Old Game Commercial 06: Revenge of Shinobi & Super Monaco GP

This commercial just screams 1990s! Half-assed ninja combat? Check. Hyperbolic ranting that makes no sense? Check. Random pairing of two completely different games? Check. Revenge of Shinobi still stands as a pretty cool game in 2012, but Super Monaco GP is completely forgettable. Too bad the commercial didn't pair Shinobi and Phantasy Star 2 instead. I miss the old, crazy Sega from this era.

Sonic 20th Anniversary Fan Art

It is Sonic's 20th anniversary this year. I used to love the Sonic the Hedgehog games as child. However, these days most of the Sonic games are pretty bad. I hope Sonic Generations reproduces the good old days of speed and fun platforming levels. Here is some fan art to celebrate this Sega All Star and his friends.

Don't feel left out Nintendo fans. Here is one for you...

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

The Best Franchises Abandoned by Sega

Sega has a long history of building up cool franchises and then ignoring them like a dead orphan. Here is the rundown of franchises that would still make money if Sega wasn't retarded:

Alex Kidd- The awesome Master System and early Genesis had some good games going for it. Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (I miss Shinobi too) all hold a special place in my oldschool gaming heart. These games were nice platformers with enough charisma to compete with any Mario game. Too bad Sonic came along in the early 90's and Alex Kidd (Sega's initial mascot) was tossed to the side in favor of the blue hedgehog and his "Blast Processing". He has made a small comeback recently in a kart racer and Sega tennis game, but Alex has not starred in his own title in a long time. I think the time is ripe for Alex Kidd to return. Give him a new 2-D XBLA or PSN title...better yet call it Alex Kidd in Golden Axe World.Phantasy Star- I know we get online Phantasy Star games all them time, but I am talking about the original series. Phantasy Star started as an awesome space adventure RPG on the Master System. The series ended with Phantasy Star IV on the Genesis, which happens to be the best RPG on the system and a strong contender for best RPG of the 16-bit generation, only behind the phenomenal Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. Sega re-releases this series regularly on it's collection disc, so why not give it another shot? A new Phantasy Star could become the JRPG to beat Mass Effect...or at the least the horrid Star Ocean series.
Streets of Rage- The Streets of Rage series is the pinnacle of beat em ups. I loved Final Fight, but where was the kickass music? In Sega's SOR, that's where. I don't know when walking around punching 500 dudes in the face or kicking crazy trannys in the nuts got old, but it is time to bring it back. Also what other series let you do those cool things with a freakin' kangeroo?Shenmue- The Dreamcast is my favorite retro system. Shenmue is one of the reasons it means so much to me. Ryo Hazuki, young karate student, has his father murdered right in front of him by a Chinese gangster known as Lan Di. Ryo then travels around Japan and China to find the bastard and uncover a plot about some magic mirrors along the way. The series stopped at the second game however, and Sega doesn't seem to care about finishing the plot since they lost a ton of money on the original two. I read in a recent issue of RetroGamer, that the rights to Shenmue are being offered by Sega to any company willing to finish the series. I hope someone takes them up of this offer. I hope even more that the company to pick it up is Bioware.Golden Axe- Golden Axe: Beast Rider doesn't count as a new game in the series, I don't care what Dave Halverson has to say about it. Golden Axe was the essential Conan ripoff. It had brutal violence, scantly clad women, swords, and sorcery. I also loved kicking the crap out of little gnomes to get more magic. Here is some advice for Sega: Re-release Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder on XBLA or PSN, it will make you alot of money and make gamers happy.
Hopefully one day Sega gets their shit together and makes a return to the glory days. Bayonetta was incredible and Sonic 4 looks like it will be tons of fun; these are both steps in the right direction. If Sonic can make a comeback, then I have faith the franchises above can be revived as well.

Sonic, You Little Rascal...

Insane and hilarious comic, CLICK TO ENLARGE!

Sega Fanart

Here is some nice Sega fanart from the talented artists of Pixiv:
On a semi-related note, Virtual On: OT is on sale on XBLA for 800 pts. Woohoo!

Bayonetta Rocks

I picked up the 360 version of Bayonetta yesterday, and I have found it hard to put down ever since. The game's actions sequences are amazing and the story is entertaining for an action title (she kills angels for a living.) Sega has included goofy nostalgia moments like references to Eggman, music from Outrun, and Halos that seem very similar to Sonic's rings. The creator also references some of his past titles like Viewtiful Joe in the dialogue. The game seems like a return to Sega's glory days.

The combat system is wild. You jump between guns, swords to chainsaws, animal forms, and butterfly wings in every fight. The combat has what seems like an infinite amount of possibilities for combos. What helps this is the "witch time." It works like the Matrix's bullet time, the time around Bayonetta slows and she is able to beat the hell out of enemies. If she combos enough, a torture attack opens which allows her to place enemies in guillotines or iron maidens. It is pretty insane.

One of the coolest parts of the fighting is the climax attack. When Bayonetta gets a strong enemy down to a certain amount of health this option opens. Bayonetta suddenly goes nude with only a few strands of hair covering her, and her hair starts turning into giant demons. These demons proceed to massacre the angelic foes in a variety of sick and interesting ways.

The graphics are fluid and Bayonetta oozes sexiness. The soundtrack also seems pretty damn good, in Japan it got a 4 disc edition if that tells you anything. One slight annoyance in the game is the overuse of the word "fuck." It seems like the game uses the word in every sentence. It works in Tarantino movies, not in a video game. Otherwise I am loving this game. I still haven't beat it, but from what I gather there are tons of unlockables such as new playable characters and costumes. Do not write this game off as a Devil May Cry knockoff. I almost did, and I can say that would have been a big mistake.

Obscure Game Review: Pilot Kids

Recently I have been in a shmup mood. I mostly been playing Sengoku Ace and Dragon Blaze ( aka hardest game ever) on my PS2, and it made me curious to see if there were any Psikyo games I may have missed. After searching I found about this little shooter called Pilot Kids. This game was released on the M2 arcade system, the same system used for Daytona USA. For some reason or another, the game never recieved a home console port...so thank heavens for M2 emulation.
Pilot Kids doesn't really hold up to the crazy bullet hell stuff that Psikyo is known for but it still provides a nice (albeit short) ride. The game stars a boy riding in a tiny plane through his house and lawn. The set pieces are cool and the wacky enemies are hilarious like an angry garden gnome statue or a giant Bruce Lee action figure. Your plane has a normal shot and a lock-on attack that kills enemies very quickly... almost too quickly as it makes many bosses too easy.
The graphics are mostly great and hold up even today. Some ugly blockiness appear in enemies but the enemies are such a delight it is easy to overlook the occasional crappy looks. The music is mostly drowned out by the action, but the last stage's tune is eerie and fitting. The game's big downfall is it's shortness. Even for an arcade the game is too short, and the difficulty is cake. Only the last boss cranks up the difficulty playing like a true smhup boss. These faults may have been the reasons this game never recieved a port to any system. I would assume the Saturn would have been the top choice for the port; but by the time this game released it was already entering it's demise. Psikyo must have said screw it and moved onto Dragon Blaze's development.
This game is a fun little diversion and makes a good addition to a shmup fan's library. I have no idea what the PCB sells for on this one, but the rom is easy enough to track down along with the m2 emulator. This game should have been put on one of Psikyo's collection discs; but sadly it remains forgotten in the realms of obscurity. Be sure to give this old game a look.

For Sonic Fans

Click on image!!



I found this on the MechaFetus Visual Blog today and had to share it. The comic is a pretty funny look at Sonic fans, or as I like call them Sega's beaten housewives.

I Heart Sega

A couple of days ago the Dreamcast's 10th anniversary marked a strange day of nostalgia for long time Sega fans. Many great games defined the system such as Skies of Arcadia, Shenmue, and the Power Stone series; but many more obscurities exist that I remember just as fondly like Blue Stinger and Chu Chu Rocket. The Dreamcast was Sega's farewell to the console wars, and marked their emergence as a third party developer. Some say the PS2 killed the system before it even had a chance; but I think rampant piracy also played a good hand in the Dreamcast's demise. The piracy thing is actually strange to me as the Saturn's game discs were almost impossible to copy. All rambling aside here is my personal top ten Dreamcast games:

10. Powerstone 2 - The perfect party game with insane characters and trap filled stages. Also did I mention there are hundrends of items scattered around each stage?

9. Sword of the Berserk - This game's story takes place after the Berserk anime as Guts searches for a cure for Caska. This is one of the goriest hack and slash games for any system, and the story rocks.

8. Marvel vs. Capcom - Everyone loves Marvel vs. Cpacom 2 since it has a million characters; but for me this is the better game... plus the music doesn't suck horribly like the sequel.

7. Sonic Adventure 2 - The last good Sonic game in my opinion. No werewolf Sonic bullshit here.

6. Skies of Arcadia - A beautiful RPG about sky pirates. The graphics are great, it has a memorable soundtrack, and cool skyship battles. It is way better than anything Square has done recently.

5. Bangaio - One of the wackiest and most fun titles for the system courtesy of Treasure. What other game let's you fill the entire screen with missiles?

4. Street Fighter 3 (series) - The Dreamcast remains the only system to have all three versions of this game. 3rd Strike was great...but checkout Hugo's stage in Double Impact, it is awesome.

3. House of the Dead 2 - This was my first game for the system and it is still one of my favorites. The game has some of the worst ( and funniest) dialogue ever record. It is a perfect port of the arcade game, so grab a buddy and kill some zombies!

2. Last Blade 2 - One of the best fighters for any system that no one has ever heard of. The game has nice 2-D artwork, and a great battle system. I wish this would get a port to Xbox live...

1. Shenmue (series) - The Dreamcast's finest hour, sure people may mock the game these days (where can I find some sailors?) but the storyline is epic. One of the most detail infused games I can think of, I mean what other game lets you work a job, talk to every townsperson, and drink a Coke afterwords? Too bad this series seems to have been put on indefinite hold to many fan's chagrin.

That's the list folks. Maybe one day Sega will get their shit together again and give us a new system. Till then I will only imagine the awesome launch titles they could start with : Shenmue 3, a Sonic sequel that doesn't suck, and Panzer Dragoon Saga 2 (I know that's from Saturn but a man can dream.)
One last thing: Support indie Dreamcast development! Checkout http://www.wind-water.net/

Dynamite Headdy Review (Sega Genesis)

Time for a retro-review of Dynamite Headdy for the Sega Genesis. This game was designed by Treasure (Gunstar Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, etc.) and stands as one of their earliest triumphs. Dynamite Headdy takes place in a fictional puppet world where the main star, Headdy, must defeat the evil Dark Demon and his keymasters to restore peace to the theatre. The game is a platformer much like Ristar; but with a twist. Headdy can switch heads to fight differently, these range from turning his head into a powerful hammer to more comical things like a pig that snorts projectiles.
The game's levels are fun and varied. Each stage in the game is wildly different and forces the player to use their head (sorry had to.) Bosses are insanely creative as well( just check out the first level's boss, a Giant Weenie Dog Float fighing to "The Nutcracker" theme.) The difficulty can be incredibly challengning toward the middle of the game onward; but the game stays fun. Dynamite Headdy also has alot of funny things thrown in to amuse the player, one example being the level titles. Levels are based on movie puns, such as one being called "Stair Wars" and another "Toys in the Hood".
As in most Treasure games, the graphics are outstanding. It is easily stands with Sega's best visuals of the era. The soundtrack is also very well done. Cool tunes are abound, Headdy's rival's theme, Trouble Bruin, will stick with you long after finishing the game. Sound effects are nice and weird, like a strange chipmunk voice saying. "You got a secret bonus point" at certain moments.
Dynamite Headdy is available in a variety of forms. The game was ported to the Master System, Gamegear, Sony PS2, , and Wii Channel, and most recently the PS3 and Xbox 360. Of these versions the import only PS2 port really stands out on the "Sega Ages Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box" (say that five times fast.) This version has a super play of the game, concept art, and has the Master System and GG ports included ( you also get Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier, helluva deal really.)
With so many ways to play the game there is no excuse to ignore it. Treasure fans probably own a few versions, and Sega fans should own at least one. If you enjoy a good, oldschool 2-D platformer look it up, you will be happy you did. For you modern gamers it was recently released on the Sonic Ultimate Collection disc for PS3 and 360, and runs you a mere $30; the discs also has Phantasy Star 1-4 and Streets of Rage 1-3...a steal for so many great games. Maybe one day Treasure will bless us with a sequel.

Random Stuff:

• First Boss Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qiNF9KlGws&feature=related
• Dynamite Headdy for the Master System was released only in Brazil, so it carries a high price tag among collectors.
  
• Many regional differences exist between the Genesis and Megadrive versions such as one boss being changed from a massive baby doll to a killer robot for the U.S. audience.
• Another regional difference is the game's secret ending. Instead of fighting a fictional theatre owner and thugs, players faced the President of Sega and his bodyguards!