRAYED, though?" (Emphasis added to more strongly accentuate the things this guy doesn't get. Hell. I'm the hardcorest DQ fan I've ever met and I think action is a great idea. If I want the traditional system, I'll boot up DQ5 or DQ6 or DQ7 -- or 8.) Retailer in Shizuoka -- that's Japanese for "silent hill" -- says "No action RPGs on DS to date have been successful." Excellent deduction, Holmes! That's because they were all either no-names (Contact) or blewwwwwwwwwww (Children of Mana). This game is promising you costume changes for god's sake! And four-player battles with meaningful use of tactics. And it's Dragon Quest. The retailer from Aichi says "The market is currently expanding, so it's impossible to say what degree of new experiences people are willing to go for." Congratulations on your business school vocabulary!
They also asked the retailers to predict how many copies the game will sell. The pie chart for that question is pretty silly. So I'll say "my own opinion", which is informed by this pie chart showing what all the retailers of Japan: Probably around 3.72 million copies in the first month.
Famitsu includes a handy chart, showing that Dragon Quest III was the highest-selling game in the series, with 6 million copies sold. Actually, look at this:
DQI: 1.5 million
DQII: 2.4 million
DQIII: 6 million
DQIV: 4.3 million (including the PSOne remake)
DQV: 4.5 million (including the PS2 remake)
DQVI: 3.2 million
DQVII: 4.1 million
DQVIII: 4.1 million (including estimated overseas sales)
It's interesting to see that III arrived just when Dragon Quest became a cultural phenomenon, and that the popularity didn't continue building. Perhaps this is why Final Fantasy started to radically tool with its formula in successive installments -- to keep fans cheaply primed for the "new". DQV was a slight drop (the PS2 remake of V outsold the PS1 remake of IV by quite a large margin, you see), and DQVI dropped even further. Probably because of Final Fantasy and other RPGs of the time. However, lots of people realized that other RPGs kind of sucked and went back for DQVII. VIII sold less because it was on PS2, and not everyone had a PS2.
Well, these days, not everyone has a DS. The stores have been dead sold out of the DS Lite since it showed up in March. People line up to buy them on Saturdays mornings. Sometimes you see shady groups of dudes putting armfuls of DS Lites into a truck.
When asked if the game would be big because of the DS's charming personality, 60% of retailers said yes. One retailer said he only hopes Nintendo can ship more DS Lite units; another retailer says lots of people have DSes already; another one rhetorically asks, "What kind of person interested in buying a DS so far wouldn't want a new Dragon Quest game?" Without meeting, and without even using the internet, these men are arguing.
Now for the best part -- the detailed reader opinions.
Nineteen-year-old college student says: "I honestly don't think the graphics need to be better than they already are. It's a good match for the DS." Yes!
A 35-year-old company man says: "I'm quite moved that they would take up such a challenge."
A 27-year-old company man (hey, I'm one of those!) says the game can appeal to people with bubbling social lives best by being on DS.
A 23-year-old company girl says: "Now I can play Dragon Quest wherever I am!" Yes, you can! You can also buy the new Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker released last week (and given a 10 9 8 9 by Famitsu in this week's Cross Review) though I don't have the heart to tell you that because you're a girl and you probably have boobs.
A 29-year-old company man says, "If Horii says this is a main series title, then so be it." Feel the fear! This man would have made an excellent samurai!
A 33-year-old company man who probably has a goatee and listens to mystery movie music on his iPod says: "Would any of us have predicted, two years ago, that the next Dragon Quest game would be released for a portable system? I can sense the shift of the sands of time."
Kicking off the negative opinions is a real wheeler of a line from a seventeen-year-old student: "When I heard it was on DS, I was totally like, 'That sucks!'" There you have it!
An unemployed twenty-four-year-old man says "I really wanted to relax and play this on my TV." On PS3? He distinctly says "relax", so he can't mean he wanted it to be on Wii. "How does an unemployed man afford a PS3?" you might ask. Well, there's this thing called "The power", wherein you want something really bad and eventually you have it, at the expense of your health.
A 25-year-old housewife says: "I'd be totally all for this if they weren't trying to call it an installment of the main series."
An unemployed 28-year-old man says: "It seems as though I won't be able to enjoy the true glory of Kouichi Sugiyama's compositions." Whatever -- use headphones! The music in Dragon Quest VIII was midi, after all.
A 36-year-old salesman says, "I would have preferred it if the graphics in 'IX' were actually better than the graphics in 'VIII'." A reasonable dissent, I guess.
A 28-year-old salaryman says "I will not tolerate a Dragon Quest on a portable system." Someday he'll be in charge of the whole office, just you wait!
A 28-year-old waiter says "The DS's 3D is too weak. I'd prefer them to make it sprite based. That'd be good enough for me!" You and me both, sir!
Now for the undecideds, which are kind of boring. A 30-year-old carpenter says "You would have figured it'd use the uniqueness of the Wii, or the great graphics of the PS3?" Not a bad concern. As an aside, I have a friend who was a carpenter once. Jesus! Little shout out to you there!
A 33-year-old company man with a permanent frown says "I do not own a DS. And DSes are in short supply. I will not be able to play this game." Relax, man! Eat some bran flakes! They say the game is coming "At the end of 2007." You have like a year to get a DS. Order one from Amazon.co.jp, entertain yourself through other means, and it'll show up definitely before then!
My personal favorite comment comes from a 32-year-old salaryman: "I'm concerned about the potential length of the game, since it's on DS. Will they make this a two-cartridge game?" Man. I bet this guy is the head of his company's IT division. He probably has LOTUS NOTES installed on all of the computers. Hell!!
The reader backlash against the action-based battles is, according to Famitsu, so tremendous that it would be ridiculous to document it. The most common comment, according to Famitsu, was "It just isn't Dragon Quest." Others said "I suck at action games." Positive opinions included "I'm sure it'll be as intuitive and fun as an action game as it is as an RPG."
The next two pages feature a survey of retailers. Basically, the question is, what'll be hot in 2007?
1. Wii
2. Dragon Quest IX
3. DS Lite
4. PS3
5. "Who knows?" (probably all retailers in Fukuoka and Shizuoka)
6. Xbox 360
In conclusion, then, Gundam Musou is going to be the greatest game EVER EVER EVER ever EVER. I'm not even kidding. Go search for some scans or something. Not that we condone that sort of thing.
Recap has updated Postback with some interesting articles (in spanish). There are reviews of Genshi Tou, a rather obscure prehistoric SNK horizontal shooter, Yakiniku Bugyou, a previous revision of the game I reviewed in 2004 (he claims his is better, since he eats meat. I disagree!), and for some reason, a Dragonball game. Anyway, give it a look even if you don't speak spanish, for the nicely done screens.
Famitsu has put up an on-line version for its recent Monster World Complete Collection preview here. Some 'superplays' are being added to the game, as they did with other Sega Ages 2500 titles like Gunstar Heroes: Treasure Box. Indeed, Famitsu reveals M2 as the developer, who already did an amazing port job with the Treasure games and others. Check out the company's website here, and MW Complete Collection preliminary site right here.
According to the 360 flavored version of Famitsu, Armored Core 4 will get its 360 release on the 22nd of march next year. No details on any additional content as yet (bar the obvious inclusion of controller vibration and Xbox Live functionality) but a straight port of the PS3 version wouldn't be too shabby at all.
Having finished the singeplayer of the PS3 version, S Ranks, Arena and all, one small suggestion to those attentive ears at From Software would be the inclusion of an "easy" mode (in addition to the normal and hard that already exist). Otherwise many who haven't played the previous games may find the current difficulty erring on the side of fascistic.
Update: Some release freebies have also been announced for the 360 release. Entitled an "Extra Archive", the set includes the collected Another Story installments, an artbook and a DVD. Not to mention that you get stickers of the corporation logos. No word on any gameplay-related changes though.
Jiji has found the excellent Saturn Detective Club, which features scans of ads and flyers for Sega Saturn games in Japan. Navigate via the kana, and anything with a T next to it has an image. Very nice stuff, lots of obscure things like Grandia Digital Museum, and Wachenroder.
Forgot to mention this ages ago, but Radirgy may be coming to US shores, from O~3 Entertainment. Wal-Mart has it coming out on February 15 2007, which would probably make it the last Gamecube game ever in the west? Amazon says December 31 - others say never. Fingers crossed!
Gpara has one right here, with lots of proper screens. Incidentally, my christmas card from Nippon Ichi this year featured Soul Cradle art, which you can see on the gamesetwatch post we made. There's an FFXII card there too.
Game Watch has a Grim Grimoire preview up, with lots of proper (if fuzzy) screens. Still not sure what to make of it, but it does look interesting! Frankly it looks (quite!) a bit like Dragon Force, which isn't exactly a bad thing. The art is interesting, clearly done by the same artist as La Pucelle. Hopefully Nippon Ichi will see their way through to releasing this in the west. For the curious, Rid has a translation of the info on the game's official site, Thanks to Jiji for pointing out the GW article.
MTV's Stephen Totilo mailed me about this some days ago, but I didn't get to it - he got the first on-camera English language interview with Kenta Cho of ABA Games, which you can see here, if you can navigate the labyrinthian site. Just scroll to the bottom, and you should be able to find the link. If anyone knows a ninja way of direct linking it, drop me a line. Stephen does really good work, I just wish it were in a place that was conducive to reading (note to MTV: Give him a blog).
Update: Astute readers have told me that first, here's the direct link to the kenta cho bit (thanks eric). Second, stephen does have a blog - it's here (thanks wes).
Well, I thought it was a joke, but it isn't. Koei and Bandai Namco are teaming up to create Gundam Musou - a Dynasty Warriors-like Gundam game for PS3. The press release confirms it. Given Bamco's recent track record with Gundam games, maybe this will be a good thing, comparatively - Koei is doing the development, and Bandai Namco is publishing. The far future meets the far past. Very weird. This is pretty much assured a U.S. release.
Ys Origin is out now for PCs, so the curious should go grab it. Trailers, wallpapers, and game music can be found here, and Game Watch has a review. The game comes in a giant box, of course, this time with a 120 page color booklet.
RSF has put up a new flash video, though it passed under my radar for some time (in fact, he's due for a new one). This one's shorter than many of his earlier works (hint: use this link to see Super Mario Underworld once he updates his frontpage), such as Michael Fantasy and Sega Fantasy IV. Anyway, Super Mario Underworld is an epic battle between the Mario and Luigi (or something? maybe?) set in the Super Mario World universe. As usual, it's epic and awesome, though the song has lyrics this time, featuring someone who probably didn't get very good grades in English. It's apparently a psuedo-parody of this flash video, which appeared at flash★bomb '05, a japanese flash animation event. Looks like they didn't do it again in 2006, unfortunately.
Keeping the Master System cavalcade coming today, check out alex-kidd.com, a site devoted to, what else, the Alex Kidd series for SMS. There's an incredible level of detail here, with maps for almost each game, manuals and boxes from multiple regions, as well as music and video tabs which I assume will get some content later. The main attraction is the maps, which while unnecessary, as it's not a super complicated game, look very very nice. Thanks to frank for pointing it out.
Zepy of Canned Dogs is on hiatus again, though he occasionally still makes exciting posts for us. He's got a humorously engrish message up to mark his internet departure, for those who care.
SMS Power has put up a new version of Phantasy Star for SMS, featuring a script reworked by TheRedEye, aka frank cifaldi, aka Gamasutra features editor, Lostlevels.org guy and insert credit sometimes writer person. He says the script 'really needed' to be redone, so there you go. Plus this is the english version of the original Japanese one, which had a special sound chip, making the music much improved when compared to the original (official) english localization.
The guy in charge of the project was about to rename Dark Force as Dark Phallus, because he thought that's how the original kana read. I'm...pretty glad he decided not to go with that.
Update: christian nutt of Games Radar tells me that there's official sega backup for "dark phallus," in an art book he has. In english no less! So that's a bit unfortunate. And indeed, in PSIV, there is a normal enemy called 'prophallus', which is a different version of the same boss from PSI. One wonders if they knew what 'phallus' means? If so, I blame rieko kodama. Sounds like something a girl would design as a final boss.
KOF XII is coming to US arcades on january 31, according to Coinop Express. Just try not to read their product description too closely, it might hurt your brain. Guess we'll soon see what SNK can do on the Taito Type-X 2...
Update! So, well...I posted this quickly, and didn't check thoroughly enough. I thought that logo looked familiar - they've just taken the KOF XI logo and added another I. This is the actual logo. So this whole thing may be bogus - did april fools day come a bit early this year? Looks like they removed the reference as well, so there we are!
Gamasutra has a WOOMB.net interview up - those are the people who are localizing MSX games into english. The interview is here, though the author didn't ask my #1 question, which is what's up with the idiotic sounding company name? Even MSXtreme would be better, and that's pretty bad. Apparently the company plans to release games at a quicker pace this coming year, and they just released Hydlide 3 from T&E Soft, as well as Zanax EX. It's an interesting thing they're doing, but I'd be surprised if they sold more than three copies of any given game, unless they wind up hooking up with Gametap or something.
ZPC was an old doom-like PC (and mac) game that got pretty poor reviews, but had great visual style, thanks to Aidan Hughes' art (famous for his KMFDM covers). So if the game was crap (haven't played it, can't really say), the visual style was impressive. Even the blocky graphics, which were a complaint for many at the time, look amazingly stylish now. The music pretty decent, but people seem to have thought it was unplayably bad back then.
Conveniently, UnderGroundGamers has put up all of the game's cutscenes, which are really interesting to watch, I think. Not only the visual style, but the action and direction of them. It really holds up for being over 10 years old. Definitely give it a look.
UnderGroundGamers is also the group that brought us the 60 Tattoo Assassins fatalities, as linked by kotaku recently. The game reportedly had over 2,000 of them, and they're all ridiculous (Whistler's Mother? Come on now...), but I'm linking it because of the multiple Burger Time references. It was a Data East property, so they could do that. So there's the anthropomorphic hot dog for one, but also the more blatant reference to the right. This also means Tattoo Assassins are ripe for the plucking, should SNK choose to feature them in an upcoming game.
Once again via Famitsu we learn that the most anticipated Sega Ages 2500 volume since Treasure Box will hit the shops on march the 8th. The compilation's content, for now, is still the same as we pointed out earlier. Thanks to Nekogagotoku.
The 'Final Volume' for Taito Memories II has just been announced for March via Famitsu. Game list as follows:
Operation Wolf
Night Striker
Metal Soldier Isaac 2
Gyrodine
Warrior Blade
TT Field Goal
Phoenix
Great Swordman
Polaris
Riku Kai Kuu Saizensen
Halley Comet
Plump Pop
Sea Fighter Poseidon
Onna Sanshirou
Full Throttle
Rainbow Islands Extra
Chase HQ
Buggy Challenge
Master of Weapon
Mega Blast
Battle Shark
Final Blow
Volfied
Thunder Fox
Bubble Symphony
Brandon's note: So unfortunately, looks like our Estpolis Denki (Lufia) prediction was wrong - but who's to say there won't be a Taito Memories III, featuring Lufia and...Densha de Go? Perhaps not.
Coleco is doing odd things these days, speaking of old game companies that begin with the letter C. Coleco has a bunch of really odd/uninspired handheld game collections, including one (that I want regardless) that emulates 20 Sega Master System games. It's flash, so I can't direct link it, sadly. Regardless, do watch the intro video they have on the site. It depicts a fight between evander holyfield and mike tyson, the one in which he bites the man's ear. And it depicts it in pixels. Now if you could actually do that in the game, well...that'd be something else entirely! Yet another console for the handheld ghetto (which Jungletac rules the streets with an iron fist).
It's nice to see that Coleco is still around and all, but couldn't they make a system with, you know...Coleco games on it?
Stupid tech blog Idiot Toys, run by stupid commander zorg, has updated with a reader-submitted review of the Commodore Evic MP3 player - basically just cashing in on whatever nostalgia remains for the C64 brand. We mentioned it some time ago, but there was never a proper mechanism through which to purchase the (obviously cursed) device. Anyway, click through for the review. Preview version: it's not very good. Remember kids, you can't spell 'commode' without a number of the letters found in 'commodore.'
It's already old news, but it bears repeating - Nintendo's Virtual Console is shipping inferior PAL revision ROMs to European Wii owners. To blame? The company's policy of sticking to the original territorial releases, which means Sonic the Hedgehog running at 17% less the speed of the Japanese and American revisions and completing the cavalcade of Sonic-related kicks to the groin this fiscal quarter. Any game that did not recieve a competent port from the NTSC standard to the PAL standard at the time of original release will run at around 83% speed on PAL Wii Consoles and have intrusive borders, thanks to lazy business practices of the 1980s and 1990s.
What does this mean? It means titles like Gunstar Heroes will be resold to Europe with their tempo, graphics and BGMs ruined all over again. It also means that American Wii owners already recieved an inferior revison of Sonic 1 (the Japanese release had extra scrolling and underwater effects) and that the USA gets to miss out on Alien Soldier. Again. For the second time.
Can this policy be justified? Does selling nostalgia mean that the customers of today have to suffer the lovely nostalgic mistakes of 1991? It's doubtful - many independant retailers back then did roaring trade in imported NTSC consoles for precisely the same reasons that I'm now bemoaning, with a fair few Japanese PC Engines sold in the UK to boot (see Stuart Campbell's Panel 4 archive for a contemporary viewpoint). Why release shitty ports? Why should the scanty release timetables of yesteryear be inflicted upon the beating heart of today? People hardly remember five minutes ago, man!
Nintendo has been showing a remarkable deal of common sense since Iwata took over the reins, so make your voices heard... somehow.
Ikeda and co. must have had a great year, because they've decided to rent the 5th floor of Akihabara's Hirose Entertainment Yard (also known as HEY arcade) from the 28th to the 30th of this month, and throw a party of sorts. This is awesome news -- never mind the fact I had no idea HEY had a fifth floor, and no clue how you can get there.
It seems you'll be able to play a "special arrange version" of Do Donpachi, which may or may not be the same as the legendary DDP Campaign Edtion (of which only a single board was ever made), and take part in a Mushihime-sama Futari 1.5 score competition, the winner of which will win a PCB and other swag. They will also be peddling rare merchandise, including posters and reprints of some of their more popular OSTs. If you are a shooter fan and in Tokyo around that time do attend and let me know how it went. Because sadly I won't be able to make it.
From Game Watch we learn that Hori will release two new arcade sticks for the PlayStation 3 on the 8th of february, both of them sequels to their two most successful lines of sticks. The Fighting Stick 3 (pictured on the left) is the low-end choice and will have an MSRP of 5,229 yen, while the Real Arcade Pro 3 is the be-all end-all choice, with an MSRP of 8,379 yen.
This news comes as a big surprise, considering there's already a PS3 stick on the horizon: Sega's Virtua Stick High Grade. Now three brand-new sticks for a console with only two upcoming arcade games (Virtua Fighter 5 and Power Smash 3) may be overkill, but don't forget that all of them will be USB, which means you'll be able to use them for MAME and general emulation purposes, without the need for lag-inducing adaptors. Personally, I am sold. The problem now is figuring out which one(s) to pick up.
Longtime insert credit associate mathew kumar (he wrote this, most recently) just had a birthday. For the occasion his girlfriend made him a Katamari cake, which you see here, and which is reportedly quite good, if messy. I'd eat that, and I don't even like cake! Click the images for largeness, though they don't get bigger than 640x480. Incidentally, I think that's one of those Katamari papercraft, as well.
I was recently checking up on Mikoishi, a Singaporean company I met at GDC two years ago. A quick look at their front page shows something interesting - not only are they the company behind the cellphone ports of Phoenix Wright and Super Puzzle Fighter II, they're planning an MMO for the DS. No details just yet, but that's just about enough to get interested.
Hot-B recently came into my mind again, so I decided to see what they're up to now - they're the ones who made games like Steel Empire, the bizarre Ka Ge Ki: Fists of Steel, and, well...a lot of bass fishing games. (Recap confirms my fears that Ka Ge Ki was actually just ported by Hot-B - but they did make Devilish!) Still, Steel Empire is quite good (check out a scan of the US box), and came out for GBA a while ago, though it's rather expensive if you can find it - there's a euro version as well, but it's equally pricey (for me!) due to the ridiculously weak american dollar. The company has been around since 1988 or so, but at some point in the 2000s got into some trouble and all assets, so far as I know, were purchased by Starfish, who still does some interesting stuff in japan.
Browsing EB recently, I noticed that Grafitti Kingdom bears the Hot-B name and logo. Some further research reveals that Hot-B's american counterpart exists, barely, as a small publisher. Their last game was released in 2005, but since their previous game was released in 2001, it's possible they're still around. The actual logo is quite fun, because the B is green - hard to describe as 'hot.' It's on the Grafitti Kingdom box, but I don't have a picture of it just now. I've sent them a mail to see what's up with the company, so if I hear more, I expect that you will as well.
News: Seiken Densetsu - Heroes of Mana site updates
Seiken Densetsu: Heroes of Mana will be the next big chapter in the popular action RPG series after Seiken Densetsu 4, though this time it's taking the form of an S-RPG with 'real-time strategy battles.' Like Children of Mana, it'll be a Nintendo DS game, but Brownie Brown is developing the project this time and they want to give the stylus some proper use, it seems.
The site has been up for a few weeks now, but a system section with screens was added today. It's a nice-looking (and sounding) website indeed, with artwork-based wallpapers to download. This is also the week where Square-Enix has unveilled/shown some important projects for Nintendo's dual-screened handheld, namely Level 5's Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy - Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and Final Fantasy Tactics A2 ~Fuuketsu no Grimoire~. 'Tiny' future, we're afraid.
For those that are suitably into their giant bug eradication, there's a nice lowdown on the mecha (called Vital Suits) for Capcom's upcoming Lost Planet. The exciting thing from my point of view is that quite a few of them have rudimentary transformation abilities, which could be quite interesting in a gameplay context (it normally is for most mecha based games that feature it). My favourite, thus far, is still the Hardballer (pictured) mainly because it looks to be quite fast and has a chainsaw (chainsaw + mecha = good design call). Though I am warming to the Cakti.
They've also included a rather cool video of the mecha in game but the servers are a little flaky, so I've uploaded a copy of the video here for your convenience. Lost Planet is released in Japan on 21st December for 8,379 yen.
I mailed Michael Meyers, SNK's pr guy, to confirm whether the new Card Fighters will see a stateside release, as I've been getting a lot of questions about it. Answer is - yes - probably first quarter 2007, and the price will be $29.99. So now you know! Unfortunately there's no overworld this time, but I remain hopeful. I'd love to see a re-release of the original two for the DS as well!
This is dangerously old, but I haven't seen it around. American Alpha Inc. has released Percussion Master, a rather limp-wrist Taiko no Tatsujin clone with psuedo anime characters wandering around in it. They've even got some ridiculously short 'probably taken with a cellphone' videos for you to watch! Seven seconds of pure enjoyment. The cabinet takes a picture of the player for high scores, which is neat, and it boasts 'hit songs' - but no mention of what those might be. It's apparently "an instant hit with dance and drum players," so if you're part of the critical "dance player" market, looks like this is the game for you. In seriousness, the music seems rather passable. The game was developed by our old pals at International Game Systems, so might be worth a look. For those who've forgotten, IGS is Taiwan's answer to SNK, and most recently made Spectral Vs Generations, and....Fearless Pinocchio. Check here for some images of that.
Speaking of Sega and Zombies, my favorite testament to the arcade industry's death rattle - CoinOp Today - has posted news of a House of the Dead 4 Special theatre cabinet which is to be released in North America. The gigantic cab, which you probably won't be able to find anywhere near you because that's just the way the universe works, boasts a 270 degree pivot seat that moves as you face the action.
From the release: "Surround sound, air blasts and a vibrating seat add to the hellish experience." Air blasts. That is awesome. I haven't seen that in an arcade game since Irritating Maze from Saurus, perhaps? Anyway, the official flyers may be absolutely riddled with typos and grammar errors (go Sega Amusements! They also distribute games by a company called SEGAS, apparently), but the game looks really nice, running on Lindberg as it does, and I'd love to check out this cabinet once. If you come across one, do send me an email!
Alex has put up his location test report for Dynamite Deka EX, which runs on the Naomi board, and looks very Zombie Revenge/Spikeout-esque. I recommend checking out the video - I don't think it looks as bad as he does, but then, I wasn't there! Still quite interesting that they made the game at all - I'll be curious to see if it actually gets widespread distribution. I assume a console port is not in the cards, but I imagine a petition to Sega for the game's release on Dreamcast is being drafted as we speak. Can't keep a good petitioner down!
As an aside, this is apparently 'the saddest location test' he's ever seen - judging by the photos and lack of interest, I'd say he's on to something there.
These people aren't queuing for a PlayStation 3, Wii or even a DS Lite. They're eager to gain entry into Kotobukiya's new store on the first floor of the Radio Kaikan, just a few steps outside the JR Akihabara station. Kotobukiya is a Japanese toy and model manufacturer that does an inordinate amount of gaming-related merchandise (their excellent Super Robot Wars and Armored Core kit ranges being good examples of this). Naturally, the store sells other non-Kotobukiya merchandise, such as the wholly necessary Chirico Cuvie pilot suit (can of coffee not supplied, unfortunately).
Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore, Hideo Kojima's latest game on the DS is released tomorrow for 4,179 yen. For those that haven't been following this, Kojima has ventured into the world of training games and created a stock market simulator. Yes, that's right, you can buy and sell stocks on a virtual Tokyo Stock Exchange. The game uses market data collected from the past five years too, so it's fairly grounded in terms of functionality (no crazy codec nonsense here I'm afraid).
In all fairness, this is a shrewd move for Kojima. The fad for training games in Japan is at its peak and everyone wants to make a wad of cash on the stock market.
...At their actual resolution, thanks to Game Watch's preview. As we foresaw, the game is being designed at high resolution, so the screenshots look especially vibrant, making it quite a 'rara avis' along side otehr contemporary action games. With a two-player mode planned, Kiki Kaikai 2 has it all to become a little gem for PS2 users. Let's hope the new control system they have invented works alright.
Link: Okami artbook
December 11, 2006, 04:04 PM
by ollie, via the spectral force that was once Clover Studio - [permalink]
Following from the news that a new Devil May Cry artbook is on the way, some people made rumbling noises about the lack of an Okami artbook.
Well, rumble no longer!
A very nice Okami artbook is already out in Japan. With 288 pages of amazing artwork for the reasonable price of 3,360 yen, you'd be a veritable fool not to nab one of these when you have the chance. Released at the tail end of September it still seems to be in stock in most places.
With a global simultaneous launch (or near to it) a lot of people ignored the Wii's japanese release titles, concentrating instead on the games actually available to them, and a very nice little Hudson release has slipped through the cracks. It's called Kororinpa, and is the game you'd see if Taito said to Hudson "Hey, make a 3D Cameltry!" No one really seems to be aware of its existence - even in japan it received a very, very limited release, and that's a shame. As you can see, I think it's groovy.
Yggdra Union, the newest game by Riviera developer Sting, is out in the US, if you didn't know. It's a strategy RPG ala Fire Emblem, but super-stylized. The english script was edited/written almost entirely by ex game journalistnich maragos, as we learned in the 4CR interview with him some time ago, and it's got a very nice color manual for a change! Purchase this if you support Sting/maragos/offbeat RPGs. All are sound investments in the future.
Famitsu Magazine has really demanded our scrutiny after this highly anticipated news. After all, Kiki Kaikai 2 could be the very first game using the classic formula from Senjou no Ookami ['Commando'] for a proper system (that is non-handheld and non-Windows-based) after... Shock Troopers 2? That's too many years, indeed. And it even would take the form of a direct Kiki Kaikai sequel, no less. Since Taito developed Kiki Kaikai back in 1986 for the arcades, the series has had more than a few episodes where the company didn't put lay a finger on them (the SFC iterations from Natsume are among the best 16-bit action games ever made, for instance), so it's not surprising at all that Kiki Kaikai 2 happens to be a Star Fish production where Taito just licensed the name. It has an official site for the game now, revealing, quite amazingly, full hi-res 2D graphics. The character design is odd for a Kiki Kaikai game, we believe, but hey. We're more worried about what they say of the mechanics, though. According to the site, you need to use both analogue sticks from the Dual Shock to play the game. That implies you can't use an arcade stick for such an 'arcadish' game, sadly. Awesome news, in any case, which may not end here - Famitsu also wrote about 'Shin Chuuka Taisen' for the PS2, another episode for another classic Taito series which started in the arcades.
There's a rather lovely Devil May Cry artbook scheduled for release on the 26th December (which is also my birthday!). With luscious cover artwork by Makoto Tsuchibayashi and 144 A4 pages containing a lot of never released production artwork (as well as a partial collection of the content from the 2001 Devil May Cry Graphic Edition), this will be a must buy for those that like the gun toting ashen haired wisecracking ass kicker. At present, the book is only listed on Capcom's online shop (for the moderate sum of 2,415 yen) but with any luck it may reach a wider circulation.
D3, being the purveyor of all things refined and rational, have done some publicity for the Chikyuu Boueigun 3 and Onee Chanbara vorteX (both of which will be released in Japan on December 14th). Naturally, if you like seeing some poor chap outfitted in a motorcycle helmet and a woman dressed in, well, almost nothing, then click the link (though there are some nice new screenshots on display for the respective games too thankfully).
As for the Chikyuu Boeigun 3, the aliens are now called "foreigners" (!) and I recently covered the developer Sandlot in my column over at Game Set Watch. I just hope they do some games for the Wii pretty damn soon.
Brandon's note: Coincidentally, I went to a D3P US event last night, and played EDF 3 again. Interestingly, in the US the game will have the original japanese title, Earth Defense Force X. They're aiming for a March 2007 release here and a $50 price point (neither of these is set in stone!). Oneechanbara Vortex is another matter - they haven't yet gotten approval for it.
EDF 3 is looking good, but doesn't have online multiplayer, which is a real shame. It also doesn't have the girl as a second character, as I mentioned in a TGS-era post. Vehicles are still a bit baffling to control, but I'm looking forward to it regardless.
Oneechanbara Vortex looks much better than when I saw it in Tokyo, but it's still the same game over again. There are slightly larger environments, and some load times are shorter (they were up to a minute before!). Changing characters on the fly is pretty nice, and the new gun-toting cop character is pretty powerful. I'm hopeful for both games really, and that D3 is able to find a way to continue its simple series on the next-gen consoles.
Wow, I missed this one for a while - checking out triggerzone today (which hasn't been updating as much lately), I noticed that ABA Games has come out with a new shooter, by the name of Titanion. This is over a week old now, and I've failed in my duty to provide you with suitable distraction from work/home/school/life. Better late than never!
The game has two modes, modern and classic. Modern mode is classic curtain fire, and you have a tractor beam to sort of mess with your enemies - it's not particularly useful, but can put them off-course. Enemies can't hurt you by colliding with your ship in this mode. In classic mode, fewer bullets are fired, but enemy ships can cause damage by ramming you. Your tractor beam actually recruits enemies to your side, and they all line up on either side of your ship and shoot with you. Quite nice all around, give it a try.
Our old pal persona has made a nice little animated short, which was done in 48 hours, and features a Zelda meme among other things. He always does good work, though this non-game related thing is his masterpiece. Unfortunately he ends the Machinegun Opera with stupid hip kid music, but we still like him anyway, even if we can no longer respect him in public or admit to others that we're friends. Such are the fragile bonds of youth.
For those interested in the other works of insert credit staff, tim's personal site Large Prime Numbers has gotten a nice MS Paint visual revamp. Maybe this post will be a kick in the pants for him to get those awesome sidebars up. I know he's got them!
Like we mentioned, Taito Memories is getting two new volumes, the first one being released on January 25th, as Game Watch points out. This preview also reveals an interesting fact - there's a full-screen option for the games that originally used vertically-orientated monitors, something absent from the first two volumes. Unfortunately, the screens also alert us once again to the 'fake-low-res syndrome', where the graphics are upscaled for a hi-res display with quite hideous visual results. In related news, Famitsu magazine will reveal in tomorrow's issue a direct sequel to Taito's true classic Kiki Kaikai, titled 'Kiki Kaikai 2', developed by Star Fish and coming next March for the PS2.
The list is still growing. The PS2 is getting another S-RPG with 2D graphics next year. Much like Utawareru Mono, Majokko A-La-Mode II is being ported (and 'de-hentaied') from a Windows game, this one created by F & C the past year, and again like that, A-La-Mode II is conceived as an adventure game, with non-real-time-generated scenes which drive the story. The setting and magic synthesis is more reminiscent of Gust's Atelier series, though.
While the first A-La-Mode (which didn't have an S-RPG part) had a PS2 version published by Interchannel, Majokko A-La-Mode II ~Mahou to Ken no Struggle~ for the PS2 is being released by Good Navigate Software, another of those companies which focuses on this stuff. Check Famitsu's preview (which is now a few days old) here and the original version's site here, where you can find some demonstrative videos.
From fellow shooter fan Gaijin Punch we learn of the wonderful STG fan site C-cube, which recently updated with Pianistic Ray, a collection of arranged piano tracks from Taito's Ray shooting series. Fans of the largely excellent Ray Force, Ray Storm, and Ray Crisis will love this stuff, and those who were not aware of them will perhaps be compelled to track down the Saturn and PlayStation ports of some of these titles and see what they've been missing. And while you are at C-cube have a look at some of the fan art, such as this nice set of SD Espgaluda characters.
Sly Dog Studios is a very nice effort put forth by 
The much anticipated Nintendo DS 
Seguing as if by magic to the 
This is a little late on my part but I'm having a hard time tearing myself away from the game. As of the 
I just got an email from jamie woodhouse, the creator of QWAK - a completely homebrew project for the GBA of which there are only 300 copies available. The cost is 15 pounds, or just under $30. Homebrew though it may be, the came comes on a proper cart, shipping included (though I don't know if he banked on people ordering from outside the UK). You can check out gameplay videos on 
According to 
A seller by the name of Hello Kitty (with lots of exclamation points!) is selling custom-painted NES consoles on ebay. 
Whilst raucously celebrating my birthday, 
Those wonderful people at 
I found this last week when browsing for something or other - a 
It's an original Banpresto production -- something of an homage to shounen fighting / adventure anime series of yore. It looks cute and interesting! It's called 
Okay, not really. Still. They're not exactly sneezing rainbows over it. A survey of Famitsu readers in this week's issue asks the readers "Do you welcome Dragon Quest IX on Nintendo DS? Does it make you happy? Are you in love with the very idea of it?" (Emphasis added.)
Recap has updated 
Famitsu has put up an on-line version for its recent Monster World Complete Collection preview 
According to the 360 flavored version of 
Gpara has one right 
Game Watch has a Grim Grimoire 
MTV's Stephen Totilo mailed me about this some days ago, but I didn't get to it - he got the first on-camera English language interview with Kenta Cho of 
Well, I thought it was a joke, but it isn't. Koei and Bandai Namco are teaming up to create 
Ys Origin is 
RSF has put up 
Keeping the Master System cavalcade coming today, check out 
Zepy of 
SMS Power has put up a new version of 
Gamasutra has a 
ZPC was an old doom-like PC (and mac) game that got 
UnderGroundGamers is also the group that brought us the 60 Tattoo Assassins fatalities, as linked by 
Once again via Famitsu we learn that the most anticipated Sega Ages 2500 volume since Treasure Box will hit the shops on march the 8th. The compilation's content, for now, is still the same as 
Coleco is doing odd things these days, speaking of old game companies that begin with the letter C. Coleco has a bunch of really odd/uninspired handheld game collections, including one (that I want regardless) that emulates 20 Sega Master System games. It's flash, so I can't direct link it, sadly. Regardless, do watch the 
Stupid tech blog 
Ikeda and co. must have had a great year, because they've decided to rent the 5th floor of Akihabara's Hirose Entertainment Yard (also known as HEY arcade) from the 28th to the 30th of this month, and throw a 
From 
This news comes as a big surprise, considering there's already a PS3 stick on the horizon: Sega's 
Hot-B recently came into my mind again, so I decided to see what they're up to now - they're the ones who made games like 
Browsing EB recently, I noticed that Grafitti Kingdom bears the 
Seiken Densetsu: Heroes of Mana will be the next big chapter in the popular action RPG series after Seiken Densetsu 4, though this time it's taking the form of an S-RPG with 'real-time strategy battles.' Like Children of Mana, it'll be a Nintendo DS game, but Brownie Brown is developing the project this time and they want to give the stylus some proper use, it seems. 
For those that are suitably into their giant bug eradication, there's a nice 
I mailed Michael Meyers, SNK's pr guy, to confirm whether the new 
This is dangerously old, but I haven't seen it around. American Alpha Inc. has released 
Speaking of Sega and Zombies, my favorite testament to the arcade industry's death rattle - CoinOp Today - has posted 
From the release: "Surround sound, air blasts and a vibrating seat add to the hellish experience." Air blasts. That is awesome. I haven't seen that in an arcade game since 
Alex has put up his 
These people aren't queuing for a PlayStation 3, Wii or even a DS Lite. They're eager to gain entry into Kotobukiya's 
...At their actual resolution, thanks to 
Following from the news that a new Devil May Cry artbook is 
With a global simultaneous launch (or near to it) a lot of people ignored the Wii's japanese release titles, concentrating instead on the games actually available to them, and a very nice little Hudson release has slipped through the cracks. It's called 
Yggdra Union, the newest game by Riviera developer 
Famitsu Magazine has really demanded our scrutiny after 
There's a rather lovely Devil May Cry 
D3, being the purveyor of all things refined and rational, have done some publicity for the 
Wow, I missed this one for a while - checking out 
Our old pal 
From fellow shooter fan 
