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In 1996 a legendary game designer left Capcom to form his own game development company. Tokuro Fujiwara founded Whoopee Camp after an insane career as a video game director and producer that spanned over a decade at Capcom. Fujiwara's credits listings while working at Capcom easily rank him amongst the greatest game designers of the 8 and 16 bit arcade and console era. He is credited with creating Ghosts 'n Goblins, directing and producing multiple games including Sweet Home, Breath of Fire, DuckTales and many other Capcom licensed games from the era, Final Fight 2 and Final Fight 3, and multiple Mega Man games. What would be Fujiwara and Whoopee Camp's first game after Fujiwara left this legacy behind and forged his own path?
Continue reading Tomba!
Jackie Chan has starred in a few video games over the years. After Hudson Soft purchased the licence to use his likeness, they released Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu on NES.
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Lately I've been digging deep into the world of Super Mario, from the 1985 NES release and working my way towards Odyssey, leaving no Goomba unstomped. Many of these games I've played many times, but there are several I hadn't played before and I got to experience them for the first time. Currently I'm 15 games into my project and got to revisit the GameCube staple, Super Mario Sunshine. This game has always stuck out in the series to me, but I haven't quite been able to articulate why. Having so many Mario experiences in such a short time I feel has finally given me the perspective I've always lacked and may allow me to better discuss why I think Super Mario Sunshine feels so out of place as a Super Mario title.
Continue reading We Need To Talk About Super Mario Sunshine
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As I mentioned in my article last month, we often like to search for hidden gems to add to our collections and eventually play if or when we finally get around to it. Sometimes, as was the case last month with Robotrek, we find a game that we feel is better left hidden and come away disappointed. Other times, as is the case this month with Skyblazer, we feel as if we have struck gold.
Continue reading Skyblazer
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The Switch has been out for roughly 8 months as of this article. It's been selling at or above expectations each month. Software attach rates are incredibly high. In general, people seem quite enthusiastic about the system. I picked one up at launch hoping Zelda would tide me over while I waited patiently for much of the future software that has been promised. Zelda didn't strike me like I'd hoped it would. Arms and Splatoon 2 are for a different audience than myself, and while I had a bit of fun playing both with my son, they are not games I've returned to or have ever been interested in playing by myself. As a day one Wii U owner, I've played a significant amount of Mario Kart 8 already, so the deluxe version isn't quite what I want to justify owning the system.
With games like Fire Emblem, Shin Megami Tensei V, Kirby, Dragon Quest and others looming in the distance, I've never been worried that I'll regret my purchase in the long run. But after 8 months, I really do long for something to play that gets me excited to own a Switch. With that in mind, I have very high hopes for Super Mario Odyssey and how it will make me feel to be a Switch owner.
Continue reading Super Mario Odyssey
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I want to take a brief break from my usual blogs about my store to talk about Mighty No. 9 now that I've had several weeks to take it all in. If this is something you'd be interested in reading about please click the link below. If not then we can't be friends......
Continue reading Mighty No. 53......%
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Image shamelessly linked from Game FAQs.
Flying lizards, giant bugs, robots, and dragons as
enemies? Count me in! Wait, what's with the nails?
The mid-late 1980's, and early 1990's were a magical time. Forget Iran-Contra, forget Black Friday, forget the rampant materialism of the Baby Boomer generation, forget "yuppies", and forget the Gulf War. During that period of time, we had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Karate Kid, G.I. Joe and Transformers, Ghostbusters and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!, and so much more. And we had video games. If you're reading this, you're likely either from my generation, and have fond memories of the 80's and early 90's, or you're experiencing them for the first time, something I often wish I could do, as I approach 40 years of age. For those in the latter camp, I envy you.
Continue reading Nail 'n Scale, 1992
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As a fan of story based games, I have to say that I love a game that takes you on a ride. Catherine is the kind of game that you can sit back with, relax, and watch an incredibly compelling social dilemma unfold before the protagonist's eyes. Lately, I've been thinking about companies from Japan. So many people have been crying out about the doom and gloom of the market and how Japanese development has been lagging behind while the Western world advances. This couldn't be further from the truth, as Atlus is one of Japanese gaming's oldest surviving names, but fastest risers in the global market. Persona 3 got the name out, Persona 4 kicked the door open, and Catherine broke the door's frame. Persona 5 is currently one of the most anticipated Japanese developed games since Atlus presented its masterfully crafted initial trailer.
Catherine was released in Japan and North American in 2011, with Europe and Australia getting a release in early 2012. The plot revolves around infidelity and is one that many of us have likely heard about, if not experienced first hand. Vincent, the games protagonist, gets caught up with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed young beauty named Catherine one night after all of his friends leave him alone at the bar. From here, the player chooses whether he wants to court her for the long run or remain faithful to his girlfriend, Katherine. The girls represent the ideologies of "Law" and "Chaos." Law is doing the right thing no matter how much it might hurt; Katherine is a structured being in complete charge of her life and represents Law. On the other hand, Catherine is more of a loose cannon that Vincent can't seem to get rid of no matter what decisions you make; she represents Chaos. Which one of these ladies will you choose, or will you choose the single life?
Continue reading Psychotic Reviews: Catherine
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Heading back to the trusty ole' NES again for this one!
Would it surprise you if I said this game for the NES was a platformer/shooter with a space theme? No you say. It does seem to be a common style of game on the system (see previous Blogs such as Xexyz or Journey to Silius). I assume that why this title often gets overlooked.
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What people are missing out on by not playing this game is something pretty neat though. Wait for it................................upside down platforming. It might sound a little hokey at first, but its actually a ton of fun. At any time during the game you can switch from a gravity obeying mech warrior to an upside down robot with a gun.
Each stage has some form of rooftop so that you can always bounce back and forth as desired. Sometimes this is to collect powerups, other times for tactical strategy and others yet for the sheer enjoyment of it.
[img width=512 height=448]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/MetalStormboss.jpg[/img]
Most of the levels are designed pretty straightforward, but stages 4 and 6 really stand out to me. In level 4 you play the whole area, including boss, trapped in a box. The box moves around the screen at (mostly) stationary enemies. Some you can kill and some you cannot. This makes for some very interesting platforming even though your stuck in a box.
Level 6 gets even better yet. The level scrolls downward constantly while you trek to the right of the screen. I have a hard time describing how cool it is so I found a video to help me out.
To get to the stage 6 part just skip ahead to about 2:30:
Metal Storm probably gets lumped in with a lot of other games because of the style and theme which I think is unfair. It actually translates the Sci-Fi setting into a really cool and playable game play mechanic. Definitely check it out if you haven’t yet. It can be a little harder to track down than some other NES games, but if you can find it for under $15 you've got yourself a solid deal.
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