Hackers never cease to amaze me. Capcom should give these guys a job.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Random Screenshot 13: Lester the Unlikely
Lester the Unlikely (SNES) Visual Concepts Entertainment 1994
Video games allow players to step out of the bounds of the ordinary and explore life as more exciting figures like ninjas, rogues, bounty hunters, etc. In Lester the Unlikely, players control your average geek. One day, our awful hero, Lester, is reading a comic book when he falls asleep on a cargo ship (why is anyone's guess) and awakes on a mysterious island. On the island, he is forced to find a way to survive with little fighting ability and the slowest walking animation in history. Lester runs from most enemies on sight, and the player has to guide him back slowly to face his fears each time...yes, the game is that stupid. Along the way Lester takes damage from falling roughly 2 feet and makes annoying grunt sounds constantly. The music is really terrible...it sounds like a flute being played through someone's asshole. The graphics are completely mediocre; it looks like an Amiga adventure game ported to SNES by a group of chimps. The game's difficulty is very high because the controls work piss poor, and the levels are too long and uninteresting for it's own good. I have read that Lester gets a little stronger later in the game, but playing to that point would drive a normal man to the brink of insanity. Avoid Lester the Unlikely just like you would his real life counterpart (like the plague.)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Random Screenshot 12: Toilet Kids
Toilet Kids (PC Engine) Media Rings 1992
Imagine one night, you go to the toilet to take a dump and suddenly you are teleported into the magical world of shit. That is the story of Toilet Kids. After the strange opening shown above, the boy gains super powers that allow him to fight evil turds and Egyptian dudes...that live in the toilet for some reason. Sadly aside from the eccentric title and opening, the game is a bare-bones generic shooter with dull music and poor graphics. The game only has four levels, most of which make no reference to the potty humor that is expected after reading the title. Toilet Kids was only released in Japan, and for once, I am happy this abomination stayed overseas.
Places to Buy Import Video Games
I have ordered plenty of import games over the years, but realize many people are unaware of where to buy Japanese and European games. I have done my best to compile a list of retailers and other sites that sell imports to foreigners.
Play-Asia
This site is based out of Hong Kong and deals in games from all over Asia. They are very good on stocking new items and random things like game soundtracks. The prices are full Japanese retail and shipping can be expensive. They also stock older retro imports at very high prices. Play-Asia excels in having an easy to navigate site and great search tool. Just beware if you order from their site, shipping can take awhile.
NCSX
Based in New York City, this site specializes in newer games and pre-orders. The shipping is cheaper and faster than Play-Asia, but their restocking times are longer. They have a few retro imports, and the prices seem heavily inflated. Their site is broken into two smaller sites; one for pre-orders and another for stocked items. This odd setup makes navigating NCSX a nightmare.
AmiAmi
This site is based out of a Japanese retail store. It is one of the few stores that accepts foreign purchases by credit card. They specialize in new games, pre-orders, and toys. AmiAmi's coolest feature is the inclusion of the exclusive pre-order bonuses that usually stay in Japan. The site usually sells out of pre-order allocations very quickly, so if you want the cool Japanese bonus items, order early!
Games of Japan
This site is owned by Hit-Japan from eBay and is operated out of Japan. They offer new games and retro games. Their specialty is retro stock at affordable prices. You can also request an old game, and they will attempt to find it for you. I got Tryrush Deppy for $35 this way. The shipping takes awhile, so go with EMS if you order from Games of Japan. Highly recommended for fans of retro games, just be cautious of the expensive shipping.
GameBaz
This site is similar to Games of Japan. They specialize in retro imports and have cheap prices. The shipping is quicker than Games of Japan, but the EMS rule still applies. My one complaint for GameBaz is that they will allow you to order Out of Stock items without knowing it is Out of Stock. I purchased a game there, and it took them a full week to tell me they didn't even have it. I got a quick refund, but that is just bad business.
Amazon (Europe, Japan)
While technically you can't order games from other regions through Amazon, you can email the sellers to ask if they ship internationally. You can find some amazing deals on imports if you are just willing to email foreign sellers and pay a higher shipping fee. This is the most simple way to find European games like Tingle or Last Window for a reasonable price.
eBay, other auction sites
Auction sites can be a mixed bag. New imports usually sell for more than actual retail price, and pre-ordering through eBay is borderline retarded. You can get the occasional deal on some retro stuff, but most of the time a site like Games of Japan is better to use. The auction sites are great places to find rare games, just expect to pay full collector value if you do.
There are other sites like Gamebrink and JapanVideoGames, both of which I am unfamiliar with and know almost nothing about. If you have any suggestions I left out, feel free to place them in the comments section below.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Random Screenshot 11: Lost Odyssey
Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360) Mistwalker 2008
Good J-RPGs are few and far between on the current gen systems. I would love to play a good Final Fantasy, but all hope seems lost on that front. In 2008, fans of J-RPGs were given one solid Final Fantasy-like game from Mistwalker, which is comprised of a few notable ex-Squaresoft employees like Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of Final Fantasy. The story revolves around a group of immortals trying to find a way back to their home world. The graphics are outstanding and the music is solid RPG fare. I loved the fighting system, it was very old school, but rewarding. However, the game becomes pretty broken once you get a skill called Gamble, because it does massive damage most of the time and it is easy to spam in every battle. Besides that little problem, the game never quite reaches the greatness of the J-RPG classics like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 7, but I don't think it really tries to do that. Lost Odyssey seems to be more about giving players a competent and playable role-playing experience, which is more than I can say for most of Square-Enix's current gen games. Lost Odyssey is very long (I spent about 40+ hours on my first play through) and it can be found pretty cheaply these days; if you loved the 16-bit J-RPG era then don't pass this one up.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Mega Man X: Most Wanted DLC in Marvel vs. Capcom 3
According to a poll on the Capcom Unity forums, Mega Man X is the most wanted DLC character for Marvel vs. Capcom 3. He ranked in at a whopping 34%, beating out other notable characters like Strider Hiryu and Phoenix Wright. I am all for his inclusion, and hope Capcom listens to the fans. He is the only cool Mega Man to not be featured in a crossover title as the original Mega Man and Rockman Volnutt have both been previously included in Marvel vs. Capcom and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
A few people have complained that Mega Man X is too similar to the original Mega Man, but they don't seem to be aware of Mega Man X's abilities. Mega Man X gains the Hadouken and Shoryuken in X1 and X2, which makes him sort of like a robot version of Ken. X also gets different armors that allow him to do things like fly, gain stronger defense, and upgrade the buster shot. Another cool thing is the mecha suit that X can pilot makes him sort of like Tron Bonne.
Mega Man X deserves his time to shine. Make it happen and you will take my money, Capcom!
Incredible Metal Cover of Devils Crush Theme
I always loved the theme for the main table in Devil's Crush. By sheer luck, I found a very talented Japanese band called Sword of Justice, who did a badass metal cover on Youtube. Feel free to rock out!
Random Screenshot 10: Moonwalker
Moonwalker (Genesis) Sega 1990
In the late 1980s, America couldn't get enough Michael Jackson. His album, Thriller, was a massive hit and he even made a motion picture called Moonwalker. After the success of the movie, Sega decided to cash in on Jackson fever and release Moonwalker for the Genesis. Michael's objective is saving children (I hope) that are hidden throughout the stages. The background music is 16 bit versions of his classic songs like "Billie Jean" and "Bad", and it can change if you use his "dance magic." The "dance magic" causes every enemy on screen to start dancing like Michael until they die of heart failure or something equally idiotic. The screenshot is from the first stage which itself is taken from the "Smooth Criminal" music video. Besides "dance magic" other weird stuff includes Michael's pet monkey, Bubbles, guiding you to the stage exits and a power-up that turns Michael into a giant robot. The game's value went up with the death of the King of Pop, so the easiest way to play this one would be an emulator. If you can't get enough Michael Jackson, check out his cameo in Space Channel 5 for Dreamcast. It is equally fucking nuts and awesome.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Random Screenshot 09: Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shou
Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shou (PS2) Sammy 2004
The long running Berserk manga has been the subject of two video games. The first Berserk game was on the Dreamcast. It was a side story that takes place after the Eclipse arc, and has Guts seeking a cure for Caska in a new kingdom. A sequel was made for the Playstation 2 called Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shou. The second game follows Guts adventures directly from the manga. It starts in the aftermath of the Eclipse arc and goes all the way to one of his battles with Griffith's new demonic Band of the Hawk. It also has some fan service battles like a dream level where Guts battles Griffith and the old Band of the Hawk. Berserk MH opens during the battle with human Zodd, which is freakin' epic and sets the tone for the rest of game. This title never came to America, so you will need a mod chip or Swap Disc to play it. Berserk MH is one of the best hack and slashers for the PS2 and a must buy for fans of the manga or anime.
Add Me on Xbox Live
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Random Screenshot 08: Seaman
Seaman (Dreamcast) Sega 1999
The Dreamcast had plenty of quirky games, but Seaman was by far the strangest one. In the game, you raise a small man-faced creature in an aquarium till it reaches maturity. When the game starts, Leonard Nimoy guides you on the correct way to raise your Seaman. As it evolves the creature gains some human qualities and via a microphone attachment, it gains the ability to talk with the player. The Seaman creatures are very rude in conversation. They like to ask personal questions like your birthday date and then make terrible jokes about it. Seaman also makes note of the Dreamcast internal calendar. If you are chatting with him on a Saturday night, he may ask why you don't have a girlfriend. My favorite part: if you talk shit to Seaman, he will talk shit right back to you; how cool is that? A sequel was released in Japan for the Playstation 2. Sadly, the follow-up was never released in the US.
First Impressions of Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweets
Cave recently released the region free two-pack, Muchi Muchi Pork and Pink Sweets. My order came in from NCSX yesterday, and last night I played through both games. I was immediately impressed by the cool hub screen that linked both games. It was designed in a cool manner with each game having it's own dedicated screen with a small arcade machine running the port beside the respective character art. I checked out the options for each game, and found plenty of wallpaper varieties and a graphic smoothing "on/off" selection.
After messing with the options, I went in and played through both games, back to back. Each game is pretty unforgiving in difficulty, and the achievements are all in Japanese; so I have no idea how to trigger them. Here is a brief rundown on other random things about each game:
Muchi Muchi Pork's graphics look like a Naomi port to Dreamcast, which isn't really a bad thing. There is alot of detail in the stages like small pigs running around and an insane amount of enemies onscreen. The music sounds happy and fun for the most part with the exception of some thumpin' boss tunes. Honestly the whimisical tunes feel slightly out of place in a crazy bullet hell shmup. As I mentioned before, the game is brutally difficult to complete so expect to die and die and die some more. It will be a long time before someone 1 credit clears this beast. It doesn't help that some of the slowdown was taken out of the game which makes thing much harder.
There was no English text in the game, which isn't surprising but it would have been nice if I could have read the boss conversations. The characters all look sorta goofy but the theme of the game is about pig people, so it is to be expected. One cool thing about the game was a DLC card came inside the case which unlocks the Matsuri version. This version allows you to face the bosses from Pink Sweets in MMP, which is a nice touch from Cave. I will play through that mode later today.
Pink Sweets had many more wallpaper options than MMP. Like MMP had ten wallpapers, and PS had around forty wallpapers. The art looks really stylish in PS, so I had a hard time choosing a cool wallpaper for the sides of the screen because I liked them all. This game looks like a Naomi port too, but I was more impressed with some of the boss sprites. They are massive and imposing monsters modeled after toy robots. The boss battles also one up MMP, because the conversations are in English. The English is pretty broken, but at least I can tell what the hell the characters are saying to one another.
The music is much better in PS. The soundtrack sounds like a crazy techno club, which is fitting considering the game's manic action. One complaint I have is about the Sky stage. It is the sixth stage, and it seems to go on forever. The background is dull and the enemies are relentless there. It isn't even the last stage either!
Overall I liked this one slightly better than MMP; I just wish there was a bomb attack, because I don't care much for the recharging laser system.
In the end, I am impressed with both games. I had only played them both briefly at Magfest two years ago, so it is nice to own a homeport. I don't understand the scoring in each game yet, but I think they explain it over on Cave Stg. The game is region free and you get two Cave danmaku for the price of one, so there is no reason not to import this title. It is available at NCSX and Play-Asia, the first print has the free DLC card included.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
An Interesting Interview With Yu Suzuki
Yu Suzuki, the father of Virtua Fighter and Shenmue, was recently interviewed by Gamespot at the Game Developers Conference. Suzuki was there to receive the Pioneer Award for his contributions to the word of gaming. In the interview he mentions the possibility of Sega letting him make Shenmue 3 and also discusses the influences for Space Harrier. I hope Sega let's him continue his work, the man is a genius and Shenmue deserves to be finished, the fans demand it. Yu Suzuki made his parent company a lot money over the years, let the man finish his dream!
The interview link is below.
http://www.gamespot.com/events/gdc2011/story.html?sid=6301637
Random Screenshot 07: Rockstar Table Tennis
Rockstar Table Tennis (Xbox 360) Rockstar Games 2006
Rockstar Table Tennis is a strange release. Rockstar Games is mostly known for the Grand Theft Auto series, and more recently Red Dead Redemption. However, during the early days of the XBox 360, they took a break from making action sandbox titles to give the world the best ping pong sim ever. Rockstar Table Tennis has super realistic graphics that stand up to the best looking games on the system, and it features excellent table tennis physics for those who care about that kinda thing. The AI can be challenging, almost too challenging. The game is also infamous for having a few brutally difficult achievements, but that shouldn't deter anyone from checking this title out. It is a wonderful multi-player experience, and it can be found for dirt cheap.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Random Screenshot 06: Gitaroo Man
Gitaroo Man (PS2) Koei 2001
Before Guitar Hero came along, there weren't many games about playing guitar music. Although the music game genre had been popular for years in Japan, the closest thing to a home guitar game was Guitar Freaks, which was a Japan-only release. Thankfully Koei brought American gamers, Gitaroo Man, in 2002. The game follows U-1 (get it? har har) as he becomes the legendary Gitaroo player and battles evil across the galaxy. The game play is pretty unique as you control the guitar with the right analog as it creates a moving stream along the screen. Each level/song is a battle against an evil musician for the most part, with the exception being a stage featuring a sweet acoustic love song that doubles as the best song in the game. Gitaroo Man became pretty rare after it's initial release, but a PSP port was released a few years back. The game is pretty strange overall, but the soundtrack is fantastic and the story is pretty hilarious too. I've had friends that abhor music games, but this one still draws them in somehow...it is just too quirky to not like. The screen shot is U-1's second stage victory pose, which is followed by a sexy voice saying, "Ohhhhhhh Gitaroooo Mannnn." I guess his sick guitar solo is supposed to trigger an orgasm in the game's announcer. If only real life worked this way.
Kusoge of the Week: Time Cop
The enemy AI in Time Cop is pretty weak in the first stage but it suddenly ramps up to unbelievably cheap levels in the third stage. I never made it past this stage, but I am pretty certain the game never improves. Time Cop really fails in every department, yet it is so bad that it is hilarious. The music is so lame that it stirs a chuckle in me. The first level is so overly long and maze like that it makes me curious what the hell the developers were thinking, but there is one highlight every enemy in this stage is weak to Van Damme's ultimate Time Cop tactic, a crouching leg kick. Wait what...a crouching kick?
Recommendation:
If you feel like indulging in some bad Van Damme gaming and don't want to play Street Fighter: The Movie Game, check out this old kusoge. I would suggest drinking heavily before playing!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Random Screenshot 05: Bible Adventures
Bible Adventures (NES) Wisdom Tree 1991
Crap publisher, Wisdom Tree, was born from the ashes of Color Dreams, a company famous for making extremely poor, unlicensed games for the Nintendo and Sega Genesis. Wisdom Tree took this awful formula and applied it to games based on Christianity, most likely in an effort to exploit unknowing church goers looking for wholesome toys for their kids. Bible Adventures takes your favorite stories from the holy book, and defiles them ( one mini-game involves throwing around baby Moses like a football.) In the screen shot, Noah is grabbing animals for the ark in the most stupid way possible. This game is pure shit, but collectors will pay plenty for mint Wisdom Tree "classics". Unless you are a collector, my advice is to avoid this game at all cost. Bible Adventures is so bad, playing it may turn you to Atheism.
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