Virtual Vox Pop: Which Games Should Be Next To Receive The ReBirth Treatment?
Virtual Vox Pop is a weekly open mic in which we ask you, the reader, to sound off on a particular topic. This week, it’s neo-retro games.
Konami’s ReBirth series has seen the company apply updated visuals and gameplay (and even entirely new series entries done in a 16-bit style), to the likes of Contra, Gradius, and Castlevania: The Adventure. These neo-retro titles offer sidescrolling gameplay and muisc which defined the classics of long ago, but benefit from 15 to 20 years of programming knowledge and advancement.
Bonk, Rocket Knight, and Mega Man are also member of the neo-retro club, but what should be next? If you had the say to greenlight a game remake/reimagning, which titles would you place in line to for a makeover? Any company, any era.
Personally, I’d love to see River City Ransom go that route, simply so that I can have Alex and Ryan mix it up with punk high schoolers on my HD display. Considering that Miracle Kidz, a developer staffed by some of Technos’ original programmers, has released Downtown Smash Dodgeball, an unofficial HD update of Super Dodgeball for the XBLA Indie Marketplace, I’m hoping for what would be a beat ‘em up miracle.
Thoughts!
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Slated for Oct 27 Japanese WiiWare Release
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth is a liberal remake of the original title, Castlevania: The Adventure, the first Castlevania title released for the Gameboy almost 20 years ago. This much is clear: it is still set in 1576, whips can still shoot fire, and you still play as Christopher Belmont, Simon’s grandpappy.
But grandpappy’s got sub-weapons now, and he’s migrated over to the warm glow of 16-bit styled graphics. Plus, he’s got to use stairs because he’s getting too old to climb ropes; in 20 more years, ReReBirth will swap out stairs and replace them with wheelchair ramps.
Joking aside, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth also offers new enemies, new traps, new music (well, new arrangements of the Castlevania themes we know and love), and modified level design. All in all, Konami is breaking tradition from their more true-to-form ReBirth remakes of Contra and Gradius, and blending more elements from other games in the Castlevania series.
As translated from the Famitsu text, it will be available for Wiiware in Japan on October 27, 2009. At 1000 Wii Points, it might be worth checking this out. With Halloween around the corner, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a North American release in the near future as well.
Virtual Vox Pop: Yay or Nay Regarding Konami’s Rocket Knight Revival?
Virtual Vox Pop is a weekly open mic in which we ask you, the reader, to sound off on a particular topic. This week, it’s Rocket Knight’s return.
I know what you’re thinking: ’90s mascots sucked and need to be buried in 6 feet of cement so that their derivative stench can stay far away from gamers’ nostrils. After dealing with cute, fuzzy, and smirking 16-bit icons of mediocrity like Aero the Acrobat, Awesome Possum, and Bubsy, it’s quite difficult to look back to the mascot games of that era without experiencing a full body dry heave.
But Konami’s Rocket Knight Adventures, and its sequels, managed to be fondly remembered all these years later, unlike the aforementioned cookie cutter sons of Sonic. The Big K is publishing the Climax-developed Rocket Knight, a 2.5D revival of the beloved franchise, for PSN, Steam, and XBLA. Retronauts landed an in-depth preview that discusses some of the changes made to bring Sparkster into the modern gaming landscape. It’s an all around solid read.
So what do you think about the return of Rocket Knight? Do you think mascot characters are the products of another era and no longer relevant?
Virtual Vox Pop: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Musical Scores In 2D Games?
Virtual Vox Pop is a weekly open mic in which we ask you, the reader, to sound off on a particular topic. This week, it’s music.
Music and videogames have been kissy kissy bedfellows almost since the hobby’s inception. Pong-era titles were typically sound effects-laden games that lacked any discernible melody, but by the time the arcade scene began to explode with the introduction of Pac-Man tunes had become integral elements of the gameplay experience.
It was the NES where I first took notice of game music. Contra, for example, had adrenaline-pumping compositions (the pseudo-3D base stages, in particular) that got you riled up to blast alien soldiers back to their homeworld; Super Mario Bros.‘ loopy 1-1 and moody 1-2 tracks didn’t so much get you hyped to play, but pulled you into the Mushroom Kingdom with their extremely hummable tunes.
Feature: Four Games That I Need Before I Die
Sequels have (for better or for worse) become a staple of the gaming industry; just take a look at the annual sports game updates as an example of sequelitis in action. Still, there are a handful of games that have never received follow-ups, truly deserved another series entry, or simply left questions that diehards need answered. I present to you the four games that I need before I taste the reaper’s cold touch.
Fatal Fury: Origins
Before Ash, K’, and Kyo became the pretty boy faces of SNK, the original SNK/Neo Geo star was South Town’s very own Terry Bogard. His tale was one that every red-blooded American who dresses in red-white-and-blue clothing can certainly relate to: His adoptive father Jeff Bogard, was murdered by the Gordon Gecko-meets-John Gotti crime boss Geese Howard (the details of which can be seen in the opening cinematic of Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition), for being an all around do-gooder leaving Terry and his brother Andy to fend for themselves and learn the art of street justice. This is Fatal Fury lore. This is Fatal Fury history. But is it the entire tale? Let’s look at the details.
- Terry and Andy are the adopted sons of Jeff Bogard
- Terry and Andy have blond hair and blue eyes; Jeff Howard does not
- Geese Howard has blond hair and blue eyes
- Geese Howard has a history of abandoning children (see Rock Howard)
This doesn’t take rocket science, folks, and I’m surprised that SNK Playmore hasn’t dipped into this well quite a while ago. My proposal? Fatal Fury: Origins would act as a direct prequel to Fatal Fury with the Jeff Bogard available as a playable character along with Tung Fu Rue, Raiden, Duck King, Takuma, and a handful of new characters that would help expand the Bogard-Howard mythos. Bosses would consist of Geese (naturally), Billy Kane, Yamazaki, Kaine, and others that would give South Town its proper level of grime.
11-Year Old Hates Contra and All That Is Fun In Life
Filed under: Emulation, Homebrew, and Modding, Gaming Culture
Props to /gamer for unearthing one of the more intriguing gaming related YouTube clips that has ever graced the popular video repository. Kerry of Nerd Balloon has launched “Project D” a social experiment in which he sits down an 11-year old (raised on a steady diet of modern first-person shooters) in front of a computer emulator to play the games on which we were reared. Games like Contra.
Contra is known for three things: Twitch gaming, the Konami Code, and tough-as-nails difficulty. Oddly, I thought the latter was more hype than reality; a shared “games were harder back in the day” mentality used to elevate our skill levels to god-status (for those that finished it), or help construct a mythos of frustration (which explained why some were unable to finish it). I was wrong, it seems. Of Contra, the youngster says:
“It’s pretty hard. It’s not as easy as Halo 3 or Call of Duty World at War.”
That’s about as good as it gets, as junior proceeds to take a solid one all over Contra, as expected. The PlayStation may have very well have been his first console.
According to Kerry, the next game that kid will tackle is Battletoads. The kid’s toast.
Bits and Bytes: 7/26/2009
Bits and Bytes is a weekly round up of some of the more interesting gaming news items that happened to slip through the cracks during our normal posting schedule. They’re presented here in easily-digestible bite-size chunks.
8-bit Hash Pipe
Like chiptunes? Like Weezer? Pterodactyl Squad mixed chocolate with peanut butter to create Weezer – The 8-bit Album, a 14-track record covering the band’s hits with an old school computer sound.
The Legend Lives On
Konami announced that it’s partnered with Universal Music Enterprises to bring the sounds of The Jackson 5 to the multi-platform Karoake Revolution. Wannabe crooners can belt out classics such as “I’ll Be There” and “ABC.” R.I.P., Mike.
Zombies Invade Xbox Live Arcade
Popcap Games’ monster tower defense game, Plants vs. Zombies, has been confirmed as being ported to XBLA. No word yet on extras/achievements. [Hat tip: Videogamepreview]
I’m in Your PS3, Crashin’ Yo Castlez
Castle Crashers, the Xbox Live Arcade surprise hit is a-comin’ to the PlayStation 3, with the possibility of new features. [Hat tip: Offworld]
Konami, Please Give Me Another Dracula X: Rondo of Blood
Dear Konami,
My name is Jeffrey L. Wilson, lifelong gamer, founder of 2D-X.com, and lover of all things Castlevania. Well, almost.
Castlevania entered by life in 1988 when a junior high school buddy suggested I sample his “rad monster-killing game” that featured Frankenstein’s creation, Dracula, and other creepies from Hollywood’s early horror entries. Despite being just 12, popping Castlevania into my NES was a watershed moment in my young gaming career; having been raised on a steady diet of Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and other innocuous hop-n-bop titles, Castlevania felt downright morbid. The colors were muted. The music was haunting. Dracula’s castle contained plenty of dark atmosphere. It was as though gaming had left childhood and entered puberty.
With each new series entry, I became more enthralled with the Belmont saga; Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse added multiple pathways and selectable characters, including series favorite Alucard; Super Castlevania IV reinvented Drac’s castle into a darkly gorgeous structure filled with some of the most emotion-stirring tunes of the 16-bit era; Castlevania: Bloodlines was a tough, but fun romp. But it was 1993’s Dracula X: Rondo of Blood that floored me as no Castlevania before or since.
And I want that feeling back.
Contra Blasts Onto the Palm Pre
Filed under: Emulation, Homebrew, and Modding, Run and Gun
If you’re a johnny-come-lately who doubts Konami’s deep influence in gaming, look no further than the Palm Pre, which is proving itself a love den for all things Konami. Days ago, it was discovered that inputting the famous Konami Code into the Palm Pre unlocks the handset’s dev mode, so it’s only fitting that the first reported gaming emulation on the WebOS platform is Contra, the NES hall-of-famer that made the cheat famous.
Checking out the step-by-step instructions, it looks realtively breezy for any geek to get the run-and-gunner onto the Palm Pre. I’m looking forward to seeing what the hackzor and homebrewers accomplish with the Palm Pre – - any Super Mario Bros. action, anyone?
Heavy Metal Kings: The Six Most Bad-Ass Military Action Games
Image courtesy neogeoforlife
This Memorial Day, the 2D-X crew pays respect to the courageous men and women who’ve bravely entered the line of fire by looking back at some of the more awesome videogame examples of soldiers at work. We’re not talking realistic first-person shooters like Call of Duty; it’s all about hardcore, near-mindless twitch soldiering that dominated the 8-bit and 16-bit era just as the Cold War began to thaw. No need to carefully manage supplies or call for back up: Simply check your brain at the door, grab the AK, and prepare to leave a foreign body count higher than anything Stallone, Arnie, Dolph, or Norris ever tallied.
During my “research” (which consisted of me playing naked, at 3AM,with a box of Dominos at my side), it became obvious that these war games were more than simple recreations of humanity’s flawed (and recurring) activity; they were also snapshots of time. It’s no coincidence that these titles emerged in a period where the threat of global nuclear annihilation had combat on everyone’s brain, particularly SNK, a company that takes half of the slots if this countdown. Go, America!
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