|
[img width=511 height=448]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-071/bf/U-071-S-02250-A.jpg[/img]
I've talked kind of a lot about Street Fighter II on this blog. And with good reason. As I've stated (probably numerous times), Street Fighter II tends to be the fighting game by which I hold all other games in comparison. Or at least Super Street Fighter II Turbo is. However, as time has gone on I've realized that while I tend to think of the second game in the series as the most important one to me, it's perhaps not actually my favorite. Truthfully I feel almost dirty writing that. I feel it almost wrong to proclaim that I actually put another entry in the series above Street Fighter II. But I'm just being honest. Maybe.
[img width=552 height=445]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/vgnews/071800/sf3rdstrike/sf3_screen001.jpg[/img] [img width=558 height=447]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/StreetFighterIII3rdStrike/StreetFighter3ThirdStrike_b2_screen006.jpg[/img]
Okay, okay maybe I'm getting carried away here. Maybe I don't have to actually choose one over the other. So why don't I just say that Street Fighter III is at least as good as Street Fighter II. Just in a different way.
I recently acquired a nice Ascii fightpad for my Dreamcast, which went great with the copy of 3rd Strike I found under the Christmas tree with my name on it. Though I've played 3rd Strike on both PS2 and PSN in the past, I was more than thrilled to add this one to my Dreamcast collection. As I've said, I'm a really big fan.
For those that aren't familiar, 3rd Strike is the third version of Street Fighter III (sort of like the 'Super,' 'Hyper,' 'Turbo,' 'Championship,' etc versions of Street Fighter II). The first two versions of the game were also released on Dreamcast, compiled onto a single disc called Double Threat. But 3rd Strike is where the game was revised into perfection.
[img width=558 height=447]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/StreetFighterIII3rdStrike/StreetFighter3ThirdStrike_b2_screen014.jpg[/img] 
Street Fighter III is certainly my favorite looking of the series. It embraces its anime influences far more than the second game, but still retained the beautiful 2D sprites that the fourth game would abandon. The animations are fluid and amazing and perhaps nod a bit to the insane level of detail found in SNK games like Mark Of The Wolves. And these smooth animations owe a lot to what makes the game so playable. Every move feels so graceful and high-energy like watching a wonderfully choreographed Kung Fu flick in a slightly super-human speed.
The real brilliance of Street Fighter III however lies in the roster. Though a fair share of these faces are now familiar to the current gen fighters thanks to appearances in the likes of Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter X Tekken, it's actually incredible to think that Capcom followed up the immensely popular Street Fighter II by effectively trashing the entire roster and starting from scratch. Only a handful of characters are returning, with both Ken and Ryu in all three editions, Akuma in the second version and Chun-Li being added only in 3rd Strike. And from there it was up to Capcom to shape an entirely new roster.
[img width=580 height=435]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/StreetFighterIII3rdStrike/StreetFighterIII3rdStrike_screen006.jpg[/img] [img width=390 height=300]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/9/913699/sf3third_screen002.jpg[/img]
The unique roster is the biggest draw of this game as far as I'm concerned. Indeed this game holds some of the most unique characters in the series. A few have gone on to appear in further games. For instance Hugo (who actually originates from the Final Fight series), Ibuki and Dudley have all continued on as mainstays. But Third Strike is so interesting because of the bulk of its oddball cast. Take for instance Twelve, a shapeshifter who resembles an alien being. Or how about 140-year-old hermit Oro who arrives in a sack and fights one-handed. And then there's Necro, a Russian exile whose moves are controlled by a computer. Sure, it may be the weirdest roster in a Street Fighter game, but it's also one of the most fun.
[img width=573 height=550]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/J-060/bf/J-060-S-01625-A.jpg[/img]
There are shmups and there are shmups. DoDonPachi is a shmup. A very good shmup. Perhaps one of the best shmups ever made. And I spent most of last night playing it along with some buds over on the Racketboy forums.
DoDonPachi certainly has a reputation. In that sense I was maybe even a bit worried to finally get around to playing it. Y'know how sometimes people talk about a book or movie and by the time you see it you're just let down that it didn't live up to the hype? Not to mention that a recent sequel, DoDonPachi Resurrection was the first shmup I ever 1CC'd (on Novice Mode). So again I was mildly worried that going back further in the series might not be as enjoyable as a newer installment.
But it turns out there was nothing to fear at all. DoDonPachi is actually one of the greatest shmups I've ever played. Visually, it looks excellent and far from dated. The sprites are all so well detailed, the color pallet is always appropriate and the backgrounds are stunning. The music is definitely fitting as well. But really what makes the game so incredible is the balance of it all. There's such a perfect ratio of risk to reward in DoDonPachi that it's easy to see why it's still such a fan-favorite.
Not only does the game offer up three ships in the old Goldie Locks manner of Type A being the "super fast but not the strongest" ship and Type C being the "wicked slow but so powerful" ship. No the balance goes so far beyond all that if you're seriously trying to play for score. For instance there's the whole risk/reward paradox of chaining. You have a small meter that runs out rapidly every moment you're not killing something. If the meter runs out, your chain resets. Big chains make for big bonuses. But of course this means really learning a level and timing every single kill. It also means that sometimes you'll be killing in a not-so-effective way just to keep a chain going. Similarly there are icons of Bees that you can pick up throughout levels (with many of them hidden). They give you bonus points that get higher and higher with each Bee you get. But again, this means probably giving up your chain to uncover them all. The game is loaded with these sorts of decisions on how to maximize your score -- fast rapid shot or slow laser? To bomb or not to bomb? And so on.
[img width=320 height=224]http://www.gametronik.com/site/rubriques/saturn/Jeux/DoDonPachi%20(J)/DoDonPachi%20(J).png[/img] [img width=320 height=224]http://segaretro.org/images/b/b5/DoDonPachi_title.png[/img]
Perhaps the greatest thing about DoDonPachi however is that it's the kind of game that makes you better at an entire genre. The more you practice, the more you're forced to think about strategy and how to increase your score. Not to mention it's a great workout for your mind and fingers to weave perilously throughout blankets of bright bullets. And all of these skills carry over to any other shmup, be it bullet hell or non. Throughout the month I managed to pull off a score of 11,446,730 which I felt really proud of. This was a lot of improvement from my first run. And I also found a new game that I just completely love and will surely revisit often.
[img width=550 height=795]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-060/bf/U-060-S-00790-A.jpg[/img]
Not too long ago I blogged about enjoying Fighting Vipers. As such I jumped at the opportunity, when I had the chance to acquire its spin-off sequel. Fighters Megamix is a mash-up of both Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter 2. At least that's what I thought it was. But apparently it's a whole lot more.
Let's start from the beginning. Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter 2 are both pretty similar games. At least as far as a game engine and appearance goes. So of course this makes for a pretty easy combo deal. You take your eleven Fighting Vipers characters and eleven Virtua Fighter 2 characters, put em together and call it a day. Sure there's some differences as far as physics go between the two games -- but you can even pick which physics engine you want to go with. And each game uses a similar three-button layout, so it's not like you have to learn one fighting style if you're only familiar with the other.
[img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/0/1/8/gfs_88797_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/a/c/8/gfs_88797_2_2.jpg[/img]
So when I first started playing Megamix, I really felt a bit underwhelmed. It just felt to me like Fighting Vipers with double the roster. Not that that's a bad thing of course. But it didn't feel like this amazing new game either. But I was in for a bit of a surprise still.
The single-player mode of Megamix is broken down into various courses. The courses are vaguely themed -- such as playing only Vipers or only females. In each course you'll be fighting through six fighters and then unlocking a hidden boss. This is where things start to get awesome. You see once a hidden boss is unlocked and beaten, they are then also added to the roster. When all is said and done you've got over thirty characters to choose from which is a huge jump from the original Fighting Vipers.
[img width=700 height=509]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/2/3/9/gfs_88797_2_17.jpg[/img] [img width=280 height=210]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/7/197327/fightmeg_screen003.jpg[/img]
It's not just the fact that there are so many unlockable characters that's impressive here though. It's the sheer over-the-top fan service of them that's mind-blowing. You'll get an alternate version of Fighting Vipers' Candy, the Virtua Fighter Kids' version of Akira, along with cameos from Virtua Cop 2, Sonic The Fighters and even Daytona USA. Yes. You read that correctly. You see by the time you make it through the ninth course you'll fight the final boss of the game -- the Hornet car from Daytona USA. This is exactly the kind of insanely ridiculousness that earned Sega so many die hard fans.
My only real complaint about Fighters Megamix is a small one. There is a bit of slowdown that wasn't present in Fighting Vipers. However this only seems to occur on a few particular stages, so it's not a game-breaking deal. But when you take into consideration all the excellent unlockables plus the fact that each of the nine courses save your completion time, there is a huge amount of replayability here. Definitely a highly recommended 3D fighter for the Saturn.
[img width=516 height=450]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-071/bf/U-071-S-01160-A.jpg[/img]
What just happened? That's pretty much how most rounds of Mars Matrix left me feeling.
The Racketboy forums have a Shmup Of The Month Club which I've participated in over the last year. It's generally a great way to expose yourself to new shmups which you may have been putting off for one reason or another. Perhaps more importantly, it's justification -- that is it gives you an excuse to buy some expensive shmup that you might have avoided otherwise. While I've been into collecting Sega stuff for a good part of the year now, certainly my Dreamcast collection has been my highest priority focus. So I was pleased as punch to have a specific reason why I should pick up a Dreamcast exclusive (outside the arcade) shmup.
[img width=640 height=480]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/marsmatrix/marsmatrix_0319_screen018.jpg[/img] [img width=336 height=252]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/marsmatrix/marsmatrix_012601_screen005.jpg[/img]
Mars Matrix is an odd one. Published my Capcom -- who showed the shmup community tons of support on the Dreamcast -- it is presented in a horizontal screen mode, much like the Giga Wing games. This means that it looks pretty fantastic on a widescreen monitor. I actually have a monitor that can rotate, but it's nice to have shmups that are meant to be played on a default monitor.
However the resolution isn't the oddest thing about Mars Matrix -- it's the default controls. You see the game is meant to be played with a single button. Or rather two. But only one button actually shoots and the second will switch shots. It's very confusing to me and I can honestly say that I'd have no chance playing this game if I encountered it in the arcade. Luckily the Dreamcast port offers full customization of controls, so I could set each attack to a separate button.
[img width=635 height=417]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/marsmatrix/marsmatrix_0329_screen005.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=480]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/marsmatrix/marsmatrix_0319_screen010.jpg[/img]
But none of this really matters because I had immense trouble wrapping my head around the game mechanics. So much of Mars Matrix revolves around using a shield to absorb and deflect bullets. The problem is the shield needs to recharge and I just was never able to understand how to properly manage this. Ultimately my high score was about 700 Million which is pitiful compared to some of the scores posted in that thread which were in the Tens of Billions! While I can say that Mars Matrix is an impressive and interesting game, it's just not one that I'm any good at. So I can find it fun in small bursts -- and probably more fun to try to play for survival. But playing for score is pretty out of the question for me unfortunately.
Another month and more additions!
[img width=700 height=933]http://i.imgur.com/7Qt9g.jpg[/img]
A couple Sega CD games... I've wanted to play Eternal Champions since it was released on the Genesis, so it was awesome to score the expanded SCD edition. Trivial Pursuit I'm pretty excited about. I love the board game. I'm a trivia fan. That one was a toss-in as part of trade with WildBil.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/kDd5j.jpg[/img]
And holy crap! A friend of mine hooked me up with the SCD backup cart at an outstanding price! This is from the same dude I got Eternal Champs from.
[img width=700 height=933]http://i.imgur.com/sbjxW.jpg[/img]
Saturn games! All of these acquired via trade on this very site. Some notable stuff like Duke 3D, Fighters Megamix, Bubble Bobble and... a shmup! Galactic Attack!
[img width=700 height=933]http://i.imgur.com/dmEgg.jpg[/img]
And a new Saturn. My Model 2 late October, so a friend of mine came through and sent me a Model 1 for $10 plus shipping. Unreal. I put a new battery in it and it's in even better shape than my first system.
[img width=700 height=933]http://i.imgur.com/vlRWg.jpg[/img]
Dreamcast commons I got either via trade or a few for peanuts at my local retro shop.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/5PuJz.jpg[/img]
GrayGhost81 managed to find me both DC Generator discs!
[img width=700 height=933]http://i.imgur.com/ldtsW.jpg[/img]
My same buddy who hooked me up with the Saturn also sent me Street Fighter Alpha 3 as part of a trade we're working on.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/OkEhu.jpg[/img]
And finally a blue VMU for which I already had a cap for.
All in all, a pretty solid month of collecting!
[img width=494 height=450]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-071/bf/U-071-S-01340-A.jpg[/img]
Ah, basketball: The one sport I actually care about in real life. Even in my earliest video game-playing years I was a fan of basketball games. Be it Double Dribble or NBA Jam, I always seemed to have at least one go-to basketball game per system. When I started getting into really collecting games five or so years back, I realized I needed a way to limit which basketball games I'd pick up since sports games are so cheap and abundant for yesteryear's hardware. So the obvious thing was this: if there's a Celtics uniform on the cover, I'll buy it. And this led me adding NBA 2K9 to my Christmas list after the C's won the 2008 Championship, landing Kevin Garnett on the cover. Really at the time I could differentiate between any of the modern NBA series, but that all changed with NBA 2k9. My wife got me the game for PS2 and it pretty much blew my mind just how far basketball games had come. There was so much realism, so much control. It felt like I was a coach watching and directing my team rather than just playing a game.
[img width=580 height=435]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/3/198053/nba2k_screen002.jpg[/img] [img width=552 height=480]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/3/198053/nba2k_screen038.jpg[/img]
By the time NBA 2K12 was released with Larry Bird as one of the three cover players, I had a PS3 to play it on. And though there were tweaks to the 2K9 formula (and of course now I was playing it in HD) really the game had been perfected already. But certainly it should be no surprise that a game series could refine itself so much over a dozen iterations.
I picked up NBA 2K for around two dollars while eagerly collecting Dreamcast games a few months back. This was the first game in the series -- and one born out of necessity. When the Dreamcast launched EA wanted nothing to do with Sega or their new console. Of course this hurt far more on the football front, as it meant Madden would not be the DC. But this was really a blessing in disguise as Sega launched their Sega Sports line of games and starting supplying gamers with the top-notch 2K franchises.
[img width=640 height=480]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/3/198053/nba2k_screen046.jpg[/img] [img width=552 height=480]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/3/198053/nba2k_screen035.jpg[/img]
What I find so impressive is that NBA 2K -- the first game in the series -- is completely solid. This new NBA game, built from the ground up, is already near-perfect. And certainly at the time it would have blown its competition out of the water. Even now that I own newer, revised editions of the 2K series, I can have so much fun playing the original and really not feel that I'm stuck with an inferior version. That's saying a lot for a two dollar sports game that's over a decade old.
So much about 2K was brilliant right out of the gate. The visual presentation is that of watching a game on ESPN. The players move realistically, even when the ball isn't in play. The commentators make sense (even if they will get a bit repetitive). The sound is there. The AI is (mostly) believable. Your players have their legit strengths based on their real life counterparts. It's all just so amazing how much effort Sega Sports put into making this a basketball game that felt like basketball rather than just another basketball video game.
Ultimately any of my complaints are nit-picky. Shooting free throws in this game can be a total drag if you're not using a player who's great at them. In order to shoot a free throw you have to apply just the right amount of pressure to the left and right triggers which can be really difficult, especially if beer is involved. Also later iterations of the series let you choose between a horizontal or vertical view of the court. Unless this option is buried in a menu I haven't found yet, it seems that only a vertical view is offered in this initial game which is not my preferred perspective. Again, these are tiny flaws in my book. Far from game-breaking. In fact if this was the only basketball game I owned, I'd still be more than happy to march my team through a full season.
[img width=450 height=648]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-060/bf/U-060-S-01830-A.jpg[/img]
I don't play a lot of racing games, but I often feel like I should. I'm a big fan of arcade style games -- ones you can pick up and play for short bursts and just have a blast without investing too much time into anything. But in general, racers are a genre I've just only dipped my toe into the pool of over the years. Oh sure I've got my staples. Super Mario Kart and Double Dash are two that I've always loved and played extensively. And just recently I've found that Sega All-Star Racing has even perhaps surpassed the Mario Kart series. OutRun is another game I'm a big fan of, though it's not quite a racing game as much as a driving game. Right? But the point is, my scope is pretty narrow on racers.
[img width=512 height=384]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/e/4/9/gfs_60367_2_6.jpg[/img] [img width=512 height=384]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/7/f/9/gfs_60367_2_7.jpg[/img]
Sega Rally Championship is actually a game I remember playing in an arcade a few years ago at an arcade for a birthday party. Of course that was sitting in a huge cabinet behind an actual wheel. And it was a lot of fun. I actually couldn't even remember the name of the game until I popped this Saturn disc in and realized I had played it before. I actually acquired this game as part of a bigger Saturn lot recently, and figured I wasn't even familiar with it. Certainly it doesn't seem to get the same nostalgic high praise as Daytona USA does to this day.
But Sega Rally is definitely quite a bit of fun. The physics took me a little while to get used to, and I spent a lot of time watching my car fishtail all over the place. Luckily the Saturn controller is well-suited for the game and feels quite comfortable. Although I have to wonder how well a proper racing wheel would perform on the console version.
[img width=512 height=384]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/1/b/d/gfs_60367_2_14.jpg[/img] [img width=512 height=384]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/8/0/d/gfs_60367_2_15.jpg[/img]
The sense of speed in Sega Rally is impressive. The rush of the arcade experience totally made it into the home version. In fact the announcer loudly warning you about approaching turns sounds completely like being in an arcade. And there are some nice additions to the console port as well. For instance the Time Attack Ghost Mode, or the ability to customize your car which helps make the limited car selection not as obvious. There are only three courses (Desert, Forest and Mountain) but that's to be expected of a racing game of its time. The split-screen 2-Player mode is also a great addition. And speaking of co-op, if you're lucky enough to track down an elusive NetLink re-release, you can actually still play this game online via the NetLink modem adapter.
All in all I think that Sega Rally Championship is a solid game. I'm not ready to make this one a new racing staple, but it has gotten me interested in checking out its sequel and just exploring other racers of the era in hopes of finding another to suck up way too much of my time.
[img width=550 height=794]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-060/bf/U-060-S-00800-A.jpg[/img]
What a pleasant surprise this was!
I've dabbled a bit with the Virtua Fighter series in the past, but never gotten too into it. Though I've always kind of understood why it was such an impressive game for its time, it also feels too real if that makes sense. For whatever reason that hasn't really clicked with me. At least not yet. When I got Fighting Vipers recently as part of a big lot of Saturn games, I figured it would be quite similar. I was under the impression that it was a spin-off of the VF series -- which it turns out isn't entirely correct, but that's beside the point. And in fact Fighting Vipers totally surprised me within moments of firing it up.
[img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/8/1/5/gfs_42151_2_2.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/e/d/5/gfs_42151_2_6.jpg[/img]
Having no familiarity with any of the characters, I selected Candy. Later my research would tell me that Candy (or Honey in Japan) is actually a bit of a Fighting Vipers fan-favorite and co-splay mainstay to this day. Who knew? Whenever I'm not familiar with a fighting game roster I usually go for whoever looks to be the smallest female character, as they tend to be among the fastest which is how I like to move.
Well it turned out Candy worked just fine for me. Surprisingly I was able to beat the game on a single credit on my first try. Which is not to say it's an overly easy game, but certainly the default difficulty is meant as a starting place for newcomers to get used to the game. The controls are straight out of Virtua Fighter -- utilizing the three-button setup of block, punch and kick. Thus far, I have not mastered using the block well enough. Though this simplified control scheme might seem too basic, it actually offers up a very deep fighting game with an amazingly long list of moves. Indeed there are literally hundreds of moves available to the player with all of them listed in the instruction manual. This is awesome considering publishers today milk every cent out of gamers by offering a game with a tiny manual and the option of a $20 strategy guide for learning moves.
[img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/d/b/5/gfs_42151_2_4.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/7/6/5/gfs_42151_2_7.jpg[/img]
Graphically the game looks alright. Certainly it's at least on par with the blocky 3D rendered fighters of the time. The music however is fantastic, leaning toward the sort of hard rock soundtrack that later games like Guilty Gear or BlazBlue would perfect. But what really makes Fighting Vipers an excellent game is the over-the-topness of it all. Where Virtua Fighter attempted to aim for realism, Fighting Vipers smashes any bit of reality. Mists of blood rain out of your opponent, their armor shatters off of them (which opens them up to being vulnerable to taking more damage per hit), and single attacks can send enemies flying many feet... sometimes through walls.
Even if the Arcade Mode is short, it is ridiculously fun. And the Saturn disc also includes two variations in Arrange Mode and Hyper Mode so that you won't get too bored too quickly. And I've enjoyed this game enough to research the series further. In fact I've already got a copy of Fighters Megamix pending via trade right now, which combines the Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter games into one big glorious mess. Until I play that one, I'll highly recommend fighting fans pick this one up.
[img width=513 height=450]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-071/bf/U-071-S-01180-A.jpg[/img]
Don't you love it when a game finally wins you over? You know what I mean, right? There's games out there that everyone seems to consider a classic and you don't get it. You try and try but just don't see what's so great about it. And then suddenly, maybe without even realizing it you just completely adore the game? Well, let me tell you a bit about Marvel Vs. Capcom 2.
If you've followed this blog at all in the past then you definitely know that I've always used Street Fighter II (well Turbo or Hyper or IIX or whatever you want to call it) as the high water mark by which I compare all 2D fighting games. And while everyone seemed to rave about MVC2, I never really spent any serious time with it until it got an HD re-release on PSN. I had actually just picked it up for around $30 on PS2 but hadn't had a chance to play it when I received a PSN giftcard and figured that the online-enabled PSN port would be the better way to experience the game. So I sold the PS2 copy and downloaded away. And of course these sprites looked great beaming through an HDMI cable, projected on an LCD monitor in hi-def wide screen. But the game... it just seemed so boring to me. It had this huge roster of awesome characters, but I could barely force myself to enjoy an entire 3-on-3 fight, nevermind the entire Arcade Mode.
[img width=567 height=468]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/2/250602/marvcap2_screen014.jpg[/img] [img width=567 height=468]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/2/250602/marvcap2_screen026.jpg[/img]
And so I assumed I really didn't like Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. Although it was widely considered the fan-favorite, I seemed to get far more enjoyment out of the third installment, and eventually the first. I tried to figure out what was wrong with it -- the music? The four-button simplicity? The sprites that probably should have been redrawn? Sure these were all marginal complaints, but they shouldn't equate to a ruined game by any means.
Recently I got a day off from work due to Hurricane Sandy and decided for some strange reason that MVC2 would be the game to pop in for the afternoon. I'm actually quite terrible at playing fighting games with arcade sticks, but since I don't have a legit Dreamcast fightpad I decided to fire it up with my Agetec to try to learn how to fight with a stick to get a sort of arcade realism going on. At first I had so much trouble pulling off simple moves. The classic Capcom Ryu projectile movement of down to forward + punch for instance often saw me jumping around like a flailing lunatic. But after about an hour I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable.
[img width=567 height=468]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/2/250602/marvcap2_screen027.jpg[/img] [img width=567 height=468]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/2/250602/marvcap2_screen021.jpg[/img]
But maybe weirder is that after that hour I was also having a ton of fun. But the real difference to me was replayability. In the PSN version I was used to having all 58 characters accessible from the get-go. This was perhaps overwhelming to the point of boredom if that makes sense (see: Devo's "Freedom of Choice"). However playing the Dreamcast port meant that two of my go-to fighters (Morrigan and Chun-Li) weren't even available. So instead I had to play with Wolverine (who is a favorite), Ryu (who is an "okay, I like him") and a wild-card. And then I slowly started unlocking characters.
After a couple of days playing sporadically I had unlocked a handful of new folks, among them an alternate Wolverine and my beloved Morrigan. And yet nothing makes me want to slow down my progress. No, instead I'm loving mixing up my trio and unlocking more of the roster in a "gotta catch em all" style mania. Hell, I still don't have Chun-Li or Cammy or Akuma or Felicia or Mega Man or... well you get the idea. So yeah. It turns out I kind of love Marvel Vs. Capcom -- when it's done right, like on the Dreamcast.
So this past month I decided to broaden my collecting goals. Rather than focus exclusively on Dreamcast, I started picking up Sega CD and Saturn stuff as well. I find this adds an even greater selection of interesting games to my library, as the whole early optical media days presents amazing variety from killer 2D games, awkward 3D games and even impressive arcade ports. What's crazy is that this month turned out to be perhaps the most I've added to my collection in a single month this year. Let's take a look, shall we?
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/wb1Yll.jpg[/img]
First off, I picked up an X'Eye via trade with our very own Duke.Togo. This is actually my household's second X'Eye, though the first is my wife's and resides in our living room. I wanted this one for my main gaming setup. I love the X'Eye. Sure, the CDX is a bit sleeker, but it's also more expensive. Plus the X'Eye is a karaoke machine. Eat your heart out, CDX! Oh and I nabbed that 6-button controller elsewhere.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/8Bzlyl.jpg[/img]
Some common additions to my US Sega CD library, but good stuff no doubt. Sonic CD is definitely an all-time favorite SCD game, and I was really excited to find Mickey Mania as Mickey's Genesis platformer games were great. Most of these were trades or cheap local pick-ups.
[img width=700 height=933]http://i.imgur.com/fkVOS.jpg[/img]
A few pack-in games... the more common edition of Sewer Shark along with the X'Eye pack-ins of Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia and a karaoke sampler.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/vKt8fl.jpg[/img]
And finally I've got a copy of Night Trap! It's the blue cardboard re-release version, and in great condition.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/7RMLml.jpg[/img]
Now a pretty big haul of US Saturn games. Mostly commons, but some good stuff in there like D and Fighting Vipers. That 3-Pack is cool as well and came with a really awesome Saturn poster. Most of the Saturn games came from a cheap-o eBay lot.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/bPFbul.jpg[/img]
Oh... and Shining Wisdom!
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/0V2N0l.jpg[/img]
Not to mention the Nights boxset, which netted me an extra 3D controller. Got this and Shining Wisdom via trade with Ghost Soldier here.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/gJylMl.jpg[/img]
Also managed to grab a copy of Dead Or Alive, which was only released in Japan. This was nabbed off eBay for cheap.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/DfLtWl.jpg[/img]
I picked up the Saturn Stunner lightgun for just $7 at my local retro shop. And got that Sega 3 button controller as part of trade with barracuda.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/KtOuKl.jpg[/img]
Needed a Saturn arcade stick, so grabbed this boxed Virtua Stick off eBay for $20 shipped. It's certainly nothing amazing, but it'll work for the price. Plus it's cool to have an official Sega stick.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/dSMUEl.jpg[/img]
And of course some Dreamcast US games. Definitely some good stuff in there. Most of these were trades or acquired through friends.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/TKVQIl.jpg[/img]
Plus a few stand-outs: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Marvel Vs Capcom 2 were both from a friend of mine, while the Dream Passport 3 I picked up locally. Dream Passport 3 was a Japanese web browser, but what made it interesting was it had Genesis and Turbo Grafx-16 emulators built in so you could download ROM's off of the Japanese Sega service. Think of it as an early precursor to PSN, XBLA or Virtual Console.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/lEKVil.jpg[/img]
Another trade netted me the Seaman box set, complete with microphone!
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/Fx0xil.jpg[/img]
And a good friend of mine gave me a great deal on the Dreamcast Agetec stick, which is easily one of my favorite arcade sticks of all time.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/UkiO1l.jpg[/img]
That same friend also found me a Japanese Dreamcast keyboard in Typing of the Dead box! He managed to nab it off eBay for super cheap and passed the savings right on to me.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/tuJEhl.jpg[/img]
I also picked up one of those Dreamcast SD card readers off eBay, though I haven't had a chance to try it yet. And GreyGhost81 here hooked me up with a free box for a VMU.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/liKsUl.jpg[/img]
Locally I managed to nab five issues of Sega Visions magazine. They're all in great condition.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/XcUkcl.jpg[/img]
But probably the coolest swag I've found lately is this "Sega Swirl" t-shirt!
[img width=450 height=636]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-048/bf/U-048-S-00860-A.jpg[/img]
I was twelve years old when Mortal Kombat was ported to home consoles one fateful Mortal Monday. Twelve was the perfect age to get sucked into the hype that MK had created. In fact I was even a bit of a classroom celebrity -- the kid who owned a Genesis game rated MA-13! Indeed Mortal Kombat was one of those huge games that caused you to suddenly have a lot of friends. Friends who wanted to come over after school and see some of these much talked-about Fatalities. And let me tell you, many afternoons were spent just like that.
However when the sequel was released a year later it all but made the original obsolete. Mortal Kombat II was an improvement in every way. It looked far better graphically, had a much bigger roster and many more moves and Fatalities. Indeed the second game would remain my favorite of the series, probably even to this day.
[img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/7/d/3/gfs_52180_2_3.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/c/9/f/gfs_52180_1_19.jpg[/img]
Over the past few years I've encountered ports of the original game a couple times. Probably most substantial were the PS2 (via Mortal Kombat Deception's Premium Pack) and
PSN (via the Arcade Kollection) ports. These were both intended to be arcade-perfect versions of Mortal Kombat. And playing them seemed to only reinforce the idea that the original MK was really not a very great game. Perhaps it was all the blood and guts that made it fun at the time? But it seemed to me that it was really a clunky mess.
But recently I happened upon the Sega CD version and felt a compulsion to add it to my collection post-haste. The odd thing; I've sunk hours into this game in the past couple weeks. Maybe it's just the arcade version that I hate? The arcade's AI could certainly be a big part of it. Or maybe it's just that playing Mortal Kombat with a Genesis controller just feels right? Whatever it is, I'm actually having a surprisingly good time re-living the excitement, blood and guts of those elementary school days.
[img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/3/d/d/gfs_52180_2_13.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/7/0/b/gfs_52180_2_57.jpg[/img]
The Sega CD version is basically just the Genesis port with a few differences. First I'll start by saying that yes, load-times are present due to the optical media. You will have short waits between rounds but this is only really bothersome when you are greeted with loading between enemies in the endurance rounds. Personally, I'm not one to find loading all that big an issue, so let's move on to the improvements. When first load the game up you'll get a nice blast of nostalgia in the form of the original Mortal Kombat TV commercial. Remember flocks of kids running down city streets screaming the title of the game? In fact as a bit of an awesome easter egg, if you throw the game in your CD player Track 17 is actually one of the techno tracks by The Immortals. But perhaps thee reason to own the Sega CD port is that entering a "blood code" is no longer necessary. Yup, this version is rated MA-17 and has all the gore unlocked from the get-go.
It's funny how your opinion of a game can change over time -- and sometimes it even changes back. Mortal Kombat is really good example of this, and I'm glad I stumbled upon it once again and found myself having so much fun with the smaller roster and more limited move-set.
[img width=598 height=600]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/7/9/1/196791_41807_front.jpg[/img]
Y'know it's kind of funny. I'm a huge horror movie fan, but I don't play nearly as many horror games as you might expect. I mean, I certainly lean towards macabre games in general -- say my love of Darkstalkers for instance. But when it comes to survival horror, it seems I end up collecting these kinds of games more than actually playing them. A lot of that might just come down to lifestyle. The truth is I often gravitate more toward shorter games or arcade style games over long affairs. But it being October and all I figured I'd continue to dig through my collection looking for anything horror-themed that I may finally spend some quality time with.
When it comes to survival horror, there's obviously the staples -- the Resident Evils and Silent Hills -- that I'm certainly familiar with. I'm also a pretty big fan of the Clock Tower series. But sometimes it's really fun to look into more overlooked titles. Blue Stinger was a one-off game published rather early in the Dreamcast's lifespan where it remained an exclusive.
[img width=638 height=478]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/c/7/e/gfs_41807_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=639 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/6/a/e/gfs_41807_2_2.jpg[/img]
The game opens with an impressive ten minute CGI intro with some gorgeous animations and horrible voice acting. Oddly the bad acting made it even better for me, as it really felt like I was watching a b-movie. Next thing I know I'm wandering around Dinosaur Island which has just been hit by a meteorite. "Dinosaur Island"? Hilarious. And within minutes I'm seeing a flying naked ghostly woman and dudes with big insect-arms growing out of their bodies coming after me. In short, the visuals are ridiculous in a really bad horror flick kind of way -- something I can totally appreciate.
[img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/3/0/e/gfs_41807_2_4.jpg[/img] [img width=637 height=477]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/7/b/f/gfs_41807_2_9.jpg[/img]
Game-play wise Blue Stinger has its ups and downs. The controls are (thank goodness) not tank-controls. This is pretty refreshing for a survival horror game. It's probably a bit easier than most games of the genre seeing as how most progression is made by simply locating a key-card to access the next area. Not to mention the fact that there are vending machines in most areas that provide you with healing items and ammo. Thankfully saving your game only requires finding certain save spots as well. Sure all of this makes the experience a little less grueling, but in a sense that makes Blue Stinger a more campy fun horror game which is maybe an alternative to more well known series.
I was initially surprised that the game didn't spawn any sequels, though some research led me to discover that the developers had instead gone on to make Illbleed on the Dreamcast, which appears to be even more over-the-top and a bit of a cult-classic that I still need to hunt down.
EDIT: shout-out to my buddy GrayGhost81 who sent me this game for free!
[img width=550 height=798]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-060/bf/U-060-S-00560-A.jpg[/img]
So here's the thing. I knew very little about D. I knew it was a survival horror game with a cool cover, and not a whole lot more. Yesterday I received it in a trade from fellow RFGenner Barracuda and figured I'd throw it in to make sure it worked. I fired up the Saturn, and opened the manual to see how it worked. "Due to its story, this game has a two hour time limit," I read. "In keeping with the time limit, this game does not contain a pause feature." ...Interesting.
And what began with me testing the game out, turned into me being totally sucked in. Two hours (or a little less really) later, the game had reached its conclusion. I suppose that if I had bought this game when it was first released, then I may have been upset. I mean, two hours? A game that has a linear story, and puzzles I had solved the first time. Surely there'd be little re-playability. I would have maybe felt that I had spent $50 on a game that had run its course in one sitting. Right?
[img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/d/0/a/gfs_54839_2_4.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/f/b/f/gfs_54839_2_15.jpg[/img]
But who knows how I would have really felt then? All I can tell you is how I feel now. I feel thrilled to have played this game. I feel thrilled that I've discovered this series. There are some games out there that go so far beyond being just a fun game -- they are experiences to be had. Special games that you hold close to you forever and are willing to play again and again because of how they affected you. Games like Shadow of the Colossus or Heavy Rain come to mind. These are games not so far removed from an engrossing cinematic experience. Like a favorite movie that you can watch over and over again finding new tiny nuances to latch onto with each new viewing.
D starts off with an amazing cinematic cut scene that puts you in a deserted hospital -- the scene of gruesome murders committed by your father, a doctor. Suddenly the hospital turns into a big abandoned castle-esque mansion. It soon becomes clear that reality isn't part of this story. Instead, it is a story mostly told through mood somewhat akin to a David Lynch film.
[img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/b/0/e/gfs_54839_2_18.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/0/c/f/gfs_54839_2_10.jpg[/img]
The controls may take a few moments to get used to. The point-of-view is first person most of the time, though interactions with the environment take place in the third person. Much of the game consists of solving various puzzles in order to access new areas, somewhat reminiscent of Myst. However the gruesome flashbacks and other bits of disturbing imagery are all far removed from the somewhat relaxing tone of a game like Myst. Indeed this is a creepy game. One where although very little happens you can't help but feel a certain sense of dread (and perhaps urgency from the imposed two hour limit).
Though actual bits of story are told through some rather laughable voice acting, it is nonetheless an incredible experience. One that I won't spoil for you. None of the puzzles are brutally hard. In fact your biggest downfall may well be over-thinking some of them. But at just two hours there's really no excuse for you to not experience this game. After beating it myself I started doing some research and it turns out I got the "bad" ending. Luckily enough D was so compelling to me that I have no problem with the idea of playing through it again just to see the "good" ending. If you are a fan of the macabre, or just fascinatingly unique games in general, I highly urge you to seek out D.
[img width=550 height=787]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-048/bf/U-048-S-00160-A.jpg[/img]
I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the Sega CD. Perhaps because I was one of the kids that bought into the hype and begged my parents for the pricy add-on that Christmas season. And although its library is riddled with some pretty awkward and crappy games, they are often also quite interesting. Case in point, Bram Stoker's Dracula -- an attempt at combining classic side-scrolling action with the digitized actor craze of the Mortal Kombat days as well as the Full Motion Video craze that the Sega CD brought with it.
Certainly you're all aware of the film from which this game was adapted. Bram Stoker's Dracula was huge in 1992 -- directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring the likes of Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Anthony Hopkins and Wynona Rider. The film went on to win three Academy Awards. But why should we care about any of that here? Well because whereas earlier games licensed from film properties simply took characters from the movie, made some sprites that looked like them and asked you to platform around collecting stuff, Sony Imagesoft actually used clips of the film and digitized actors. (See if you can guess which of these pictures below is the film and which is the game!)
[img width=401 height=320]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5rfXLvTJP1k/Tw5ENKlpkRI/AAAAAAAACZU/G4mqjAtI0Yg/s1600/oldman+dracula.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/2/7/d/gfs_56503_2_29.jpg[/img]
Now here's the thing -- Dracula isn't completely terrible. But it is bad.
First let's take a look at what this game did well. The first thing that jumped out to me was the music. Thanks of course to the CD-ROM format, we're blessed with wonderful gothic chamber music throughout the game. It's really a fantastically fitting soundtrack that couldn't have been replicated via chiptunes. There's also some very cool 3D scrolling effects where you change direction of the path you're taking, all the while continuing on a 2D plane. It's a bit hard to describe, but looks impressive when you experience it unexpectedly in the game.
[img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/d/d/2/gfs_56503_2_15.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/3/a/9/gfs_56503_2_30.jpg[/img]
However if there's one major downfall of Dracula, it would be that Sony was just a bit too ambitious with this project. Really they had some great ideas, and were perhaps really onto something which is great when talking about a licensed property. They were smart enough to at least attempt to emulate another great vampire-killer game (that was no doubt inspired by the Dracula story itself), Castlevania. But the problem here is that Castlevania and all its primitive sprites controlled so much better than this. Indeed the digitized actor here moves incredibly slow. And his jumping, punching and kicking are also slow and clunky, which seems pretty unfair when enemies are moving quickly and swarming at you from all directions on the screen. Sadly though you'll be inclined to want the game to better than it is and see it to the end, you'll often find yourself frustratingly losing all your fifteen lives before the second level is even over.
With that said, I'd recommend Bram Stoker's Dracula to fans of the macabre who must horde such games, or those curious about the Sega CD format's growing pains. But beyond that this is probably one best left overlooked.
Well September isn't quite over yet, but I won't be getting any other Dreamcast items in the next few days. So let's take a look at what I did manage to acquire this month, shall we?
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/ZKUFHl.jpg[/img]
First up is the additions to my US licensed library. Nine new games isn't too shabby. In fact it would have been ten, but the copy of Dave Mira I got turned out to have a defective disc, so I'm not counting that as an addition. (With that said, somebody please send me a disc-only Dave Mira!) Half of these were picked up locally, and half bought online. The real standout for me this month is Marvel Vs. Capcom. I'm really glad to have added that one to my collection.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/78uhCl.jpg[/img]
Next is a couple of loose accessories -- an official keyboard and Jumpack. Both I got from eStarland, and in the past any accessories I ordered listed as being 'Used - Complete' came boxed, but sadly these two arrived loose. To be honest, I wouldn't have bought the keyboard had I known it was loose. (So again, someone please send me a keyboard box!)
[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/mwMwX.jpg[/img]
Next is a couple of really nice boxed accessories -- an official mouse and PAL ("blue swirl") controller. The mouse I got online, while the controller I was thrilled to find locally. Both of them are super-minty inside -- both were still wrapped in plastic and looking untouched.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/tIjkdl.jpg[/img]
The guide for Slave Zero was another local find. Note the small rip in the lower right of the cover. But I couldn't let pass it up collecting dust in a shop for how-many-more-years. Seeing as how I already owned the game, it was nice to add this to my collection.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/Vlnsel.jpg[/img]
And finally one of my favorite additions of the month -- a Jet Grind Radio t-shirt. Admittedly it's not an officially licensed product, but for a Cafe Press item I'd say it looks damn good. You can't tell from the picture I took, but the colors are legit.
|
|
|
|
