street fighter 4

while recording colonizer today, i got pretty pumped about the next street fighter game.

street fighter 4, which is scheduled to be released in arcades in july, is set somewhere between super street fighter 2 and street fighter 3. it looks like it has all 12 original characters, and at least 4 new ones. a fat guy, some chick with a pompadour, a baby-head who throws people, and a luchador.

and just to get everyone else excited… here’s a gameplay preview:

scott

Things That Really Matter #667: Mega Man vs. Walt Disney

Just in case ya didn’t know . . .
The same development team that made the Mega Man games on the NES under the leadership of Keiji Inafune also made several games based on syndicated Disney TV cartoons of the time. What’s particularly interesting is that these games use the same game/graphics engine as the Mega Man games, as well as the same art team. Thankfully the characters don’t just play like Mega Man. Chip n’ Dale fight enemies by throwing apples, boxes, etc. Scrooge bounces around on his walking stick like a pogo stick. Darkwing duck likes to hang around on hooks.

mega man

chip n’ dale

ducktales

darkwing duck

kicknz

Things That Really Matter #666: Why the NeoGeo Was Cool

Throughout the 1970z and 1980z the home video game konsolez were always well behind the arcade machines as far as graphics, audio and processing power. Many arcade games were released for home consoles but these were just adaptations, usually built from scratch by people that had nothing to do with the original game.

Back during these good ol’ days, almost all arcade game publishers developed and manufactured their own hardware, i.e. Capcom came up with their own arcade systems, Namco had their own, etc. etc. In 1990, semi-famous company SNK released their latest arcade system, the NeoGeo MVS. And then they had a (kind of) bright idea: Hey! Let’s release a home console using this exact same hardware! They probably slapped each other on the back and gave high fives and all that.

So the following year the NeoGeo Advanced Entertainment System was released. It was super powerful for its time, much more so than the Super NES. One problem: it cost about $10 million while the Super NES cost about 50¢. Seriously, it was a damn expensive machine and that was only half of the issue. The games was SUPER DUPER X ‘Pensive. The CHEAPEST games were about $100 but most were $200. Yes, it was certainly nice to have an arcade quality release but who can throw around that kind of money?!

As I previously mentioned, in those days publishers typically made their own hardware which meant there was little to no chance of Namco, Konami, Capcom, MyMom, etc. releasing games for the system. In addition, most of the games SNK released in the first few years of the system weren’t that good. These included a few high quality sports games but mostly 2nd or 3rd rate immitations of Street Fighter and Final Fight. Somehow SNK had a hit with these fighting games and then they become super obsessed with them. There were, literally, over 40 fighting games released for the system. Of these only the King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown games are actually decent.

Finally, in 1996 SNK started a new series called Metal Slug, which I <3 . This series is basically like Contra + silly cartoons + unlimited continues = lol alert. These games and several other isolated gems make the system definitely worth playing - through emulation only. The system and its games are STILL very expensive to come by. NeoGeo become some sort of cult megastar and SNK only stopped making games for it 5 years ago. That’s a 12 year lifespan, bud. Too bad the system probably only moved about 137 units during that time. That’s just a guess.

 

Kicknz

Right Now I’m Taking A Required Music Class In Which I’m Learning How To Play The Guitar But I Already Play Guitar UGH

GAME: NAMCO MUSEUM BATTLE COLLECTION
SYSTEM: PSP
DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: NAMCO
YEAR: 2005

I’m not typically interested in compilations of old arcade games. When possible, I prefer to play games on their original system. This is, of course, not feasible with arcade games so I typically use MAME, the arcade emulator, which plays most 70s, 80s and (2D) 90s games perfectly. Beyond that, Namco has released about a million collections of their 80s arcade hits and most of these collections contain the same games over and over, ignoring their more obscure sequels. HOWEVER, this collection contains updates/remakes/sequels to 4 classic Namco arcade games and that’s why I bought it.

The new games in this collection are Pac-Man Arrangement, Dig Dug Arrangement, New Rally X Arrangement and Galaga Remix.  These titles are unfortunate as Namco already released completely different remake/sequel/updates but using the same names back in the mid-90s.  Each of these games contain gameplay very similar to the original versions.  The primary differences come in the form audio-visual updates and more modern sensibilities.  By this I mean the games are divided into stages and levels and that there are boss fights. 

Pac-Man Arrangement: The highlight of the collection.  It’s true to the Pac-Man feel but contains several interesting power-ups, doors, elevators, etc.  And the boss fights are welcome changes.

Galaga Arrangement: I’m not the biggest fan of space shooters but watching the intricate patterns that the enemies follow is somewhat mesmerizing.  An okay way to spend 40 minutes.

Dig Dug Arrangement: Disappointing.  Not much variety.  Slow.

New Rally X Arrangement: Rally X games weren’t even very good to begin with.

On top of this there are 11 arcade classics included.  Naturally, you have Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Mappy, etc.  The only obscure sequel included is Dig Dug II but other quirky titles are ignored, as usual.  The Arrangement remixes take less than an hour to play through each so there definitely should have been more of those.

Grade: C+
Personal conclusion: Feels incomplete

Kicknz

agyness deyn and ted kennedy

okay. when i first saw agyness deyn (some new model from britain), i actually liked her. i really really liked her. she’s cute, and she’s got a different, shittier style than most models. but here’s something i realized. her style is ugly. and she is not that cute, she’s just channeling another era which other models don’t do.

right? she kind of looks like every other indie kid.

recently, though, agyness deyn had her musical debut. she sings with the five o’clock heroes in their song, ‘who’. have you heard the five o’clock heroes? to me, they sound like a generic, new york indie band that is trying to sound like babyshambles. and, the guy sounds bad. and what’s the effect on agyness deyn’s voice?? worst of all, when i hear her sing, i feel like i’m listening to the hit song from a musical. the only time i feel okay is when there is no singing at all.

here’s the video.

and, ted kennedy had a stroke this morning.

nataliebeth

two great items featured this morning

first, a video of optical illusions. very cool, and kind of stressful to watch.
it’s only two minutes long, though, so give it a try!

so cool, right? i love the dinosaur, and the classic, same sized red striped things.

second, this really beautiful piece of street art in greece.
found at wooster collective.

nataliebeth