1. You headbutt dinosaurs

Sure. In Mario games you face your fair share of dinosaurs and other similar baddies. When you encounter them, you generally just jump on their head and consider them defeated. In Bonk's Adventure, though, you take the far more impressive route of straight-up headbutting them. If you're feeling especially acrobatic, you can pounce in the air and front flip Olympian-style constantly until you hit them with a flurry of awesome. 

2. It's not afraid to be humorous 

I enjoy a serious, story-driven game, but now and then it's thoroughly awesome to sit back and play a game that just wants to make you happy. Bonk's Adventure was clearly crafted to put a smile on your face, and it does so with immediacy.  If you don't find a dinosaur woofing at you after you save its life funny, then you may need to get your funny bone checked. 

3. The levels are vibrant

I may sound childish here, but I love love love colorful games. It's a big part of why I enjoy the Kirby and Katamari series so damn much.  Not every level of Bonk's Adventure is a blue-skied background with green grass and lush vegetation, but the vibrancy inherent in the levels still leaps out at you. Part of this is assisted by the impressive amount of detail found in characters and scenery alike, but mostly it's the impressive palate of colors found in just about every portion of the game.

4. Eating red meat makes you raging mad.

As a vegetarian, this is a concept I can wholly get behind. It's human to find pleasure in instances that allow you to experience a smug sense of enlightenment, and watching a young boy grow over-the-top mad after consuming red meat found in various places does just that. 

5. It's fun

I'm sure anyone could have easily derived that I felt this way based on the previous statements, but it felt worth directly mentioning. Seriously, this game is incredibly fun. It may lack the technical prowess of modern gaming, but that doesn't mean it's any less fun. Hovering via continual 360-degree headbutt is an experience everyone needs to experience. 

The bosses are excellent and funny to boot, the level design is varied and irrevocably delightful, and the music is catchy to the point where it will resonate in your mind regardless of whether or not you want it to. If those are not the marks of an excellent game, then I don't know what are. 

Links:

Play-through of World 1

Introduction

For those of you unfamiliar with "Legend of Wukong" it's a Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) role-playing game released in 1996. At the time it was only released in China. In 2008 a North American company ,Super Fighter Team, translated and localized it. This was the second Genesis game to be released in the U.S. this decade (the first being their own Begger Prince). Upon purchase Legend of Wukong comes complete with the 16-bit game cartadge, instruction manual and clamshell case, just like buying a Genesis game back in the 90's. This was my first time buying something like this. It works with any Genesis or Mega Drive system. I played it on my CDX.

Story

You may be familar with the popular Chinese folktale "Journey to the West" which depicts the adventures of Sun Wukong known also as The Monkey King. Legend of Wukong borrows elements from this story but remains completly unrelated (similar to the Dragon Ball series.) You start off as the rambunctious boy Wukong who accidently gets sent back to ancient China in your Doctor friend's newly built time machine. Upon arrival the time machine is stolen by a nasty monster king. It's Wukong's mission to retrieve it and get back to his own time. Pretty simple. Along the way Wukong is accompanied by 2 other travelers. A pig looking guy appropriately named Pigsy and the beautiful sword weilding Wujing. Don't expect an epic story. It's simple, lighthearted and doesn't develop much. The characters don't develop much either, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It would feel out of place for any drastic character changes. Other than Pigsy's somewhat disturbing atempts to hit on Wujing the character interactions are practically non-existent. The intro is a nice touch with some still panels. It sets you up for the quirky little adventure and I was expecting to see more like it during key story events. Unfortunatly there are no other cutscene like it until the end, and even then it was disapointing.

Gameplay

It's your standard fare of RPG gameplay mechanics. Turnbased, world maps, equipment, dungeons, random encounters etc... The game consists of 6 Chapters. Each chapter has it's own seperate world map, towns and dungeons. You can not go back to them once you've finished the chapter, but why would you. After talking to the townsfolk you should get a pretty good idea of what needs to be done. However this becomes a problem in the later part of the game. For some reason the townsfolk stop being helpful making your objectives more vague. In the last two chapters I found myself wandering around from towns to dungeons just trying to figure out where to go. Navigating the world map and towns often feel like mazes since the tinest bush will obstruct your path. Also there is no map system. Later Wujing obtains a spell called "Travel Cloud" which lets you warp to towns and dungeons you've previously been to in that chapter. No side quests or secret items (at least none that I know of) making it extremely straightforward. Without any important missable items or scenes this drops the replay value significantly.

Random encounters are about every 4 seconds and for the most part pretty quick. You have your basic RPG options of Attack, Magic, Item, & Run. Your physical attacks have two options: Single & Multiple. Single is for a single hit while the Multiple option will have everyone after that person automaticly attack one enemy until it dies. This helps speed up the flow of battle. Each character has their own unique magic spells, which are a treat to watch. You'll learn new spells about once every 5 levels. Besides healing spells the older ones become useless. They always do the same amount of damage. So if a spell does 20 HP of damage at the start of the game it'll do 20HP of damage at the end. Characters can hold around 20 items each. Managing your items is a bit of a pain and a little clunky. You aren't given any indication is the armor or weapons you're buying or equiping are stronger than what you have. You'll have to equip it then go to your stats to see if it raised it or not. Expect to waste a little by doing this money.

Now for my biggest complaint about the game, the difficulty. It's very uneven and the game actually gets easier along your journey. At the start of the game when you only have Wukong in your party it's a challenge, but a nice challenge. He dies, game over. I like RPG which are unforgiving. The very first boss is the hardest part of the game. I recommend lots of power leveling before trying to fight him. Once you get Pigsy things lighten up a little. You max out at level 50 so once you reach it there's not much reason to fight other than money. So if you don't need money just run. You can't run in the last dungeon. The final chapter is way too easy in terms of bosses. The last several bosses can be defeated in just a few turns, making them just as difficult as normal fights. The final boss fight was extremely disappointing. Sorry if that's a spoiler but it must be said.

Graphics & Sound

The visuals are nothing amazing but if you're intrested in retro games then it shouldn't be a problem at all. The main characters are clean but some of the NPC sprites look messy. Enemies are varied. You'll run across some nice looking enemies and some that are down right ugly. Bosses generally look good, some are goofy. Another graphical complaint I have is about enemy death animations (if you can call it that.) Once you defeat an enemy they flicker a little then vanish almost like the game is glitching out. Not a big deal but it looks cheap.

The music is good and very catchy. It's got the eastern Chinese sound that fits right in with the setting. I still got the town theme stuck in my head. My only problem is there isn't enough of it. One battle theme for the entire game, that includes normal fights, bosses and the final boss.The SFX department gets the job done, but overall lacking. The menu select SFX is little annoying making a "GRAWK" kinda noise.

Conclusion

It's difficult to review a game like Legend of Wukong. By what standards to you hold it by? Even when it was released originally back in 1996 it wasn't on par with the RPGs at the time. The presentaion felt like a Master System game rather than a Genesis game. But really does it matter? If you enjoy old-school RPGs then simply put this is a treat. What makes Wukong so satisfying is the fact that this wasn't avalible until 2008. It was a thrill just to play a game that not many people have played or for that matter know exist. If this game came out when the Genesis was hot I don't think it would be as satisfying now. Still, I enjoyed it and look forward to future Super Fighter Team games. Lets see more.

-- Jared

For more info on how to purchase Legend of Wukong visit:http://www.legendofwukong.com/

Some of the interesting events happening at this year's Purge included:

• A live performance from Chiptune and Crunchy Records recording artist Leeni, who sings to a background of 8-bit influenced trip hop beats. 
  
  Great stuff, and dancable too! 
• Live auction including various collection pieces
  
  The NWCGE table and display of the goods to go up for live auction
• The video game tournaments
  
  Tournament field was so huge this year, it was ongoing almost the whole dayNeat Championship trophies!!
• Costume contest!
  
  Wow!! Its Purple Tentacle from Day of the Tentacle!! My fave costume of the day and I had to put my arm around it!!

This year was the most packed I have seen a NWCGE event in the four years since I started going, and the turnout was excellent at OVER 800 people strong for a single day.  I missed last year's show in 2008 because I was out of town, but this was a MUCH bigger show than the last NWCGE expo I went to in 2007.  The Specialty Gamer table got plenty of action thru the day.  Creston was there with me and at the end of the day, both of us were very tired. 

Creston organizes the table

The only downside I can think of was that it was so busy, that people kept buying from us one after the other and it didn't give me much of a break to hang out or to really shop around myself - but really that's okay.

Almost certainly next year will just as big, if not bigger.  (no pressure guys...)  

Table of Ground Kontrol , host of show parties

Recycled Gamer's wall of electric play cubes!!

Chase the Chuckwagon.com in attendance

Scott Boothby brought his R2-D2!!

Ken working the Recycled Gamer table!

Peeps relaxing in the classic lounge area

Show sponsors Video Game Wizards very well represented

Console Freeplay / Console Tournament area

Video game sweetheart Jeanne does the work (hi Toby!)

Corey was busy at his table the whole day

Various rarities from Dan and friends

Danny at the Game Trader booth (I swear, my camera does not like to take clear picks of you...)

There was so much going on and the show was SO busy, I know for certain that I wasn't able to meet and mention everyone who took part so apologies for that.  I was behind a table for most of the day and I tried the best I could!

My pictures aren't the greatest using my old-ass camera, so check out a ton of much better pictures taken by show volunteer, Charles:  Setup The Show The Costumes The Auction

Links:

AtariAge

Billy Galaxy - 912 W Burnside, Portland, OR

Chase The Chuck Wagon.com

Deep End Gear

Game Trader - 3205 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, OR

Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade - 611 NW Couch St., Portland, OR

Leeni

NintendoAge

NWCGE

Recycled Gamer

Retro Gaming Expo

The Nerd Report

Video Game Wizards - 9712 SE Foster Rd., Portland, OR

I know its been a while since the last message, I've just been very busy and none of the other authors seem to be interested in writing the Newsletter.

For those locals in the Northwest USA, you should check out NWCGE 2009, Portland Retro Gaming Expo happening tommorrow Sunday, September 20th, 2009 in downtown Portland from 10AM to 8PM.  See the website for full details, show schedule and location.

www.retrogamingexpo.com/

This year will be the first year to have a live auction.  Also 8-bit style Chiptune performing is giving a concert at this years show.  If you're around tonight, the owner of Chase the Chuckwagon is having a preshow party at Ground Kontrol tonight.

I've personally been going to the shows each year for at least a few years, but this is the first year that Specialty Gamer is a vendor at the show.  We are bringing 750+ games across 20+ systems.  Being that you are subscribed to the list, I'll even let you take a look at the NWCGE 2009 Sale List.

www.specialtygamer.com/9list/ - 2009 Master Sale List

For NES completists, our table will have 350+ NES games including many of the uncommons needed to fill sets.  Plenty of niche titles, rare collection pieces, as well as a $1 bargain box so we'll have something for every level of interest or price range.  Also with every purchase over $5 at our table, you get a free gift - your choice of new Super Mario Galaxy commemorative coin, Hori PSP Liquid Crystal Filter, Nintendo systems security bit (for repairing systems), or GameBoy to Playstation converter - while they last, or until they sell out!

Specialty Gamer T-shirts will be available for sale, as well as free Specialty Gamer bumper stickers.  Stop by our table and say hi to me and Creston.  It's going to be a very good time.

It plays as good & looks as good as it does here.

All right here’s my first SPEGA review, sorry if it’s a bit long winded, and no screen shots (I’m too lazy to go through them all) 

Mirror’s Edge is a fantastic game; it displaced Deus Ex as my second favorite game after Beyond Good & Evil, which is no small feat since I like Deus Ex a lot.

I give it a 9 out of 10.

The story:

Mirror’s Edge takes place in an unnamed city where a totalitarian regime monitors its citizens through invasive surveillance, tracking all forms of electronic communication.

The main character, Faith, is a “Runner” a messenger who transports secret messages to the underground, by employing her free-running skills, to traverse the rooftops, building sites and other precarious locales.

Faith soon becomes caught up in a conspiracy and is ruthlessly hunted by the authorities.

When she can’t run past the police she’ll resort to hand-to-hand combat, or disarming an enemy and using their guns against them.

The Game:

ME is sort of a first person action adventure game, with some gunplay and hand to hand combat added for good measure.

There’s no HUD except for a dot in the middle of the screen (which can be disabled) and you can see your feet and arms swing realistically even when you’re not holding a weapon, it really adds the immersion factor.

IMO There are too few first person games that show you more of the character than just disembodied arms. (I can count them on my fingers)

The most unique and endearing feature of ME is the fluidity of movement and the feeling of momentum; it’s unmatched in any other game.

It allows you to fluidly slide under, vault over it, or climb onto obstacles, shimmy across narrow ledges, Swing, slide, roll, wall-run and a ton of other things that I’ve never seen done in a first person game.

The hand-to-hand combat works very good, it doesn’t work as good as it could but it still works very well, you have a wide range of attacks; low attacks, high attacks, rear attacks, front attacks, disarms, kicks, punches, wall run kicks, etc.

The gunplay in ME works great.

You can disarm opponents and then use their gun; you’re limited to the ammo that’s in the magazine, and there’s no ammo counter, so you need to count your shots and make your shots count. 

Faith is a Runner not a gun fighter, so wielding a weapon larger than a pistol slows you down and prevents you from doing all the acrobatic things you can normally do, so you must decide strategically when to abandon speed and agility for firepower.

Another aspect of ME is the striking visual style.

The contrast is cranked up and all the architecture is modern, clean lined, and a colorless white.

The sterile whiteness is punctuated by splashes of vibrant colors (doors, stairs, billboards, cranes, etc) the most noticeable is the Technicolor blue sky.

ME is a difficult game, I recommend that you play the first level over and practice disarming enemies without using slow-mo, it will be imperative later on.

Mirror’s Edge (available on 360, PS3, & PC)

Publisher: EA

Developer: DICE (owned by EA)

 

Story

I had a fever and the perscription was Wild Arms 5. After I completed it I had a great feeling of pride and a general sense of warm fuzziness afterward. Almost like I had actually done something useful with my 80 hours. While it's not a ground-breaking story it does finish up nicely and I felt 100% satisfied afterwards. I actually got heartbroken at the end which ment I really did care about these characters. Not surprisingly it has it's fare share of cliche's (justice driven teen main character, all the chicks have a crush on him, plot to destroy the world, mysterious girl falls from the sky) but for some reason they never bothered me. Maybe because it wasn't caked with cliche' after cliche'. It is a Japanese RPG so a few sterotypes are bound to squeak in. I found a striking similarity between the 3 main characters of this game (Dean, Rebecca, Avril) and that of Skies of Arcadia (Vyse, Aika, Fina)

 

I'm dedicating an entire paragraph for the villians because it needs to be stressed: they rock. While I did like the main cast of characters the villians stole the spotlight. I was itching to see more of them through the entire game. Each hero has their respective villian/rival which near the end they face off "one on one" in a dramatic style. You got a bad-ass cyber ninja, the sexy/busty female with a skin tight techno leotard, a professor who looks like Einstein fused w/ Heihachi Mishima, etc... Each one a purpose and a reason.

 

 

Wild Arms 5 essentially plays like your typical JRPG. Towns, world map, dungeons, sidequests, hidden treasure, puzzles, puzzles & puzzles. One aspect I fondly remembered about the first WA were the great puzzles and WA5 doesn't disapoint. There are also little side-puzzles in the form of "puzzle boxes" where Dean (the MC) is teleported to some puzle heaven in the sky where he is forced to move around diffrent colored boxes trying to match them up so they all vanish. My wife enjoyed helping me do these, she would come running in whenever she heard the little "puzzle theme song" going on. In fact she was better at it than me so... win/win. If you want to deviate from the main story then there are side missions a-plenty. It's got everything from fetch quests to hidden bosses. Later in the game these side missions really pay off since they net you some nice EXP & the best weapons/armor in the game.

 

   

You'll be backtracking if you wish to obtain some of the more luxurious items. Don't worry, later on you can just teleport. During dungeon exploration you'll notice inaccessible areas you can't access right away. To get past these Dean acquires diffrent bullet types for his Arm (ie Ice, Grapple, etc) Many puzzles also use these bullets to progress through the levels. Some puzzles actually had me stumped and I had to refer to my trusty guide to get me through. I know I cheat.

 

WA5 takes many of the tedious aspects of a JRPG and throws them out the window. Several examples are no random battles in areas with complex puzzles. The option to turn off random enounters in an area once you defeat a certian (kinda racist) enemy. Being able to retry a fight instead of loading from a previous check point. One very unique feature is your party completly recovers their HP after every battle. That's right folks, no need to endlessly browse through the menu system after every fight to keep your heroes in tip top shape. This might sound too easy but the game balances this by having the enemies deal more damage. If you're not careful your team could be blown-out. With that said the game is fairly easy. I only died once and that was while fighting the most powerful hidden boss in the game.

The battle system is strategic yet simple. You move around on a grid shaped of hexes. Some hexes have magic atributes to help buff your magic spells, or make you more vulnerable to enemy attacks. It's your typical Fire vs Water, Wind vs Earth sorta thing. You equip your characters with "mediums" and depending on which medium diffrent attacks/spells are learned. There are 6 diffrent kinds but to be honest you'll only be using 3 of them. Everyone has a team attack with all of the other members featured in nice little dynamic cutscenes (which can be skipped.) Early in the game team attacks will be your bread n' butter for taking out enemies quickly. However later on they lose thier effectivness in favor for equiping your characters with items to make them uber strong. The items I'm refering to are called "badges" and lets the player form some creative combinations.

 

 

The graphics are standard for a PS2 game. The characters have some nice facial expressions however the NPC's are pretty ugly. No flashy anime or FMV cutscenes, everything is in-game graphics. The voice acting is good, however Carol (the little girl) has an annoying hi-pitch voice (this is the main reason why I hate little kids in JRPGs) but for the most part it's all done very well. Unfortuantly there aren't many spoken cutscenes so you'll be reading a greater portion of the story. The music is great. Pretty much every dungeon/town/area of the world has a diffrent theme so nothing gets old or overused except the normal battle music. As expected from a Wild Arms game the soundtrack has a heavy "old west" feel (whistling, acoustic guitar, harmonica) but not every song is limited by it. One of my favorite songs is the boss battle music for Persephone (the female villian I mentioned above) If you're into video game music I recomend it. The opening & ending themes are also nice vocal works done by some Japanese singer. Another cosmetic aspect I liked is that some armor gives your characters a different appearance. It's not a big deal but it's nice for change every once n' a while. Some of these costumes are reminiscent of characters in other games of the series. There are even outfits where everyone dresses in Japanese school attire. Joshikousei!!!

 

 

While I enjoyed this game from start to finish there are a few rough edges that need to be addressed. For one it was a bit too easy for my tastes. There where only a handful of boss fights that took some brain power. For the most part it's simply spam their weakness. If you do a tiny bit of level grinding the difficulty shouldn't give you any problems. As I mentioned before I wish there were more spoken cutscenes. Loading can sometimes be tedious if you're in that teleporting or exploring mood. Battles are generally a little slow when compared to other games. One thing I really hated was the fact you can't control your Golem buddy, Asgard, in battle. Instead you program him with moves and he'll execute them at random. He seems to be retarded cause the big dummy constantly wastes turns by doing useless actions over & over. He rarely aims for an enemeis weakness and becasue of this the golem battles drag. Fortunatly you're not forced to do too many. So I say make a cup of tea, fix up a tasty sandwhich, mow the yard, and come back to see how ol' Asgard is doing.

If you're like me then you've been disapointed by the quality of JRPGs in this generation of consoles. So "Pardner" I say strap on your spurs, arm yourself with a PS2 controller and fire up a game of Wild Arms 5.


 

Like most of you reading this article, I do my best to spread the word and advocate sorely underplayed games. I generally have to provide the means for people to play them (as in, loan them the system or invite them over to play mine), but it's a gesture that is often appreciated. It may be after the fact, but I still see it as part of our contracts as gamers to do. There is no game I've had to do this more with than Sonic CD, and to an extent it saddens me. I'm certainly not implying that it is, without a doubt, the best Sonic game there is, but I do see it as an important game to experience before you can make such an opinion yourself.  The amount of detail and work put into the game dominates the rest of the series, which is why I'm so stubborn about ensuring people get to try it.

Each level has different skins, such as present, past, good future, and bad future. If you destroy the machine creating all of the robots in the past, then you've created a "good future" for that specific area. Details like this may go unnoticed to those who prefer to just race through a Sonic game, but there's quite a bit of detail to be appreciated if you're willing to take the time and explore a bit. Many of the nuances of the other games carried over, such as each section consisting of two levels and then a boss battle.

Sonic CD was developed during the same time that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was. In fact, it came out before Sonic the Hedgehog 3 did. It wasn't met with too much success commercially, but it is a game that hardcore Sonic fans lovingly appreciate. I dont know that I would recommend tracking down a Sega CD attachment solely for playing it, but I would recommend finding out if a friend has it in storage, or if you've any means of playing it.  The game was also released for PC, but unfortunately I cannot account for the quality of it.

Links:

Gameplay  

Purchase

Seaman is a game oft-mentioned and jested about throughout the various gaming niches on the net, but the game is only poked fun at from a distance, and only in a way that reveals that a majority of these people have yet to truly play the game. From the title alone, there are plenty of laughs to be had from those like myself who are little bit less than mature, but actually playing the game escalates the hilarity of the entire concept.

Fans of Hey You! Pikachu will feel right at home with Seaman, because the game is predominantly controlled with a microphone add-on. While the Dreamcast controller is used to drop food into the tank and change the heat and oxygen settings to optimal, talking with the Seamen is what actually moves the game forward. It is up to you to increase their vocabulary, but regardless of how hard you try, there's an inevitable outcome: they're going to be weird.

In concept alone, a human-faced fish is off the scale of weirdness. It doesn't help when they ask you awkward, prodding questions and continually remind you of just how creepy they are. Here's a conversation that perfectly encapsulates how a Seaman will act towards you:

Me: You're weird.

Bert the Seaman: Oh, you have no idea.

That is, verbatim, an exchange I had. I am in no way sensationalizing the situation. In fact, you'll hear a similar tale from anyone who has played the game.

The game thoroughly embraces the concept of "survival of the fittest", and for this reason you'll have to see a few of your creatures die out. When one remains, it will continue to evolve until it becomes a froglike being capable of venturing from the water to dry land. At this stage, your Seaman will be at its most intelligent, but there will be a lingering feeling that this creature is far too smart to be so couped up. When the time comes, you'll be forced to free your Seaman into the wild, where it will touch hearts and weird people out all over the globe.

It isn’t confirmed that it was for BG&E 2 but there is no doubt about it in my mind.

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

Here’s my take on it;

It definitely looks like it’s in India (or an Indian colonized planet), the Orange white and green stripes on the helicopter’s motors, are the same color as India’s flag, plus everything else points to India, brama cows, orange sarongs etc.
It seems like a technological backwards place wherever it is since wheels are still being used, instead of flying cars.

It still looks very much in the spirit of BG&E 1, I don’t have any problem with the running it seems like something Jade should be able to do, and I think if the technology was there when the original came out it probably would’ve been in BG&E 1.

The only things that has me concerned are that I didn’t see any animal human hybrids, and everyone appeared to be the same ethnicity (BG&E had a very ethnically diverse population), also I didn’t see a camera I don’t see how you could have a BG&E without a camera so I’m not concerned.

My guess is it’s in engine but not in game and was made to show the higher ups at Ubi what the team’s been able to accomplish.
 

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?, is an important game for the PSP. Last year quite a few developers lost interest in the system, and things were looking grim. Sony released a new model, the PSP-3000, but it was unnecessary and an obvious cry for attention. It worked to an extent, but it was still painfully obvious just how lacking the system was in new, big titles. NIS, being the hopeful company they are, placed hope in the system and released their first foray into the action-platforming genre of gaming.

The first thing noticeable about Prinny:CIRBtH? is the beautiful and detailed backgrounds. As you play through the levels, the time slowly changes from day to night, and with it comes an increasing level of difficulty. It's incredibly important to mention just how difficult this game is, because the more people aware of this fact before they play this game, the less chance there is of PSPs everywhere being broken. Simply because you're playing as a penguin does not mean this game will be simple. In fact, it's hands down one of the most difficult games I've played. Because you're incapable of controlling the length of your jump, and because Prinnies are so prone to exploding with little provocation, you're forced to truly take your time with each level; or at least be careful until you reach a checkpoint. 

The humor Disgaea fans love is completely intact in Prinny. In fact, there is absolutely no reason to take this game serious. The plot revolves around you being sent on what is basically a suicide mission in order to compile the ingredients and create the "Ultimate Dessert" for Master Etna. This silliness is crucial to the game, too, because there's a good chance it will save you from becoming too frustrated with the game. Did I mention Prinny is hard? Yeah, I really, really, really meant that.

It should also be noted that even through this difficulty, the game is thoroughly enjoyable. To some it may just be a needless frustration-fest, but for any gamer looking for a challenge, you've found it with Prinny.  Even more exciting is just how much replay value this game has. When you complete a level, you're given the option of returning to it at a different time throughout the day. If you choose to play a level in the beginning of the day in the game, it will be more simple than if you chose to play it at nighttime. 

Prinny is not for everyone. If you in any way consider yourself to be a "casual" gamer, then this certainly isn't the title for you. This game is full of the frustration that many of us remember from the glory days of platformers, only this time around the difficulty is upped unmercifully. So if there are any masochistic gamers out there looking for a challenge, you've found it in Prinny, dood!

Official Website - http://prinnies.com/

Noby Noby Boy immediately warns you that there is no true goal to the game other than to have fun. This statement follows Takahashi's M.O. of reigniting the silly, fun side of gaming. In its simplest form, Noby Noby Boy is a game that begs you to explore. The game may not give you too much area to cover, but it does provide you with plenty of interesting sites to observe. In your time spent with the game you may find a man breakdancing on a turtle, or a pair of aliens driving a carrot with wheels, or sundry variations therein. What you do in the midst of these weird occurences is your choice to make. Would you prefer to stretch out and allow them to ride on your back, or would you rather simply devour them instead? Either way you're adding on to your overall length, which ties in with the goal of the game.

what's there to be confused about?

It's true that you're encouraged to relax and do as you wish while you play Noby Noby Boy, but there's also a heartwarming goal to be achieved. As you increase your length in the game, you're encouraged to report how much you've grown to a character named GIRL. Her mission is to continue to expand from Earth until she reaches the next planet. This cycle is intended to continue until all planets are reached; at which point everyone in the universe may become friends. The only way this can happen is if you, and everyone else playing, continues to report to her and add to her length. This may be the first instance of global contribution in gaming, and it's a great example of the interconnectivity gaming is capable of in this day and age. 

When GIRL reaches a new planet, a new set of levels is unlocked to all of the players. At this point, the cycle begins anew and everyone begins contributing until the next planet is reached. Once all planets have been connected, something special is supposed to happen. Unsurprisingly, this has yet to be revealed. 

The gameplay of Noby Noby Boy is in concept very similar to the classic game Snake in that you're consuming  things in your path in order to increase your length. I don't enjoy describing a game through comparison, but in this case it seems like the most effective way to explain an otherwise confusing game. Fortunately, there's far more to Noby Noby Boy than there ever was to Snake, and continuous game play is  also more enjoyable with all of the different levels to explore. Variety is one area this game truly excels at. The amount of levels is truly impressive, and continues to grow as each planet is reached. Admittedly some of the levels are similar in appearance, but it's always worthwhile to explore them and revel in the interesting and unique denizens.

Takahashi has expressed interest in wanting to release more content for Noby Noby Boy, but the only way this can happen is if enough people buy the game. With that said, I urge all PS3 owners to download the title! It's only 4.99, and is absolutely worth the money. It's a small price to pay to show Takahashi that there's definitely a place for him in the game universe. 

Links:

Noby Noby Boy official website - http://o--o.jp/

The early part of this year has been exciting for Specialty Gamer as T-shirts finally became available for sale.  What better way to show your support than with a very stylish screen printed T?  The T's are lovingly modeled by Video Game Girl and Video Game Guy and only cost 10!!  Check out Video Game Guy and Video Game Girl showing off the goods at http://www.specialtygamer.com/shirt/

Also, with a new year comes a new 2009 calendar (ahem, featuring original artwork designed by myself) following in the tradition started way back in 2008.  For anyone who I have your address on file, its been sent out.  Some people got theirs in January, some of you I may have just sent it recently.  Hey, I can't afford a mail staff so I'm stuffing envelopes in myself - and boy is that not fun, so I do it in batches!

2 New Interviews in Features

Its nice to see some exclusive content being posted lately that you can only read on Specialty Gamer.  I am talking about the 2 interviews by our own John and Dante.

John does a Q&A with Brandon Cobb, founder and president of Super Fighter Team - the publishing and development team responsible for Legend of Wukong, recently released in December, 2008 for the Sega Genesis.  Super Fighter Team also released Beggar Prince previously, Super Fighter Block Battle for cell phone, and is working currently on Zaku, a 100% built from scratch shooter for the Atari Lynx.  How cool is that?  http://www.specialtygamer.com/features/interviews/brandon-cobb-super-fighter-team/

Dante does his Q&A with Brian Ashcraft, author of the book Arcade Mania!, a profile on the history of Japanese arcades.  Brian is also a journalist for outlets such as Kotaku, and contributing editor for Wired.  http://www.specialtygamer.com/features/interviews/an-interview-with-brian-ashcra/

Specialty Gamer will be at this year's NWCGE !

Another development to look forward to in 2009 is the announcement that Specialty Gamer will be a vendor at this year's NWCGE in Portland in September.  That's still a ways away, but we're working on getting some cool promotions to coincide with the event.  I might see if I can figure out some kind of cool show only trinket to give just to the Newsletter subscribers that come by and say hi at our table.  Anyways, more updates about the show as it gets closer - don't worry, you'll be kept informed.

In addition to that, we will have game goods for sale.  A good mix of expensive collector stuff, budget everyday stuff, and random parts that people tend to look for to help complete their sets.  So why not pencil it into your calendar? 

For more details visit the NWCGE or Retro Gaming Expo websites.

http://www.nwcge.org

http://www.retrogamingexpo.com

Latest Feature Articles

Q&A w/ Brandon Cobb of Super Fighter Team

  Written by John Hancock on January 29, 2009 | Comments (1)

It was my honor to be able to interview Super Fighter Team founder Brandon Cobb.  He was gracious enough to discuss me some of their previous, current, and upcoming video game projects for the Sega Genesis and Lynx.   Super Fighter... Click to read full story.

F.E.A.R. 2 Demo Review: The Creators Still Haven't Learned That Typing Out Acronyms Sucks

  Written by Dant Rambeaux on January 28, 2009 | Comments (0)

    The Fear series is one of the last few horror games in existence. I hesitate to call it “survival horror” because the player has more than enough firepower to fend off enemies, and the controls are much too good.... Click to read full story.

Games in 2009

  Written by Dant Rambeaux on January 25, 2009 | Comments (3)

The post-holiday gaming drought is in full effect, with big-named titles growing few and far in the coming months. Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV are on their way, but for the most part gamers are left working their... Click to read full story.

An Interview With Brian Ashcraft

  Written by Dant Rambeaux on January 23, 2009 | Comments (0)

Brian Ashcraft is a journalist and published author who lives in Osaka, Japan. He writes frequently for Kotaku.com and is a contributing editor to Wired Magazine. To many, he leads one of the most enviable lives imaginable. Even so, he... Click to read full story.

Curious Gaming: Kolibri Edition

  Written by Dant Rambeaux on January 11, 2009 | Comments (3)

Let’s face it. Air-based shooters, in terms of controls, have reached a creative impasse.  The game play was destined to be limited, but there are plenty of ways to build around that to still create a unique experience. Some games... Click to read full story.

Retro Game Challenge - a trip back to the 80's coming to the DS

  Written by Brian Moy on January 7, 2009 | Comments (5)

Retro Game Challenge is a game coming soon for Nintendo DS that I've been following.  Its already out in Japan, but said to be out February this year.   It sounds like the kind of game that someone would think... Click to read full story.

The Silent Hill Experience

  Written by Dant Rambeaux on January 5, 2009 | Comments (1)

  In the midst of my jobhunting, registering for classes, and catching up with old friends, I finally found some time to spend with The Silent Hill Experience. I’m a big fan of crafting a suitable environment for the... Click to read full story.

Home: Where the Heart is or a Narrow Miss?

  Written by Dant Rambeaux on December 20, 2008 | Comments (2)

The first thing you will notice about the virtual world of Home is that it looks wonderful. While it’s lacking a variety of areas at the moment, growth is quickly on the way as more companies and developers begin... Click to read full story.

Brandon Cobb

December 26, 2008

John Hancock: Thank you for your time for this interview.

Brandon Cobb: It's my pleasure. Thanks for your interest, and Merry Christmas to you.

J: So what were some of the video games and systems you played when you were growing up?

B: My first real experience with video games came in 1987 when my grandmother purchased a complete Apple IIc computer setup for my older brother and I. What an insanely great machine. I used the hell out of that little gem, playing everything I could get my hands on. My favorite games for it are Star Blazer, Neuromancer, Bard's Tale II, Where in America's Past Is Carmen Sandiego?, L.A. Crackdown, Moon Patrol and many more. That computer still works flawlessly, yet I've been through a pile of PCs over the years. Interesting. My mother was against the idea of buying me a video game console because of the high cost of games, so I never had one as a child. Instead I played whatever consoles my friends had at their houses.

Brandon grew up on Apple IIc 

J: At what point in your life did you realize that you wanted to be in the video game industry?

B: When I was eleven, I played Super Fighter for the first time. It was an amazing experience. I loved that game. I said, "I'm going to find the company that made it and thank them." Everyone I said it to thought I was nuts. Maybe I was. Eight years later, though, I found the company, thanked them, and received their blessing to keep the game alive. That opened the doors for me, right there. If something that amazing can happen, then anything's possible.

Super Fighter - old PC game and inspiration

J: Beggar Prince was the first commercially released game for the Sega Genesis in nearly a decade. What are some of the most important things you learned from that project?

B: With this kind of work, you really, really, REALLY have to love what you're doing. The Beggar Prince project started with me thinking, "This will be an easy, fun little thing for us to do while we're working on some of the Super Fighter stuff", and ended up turning into this huge, stressful project that spanned two years. During development we hit lots of snags; little imperfections in the original code that needed to be fixed. I'm a rabid perfectionist, so even though it drove me crazy I would document every issue, large or small, walk our programmers through them, then closely inspect the results of their work. Naturally it stings a bit whenever someone idly passes off our work on the game as "just a translation", because, in all honestly, the localization portion of the work was a walk in the park compared to everything else we did. By far, though, I think people seem to understand and appreciate what we did, which makes it all worthwhile. The appreciation of our customers and fans is what drives us to keep going.

Beggar Prince - first commercially released Genesis game in nearly a decade

J: Your current project, Legend of Wukong is receiving very positive reviews for being a wonderful and major overhaul from an obscure Taiwan game by Gamtec. What made you want to pursue this title, and how did first hear about it?

B: Legend of Wukong was recommended to me by Derrick Sobodash, our script programmer for Beggar Prince. When I had some free time I bought a copy of the original game from Taiwan and gave it a look. It was a nice game with its own charm, but very rough around the edges and was going to need a lot of work before we could release it; much more work than Beggar Prince had required. I actually saw that as a positive thing: With Legend of Wukong we really dug in deep and added our own sense of originality and identity to the game. We improved and enhanced it without tarnishing or downplaying any of the hard work the original programmers had put in. It was a lot less of "let's fix this bug" and a lot more of "let's strengthen this routine" or "let's add a new feature here."

Legend of Wukong - only retail release for Sega Genesis in 2008

J: Is Legend of Wukong going to be a limited run? 

B: We don't believe in "limited runs". We believe in making our games available to the people that want them. After all, that is the whole point of doing something like this, isn't it? We'll do our best, within reason, to keep up with demand, just as we did with Beggar Prince.

J: Homebrew gaming has changed a lot over the past fifteen years. At first, there were just simple Atari games being made by single person programmers. Now, there seems to be a movement to newer and more graphic systems such as the Sega Genesis. What is the biggest challenge with creating multiple person projects such as Legend of Wukong?

B: You can't just have anyone working on these types of projects. Your teammates must have the same emotional attachment to the project that you have. Otherwise, it's very unlikely to work out, because it's a tough task and there isn't a lot of money involved. The people we employ, as well as our volunteers, all genuinely believe in our cause. We all know we're crazy, but it doesn't matter. We're going to make new games for classic systems, and the people that like that sort of thing are going to love our stuff, because we put our hearts into it. It's inspiring. It's sentimental. It's an awesome thing to be doing.

J: There have been other companies that have taken on localizations/conversions of overseas games that have done very well, such as Working Designs and Atlus just to name some off the top of my head. Is there any one particular company that makes video games that you inspire to be like?

B: Aside from the Taiwanese software I love, there are some video games from France that blew me away when I first tried them, and that remain in the list of my favorite games of all-time. For example: Alone in the Dark, Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon, Another World. I aspire to get the same reactions from the people who buy our products as I get from masterpieces like these.

J: This year you had a very special event happen the journey to find an English version of Fatal Encounter for the PC I heard the discovery of a working copy of Fatal Encounter was one of over ten years. What was that experience like when you first had a lead on a working copy of that game?

B: I'm glad you brought that up, because it was a very special moment for me. By all accounts, Fatal Encounter just simply did not exist. Classic PC game collectors across the world hadn't even heard of it. When I asked the president of C&E about it, his response was grim: His only remaining retail copy of the game had long since succumbed to floppy disk failure. It was just one of those moments where most people would've given up. Luckily, I don't think that way - and it's a damned good thing, too. According to Mr. Davis Chan, who finally ended my exhaustive search for Fatal Encounter: "The reason for my interest in the game is that I have recently retired and have so much time in going through the 'abandoned' 486 computer of my son who is now over 25. I tried to play the game and found it tedious to look up my spreadsheet for the password each time the game was loaded up. As I know that over the time a lot of old DOS games are released as freeware, I just Google searched with the words Fatal Encounter and luckily found your website. The disks were sent to you in response to the invitation in one of the pages of your website." One man kept a backup of the game. One man. By chance, that one man went searching for more information and found my website. To me, this story is another great example of why you should never give up on your dreams, regardless of how impossible it may seem that they will ever become reality.

J: Another project in the pipeline I hear you have is a 100 percent original shooter for the Atari Lynx  called Zaku. What are the big differences between working on a portable system versus a home console?

B: While I could get into the obvious, it really just comes down to one thing: Your level of dedication. Osman Celimli, the designer and programmer of Zaku, is heart set on creating a beautiful Lynx  game that's fun to play. He's making digital art, and that's possible to do on any game system, be it a portable or a home console. You have to learn the limitations, stare them right in the eye, then blow past them. Magnificence will be your reward.

Zaku - portable shooter built from scratch

J: Any other ideas or projects in the works?

B: On December 21, we happily released Super Fighter Block Battle, a freeware action puzzle game we developed for the mobile phone. It's the first official follow-up to Super Fighter that we've released, and I'm very proud of it.

Super Fighter Block Battle - Vs. puzzle game and official follow-up to Super Fighter for mobile phone

J: I just wanted to personally say how excited I am on your projects coming out, and look forward to buying Legend of Wukong in January as well as any future projects. I was one of the first shipments of Beggar Prince and love it.

B: I'm very glad to hear that you're pleased with our products. Best wishes for 2009.

Links:

Super Fighter Official Website

Legend of Wukong Official Website

Beggar Prince Official Website

Zaku Official Website

SF Block Battle Official Website

Preview of Legend of Wukong

The Fear series is one of the last few horror games in existence. I hesitate to call it “survival horror” because the player has more than enough firepower to fend off enemies, and the controls are much too good. The first game in the series was welcomed with a decent amount of praise, but there were plenty of nay-sayers as well. And rightfully so. The game was certainly not without its flaws; especially in terms of controls. Fortunately, the mildly-anticipated sequel is here and with it comes revamped, intuitive controls as well as an improvement in environments.

The first thing that should be noted is that the graphics are fairly unimpressive. Many surfaces and edges suffer from jags and lack of detail. The areas themselves are impressive, unfortunately the graphics don’t fully execute that.

A big issue with the first FEAR was the horrid framerate in the PS3 version. Fortunately the framerate in FEAR 2 is noticeably improved. One issue that did carry over was the less-than-smart AI most of the enemies seem to possess. You’ll often find them needlessly jumping through windows or basically moving spastically all over the place without much of an apparent method. 

If the demo for FEAR 2 is any indication, the creators have taken note of the flaws within the first game, and moved the series in the right direction. The game isn’t destined to be perfect, but it’s definitely a worthy way for fans of the horror genre to spend their time.

What is a typical day in your life like?
Hrm... Do you want a blow-by-blow account? My schedule has changed somewhat because of the new baby. But I usually get up at 7am, feed the baby while my wife makes breakfast. Then I eat breakfast with my wife and older son. After that, I  take him to school.

I come back home, flip on the computer and answer email, Facebook messages, Twitter messages for about an hour or an hour and a half. Then, I work on any magazine articles I'm writing. After that, I search for things to post and write until noon. I have lunch, then play whatever game I'm playing for about an hour. Then, more writing until about 4pm when my son comes back home. Usually play soccer with him and then more writing.

After that! Then I eat dinner, hop in the tub, more writing up until 11pm. Then I go to bed.

Days end up being pretty packed with stuff -- there isn't much downtime at all.

How do you feel about the way the writing medium has evolved?
Do you mean the advent of online? Well, it's obviously made writing more raw and immediate. For example, if I'm doing a feature for a magazine, then I'm probably work on it for at least a month -- often more. So you have extra time to go over every sentence with a comb and research stuff endlessly.

When you're doing online, that time window closes. You don't time in days or weeks, but minutes and seconds. You want to get your copy up as fast as you can and still have it make sense and be interesting. It's a much more taxing style of writing.

Some magazine and newspaper writers have difficulty in making the switch from print to online -- at least, initially.

The current changes we are seeing -- moving from print to online -- is really the biggest change to publishing since the advent of the printing press. Before that, everything was obviously copied by hand. With the printing press, it was possible to disemiate information to a wider audience. With online, it's possible to do that to an even wider audience. This is quite a big deal.

The other big change is clearly moving from something tangible to something less so. You can carry around a magazine and a newspaper, but you cannot carry around a blog or a website. But you can carry around a cell phone and a laptop which can display them. Our physical interaction with what we read has changed -- not to mention what we read has become interactive. Fascinating, no?


Do you have any plans to publish another book?
Oh, of course. Writing books is great fun.


Do you find the time to game leisurely?
I can get in about an hour a day. Recently, I've been playing my DS a ton -- especially the shoot'em up "Ketsui." 

Outside of gaming, what are some of your favorite hobbies?
I love movies. I tend to turn on a movie while writing -- almost like I'm listening to music. Tezuka Osamu said he watched a movie every day of his life. I totally understand where he's coming from. Quite enjoy just having something like "The Third Man" on or whatever. I'm also a big fan of Howard Hawks, and I adore the dialogue in his pictures. "His Girl Friday" or "Bringing Up Baby" are great to listen to.

I've found that living in a foreign country has made me appreciate the sound of the English language much more.

Also, I watch a good chunk of anime, read manga and comic books. Listen to a ton of music as well. 
 

You live in Japan and write for a living. What is it like to lead such an enviable life?
Luck. Lots and lots of luck. When I was in college, I was very much interested in Japan. Here was a country responsible for so many video games and movies and anime I adored. So I just kinda up and came. Didn't have a real plan.

I taught some English, worked odd jobs like a photographer's assistant and a bartender, and eventually I lucked in to writing for Wired magazine. That lead to other writing jobs, such as my current gig at Kotaku.

Since I was 14 or 15, I always wanted to stay home all day and write. In short, I wanted to write full time. And I thought if I could do that and pay the rent and feed myself, then that would be pretty great. I feel very fortunate to be able to do that.


Were there any gaming pros you were especially excited to meet when doing research for Arcade Mania?
Without a doubt, Daigo Umehara. He's achieved somewhat of a mthyical status among fighting game fans, but there isn't much information about him online. So to actually track him down, interview him and hang out with him was a real treat.

That being said, I was excited to meet pretty much everyone in the book. Finding someone like Yu Suzuki and interviewing him isn't a mystery. You contact SEGA and arrange an interview. But how do you find, for example, players like Clover-TAC and Clover-YMN? These are regular people with regular jobs, so lots of detective work is needed to track them down!

And when we'd finally find them, we were always worried whether or not they'd agree to do the interview, but the players were always very generous and more than happy to talk about their passion. I really wanted that passion for arcade gaming to come across in the book.


Do you see yourself being a writer for years to come?
I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Thanks again! I really appreciate your time.
No, thank you. 

Links:

Brian Ashcraft is the night editor for Kotaku as well as a contributing editor for Wired Magazine

Purchase Arcade Mania here