Catherine Says

"The political Liberty of a Citizen is the Peace of Mind arising from the Consciousness, that every Individual enjoys his peculiar Safety; and in order that the People might attain this Liberty, the Laws ought to be so framed, that no one Citizen should stand in Fear of another; but that all of them should stand in Fear of the same Laws."

-Catherine II of Russia

Or not in fear at all. Is it truly necessary for laws to be feared in order for them to be effective? I'd say fear is the necessary consequence of punishment, laws need not be made to punish. That a Citizen would follow a law because it's morally adequate instead of out of fear of retaliation should be the goal of the monarch or any other ruler.

The Characters of Bloody Roar

For some reason Bloody Roar is a game that I am fascinated with. I've never actually played it as it was around during a period of time in which I couldn't afford the newer gaming systems (the Playstation, Xbox, Saturn?) and these polygon heavy games simply weren't made for my Nintendo consoles.

But the concept is pretty cool: a fighting game in which your character has a separate gauge that lets you transform into a fucking animal mid fight and wreak some havoc on your enemies. It's a very interesting premise, one which was sorta explored in Altered Beast but which is better done here.

The art is what fascinates me. The drawings, for the most part, have a great anime feel to them that I'd really like to see taken into a fighting game (it's not as good as BlazBlue's but nothing is). The biggest drawback, and the reason why this series isn't as beloved and why I don't even care to hunt down a PS copy for my PS2, is because the game is in 3D. Yep it suffers from the same problems as Rival Schools and that's a shame.

But we're not here to focus on that, we're here to check out some of the character designs, especially those of the first games. These characters are exceptionally well done, it's like they took the animal as a base and then created a human around said animal. The results often go overboard in their obviousness but they're still pretty cool.

Yugo - I'm assuming he's the protagonist. A wolf, I don't really see a wolf in his design (way to ruin my thesis asshole). He's probably a loner. It's nice to finally find out where Capcom borrowed Abel's nose from.

Alice - A rabbit! First of all the hair is an obvious reference, the name is probably derived from Alice in Wonderland (which I believe features a rabbit also), I'm willing to bet she has rabbit teeth too. Oh and the red eyes, because all bunnies are murderous.

Long - A nerdy buff guy as a tiger? yeah that actually makes sense. I get the feeling tigers are a symbol for wisdom in some cultures and if that's not enough it looks like this guy is into martial arts. Tigers and Asia? sure why not.

Bakuryu - what the fuck is that? a mole? oh ok, so it makes sense that the poor guy looks like he's blind, but did they really need to give him that nose? Apparently they changed his looks from the first to the second game, they made him younger. This makes no sense, a mole isnt necessarily synonymous with youth.

Mitsuko - I'm not sure what's going on here...is that a warthog? shit, is that a woman? I have no idea but I don't want to find out either.

Greg - I am having a love affair with this design. The buff guy (the Zangief if you will) of the title is a fucking gorilla? no! he's a gorilla with a hat! genius. And both versions have that great beard. Too bad he didn't make it to the sequel.

Fox - Obvious name is obvious. I dont like this design, what is she some sort of body builder? no, most likely she's the Morrigan to Alice's Felicia. Still I dont like it. Seems lazy, the bodies are the same they just changed the face.

Uriko - a half cat? why did they have to break the pattern? you couldn't make her a full cat?

Gado - I have nothing to based this on but I'm saying this guy is German. Not only does he look like a lion but it looks like he's trying to look like a lion. I applaud this. Look if you're gonna be stuck as some sort of animagus for your entire life you'd might as well go all the way. A little hair gel and some mutton chops go a long way.

That's all the characters for the first game. Like I said had this game been done in 2D it probably would have been better. It's a shame it wasn't, it's a shame it decided to go with what was hip at the time and it's a bigger shame that they couldn't even do that right.

What I've Learned

These are just a few things I've learned after a few months of playing Street Fighter IV on Xbox Live. I've managed to amass a fair amount of fights, wins and different opponents and have gathered some substantial, and subjective, data regarding the community. Most of these things are stupid but some are really interesting.

• -While Ken remains the easiest character to use, and by far the most popular selection, he is not the most annoying. In order to counteract the huge quantities of Ken's you have to play at any given moment you simply select another Ken. Everybody knows how to use them and those who don't can easily pick him up. He's also awfully powerful and his attacks have high priorities.
• -The most annoying character is by far Blanka. People who use him have a particular system which completely depends on being attacked first. They simply wait and shock you, and if you don't let them do that they do that annoyin roll attack. Blanka's attack are too weird to plan a proper strategy against, fortunately it's not easy to master him and most simply choose not to.
• -There are proper and improper ways of using Zangief. The proper way involves using his great defense and large mass to walk towards an opponent, grab him and suplex him. The improper way involves just standing there like a fuckin dumbass and perform his stupid spin attack which absorbs everything. I accept that Zangief is a badass and should be tough to beat because he manhandles you but you don't have to annoy me while doing it.
• -The four new players are about as popular as gonorrhea. Yes they have their hardcore users, especially Abel, but El Fuerte's speed, Rufus' girth and Viper's weakness are not draws for anybody. I tried to use Viper but she doesn't do any damage and takes way too much.
• -Gen isn't very popular either. Vega isn't very useful. Balrog has one attack and it consists of him charging and grunting at you. Rose is the best antidote against the faux badasses that use Akuma. Sagat is too powerful, Seth isn't cheap when you use him, Gouken is easy.
• -The toughest fuckers out there are the ones who really know how to use Chun Li. Jesus Christ, she has lots of possibilities: I've been kicked, combo'ed, short punched, focus attacked and Ultra Combo'd to death by the Chun Li users. At this point I simply select a random.
• -Speaking of which here's the code: if you set your selection at random and your opponent does the same then you both must select a random! it's happened way too much that we're both at the random icon and I pull the trigger and the moron I'm playing then moves one up and takes Ken. It is fuckin annoying.
• -Some personal statistics: The three characters I've selected the most are Honda, Fei Long and Sakura. I've never actually used Honda but my brother does and he uses my account. Fei Long is the character I've used the most and I'm getting pretty good with him. Sakura I don't use much anymore (I did when I first started playing), Ken I use a lot but only against other Ken's or Ryu's. I'm definitely not the only person that has Rufus at the bottom of their most used list but I'm probably one of the few that have Ryu second to last in said list.

So there it is. I didn't add links with pictures because everybody knows what these characters look like and what they consist of. For those who don't there's this handy guide. I fear my SFIV online days might be drawing an end since I'm getting Soul Calibur IV in the mail this week. Is SCIV as good as SFIV? Don't know, we'll find out.

Noel Vermillion's Gun

It deserves its own post. I don't know if I should fear it, look for it in my cereal box or create my own out of discarded cardboard. It's not a small secret that I'm a BlazBlue, nay a BlazBlue art, fan and her dual shotguns have to be my favourite part of the game. Ok so every part of this game's art are my favourite but those are some great guns.

Portable Rock Band!

The great thing about music games, Rock Band and Guitar Hero and their imitators is that they give you the ability to feel like you're playing music even when in reality all one is doing is playing away on small plastic guitars. Despite this there is little denying that the games are fun, addictive and above all profitable. So how to transfer the concept to the handheld market?

The companies have certainly tried, Rock Band launched Unplugged for the PSP with a simple button mashing system while Guitar Hero launch On Tour for the DS with an included peripheral and mimics the fret buttons on the plastic guitar. Both seem fun, neither are actual representations of playing an instrument

Now comes Rock Band for the iPhone. The game doesn't reproduce the feel of the instruments either but at least it doesn't try to. Instead it takes the four available instruments (guitars, drums, vocals, bass) and modifies them to play on the touch screen, notes continue to flow from top to bottom but to play the note the only requirement is to touch the fret button that represents that note. In the case of the vocals there is no actual singing, instead the vocals flow like notes that the player must hit as they pass.

Here's the predicament: should they have tried to reproduce instruments or did they take the correct route? On the one hand I don't want to look like an idiot playing my phone like a guitar or singing to its microphone but on the other hand...I sorta do. The thing is, however, that had they done full on instrumentation instead of tapping notes less people would be inclined to buy or play the game. There is also no doubt that it would not have been a very good game. Not to say that Guitar Hero On Tour and its peripheral suck, its just that thats not the way its done on the iPhone.

The game does have the feel of a Rock Band game. The menus and interface are very similar to the console version and includes some great tattoo inspired images drawn up exclusively for this game (thankfully they dont reek of Ed Hardy douchness). It comes with 20 songs none of which feel like filler. There's some Smashing Pumpkins, Blink 182, Foo Fighters as well as some classics from Lynyrd Skynyrd and other bands. The list is robust and varied enough to keep it interesting but if they're not enough the in-app music store offers two song packages for $1.00. Thats fifty cents a song! cheap!. Hopefully it will be updated weekly and include some free songs (it had two free songs on launch). Super Power (or whatever its called) is included and triggered by tilting the phone, bass groove comes back, unison bonuses are there too.

There are some negatives that need to be addressed: firstly the game cannot be played on the horizontal screen, trying to play on hard vertically is somewhat impossible, especially when trying to maneuver through combined notes with both thumbs. There simply isn't enough space. There is also no character creation or even character selection, it seems that the characters take a back seat, there is only one screen with four characters, one for each instrument. When actually playing most of the screen is taking up by the notes, leaving only about 1/5th of the screen for video of the band playing. Unlike the console version (and for obvious reasons) the video is not unique to the song, instead there are about three different videos which play randomly. This isn't such a big deal as its impossible to actually pay attention to it when playing.

At $10 it might seem like an expensive game but lets keep in mind that other hand held versions of rhythm games retail for much more than this. Overall its a solid, entertaining game, with endless possibilities thanks to the music store and the ability to update seamlessly via the app store. There is multiplayer but its limited to local bluetooth and I don't know anybody that's going buy this game and the person I share apps with simply doesnt care so I wont be taking advantage of this feature. Same goes for the facebook integration but this doesn't matter.

Magna Carta

How is it that I never heard of this game until today? I don't so much care for the game, I haven't seen any screengrabs or gameplay videos but damn look at that art. I never realized that the Koreans actually had it in them.

It's times like these that I really appreciate Blogger not having any minimum word requirements per post.

Some Green Arrow

Today we talk about the history of one of my favourite comic book characters in video games. I'm talking about the Green Arrow. More than being a poor man's Batman, the Green Arrow has always struck me as simply a more leftist alternative to the Dark Knight. While their respective back stories might be similar Green Arrow actually cares about poor people, druggies, politics and so on while Batman is happiest when he gets to spy on citizens and beat up baddies. To each his own.

The main draw of both of these heroes, however, is that they're more based on reality than the Superman's and Green Lanterns of the world. This is where the fraternity and similarities between Arrow and Batman end however. While Batman has a huge following and large multimedia presence Green Arrow's appearances have been limited to comic books and Smallville. On the one hand this means that those of us who like the character get nerd cred for being fans of a more obscure character but on the other hand there is always the latent possibility that the book won't sell enough and get canceled. Batman doesn't get canceled.

Thus there is no list of old video games in which Green Arrow has appeared, no beloved classic that made him thousands of fans, no beloved classic to look back upon and remember what a long tradition of Green Arrow video games there is. Nope, none of that. BUT because it can't all be Batman and Superman DC recently made Green Arrow a playable character in its MMORPG DC Universe Online. So now do we not only finally get to see Olly in video game form but we also get to play as him in an online multiplayer full of thousands of Batman's. For a small fee. Woo Hoo!

My cynicism is unwarranted. I don't play MMORPG's so I can't appreciate their awesomeness, but I do appreciate DC finally doing something with my favourite character. And for that here's a gallery of screens from the game. This probably won't lead to a blockbuster movie deal (though I could see Olive Queen in the Nolan Batman...) but its a step up from the usual. For now it's probably for the best that he remain a cult favourite, overexposure has a way of ruining obscure characters, right Deadpool?

Stages: Ryu

Note: the title should be read as a parody of David Bowie's "Changes" (i.e Staaa aages)

We now reach the last stage of the original (selectable) characters of Street Fighter II. Like Honda's bathhouse Ryu's stage is set in Japan, not in modern neon Tokyo but in a more traditional setting. Japan is widely known for the juxtaposition of old and new, Ryu's stage has no juxtaposition its simply a rooftop in traditional Japan, where it can as easily be 1889 instead of 1989.

The stage doesn't say much about Japan in the late 80's, it is the only stage that is way more interested in representing it's character than its country. The twilight, the moon, the religious buildings all reek of transcendental meditation and all other spiritual mumbo jumbo that Ryu is known for.

I've always thought that making Ryu so focused on fighting and training (as opposed to, you know, women, booze and fast cars) was a bit annoying. Sure he can be all about having a good fight but come on! he has to be interested in other things. This quest to be "the best" has to take a backseat sometimes but apparently it doesn't. Honestly it makes Ryu looks pretentious and this stage does not help dissuade this thought one bit.

But like I've mentioned in other posts this is a necessity in a fighting game, Ryu might have been the first one and he remains the best. Truthfully we already have a more laid back, more relaxed Ryu and his name is Ken.

Getting back to the Ryu stage: I always thought that the shinto rooftop had a couple of cannons crossing it and for the longest time had a completely wrong idea of Japan. This type of house or shrine can be found throughout Japan so it works. It's not flashy or nationalistic but neither is Ryu so I suppose it works. Like I mentioned in the Honda post the game producers were able to go deeper into Japan than into any other country therefore the stages that emerged were not as stereotypical nor exaggerated here. Of course this also doesn't leave much room for our type of analysis.

Well this was it for the first eight but it's not the end of Stages. Shit, its barely the half way point. Next up will be the four Shadaloo bosses (one of which fights in my favourite stage) and afterwards its off to the new challengers. After that there's still a bit more planned. But that's still a few months away so no worries.

Finally I should mention that I got most of my screen shots (and blog pictures) from Moby Games. I assume its a great site, I'll add a link in appreciation.

Street Fighter + Mega Man

For the past two days I've been looking for an excuse to post this picture. Finally I gave up and determined that I have no need for excuses. I mean just look at those things! I have no idea which one I like more, I really do want to just hug and squeeze all of them

Found here.

Southpark, Smaller, Shorter in Your Pocket

It's hard to believe that Southpark has been around since the mid 90's. Back when I first got to the U.S it was a novelty, one which middle schoolers with cable were all too happy to embrace because of its, then, unheard of humour, profanity and animation.

Thirteen seasons later the show has evolved from pure grossout to social commentary. This is not to say that the gross out factor has disappeared, its still there, but it has at least grown up, in the same respect as its viewers and former viewers have. That the show has jumped the shark is uncertain, I haven't watched it in a while, but it still is consistently funny and its number of seasons is starting to reach Simpsons or at least King of the Hill like notoriety.

All of this just to talk about the brilliant Southpark Mega Millionaire for the iPhone. The game takes the familiar kids from Southpark and throws them into a stereotypical (but fun) Japanese game show, the kind that makes people humiliate themselves for money and goods. The tilt controls and reach-the-goal mechanics would have worked with any popular or non-popular characters, the Southpark kids therefore work great here as the show has previously explored Japanese culture and the bright pallette of colours meshes perfectly with the games art and style.

Here you take turns using Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny as they navigate through various stages (on roller skates) with various obstacles and variables thrown in for good measure. From having to carry something on their head to dealing with greased up floors or having to serve tea to four "masters", sumo wrestlers, the wheel of misfortune, the challenges are varied enough to keep one entertained without ever feeling repetitive. Successfully completing challenges earns a player goodies as well as giving us some great screens of the Japanized characters along with tons of flashy Kanji which very well could say "you suck for playing this game" for all I know or care.

This is not only a great game but its also a great satire (in the Southpark spirit) of Japanese game shows in general. The host is reminiscent of the crazy dude from Lost in Translation, the odd phrasing is reminiscent of Japan's love of Americana which in turns fuels our obsession with Japanese culture. If Japanization is inevitable, if its already happened and cannot be reversed then we're definitely headed to a better place. I for one welcome their Pocky, Katamari and beer candy and if we can get some of our icons into their concepts (like in this game) then all the better.

I know I say this a lot but this is one of the better games for this platform. It uses the phone's abilities to perfection, it has some great art, its cheap, licensed and very original. There's not much to complain about, obviously those who loathe South Park will be hard pressed to buy this but they dont have to, unfortunately they'll be really missing out.

This. Is. Jeopardy

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the U.S Congress not ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) today we present a wallpaper from the SNES version of Jeopardy (the one I derided just one post ago).

I realize that:

• nobody has ever asked for a Jeopardy for the SNES wallpaper and
• I am quickly running out of shit to post

But how can I refute an opportunity to post this picture? Just look at Jim, I cant decide if he looks more like John Hodgman or Max Headroom. All I know is he has a ton of cash, not sure if he won though as there was a woman next to Rob and I did not bother to notice her total when I truncated her from the picture.

Anyway, enjoy the wallpaper and take a moment today to celebrate whatever random occurrence I picked up from wikipedia that I mentioned up there.

This One Goes Out

To the manly, scraggly looking woman who tried to sell me Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday for the SNES yesterday for EIGHT FUCKING DOLLARS. I didn't buy it, obviously, but I found the woman's complete lack of tact to be something noteworthy. So I'm noting it here.

I don't know if the game is any good, all I know is that it's not exactly rare nor famous. It's available on eBay at buy it now for no more than $3 and those are copies that are guaranteed to work. This woman had at least six or seven games on a table (including Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy) along with the yellowest SNES systems and controllers.

She wanted 8 dollars for an open, yellowing, dubious copy of Porky Pig's haunted mansion, a game that features one of the worst Looney Toons characters and probably sucks anyway? I dont think you understand the concept of a Swap Meet. Or of fucking capitalism for that matter.

Seriously lady, what the fuck? I understand you just might find a collector or a desperate parent to sell it to but I've had trouble selling complete PS2 and 360 games for $5 to $10 and you're telling me you want eight dollars for a copy of Porky Pig you probably found in a dumpster outside of a Salvation Army thrift store?

Congratulations you're the reason for this fucking recession.

The Onion: Cyberball

The Onion had another one of their brilliant video game related articles today, this time relaying the story of how there might be a lockout of the 2073 season of Cyberball if the Robot Players union and the league don't reach an agreement. Choice quote here:

"I am unable to detect any gratitude from owners of magnesium wide receivers and titanium running backs who continually execute, on command, motion-based operations with a 350-pound explosive ball. I honestly cannot believe my proximity sensors."

This got me to doing some research on this game (which I had never heard of before) and before I knew it I was playing the damned thing so not only is this an Onion entry but also a review. Two for one, yeah!.

Cyberball is the clever (for the 1980's) name given to an atari football game that featured robots instead of actual human players. There are many number of reasons why this was a wise decision, for one no need to get any license from the NFL or NFLPA, theres also no need to actually try to recreate any likenesses to actual human beings, and the abilities to create pallete swapped clone teams and use ultra bad ass imagery such as this.

The version I played was a demo freely available on the Xbox Live. It maintains the retro (read: cheap) graphics and gameplay but throws in some new artwork (based on this apparently) and menus so you dont feel like you just wasted 400 points on a crap game. Gameplay isn't necessarily crap (it is, after all, a port of an 80's atari game) it's simply limited.

Basically you control a red team playing against a blue one, you play both offense and defense and have the ability to choose one of four plays (there are more than four but there are only four presented at a time) ranging from pass and run to option, blitz and nickel. There are no first downs, rather the teams play with an atomic ball which must warms up after about four downs if the team does not score or get the ball to midfield.

You don't so much play this game as you participate in it. Passing is random, running is vaguely controllable and defense is impossible. Scoring is a bit easy only because it's more difficult to not catch a pass than it is to complete it. It's an interesting experience, one which plays surprisingly smoothly on the Xbox but when all is said and done the game is too dated to be that interesting. After all this kind of thing can now be found on the iPhone, with better gameplay and graphics. Still as a piece of nostalgia its relatively harmless and, I assume, the full game along with the ability to play online (and a variety of teams) makes it somewhat fun.

Here's the Onion article
Cyberball Robot Player's Union Says Lockout Likely In 2073 Season

The King

This review for The Lion King for the SNES is only a placeholder. Why? because this game is so incredibly frustrating that I haven't been able to get past the second stage even though I've been playing it for the past two weeks. I haven't played it for long periods of time, mind you, but that's mainly because frustration sets in pretty quickly when fuckin Simba cant seem to swing on Hippo tails regardless of what button combinations one pushes. Phew that needed to get out. Like I said: placeholder, once I get around to beating it we'll have a closer look.

First of all the game is developed by Virgin. I had no idea Virgin even produced video games but I suppose it is a necessary step between space travel and bankrupt music stores. What is even more impressive, and a sign of the times, is that they actually had a Disney license. I know Disney will license just about anything but it says a lot about the unimportance of video games in 1994 that just anybody got a license from the big D.

The game starts off simply enough, you shuffle through some basic screens until Timon says "it starts" and you begin wandering around the Pridelands as Simba, jumping on assorted bugs, hedgehogs and lizards. It looks a lot like a non-CG Donkey Kong actually: a platformer set in a vividly colored jungle all set to great music (Lion King uses the music from the movie). But the similarities sorta end there, this game is not nearly as deep as Donkey Kong, its levels are much shorter and it is often more difficult to understand.

For example Simba doesn't actually have a life meter or any other logical way of knowing how close he is from dying. It seems that at random intervals, after an unknown number of hits, he just tips over. There are two bars at the top of the screen (which look like battery meters on a phone) but I have no idea what they mean. One of them measures how hard Simba can growl (I think) but he roars the same way regardless of whether its full or not. He also collects a bunch of random upgrades which, also, don't seem to have a purpose.

The artwork is great, I'd say that they spent most of their budget on graphics and forgot about gameplay. The characters look like those in the film, right down to the supporting animals which keep their great art deco style from the big screen. The game also features nicely done cut scenes with Mufasa, Rafiki and the rest of the gang.

Frustration begins to set in when you realize that the pretty art is a front for the bad game play. Sure its cool when Simba has to jump, ride and swing on animals but it sucks that there is no definite way to do these things. What's worse is that when you're required to jump from hippo tail to hippo tail five or six straight times and miss once Simba falls in a river (or on a birds nest, or something else) and you just lost a life. Yep, looks like Simba suffers from Megaman on spikes syndrome.

And that's what the second stage is about. I've gotten pretty close to beating it but he always falls! fuck if anybody ever needed opposable thumbs! It's a shame too because I want to keep playing this game. Not only because of my love of all things disney (except the Disney Channel) but also because some of the later stages look bad ass. Wildebeest run! older Simba! sure somewhere along the way Mufasa will die but we've had fifteen years to accept it and move on. Plus somewhere along the way Scar (one of the best villains in Disney ever) will make an appearance. I really should keep playing it.

Stay tuned I suppose.

Also: for no actual reason here's a picture of Bjork as a baby. Awwwww!

Viper, Sagat, New Art

Capcom released some more promotional art today for Super Street Fighter IV. In this case its new portraits (official ones) of Sagat and Crimson Viper. Thats a screenshot up there, better quality, full ones can be found at the Street Fighter Blog.

It should be noted that the new game will likely have all new artwork for all the characters done in a style that is a departure from the SFIV "ink" style which not only functioned as official artwork but also played a part in the gameplay in the form of the character's focus attacks. The new artwork doesn't suck but it lacks the kick that the ink style had. They're nice drawings and all but the chalk/pencil thing is inferior to the ink thing. It just is. I'm not saying I wouldn't pay money for an artbook but its not as good as the former is all.

As for these two particular drawings, I do like them. It's hard to characterize Sagat as anything other than a bad ass so any drawing of him will look like we've seen it before. As for Viper, her appearance is too odd and specific to really do anything with it. Long braided red hair, glasses, black outfit, not much room for modification. They gave her the standard Street Fighter thunderthighs, accented her curves and made her usual smirk a bit too subtle.

Also what is going on with those backgrounds? Sagat is breaking some meteors while Viper sits on the side of a futon? I vote we go back to the old solid color backgrounds.

Fuck Mario

I never realized how much of a cold heartless bastard Mario actually was. Even the Paratroopa is worried. Aaaah look at those eyes! fuck you Mario, you too Luigi.

Found at Link

Stages: Honda

Note: the title should be read as a parody of David Bowie's "Changes" (i.e Staaa aages)

One of two Japan stages in the original Street Fighter II was Honda's bath house (or Sento or 銭湯). The good thing about the two Japan stages is that they were not designed with stereotypes of the country traditionally known to outsiders, the Sento might be very traditional in Japanese culture but it is not stereotypical, the juxtaposition of it next to the Japanese Sumo wrestler creates the sense that even though we don't know about the Sento or its importance we do instinctively associate it with Japan.

The bathhouse in Honda's stage is very traditional, in fact it looks just like this one. A community pool (bath) in the middle with a traditional Japanese painting (with landscape, rising sun and kabuki player) on the wall next to it. Towards the sides baskets and what appear to be soap machines lie, accessories no doubt present in any communal bath. Of course everybody knows that once the match is over the kabuki man lights up. Since the Sento isn't specifically linked to Sumo the story was that Honda worked there. The stage made appearances in some subsequent games, including some crossovers.

The stage would be very recognizable to the Japanese and those who know its culture. The question of how to scream "JAPAN" to an outsider is more complicated, should they have included godzilla? baseball? pocky? schoolgirls? ome of those weird vending machines? the bottom line is they could have potentially messed the stage up in grand fashion if they wanted to go with total stereotypes, fortunately they decided to keep it classic, respectful and more realistic.

As the spread of Japanese culture across America (and the world) becomes stronger its customs, including the more obscure ones, become more well known and accepted. Twenty years after the release of SFII we no longer need the obvious stereotypes and therefore appreciate the inclusion (and possibly introduction) of lesser known Japanese traditions such as the bath house.

The only downside to this is that the knowledge of a culture on the part of Japanese developers was limited when it came to other countries, therefore when it came to places such as India or (as we will see later) Mexico, they did have to go with complete stereotypes. Leaving those outside those countries with a wrong impression of them and those inside with wondering just what the fuck was going through the developers minds.

There it is, a Japan heavy entry with no mentions of Sapporo, I'm sorta proud of myself.

MAXIMUM

Admittedly I've been a bit lazy lately, not in the mood for playing SNES or finding stupid shit to fill in blog posts. Welcome to Ocotober. Ah well, I'm sure this will go away soon, for now here's a clear picture of Dee Jay for Super Street Fighter IV.

I always sorta liked Dee Jay (though not as much as my brother) mainly because he had thick legs. He gave some good kicks and was relatively easy to control. Cammy was useless because she would jump up and down maniacally for no reason, T.Hawk was useless because he couldn't move much and Fei Long required too much mastery to actually use.

Dee Jay was easy, he kicked and dance his way into many people's hearts. My favourite part were his MAXIMUM pants which, apparently, only said that because the word could be read both when he was facing right or left. Sure maybe he was not as popular as Cammy (for obvious reasons) and didn't make it to the original cut of SFIV but he managed to get himself a following, at some point even getting an action figure.

It remains to be seen, I suppose, how his moves will transfer to the new SF, thankfully I have yet to encounter an old character that has been ruined by the updates.