61 Frames Per Second : capcom

8-Bit Love: The Ten Greatest Vintage Game Songs to Have Sex To, part 2

John Constantine — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Cyriaque Lamar is a New York-based writer with a New Jersey-bred weltanschauung. He’s had original work published at Cracked.com and performed at The New York International Fringe Festival. Cyriaque is thrilled to contribute to 61FPS, as it brings him one step closer to his childhood dream of living on the set of Nick Arcade.

5.) Final Fight CD – “Walk In the Park (Bay Area)”

System: Sega CD (1993)
Sounds Like: A sweaty nooner with Don Johnson.
I always loved the premise of Final Fight. The idea of a city’s mayor stripping down to his underjohns and beating the shit out of unemployed people in order to stimulate job growth was really ahead of its time. Wait? Mike Haggar was actually fighting to save his daughter from an evil street gang? And here I thought the game was some kind of radical Objectivist propaganda. This Bay Area theme is classic whatever console you play Final Fight on, but the Sega CD version pushes it to the limit with gale-force porno guitars. Seriously, these riffs are like an F4 on the Fujita Scale. In my mind’s eye, the person who would get the most out of this track wears a ton of sea foam green and frequents Fort Lauderdale whorehouses. Sometimes, you just gotta be that person. When it comes to the Sega CD, the only thing sleazier is Night Trap.

4.) Chrono Trigger – Schala’s Theme

System: Super Nintendo (1995)
Sounds Like: Ravi Shankar, Level 12 Bard.
Another track from wunderkind Yasunori Mitsuda? Man, I should just wear my Chrono Trigger fanboyism on a t-shirt. Or a hat! Yes, a big fucking sombrero like those worn by morbidly obese stockbrokers at Jimmy Buffet concerts. My sombrero will depict the final battle against Lavos, with Robo, Lucca and Magus executing the Omega Flare triple tech. After I conceive my first-born son wearing this sombrero, I will store it in the broom closet until his first day of middle school, at which point I will place my abomination of a hat on his head and send him on his way. When he inevitably comes home tearful and bruised, his Chrono Sombrero torn asunder, I will embrace him and say, “Today you learned what it is to be a man. We’re ordering pizza tonight.”

3.) Streets of Rage 2 – S.O.R. Super Mix

System: Sega Genesis (1992)
Sounds Like: The Madchester music scene mashed into a Mega Drive cartridge.
I lived in Baltimore a few years ago. My neighborhood was more Pink Flamingos than The Wire, mostly pleasant with pockets of dicey urbanity. This track by the great Yuzo Kushiro (Actraiser) syncs up with that time in my life rather aptly. I had the streets and I had the rage. I also had the sick piano breakdown at 1:36. That emotional miasma and sweet key work made for a heady love making combo. Still does. It was a weird time in my life, but not Streets of Rage 2 weird. Game’s about a twelve-year-old in rollerblades who dismantles a heavily-armed crime syndicate. Go figure.

2.) The Last Ninja 2 – “The Mansion”

System: Commodore 64 (1988)
Sounds Like: Coming home from work, only to discover John Carpenter banging your wife.
Matt Gray’s soundtrack to The Last Ninja 2 is one of the better things in life, and “The Mansion” is one of its most memorable tracks. Its utility goes far beyond the bedroom. Sure, you and a buddy can thrust away to this instrumental’s nearly eight minutes of analog acrobatics, but why not use it for a more grand occasion? “The Mansion” is a more than adequate proxy for Pachelbel. It’ll make your nuptials more like the wedding scene from Big Trouble in Little China.

1.) Tetris – “A-Type”

System: Game Boy (1989)
Sounds Like: Tetris. Duh.
There’s nothing inherently sexy about the Tetris theme. Thing is, everyone knows “A-Type”, and if you blast it in the sack, you will be your partner’s most memorable lover ever. Period. It doesn’t even matter how good or bad the sex is. Every time this pops into an ex-lover’s head, he or she’ll have no choice but to sigh, “[Your Name Here] balled me to the Tetris theme.” Decades may pass, but once they recall those opening Bolshevik bleep-bloops, a mnemonic trigger will kick in and your shining nudity will be all they have ever known.

Part 1

Previous Top Tens:

The Ten Greatest Ice Levels in Gaming History
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels
The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial
The Ten Greatest Opening Levels in Gaming History
The Ten Most Adventurous Sequels in Gaming History
The Ten Greatest Fire Levels in Gaming History

8-Bit Love: The Ten Greatest Vintage Game Songs to Have Sex To, part 1

John Constantine — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Cyriaque Lamar is a New York-based writer with a New Jersey-bred weltanschauung. He’s had original work published at Cracked.com and performed at The New York International Fringe Festival. Cyriaque is thrilled to contribute to 61FPS, as it brings him one step closer to his childhood dream of living on the set of Nick Arcade.

There are three reasons this list exists. First, I felt obliged to highlight 61FPS’s distinction as the gaming apparatchik of an internet sex publication. Second, I wished to showcase the unsung virtuosos of yesteryear who made masterworks using a limited palette of sounds. Finally, I intend to rebut those critics who still dismiss video games as low culture. Using the below examples, I intend to reclaim the carnal legacy of video games by evincing how early console music illustrated the gamut of human sexuality, from atavistic, heteronormative modes of eroticism to polymorphous perversity as delineated by Freud.

Plus, the thought of people sticking penises into vaginas to Nintendo music is funny.

10.) Radical Dreamers – “The Girl Who Stole the Stars”

System: Super Famicom Satellaview (1996)
Sounds Like: Koyaanisqatsi composed on Mario Paint.
Since roughly 95% of all human lovemaking involves someone with a XX chromosome pairing, I thought it necessary to seek out my female associates’ thoughts on which game music best applies to amore. The suggestions I received were few yet incisive — responses ranged from “the Kid Icarus theme” to “Who the eff effs to video games?” Ultimately though, I deferred to my own instincts and picked this pan-pipe jam from the Japan-exclusive, text-based sequel to Chrono Trigger. Composed by the legendary Yasunori Mitsuda, “The Girl Who Stole the Stars” is easily the most romantic theme on our list.

9.) Pole Position – Background noise

System: Atari 65XE (1985)
Sounds Like: Skynet becoming sentient.
The way I see it, there are two types of lovers in this world. The first type does it to The Whispers and The O’Jays, whereas the second diddles to Autechre, Radio-Activity-era Kraftwerk and the hum of AC units. The grating 8-bit drone of this Namco racing classic, is dedicated to the latter group — those who bang to cold, robotic minimalism. It’s also worth nothing that “PREPARE TO QUALIFY” is perhaps the best pre-coital war cry I’ve ever heard, particularly when your partner has no clue what you’re yelling about. Nothing improves foreplay like car metaphors and total incoherence. Remember the make-out scene from Gone In 60 Seconds?

Editor's Note: The Nerve and 61PFS by-laws state that no mention of Pole Position may go unaccompanied by this link.

8.) Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake – “Night Fall”

System: MSX2 (1990)
Sounds Like: Passion. Yearning. Crates.
Solid Snake, Big Boss, Naked Snake. Nobody pens phallic codenames quite like Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima. This harmonica-fueled ditty is from the Japanese version of Metal Gear 2. “Night Fall” is the only song on this list with an in-game pedigree as a sex jam — it plays when Solid Snake angles for some love during wartime. He totally strikes out, but what did you expect? With all that spying and peeping he does, I always figured Snake likes to watch.

7.) Zoda’s Revenge: StarTropics II – “Dungeon Theme #2”

System: Nintendo (1994)
Sounds Like: Vicki Sue Robinson’s “Turn the Beat Around” sung by an alcoholic Speak & Spell.
Most of the songs thus far have a “Quiet-Storm-meets-Q*Bert” vibe, so we’re going to shake it up with a certifiable club banger. When it comes to dance floor heaters about time-traveling teenagers fighting crudely-animated yetis, “Dungeon Theme #2” is impossible to trump. Play it at your next party and bookend it with some Crystal Castles and Futurecop. If some loser balks, matter-of-factly reply, “This is some old-school Japanese shit. Kanye’s totally sampling this for his next single.” You’ll only be half-lying.

6.) Donkey Kong Country 2 – “Stickerbrush Symphony”

System: Super Nintendo (1995)
Sounds Like: Massive Attack’s “Heat Miser” driven by a Casio horn section.
What the hell is this? This is a game about a pair of simians wearing Payless sneakers. It’s borderline profane to have a track this Sade-smooth in a Donkey Kong game, but consider the alternative — the DKC2 soundtrack could well have been five hours of the Donkey Kong Rap . Credit goes to Rare composer David Wise for making a bramble maze filled with bees sound downright silky. So silky, in fact, that it's perfect for exploring your partner's very own bramble maze.

Part 2

Previous Top Tens:

The Ten Greatest Ice Levels in Gaming History
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels
The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial
The Ten Greatest Opening Levels in Gaming History
The Ten Most Adventurous Sequels in Gaming History
The Ten Greatest Fire Levels in Gaming History

Soon. So Soon: Bionic Commando Looks Even Better, Has Worrisome Dialog

John Constantine — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

We’ve had quite a year, haven’t we Bionic Commando? Treasured stolen moments last summer, when I first saw you soar in a full three dimensions, climbing to pristinely rendered heights never seen before. A rekindling of our youthful flirtations with Rearmed, a reminder that true love is timeless. You are so close now, Bionic Commando. I can hear your steel hand clanking against some ruined skyscraper like a whisper on the breeze, calling me to your summer embrace.

Yes, GRIN’s Bionic Commando sequel is going to be out in just one month, right as 61 Frames Per Second is celebrating its first birthday. In these new clips, you can see just how much its creators have polished the game in the past twelve months. It is gorgeous.

The last time I got my hands on Bionic Commando, it played well, but its levels plain didn’t shine like they do here. I am, however, concerned by some of the incidental background dialog in the first video. I try not to be a purist when it comes to sequels but a soldier saying, “I’m going to fuck you up!” doesn’t really jive with the tone set by Bionic Commando: Rearmed or even this game’s prologue comic book. I’ll reserve judgment until the game is in my arms.

Soon, my love. So, so soon.

Related links:

Bionic Commando Rearmed Fan Trailer
Nobody Puts Bionic Commando in A Corner
Design Resurrection: How Capcom Finally Proved That It’s Game and Not Graphics That Matters
Bionic Commando is Love: Bionic Commando Rearmed is Out. It Matters.
Gone Vertical: Hands-on Bionic Commando

Terminator Salvation: The Videogame More Terminator-y Than Terminator Salvation: The Movie

John Constantine — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:30:00 GMT

I’m in a bit of a pickle here. I do not think I can be trusted to make reasonable judgments of GRIN’s games. They made Bionic Commando: Rearmed. In a few months, they’ll have finished the new Bionic Commando. I can’t be trusted to talk about their games. I owe them too much. I apologize. Then again, I think I can give you a fair impression of GRIN’s Terminator Salvation. I got an early look at their tie-in, a prequel to the upcoming movie of the same name, at the beginning of the month. It doesn’t look like a bad game, not by any means. For a movie tie-in, it actually looks very good. But as a GRIN game, Terminator Salvation is a little disappointing.

Terminator Salvation is, like almost every other game made by GRIN, a third-person shooter. You play as John Connor and you run around a post-nuclear-apocalypse Los Angeles shooting evil red-eyed robots who don’t like you. You shoot the robots with shotguns and machine guns. To avoid getting shot by the robots, you hide behind walls, or take cover, if you will. A number of AI partners follow you around Los Angeles to help in shooting these robots, but you cannot give them direct orders. Their tactics work like this: if you go right, they will go left. There are on-rails shooting levels every now and again. That’s about it. From the three sections I got to see played, two early on-foot levels and one on-rails section, it all seemed competent. The shooting and cover seem to work. It looks nice, much as the other Xbox 360/PS3/PC games built on GRIN’s Diesel Engine do, even though the animation is still a little stiff. But there’s just no hook, nothing that makes Terminator Salvation distinguish itself from the rest of Gears-of-War-Clone crowd.

In an interview with Edge, GRIN’s CEO Bo Andersson said, "Our director, Ulf, who comes up with the ideas for our games, says that he'll do whatever IP where he has the opportunity to realise his new gameplay idea. If he's offered the next Terminator game, for example, he'll do it because he has a good gameplay mechanic thought out for it." Ulf’s got a good track record. GRIN’s Wanted: Weapons of Fate spices up third-person cover by having you constantly jumping and rolling around the environment to chain cover points together. Its shooting lets you curve bullets around obstacles to hit hidden enemies. Very novel. Their PC versions of Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter 1 and 2, like Terminator, have you playing with a squad of AI partners, but you have direct control over their tactics, and you actually create a determined battle plan for your team at the beginning of a level. All of these little tweaks and twists on the exact styles of play in Terminator Salvation are missing, and there are no new ideas to replace them. I didn’t see Ulf’s “new gamplay idea” in this demo. I’m not saying that every game should have something as exciting as a grappling hook in it, but I expected something fresh.

I’ve got to give them one thing. The on-rails level demoed was a really swell use of the license. I’m no huge fan of Terminator. I love the original movie, like the second, loathe the third, and am completely indifferent to everything else Terminator-related, especially Terminator Salvation. The previews look fine, but where’s James Cameron’s awesome and bleak Los Angeles? McG’s human freedom fighters have assault helicopters and body armor and nice guns! They’re wearing make-up! It’s ridiculous. Terminator Salvation: The Videogame’s on-rails level, however, has you and your team piling into crappy, destroyed pick-up trucks, racing across crumbling city streets, and trying to shoot down one of the flying terminators. It looks like this:

Which is a whole lot like in this, between 1:32 and 1:40:

That’s pretty sweet.

(I lied. One thing Terminator-related I am not indifferent to is Summer Glau, who I would one day like to take to dinner and subsequently marry.)

Related links:

Dr. Spock vs. The Watchmen vs. Terminator: The New Movie Tie-In
Curveball: Hands-On With Wanted: Weapons of Fate
Trailer Review: Wanted
Gone Vertical: Hands-on Bionic Commando

The 61FPS Review: Resident Evil 5

John Constantine — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Resident Evil 4 is one of the greatest videogames ever made. It is top three, desert island material, the one to play before you die. It is Shinji Mikami’s definitive statement as a creator. It is the best three-dimensional game to ever come out of Capcom across all of their internal teams. It is Dark Side of the Moon to Super Mario 64’s Sgt. Pepper. These are not things that can be argued. These are facts. So when every single person that plays Resident Evil 5, whether as a demo or as a finished, ten hour game say that it is just “gorgeous Resident Evil 4", you know they are not damning it. That is a compliment. And an accurate one.

Producer Jun Takeuchi and his team of toughs followed the recipe precisely: Mix claustrophobic, over-the-shoulder gunplay, careful resource management and a dollop of flip-the-switch puzzling. Add an adventure through a forbidding village of transformed locals, then some marsh land hiding a water-bound monstrosity, then one industrial complex. Slowly blend in one spooky castle/ruin and one evil laboratory. Garnish with final confrontation that culminates in rocket-launchering a monster in the mutated face. Do battle with human, canine, insect, and various oozing grotesques. Let rest occasionally near save point, serve chilled.

It is an expertly-made game, its only serious flaw being the partner AI’s occasionally spastic behavior. Sheva Alomar (or Chris Redfield on a second single-player run) is capable throughout the chapters, but useless in boss fights, especially the last. The addition of a constant partner, whether AI or player controlled, does not change the rules, the flow of Resident Evil as a game. It can, at first, make the game feel quite different, giving combat a refreshed sense of immediacy and panic. Every Resident Evil game has a companion, but they’re typically a cosmetic servant of narrative, a dependent you must protect to proceed, or a pack mule, not an active participant in the fight-and-heal rush of combat. This is misleading in the game’s opening chapters because once the newness of it wears off, RE5 settles into the same ebb and flow of its predecessor. It is, however, made a less lonely game, though not only because of your partner’s presence. This Resident Evil has fewer ponderous moments sandwiched between its gaudy set pieces, a bit less story and, at first, seemingly less exploration. Resident Evil 5 has done away with back tracking entirely, making the game more linear by making its environments less circuitous. This is a necessity for keeping the game palatable to play with another human being — not everyone wants to look in every corner for bullets and gold. But in taking away Resident Evil’s maze structure (even if, as in Resident Evil 4, it’s just the impression of a maze) and removing opportunities to soak in Kijuju’s atmosphere, RE5 loses the series’ je ne sais quoi, its inherent Resident Evil-ness.

That’s the last metric to measure the game and the series’ worth. There isn’t anything left to say about the game you play in Resident Evil 5. These rules are perfect and Capcom has made a version that can be played by two people at once. Its art, its sound, all of its clockwork parts gleam in sync. But how does it hold up as a sequel, as a Resident Evil game? It does okay. The atmosphere and tone have always been the most rewarding aspects of the franchise, and they’ve taken a hit because of the aforementioned structural changes — not terminally but noticeably. It is also steeped in continuity without being forbidding to potential new players. No one’s going to give a damn who Jill Valentine if they’ve never played another Resident Evil, but the game is very conservative with its cutscene melodrama. It even does you the courtesy of including a timeline of the entire series, chunks of which pop up during load times.

Every review, every preview, every mention of Resident Evil 5 says the same thing: this game, no matter what, will live in the shadow of Resident Evil 4. Following up a masterpiece is an impossible task. To look at Super Mario 64 again briefly, Resident Evil 5 took the same approach Super Mario Sunshine did, making a few slight tweaks to a proven formula. Sunshine, however, was rushed out the door, had frustrating level design, and some questionable aesthetics thrown on top of the proven rules of its papa. Capcom was patient with Resident Evil 5 and they produced a game that may not surpass its papa, but at least honors it. What more can you ask?

Grade: B+

Previous Reviews:

MadWorld
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Killzone 2
Noby Noby Boy - part 1 & part 2
Big Bang Mini
Retro Game Challenge
Edge
Game & Watch Collection
Valkyria Chronicles part 1 & part 2
Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore 2
Prince of Persia
LittleBigPlanet part 1, part 2
Dead Space
LOL
Dragon Quest IV
Ninja Gaidan 2 part 1 & part 2
Metal Gear Solid 4 part 1 & part 2
Wii Fit
Grand Theft Auto IV part 1, part 2 & part 3

Chiptune Friday: Spring Is In the Air With Okami

John Constantine — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Two truths. Today is March 13th. It will not be spring for another eight days. Also, the original soundtrack to Okami is not chiptune. At all. In fact, it is fully orchestrated and entrenched in traditional Japanese composition, a far cry from the heavy metal and pop roots of the blissed-out blip songs composed on the NES or similar consoles.

Have you gone outside though? It is freaking gorgeous out there. It may rain, it may be cloudy, but the bitter miasma of late winter has lifted, washed away as if by… a celestial brush! Given, it’s likely that the fine weather is a result of the Earth’s natural solar orbit and axial spin, but I like to think that there’s a sun goddess wolf out there making it nice outside. I’m going to find her. We’ll go to the park and play fetch. Beautiful women will be all, “Oh your dog is beautiful!” And I’ll be all, “Check dis.” Then Amaterasu will make a bushel of fragrant botanicals grow at our feet.

Here are three selections from the Okami soundtrack. Listen, be in bloom, and grab your DS or PSP. Go play outside today!

The Great Goddess Amaterasu’s Revival

We’ll Always Be Together!

Two People Gazing At Each Other

Related links:

Chiptune Friday: Ethernet’s “Theme For the Water Shrine” Makes Me Want to Adventure and Possibly Defeat an Ancient Evil
Chiptune Friday: Trip to the Beat
Best NES End Credits Music in the History of NES End Credits Music
Chiptune Friday: Shut Up and Jam!
Chiptune Friday: Blaze a Blaze in the Mushroom Kingdom

The Capcom Cartoon Crossover You Never Knew About

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:12:00 GMT

I don't have any useful skills to offer society, but I'm pretty good at finding small glimpses of merit in awful things. That's why I'm pretty forgiving towards bad cartoon adaptations of popular video game series. For instance, I kind of liked the Street Fighter cartoon series. Parts of it were just foul, but there were small examples of effort. The 1995 movie did shameful things to the Street Fighter story continuity, which the cartoon struggled to repair with some success. Guile's failed marriage haunted him (interestingly, not a theme you found often in '90s era cash-in cartoons), Ken was a rich boy who didn't get along with his father, Dhalsim returned to mysticism and meditation, and Cammy defected to Bison and did strange things with him when the lights went out.

But even my patience wears thin sometimes. I will gladly hand out gold stars to game cartoons that try, but I'll turn my back on an episode when it's obvious the writers said, “Hey guys, let's just come up with any crazy shit and go to a hockey game.” I had always figured the Street Fighter cartoon episode “The Warrior King” was such an example of writer apathy/drunkenness/depression. The episode involved a king from another planet who pops by Earth to pick up an orb that grants powers to its user. Bison gets a hold of the orb, and uses it to blackmail world leaders. Chun-Li falls in love with King Axl Rose, who must eventually return home to his regret and hers, etc.

For years, the episode left me irritated. Street Fighter has sumo wrestlers, green mutants, ninjas, crazy haircuts. If you need to supplement the story by bringing in characters from Dimension X, you're not a very good writer.

But I discovered recently that my irritation was misplaced. “The Warrior King” was not an instance of a junior writer using Street Fighter as an outlet for his Heavy Metal fanfiction. It was a Capcom crossover.

Random Action Hour, a game cartoon archive thoughtfully provided by Random Hoo Haas, has a summary of “The Warrior King.” It's peppered generously with screenshots for those of you who have trouble following narrative without pictures.

It seems very possible that “The Warrior King” is a tribute to a Capcom bare-chested beat-em-up called Magic Sword. In that game, a barbarian fights through a tower to reclaim and destroy an orb of power.

Of all the obscure Capcom games to pay tribute to, why Magic Sword? Why not, I guess. The Street Fighter cartoon series also crossed over with Final Fight, so maybe the writers decided to try for something less obvious. Indeed, there was nothing surprising about seeing Cody and Guy alongside Guile, Bison, and the rest, though it was interesting to see Cody be treated like an underdeveloped second grader with anger issues.

“Now Cody, you know you should let Ken and Ryu rescue Jessica. Here's some crayons. Why don't you draw a picture of mommy and daddy lying in the gutters of Metro City, bleeding from bullet wounds?”

Related Links:

Where, Specifically, Did the Street Fighter Movie Go Wrong?
Licensing Tragedies: Malibu's Street Fighter Comic
Street Fighter IV's Fighting Spirit in Painstaking Detail

You Like Resident Evil, eh? How About All the Resident Evil in the World!

John Constantine — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:00:00 GMT

After one last cold snap here in good ol’ NYC, spring is finally in the air. Yesterday had itself a brutal chill, but today, it’s been nice and mild. Spring is full of all kinds of great stuff. A young man’s fancy turns to love, flowers bloom, it rains a lot, and every last one of us post-industrialized humans have horrific allergy outbreaks because we’ve never lived lives that necessitate a hearty immune system. Modern living rocks. Spring is also the season for rumors! The fiscal year is just about to end and all kinds of precious secrets are starting to ooze out of corporate orifices like nobody’s business. Yesterday, it was Pandemic taking over Star Wars: Battlefront III. Today, its Resident Evil: Code Veronica on Wii.

Let’s dive headlong down the internet rabbit hole, shall we? First, Capcom’s product manager Mark Dahlgren tells Game Focus that fans of Code Veronica should pay attention to the news on March 12th. Look for an announcement that they’ll be “very pleased with,” he said. Dahlgren then stoked more flames in an interview with Joystiq and said that Wii fans will be “very happy, very soon.” Then Kotaku wrote about it. Then I wrote about it. Like a hack.

Seems a little silly, really. I mean, you can already play Code Veronica on Wii. Just go online, type “Code Veronica Gamecube” into Google and, provided you have forty dollars and a little patience, you’re good to go. You can play every Resident Evil worth playing on Wii, dag nab it. Bunch of jerks, that’s what you are, Capcom.

Ugh. I apologize, dear reader. This was not post worthy. This is rumor mongering trash you can get all over the net. I just wanted to write that headline. It mixes Resident Evil with Simpsons quotes and I love both of those things. I’ll make it up to you, I swear.

Related links:

Resident Evil Arguments that Need to Die
Resident Evil 5: Continuing on the Transformation Trail From Horror to Suspense
Games to Film to Games to Film: Resident Evil Degeneration
Once More Into the Breach: A Final Peek at Resident Evil 5

Trailer Review: Flock

Cole Stryker — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Capcom has a new game up for preorder. It's called Flock, it looks like it lies somewhere between Pikmin and Lemmings, and it's due to release in early April.

Like Lemmings, it's about moving sheep from one end of the landscape to another, only this time with a UFO avatar. With light puzzle elements and a pastoral setting, this game looks like a great little casual game. It's only a $15 download, too. Apparently it also had a "sophisticated physics engine." Who knew? I wonder why this isn't being developed for mobile devices. It seems perfect for a grab and go-type gaming experience.

Video after the jump:

Related Links:

Trailer Review: Goodbye Solo

Trailer Review: Infamous

Trailer Review: Observe and Report (Red-Band)

Perfect Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth: Eigo Desu, En Ingles, In English, Talkin’ ‘Merican

John Constantine — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Not really. I apologize for misleading you. I didn’t need to lie in the headline. All it needed to say was “Miles Edgeworth” and you would have clicked it nine times, rabid with anticipation of countless jurisprudence-related delights! You wouldn’t even read the article. You would just come on in looking for images of Miles and his perfectly coifed visage, hoping for some small passage of his urbane wit and scathing insight.

Maybe not.

Naturally I’ve been curious about Capcom’s new Ace Attorney spin-off, Perfect Prosecutor. Not just because Miles has gone from supporting character to star. The game’s also piqued my interest since it’s the series’ first foray into third-person play. This is good news. Who wants to play a Miles Edgeworth game if you can’t look at him the whole time? Capcom’s been keeping the game under wraps since it was announced last year, letting out only a few screens and a trailer or two. Happy day though! The Japanese Perfect Prosecutor homepage has a flash demo of the game’s first case and, even though it’s a hassle to read, intrepid internet denizens Croik and JapaneseGIRL have made an English translation script!

GO PLAY! While you do that, GO READ!

It’s pretty cool. I like the new twists on the vintage Ace Attorney play and the new perspective is just the sort of fan-service I love. I’m really hoping I don’t have to play the whole game reading a printed script like this, though. Capcom still haven’t announced Perfect Prosecutor for the States.

Derrick got me hooked on Ace Attorney last summer. Guy walked up to me, shady as any alley lurker in some 1989 anti-drug PSA, and said, “Go ahead, John. Check this cart out. First case is free, man.” Even after I got clean (i.e. beaten the originally trilogy between June and August), I couldn’t kick my obsession with Phoenix Wright’s rival, Miles Edgeworth. There’s something about the character that I find hilarious and charming. The anime-straight-man is a cliché that’s usually reserved for brooding warriors, burly he-men, or stern authority figures. Edgeworth, however, never falls into a specific model. He’s the rarest sort of videogame character: a well-rounded one. I really hope the game makes it to the West.

(Link: GoNintendo)

Related links:

Fandom Unplugged: The Beginning
Turnabout Animation
My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Out Today: Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop

Bob Mackey — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hardcore gamers who just happen to own a Wii, take heed; Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop may just give you the fix that you need--if you didn't happen to play the XBox 360 version of the game back in 2006. The superiority of the original game shouldn't come as a shock, what with the vast difference in horsepower between the two systems and the general public reaction to Chop Till You Drop's initial announcement. What I didn't expect to see was a simplification of Dead Rising's original Majora's Mask-esque (though it bears more of a resemblance to Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter) time/saving system that made the original game such an interesting experience. I guess you could say that Capcom is listening to the fans (who bitched incessantly) with this overhaul of the original Dead Rising's core mechanic, but you could easily make this system a little more forgiving instead of removing it altogether. All in all, Chop Till You Drop seems more like a total conversion mod of Resident Evil 4 than the original game, though I'm sure Wii owners who never played the original will find this version to be much more tolerable than 360 zombie warfare veterans.

Here's some footage of the game in action. I was really expecting it to look better than a PS2 budget title.

Related Links:

Revenge of the Port: Dead Rising Shuffles, Moans on Wii
Interview Round Up: Suda 51, Shinji Mikami, and Mikami’s Replacements on Resident Evil
Capcom Might Just "Get" the Wii

10 Years Ago This Week: Silent Hill

John Constantine — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Silent Hill (released February 24th, 1999) did not mark a pivotal moment in the original Playstation’s lifecycle. Technologically speaking, Silent Hill was a solid effort, but nothing unusual for the time. Foregoing the pre-rendered backgrounds that were horror games’ stock-in-trade, Silent Hill’s full-3D environments weren’t as pristinely rendered as Konami’s own, year-old Metal Gear Solid. The CGI cutscenes, another requisite of the era, were competent but by no means up to the Squaresoft gold standard. Its control was wonky, its camera unwieldy, and the voice-acting was stiff even for a Playstation game. Of course, none of that matters. Silent Hill was a pivotal moment in game’s maturation as an affecting, expressive medium. Forget technology; its technical failings made it a stronger work. Forget genre; Silent Hill is not survival horror. It’s just horror.

The game’s premise and story are simple enough: widower Harry Mason travels to scenic Silent Hill with his adopted daughter Cheryl. On the drive there, during some of the game’s plastic-doll-CG, Harry almost hits someone standing in the road and crashes. When he comes to, he’s alone on the foggy streets of Silent Hill and the game has shifted to its playable state. Snow falls around Harry but doesn’t collect on the ground. From here, you, as Harry, follow what might be your daughter down a series of alleyways. As you go further down the alley, the camera shifts abruptly to successively stranger angles, mundane brick walls shift to rusting corrugated metal and rotting chain link fences, and silence gives way to buzzing dissonance. By the time you get to the end of the alley and find an eviscerated, inhuman body hanging from the wall, the gory imagery isn’t nearly as unsettling as the walk has been.

This opening sequence defines both Silent Hill as a series and its enduring legacy. The game that follows constantly shifts perspective in pushing you through the town’s locales, and there is no real safe haven. The game in Silent Hill is traditional exploration-puzzle-progress play made fresh by an unpredictable light-dark world dynamic. It’s not that one is good and one is bad; they’re both aggressive places. The duality is meant to unsettle and disorient both you and, in the hazy story, Harry. Every aspect of the design fuels that disorientation, too. Throughout Silent Hill, your field of vision is constantly obstructed, either by fog or darkness, a clever work around of the Playstation’s limitations, but essential to the game’s tone and goals. Akira Yamaoka’s sound design and its spectacular stereo mixing also aim to disturb. The game’s gurgling and grunting enemies are typically out of site until they’re right on top of you, and the only thing that signals their proximity is the static squall of the pocket radio you find early on. The awkwardness of the game’s acting, both the voice work, the script, and the animation of the characters, also serves the game’s atmosphere. While I’m not convinced it was intentional in the original Silent Hill, this sort of stilted drama has become a mainstay in the series, to great effect. It enhances the impressionistic tone, and lets the game’s unreality take root instead of constantly forcing linear plot on the player.

Horror games in 2009 are still made in the mold of the Playstation era: the dog-through-the-window scares of early Resident Evil, ominous-Gothic-setting of Tecmo’s Deception, and monster-escape of Sunsoft’s Clock Tower are still largely the types we see today. Sony’s Siren and Tecmo’s Fatal Frame series take atmospheric cues from Silent Hill, but are more tangible, less abrasively psychological games in subject matter. Even Team Silent took the franchise in a more digestible direction. After following up with Silent Hill 2 – a game that realizes every one of its predecessor’s ambitions – the team went on to make two more sequels that bear more tonal/structural resemblance to Resident Evil than their source material. The closest thing to a spiritual successor has been Punchline and Shuji Ishikawa’s Rule of Rose; Rule of Rose relies even more heavily on visual metaphor to convey its story than Silent Hill. (Unfortunately, it’s almost completely unplayable.)

Much as Silent Hill was informed by other games and media – the horrible “other world” and enemy designs recall Adrian Lyne’s Jacob’s Ladder and the metaphor-heavy psychosexual narrative shares many of David Lynch’s more recognizable tics – it has managed to stand on its own artistic merits ten years on. Sadly, it just isn’t very easy (or fun) to play any more. Its technological failings certainly helped it to be a creative triumph. But those failings don’t do it any favors as a game today. It doesn’t help that the game has never been re-released outside of its inclusion in the Japan-only Silent Hill Ultimate Box in 2006. With the Team Silent disassembled and the series now in capable, albeit not very creative, hands, it’s unlikely that Silent Hill will ever have the same impact it did a decade ago.

Previously on Ten Years Ago This Week:

Syphon Filter
Alpha Centauri

Related links:

Silent Hill: Homecoming is, Thankfully, Both Silent and Hilly
Screen Test: Silent Hill Homecoming
OST: Rule of Rose

Game|Life's Street Fighter Basic Training

Bob Mackey — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:00:00 GMT

I've never been the biggest fan of traditional one-on-one fighting games, mostly because mastering them seems to be entirely about learning the tedious arcana of the genre. This is why I've only really dabbled in Capcom's Vs. and Nintendo's Smash Bros. series; it's possible to play them like an OCD robot, but the casual fan can still pick up a controller and experience a few minutes of fun, flashy nonsense. The upcoming Street Fighter IV is advertising itself as a back-to-basics approach to the fighting game, which makes me more than happy, since I could never get a good grasp of what the hell was going on in Street Fighter III. However, there's still a lot at work under the hood, and a novice like me could stand to learn a little more strategy aside from "keep punching the other guy in the head."

Lucky for me, the bombastic Chris Kohler and the TV's Frank-esque Chris Baker of Wired's Game|Life have put together a little video (with some help from Street Fighter experts) to break amateurs like me into the magical world of street fighting. And, unlike most situations in life, I actually walked away having learned something.

Today's lesson: always buy a controller that costs as much as the game itself.

Related Links:

Where, Specifically, Did The Street Fighter Movie Go Wrong?
Licensing Tragedies: Malibu's Street Fighter Comic
Street Fighter IV’s Fighting Spirit, In Painstaking Detail

Take a Look Back in Hunger with the Resident Evil Retrospective

Bob Mackey — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:00:00 GMT

With the much-anticipated Resident Evil 5 about to hit store shelves in a month, I'm sure we're all going a little survival horror crazy; hell, I had to stop myself from replaying RE4 for a third time through careful consideration of all of the crap I own that I still have yet to finish. Instead, I've decided to cut out the middle-man and turn my attention to the significantly less time-wastey Gametrailers Resident Evil Retrospective. Like all of Gametrailers' retrospective pieces, the series promises to be a pretty comprehensive piece of work--and it even covers the pre-RE roots of survival horror, though they could have devoted a lot more time into that section. So far, one out of six episodes has been released; the only thing that worries me at this point is how increasingly convoluted the franchise's timeline gets by Code Veronica. The only way to explain anything at that point in the story would have to involve Back to the Future's Doc Brown and several hundred chalkboards.

We'll see how well they do.

Related Links:

Resident Evil 5: Continuing on the Transformation Trail From Horror to Suspense
Games to Film to Games to Film: Resident Evil Degeneration
Trailer Review: Resident Evil 5

The Five Characters You Won’t See in Street Fighter IV

John Constantine — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Written by Cyriaque Lamar

On February 17th, a numerical Street Fighter sequel will come out in America for the first time in ten years. In an act of unprecedented video game democracy, the good folks at Capcom allowed fans to vote for the characters that would appear in the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions. Their shortlist included such perennial favorites as the panties-flashing Sakura and the leotard-clad M16 agent Cammy. As in the 2008 presidential election, sex appeal commanded the polls.

But what about those fighters who didn’t make the cut? Join me as I take a look at Street Fighter’s lesser-known pugilists and postulate why these lovable losers didn’t earn a silky-smooth 3D sheen.

Rolento

Who?
Rolento debuted as a boss in the 1989 arcade beat-em-up Final Fight. As a boss character, he was entitled to certain amenities players were not, such as a baton, incendiaries, and a subscription to the Ginsu-Of-The-Month Club. When he turned up in 1996’s Street Fighter Alpha 2, he returned with all of his thwacking, exploding, and stabbing habits intact.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
Rolento is an absolute hoot to play. For a game full of high-flying karate-men, it’s surprising that the most agile character is the guy with grenades strapped to his pectorals. Rolento’s moves include a wide array of flips, rolls, and the ability to use his baton as a pogo stick. Playing him is like playing a paramilitary spider monkey. Furthermore, his backstory is hilariously bad even by Street Fighter standards. As he puts it, Rolento aims to create a militaristic new world order free of “panty-waist politicking”.

Revolutionary rhetoric.

Why He Isn’t
We suspect his absence has something to do with all those unfair knives, grenades, and super moves involving trip wires and impaling opponents with crane hooks. The moment you bring a goddamn crane to fisticuffs is the moment you’ve left the realm of “street fighting” and gone headlong into “demolition derby” territory.

Sodom

Who?
Another expatriate from Final Fight, Sodom was the boss of the underground wrestling match in Level 2. Despite his menacing shogun attire and dual katanas, Sodom was easily thwarted if the player stood directly below him. He later appeared in 1995’s Street Fighter Alpha. Sodom proved to be a more formidable foe in this game, as players could only walk left and right.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
He’s the most meta character in the entire Street Fighter mythos. A white guy with an overweening respect for Japanese culture, Sodom fancies himself a modern samurai. He flaunts fans and writes in pidgin Kanji. Capcom seem to be making fun of American fans’ geekier proclivities. Hey gaijin, see this joker? He’s you. Go do some push-ups with Guile.

Dude, leave E. Honda alone. He’s above your nonsense.

Why He Isn’t
That name is best left in the past, don’t you think?

Oro

Who?
Oro is a Street Fighter III original. A hundred-plus-year-old hermit from the Amazon rain forest, Oro spent decades in solitude until he grew bored and entered the third World Warrior Tournament. Hey, after Rolento’s rationale, that’s as fine an excuse as any.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
Along with collecting AARP benefits out the ying-yang, Oro handicaps himself by tying his left arm to his chest. And he’s not fighting one-handed for laughs — Oro’s so tough that he could accidentally kill his opponent if he unloosed his other fist. He can also take a nap mid-fight, which is one of the best flip-offs in fighting game history.

Why He Isn’t
Although there’s nothing like schooling your opponent with a one-armed, half-comatose decagenarian, playing against Oro is a viscerally unsettling experience. Many of Oro’s moves are grapples, so you’ll spend most of the match getting groped by a greasy geriatric wearing nothing but a loincloth. Plus, he’s from Street Fighter III, and clearly SFIV producer Yoshinori Ono hates that game’s characters. Even if they’re awesome.

Twelve

Who?
Twelve is Necro’s nemesis in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Necro’s special moves unabashedly mimick Blanka’s electricity and Dhalsim’s stretching. His antagonist needed even more novelty powers to be a formidable foe. So, naturally, he’s a crazy advanced version of Necro made by the Illuminati.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
Twelve was a Whitman’s Sampler of ridiculous gimmicks. Invisibility? Check. Flight? Check. Ability to become a doppelganger of your foe? Check. Ability to transform into a fighter jet? Double check. It’s like Capcom said, “The arcade industry’s in a freefall and this might be the last Street Fighter game we ever make. Fuck it, let’s pour all of the worst excesses of fighting games into one character and hit the karaoke bar.”

Why He Isn’t
For all his shtick, Twelve is perhaps the least playable character in the SF franchise. He can turn invisible, but the player has no idea where he is onscreen. He can turn his hands into pickaxes, but he’ll do almost no damage. Capcom balanced out Twelve’s bells and whistles by making him terrible. Street Fighter III rule also applies.

T. Hawk

Who?
He’s from Super Street Fighter II and possibly the worst caricature of Native Americans since Iron Eyes Cody. Hell, Capcom Japan wanted to name him “Geronimo” until Capcom USA intervened.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
T. Hawk is the only character on our list to make Capcom’s shortlist. So in theory, had anyone actually voted for him, he should have been in Street Fighter IV.

Why He Isn’t
Let’s ignore T. Hawk’s F-Troop routine for a moment to talk about his gameplay. In short, he combined Zangief’s complicated special moves, Sagat’s unwieldiness, and a sleeveless Canadian tuxedo. I have terrible childhood memories of selecting T. Hawk on our Super Nintendo versions of SSFII, only to have 5’5” Cammy knock the wind out of his longhouse.

Memories like that stick with you forever, so let’s hope SFIV’s new challengers don’t disappoint – check back in 10 years to see if we’re griping about “that goddamn Crimson Viper” by the time Street Fighter V hits the Xbox 1080, Zii, and Atari Jaguar 2.

Related links:

Street Fighter IV's Dress Rehearsal
Video Game-Grade Pretension: Not For Street Fighter?
Play Street Fighter in Youtube
Finally: Playing Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II HD Remix With Seth Killian

Once More Into the Breach: A Final Peek at Resident Evil 5

John Constantine — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Sitting down for one last taste of Resident Evil 5 before the game finally comes out on March 13th, I received the saddest possible news: the shopkeeper from Resident Evil 4 is gone. That’s right. No more buying it at a high price. No more good things on sale, stranger. No more gunning down the purple-bandana-wearing-sumbitch when he won’t sell you any more first-aid sprays. In RE5, you do your buying and selling from a cold, faceless menu. Maybe it’s for the best. Like the original demo, now available to all on Xbox Live and PSN, Chapter 3-3 of RE5 makes it clear that there isn’t a whole lot of down time to be had in Kijuju. Chances are if you stopped to hang with your old pal Shopkeeper, a zombie would bury an axe in your shoulder. Then your co-op partner would swear at you for window shopping so long. It would be bad.

The chapter’s a bit different from the shantytown survival-gauntlets of the previous demo. Sheva and Chris ride a small boat down river, flanked by steel platforms and gates covered with Majini, the buffed-up bad guys infected with the parasitic progenitors of both RE4’s Las Plagas and the original game’s T-virus. The on-rails sequence is frantic, with attacks coming from all angles, and it’s peppered with low-hanging barriers that must be ducked as you ride by. At multiple points, you have to disembark to open floodgates and procure fresh ammunition. These areas are small, but still warrant exploration for a couple of hidden weapons and treasures. (As in RE4, you sell treasure to procure extra cash, the quickest route to weapon upgrade funds.) Waiting at the end of the river is one of the game’s first bosses, some nutter named Irving. I wasn’t treated to much story, so all I know about the guy is that he’s evil and has a hilarious haircut. After injecting himself with a parasite, he transforms into a whale-alligator-tentacle-beast with a gigantic eyeball growing out of its neck. (What is with the T-virus and its variants causing random, gigantic eye growth?) The fight’s good fun; Chris and Sheva use gun- and rocket-turrets placed around the boat to take shots at Irving the Whale’s glistening tentacle and back pustules. It’s the sort of pattern-based, wait-for-the-weak-spot-reveal fight Resident Evil has traded in for over a decade, spiced up by having a partner to work with.

That’s Resident Evil 5 in a nutshell: it’s Resident Evil 4 but bigger, prettier, louder, and with a friend. That’s great, the perfect makings for an excellent game. But it raises some serious questions about the final product. I was playing with Capcom’s Chris Kramer the whole time; would the river ride and monster mash have been as manageable with an AI partner? I was also told that, despite earlier statements from Jun Takeuchi, RE5 will actually be slightly longer than RE4. Without the quiet exploration to balance the game’s shoot-outs, will RE5 end up being an exhausting endeavor? And the most important question: will Resident Evil 5 be free of the troubling racial imagery that plagued its first showings? Compared to the original trailer, the Majini are noticeably diverse, but if Eurogamer, who have played a far more extensive preview build of the game’s beginning, is to be believed, the demonization of Africans is even more problematic and offensive in the complete game. I have a lot of questions, but luckily answers are only one month away.

Editor’s Note: Nerve Editor Peter Smith is sad that he had to miss this demo session, and he doesn't even like Resident Evil. Hi, Melody!

Related links:

Resident Evil 5: Continuing on the Transformation Trail From Horror to Suspense
Resident Evil Arguments that Need to Die
The Resident Evil 5 Demo is Now for Everybody
Trailer Review: Resident Evil 5

Go West! Red Dead Redemption and How to Get Cowboys and Indians Right

John Constantine — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

By the time videogames had evolved beyond batting a ball back and forth across a digital net, the Western had already lost much of its cultural currency. The Lone Ranger’s audience had ridden off into the sunset, replaced by minds and eyes hungry for space instead of the frontier. That’s why we have Spacewar! in 1961 and not Stagecoach!. The last quarter of the 20th century’s appetite for science fiction is most certainly why Bald Space Marine is the icon he is in 2009’s gaming landscape, but I don’t think it fully explains why games have yet to produce a spectacular Western. Why is it that after decades of creation, there isn’t a game about cowboys sitting on Top One Hundred Games of All Time lists? Why is Oregon Trail the entire canon of frontier gaming?

Rockstar’s Red Dead Revolver seemed like a contender before it released in 2004. The game certainly sold well, one and a half million copies according to publisher Take-Two, but its critical reception was lukewarm. Despite Red Dead’s grand narrative ambitions — bounty hunting protagonist Red Harlow and his quest for revenge are Louis L’Amour vintage — and seemingly fitting open world play, it wasn’t the defining videogame Western it could have been. Now, it could have been the game’s troubled development that kept it from greatness. It started as a Capcom game in 2000, stalled out, and was sold to Rockstar, where it apparently became a Frankenstein’s monster of legacy code and newer features. I think the real problem is that the Grand Theft Auto-styled open world is not the foundation for a great Western.

On the surface it seems perfect; what better way to represent life on the range than a game world you’re free to wander, taking missions as a hired gun of dubious morality where and when you find them? I’m sure that was Neversoft’s thinking when they developed Gun, which released just one year after Red Dead Revolver and was almost identical play-wise. A great Western, though, requires incredibly tight, driven narrative focus. We’re not talking about a simulation of the Old West, after all. We’re talking about a pulp genre with recognizable tropes and a specific recipe for success. A great Western game doesn’t need a huge amount of freedom in its environment and it needs very little freedom in character. What it needs to have is the illusion of freedom and space.

Team Ico’s Shadow of the Colossus has an excellent play foundation for a videogame Western. (Even beyond the kick-ass horse riding.) The world is vast and seamless, much like the plains of western America, but the game is very linear, keeping the player focused on a single path towards the next challenge while enhancing the story. Picture a Western with a central frontier town with each of the game’s levels/goals structured to have you ride out into classic Canyon, desert, or even forest settings. This would lend the game a feeling of freedom without sacrificing the necessary reins on story direction, keeping the game from the classic GTA failing of having the story and play feel disconnected.

I sincerely hope that Rockstar San Diego’s Red Dead Redemption learns from its predecessors failings. From the screens released today, the game certainly has the look down pat. But the game will live or die by how well it tells a story. Remember, Rockstar San Diego: rein it in. Then maybe videogames will finally have its great Western.

Related links:

Grand Theft Auto IV's Post-Game Purgatory
The GTAIV DLC: Does Anyone Still Care?
The 61FPS Review: Grand Theft Auto 4

Resident Evil Arguments that Need to Die

Bob Mackey — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:00:00 GMT

With the recent release of the Resident Evil 5 demo, I've been subjected to something far more stomach-turning than hordes of the undead running amok in an African village. Of course, I speak of the Resident Evil fanboyism I assumed had ended long after the release of Resident Evil 4; you see, with the newest RE being made in the model of the series' previous game, purists are still upset that many of the things they've come to cherish about Resident Evil have been left to rot nearly 5 years ago. If you're a sane and functioning member of society, then you've probably realized that the Resident Evil 4 renovation was the best possible thing to happen to the series--and I commend you for your common sense. However, it's entirely possible that the drastic shift in the franchise still burns the living hell out of your beans; if this is the case, I bear you no personal grudge. I simply wish to ridicule your wrong opinions out of existence.

And now, friends, I present the Resident Evil arguments that need to die.

1. The game isn't even survival horror anymore.

This is correct. Resident Evil is now an action game--and it's so, so much better as a result. The series used to be about running past as many enemies as you could, while only taking out the few that were a serious threat--and the GameCube remake of the first RE even punished you for killing zombies by bringing them back to "life" in an even more ferocious form. Now, it's all about systematically clearing out areas full of ghouls, all while watching the ammo supply that the game gives you juuust enough of. There's a slight loss in scariness--to the point where even a notable wuss like me can now play RE--but the sheer joy added to the experience far outweighs the amount of pants-wetting you could be doing.

2. What happened to my precious Resident Evil story!?

You might have noticed that Capcom nearly washed their hands of the whole Umbrella/Raccoon City arc after Code Veronica. This is because A.) the logistics of basic plot elements barely made sense on their own and B.) there's no way in hell you could tie the events of the first four games together without several plot holes the size of Alaska. If you don't believe me, consult the Let's Play series of Resident Evil walkthroughs and see how little the stories make sense when someone is actually analyzing them.

3. ARGH why can't I strafe!?

The unique stop-and-pop fighting system of Resident Evil 4 and onwards is one of the few holdovers from the game's survival horror roots, and it really creates a set of mechanics unlike any other. Instead of Z-targeting an enemy (used in every 3D game since Ocarina of Time) and quickly turning it into Swiss cheese, you're forced to find a safe place and slowly kill the hordes of zombies that are on your tail--and said zombies usually block any way out on their approach. You could argue that the inability to run-and-gun in RE is an artificial way to add difficulty, but I respect that fact that it doesn't play like most action games.

4. Th-th-th-these aren't even zombies!!!

No matter how many Max Brooks books you've read, and despite how elaborate your undead apocalypse plans may be, zombies are fictional. And--God willing--they will be forever. This means that the definition of "zombie" is entirely reliant on whoever's interpreting the concept. So long as you get a bunch of humans who attack in large mobs, revert to completely animalistic states, and eat living flesh, I'm going to say you've got some zombies on your hands. But if you want to argue zombie semantics, I'd wager there are many areas on the Internet where you can do this. Just please don't bring it here.

Related Links:

Resident Evil 5: Continuing on the Transformation Trail From Horror to Suspense
Games to Film to Games to Film: Resident Evil Degeneration
The Resident Evil 5 Demo is Now for Everybody

Street Fighter IV's Dress Rehearsal

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:38:00 GMT

Street Fighter IV is coming, and the World Warriors are dressing up in their Sunday best for you.

Palette-swap “costume changes” are something of a tradition in the Street Fighter series and other fighting games. Said costume changes usually involved Ryu standing in front of his closet and musing if he should wear his purple gi or his white gi. But the latest installment in Capcom's famous series will actually offer alternative costumes that are seemingly based on the characters' history, personality and whether or not they have a bum that looks good in tight leotard.

Zangief wears the felt overalls of his hero, Mayor Mike Haggar. Guile remembers Charlie by wearing a yellow military vest. Vega dresses up in frills and a ballroom mask so he can run straight to Ken's son's Bar Mitzvah* after he claws out Chun-Li's eyes.

Check out the video after the jump. It's a cute and welcome touch that stands to add a lot of personality to the new fighters and the ones we already know. Something about El Fuerte with a frying pan seems right.

*Disclaimer: Ken probably isn't Jewish. Vega just looks so dolled up, y'know?

Related Links:

Street Fighter IV Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is Too Big For Me
Why I Like Street Fighter Continuity

Swell Maps

John Constantine — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:30:00 GMT

A few years back, I picked up an issue of British gaming rag NGamer because a) it had the Nights sequel on the cover — Nights is awesome — and b) it came with a poster. A lot of game magazines come with posters, but this one was particularly sweet. One side was a complete map of Hyrule, exactly as it appears in A Link to the Past, and on the other, a complete map of Zebes from Super Metroid. These weren’t artist’s interpretations, these were the actual games printed on paper. Super Metroid was especially beautiful. Anyone familiar with the game could lean in and pick out particular rooms, places where the game itself is especially thrilling or well-constructed. But seeing the game as a whole was eye-opening.

After years of looking at game maps in strategy guides, I’d gotten numb to how they can give you a far greater appreciation and understanding of a game’s design than when you’re actually playing it. You can see just how carefully timed each obstacle in Sonic & Knuckles is or how vast Strider’s levels are despite being short to play through. The map also let’s you appreciate a game by transforming it into something you can’t have in the game itself. Taken as a whole, the map changed Super Metroid into something else entirely from the game I was so familiar with: an intricate, beautiful work of visual art as alluring in the macro as it was nuanced in the micro.

revolvingdork’s new laptop is another example of how a sidescroller is transformed when seen all at once. He had all of Super Mario Land laser-etched into his computer and the result is dramatic. It’s in paragraph form, starting in the upper left corner and ending in the bottom right, and retains the game’s linearity as a result. It also shows off just how dense and layered Super Mario Land is. Not too shabby for a black and white launch title. Follow the link to get a look.

(Link: Geekologie via GameLife. Image provided by Gavin Ward)

Related links:

Metroid Prime Trilogy Retrospective
Fun Fact: Metroid Meets Metronome
Metroid: Wishful Thinking
For Love of the Game: Metroid II Remakes
What's in my MP3 Player: Super Metroid “Jade Catacombs”

New Year’s Resolutions For a Few Of Our Favorite Publishers

John Constantine — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:30:00 GMT

Now, to close out the first full week of 2009, we will do for videogame publishers what we did for console makers: we will tell them how to live their sordid, godforsaken lives! You’d think developers would make the list, but no. No, I tend to trust them, so they will be left to their own devices, free from the crushing logic of advice from 61 Frames Per Second.

In 2009, the following folks should resolve to do the following things:

EA – Stick to your guns and keep investing in new IP. 2008 was good stuff, Riccitello. Keep promoting Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space, they will find their audience. And EA Sports? How about SSX4 already.

Capcom – Resolve to support Dark Void with an aggressive marketing campaign and release it during the summer. Do not let this one die during the holiday rush. Also, Street Fighter III HD Remix. You know it would be sweet.

Atari – Do not release Ghosbusters until it is perfect.

Namco – Push Klonoa like you have never pushed a game in your entire lives. Tell people it will make them lose weight, tell them it will make them smarter. And knock it off with the nickel-and-dime DLC already, what is this, 2006?

Square-Enix – S-E, I want you to go out tomorrow, hop on a train, and pay Jupiter Games a visit. You cut them a check, and you tell them to make whatever they can imagine. The people who made The World Ends With You should be allowed to make whatever they like.

Konami – Release a press statement claiming you were forced to make Rock Revolution at gun point.

Midway – Um. Hang in there?

Activision – Give Neversoft the vacation they so desperately need and deserve.

Atlus – More PS1 reprints!

Take-Two – If Bioshock 2 looks stupid, don’t be afraid to cancel it.

Ubisoft – Release Beyond Good & Evil 2 by the end of the year. Please. PLEASE!

XSEED – Keep on keepin’ on, you guys. Can’t believe you actually localized Retro Game Master. Just awesome.

Tecmo-Koei – No Dynasty Warriors: Dead or Alive games. Just don’t. I know you're thinking about it.

SEGA – Disband Sonic Team. It’s over. Enough.

And that about covers it. Happy New Year, everyone.

Related links:

Microsoft’s New Year’s Resolution
Nintendo’s New Year’s Resolution
Sony’s New Year’s Resolution
Virtual Console New Year's Resolutions

Infamous: Unsung Contender of 2009

John Constantine — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:30:00 GMT

I don’t like lying. Lying tends to make me feel dirty on the inside, like I’ve broken my own New Year’s resolution and started eating topsoil again because it’s both moist and visually similar to cake. So I won’t lie and tell you that the games I am most excited about in the first half of 2009 are published by someone besides Capcom. It simply isn’t true. There’s new Bionic Commando. It is my topsoil. Everything else is dirt.

But that’s not to say there isn’t a whole ton of excellent and appealing dirt on the way! Sega and Platinum Games’ goodies are going to start rolling out in the next few months. Killzone 2 is looking like it may actually deliver on its half-decade of ridiculous hyping. Muramasa: The Demon Blade? Fragile? These games will, hopefully, be sweet.

Speaking of all things promising, Bob’s love for Sly Cooper reminded me that Suckerpunch is gearing up for their big Playstation 3 debut in just the next few months. But where is all the hype for open world superhero extravaganza, Infamous? Why have we seen so very little of this game since it was announced in 2007 and why haven’t more people gotten to play it? You look so fun Infamous. I love shooting people with lightning after I’ve climbed some buildings and blown up some cars. It’s how I unwind.

Check out the interview and tons of in-game footage from TGS ’08 that Gametrailers just got around to posting. It really does look like a blast.

Related links:

Underappreciated: Sly Cooper
Fan Art: Sly Cooper
Emergency Rescue!! Super Joe!!
Where is Prototype?
John’s Games of 2008: Year of the Open World

Bionic Commando Rearmed Fan Trailer

Nadia Oxford — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:27:00 GMT

”Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.”

“This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

“Your number's up! Monster!!”

I think we're all agreed on which famous quote deserves to echo through the generations. Sadly, Rad Spencer will probably never have his chance on the big screen, but at least artistic justice can be served through the Internet. A cool person named OzShadow put together a fan trailer for a Bionic Commando “movie” with footage and sound from Bionic Commando Rearmed.

We have to count on movies to teach our kids about thawed-out dictators who stab their closest associates in the back before being done in by a gooey head shot, because God knows they don't learn any important history in school.

Related Links:

10 Games Nadia Played In 2008 Instead of Working: Bionic Commando Rearmed
Bionic Commando Rearmed: T-Minus One Week
Bionic Commando Is Love: Bionic Commando In Eighteen Minutes

Facepalm: Kotaku Makes News out of Dude's Bisexuality

Cole Stryker — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:04:00 GMT

While we were on break, Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft reblogged a 1Up interview with former Capcom employee Yoshiki Okamoto. Weirdly, he focused on this rather saucy detail from the interview;

Mr. Nishiyama used to work at Capcom as well, so we bonded over the hard work we shared there, and we've been good friends ever since. Both of us had long stretches where we weren't in a relationship, but he would always be sharing a room with some guy. Not me, I mean we were friends. Just friends. I'm pretty sure Mr. Nishiyama is bisexual. But I'm straight. I only like girls, but he likes both. Mr. Nishiyama taught me how to turn my ideas into game design documents, but he didn't teach me about men.

And then Brian "Not that there's anything wrong with that" Ashcraft provides the following commentary:

Oh. Okay. If this is true and not just Okamoto making crap up, hey, more power to president Nishiyama. If this is not true and is just Okamoto making crap up, he should be more careful with things he says publicly.

Wait, what? First of all, shouldn't Okamoto just keep this knowledge to himself? Shame on 1-Up for even including it in the interview, but even more shame on Kotaku for amplifying this guy's sexuality into an issue deserving an individual post on the world's biggest gaming blog. If you read the actual interview, you'll find that the sexuality of this guy's coworker to be a very minor point, stated in an offhand way. It's certainly not the focus of the interview, so why did Ashcraft zero in on this insignificant detail, other than because New Year's Eve is generally a slow news day? I know I pick on Kotaku a lot, but really this is pretty awful.

10 Games Nadia Played In 2008 Instead Of Working: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD etc.

Nadia Oxford — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:13:00 GMT

If you visit my living room (cookies are available), you will hear “HADOOOKEN, HADOOOKEN, HADOOOKEN” and “'DOKEN 'DOKEN 'DOKEN”* coming from my television box. It might be an alarming string of nonsense to an outsider, but for a Street Fighter II fan, it means all is right in the world.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix has caused me a lot of pain because I've written a lot about it and been forced to type its impossibly long name over and over. Certain aspects about the game also irritate hardcore Street Fighter II scholars and it make me feel inadequate because I really enjoy the game. Am I not the Street Fighter II ninja I once thought I was?

No. No, it's the anal fans who are wrong. I can understand why someone might be upset at the “rebalanced” Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix if they're at all interested in tourney fighting; tweaks and twocks to games as in-depth as Super Street Fighter II Turbo are not taken lightly. They often spur eruptions and it takes some time for the ground to settle and cool again.

In the meantime, the rest of us can sit back and enjoy a great fighting game redone with bitchin' artwork by Udon Studios. I like Udon a lot, but it might be bias because they're based in Toronto and tend to slip little references to the city once in a while. I don't know what the bus driver's reaction was when he picked up every Street Fighter character, but given the general attitude of TTC drivers, he was probably irate to some degree.

*This is Ken.

Related Links:

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix C-C-Combo Makers
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is Too Big For Me
Why I Like Street Fighter Continuity

My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Bob Mackey — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:00:00 GMT

It's the end of another year, and that can only mean one thing: it's list season. Inevitably, you're going to see top ten lists by the thousands; and, as an official member of the enthusiast press, I'm afraid I can't violate my directive. But, to make things a little more interesting, I've decided to assemble my 10 favorite games of this year in non-hierarchical form because--let's face facts--it's hard to pick a favorite. And unlike other top 10 lists, this one will be doled out to you in piecemeal over the next several excruciating days! Please enjoy.

Back in early 2006, when I picked up the first DS Phoenix Wright, I really didn't know what I was getting into. Sure, the novelty of the whole "lawyer sim" thing would've been enough to carry me through at least one game, but thankfully, Phoenix Wright was more than just a gimmick. For nearly two years, I found myself wrapped up in the epic trilogy of Phoenix Wright (at around 15-20 hours' worth of reading in each one, they'd make J.K. Rowling balk) until its inevitable end in late 2007's Trials and Tribulations. But after the wrapping up of Capcom's convoluted tale, I still wanted more--and after staring at the same dated sprites for three whole games, it was about time for a DS-developed lawyer quest, as Capcom had teased with the substantial bonus mission at the end of Ace Attorney. Capcom eventually promised to grant nearly all of my wishes with a brand-new installment in their created genre, but I was a little skeptical that the replacement of protagonist Phoenix Wright with some new, young pup would sour me on the sequel.

To be honest, Apollo Justice is almost exactly like the young naive Phoenix we saw in the first game--which is why it makes sense that the latter acts as his makeshift mentor. But the developers realized that the Wright archetypes of harried lawyer and ditzy assistant worked well for three installments, and this is true in Apollo as well. Tying in the history of the Phoenix series to Apollo was also a brilliant move, even though I wish a few more of the Phoenix characters would have popped up here and there; still, this technique worked well to bridge the two stories and start Apollo off on an epic quest of his own that the game promises by leaving so many plot threads hanging by the end. I'm really hoping we see a sequel announced soon; at the moment, Capcom's next game in the series is drastically different and stars Miles Edgeworth from the Phoenix trilogy. I fear that without any real conclusion to Apollo's story, I may have to turn to... fan fiction.

...Pray for me.

Related Links

My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Audiosurf
My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Braid
My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Grand Theft Auto IV
My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Fable 2

Capcom Might Just "Get" the Wii

Derrick Sanskrit — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Oh Capcom, how we love you here at 61FPS...

As John pontificated upon reviewing November's NPD numbers last week, Nintendo's Wii is the dominant gaming console, no longer doomed to the Tickle-Me-Elmo purgatory of fad-dom, and with that news along with the announcement of Dragon Quest X on Wii at some point in the future, it should not be long before more and more third-party developers are pouring less of their interest into hi-def grimefests on the other current-gen consoles and more into unique and compelling play experiences on the shiny white kiosk everyone you know has in their living room already.

Unlike Sega, whom I've already mentioned seem to "get" the Wii hardcore audience, Capcom have always been good to Nintendo console owners. Fan-favorites Mega Man and Bionic Commando started out on the NES, the Super NES played host to the definitive home versions of Street Fighter II, the Gamecube was slated to host five exclusive Capcom titles (one was cancelled; Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7 found their way to the Playstation 2 as well; only P.N. 03 stayed on Gamecube) and just over a year ago Capcom treated Wii owners to a beautiful and doomed adventure puzzler in Zack & Wiki. Sure, it's easy to forget when looking at the wave of Resident Evil remakes and a toned down port of Dead Rising that Capcom wants quality product on the Wii. That perception is about to change.

First off, let's not forget that it was over a year ago that Capcom announced Monster Hunter 3 would be coming to Wii instead of the expected Playstation 3. Some doubt has been placed on this concsole choice lately, but Capcom has stood their ground stating on their japanese webpage:

"Monster Hunter 3 tri~ utilizes the unique features of the Wii to their fullest, and development continues with the intention of creating a Monster Hunter never before seen."

As for original IPs, this past spring's "Captivate" event brought the announcement of the Wii-exclusive saturday-morning-cartoon adventure Spyborgs. Almost immediately after that announcement, fan backlash agaisnt the cartoony style and presentation filled the internet with contempt and outrage. Well, good news! In next month's issue of Nintendo Power magazine it is revealed that the game is being "significantly retooled and will bear little resemblance to what's been shown thus far." While I'll admit the game's premise excited me, the presentation in the teaser trailer still makes me very uncomfortable, so this could be a very good thing, expanding the audience for what I'm certain will ultimately be an excellent game.

Most interestingly to me, though, is Tatsunoko vs Capcom, the new Japan-only Wii-exclusive 2D fighting game. If you haven't heard of it, its a fighting game in the vein of Street Fighter where the available fighters are taken either from a variety of Capcom games or from Tatsunoko Production's animation studio. I'm still not really sure why this game is on Wii and not Playstation 3 aside from the obvious "everybody in Japan has a Wii," but ultimately I don't particularly care about that, just watch this control/battle system primer video made by Keits:

Two things to take away from this video:

1 - That game is flippin' gorgeous. The desaturated cel-shaded character models look fantastic and fit perfectly between the 2D sprites of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and the lush stylized 3D models of Street Fighter IV. Look at that helicopter and those trees in the background! Look at those particle effects. Then pause and remember that this is a 2D fighter on the Wii.

2 - Those controls, while simpler than most fighting games these days, are still surprisingly deep and pro-tournament-ready. This is definitely a serious hardcore fighting game. And it's on the Wii. I can't quite get over that.

Sure, the Wii has actually seen some solid and beautiful fighters in the Smash Bros, Naruto, and Dragonball franchises, but this is Capcom, and this is another entry in the beloved Vs. series. We've all heard the rumors of an impending Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and we've all needed to change our pants just thinking about it. There was even some speculation earlier this year that the localized version of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom would become Marvel vs. Capcom 3 with all the Tatsunoko characters replaced with the likes of Spider-man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America and others. While we here at 61FPS have heard that speculation tromped down directly from our friends at Capcom, it's hard not to watch footage like this and dream.

Seriously, from what I've seen here, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has too damn much potential to not be westernized. Come on Capcom and Marvel. Get some smooth cel-shaded Gambits and Black Cats in here. More importantly, keep up the Wii commitment. It'll pay off soon enough. And thanks for everything yet again! We love you!

Related Articles:
Sega "Gets" The Wii
Up All Night: P.N. 03
Playing Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix with Seth Killian
Captivating Discontent: Where's the Ninteno Love, Capcom?

10 Games Nadia Played In 2008 Instead Of Working: Bionic Commando Rearmed

Nadia Oxford — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:14:00 GMT

Having grown up with two brothers and personally scoring somewhere in the negatives on the official Femininity Chart, you would think that Bionic Commando would have found its way into my Nintendo library somehow. Alas, no. Though I was always aware of Rad Spencer and his important contribution to history (making Hitler's head and secret headquarters EXPLOD), I didn't adopt any fondness for Bionic Commando until I watched my husband do a playthrough. My eyes followed that swaying red-headed soldier like a pendulum. Where do I sign up for the Bionic Harem?

(And what did I just say about scoring in the negatives on the official Femininity Chart?)

I tried to take control of Rad. When my attempts to make him swing out of the television screen and into my lap failed, I decided I'd at least try to get him through his no-jump adventure. I couldn't get through Area 01. It was an embarassing disaster and Hitler won. I figured Bionic Commando was simply something you had to be born into if you wanted to stand any chance of finishing it.

Time went by, stealing a drop of my life with every tick, and there dawned an age (Now) wherein game developers learned the value of nostalgia. Remakes and revamps of old classics, they reasoned, would send twenty- and- thirty-somethings running to Playstation Network and Xbox Marketplace like sows to the trough. Indeed, we sucked it all down, but there's no shame in indulging in a high-quality remake like Bionic Commando Rearmed.

Grin's re-imagining of Bionic Commando made the game far more accessible difficulty-wise, but without sacrificing too much of the old skool pain we all enjoy getting reamed with. I found it a great middle-of-the-road experience, plus the game was thick with fantasitc character design and humour. Rad is just so cool. I wish he'd come to my birthday party.

The spankin'-new 3D Bionic Commando is due out next year. Looks like Rad Spencer's carefree ways and awesome sunglasses have gone the way of the '80s, but heck, I'm still game.

Related Links:

Derrick's Top 13 Games of 2008--Part 1
Top 5 Reasons Why 2009 Will Bring the End of Lists
My Top 10 of 2008 In No Particular Order: Grand Theft Auto IV

Capcom, Street Fighter IV Cluttering My Home With Even More Useless Junk

John Constantine — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:00:00 GMT

Collector’s, commemorative, special, limited, ultimate, and EX plus hyper deluxe editions of games are, by and large, pieces of crap and a truly lousy way to spend even more money on an already expensive leisure. This is, of course, a well-covered topic in our little neck of the cultural woods. Saying that collector’s editions suck is a bit like pointing at the moon in the gaming journalism world. But it’s worth mentioning again when a collector’s edition of a game is announced that is legitimately cool. Take, for example, what lucky Europeans picking up Street Fighter IV will get their mitts on. A comic book strategy guide detailing how to use El Fuerte, Abel, Crimson Viper, and Rufus! (It’s totally forgivable that the rest of the line up isn’t included. Everyone knows how to use those characters.) Action figures of Ryu and Crimson Viper in a Chun Li stage diorama! And a copy of the Street Fighter IV anime movie! Hell, I’d buy that package even if it didn’t come with the game. No word on whether or not this collection will come out in the States, but I’d wager we’ll get something snappy. As long as it isn’t some crappy t-shirt or a tin case.

(Link: Siliconera)

Related links:

Finally: Playing Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II HD Remix With Seth Killian
LittleBigPre-Order Confusion
Licensing Tragedies: Malibu's Street Fighter Comic
The Street Fighter IV Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come

Little Big Trailblazer: Revisiting Mega Man Powered Up, User-Generated Content Pioneer

John Constantine — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:00:00 GMT

When I wrote up Where Is the PSP a few days back, I left out the fact that I’m largely responsible for the neglect of my own little Sony portable. Not because I haven’t been buying games, but because I haven’t taken the time to properly equip the thing to take full advantage of its potential. Up until yesterday, I had been using the same 32MB memory stick that came with my launch PSP back in 2005, pretty much cutting me off from any and all downloadable content available and, more often than not, limiting my ability to even update its firmware. Well, thanks to some good ol’fashioned Black Friday scavenging, my PSP has eight honking gigabytes to play with. I updated the firmware (I was a full version behind apparently), browsed the recently launched PSP PSN store (functional!), and grabbed some demos (Syphon Filter lives up to its reputation). But once the house cleaning and redecoration was finished, I moved on to the real impetus behind the upgrade: finally exploring Mega Man Powered Up’s DLC and user-generated levels.

This remake of Mega Man’s original adventure is really the unsung harbinger of the current gaming zeitgeist. Not only is it a lavish remake of a two-dimensional classic, not only did it lay the groundwork for Mega Man’s triumphant 8-bit rebirth, but it boasts one of console and portable gaming’s beefiest level creation tools. You can make all sorts of devious challenges, chock full of all the killer platforming, shooting, and bottomless pits any proper Mega Man needs, and then upload them to Powered Up’s easy to navigate web portal. Sure it sounds like a rote addition to any flagship game here at the end of 2008, but keep in mind that Powered Up came out almost three years ago. This is long before folks were singing the praises of Halo 3’s Forge, a solid year before people even knew Little Big Planet existed, and it’s all on a portable. The available levels, and there are many, are pretty swell after a random sampling. There’s even a token Super Mario Bros. 1-1 recreation.

Powered Up is also something of a cautionary tale. Capcom supported Powered Up with regular and free DLC, including asset packs for level creation (Ghosts ‘N Goblins level tools rule) alongside all sorts of extras like unique challenge course levels for every character in the game (every robot master is playable in every part of the game) and a plethora of, um, costumes for Roll (sexy kitty Roll? Sheesh, Japan…). But, after months of DLC, Capcom stopped because no one freaking bought Mega Man Powered Up! The lesson here is that, no matter how great your game, no matter how well you support it, no matter how great its ongoing features, it doesn’t mean people will play. Here’s hoping Media Molecule’s initial success holds for longer than a single year.

You can pick up Mega Man Powered Up for $12.00 on Amazon. Go. Go buy it now. If you do and make some levels, shoot me an email at johnc at nerve dot com, and I will play the bejesus out of it before posting the goodness right here.

Related links:

The Five Greatest Enhanced Remakes - And Five That Weren't So Great, Part 2
Mega Man's Nightmare: A Hard Hat With a Strategy
Games We Will Never Get to Play: Mega Man Mania AKA Game Boy Anniversary Collection
Mega Man is a Dick
The 61FPS Review: LittleBigPlanet - Part 2
Four More Games That ARE Awesome Remade In LittleBigPlanet