Pacman, Anarchy

I have to admit that while I dont belong to any political group, I never belonged to any academic organization or mensa or whatnot I do belong to a supporters group (which sounds sooo tame) for the local second division soccer club. Yep, I'm a barrista (not a barista), an hincha, a hooligan if you will. I realize its odd, I mean I'm a college graduate for fuck sakes but can I help it? no, I happen to like that team, its colors and what it represents. Hey, we all need a hobby.

What does that have to do with video games? well plenty. See even though I belong to a barra, which traditionally glorifies chaos, loyalty and ska (its the closest I'll ever come to a gang) I'm still a nerd and when it came time to show love for my team's colours I still had to allow some room for that nerdiness. So I made a flag, on the one side it had a black star on a red circle and on the other it had this.

Not the most intimidating symbol in the world right? hardly anarchist, socialist or metal, but cool nonetheless. Its not like I particularly love Pac-Man, though I would not be adverse to something like this, but its such a recognizable symbol, one with no negative connotations, non-controversial, witty and one with which I could have my nerd side shine through even in such circumstances.

I did take the flag to a bunch of games, it appears in many a photo in the forefront of the barra, nobody gave me any shit: it was fucking original after all. But I did make one mistake: when picking the fabric I chose one that is kinda thick so it only really gets going when theres some real wind, something that doesnt happen that often on sunday afternoons in Tijuana.

So I decided to create a bigger, simpler and lighter flag while retiring the old one. Of course this wasnt an old discarded American flag so I didnt have to burn it in some sort of complicated ritual. Instead I decided to frame it, its a double sided flag so in order to get to frames I moved Blinky onto a black background while the star was framed with the entire flag. The result is a solid win, one that cannot be quantified with an iPhone camera. The star is great but the real accomplishment is that framed Blinky.

Thats art folks.

SAAAAY - GAAAAH

I Was thinking about what to write on this thing now that my SNES game buying on eBay has mellowed down, thats when I started remembering the Sega Master System that I had back in the day and figured I could squeeze a couple of entries out of it.

If I had to pick one system that got me through my formative years it has to be SNES but the Sega was there too, sure it was in the background, relegated to TurboGrafx 16 status but it was there and it had some crazy games, or at least i did.

Take Space Harrier for example: all I remember is that it was about a blonde kid who somehow flew forward on the screen with what appeared to be a bagpipe or a vaccuum cleaner which he used to shoot monsters and whatnot. It was epic! all we had seen until then were sidescrollers but Space Harried fuckin moved forward! in 3-D! (ok it wasnt 3d), it was like Megaman but much more advanced.

The main character flew forward in a variety of stages each more green and nondescript than the last in order to defeat some monsters and, probably, rescue some sort of princess or girlfriend which you would reach (according to the picture above) at the end. Whats not to like?

And look at that menu page! just by looking at it we have to assume that somebody was high. Remember: if you get beat on Space Harrier (and it happened often) quickly input up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right and you'll be good.

The brilliant thing about the Sega was that it could take two distinct forms of software: game cartridges or cards. I'm sure there was a reason for this, as one probably had more memory or was cheaper. I dont know and I dont care to find out. Its better this way. Space Harrier, by the way, came in cartridge form (also check out that amazing minimalist box design).

Next time I'll talk about a game that came in card form, a card that, in fact, I still have.

Here Capcom, have some more money

Pretty big news for the new generation console market yesterday: Capcom is gonna release Tatsunoko vs Capcom in the U.S. If you dont know what that means you need to seriously watch this. I'll give you a couple of minutes then I'll meet you back here...


.... .... ....... ......... .......... ............


Did you see it? Fuckin a right?

Now lets go through the reasons why this news is so great. First of all most people dont know what Tatsunoko is, they might recognize some of the cartoons but most of us have no idea that that particular studio produced these cartoons. The fact that half the roster is basically unknown made me think that, except for imports and bootleggers, this thing would never see daylight in the U.S. But here it is.

Secondly even though we might not know what most of these characters are their design is so Japan and so 80's that one cant help but want to own as much merchandise as possible. I mean who wouldnt want to play as pointy ear cat lady, cyber terrorist mecha guy, or the jumpsuit siblings. Then, of course, theres G-Force (or Battle of the Planets) and who doesnt like that? Still lost as to what exactly a Tatsunoko is? really? let me help you out with that.

The Capcom roster needs no explanation: Megaman, Ryu, Chun Li, Morrigan, Roll. There is no need for any way of the warrior mumbo jumbo shit here, no one is looking for enlightenment, we're looking to replicate the greatness that are crossover games. Plus who knows, maybe new characters for the U.S release? how about Protoman?

The only drawback? so far its a Wii exclusive. I have a Wii here somewhere but I am in no mood to play a fighting game on it. How about releasing it for the 360? how about giving me some sort of exclusive figure? yeah that would be great.

Picture Post 2

Is that not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.

Selling Out

In my recent foray into nostalgic gaming there is one thing that has become abundantly clear: fighting games DO NOT hold up with time. I should retract that, some games do hold up, some games should hold up, but the ones I've had the chance to play and replay have become eye openers, making me realize that, in fact, my childhood was not as full of superb gaming as I thought it was.

Which brings me to my next point, I have a few games that I, and many more, would consider classics, games that I grew up with and that I obtained not only because of my memories but because of the general consensus regarding their greatness. I hold on to these games like one would hold on to family heirlooms. But now I've decided to sell them.

I'm talking specifically of three games: King of Fighters 2002, KOF 2003 and the first Darkstalkers. I thought I loved these games but I've decided to put them up for auction because I realized that I actually loved what these games represented, their characters, their art and not exactly the gameplay which, to bring this full circle, is not as amazing in 2009 as it was when these came out.

But thats, of course, true of every other game that came out in the past, its true of every game that I've reviewed here but the reality simply is that fighters dont hold up as well as platformers. Anyone can still pick up the original Mario Bros. and enjoy the fuck out of it but that is not true of the original Street Fighter. To be sure, the games I'm selling off (not just because of disinterest but also for profit) are not that old and not that bad nor dated but if I'm just going to hold on to them for sentimental value or for the sake of having them then whats the point? I'd rather have someone else enjoy the games and that will be that.

Plus theres a new KOF coming out, still fully drawn 2-D and if its as good as the revamped Street Fighter and not as bad as the abortion that is KOF Maximum Impact then we'll be fine.

The Beatles Guitars

These are a thing of beauty.


Two new guitars (a Rickenbacker and Gretch) that will be available (separately I believe) for The Beatles: Rockband game which comes out this summer. The set will include a replica drumset and a few other things, and itll cost and arm and a leg ($250). I probably wont pay that much for the game but I have no problem throwing $100 for one of these. Fuck look at that. Time to sell more shit on eBay.

Read more at Kotaku.

Pre-FIFA Soccer

Champions World Class Soccer came out, ostensibly, in 1994, the year of the U.S World Cup, the year when soccer finally gained some popularity in the United States. The Super Nintendo was already enjoying popularity so I suppose that a soccer video game was inevitable. This game fills that inevitability with all the technology available at the times (very little) and all the buzzwords they could fill into a title (many as it turns out).

The game itself is uneventful: it features a total of 32 teams ranging from the very good (Brazil) to the very bad (Bolivia) to Wales. I cant find a pattern in these teams, at first I thought these were the participants in the '94 WC but thats not the case. They're also not the best teams in the world, as noted above, so the criteria for selection seems nonsensical.

While on the subject of teams I should note that all available countries are still around today, I was looking forward to a Yugoslav or Soviet team but no dice. The teams on the cover are there either randomly or as selected by where the developers wanted to sell more copies. Shilling to Mexican audiences was not desirable yet.

The gameplay is that which you would expect for a 1994 soccer game. That is to say slow, choppy and random, maybe its because I dont have the manual but I have no idea what the difference is between the buttons: they all seem to be for passing while on offense and for changing between players and tackles while on defense.

Its a shame that graphics weren't advanced enough to permit detailed, accurate depictions of soccer kits because the early 90's were a great time for soccer shirts. Err... on second thought its probably best they weren't able to get the detail. Probably a great idea that detailed players weren't available, nor the MLS inaugural teams. Though now I feel like playing as Colombia and seeing if they bothered with Valderrama's hair.

For what its worth I played as France and was unable to score a goal, I'm not entirely sure if there are celebrations or whatnot. The thing is I've played old soccer games that are mindlessly enjoyable but this one is not one of them, and thats too bad because I vaguely remember playing this when I was a kid and enjoying it.

If I have something positive regarding the game its gotta be that the uniforms are kind of cool. Each team has a basic white and coloured uni, with a few variations in socks, stripes and stuff. Its kind of charming. Sure, nothing compared with the highly detailed unis of todays games but good enough.