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Welcome to a special co-production of the Transitions Blog and Game Boy Player Land. We teamed up to investigate the launch of the Game Boy Advance, a system which was released ten years ago this week in North America and went on to sell over 80 million units worldwide over the next decade.
Continue reading on dsheinem's blog: http://www.rfgeneration.c...y-Advance-Launch-1772.php
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So the first of my Summer Gaming Challenge titles can now be ceremonially crossed off the list. This morning I beat Mr. Driller. Now disclaimer: when I say "beat," I mean I got to the end credits. I actually beat the Arcade Mode on Beginner. In this case I feel I can consider the game beat because well, it's a puzzle game. And the Arcade Mode on Expert is the same exact thing except you need to get through double the levels of Beginner. I'm sure if I stuck with it long enough I could do that no problem. In truth, I played Mr. Driller for the first time this morning. And a couple hours later it was beaten. The other reason I really don't feel I need to attack Expert for this challenge is because really my goal is to get through these games to see an ending and feel that I've experienced them. In this case, I feel that playing through the Beginner Arcade Mode was enough to know I've experienced the game.
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So what did I think of it? Well, I thought it was pretty great honestly. I'm a fan of puzzle games to begin with, and this one hit the spot. It had a really good blend of strategy, where you have to kind of try to be patient and plan your moves mixed with urgency, because if you hang around too long you'll run out of air (basically a time limit that can be extended by finding Air Items throughout the levels). Visually, I thought the game looked fantastic. The bright candy-colored levels and cutesy design of Mr. Driller himself was really a great visual style for a game like this. Considered a spiritual sequel to Dig-Dug, I'd say I far prefer Mr. Driller to be totally up-front. I do think it could have benefited from a 2-Player mode, though. Just a thought.
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Chrono Trigger
Dead Or Alive
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown
Mega Man X4
Metal Gear Solid
Mr. Driller
Myst
Ridge Racer
R-Type Delta
Silent Hill
So moving on... I'm actually very far into Mega Man X4. As in all the way up to the last boss, so I expect to finish that one soon. I'm about six hours into Chrono Trigger, which really I'm not sure how far into the game that is. I've also dabbled a bit in Ridge Racer and Dead Or Alive. Really I've just been trying to bounce around between the games based on my mood. At any rate, it feels good to finally have one finished.
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Just a quick heads up! An article I orchestrated for http://Racketboy.com is now up. The piece is an overview of the Game Boy Advance's library of shmups. We tried to be really thorough and go over imports as well as compilations and even borderline shmups.
Check it out here: http://www.racketboy.com/...ce-gba-shmup-library.html
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Like many game collectors, I truly enjoy thumbing through pages of old gaming magazines. There's something really fun about putting yourself back into the context of the time when the magazine was published. This week I got Issue 91 of PSM in the mail as part of a trade. I was thrilled to open the sealed magazine for the first time since its publication in December of 2004. As such, I thought I'd share some key pages with you.
(Spoiler: PSM in 2004 definitely liked boobs. You've been warned! See you after the jump...)
Continue reading PSM: December 2004, Issue 91
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Last Summer on the http://Racketboy.com forums a member by the name of Snickerd00dle came up with a Summer Gaming Challenge for himself. He decided he would compile a list of ten classics that he had never beaten and attempt to beat them all during the Summer months. The thread was popular enough that not only did many of us follow is progress, but several members even joined in with him. About a month ago he mentioned he was planning to do it again this year, inspiring some of us to come up with our own lists -- myself included.
The hardest part was of course coming up with the list. My list went through many major revisions over the course of the month. My original idea was to try to pick so-called classics that I had never played, representing ten unique genres and stretched over many systems from 2600 to PS3. However a funny thing happened. Once my first list draft was done I noticed that it was basically a bunch of PlayStation games book-ended by a handful of older and newer games. You see I had just finished reading the wonderful GameSpite book chronicling the history of the PlayStation. Not to mention the PS1 seems to be the console I've been focusing my collecting on the most these days.
I then decided that I'd just make my whole list PlayStation games. That would at least help me narrow things down. And I'd stick to keeping it ten different genres. But classics? That was tricky. As an early adopter of PS1 back in the day, I really knew a lot of classics. Really this list should be games that I personally always meant to play, but had put off for some reason or another. I figured how about a list that finally gives me an excuse to play some of these games that I had always planned to.
So here's the list I finally decided on:
Chrono Trigger
Dead Or Alive
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown
Mega Man X4
Metal Gear Solid
Mr. Driller
Myst
Ridge Racer
R-Type Delta
Silent Hill
For the most part, these are all games I have never played at all. There's a few small exceptions. For instance I've of course played many Mega Man games, just not X4. I have briefly played DOA2, but never the original Dead Or Alive. I've played Duke Nukem Advance, but never the classic Duke Nukem 3D. And I have tried both Ridge Racer and Silent Hill, but not for any expanded period of time. So my attempt to seriously sit down with these games and try to beat them all will be a very new experience to me with each of them.
As far as time-frame is concerned, I decided to start playing during Memorial Day weekend -- the unofficial start of Summer as they say. And I suppose I'll aim to wrap it up by the first of September. So three solid months to get ten games under my belt. For the most part I think that's reasonable, with the only really long games being Chrono Trigger, Metal Gear Solid and possibly Myst. I also have no sequence in mind. Originally I thought maybe I'd do them chronologically, but I've decided I'll just play them as I wish. If I feel like focusing on one until it's beat, then fine. If I want to work on Chrono Trigger and R-Type back and forth, so be it. If I want to juggle them all at once until something gets beaten, whatever. This is just supposed to be fun, right? And of course I plan to keep the blog updated with my progress on each. Stay tuned!
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This month's Together Retro game club pick over at http://Racketboy.com was Zoop. Now let me guess -- you've heard of Zoop, but never played it. You vaguely remember a magazine ad for it, but aren't really sure what it is. Am I right? Probably. That's generally how it went. Zoop was a puzzle game released in 1995 and it was ported to just about every platform available at the time. It made its way to SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, PC, Mac, Saturn, Atari Jaguar and the PlayStation in an honest-to-goodness attempt at being the next Tetris. Indeed it was even marketing as "America's Largest Killer of Time!"
Perhaps what's more interesting about the game's place in history is that it was designed by a team called Hookstone. Though that name may not ring a bell, most of the members of Hookstone went on to form Mobius Entertainment, who you probably know better as Rockstar Leeds. That's right, the same team responsible for bringing Manhunt and the Grand Theft Auto series to the PSP had its humble beginnings in a simple puzzle game.
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Originally my plan was to play the Game Boy version, but I found it to be a bad idea. You see Zoop is all about a little triangle that's inside a big square. And all these multi-colored shapes are attempting to get in the square. But the triangle can turn into each color, and then take out like colored rows. Maybe you see where I'm going with this? Yeah, a game where color is important just isn't going to work so well on a monochrome system. So I soon decided that I'd pick up the PlayStation port instead. Some of my fellow Racketboy forum members actually played and enjoyed the GB port. Well, more power to them. Personally it just confused my eyes.
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The PlayStation version was very good. At least I assume it would be just as good as any of the other console ports at the time (Jaguar, Saturn, etc.). The controls were responsive, the colors were vibrant and thanks to the newly implemented CD technology, the music was really great. I personally wasn't great at the game. In fact that's my high score in the picture up above there. But what was really nice about playing this month is that so many members got really into the game. It's really fun to go back and play a game with a bunch of people even though it's not handing out achievements or syncing trophies.
Truthfully, I lost interest in the game about halfway into the month. But in fairness, it was my birthday this month which means I got a lot of new games and all of them were begging for my attention. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't come back to this one. In fact Zoop certainly has a certain appeal to it. That kind of timeless replayability that makes games like Dr. Mario or Tetris so addicting. If you haven't played Zoop yet, you've really got no excuse. I guarantee you own one of the systems it's available for.
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I make no secret of the fact that I am a huge fan of http://hardcoregaming101.net. It's probably my favorite site for video game reviews out there. Ever since I submerged myself in the world of both collecting video games, as well as become increasingly interested in their history I have read and re-read the majority of HG101's articles. It is an amazingly thorough and impressive wealth of information.
Over two years ago HG101's editor, Kurt Kalata began editing a monumental project -- a definitive guide chronicling the "golden age" of graphic adventure games. As one might expect, the resultant tome is something to truly be awe-struck by. It certainly aspires to live up the "101" part of the site's namesake. Certainly if there was a class about adventure games, this could be your text book.
Weighing at just under 800 pages, I am honored to announce that at least one of those pages is penned by myself. Kurt graciously allowed me the opportunity to write the small section on Scooby-Doo Classic Creep Capers, a truly wonderful Maniac Mansion-style game for the Game Boy Color. Faithful readers of the blog no doubt have seen me mention it before. So of course it means a great deal to me to be part of this amazing project.
For those of you interested, the book can be ordered through Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Har...TF8&qid=1305828364&sr=1-3
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Ever since I first started this blog, I have always wanted to offer things to readers. I've actually had various surprise projects in mind for quite some time. And finally the first finished one is here. I present to you all Mega Man: Game Boy Powered-up Levels!
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If you're not aware of Capcom's wonderful PSP release Mega Man: Powered Up, then you don't know what you're missing! It was an amazing remake of the original NES Mega Man title that uses a bit of a 2.5D perspective, a super-deformed character design and adds in lots of excellent flourishes that really add to the game while never losing what fans have loved since day one. However, the most remarkable thing about Powered Up (and the reason for this blog post) is the Construction Mode, which allows you to not only create your own levels, but also share them with friends.
This is where Game Boy Player Land comes in. You see I loved the creative possibilities of Powered Up. And considering it was this really unique and awesome portable recreation of a classic game, that still had this very retro feel to it I really started to draw parallels between it and some of the old Game Boy Mega Man games. And then it hit me: what if someone were to recreate some of those original Game Boy levels for play in Powered Up?
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So that's exactly what we decided to do! Mega Man: Game Boy Powered-up Levels is a four-stage downloadable remake of the first four levels from the classic Game Boy release Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge. Though the levels will all eventually be made available to download via the PSN servers, for now I've included all of the links and directions you'll need to download them right here.
The Levels
In order to play these levels you must own an official copy of Mega Man: Powered Up. The four levels are available via PSN. Simply search for these codes within the game's menu:
44645843-005
44645843-006
44645843-007
44645843-008
The Cover Art
As an added bonus, you can also download the printable artwork and make your own UMD case for Mega Man: Game Boy Powered-up Levels. The case looks awfully handsome sitting on your shelf rubbing elbows with the rest of your PSP collection!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=C2B4IW16
Obviously we hope you enjoy these levels. Feel free to drop any and all feedback, and keep your eyes on the blog for other future projects like this.
*A huge thanks goes to the two recruited members of the GBPL dev team on this project. Although I came up with the idea and basically directed the project it was my good friend Flake who did all actual level design. And graphic designer extraordinaire sevin0seven is responsible for the amazing cover art.
There's a lot of talk right now about the new PS3 release of Mortal Kombat. And though I hate it when a game re-uses a title, rather than just being a proper sequel or spin-off, I have to say that everything I've heard about this new reboot of the series is rather exciting. I was a big fan of the original Mortal Kombat on the Genesis. Of course I was also fourteen years old at the time, so any game that came with a warning to parents and a "blood code" was going to be great in my book. Hindsight actually tells me that Mortal Kombat was a pretty lousy game. But hey, I'm not going to ask for the hours spent enjoying it back. In fact the second and third entries in the series actually turned out rather good. Enough so that I can still revisit those with no reservations. But sometime around the fourth, I just stopped caring. Or more precisely -- when the fourth game came out, I just stopped caring. I'm just not a big fan of 3D fighters, so any transition that a classic 2D game makes to 3D is going to feel suspect to me. It's funny, but true. I'm more prone to enjoy a 3D fighting game if it never originated in the 2D realm. Call me silly. I am what I am.
And that brings me to another point. I am what I am. And what I am is a total sucker for bonus discs. Now I don't mean like a demo disc tacked on and call it a day. I mean serious extra material. Stuff that makes your collection glow a little brighter. And although I'm not all that into Mortal Kombat: Deception or Mortal Kombat: Armageddon on the PS2, I am a bit of a fan of the premium editions released for each. You see strangely, the bonus discs and extra content actually seems to be a much bigger gift to fans of the series than either game can rightly claim to be.
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Mortal Kombat: Deception's Premium Pack is actually a pretty cool package. Its outer cardboard box opens like a book and houses two DVD cases. The first disc houses the standard version of Deception, the better of the two Mortal Kombat titles we'll be discussing today. In fact, rumor has it that it's possibly the best 3D Mortal Kombat title to date. Of course, I don't know about all that. I just know that it has a similar feel to me as DOA: Hardcore, which is something I can deal with. Though I did find the addition of weapons a bit odd, and maybe reactionary to the success of the Soul Calibur series, I really can't say that I had any issues with Deception in the grand scheme of things. Sure it's missing that classic 2D feel that I grew up with, but as far as 3D sequels go, I could point to far worse examples.
Besides classic Arcade Mode, there's also a Konquest Mode which is a surprisingly good tutorial that's set up like an adventure. You must train and win fights based on certain goals -- all of which are there to help you learn the game. Really kind of a nice addition.
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There are also several bonus games included with Deception. The first of which is a game entitled Chess Kombat, which is (in case you're really thick) a cross between Mortal Kombat and chess. To a certain degree, this could have been brilliant. It could have just been a game of chess using MK-style visuals -- a middle-finger to those who say that there is nothing cerebral about the series. But sadly, Midway dropped the ball on that idea. Instead they offer chess which requires you to then play actual MK battles in order to see which piece takes each square when colliding. Perhaps the strangest thing about this is that the battling is what ends up feeling tedious, as it breaks up the concentration of playing an actual game of chess. So although it's high-action, it tends to disrupt the strategic flow of what could have been a very cool looking chess game.
The next additional game is Puzzle Kombat, an unabashedly obvious rip-off of Capcom's Super Puzzle Fighter II which uses the same format of super-deformed characters duking it out via dropping gems. Sadly, Puzzle Kombat just does not have the same level of perfection. Instead, it comes off as a pretty sub-par puzzler, made only slightly fun by the fatalities at the end of each match. It's sluggish and stiff and really not a fun puzzle game, instead feeling like a bit of a chore to get through.
The bonus disc is really where Deception's Premium Pack shines, though. Even though I pointed out that the original Mortal Kombat is really not a great game (it's certainly the worst of the original trilogy), there's no denying its importance to 1990's arcade history. Unfortunately back when Midway released their Arcade Treasures collections on the PS2, the emulation for Mortal Kombat was a bit buggy. Though both the second and third games were included in Volume Two, the original MK was left off. As such, this Deception bonus disc is the only way to obtain the original Mortal Kombat on the PS2. And really, it's a rather good emulation. I have no idea what it was specifically that held back its release on Midway Arcade Treasures, but it is nice that Midway cared enough to get it right.
The disc also contains some nice video footage. Not only is there twenty-five video character bios, but there's also an interesting documentary on the entire Mortal Kombat series leading up to Deception. If you're a fan of the franchise, or just a video game history buff, then in many ways this documentary will mean more to you than the entirety of the first disc altogether.
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Mortal Kombat: Armageddon followed close on the heels of Deception. However it was widely panned as a major low-point for the series. This is major considering the existence of Sub-Zero Mythologies. As far as the fighting goes, it's somewhat similar to Deception, but just not quite right. It's hard to put a finger on, but it's just not as comfortable to play. And then there's the odd omission of Fatalities. Seriously.
Luckily the focus of this blog post is actually more about the extras in these editions. Much like the Premium Pack for Deception, the Premium Edition of Armageddon has a lot to offer. The limited edition packaging this time is a thin, metal casing similar to that of the Premium Edition of Final Fantasy XII. Konquest Mode makes its return from Deception, as does online play and even an addition of a Kreate-A-Fighter feature. Of course the value of all of this will rely heavily on how much you enjoy the game proper.
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The first bonus game on the first disc is Motor Kombat, a ridiculous Mario Kart clone. The game actually doesn't play too bad. And it offers up some nice graphics to be fair. But strangely, like Chess Kombat and Puzzle Kombat before it, Motor Kombat just feels slightly off and boring. The intentions are obviously good, and the effort is evident. But something is just not right, and instead of getting into each race you tend to loop around each track wondering when the game will finally give the sweet relief of ending.
Though the extras on Armageddon are far less in number than on Deception, the remaining ones on this set actually far outweigh the main game. Perhaps the biggest draw being the other bonus game on disc one: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. In truth, this game will probably give you far more enjoyment than Armaggedon. The roster is huge. The sprite work is great. It plays excellently -- oh, and this is the only way to obtain it on the PS2.
The bonus disc is somewhat anemic, however. It's actually a DVD rather than a PS2 DVD-ROM. And though it offers three bonus features, two of them are in regards to character "trading kards." The far more interesting inclusion is that of a documentary on the history of fatalities in the series. Here you get to hear many of the games' creators discuss the origins and making-of many of the franchise's favorite finishing movies. Babalities, Animalities, and so on -- they're all addressed. To a certain degree, this is my favorite part of this entire set.
Well, that was slightly exhaustive and yet I'm sure I've only scratched the surface. So what do you all think about these games, these editions, the series as a whole or the value of bonus discs? Remember: discussion is like exercise for our brains!
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April's Together Retro game club pick at http://Racketboy.com was Deja Vu, a classic adventure game that goes back to the early Mac gaming days, and found a bit of a cult-following on the NES. It was later ported to the Game Boy Color, which is arguably the best version of the game out there. Not only are the graphics bright and the command interface refined, but the cartridge also features the lesser-known sequel as well.
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As a fan of adventure games, I was really looking forward to playing my way through this one. The game borrows heavily from film noire, as you a hard boiled detective who wakes up in a bathroom stall with amnesia. And you don't know that you're a detective, but you feel like you've been drugged. It's up to you to piece this case together and figure out who you are. Sounds like fun, right? Well, not so much.
The problem is the utterly frustrating puzzle element of the game. Much of the puzzle solving in this game is completely infuriatingly unfair. So while the game isn't actually incredibly long, it can last much longer because you'll often need to start over due to some game-breaking situation. For instance in my first playthrough I was going from location to location via taxi cab. Each trip cost me 3 of my 20 coins. Eventually I got to a point where I was out of coins and couldn't leave the location I was at. I was stuck and irritated by the time a fellow forum member told me I could get more coins by gambing in the casino (back in the building I had started in). With this new knowledge I restarted my game. I went to the casino and gambled away all 20 of my coins in a slot machine. Turns out the slot machine on the left is a winner, but the one on the right is a loser. So I had to restart my game again.
So how much trial and error is too much? For me, Deja Vu was far too brutal. Too demanding. Too unfair. I think it's easy to write this off as a matter of "games were just harder back then," but I don't think that's the case. I tend to think that making the game so unfair was an attemt at making it last longer. I've played my way through some excellent adventure games like The Secret Of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, and although I may have found myself stumped at times, I never thought that the solution was completely arbitrary either.
But sadly I couldn't even finish Deja Vu, a relatively short game even when I used a FAQ. You see at the very end of the game you must ditch all of your incriminating evidence in a sewer before bringing your proof of innocense to the police department. But the computer wouldn't let me dispose of my gun. After days of trial and error and scouring the internet it came down to the fact that I had never shot open a certain cabinet. I had collected all of the proof I was supposed to, but I couldn't complete this game without shooting open a stupid cabinet. How exactly would anyone be expected to figure this out? Had they made it as far as I had, and seemed to have solved all of the amnesiac puzzles, how would they know they missed a cabinet that had to be shot open?
I was so disgusted that I just stopped playing. I didn't even care if I beat the game or not. And I was certainly not motivated to start up the second.
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So I thought I'd finally announce on the blog that I'm now a contributor to GameSpite Quarterly. Perhaps you longtime readers may recall that one of my earliest blog posts was talking up the amazing first issue which was devoted entirely to the history of the Game Boy. Well, number eight is all about the PlayStation. And it's a gigantic book filled with plenty to keep you busy with.
The article I wrote about Battle Arena Toshinden can be read here: http://www.gamespite.net/...s/G8-BattleArenaToshinden
I also wrote brief write-ups on Policenauts, RPG Maker, Strikers 1945, Thrill Kill and the first two Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. The books can be ordered in paperback or hardcover here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2108683
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An article I wrote about the games that defined the Game Boy Advance was published on http://Racketboy today. Check out the rather sprawling article here: http://www.racketboy.com/...the-game-boy-advance.html
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Fellow blogger, geozeldadude has just put up his retrospective on the Super Mario Bros. series and asked my hand in creating counterpoints to his points. As such, we've each ranked the same games in their respective order of importance for each of us. Which turned out to be totally different. Read the whole mess here: http://geozeldadude.wordp...-super-mario-bros-series/
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The picture above is my personal Darkstalkers collection. It's a series that I have in the past several months become completely addicted to. My first introduction to the world of Darkstalkers was through Capcom Vs. SNK 2 where I started using Morrigan and realized that her move-set was so intuitive to me that I was just as good with her (or better) than I was with Chun-Li, who had been my standard fighter since Street Fighter II was released all those many years ago. After doing a bit of research (namely on http://HardCoreGaming101.net) I learned that Darkstalkers was essentially the coolest thing ever: a combination of Street Fighter style fighting and a horror movie theme. I was sold.
When I started collection PlayStation games again this year one of the first games I picked up was Darkstalkers 3 due to a deal I couldn't pass up. The game seemed totally brilliant to me. Using Morrigan, I zipped right through it -- continuing only once. I was now officially hooked. I picked up a copy of Darkstalkers Chronicles on PSP soon thereafter, and same thing. One sitting, one continue. Yes, this was definitely a series that I could connect to in a big way. I quickly started collecting all the releases for Sony consoles. As such, let's take a look at them all.
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Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors was released for the original PlayStation pretty early in the console's lifetime. Note the longbox. Although there's some frustrating load times, the game is a pretty great arcade conversion. It looks fantastic with its huge 2D sprites, especially considering Sony's early plan to hype 3D as much as they could with their new system. Of note however is the insane difficulty of this one. The AI is incredibly brutal -- something that separates it from the other Darkstalkers releases. It's also worth noting that the Japanese version (titled Vampire) is worth considering as it features bonus music videos not present in the US release.
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Sadly the second Darkstalkers game wasn't released on the PlayStation. Though in 2005 Japan received a PS2 collection of all five of the Darkstalkers arcade games. Unfortunately for we import collectors, this game has a strange glitch that causes it to freeze up whenever a game is selected at the title screen. So unless you've got a Japanese console, the disc is entirely unplayable via normal import-loading methods.
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Darkstalkers 3 is pretty much the finest example of the Darkstalkers experience on a home console. Though loading times are present, they're not game-killing. The graphics are gorgeous. The controls are flawless. Since first playing this one, it has become one of my all time favorite 2D fighting games ever. So certainly I've got a level of bias. But considering the fact that it can be had at a reasonable price on the aftermarket (as opposed to even the inferior first game) there's no reason that fans of the genre should overlook this one.
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Darkstalkers Chronicles: The Chaos Tower was actually a launch-title for the PSP. Odd considering the lack of mainstream popularity for the series. The game is basically a mega-mix of the first three games. It incorporates all of the characters, moves and styles of each game into one big collection. Though the PSP interface isn't exactly meant for fighting games, this is actually a pretty great release for fans of the series. It looks great, and is certainly playable. An online option would have been a welcome addition though, and sadly the game wasn't exactly a big seller so a PSP sequel is unlikely.
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Capcom released two UMD Videos exclusively through GameStop known as Night Warriors Darkstalkers Alpha and Omega. These are actually collections of the anime series that had originally been released on VHS. They look great, and add a bit of background to the characters. And considering their exclusivity through GameStop, they are actually a bit tricky to find these days. Definitely a cool collectible.
Although the Darkstalkers series seems slightly forgotten these days, many of the characters live on in other Capcom fighting games. The Capcom Vs. series has featured many of them (and this blog may touch upon that in the nearish future as well). But Darkstalkers still maintains a cult audience as well. There's a bounty of comic books, cartoons, soundtracks and figurines out there for collectors to delve into. Further proof of what a unique series it really was.
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Posted on Apr 1st 2011 at 08:00:00 PM by ( noiseredux) Posted under PSP |
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I'm not really sure why people are so excited about the Nintendo 3DS. I mean, sure it's got some kind of built-in 3D feature. But really, that's not 3D. That's like looking into a window box. And window boxes are made by elementary school kids for science fairs. They're not exactly worth $300. On the other hand you can right now take your (homebrew enabled) PSP and add a simple plugin to it that would render your games in glorious 3D. And I'm not talking phony bologna Nintendo-3D either. I'm talking straight up red/blue glasses 3D. Check out these screens shots and ask yourself why anyone would want to spend triple-digits on a new handheld.
[img width=480 height=272]http://i.imgur.com/4cuaE.png[/img]
[img width=480 height=272]http://i.imgur.com/I00ru.png[/img]
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Read more about the plugin and download it here: http://blog.pspwizard.de/
If you're hip to the whole 3D thing then the chances are good that you already own a perfectly good pair of 3D glasses that came bundled with your copy of Contra: Legacy Of War.
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