Virtual Vox Pop: What’s You Favorite Metal Slug Game?
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 your favorite Metal Slug game.
Metal Slug XX, the upgraded multi-player version of the underrated Metal Slug 7, is headed to the Japanese XBLA sometime next year as SNK Playmore’s 2010 offering to 2D lovin’ gamers. A conversation with a friend regarding where we would rank its quality in comparison to the other entries in this long running- series sparked this week’s topic.
Sam held aloft the banner of Metal Slug X, but I had to give props to Metal Slug 3. Yes, I know, its a pretty cliched response, but it contained a solid mix of hardcore military action and absolutely bonkers in-game features. When I first realized that an attacking zombie doesn’t kill you, but turn you into a zombie ( a zombie that spits a stream of what appears to be acid-laced blood), well, I just knew it was meant to be. It was one of the final games that the old SNK developed before its bankruptcy, purchase, and then rebirth as SNK Playmore, and you can see all of the loving care (the trademark of the old SNK), that was poured into the title.
So, as always, what say you?
Review: Baseball Stars 2 (Neo Geo)
As a writer, I really value the art of crafting a description that accurately conveys an idea that I’m expressing to the reader. It doesn’t necessarily have to be witty, just clear and concise. So when it came time to describe Baseball Stars 2 visuals to an associate who’d never seen SNK’s classic in action I struggled, struggled, and struggled some more. But then it hit me while reflecting back on the grand time I had at the 2008 Consumer Electronic Show: Baseballs Stars 2 looks like what would happen if the Vegas Strip made nasty time with a candy cane.
Virtual Vox Pop: What’s The Worst 2D Game That You’ve Ever Played?
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 craptacular games.
You know a game is a substandard mess of epic proportions when you and your friends try to justify its existence. 1993’s Power Moves was, without a shiver of doubt, the worst game that I ever purchased; in fact, the worst game that I’ve ever played. Worse than the NES’ Athena.
Capitalizing on the Street Fighter II craze that had legions of American teens digital whipping each others ass (and in some cases, really real world ass), Power Moves was Kaneko’s rather blatant jacking of elements from Capcom’s smash hit, as well as the two plane fighting system that SNK’s Fatal Fury pioneered. Copying a pair of the most memorable ’90s fighter should have destined Power Moves to greatness, but it tanked horribly due to molasses-slow pacing, poor animation, and moves that were, at times, difficult to execute – - the three faces of death for a fighter.
Virtual Vox Pop: What’s The Most Money You’ve Spent On A Videogame?
photo by selbstfotografiert
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 expensive game purchases.
Unless you’re feasting on a steady downloadable content from the likes of Popcap, PSN, Virtual Console, Wii Ware, and Xbox Live Arcade, chances are that you’ve found this grand hobby of ours more than a bit pricey. Shelling out $50 to $60 a pop for a spanking new title wears on the wallet over the course of a year, but spending half a Benjamin on a game isn’t even close to the amount of greenbacks I’ve plopped down on an individual title.
Review: Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Dreamcast)
Garou: Mark of the Wolves, considered by many as one of SNK’s Holy Four (along with King of Fighters ‘98, Last Blade, and Metal Slug 3), is slated to make its grand debut on Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow. Garou’s re-release has been a long time coming for SNK die-hards, so before the debate sparks regarding this version’s accuracy, we’re going to take a pleasant look at the 2001 Dreamcast port.
It’s hard to believe that 1999’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves (ported to the U.S. Dreamcast as Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves) is a decade old, but it remains one of the games I fire up to doubters to prove the viability of 2D gaming. It’s an amazingly beautiful game with large, bright sprites and sparkly special attacks that are animated with old school SNK’s loving care.
Over the years it’s been knocked for simply being SNK’s Street Fighter III (and it is without a doubt heavily inspired by Capcom’s classic game), but that’s not necessarily a negative. SNK went to the drawing board and totally deconstructed and reconstructed Fatal Fury’s visuals and gameplay to take the series to the next level.
Garou: Mark of the Wolves strips the Fatal Fury franchise of all its familiar faces, save for Terry Bogard and Rock Howard. Although the names are new, many are echoes of classic Fatal Fury characters, so you should be able to find one that you can bind with quite easily.
- Kevin Rain: Second South Town super cop
- Bonne Jenet: Hot, female pirate in a skimpy purple dress (go figure)
- Kim Dong Hwan: Kim Kaphwan’s son
- Kim Jae Hoon: Kim Kaphwan’s other son
- Gato: Hard-hitting mysterious lone
- Hotaru Futaba: Young, annoying girl; Garou’s Athena
- Hokutomaru: Andy Bogard’s student
- Khushnood Butt/Marco Rodriguez: Ryo Sakazaki’s student
- Tizoc: The Zangief of Garou
- Freeman: Badassmofo with Iori-like attack
- Grant: Sub-boss
- Kain R. Heinlein: Main boss, and Rock Howard’s uncle
Garou: Mark of Wolves’ gameplay is the most Capcom that SNK had ever gone until King of Fighters XII. Combos flow openly and freely, more so than any previous SNK fighter, making for a decidedly “noob-frinedly” experience.
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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.
Bits and Bytes: 8/16/2009
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.
16-bit Celebration
Can you believe that it’s been 20 years since the debuts of Hudson/NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 and Sega’s Genesis? Retronauts takes a wonderful look at the former, while Game Hub highlights the latter.
Mega Man 9 Gets Harder For Cheaper
If you’re the one person on the planet that found Mega Man 9 far too easy, Capcom has a solution – - and it now costs just a buck. The “Superhero Mode” DLC (recently reduced to 80 MSP) bumps up the difficulty and the number of on-screen enemies for those that thrive on infinite frustration.
The Real Metal Gear
Think you know the ends and out of the 8-bit Metal Gear? Think again. Our NES version was actually a port of the MSX original. Hardcore Gaming 101 details the differences between the two versions.
Honey, I Shrunk The Neo
The Neo Geo arcade cabinet is affectionately known as “Big Red” within the SNK fan circles, but a masterful modder has created his latest micro Neos – - and it’s adorable. [Hat tip: Hackaday]
Review: King of Fighters XII (Xbox 360)
I don’t take well to change. When I was 12 years old, for example, the move from elementary school to junior high school, collapsed my world. I hated shuffling from class to class. I hated being separated from dear classmates that I had grown to love over the previous 6 years. I hated the new teachers. I did everything within my pre-teen power to avoid school, such as faking illnesses and, eventually, skipping class all together. Fortunately, Mama Wilson’s switch put an end to such non-sense and put me down the right road. Change can be good when blended well with the proper motivation.
When the King of Fighters series went 3D in the Maximum Impact line, fans revolted. After living with the aging Neo Geo sprites for over a decade, many felt that SNK Playmore’s visual overhaul should have been in the form of high-resolution 2D sprites instead of soulless polygons – - myself included. The SNK Playmore era, unfortunately, had become one associated with visual mediocrity.
Maxmium Impact was a wash, and the latest 2D King of Fighters entries (King of Fighters 2003 and King of Fighters XI), both featured bland backgrounds and some suspect sprite work that lacked the visual pop of old school SNK fighters, despite being engaging titles with a new tag mechanic. The King of Fighters series needed a change. The change that we, the fanbase, wanted.
King of Fighters XII represents SNK Playmore’s move into modern gaming with fresh, high-definition sprites and new gameplay. A title that has experienced such a huge revamp can’t be accurately judged within the confines of a single review. Over the course of the next several days, many game sites will quickly craft and post “in-depth” game reviews to grab that much sought after search engine traffic and link love. Not here.
As a fighting game fanatic I know that a game’s worth can’t be judged in a day or two. Glitches, broken characters, and flawed mechanics appear only after significant time with a fighter, which can greatly impact a game’s worth – - look at SNK vs. Capcom Chaos, which quickly fizzled after the initial hype of the crossover. So, 2D-X.com presents the first iteration of our King of Fighters XII review. As we dive deeper into the game in coming days we’ll make changes, should it be warranted, to accurately reflect the King of Fighters XII experience. Let’s get started.
New King of Fighters XII Trailer Highlights Gameplay Depth
Ignition Entertainment has released yet another King of Fighters XII vid, which highlights the fighter’s combat mechanics. Sousai attacks, guard attacks, and deadlock counters are all on display, set to the street fightin’ sounds of Blondie’s “One Way Or Another.” If you’re ready to rumble, King of Fighters XII will be available for purchase on July 28th.
Review: Neo Geo Battle Coliseum (PlayStation 2)
I have a love-hate relationship with the Marvel vs. Capcom series, especially the second iteration of the game. While I love Capcom’s mish-mashy blend of of its own properties with Marvel’s, the over-the-top gameplay pretty much turned me off from any serious gameplay. The title has gobs of followers, so it would make sense that another company that specializes in fighting game to develop a universe-clashing game. Enter SNK Playmore with Neo Geo Battle Coliseum.
Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, brings various Neo Geo characters together in a knock-down drag out brawl to help stop the evil WAREZ company from harshing on gaming (a thinly-veiled autobiographical tale is I’ve ever hard one). Storylines in fighters are just half-assed excuses to punch digital foes squarely in their faces, so let’s get to the lineup.
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