『 Soulcalibur III / ソウルキャリバーIII 』

There are a couple of things Namco is known for, the most notable one being their impressive game lineup - stretching all the way from the end of the '70s and including such unforgettable titles as Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Mappy, and more recently Ridge Racer, Tekken and Soul Calibur. But it's not all about the titles when it comes to Namco. They made a reputation for themselves by creating the most impressive home platform conversions of their arcade titles, adding more than anyone could possibly imagine to the already perfect arcade experience. While most games get an arcade release first and a console port second, Soulcalibur III steps in to destroy this trend, premiering on Sony's PlayStation 2.


When Soul Edge got its PlayStation release, it was clear that it would become a strong franchise. Namco put alot of work into developing a great world the story is set in. Anything with that amount of detail was bound to be more than just a one shot, and so, in '98 Namco released a sequel called Soul Calibur. The game was great but Namco made some drastic changes to the gameplay, implementing their 8-way run system, adding depth to the fights. To put more emphasis on a new quality that was Soul Calibur, the old name was abandoned. Later, in '99, came the Dreamcast port and it was clear that Namco had developed one of the most impressive fighting games of all time.


The Dreamcast version of Soul Calibur was in fact so perfect when it came to graphics, that no other game in the series has managed to surpass this quality and create a noticable gap between how the game looked back then and how it looks now, ten years after its initial release. It's beyond me, but many characters in the game still look better on Dreamcast than they look on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 today. There's just something about how the hair [especially on female characters, most notably on Sophitia] and the faces were done that wasn't recreated ever since that memorable Namco and Sega teamup. Enough about history though, because I could write about it for days, literally. Let's focus on the game shown in the photos.


While the second Soulcalibur game appeared on GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation 2, third installment became exclusive to Sony's platform. Maybe Namco needed to focus on just one piece of hardware to improve a already impressive forumla? Maybe it was all about the money? I don't know and I don't really care. The fact is, game was developed as an exclusive title and was based on the same engine that Tekken 5 uses. Speaking of Tekken 5, Namco sure did spoil us with that one. Not only was it an amazing game on its own, but the single game disc included first three installments of Tekken, flawlessly emulated in all of their original arcade glory. To top everything off, Namco threw in their 3D space shooter, StarBlade.


After seeing the extra games in Tekken 5, I kind of expected something similar from Soulcalibur III. It wouldn't hurt to have Soul Edge and first Soul Calibur games on the same disc. After all, Soul Edge originally used Namco's System 11 arcade board, the exact same hardware as the one used by Tekken and Tekken 2, and Soul Calibur ran on System 12 arcade board, the one used by the arcade version of Tekken 3. This means that Namco already had the proper technology developed to emulate these titles, but for some reason just didn't do it. While Sega may own the license for the enhanced version of Soul Calibur, the arcade original is all Namco and so is Soul Edge.


Aside from that, Soulcalibur III looks and plays great. It's pretty clear that there's a strong tie-in to the first Soul Calibur game. Many arenas are basically enhanced versions of those from the first game. Taki's shrine and Kilik's proving grounds are good examples. On top of that, Kilik's stage has an arranged music from the corresponding Soul Calibur arena. It's a nice move on Namco's part. After the criticism of Soul Calibur II, they wanted to bring the series back to its 8-way roots and so they did. Even the final boss explodes into small glowing particles with the exact same animation as Inferno did in Soul Calibur.


One of the things Soul Edge was known for, were the amazing game endings rendered in real time by the game engine. It took Namco close to ten years to bring those back and I was happy to see them once again. I always thought the static art and scrolling text in previous Soul Calibur games lacked the flare of what Soul Edge had shown us on PlayStation. Another feature making a comeback are the weapons, each with its own abilities like healing, double the damage at the cost of our health and so on.


Except the regular one on one fights that take us straight to the next battle, Soul Edge introduced a story driven gameplay in Edge Master Mode. Similar to this is the single player mode in Soulcalibur III. You move across the world map and ocasionally you get to choose your route. It always comes down to beating your opponent, but at least you get the feel that you drive the story forward by your actions and it works. Every opponent beaten will earn you money that can later be spent to buy art and extra content [again, similarly to Soul Calibur] including items rangnig from new weapons to promotional footage from the game.


There are also a couple of features never before seen in Soul series. First is the character customization. Just like in Tekken 5 and before that in Virtua Fighter 4, you can create your custom player. The editor Namco provided is quite complex and gives us the possibility to alter pretty much anything, starting from the body build, to colours of clothes, hair, eyes and so on. The characters are saved onto the memory card and if you feel like it, you can beat your friend up with your newly created sumo wrestler named Wobbly Wallaby, or whatever it is you've created.


Soulcalibur III lacks any kind of online mode so unless you want to carry around your memory card, and you love playing with dolls and dressing them up, forget about the customization feature. Another new feature is a new gameplay mode called "Chronicles of the Sword". It's a strategy game that could be compared to board games where you control the actions of your troops in a war against the neighbouring countries. Again, it all comes down to fights, but it is a nice attempt by Namco to make things more interesting, even though I'd rather see something like the beachball from Tekken 3 or bowling from Tekken Tag.


Soulcalibur III is a great game. It's fast and it looks impressive. The soundtrack may not be nearly as good as Khan Super Session from Soul Edge, but it is pretty decent and it's certainly the best soundtrack in any of the Calibur games. Namco did try to stuff alot of content into the game and it shows. It's a solid production packed with unlockables and if you want to unlock everything, you'll need some time off work.


All that said, Soulcalibur III is the only weapon based fighting game around these days. Sega apparently doesn't feel like developing another Last Bronx title, so all there is left to do is to buy this game. If you like fighting games, it will be money well spent. It's not Namco at its best and I think they did a much better job with Tekken 5, but Soulcalibur III has no real sompetition and I'm not even sure if anyone else can do it better than Namco, even if they don't try their hardest.

『 Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 / カプコン クラシックス コレクション Vol. 2 』

Two titles for the PlayStation 2 and one for the PC join the ever growing, eclectic collection of mine. Nothing breathtaking, imported or recently released, but each of these releases deserves some attention. We have something for the first person shooter fans, beat 'em up combatants and classic arcade goodness connaisseurs. There will be time to write about Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Soulcalibur III, but I wanted to start with my favorite from the bunch, Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2.


Many gamers out there can't be bothered to buy these fantastic collections of oldies, and do they ever miss out on tons upon tons of rock solid gameplay and endless fun. I'm a collections' supporter. I'll buy it all, as long as it's decent, like the recently reviewed Taito Legends Vol. 1 & 2, Metal Slug Anthology or a bit older Tecmo Classic Arcade. Capcom Classics Volume 2 is a definition of a high quality compilation and should serve as an example for many companies out there, especially for Namco with their endless conversions of Pac-Man and Dig Dug, which by now should be given away for free.


At first glance, the box doesn't look like much, but on the disc there are over twenty arcade perfect conversions, featuring many unforgettable classics from Capcom's CPS-1 era. Buy this collection and you'll play such games as Captain Commando, Knights of the Round, The King of Dragons, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Strider, Three Wonders [this single arcade board featured three titles: Midnight Wanderers, Chariot and Don't Pull] and many others.


Except for the games themselves, there is a rather impressive amount of bonus content. For each game you can unlock three content sections: strategy tips, art gallery and the soundtrack. Unlocking is done by completing various objectives, usually by reaching a specified amount of points in a game, reaching a specified stage and finally, completing the game. Aside from these bonus features, identical for every game, there's an in-depth Super Street Fighter II Turbo tutorial by David Sirlin [SSF2T expert and one of the people responsible for the Evolution tournaments held in the US].


So, why would you want to pick up this collection while there are ROM images and emulators out there? Most importantly, playing ROM images is illegal and if you think it's ok just because the games are old, you're a tool. Second, Capcom tried to and succeeded in recreating the arcade experience and you should respect their efforts. Get yourself an arcade stick and you're all set. All games support both 50 and 60 Hz refresh rates and progressive scan mode.


So what titles are the highlight of this great collection? To name top three titles, I would have to say Midnight Wanderers, The King of Dragons and Captain Commando, the first one being a right scrolled platformer and the other two, right scrolled beat 'em ups. If you're old enough to remember the '90s at the arcades, you have to know these titles, or at least Captain Commando. The '90s were truly the golden age of arcades and if you, like me, were feeding the machines with coins every single day of the week, you know what I'm talking about.


I've been collecting arcade boards for many years now, with the sole purpose of being able to enjoy these fantastic games at home. Many of these classic arcade games are hard to find or cost quite a bit and that's why I think it's great that Capcom has released those two incredible compilations, so that everyone can enjoy them. What better way to celebrate those great arcade years, than by buying a single disc packed with perfect conversions, dip switch settings included.


I sincerely hope that Capcom won't stop here and that more arcade titles will follow. Recently SNK started releasing new arcade conversions of titles that up until now were available only on Neo Geo cartidges. Capcom should follow this example by re-releasing some CPS-2 and CPS-3 games. Street Fighter II got a Hyper release, including all of the games in the series, same with Zero / Alpha. Why not release a complete collection of Street Fighter III games? After all, the first two [New Generation and 2nd Impact] are still only available on DreamCast.


Capcom also needs to release a proper arcade conversions of the few CPS-1 Dash [1.5] titles, including the praised and well known The Punisher and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. While the first one got a home platform release, the MegaDrive version, as good as it was, could not be compared to the original. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, originally released in 1993, never got a home platform release. The lack of any re-releases is probably caused by multiple licenses involved. There's Marvel in The Punisher's case and theres Kitchen Sink Press and Mark Schultz when it comes to Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. I'm sure Capcom has the money to release these games once again, so why wait?


Fo finish this entry, take a look at this video showing most of the games in action. If you're still not entirely convinced whether or not you should buy this collection, maybe this video will do the trick.

『 NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams / ナイツ ～星降る夜の物語～ 』

Many gamers, me included, always thought that NiGHTS: Into Dreams for Sega Saturn was one of those games that were perfect just the way they were and didn't need a sequel, and so, Sega and Sonic Team were quite hesitant to mess around with a title that was so dear to many. Finally, over ten years after the original game hit the market, a sequel for Nintendo Wii was released.


I took my time before I picked this game up. I didn't know what to think and it didn't seem to sit well with most of others out there, so I waited until it dropped in price. When it finally did, I bought it thinking "how bad can it really be?". It turns out it's not that bad at all. On the contrary, it's pretty good. Taking Wii's limited resources into consideration, Sega did a fine job when it comes to gameplay. There are however few major flaws and before I start praising the good, let's take a look at the bad.


NiGHTS: Into Dreams was a simple game. There's a story noone really cares for, you start the game and you play. You fly around and collect stuff. It was fast, colorful and impressive. When you look at the gameplay from the Wii version, not much has changed. The main thing that makes me want to toss the game disc across the room however, is the storytelling part. Before you even get to play, you have to listen to a rather lenghty introduction. You can't skip the boring talk and it's pretty annoying. Same goes for every new level opened. Before you get to play, there's always a sequence explaining why you have to do what you're about to do, which is fly around and collect stuff.


The story is rather shallow, taking more or less everything from the first game, and while the first game was all about booting the disc, pressing start and playing, the Wii sequel is about seemingly endless cutscenes spiced with brief moments of gameplay. You can skip the cutscenes on your second play-through, but that's no good if you don't want to listen to all the babble first time around. Second thing that I could and will complain about are the game physics. Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with them. I was just surprised when I saw the game ads specifically mentioning the physics engine used.


NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams uses PhysX engine by Ageia [nowdays owned by Nvidia] which is also used by Unreal Engine 3 in such games as Gears of War or Unreal Tournament 3. In those games you can actually see the impact of advanced physics simulation on the gameplay. In NiGHTS' case however, you can't really tell that it uses a physics engine. At first glance, everything moves just the way it did back in Sega Saturn days. From what I can gather, PhysX was even meant to be a selling point for NiGHTS or at least an important asset.


Now for the good. When you finally get to play, you'll notice the game did recieve a graphics boost but everything else remains rather unchanged. In other words, if you liked the old NiGHTS, you should like the new one nearly as much. The gameplay is really solid, but I recommend using the GameCube or Classic controller. Wii's own controls are a bit off if you ask me. Another thing worth mentioning is the soundtrack. Music in this game is simply superb. I could wander around the level selection area just to listen to the tune played there. Same goes to game levels.


If you're a fan of the original game and you're not discouraged by the presence of lenghty and annoying cutscenes, you should get this game. I can only assume that you will play through it once, and after that the cutscenes can simply be skipped after you've endured them during the first pass. Sega could have tried a bit harder and some of the things seen in the game seem a bit rushed, like the level select area, which is a bit lifeless and bland, and can be a turn-off right fron the start. If you get past the initial annoyance, the game turns out to be a splendid sequel retaining everything the original game had in terms of gameplay.

『 The Super Shinobi II / ザ・スーパー・忍Ⅱ 』

It's been a while since the last time I bought a title for MegaDrive and it certainly has been a while since I have played a Shinobi title, but all that is about to change because another package is here and inside it is a nice and new copy of The Super Shinobi II, also known as Shinobi III in US and Europe.


For some reason, people of a far away country called Japan, thought it would be cool to put a "the" in front of the title but, if you're anything like me you'll think it's stupid. And it is, so after that compelling argument, let's agree that from now on I'll omit the definite article and start refering to the game as Super Shinobi II.


Super Shinobi II is the last game in the series to be released for the MegaDrive and aside from being a kickass ninja game it actually has a pretty interesting development history. The final game was released in mid '93 but Sega was done with the title already towards the end of '92. Why the delay? Apparently, after sending the finished product to various gaming magazines, Sega wasn't pleased with the feedback they got from the reviewers and even though the game was ready to ship, Sega decided to go back to the drawing board.


Previous Shinobi games released on MegaDrive scored much higher and Sega wasn't willing to compromise the quality of the series. This was back in the days when someone still cared about us, customers and gamers, and so more time and effort was put into redesigning and polishing the game. What was the result? Let's just say that Super Shinobi II [aka Shinobi III] is considered to be the best installment in the series to date. Despite the fact that leap in quality of the '93 release compared to the first version was huge, many European game reviewers stuck to their initial scoring and thus one of the greatest MegaDrive titles went by largely unnoticed on the old continent.


But, who gives a damn about the reviewers anyway? It's 2009 and the game is still more fun than many other crappy titles that get published today. What would you say now, Mr Reviewer from 1993? There has to be a market for re-releases of Super Shinobi II, since it got its share of ports on platforms including Wii's Virtual Console, PlayStation 2, PSP and is still to be ported to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as a part of Sega MegaDrive Ultimate Collection.


That's some history lesson, but what of the story, gameplay, graphics and music? The story is your garden variety plot that includes a menacing crime syndicate of Neo Zeed trying to take over the world yet again. As a respectable ninja warrior you can't allow that to happen and using your Oboro Ninjitsu techniques you send the bad guys home, crying. Your target is the mysterious Neo Zeed leader known as Shadow Master, a name that is sure to strike fear into any heart that's not as brave as yours.


It's not about the plot though, is it. It's about running around and kicking ass, and you'll do plenty of that in the game. Super Shinobi II features almost flawless controls with silky smooth gameplay that will blow your mind. There's a decent number of attacks and stunts to pull off, plus a couple of ninja spells that can be executed if things get too hectic. The game is fast, and when I say fast I mean really fast. The controls are intuitive enough to scale the learning curve down to minimum though.


The gameplay by itself is really impressive but the graphics are even better. Not counting Treasure's titles, good luck trying to find another hack 'n slash game that looks as good as Super Shinobi II. The artists really tried their best to varry the experience. There's running around in the forest, there's riding on a horseback, there's gliding on water using some surfing powerboard ... you name it. Boss design is impressive and you can really tell that Sega tried to push the hardware to its limit.


The musical score features a couple of catchy tunes, played in the typical metalic tones of the Yamaha chipset. I can't really say that the game has instantly memorable tracks, but the score is solid and I had no real complaints. I did however make use of the digital sound processing presets on my WonderMega to give the sound some extra depth and boost.


After recieving a sequel for the Sega Saturn called Shinobi X [aka Shinobi Legions in the US] in 1995, Shinobi series had to wait until 2002 for the next installment, when first proper 3D Shinobi title was released, followed by a sequel featuring a female lead two years later. Those titles differ greatly from what Shinobi games looked and played like when the series first appeared, and it's Super Shinobi II that is the last and the very best game with the well known 2D design and feel.


Is it worth getting the MegaDrive release when there are the emulated or ported versions? If you own a MegaDrive or any other compatible platform, I'd say it's always better to own the real deal. The game isn't that hard to find and it's relatively cheap when compared to other titles of equal quality. Don't wait until someone figures out the game is actually worth some money and the prices will skyrocket. If you want to get it, get it soon.


It's 4:00 AM at this very moment so I'll just wrap this entry up and try to get some sleep. After all, you can't fight evil crime syndicates and the likes of Shadow Master if you're too tired to count your shirukens. That's it for today then.

『 Salvage mission accomplished 』

Oh no! Did my phone have a terrible accident and got all busted up as if a bunch of 11 year-olds high on sugar got a hold of it? No. I dont't know what happend and it's not my phone. I found it right in front of my building when I went out shopping this morning. Man, this phone sure took a beating. Being a smart dude I had to investigate and check if there's anything left to salvage.


It turned out that the memory card is in one piece and is still fully functional. Someone unleashed a whole world of anger on his Sony Ericsson W350i and left it out in the rain, and that's how I got my two gigabyte Memory Stick M2 micro.