『 Taito Legends Vol 1 & 2 』

I don't know about you, but I love good, old arcade games. Especially the ones from late eighties and early nineties. Whenever I see a decent compilation of arcade ports, I just buy it. No two ways about it.


Taito was certainly not first to re-release their oldies in a brand new package. We've seen countless compilations of Namco classics and even though I love Pac-Man and Galaga, how many times can you buy those five games? Not many. Taito was smart enough to include some of the less known titles along with the popular classics.


As you can tell from the photos, I have scored a pair of Taito Legends released for the PlayStation 2. They were wasting away in a bargain bin so I just had to save them. Not only were they insanely cheap, byt they turned out to be worth their full retail price.


Taito is well known for their Space Invaders and yes, the game is present on both compilations in various versions, including a quite entertaining update - Space Invaders '95. We do have Rainbow Islands, Bubble Bobble and New Zealand Story, but aside of the titles that have already been ported to tons of platforms over the years, we have some goodies that you don't want to pass on.


This is where Taito Legends 2 shines. It includes the more recent and accessible releases. If you're not into the extreme oldies and you want to get most play for your money, this compilation is the one to choose. Among the titles worth checking out are Elevator Action Returns - a sequel to an old classic present on the first disc, Cleopatra Fortune - An addictive tetris-esque puzzle game with great music, also available on Dreamcast, Liquid Kids - A cute platformer with interesting game mechanics including throwing water as weapon.


There are also plenty of shooters to choose from. We have Metal Black [not to be confused with Twisted Metal Black, which is not a shooter and wasn't developed by Taito], Darius Gaiden and Insector X, among others. Also, exclusive to PlayStation 2 is an arcade perfect conversion of G Darius. If that's not a treat for every shmup fan, I don't know what is.


Ok, do does all that mean Taito Legends 2 is so much better than the first collection? Yes and no. That depends entirely on what you're looking for. If you ask me, Taito should have distributed the games more evenly, mixing the old with the new and giving us more reasons for purchasing both of their releases. They chose however to include older titles on Taito Legends but like I said, this should not discourage you in any way. Older games can still be great.


Compilation number one includes one of my favorite arcade titles in its genre - Rastan. Not only was Rastan a great game, but for its time it featured some amazing music and I would sometimes play it just to enjoy the soundtrack. The fun doesn't end with Rastan though. We've got Operation Wolf, Space Gun and Battle Shark which are all excellent lightgun games. Sadly, Taito didn't implement the lightgun support so they can only be controlled with analogue stick, which is pretty damn annoying with first two games since they automatically return the crosshair to the center of the screen if you let go of the analogue stick.


That being said, don't let the minor flaws get to you as each and every game on both of the discs can still be enjoyed and as I said, it's certainly a great buy for an arcade game fans, Taito fans and casual gamers alike.


These days we associate the term of casual gaming with some middle aged, going bald, Microsoft PR guys and we somehow don't find that appealing. Taito Legends is fully loaded with games that one could classify as casual. After all, isn't all arcade gaming casual by definition? You pop a quarter into the machine, enjoy yourself for a bit and you're on your way.


If you're looking for some good arcade fun with learning curve basically non existant, treat yourself to these fine compilations and you will not regret it. Surely, buying these discs is money well spent and you can post hate comments here if you buy Taito Legends and feel that I overhyped the subject.


If Taito Legends can't be found in bargain bins near you, check out the official website by clicking HERE. From there you can visit the Empire Interactive online store. Alternatively, look it up on eBay and get it for cheap. Happy hunting and have fun!

『 メタルスラッグコンプリート / Metal Slug Anthology Wii 』

SNK / Playmore has been releasing their never aging Neo Geo titles for all possible gaming platforms. Few years back we could buy single title releases for Sega Saturn, PlayStation and DreamCast. Later came PlayStation 2 and Xbox which brought combined releases like King of Fighters 2000 - 2001 combos. Lately, SNK started releasing more complete compilations, often featuring all titles in one series. One example is recently released Samurai Shodown which offers games from I to V on a single disc, another is the complete Metal Slug Anthology.


I have to say, I am really pleased with this buy. Not only was it cheap, but it contains all of the Neo Geo titles [1 to 5 plus Metal Slug X, which is basically a remixed version of Metal Slug 2] plus the newest game in the series, Metal Slug 6, originally released for the Atomiswave arcade system. While many people did not bother to buy previous Metal Slug console releases and emulated the Neo Geo rom images instead, Metal Slug 6 was always out of reach. Now it finally hits the home platforms and these include Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP.


Seven high quality old-school titles on one disc is more any SNK fan could ever ask for. The gameplay is of course unchanged, adding only some minor loading times in all of the Neo Geo titles. Strangely, Metal Slug 6 loads instantly between location, without the two second lag seen in the Neo Geo ports. Aside from the seven massive games, there's also a gallery, featuring unlockable audio and art sections. Each time we complete a Metal Slug game from start to finish, we get tokens as a reward. These can be spent on unlocking the gallery sections.


There's quite a bit of concept art and audio content to be unlocked, most of it was however seen in previous releases such as Metal Slug X for the PlayStation which featured a comprehensive gallery plus the Combat School mode, which sadly doesn't make an appearence this time around. Aside from the regular galleries, there are two secret ones to be unlocked. Playing through all of the games on a "hard" difficulty setting and with a limited number of continues supposedly unlocks those, but I can't confirm that at this point simply because I haven't yet beaten everything on "hard". I'm on my way though, so a follow up information will be added.


Wii is a peculiar console featuring an unusual controll system with the nunchuck and the remote. How does it work while playing Metal Slug? There are several controller settings. You can either play using the remote by itself, holding it like a regular NES / Famicom controller, you can play using both the wiimote and the nunchuck, you can play using nunchuck alone and lastly you can connect your GameCube controller. I chose the last option since neither tilting the remote nor using the remote as a controller didn't feel accurate enough.


If you're a Metal Slug fan, you should own this compilation. I can personally guarantee that the Wii version works fine and you won't be dissapointed. I advise you to use either the GameCube or a Wii Classic controller because this game is all about fast paced action and accurate movement. To dodge bullets you need to be in full controll of your character. Is there anything I could complain about? There is, in fact. Among the extras there's an unlockable interview with the Metal Slug creators. I was expecting a video but after spending my tokens I found out it's just text. It is still an interesting read, but I was expecting more. Other than that, no complaints. Visit your local store, find it, buy it and enjoy it.

『 Beautiful Katamari / ビューティフル塊魂 』

"Let's roll up some more stuff" the king of all cosmos said, and so yet another Katamari game was born, this time appearing on a non-Sony platform. I'm sure you all know the story of Beautiful Katamari's development. It was to appear on Sony's PlayStation 3 and on Nintendo's Wii, but when Microsoft couged up some cash, it became an exclusive to the, almost ignored in Japan, Xbox 360.


This game was given to me for my birthday and what a fine present it made. I didn't stop playing it untill I completed the game and uncovered some of the extras. I even took my time to collect some of the crazy cousins [you should know that the main character in the game is Prince, son to the King of all the Cosmos. The Prince has plenty of cousins scattered all over the game, and when you collect them, they become playable characters].


Before Beautiful Katamari came out, there were three other games released [not counting the DoCoMo P904i 塊魂モバイル Phone version which I discussed HERE] in the series. The first, Katamari Damacy, followed by the sequel We Love Katamari and a PSP title Me & My Katamari. As you can see, the series has so far been Sony exclusive.


Beautiful Katamari broke the Sony chain of releases and brought the game as an exclusive treat for Microsoft's Xbox 360. Japan wept and the rest of the world rejoyced. Aside from being the first non-Sony installment, Beautiful Katamari is also the first game in the series to feature full HD resolution support up to 1080p, downloadable content and online multiplayer in both cooperative and competitive modes via Xbox Live.


What about gameplay? Unfortunately, despite being a great game with tons of fun and humor packed into it, Beautiful Katamari seemed rather short. I have managed to complete it faster than any other Katamari game, and that includes the PSP version, again not counting the mobile phone one. Unlocking secrets, collecting various objects and cousins, aswell as beating your own high scores will keep you occupied, but the amount of core gameplay falls short of the previous titles. Luckily, there's the previously mentioned online mode, which makes the fun last longer, gtanted you're a Live subscriber.


Xbox 360 is a powerful gaming platform capable of pushing an impressive amount of polygons per second. How does that affect gameplay? For starters, if you own a LCD or Plasma screen, you'll be able to enjoy crispy crisp, high resolution graphics. This might not be the most important feature, since most objects in Katamari series are low poly, because the game is forced to manage hundreds of bric-a-brac you roll up. While playing in lower resolutions you won't be missing out on the details. Let's just say that the high resolution modes make the image easy on the eyes on quality screens.


More processing power and more video memory made it possible to remove the loading times when the scale is changed. In previous Katamari games, each time your katamari ball would grow and allow you to roll up larger objects, the game changed scale. The scale change came with a few seconds of loading time and a head of King reminding you how much you suck. This time you can just roll and roll and you won't be bothered by the gameplay stopping for a while.


Now, onto the soundtrack. The music throughout the series has been great and was always one of the major selling points. Large portion of Beautiful Katamaris audio content is or feels recycled and the original compositions aren't as catchy as the ones hears in previous titles. Still, the soundtrack is enjoyable, especially for those who haven't played Katamari before and are unfamiliar with its original sound.


So what can one complain about? The first thing would have to be the additional fees that we're forced to pay for the downloadable stages. This has been pointed out by many reviewers. The are exactly six downloadable levels in the european version of the game and none of them exceed 400kb in filesize. Yet, we're forced to pay 200 Microsoft Points for each one of them. This, after you bought the game and pay for your Xbox Live account, is a bit too much. If this wasn't enough, you won't be able to unlock the 1,500,000 km katamari achievement if you don't download the additional levels.


As usual, it's all about profit. The separate content you're forced to pay for would make the game a more complete katamari experience if it was present on the disc from the get go. However, I assure you that what you get on the disc is still worth your money and whether you're a katamari fan or are completly new to the series, I highly recommend this fun and weird game.

『 Goblins Quest 3 』

★ - A small update. Due to YouTube idiocy that caused the deletion of my account, videos posted in this entry no longer work. I was careless enough to delete the originals once the upload to YouTube was done, so there's no easy way of restoring these. I am planning on uploading these again, this time to Nico Nico Douga. Please, check back later if you're still interested.

Few weeks ago, I have finally managed to track down a copy of Goblins Quest 3, and a CD version at that. I already own the disc version but if you have played both disc and CD versions of, let's say, Lucas Adventures' games, you know that the difference can be quite big. That is also the case with Goblins Quest 3.


The place I found this shiny gem was, of course, eBay. Believe it or not, I was the only one to bid on this item and I bought it for just $4.95. An incredibly low price, considering the fact that Goblins Quest 3 hardly ever shows up. You can always find the first game of the series, the second one is quite common aswell, but not the third. Oh well, my gain is everyone else's loss and I'm fine with that. Who wouldn't be?


While my Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon CD is an european release and was published by Coktel Vision themselves, Goblins Quest 3 CD that I purchased was published by Sierra. It was Sierra who decided about the name change, thus changing the title from the original Goblins 3 to Goblins Quest 3. If you spot a release with Goblins 3 written on the box, it's the one released by Coktel Vision, most likely european.


So what's the difference between the disc version and the floppy version? Actually the difference is quite big. The CD versions of previous games didn't add much besides the CD Audio track. Gobliins 2 for example, is still just 4.5 megabytes of data on a CD, plus four demo versions of other Coktel Vision games, including Inca and Ween. These take up to 7.5 megabytes. The rest is an audio track, without which the game will have no music, other than ocasional sound effects.


Gobliins 2, the CD version, was basically the floppy version plus an audio track. Goblins Quest 3 however differs from the floppy version alot. First of all, we have animation. When the game is started, an animated Coktel Vision logo will appear, followed by an introduction movie. After the intro sequence we see a start screen and we can begin our adventure. The floppy version doesn't have any of the animations and jumps directly from the start screen displaying credits, to the first location of the game.


Coktel Vision did try to make the gaming experience complete for the owners of each version. While the compact disc features both speech and a high quality CD soundtrack, the floppy version features synthesized music. Speech was however replaced by on screen messages. The addition of intro and other animations dramatically increased the overall size of the data contained on the CD. While the floppy version is about 7.5 megabytes, the data on the CD, not counting the audio track, comes down to about 113 megabytes.


Goblins 3 / Goblins Quest 3 is to this date my favorite game in the series. Packed with tons of humor it will entertain you aswell make you laugh and think. The gameplay in Goblins series is based on a concept that won't appeal to everyone. You simply have to think, combine things, think again and combine again. The puzzles are logical but it will take time before you crack this title. I always thought about it this way: If it's hard and you're still having fun, try to finish it and don't give up. Finishing a hard game is much more rewarding than speeding through an easy one, which you forget within a week from the day you've played it.


I have included two videos in this blog entry, so that you dear reader, could compare the CD version with the floppy release. The video at the top of this entry is a quick play-through of the first location and was made using the CD version of the game. The other video, just under these very words, shows the same quick run-through and was done using the floppy version. Both recordings are made from the moment the game executable boots.

『 King's Quest Collection 』

If you want to get to know me and my gaming habits, you should know that I love good adventure games. I'm not one of those who will go hardcore and play the oldest of them. I want the game to be good, look good and sound good. That's why I will be eternally greatful to LucasArts, because even though they suck sweaty balls right now, with their Star Wars crap, they used to make top notch adventure games. And so did Sierra.


I love reeditions. Despite not looking like much, they usually offer the latest and most compatible versions of the games fitted with some additional patches. When I saw King's Quest Collection in a bargain bin and read that it was Windows XP compatible, I just bought it without thinking twice. Any adventure game fan should own this, if only for the sake of King's Quest V and VI, which are my personal favorites, with emphasis on the sixth game.


Pleased with myself and with my new purchase, I headed home. I wanted to see what this collection is worth and what did Sierra do to make the older DOS games compatible with Windows XP. I installed it, and as it turns out, Sierra didn't go out of their way at all. Their compatibility with current operating systems is ensured by the cunning use of DOSbox. That's right. King's Quest I - VI boot through DOSbox. Version 0.68 at that.


But who am I to complain. After all I bought seven games for a price of one. Or even below the regular price of a single retail title, since I found it in a bargain bin. Maybe all this is just for the better. Original DOS games should work better and better with the constantly improved DOSbox. I even run my King's Quest VI through the DoSbox 0.72 which I have installed, instead of the solution Sierra have supplied.


Is this collection worth buying then? Of course it is, and you should grab it while you still can. And while you're at it, make sure you grab the rest of them aswell - Larry, Space Quest and Police Quest. Sierra didn't overdo it and chose the easy way out by using a third party emulator. Despite this fact, everything works well, and that's what's important. This collection is worth its price for King's Quest V - VII alone. I never really liked the fourth game and first three had been re-made by fans and these versions not only look and sound so much better but use the point and click interface rather than text input, and that can only be viewed as something positive.

If you want to be able to play the remakes and still be okay by law, get this collection. If you want to experience the great King's Quest V and VI, get this collection. If you're a fan of point and click adventure games and you still haven't played King's Quest, get this collection. It even comes with a grainy video showing how King's Quest VI was made. Now that's what I call getting your moneys worth.


To wrap this nice blog entry up, I've decided to make a video comparing the original version of King's Quest III to its homebrew remake based on the AGS engine. As you can see, back in 1987 such exotic things as soundtrack, sound effects or a user friendly interface were unheard of. That's why I would choose the remake over the original any day, even though it's still amusing how limited the text input is in understanding what you, the player, are trying to do.






The banners above will take you to the re-made versions of the first three King's Quest games. King's Quest I and II+ were developed by AGDInteractive, while the third game was handled by Infamous Adventures. I highly recommend these versions, both for those who have played these games before and those who haven't had the chance. I know there are those who prefer "the real deal" but come on, at its core, it's the same game. Enjoy and support Sierra by buying their collections.