The New Warriors - CONFIRMED!

Rumours have been spreading for a few days now about Capcom announcing either a new character for Street Fighter IV or an overhaul (hopefully a downloadable one) titled Super Street Fighter IV. Yesterday there was a picture with a leaked T.Hawk and a Japanese website (which pretty much confirms the whole thing) and today a French website (which has gone down because its never seen so much traffic) was sent some screen captures. Check them out at Kotaku.

So that pretty much confirms T.Hawk is coming to the game as early as tomorrow but it also confirms a new character named "Juri" who's design is horrible in that pose pic but ok in the fight screenshot. Really Capcom? you couldn't give us Juli or Juni you had to give us a new character and on top of that call her Juri? are you messing with us? Of course it's also entirely possible that this is Juli but has not been translated properly, if so when did she go emo?

I'm willing to give Juri the benefit of the doubt, after all the four new characters aren't completely horrible, but I was hoping for one of Cammy's stewardess friends to make it in also. I'm sure she makes sense but I dont feel like paying $60 for a new game (if its not downloadable) for a new character that didn't make it through the cut and another who I could never cared for in the original Street Fighter. On the other hand, Fei Long and Cammy are already in that would just leave Dee Jay outside so maybe he's in the package too. Still, not paying another $60.

UPDATE: According to the Street Figher Blog (which has more pictures) there are ten additional characters, which pretty much guarantees a new release and NOT a download, according to a comment on Kotaku,

The new characters are supposedly....
T.Hawk
DeeJay
Makoto
Ibuki
Adon
Guy
Cody
Dudley
Juri (original, seen in the photos)
Hakan (an Arab figher, also original)

This is getting interesting. Very interesting,. An Arab fighter? about time. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow. Unfortunately, given Capcom's money grabbing nature and SF fans completest, obsessional nature it looks like its a new game and we're all gonna buy it anyways.

CONFIRMED - Wow a second update huh? go internet! looks like the game has been confirmed as a standalone (new game) to be sold at a modified (cheaper) price. It'll contain 8 new characters (not the ten up there) three have been revealed: T.Hawk, Yuri and Dee Jay. Get a look at the third most famous Jamaican in the world (after Bob Marley and Usain Bolt) right here. Good stuff. By the way Super Street Fighter IV is a good title but you know what's better? Street Fighter IV 2. Yeah thats a winner.

Marvel vs Capcom

At $15 per download Marvel vs. Capcom 2 might seem like a scam but considering that the physical version of the game stopped being produced long ago and copies go for more than $60 online then it looks like something of a steal. I finally took the plunge a week ago and, thankfully, the game has lived up to expectations.

Of course it has to be expected that it holds up, after all its less than 10 years old and it still has long lines of players at the arcades. Unlike every other older fighting game this one does not suffer from slowness or small non-detailed characters, the game is fun, fast paced, has a huge and varied roster of characters and contains special moves that are as easy to pull off as they are extravagant. The artwork is some of the best Capcom has pulled off in a game, each character was drawn in the game's style, they mercifully completely avoided using stock artwork.

Onto the 360 version. As I mentioned in a very early post on this blog, they smoothed out the pixels and made the game widescreen. This is really brilliantly seen while playing on an HDTV as the characters and the backgrounds pop off the screen. Everything from the kitschy soundtrack to the fighting system remains the same so it really is like getting home from school and turning on the Dreamcast.

Not all is the same as the original version, besides the technical improvements Capcom has also added a list of achievements which, though minimal, are still rather fun: win 100 online matches (impossible I'd say) beat the game (with no losses) with an all Avengers, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, or X-Men team and so on. This is a great way to learn many characters but they certainly missed a few potential team ups: a Mega-Man team, Marvel villains, a what the fuck is that? team.

The download also comes with every character unlocked from the start. On the one hand I'm happy that I don't have to wait until I get enough points to play as Servbot but on the other I remember that unlocking characters was half the fun on the Dreamcast version. I understand they did this in order to get more parity in the Live matches but I'd still like to think that I'm playing towards something, especially since the ability to select a three Iron Man or three Cable team defeats the purpose.

The unlocked mega roster also creates a problem when playing simple arcade mode. It seems that the CPU only works with a select number of characters so opponent teams always seem to be the same. This leads to some characters apparently disappearing from the roster, so much so that when playing Vs the other day I was taken back at the sight of the Silver Samurai or Thanos, I even found myself asking who the fuck is Spiral?

But these issues are minimal and, more importantly, do not detract from the gameplay. This is still the most fun melee fighter out there and at $15 it is very accesible. Yes, other fighters have surpassed Mvc in terms or art, gameplay and so on but those either suffer from being too expensive, too inaccesible or too limited. The fact that Marvel is now out of the fighter business is disheartening, especially since DC doesn't get it, hopefully sales of this game will persuade them to come back. For now its best to keep enjoying this game and keep hoping for a new installment or perhaps fantasize about a Marvel vs Capcom vs DC vs SNK.

Alt. Beast.

This blog has an admittedly romanticized view of the late 80's to early 90's period in video game history. As such most of the reviews consist of me talking about how much I missed a certain game, how much I enjoyed it and how much I enjoy it now that we have been reunited. Well get ready to rock the proverbial boat because this is not one of those.

Altered Beast for the Sega Master System was one of the first games I played as a kid. It was a time when my allegiances were squarely with Sega and I considered all their games, from this to My Hero and Sonic, way better than Mario and his motley crew of castmates. I would change my mind quickly with time but this is how it was at first, and I indeed enjoyed this game to no end.

The main plot is pretty simple: you play a skinny white dude who walks around in a leotard punching zombies and assorted greek mythological beings in hopes of getting power ups that at first make him stronger (insert steroid joke here) and later turn him into one of four beasts (one for each stage).

While the plot is exceptional (and even more so to a young child), time has not been kind to the game. The game itself is slow, the main character is erratic in his punches and groin kicks, jumping requires too much technique and even though most cyclops' can be killed with one punch their sheer number makes for one difficult game. The level of difficulty is admirable the technological limitations make for some frustrating gameplay.

This is only a problem when our hero is in human form, once he converts to beast (wolf, dragon, tiger or the lazily powerful golden wolf) he speeds up and strengthens dramatically. The problem with this is that the game is only fun when the main character is a beast, at other times it feels like you're simply controlling an imbecile. This is quite a shame because the game does have an exorbitant amount of win in it, from the standard man-saves-woman plot to the mythological setting, the bosses and the excellent cut scenes once the protagonist is, well, altered.

This is a game I really wanted to like, I really wanted to buy it again and I really had it high on a pedestal as one of the best games for the old Sega system. But even though the concept is great, so much so that there was a PS2 sequel with some great stylized beasts, I simply could not get over how badly it has aged. Maybe one day I'll have a few too many Sapporos and download it on a whim, for now though it is one of only a handful of disappointments.

Crossover Madness to Return

Not being one to let an opportunity to cash in on nostalgia, Capcom is re-releasing Marvel vs Capcom 2, that bastion of subtle, strategic gameplay, as a download for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Ever since the Dreamcast died and the game went out of print for the PS2 the game has been a hot commodity among melee game lovers, myself included. I had the game for the Dreamcast and I have nothing but great memories of mindless fun unlocking the varied characters available.

The hot commodity comment comes from my many attempts to buy a copy on eBay. The game doesnt go for less than $60 either at auction or buy it now. Now that Capcom is coming out with a downloadable version (for $15) they can get their share of those who want the game but either dont want to spend as much for a past generation game or dont want to bother going down to the local arcade to get their ass beaten in by a mallrat in love with Iron Mans cannon.

I dont have any problems with this, capitalism being what it is. The market price will probably drop, I saw this happen with Boba Fett Unleashed figures that were at one point unobtainable because of its scarcity and price but which went down in cost significantly after a new version was released. Its gonna happen, too bad.

The main point of this entry though is that, like they did with Street Fighter HD, they're gonna improve the graphics system. As you can see here, itll go from high pixelation to smooth cartoon like quality. This is great news I suppose, with the advent and high availability of HD televisions, but the new graphics seemed evened out by the smudge tool on the Gimp to me. I know this is some hyperbole on my part, and we all know how much I love pixels so I'm clearly biased.

The good news is that the improvement is not mandatory. That is, you can play it in any mode you wish to. If I decide to actually buy the game its obvious what mode I'll use. Thats quite a big if, however. I love the game but theres a few doubts on my part: for starters all the characters will be available from the beginning which means that there is no story mode, there is only the option to get into dogfights either online, with friends or against the computer. This is awfully fun, to be sure, but it also gets old fast.

On the plus side the offer is a $60 game for $15, it comes with online play (for those who pay for that privilege), improved graphics and tons of sentimental value. Its a party game that anybody can pick up and everybody knows how to play. Until someone makes an alternative thats better than Mortal Kombat vs DC, or until someone brings Tatsunoko vs Capcom to the States on the Xbos this is a good deal for those who love the crossover games. Thats pretty much anybody, so if the hype is big enough, and if I finally get a stable Xbox system I might have to sell another Twilight book to come up with the funds to buy this.