3D Vs 2D, Capcom Vs SNK, Street Fighter IV Vs The King of Fighters XII
February 23, 2008
A Brief History Lesson
Back in the 90s Capcom’s legendary Street Fighter series and SNK’s also legendary King of Fighters series were two of the best 2D fighters on the console and arcade scene. Street Fighter 2 set the standard for 2D fighters to come and for a long time was the copy and paste formula used for all developers when making 2D fighters. One of these developers which were known for this was SNK whom borrowed heavily from Capcom’s winning formula on several occasions. SNK managed to crave its own niche into the genre with it’s 3 on 3 fighter, best of the rest, The King of Fighters for the Arcade and NeoGeo CD.
For many years in the 90s these two franchises stood toe to toe with each other, dividing the fighting community with each game’s own unique style. The two developers noticed the divide and agreed on working together to build the Capcom Vs SNK fighting series. Which eventually resulted in 3 titles; Capcom Vs SNK, Capcom Vs SNK 2 and SVC Chaos.
Since the mark of the millennium (did you catch that one) this long rivalry slowly began to fade away. The dying down of the arcade scene and the lack of a new Street Fighter title in recent years has almost killed this fascinating rivalry. That was until now.
Recent Developments
Back in December I posted about the first Street Fighter 4 screenshot. One which finally revealed the real direction that the series was indeed taking. Abandoning Street Fighter’s faithful 2D sprite heritage Capcom decided to make Street Fighter 4 a three dimensional fighter.
I’d like to say something like “this divided long time series fans” but to be fair I don’t really follow the fighting community so I’m not really sure if it did. But I think that it would be safe enough to assume that a few people were upset. As much as some may deny it the 3D character models do totally change the gameplay completely. Thats not to say that Street Fighter 4 won’t feel like the previous games of the series (judging by impressions of the game so far it does actually feel like a tribute to SF2).
I’m getting of track here. With the prior announcement of a high definition remake of the original Street Fighter 2 the gaming community were expecting Street Fighter 4 to go down the same route. But it didn’t and for a lot of people this would have hurt pretty badly (I know it did for me). It would have been incredible to see how Capcom’s sprite work would have translated into gorgeous, detailed, smooth scrolling and animating HD sprites. True high definition sprite work for many traditional/old school/purist gamers is something of a dream, a dream which we may have considered never coming true.
I say may because this is where SNK and their King of Fighters come in. Just recently at the AOU convention in Japan, off screen media was leaked of gameplay video of the new game (KOF XII) for Taito’s Type X2 arcade platform. You can watch the video below or read a fantastic breakdown from Arcade Renaissance here.
Although this is off screen video it already paints a picture of exactly what to expect. That is the dream has come true; high definition, ultra smooth 2D sprites. I must say it simply looks fantastic, doesn’t it? I mean imagine what it would look like on screen.
I’m excited and so I should be. SNK have made a very bold move here and have thrown down the gauntlet. They have done something usually reserved for long time rivals; Capcom. The pure quality of sprite work and animation seen in the video are simply firsts in it’s field. Look at the crowd scene in the fight between Kyo and Ash. The subtle effects look fantastic too.
In reality SNK aren’t really taking much of a risk as they are just upgrading the same fighting game that they have been upgrading for the last 14 years. What they are doing though is saying: “Hey all of you Street Fighter fans whom wanted a HD 2D Street Fighter 4. Why don’t you come here and take a look?”. SNK are doing a Capcom and it is putting themselves in an advantageous situation.
- Link Me
Tags: 2d, 3d, arcade, capcom, fighting, King of Fighters, snk, street fighter
Posted in Analysis | Comments (0)
Retro Review - Shinobi III Return of the Ninja Master
July 1, 2007
Much like my last Retro Review this game is from the 16-bit era. I remember playing Shinobi on my cousin’s Megadrive(Genesis to you Americans) when I was a little tacker. Thankfully SEGA have included Shinobi 3: Return of the Ninja Master in Sega MegaDrive Collection(which I have been madly playing), so I have been able to get back into this awesome ninja game.
Summary
Shinobi 3: Return of the Ninja Master is the 3rd game in the Shinobi timeline and sees the return of evil Neo Zeed. Shinobi 3 is regarded as the best game in the Shinobi series which couldn’t be any truer. When you play Shinobi you can’t help but feel like a ninja, despite the somewhat ‘Americanized’ feel to the game. Stick that ninja feel with some crazy ninja scenarios and you have yourself one of the best damn ninja games of the generation.
Story
NB: The word Shinobi means ‘ninja’ in Japanese, in the Shinobi games, the Shinobi is the hero of the story. Hence the Shinobi character can change per game. In this first three games (Shinobi I-III) the Shinobi is the same; Joe Musashi .
Despite playing like ninja fan’s wet dream the story wasn’t actually that great. Not that it needed to be, of course. Basically the evil crime syndicate; Neo Zeed has reserected itself, Joe Musashi senses this(naturally) and embarks on a mission to wipe them out.
Gameplay
This game plays excellently, I always enjoy playing Shinobi because as I mentioned before, you feel like you are a ninja when you play it. Your main weapon in this game are your shurikens which are those little pointy projectiles that all ninja store in threes. Joe isn’t just confined to the shurikens though, when sprinting Joe can do a sword slash, he can also spear kick towards the ground while in mid air and do a quick sword slash at close range. These added moves make the game feel much more than a platformer with projectiles which is what it needs to be as there are piles of games like that already.
Joe also has an assortment of Ninja climbing techniques, he can double jump, wall jump and climb poles etc. This and the combat make him feel extremely versatile. Unlike the previous Shinobi games Joe can actually run this time round, I couldn’t imagine how bland this game would have been if Joe was restricted to walking.Along with these attacks Joe also has a couple of Ninjitsu attacks at well. These are like “ninja spells”. There are four in total, heres a run down of what they all do(taken from Wikipedia):
Ninjitsu of Ikazuchi: The art of thunder. This ninjitsu envelopes Shinobi with a shield of lighnting energy that sustains damage for four consecutive hits.
Ninjitsu of Kariu: The art of fire. Kariu summons four dragonshaped columns of flame that move across the screen and damage all enemies in their path.
Ninjitsu of Fushin: The art of floating. Fushin improves Shinobi’s agility by heightening his jumping capability.
Ninjitsu of Mijin: The art of pulverizing. The decision to use Mijin is most often tactical. It damages all enemies on screen at the cost of one life.
The game is split into numerous chapters each which have a few levels in them. Generally you have a main level, a smaller level and then a boss battle. Some of these smaller levels take the form of mini game-esque levels, for example you could be horse riding, surfing, climbing up a bunch of falling rocks to reach the top of the cliff etc.
Highlights
The best part about this game is how AM7 have included so many cool ninja scanarios Here’s a few examples: You get to ride a motor powered skateboard across an ocean while duking it out with a giant, flying mecha robot with a machine gun arm.Facing off against a bad ass mecha Godzilla.Jumping from rock to rock of a collpased cliff while trying to wipe out ninjas and dudes with angel wings.Sneaking thru a secret base full of moving platforms and electric ceilings.
Bad ass
Another highlight is that you know that your playing the best Shinobi game in the series. Every other Shinobi game has not ben quite as good as this one. The 3D versions were too hard, the previous 2D games weren’t as refined as Shinobi 3. Your are playing the best so be proud of it.
Lowlights
There’s something really fishy about Shinobi that kinda puts me off a little. Its sort of like trying to figure out if the foreign movie your watching has english voice dubs over the foreign language speech. Take for example the fact that the Shinobi’s(that’s Ninja’s) name is Joe, its not a very Ninja like name now is it? The game’s direction feels like an American take on Hong Kong action cinema. The scenarios in the game are cool but they just don’t feel authentic. Joe also doesn’t look like a ninja, his white and red outfit aren’t even in true ninja colours. Ninjas are meant to be stealthy and yet how can this be so when he is wearing bright colours? At least cover yourself is a pale blue Joe.
Beta versions
Shinobi 3 was originally planned to be release a year before it did, which would have been in 1992. The game was strangly withdrawn and modified to be what we know to be Shinobi 3. Two beta versions of Shinobi 3 have been brought to light via online ROMs. A whole run through of these beta files can be found here.
Virtual Console
After writing out this piece I had heard news that this game is coming out for the Wii Virtual Console in Japan. It seems pretty likely that this game will be released globally so when it does check it out.
Conclusion
Shinobi 3 is an action/platformer fans treat, this game plays smoother than fine quality silk. The game throws you into a mass of cool and innovative action sequences which make the game stand out from the crowd. This game has almost everything that a ninja game needs to be good fun. Strongly Recomended
Extended Readings/Sources
PHM’s Shinobi Website
Super Shinobi 2 Beta Central
Tags: 2d, megadrive, ninja, patriots, platformer, sega, shinobi
Posted in Retro Gaming | Comments (5)
Retro Review Lufia 2: The Rise of the Sinistrals
June 24, 2007
Welcome to this new and now regular segment; Retro Review where I look back at games of old. This isn’t like a game review though, think of it more so like a retrospective. The name ‘Retro Review’ wouldn’t stop poking at my brain when it came to brainstorming names, so thats why its the review.
Summary
Lufia 2 was developed by Neverland and released on the SNES in 1996. Lufia 2 is the second title in the Lufia series and the first Lufia game to be released in PAL territories. Despite being the second in the series it is actually a prequel to the original Lufia. So where Lufia 2’s story finishes Lufia’s starts.
Lufia 2 is one of the many RPGs to have graced the Super Nintendo. Unfortunately for all its worth it received little notice from the gaming community due to its late release in the system’s life cycle. Which is disappointing as Lufia 2 was the first RPG that I fell in love with. Like many RPGs of the time period Lufia 2 contained the usual RPG cliches but what made it such a great game was its differences from the norm. The game’s story constantly evolved as you played the game. That is you did not know what the final goal was, you just waited for the next event to move you through the game.Its a bit like the TV series 24, everything is based of leads or clues to the next part. This allowed for a good variety of story scenarios and hence made the gameplay very fruitful.
Story
After a quick tutorial the story follows, something like this. Lufia 2 begins the quiet town of Elcid. A red head swordsman called Maxim(its not that bad) and his childhood friend Tia are quietly eating dinner. Once they are done they hear news from two guards that monsters have stolen the door key at the passing between Elcid and Sundletan(a nearby village). Maxim volunteers to sort out the mess and does so successfully. After defeating the boss of that dungeon a strange woman appears and informs Maxim that his fate is to save the world. Maxim doesn’t really understand but he feels compelled to continue his adventure (you know the whole “its my destiny” thing?).
GameplayLufia 2’s gameplay is similar to that of all RPG games. That is you move from one place to another achieving various goals in order to get to the next part in the game. Lufia 2 is split up into 2 types of areas, that is the world map and specific areas. Specific areas are places of significance like dungeons, towns etc.
Battles are initiated in two ways. When traversing the world map random battles occur in the typical manner. When inside specific areas monsters walk around and once they touch you the battle begins. As the game progresses the enemies become more aggressive and get in your way quite often. These enemies can be stunned by skill items, which I will get to later.
The battle system in Lufia 2 is rather similar to the Final Fantasy series (and most 2D RPGs for that matter). When you begin a battle you have you 3 basic options of fighting, fleeing or re-arranging the character order. If you choose to fight you are presented with 5 options: Fight, defend, use item, cast spell and IP attack. IP attacks and Limit breaks (Final fantasy VII) are very similar. Basically as the character losses health the IP bar increases, once you have enough IP you can select an IP attack, these are more effective than regular attacks. IP attacks are determined by the equipment that the character is wearing.
As you proceed in the game you find various Capsule Monsters, these monsters act like an aditional party member but they cannot be contolled. There are seven different capsue monsters in the game world and they each belong to a respective element. These capsule monsters range from some sort of hulk look-a-like to a stone head, angel and some sort of ice cream man. Like all pet like creatures in RPGs they love to eat your discarded daggers and spears in order to evolve.
The further you proceed in the game the more ’skill’ items you can obtain. This is very similar(some items are actually the same) to the items like the bow and hookshot in Zelda. Some of these skill items allow you to paralyze enemies so that you can avoid them. Although the main purpose of the skill items is to aid in solving the various puzzles situated in the dungeons.
The game’s puzzles are very well done, my main gripe with them is that many of the don’t move beyond one or two rooms. Generally they are simple puzzles that don’t get much more complex than move the block to fire the arrow at the switch which opens the gate. There are ocassional puzzles which last the whole dungeon. But most of them are just confined to a limited space. Overall they aren’t too bad.
Another feature that impressed me about Lufia 2 was the variety. The dungeons varied from cave like dungeons,towers, mountains, volcanoes, castle basements etc. Some areas such as the towers allowed you to move out to the balcony area(the camera changes to 2D) and solve further puzzles.
Game Highlights
The most challenging aspect of Lufia 2 is the Ancient Cave. When entering this dungeon players are stripped of their items and knocked down to level one. The player must try to to survive the dungeon thru finding items scattered around the dungeon and battling enemies to level themselves up in preparation for the final boss battle. The most challenging aspect of this dungon is that it is 100 floors, thats right folks 100 floors of Lufia insanity.
Along Maxim’s travels he finds a inventory/scientsit whom joins his party and eventually creates the ultimate form of world map transport. No, its not just a blimp, its a submarine and a blimp in one. So you can fly around the map and then(in one magic transition) your blimp turns into a sub which allows you to explore the murky depths of the world map. This is really useful as it opens up a number of hidden secrets.
Almost every RPG out there has some sort of mini game system in place, for Lufia 2 that is the Markao Casino, situated at Markao the casino is full of your typial casino games like blackjack and poker. These games are all implemented so well and are insanely addictive, luckily it not a real life addicion. A cool note to add is that in the Japanese version the females in the casino are all dressed in bunnies. Awesomeness
Something that I almost forgot, each time that you finish the game you can restart the game with 2x,3x or 4x experience points. That is the first time you finish the game you can play thru again and you recieved 2x the experience points when finishing a battle.
Game Lowlights
Something that just annoyed me about this game was how they included a fairy/elf called Artea whom joins your team near the end of the game. The reasons for why I dislike him are obvious, despite being a male the guy looks ladylike, his dialogue is pouncy and his name is just so damn confusing, he is called Artea in the game and yet on the menu screen he is called Arty. He also joins your party too late in the game, so you don’t really want to use him as you have all of the other cool characters t play with. At least he has some cool dark magic spells like Fry.
There’s no denying that Lufia 2 has some clever puzzles, but they got it all wrong when it came down to the puzzle at Alunze Kindgom Basement. I was stuck on this puzzle for about 4 months. Right near the end of the dungeon, just before you reach the final boss they spring 3 block puzzles on you. It was the final one that stumped me. Fortunately I nabbed a play guide off the net and managed to defeat this monstorous puzzle. I also managed to nab a screen dump of this puzzle being solved. Just incase you too need the help.
PAL and NTSC differences
Lufia 2 is the first Lufia game for PAL regions, the original Lufia: Fortress of Doom was never released in PAL territories and hence Lufia 2 Rise of the Sinistrals is shortened to just Lufia. The box art is also different, the background is a pinky purple colour in the PAL regions. The PAL version was also released a year after the NTSC version.
Conclusion
Lufia 2:Rise of the Sinestrals is a great RPG game that had unfortunately missed the boat due to its late release. The game in an interesting mix of Final Fantasy-esque battles and Zelda like adventuring. The game is somewhat a typical RPG affair but its differences make it a worthy game for any traditional RPG fan out there.
Extended Readings/Sources
- Link MeTags: 2d, boxart, lufia, neverland, pal, patriots, Retro Gaming, rpg, snes, super nintendo, taito
Posted in Retro Gaming | Comments (0)
Loading ...
