First Impressions: Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth

Yep, it's Castlevania. How do I know? Cause....I CAN'T BEAT THE F@#KIN' GRIM REAPER STAGE!!!!.....(whew) Just like in the first one. For those gamers used to being pampered, it's a good idea to pad yourself with a few extra lives in the option menu cause you'll get no mercy from this game.

So, here comes the third installment in the Konami Rebirth series for the Wii. Strange how they named the title: Castlevania....the Adventure...Rebirth. As if to dredge up the horrifying memories from the deep recesses of the scarred minds who had unfortunate chance to cross path with that monster only to say....we made a better game...........Is it?

Don't let "the Adventure" pitch fool ya? Sure, there's a FEW similarities but rest assured, Konami threw that mess out the window and heads back to the lab to construct a truly different beast. One that captures the golden memories of our youth, injects blood flavored with old-school goodness, stitched together by good fundamentals, and megawatts of Nintendo Power (oh yeah, we're playing with power!) to give it life to fulfill one purpose....to take us back to the past....and its succeeds.

The game has six levels and no save points. That's right, you have to beat the game in ONE sitting and giving up means starting all over again (boy does that bring back memories). The difficulty ramps up the further you go along. Like in stage 5, every enemy hit takes 4 life and since our hero has 20 life, its take only 5 to kill ya. On top of that, every stage has two bosses to fight, and plenty of cheap moments (a.k.a. Medusa Heads) to give plenty of reason to scream out the seven words you don't say on television. But you're not going into monster's den unarmed....

All the Belmont's favorite tools are back including the return of the flame whip. But it bugs me a little that it's effective only for a limited time. That's like saying Mario can use a fire flower for 30 seconds. Powerful, yes, but too powerful to warrant heavy restriction like the Invincibility Star. Sure, the flames can kill enemies in a distance but the lack of attacking diagonally and the cheap ways to die helps the argument in the other direction.

There one new additional tool called the key. It opens locked doors (duh!) but those doors could lead to secret vaults providing tons of hearts, ungrades, and 1 ups. Sometimes, they unlocks hidden shortcuts that bypasses some of the minibosses and enemies, going to the stage's main boss and they're littered throughout the game, putting a big win in the replay departments. Sounds too good to be right? The catch is it takes the special weapons slot a.k.a giving up your axe, cross. etc. As the key does nothing, you'll heavily rely on your whip to fend off enemies. So, it's a risk-reward type of deal.

To say this game is a remake is like saying Dracula drinks fruit punch, nothing can be further from truth. Castlevania Rebirth (the proper title it should get) plays, feels, looks and listens like a completely NEW game that stays true to tradition but stands out among its brethren, offering a different gauntlet of challenges and secrets for fans both new and old to experience. It's the kind of game we've been waiting for since the Virtual Console inception and not this half-assed attempt.....



So far, Castlevania Rebirth does not disappoint and makes an excellent addition to the Rebirth series. However, it quite a quagmire to see Konami do great by WiiWare titles, yet so poorly for Wii titles. You'd think the creators of DDR, Guitar Freak, and Boktai would have a field day with motion controls, but so far, it's been dismally disappointing. But Konami want to get back on track, why not bring back this guy?



Happy New Year!

Yes, Sheepman is confirmed.

Happy Nerd was right. Like a dairy addict to a stray bovine with large utters, Capcom sees a great opportunity and milking it for what its worth releasing the next 8-bit adventure for their favorite blue hero. But the whole issue with Megaman 10 reminds of an episode from Scrubs (great show btw) where Turk tells the whole hospital about his wife's second pregnancy but didn't get the enthusiastic reaction he was expecting. I should be stoked the Blue Bomber makes another return but part of me has....reservations.

When news broke out for Megaman 9, I was so excited to see the Mega, Roll, Proto, Wily, and Light return to their roots, putting the retro revival into full throttle. Capcom didn't hold back on anything, they leaped from the highest diving board and dived into the pool of nostalgia like a shooting star. It was like picking up our childhood where we left off. The pixelated art, awesome 8-bit music, flicker, the box art....Speaking of cheesy box art....:D



Mmmm.....cheddar.

MM9 felt like something long overdue has finally arrived. MM10 on the other hand....what's overdue? The only thing coming to mind is connecting the dots between original Blue Bomber and X. For the last decade, fans have hysterically theorized, agonized every little detail, and nerd fight over what the hell happened and seeing as X is roman numeral equivalent of 10, it's seem appropriate to put this to bed once and for all. Unfortunately, we get something about a robo-influenza pandemic and ol' Rock has to search for parts to a vaccine machine.....'kay. On top of that, Protoman makes a return too along with a secret third character. I hope they don't screw us over on the DLC like they did last time.



Sheepman....not the most frightening name, is it? Kinda digging the leap from woolly timid animal to 10,000 volt hazard. Though Capcom seems to be taking inspiration from cute creatures that fit in your pocket.



What's next?




Pikachuman!!!

NSMBW sells 1 million in the first week!

Technically, it's 952,279 but you get the idea. No surprise Nintendo struck gold coins (again) on another Mario game but let's take a step back. New Super Mario Bros Wii is unique compared to Nintendo's other creations for their console as a fun platformer. Yeah, same can be said for Super Paper Mario but that's combines 2D and 3D elements. Strip away the 4-player co-op, improved graphics, motions controls, and Mario's new moves, you essentially have this:



Rewriting the headline: "25-year-old game becomes 3rd best selling product in the North America". It get right down to the core of this phenomenon. In an industry dominated by the notion "2D gaming is dead", something comes along and says "Screw that!" with one million passe and more to back those words.

What does it mean? It's a wake up call. If something old-school like NSMBW can become a money magnet in the modern age, then maybe 2D platforming is the potentially profitable avenue third party companies can get behind with everything thing they got. They tried about everything else for the Wii with little success but the mere thought of developers revisiting their old-school roots unlock the joyful possibilities. The idea isn't farfetched seeing these companies are still around today. Sega returning Sonic to his former glory. Konami finally has a good reason to make a 2D castlevania for console (besides the rebirth series). I don't see any reason to drop the ball cause for some it was their expertise but if they f#@ked up (on top of all the other bullsh!t mistakes they made), then they have no one to blame other than themselves.

Classics Unleashed - Mighty Final Fight

Happy Turkey Day, everyone! May your bellies be filled with bird, gravy, and pie.

Today's special is an 8-bit concauction on Capcom's Final Fight franchise stuffed with beat'em-up goodness plus RPG fun with humor for seasoning.

Mighty Final Fight review



Enjoy!

First Impressions - Triple Threat!!!

Long time no blog! I know I haven't post anything in a while and decided to make up with not one or two, but previews for three games! November is a big month for video games as lots of the "prime beef" are released before the Holiday Season goes into full swing after Turkey Day. The Wii is no exception (despite what other might think) with two big releases in the last few days: New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles. What about the third? That'll I'll cover later. Right now I want to start on Darkside Chronicles cause there's lots to talk about.



Darkside Chronicles, like its predecessor, retells the horrifying events of Resident Evil 2, Code Veronica and a new story exclusive to the game, one of two reasons to get the game. The second is Capcom's revamping of the on-rails formula while staying true to the RE franchise giving the light gun genre a new home on the Wii. Considering it was new territory for Capcom, Umbrella Chronicles delivers the arcade fun plus added replay value and Darkside Chronicles continues that tradition though it differs in good and bad ways. First, the good....

Graphics = Amazing,
I'm not a stickler for graphics. Even when I do compliment, it's usually to point out an interesting style or rocket off on a tangent. Despite "last-gen limitations", Capcom does a great job so far on CGI, environments and character models and kinda shows they're willingness to dive head first with A-game despite the system, unlike other developers (stares at Konami).

All Weapons Included
In UC, you're only allowed to carry one weapon (besides handgun) from inventory in stage selection. This made you think hard about selection but now all the weapons collected (plus ammo) are carried over to all stages and accessible at any time via menu. Magnum, rocket launcher, shotgun, etc, all within easy reach but there's a catch. More on that later.

There be gold....everywhere!
By everywhere, I mean lights, fruit, fuse boxes, paintings, lights, stuffed animals, trash bags, metal railings, chairs, pillows, lights, old boxes, rotten meat....did I mention lights? So yeah, there's gold to found. I wonder why no one else noticed? Anyway, it's more reason to go bullet crazy out of everything that isn't dead and rotting or do what I do, throw in a grenade and kill two birds with one stone. Then, use the fruits of your fortune to upgrade your artillery. Nice! :D

Nice change of controls.
Waggle, waggle, waggle. That's what you do to reload. Well, DC still does the same thing but a simple motion of nunchuk is better. Control stick works on weapon selection, so there's no cycling through and grenades are a selectable choice, not requiring to hold A AND B. Low on health, press the + button to replenish health from stockpiled herbs.

Nice change of story.
Darkside Chronicles starts out with the game's own story. Leon and fellow mentor-soon-to-be-nemesis, Krauser, in the South American jungle investigating a powerful man named Javier in the area with possible ties to Umbrella. Unlike UC, where replaying RE 0, 1, and 3 before unlocking the game's original scenarios and extra characters. After each chapter in "Operation Javier", Leon recalls the events of RE 2 and VC in great detail a.k.a. lots of levels to explore. (Just beat the RE2 section and that had 8 stages) The story (so far) was thorough but in UC fashion, a few significant snippets were cut out and if you want the full experience get your hands on the original RE 2, sliding myself into bad aspect of Darkside.

Ammunition Moved.
One good thing about UC was the ammunition gauge surrounded the aiming cursor always giving you an indication how much firing power is left. Capcom had a bring notion to move the thing to the upper corner. Now, my eyes have to constantly peer away from the action to avoid being in a situation where the enemy has me by the balls and I'm stuck reloading my dam shotgun. Why ruin a good thing?

An earthquake?! No, it's the game.
Capcom certainly wanted players to get first person experience but can we do it without the obsessive shaking. It makes boss battles a bit tricky to handle when there's an earthquake every 3 seconds. At least follow Dead Space Extraction's example and add an "shakiness" bar.

Forced Two Player Co-op
This is more neutral, then good or bad. Each stage has you playing one of two characters, a life bar to each. On occasion your partner will get mauled by a zombie depleting his health, so it's best to keep on eye on his health cause it's game over if his or your life bar is gone. So far, it's hasn't been liability but there's a good chance becoming a real issue later in the game as Darkside Chronicles is tough.

Remember that flipside I mentioned earlier? Yeah, this is it. From the get go, zombies won't give you a moment's peace and they can gobble up that life bar in a heart beat. These frenzy freaks rush out of nowhere at anytime in a split second and don't think Quick Response Events will save the day. Outside of boss battles, QRE only occurred for me twice! So keep your finger on the trigger at all times cause these undead want to bite first and waggle later.

Boss battles are another story altogether. Beating these guys requires precise aiming, correct timing and lots of fire power to spare, otherwise you're lunch. How hard can they be? Let's say I fought G 2nd, 3rd, and 4th forms in a row after battling a parade of super lickers and giant moths. Either when their health is gone, they keep coming back for more. Fighting Tyrant's final form, you have to fire a rocket launcher at the right moments, otherwise, he'll catch the dam thing and send it back at you. So, it's hard....BUT doable.

My advice is upgrade the submachine gun's power dealing out massive damage in no time. Don't bother with the shotgun either. Reload times are painfully slow and can't be upgraded.

One game down, onto the next.



Two words.....IT'S MARIO!

Two more words.....IT'S 2D!

Another two words.....ON CONSOLE!

Here's some eye candy.....


Few quick notes....nice to see Ice Flower get some recognition though I find a bit redundant that you have shake the Wiimote to grab something. But if Nintendo wants to make me really happy, bring back this guy:

Or this guy. Either one is fine. ;)


Third game? Oh yeah!


Great, underrated platformer remake of the PSX version with 3D models, 2.5D layout, and innocent, platforming fun with a unique approach . This game proves modern games can have a massive appeal for all ages and retain fun-loving fundamentals down to the core when developers do it right. To top if off, it's $30 for those with a tight wallet ($20 used at Gamestop, $18 with edge card).

NGPC Countdown #21 - Neo 21

Neo 21..........(sealed)



At some point, the boys at SNK thought it was a good idea to compartmentalize Caesar's Palace into a set of portable games and dubbed them "Pocket Casino Series".

....Why?

If they were trying to capitalize on the instant PokerStar fame...then they're 3 years too early. But what's really peeves me is we in the US get stuck with Twenty One and Mystery Bonus while everyone else in the world enjoys the greater joys NGPC can offer. So, everytime one of these "Pocket Casino Series" gets on here, I'll jot down a name of a game. Then throw my two pennies why said item is thousands times better. For example, Cotton. Who doesn't love crazy anime shooter fun?

NGPC Countdown #22 - Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999

Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999......(complete w/box)



The frightful time of ghost, ghouls, and sugary, gooey goodness draws near and keeping up with ToT tradition. Tonight's entry is a treat fit for the festivities. ( I would opt for Trick but hard to pull off thousands of miles away with a keyboard unless I use the ol' "Free 2 CDs" trap.)

Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999 is by far the scariest and darkest (forgive the pun) addition to the Neo Geo Pocket family, at least on the US side. The whole thing give off the SMT aura (Shin Megami Tensei). For starters, you, as the hero, plunged into the underworld for the sake of power. The cover itself explains it all. Second, your boss is the Grim Reaper himself, on off days when he's not Drac's stooge. Searching for the ultimate weapon, ol' bag of bones here hands over a capture gun to 'harvest' roaming monsters and get this...feed it to your weapon in hope of evolving. It's Pokemon meets (insert cannibalistic movie name here) and one of the best RPGs NGPC has to offer.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Classic Unleashed - Amazing Penguins

A happy cornerstone of my youth. Amazing Penguin wasn't as big or popular compared to the Big N's heavy hitters (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.). But why should that stop me or anyone else for that matter? If it's makes you happy, then by all means play to your heart's content, I say. :D

Amazing Penguin Review

Enjoy!

NGPC Countdown #23 - Crust Roller

Crush Roller......(complete w/box)



A little review.

What happens when Pac-Man crosses with a paintbrush and Pokemon add-in steroids and the scrutiny of a perfectionist? Answer: A raging, muscle-bound artist with an obsessive munching for cute furry creatures in convenient little balls....or Crush Roller.

Like Pac-Man? Good, its the same thing....except you're a paintbrush. Goal is to paint all the roads while the Inky-ghost reincarnations, simple right? Well. not so simple. Actually, it's harder than playing Mike Tyson's Punch-Out with the Power Glove while blindfolded. Remember the part about perfectionist scrutiny, I wasn't kidding. To pass the level, all parts from EVERY angle must be covered. The spot can be so miniscule that you'll end painting the whole stage over again just to be sure while fending off enemies.

The only weapon of attack is the crush roller, paint roller, or whatever to smash enemies within a selected path but used only as a last resort as Blinky comes back stronger, faster, and meaner than before and only gets worse each time. At some time during the stage, they release a Pokemon-esque creature to undo your work. You can "catch" it before disappearing and add to the gallery.

For all my griping, Crush Roller still holds a good game though a challenging good game. If you're looking for tons of replayability, then Roller's multipath worlds has got you covered.

Spyborgs: First Impressions

Caught a nasty cold and my throat landed in Frog City for a week. Puts my next video review on hiatus for now. So, I went to Gamestop and picked up a copy of Spyborgs for $20 (really cheap for a recent release).

In Capcom beat'em up tradition, you have selection between three characters: the fast and furious yet not-so-strong ninja (Clandestine), the hulked-out, slow muscle machine (Bouncer), and the not-so-fast, not-so-strong, middle guy (Stinger) with built-in machine gun. After your first selection, its asked for your second. That's right....two-player co-op, and here's where the game begins to lose steam.

I've played Bouncer (Square's PS2 game). It's a neat beat'em up but three-character co-op idea was a major joykill. What's the fun in punching bad guys, if you're hardly doing the punching. It's like the game becomes the player and the player has become a Youtube walkthrough watcher. What's worse is fights become more chaotic. The AI wails the same enemies you are and you don't know whether you're the one hitting your enemies or not. Others times, the AI character blocks your view and can't see what the hell is going on. With a friend, both of you can coordinate strategies together, finding effective methods to overcome obstacles. The AI on the other hand is like a savant, he's smart enough to wail damage and survive but stupid enough to leave the enemy standing. What a nuisance.

Another thing that frustrates me is the special attack activated when the orange bar is filled by collecting orange sparky orbs. It's basically you and your partner wail enemies following a sequence of GoW (God of War) triggered events for an extra boost in power. What boggles my mind is with two players the attack effects only one enemy, but if alone, you can damage a group of them. Shouldn't the logic be if one person can attack a group, then two should damage all of them. It only give more incentive to throw your friend in the fire and do it alone, but a bad move for two reason. One, the AI character is regenerated after each round of fighting.

Two, the enemies are hard as hell, even the game's so-called "casual" difficulty will pound your cybernetic behind to the scrap heap in a split-second. It's so easy for them to gang up and force you into a defensive stance, there's hardly a way to fight back without taking damage. Reapers (machines with huge claws) are the worst. Not only are they cheap and deal heavy damage, they got a "dark" attack that can't be stopped unless heavy damage is dealt to them FAST! With so many things going on at once, it's hard to know when to block until it's too late.

It's a catch 22. Go at it alone and immediately slaughtered by the robot onslaught or bring the dumb AI and lose some of the fun. Big opposition said Spyborg will not be an awesome game and they're right....for all the WRONG reasons.

The concept of cyberheroes fighting evil robot armies wasn't a bad idea, in fact, it heralds back to the days of NES/SNES. What wrong if looks like a Saturday Morning Cartoon? Most video games from our childhood fit that description easily, so why hate something you loved as a kid? No, the Wii graphical capabilities aren't to blame either. That's saying all NES games are bad cause of its 8-bit graphics. As for the usual culprit (a.k.a. Wii Motion Control), you can turn it off in the option menu.

To tell you the truth, Spyborgs didn't rub me the right way. (Actually, it pounded my face into the wall...repeatedly.) But it kinda grew on me over time and found myself enjoying it more and more. We talked the bad, now let's get to the good stuff!

Boss battles are stupendously epic. It's the brightest part of the game, so far. Hell, the first boss is a 10-story robo-colossus with armaments that'll make the Army cry. Maybe a bit tough at first, but the fun is worth the reward. I know I've said special attack was backwards ass but here it's the opposite. Developers did great work creating each sequence as unique and entertaining for every boss, helping redeem the game's other crapfests.

If robots are still breaking your metallic heiny, you're welcome to revisit previous stages and acquire enough red orb to buy upgrade for greater power, improved health, or new moves. It's also a good chance to get practice your new moves and does help make later levels more manageable, but tough as nails to get through.

Like I said, Spyborgs is $20 less than half the price of new console games. If you like brawlers with balls to the walls difficulty and epic boss fight you can clutch your fist into, then Spyborgs may be for you.

R.I.P. Mario

Captain Lou Albano, a.k.a. the best damn Mario EVER, died today. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like the Super Mario Super Show. As a matter of fact, I loved it to death. To death I mean, watched every episode (including the Zelda cartoons, which I like too), buying every possible cassette they had out, and yes, I "did the Mario" A LOT. I used to do this everywhere I went....school, home, even the bathroom and it annoyed the hell out of everyone.

If by now you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, here's a history lesson. The Super Mario Bros Super Show was every young Mario fan's wet dream come true, right after Super Mario Bros 3 of course. A two-decade old show starring every kid's favorite pair of sibling plumbers. Each episode had a live segment and a cartoon, usually the live-segment was split into two with the cartoon in the middle. Lou Albano and Davis Wells played and voiced Mario and Luigi respectively.

The live portions circles around the plumbers misadventures in Brooklyn with an oddball cast and stranger selection of guest stars including Dracula, Tina Turner, Mario's mom, Luigi's mom and Lou Albano as himself. The plots were cheesy and the actors were even cheesier but when everything's all said and done, Lou and Davis made it worth our wild. Up to this day, I haven't heard anyone top Lou's performance and it's a shame Nintendo didn't hire Lou to be the official voice of Mario. In retrospective, it was Albano and Davis that made their alter egos such likable characters to children all across the country and in turn, transformed Mario and Luigi into household name. In short, I may not have known the wrestler, but I loved the plumber.

So, until next time everybody.....DO THE MARIO!



RIP Lou (1933 - 2009)

NGPC Countdown #24 - Pac-Man

Pac-Man........(complete w/box)



A straight port of the arcade 80's classic ventures to NGPC given the option of full screen or scrolling. Controls are a bit slippery, at least for me that is. When acquiring it, I got the box and manual first, then the game second. Why?

Boxes are first priority for my collection strategy more so than the actual games themselves. Yeah, I could get all the cartridges themselves and the boxes/manual later. Think about that. Remember people tended to throw the boxes and the chances of finding the box by itself is nearly slim. Finding one on sale is usually paired with matching manual and game and makes the whole buying games first idea seem redundant. Especially aiming for a complete boxed set.

Classic Unleashed - Run Saber

Given all the praise Strider get, I'm surprise this little gem isn't talked about as often. Few games follow the Strider formula and Run Saber comes close to the bullseye with 2 player co-op to boot!

Enjoy!

Run Saber review

NGPC Countdown #25 - Bust-A-Move Pocket

Bust-A-Move Pocket.....(complete w/box)



Pow! Zap! Kapow! Still jiving from all weekend 60's Batman Batfight marathon and busting serious moves all over the place! CRASH! Pam! Splat!

The idea of a top 10 Best Batfights is floating in my head. Good chance I'll work on that next after my latest video review.Though I'm seriously considering looking for the Neo Geo Pocket Dreamcast cable to showcase the nice bonus goodies. ;) Z-zwap!

NGPC Countdown #26

Shanghai Mini.........(complete w/box)

When it comes to video gaming, collecting is time-consuming, space-consuming, and more important, wallet-consuming. Let's face it, we're not all millionaires. At least, I know I'm far from that milestone. What's Shanghai Mini got to do with it? To answer, the game was one of a 6-game lot I bought to jump start my NGPC collection and touches a subject what I refer as lot buying.

Lot buying is group of games bought with a single purchase. Nothing special in it of itself but hold a few distinct advantages:

1. LOTS of games! (duh!)
2. Save money on games.
3. Save costs on shipping. (Yeah, I'll go into details shortly.)

1. The first good step in collecting, I believe, when it comes to getting all the games for a system is obtaining a good chuck in the first purchase. Saves yourself time in getting everything in fewer swoops as opposed going after each game individually. A great way to get to establishing a base and there's always something heavenly about a tonload of gaming goodness, like Christmas, except, it comes more than once a year. :D

2. Remember the old saying: "More is less." It's true for video games, in a monetary sense. Assuming Gamestop and the like are excused, half the beauty of lot buying is getting more bang for my buck. Whenever a seller has a game I like, I always check his/her other wares to pile on cause (and true for most conventions) they'll opt a better deal in your offer or gives you leverage to haggle.

At Too Many Games, a vendor was selling GB Megaman 2, 3, and 4 with manual plus Ninja Warriors for $70 altogether and managed to persuade him to sell $52 total. However, the "trick" won't work its magic every time but most, from my experience, don't mind trimming the bucks to get the sale, so it doesn't hurt to ask.

Ebay is another shining example as veterans know group lots tend to sell below what they go for individually. Back to Shanghai Mini, I paid $40 for that 6-game boxed lot plus the NGPC handheld, $6 per item! On that note, group auctions are always a good place to start for collectors, however, I dealt with resellers in the past placing high bids on these. So, don't go overboard.

3. Shipping is something when ignorantly overlooked will avoidably take a big bite out of your wallet, the same way a man believes a $30 game with $15 shipping is a better deal than buying $40 locally. To give you a better idea:

Let's say I want to get 100 NES games for as little money as possible and have narrowed it to two options. For argument's sake, one method is buying one game from 100 non-local people paying a penny each. The other is buying from one guy offering $150 for 100 NES games. Obviously, the former gives a LOT of bang for your buck, saving ya $149 in the process. But when taking into account shipping and handling fees, it's a whole new ballgame.

To give the best possible chance, let's say S&H is $3, $2.50 for bubble envelope and 50 cents for the stamp. (Yeah, stamps are 42 cents but things are simpler this way.) Add in the price of the game, that's $3.01 per item and for 100 people, the total comes to $301. (The math: 3.01 x 100 = 301) Unless the other guy's asking $151 for shipping, it's a safe bet lot buying 100 games from him is the better deal.

I realize my example has a snowball's chance happening in real life, but think about it, especially those who frequently buy their stuff online. Imagine if the cost was 5 or 6 bucks. X_x

It's something I always ponder in the back of my head as occasionally I've backed out cause S&H put the whole thing over my budget price.

With upside, there's downside. Lot buying looks like a money saver but requires to invest big all at once. It's really doesn't suit those with tight budgets. You're kinda stuck with what your bought until finance allows, but play your cards right, you'll come out like a bandit. Hope this helps. ;)

NGPC Countdown #27

Metal Slug 2nd Mission......(complete w/box)



Missions, machine guns, mayhem....and martians (cue 50's outer space music).

Remember that nonexistent pause button I said before. Well, I found it. Too bad it's the same one used to hurl grenades (the Option button). Oh why didn't SNK add a Select button? v_v

Neo Geo Pocket Countdown #29-#28

What's a countdown?

It's something I tend to do when aspiring to collect every game for a specific system, including manuals, boxes, and what not. Each entry countdown one by one to a complete collection. Right now, my eyes are set on getting all 32 games for the US Neo Geo Pocket Color library. The thrill of the hunt is so exciting!

Beware! My entries tend go off on tangents surrounding a quirky or unique trait than the game itself. Bear in mind, the NGPC countdown continues where I left off in the Digital Press forums. It's seems I'm skipping ahead, but they're covered later. Regretfully, it's been so LONG without any entries, best to leave with a double header.

Baseball Stars.....(complete w/box)


Neo Geo Cup '98 Plus.....(complete w/box)


The finishing touch....

Muramasa the Demon Blade: First Look

One word: Awesome!

Two words: Hell Yeah!

Three words: GET.......IT......NOW!!!!!

It took all summer, but the wait is finally over! Picked my pre-order copy from Gamestop recently and the few hours of great gameplay blew my mind. Vanillaware does it again! :)

For those unfamiliar, Vanillaware developed Muramasa as with other titles like Odin Sphere (my vote for best underrated PS2 game) and Princess Crown (if Atlus can find the code ~_~ ). Rarely do games come close to being artistically beautiful, but Vanillaware hits the bullseye every time. They create such aesthetically, stunning work, you can pick any random shot and frame it on the wall.

Muramasa the Demon Blade tells the tale of two struggling souls: Momohime, a feudal lord's beautiful daughter possessed by a demon and a master of the Oboro style and Kisuke, a rogue ninja stricken with amnesia hunted by his ninja brethren for a crime he doesn't remember. Both are selectable from the start and unlike Odin Sphere's diversified characters move, here the two characters gameplay are identical to one another.

Let's talk controls. First thing....no motion controls. Better yet, you can plug in the Gamecube controller or Wii classic controller. So, you can't complain about sore wrists. Let's concentrate on the Wiimote and nunchuk cause this is the setup I've played on thus far. Analog stick moves your character, while jumping is done by pushing the stick up and crouching with down. Awkward on paper but actually very intuitive. Pressing two buttons to move while jumping replaced by one motion of the thumb. It's works fluidly and becomes second nature for 2D no less. The advanced moves like dash slashing and parrying are covered extensively in the tutorial.

Battles are fast-paced, smooth, and intense thanks to the combo of kickass super sword with super attacks and wicked cool ninja moves. Overdoing the blade's special mojo drains its power and break it, forced to restore its power in its sheath or collecting souls lying about. I'm allowed to bring up to three blades into battle and can't swap them out, so caution is needed or be left in a boss fight with a bunch of broken swords.

Forging new swords requires certain number of soul and spirit. Spirits are gained from eating foods cooked by you or at restaurants (another trait delivered from Odin Sphere). A certain level of strength and vitality is necessary to wield them and requires level grinding but the game's fast action battle and EXP bonuses will feel like a breeze.

Boss fights should be one of three things: fun, memorable, or epic. Muramasa hasn't failed all three yet. All I can say is Momohime's Mountain God fight and nuff' said. ;)

One interesting note is with all my hours of play, not once had I seen "Now Loading..." or slowdown of any kind. Bear in mind, Odin Sphere was riddled with loading screens and heavy slowdown on a last-gen system. In Muramasa, a smooth. continuous, fast-paced motion like it was on a cartridge, except this is a CD game! Hopefully, the streak will continue for the whole game.

As for the visuals....well, you have to see for yourself. What are you waiting for? GO before I sick Momohime on you. ;)