Results tagged “Capcom”

In the interim between Thursday and today, a little more info about Mega Man Universe has surfaced. No, not as much as anyone looking forward to the game would like, but hey, it's enough to make a new post over. New posts are always fun, right?

Capcom of Japan's website updated with a website for Mega Man Universe. Yes, "Mega Man Universe." That may not sound awkward to some of you initially, but the fact that it's being called that and not "Rock Man Universe" might mean a lot. Capcom still hasn't revealed who's developing this, but keeping that name in Japan implies that it may not be a Japanese-developed project; thus, Capcom's main branch wants to reflect this in every way. Especially in Mega Man's wildly differing designs. Keep in mind this theory could be wildly off base.

Instead of having to view three mostly different trailers about the same content, the website has a trailer that mostly condenses the three Mega Man versions into one, the main trailer being shown at PAX 2010 this weekend. Still no Ryu footage, though. If you don't want to, or can't, watch it at the site, they posted it on their Youtube channel as well. In HD, no less. Also provided are illustrations of the characters:

And they all look so excited to be there. "Bad Box Art Mega Man" (called "U.S. Mega Man" on that pic. No, really.) is curiously ecstatic though, probably because he's shocked he's actually getting another chance in the limelight. I mentioned in Thursday's post that "Mega Man" looked similar to the version that appeared on the American Mega Man 3-6 covers. Upon taking another glance at them and comparing them to the artwork here, he...really doesn't. He doesn't seem to look like his American cartoon version either. So he's just someone else's interpretation of what Mega Man would look like. And damn if he doesn't look hopping mad too.

Presently, I'm still rather ambivalent about MMU. The main problem with the graphics, at least so far, isn't the art style, but that everything looks completely uneven. Some of the backgrounds are obviously rezzed up 8-bit assets, and while there's nothing wrong with that ostensibly, it's jarring to see it juxtaposed with newly created environments. The fact that it doesn't have a release date could mean it's a ways off, so there's time to polish this up. There are Mega Man 2 references all over the place in the video, so if this is basically Mega Man Powered Up 2, sign me up.

Despite being announced a little before the Comic Con in mid-July, and despite the Comic Con passing with Capcom attending the event, we finally received our first look at Mega Man Universe today, on the advent of this year's Penny Arcade Expo. Actually, that should be "looks," because Capcom cleverly sent different gameplay videos to various websites, namely IGN, Gamespot, and 1up. They're all prefaced by an introduction by Keiji Inafune and tease Ryu (from Street Fighter), but contain different gameplay with different iterations of Mega Man. And the game looks...well, it's something, to put it lightly.

The game resembles what a lot of people feared Mega Man 9 was going to look like prior to its unveil: a cheap, low budget 2.5D platformer with mediocre animation. That's not to say I think the game will turn out bad, of course. Mega Man Powered Up for PSP had a similarly repelling art style with mechanics that weren't quite as tight as the original, but it was nonetheless a pretty enjoyable game with a great level editor. In fact, this game's art style is the complete antithesis of MMPU's. People made some good levels with that, and if this game is a spiritual successor to that game, then more power to it.

The Mega Man's used are the most hilarious aspects of the trailer. The Gamespot version uses "Bad Box Art Mega Man," an SD version of the dude shown on this cover. He's pretty hideous, yeah, but that's intentional. He could be a fun novelty to have as a playable character. 1up's version uses "Rockman" which is the Mega Man (Rockman in Japan) you've come to know and love. The IGN one uses "Mega Man" which I guess is the western interpretation of what Mega Man looks like, as evinced by Mega Man 3 and 4's NES covers, i.e. not taken to the extreme like Mega Man 1 and 2's covers. He also has some big eyebrows, which make him look pissed. Angry Kirby Syndrome lives on!

The appearance of Ryu (No way) is likely a hint that there will be plenty of selectable characters. How many there could potentially be is unknown, but Capcom has themselves a guaranteed sale of Morrigan makes it in. Heck, maybe they'll let you make your own characters.

Capcom's still being awfully secretive about what MMU actually is, so maybe they'll elaborate on it more either over the weekend or at the Tokyo Game Show, which begins in precisely two weeks. The first look here makes me a little pessimistic as to how it'll turn out, but I'd like to think Inafune has our best interests in mind. Then again, sometimes I don't know about him.

Image stolen from NeoGAF.

It looks like Capcom did have something to show for Gamescom this week after all, despite announcing they would skip it entirely. And they brought some Marvel vs. Capcom 3 reveals with them to boot! They're two you knew were coming if you'd been following the media released so far, though. Viewtiful Joe, of the game of the same name, and Dormammu of Dr. Strange (among others) were officially revealed this week. We'd received silhouettes of Viewtiful Joe in the earlier trailers, and Dormammu was shown in the animated E3 trailer. Certainly not the most surprising inclusions for the game, especially since the former appeared in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.

The surprise here is that, contrary to what some fans previously thought, Dormammu doesn't look like he'll be the final boss of this game. If the previous games are any indication, it'll probably have a massive mammoth of a boss like Apocalypse, Onslaught, or Orochi from the previous Vs. titles. I'd like to see a Capcom villain make the cut, personally.

Joe looks, unsurprisingly, pretty similar to his TvC iteration, much like Ryu and Chun-Li are. He really didn't need to change too much to fit in here. The lack of a black outline doesn't make his character model stand out as much as it did in the VJ games last generation, but he looks fine. The unfortunate part about him is that he still has the same voice he had in TvC, and Capcom currently isn't using Dee Bradley Baker, who voiced him in his own games. Baker mentioned he hadn't been contacted on his Twitter. This game won't release for a while, but they'll probably not going to change this. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Meanwhile, Dormammu looks as great as you'd expect, and has a fittingly menacing voice. His music is, well, not as menacing. But it's possible the trailer version is using a different mix, so we'll see how it sounds in game soon enough. I hope it sounds more frightening.

Most companies don't take Gamescom as seriously as E3 (though they're increasingly beginning to), so I'm glad Capcom came with some goods. We have two more characters we've seen in silhouettes that have yet to be revealed: Frank West and Spider-Man. Don't be surprised if Frank plays similarly to his TvC counterpart (in fact, his TvC inclusion may have been in preparation to this), and Spider-Man should be similar to how he was in the earlier Marvel games. Hopefully he still says "Hey!" and "Do Your Job!" as well. Expect them, and hopefully others, to be unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show next month. Meanwhile, check out some new gameplay videos for Viewtiful Joe, Dormammu, and the other characters revealed thus far.

Cross Generation of Heroes, the original Japanese arcade and Wii release of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom - not to be confused with Ultimate All-Stars,  the retooled version released earlier this year worldwide - has a soundtrack comprised of remixes of old tunes for each character, depending on what game or Tatsunoko Pro series they're from. Unfortunately, the results aren't as good as the premise would suggest.

Most of the Capcom remixes (if they are remixes, unlike Soki's) are completely redone, though they still invoke nostalgia if you're familiar with the game these characters originated, but the Tatsunoko remixes are all very low quality midi synths that couldn't sound more dull. It's evident that the idea behind them was to keep their "classic" spirit alive, given that most of these characters are from franchises made in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. But said spirit can still be kept alive in good remixes, something well evinced by the Capcom tracks on the same soundtrack.

So it's because of that puzzling juxtaposition that I'll only be recommending remixes from the Capcom side here. Also, I don't like to talk about soundtracks that were recently released here anymore lest I may rob the producer of sales. This one is an exception since it doesn't have an official soundtrack. Another exception I'm making is featuring four tracks instead of three. Why? Got me!

Alex's Theme here is a more jazzy remix of his Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike theme, aptly called Jazzy NYC. All of 3rd Strike's theme had a hip-hop theme, so it's been mellowed out to fit in with TvC's much more lighthearted theme. It comes off pretty well too. It's similar to the themes of Makoto and Ibuki in Super Street Fighter IV in being comparatively mellower:

And for another theme from an old and sorely neglected Capcom franchise, we have Batsu's theme, a remix of "On the Rooftop of Sunshine High School" from Rival Schools. So now I've provided three remixes of themes from fighting games. But the interesting aspect is that they're all from fighting games fans thought Capcom forgot existed. Good thing this came along:
And speaking of characters we thought Capcom forgot existed, here's Mega Man Voluntt's theme from the game. It's an instrumental remix of a vocal theme from Mega Man Legends, "Another Sun," though it doesn't sound like it too much in parts. All of the remixes have an old-school late-90s style sound to them to invoke nostalgia. Capcom did well:


For TvC, it was decided that Morrigan's theme would be from the older Darkstalkers games, and by that, I mean the first two games in the series (and the better of her two themes). I wasn't making a reference to some newer game that you didn't know about, not while Capcom continues to neglect a property that could have a promising sequel. But yeah, Morrigan's theme is pretty good. I wonder which they'll use for Marvel vs. Capcom 3:


As for other tracks that didn't make it on here, I also recommend listening to Ryu and Chun-Li's remixed themes. I personally like them better than their Street Fighter IV remixes, because the TvC iterations are more faithful to the tempo of their original Street Fighter II themes. And while I may have no nostalgia for Saki or Quiz Nanairo Dreams, her theme is incredibly catchy. There's also Roll's if you enjoy some cheesy J-Pop and liked the iteration of "Kaze no Tsutaete" that appeared in Marvel vs. Capcom, that's here for you to enjoy as well. I may recommend Ultimate All-Stars' soundtrack in the future too, since that also doesn't have an official soundtrack.

Shortly after my post yesterday about Street Fighter and Tekken getting in bed with each other, AndriaSang posted a translation of a comprehensive interview session Famitsu did with Yoshinori Ono. A lot of people around the internet are asking various questions about this game, along with it's brother, Tekken x Street Fighter. It answers a lot of them.

I said the game would probably be out by the end of 2011. It turns out that Ono isn't expecting for this game to be out for two years. In fact, they don't plan on showing it again until Captivate 2011, which should take place sometime between March and May of next year. You'll have plenty of time to play Marvel vs. Capcom 3 by then. Ono also thinks that Tekken x Street Fighter won't be available until after Street Fighter x Capcom, which is belivable given how we've seen footage of the latter. Anyone fearing that Capcom might be stagnating the genre is very incorrect.

Also: the build you saw in the video is only two months old. It was evidently very early considering it was using Super Street Fighter IV's announcer and music.

Given that Capcom isn't releasing a big fighting game during the second half of 2011, that might mean Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike: Online Edition might make it out during that time. Hopefully with plenty of new features in tow -- perhaps some rebalancing, widescreen, no Backbone Entertainment or Udon involvement, for instance -- since otherwise there wouldn't be much incentive for people not to just load it up and play it on GGPO. Just don't expect them to redraw all of the sprites, as some people are suggesting.

There are a lot of fighting games on the horizon all of a sudden -- with another of the most recent being Arcana Heart 3 for consoles -- leading to fears that the fighting game genre will reach stagnation like it did before. I don't think some people really remember how it actually happened the first time. The downfall of the fighting genre was exacerbated by the death of arcades, meaning the easiest way for American gamers to get together to play games was evaporating. Considering this was the late-90s, an era without a concept like "online play," there really wasn't a place for fighting games to go. Now, things are a little different.

So yeah, I think we'll be OK. For the time being at least.

Both of you, dance like you want to win!

Capcom finally pulled back the curtain on what the mystery title from current Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono would be. And it's, no, not a new Darkstalkers game, sorry. Although that was mentioned; and from the way Ono talked about it, it seems like they want to make it, but Capcom's higher ups aren't convinced it would sell. Which blows. They initially weren't convinced that a new Street Fighter game would sell either, so we've seen that Ono can pull if off after some persuasion. Hopefully it gets through.

Those higher execs haven't approved of an online version of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike: Online Edition either, but that didn't stop him from announcing it. Consoles weren't announced, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't destined for Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. The game also has no release date, and Ono says to not expect it anytime soon. He also said he'd like to add new features to the game, but he wants input from fans first. He wants you to let him know over at Capcom Unity. Getting this game approved won't be as difficult as getting a new Darkstalkers, so it won't have to fight for its future.

They also announced some new alternate costumes for Super Street Fighter IV. And about those two mystery character slots in the arcade version currently being location tested in Japan? You'll find out who those are for...at the Tokyo Game Show in September. Ouch. Maybe they'll be leaked beforehand.

But hey, the big announcement was for, well, what you see in the in the title: Street Fighter x Tekken! Developed by Capcom! It was revealed via a teaser trailer, but in a move unlike Capcom's prior fighting game unveils, they actually showed gameplay. The fight was initially Ryu vs. Kazuya, but they channeled the spirit of Rival Schools by showing how you can tag in assists for super combos, which were done with Chun-Li and Nina. It looked a lot like Street Fighter IV with Tekken characters, and it's obviously very early in development, and it looked very intriguing.

That's not all. There's also Tekken x Street Fighter! Developed by Namco! What do you know, that rumor was true after all; albeit with only two franchises rather than characters from the whole catalog going at it. This game was not shown.

So when are these games releasing, well:

Translation: Fall 2011 at the earliest, folks. But that's plenty of time to get your fill of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and every other fighting game that could be out next year. The real question will be whether or not anyone has time for all of these games.

(P.S. I'd seriously like to see a Karin vs. Lili fight in at least one of these versions. Seeing the latter character in the game is pretty much a given, but the former is a little obscure compared to the rest of the Street Fighter cast.)

Because, you know, Dr. Doom was confirmed. Yeah...

A couple of days ago, Capcom revealed four new characters for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, and I would have mentioned them here before this if (1) I didn't want to talk about Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together first, and (2) if I wasn't so lazy. With the announcement of the aforementioned Dr. Doom and Super Skrull for the Marvel side, and Chun-Li and Trish (from Devil May Cry) for the Capcom side, the official roster has increased to 12. Note that this doesn't include Dormamu, who was revealed in the E3 trailer, since he doesn't have any official art or gameplay footage. Looks like he's going to be the main boss, so he may not even be playable.

Though some are expressing slight frustration with the roster -- yeah, me included (Trish over Lady? Seriously?) -- it's not turning out too bad so far. The Marvel side is currently a sausage fest while the Capcom doesn't have any villains yet, but there's still time. Meanwhile, producer Hideki Niitsuma confirmed quite a few characters you won't see. It looks like we're not going to be seeing Phoenix Wright's video game debut here. We also won't be seeing Daredevil, Emma Frost, Punisher, Ghost Rider, or Gene (God Hand's protagonist). Lastly, no one from Rival Schools and Power Stone will make it in. They seem to be upholding that promise of not using anyone from obscure properties.

The Official Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Youtube Channel uploaded some videos that you should check out if you're interested. Notice in the first gameplay video that Chun-Li's theme is played, meaning that everyone should have their own theme a la the first Marvel vs. Capcom. Dr. Doom's theme from Marvel Super Heroes is also played in the trailer for the new characters. The wait until spring 2011 just got much harder.

But that's not all! Later on Wednesday, Marvel's website accidentally leaked two more characters: Thor and Amaterasu (from Okami). They look great, and they're shown on a new stage as well, which also looks great. Marvel has since removed the images from their website, but once any image makes it out on the internet, there will always be a place to find it. Too late!

But that doesn't matter now anyway, because Capcom has now released the screens themselves. And while I was browsing the Youtube Channel for links, I noticed they uploaded with three new videos featuring Amaterasu and Thor in action. I'm also pretty sure that Ryu's theme is played in that third linked video, though it's a little hard to hear.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is looking pretty good. Anyone who was a little concerned that it looked less like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and more like Tatsunoko vs. Capcom in HD should know that the Comic Con build (and Evo build from a few weeks ago) is said to feel more like MvC2. It seems to be combining the best of both worlds. Also keep in mind that Capcom's Yoshinori Ono, producer of Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV, has a special announcement to make tomorrow at around noon pacific/3PM eastern.

Edit: Just noticed the Amaterasu vid features Issun speaking English. Feels kind of mind-blowing after you've played Okami. I think he sounds less annoying in a comprehensible language too.

On Friday, we finally found out what that mysterious trademark from Capcom a while back was all about. Fortunately, it wasn't for a localization of the Mega Man-based Korean MMORPG, but it was for something else entirely. The catch here is that who knows what that "something" is at the moment, as the trailer -- despite being wonderfully nostalgia-inducing -- and press release told us absolutely nothing about the game. But it did drop some vague hints.

It looks like Mega Man Universe, due for release on both Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network, is a LittleBigPlanet-style game where people create their own levels and share them online, kind of like an expanded version of what was found in Mega Man Powered Up. I'm willing to bet it will probably have some levels developed by Capcom as well, some of which might be homages to levels from other Mega Man games. This has the potential for greatness, provided this hypothesis is anywhere near accurate.

It will also seemingly avoid primarily using the big-headed characters prevalent in Powered Up, though they might be in there as a template. The trailer (seen at the link above) shows Mega Man, characters from other games like Ryu (Street Fighter) and Arthur (Ghosts & Goblins), in CG Tim Buckley-esque forms. But it also shows 8-bit Mega Man and a CG rendition of the version of Mega Man depicted on the original American cover. It looks like you'll have the choice to play a plethora of characters. Characters like Zero, Proto Man, and Roll are a given (unless Capcom likes to see fan riots), but hopefully we'll see characters like Strider and R.A.D.D. Spencer.

A pity that it's definitely not a new Mega Man X or Mega Man Legends game, which is bound to sink a few hearts. Especially in the case of the latter, despite creator Keiji Inafune constantly expressing desire to make another one. I wouldn't be surprised to see their templates in this game, but the chances of them starring in another game looks more and more bleak as time goes by.


We'll find out what this game is sometime during the San Diego Comic Con this upcoming weekend. Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono also has an announcement to make this weekend. Super Street Fighter IV Turbo? Namco vs. Capcom? New Darkstalkers? Time will tell, but Ono's been teasing on his twitter.

As the title implies, this is the second review. For the first, check out Angela's earlier review.

The unofficial itinerary of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth's existence is Capcom's, and the Ace Attorney team's, intention to prevent the usual Ace Attorney franchise formula from stagnating. It's a proclamation from a company intent on proving that they've learned from their mistakes of the past with their other franchises. Investigations? It shouldn't surprise you that the game has this in spades. Intense, heart-pounding court cases? Nope, not here. But in its place are nearly-as-intense battles of logic that will happen in any location. It's mostly implausible, sure, but it shouldn't bother you with a franchise rife with spirit mediums and magicians.

Though the previous games took elements from classic PC adventure games of yore, AAI embraces them from an alternate direction. Investigation sequences are no longer first-person, but are now switched to third-person in order to show the player that these characters really do have legs. Ostensibly, it doesn't sound like that would make any significant changes to the investigation sequences, but it actually gives them an alternate (but not necessarily better) sense of vivacity. Enough of one to make it feel like a fresh experience, comparatively.


At this point, the AA games shouldn't surprise you with their sweeping drama. Time and trouble never stall for prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, a man who happens to run into trouble upon arriving back from a trip overseas. Greeting him in his office in the early morning darkness is a dead body and a gun-toting individual enshrouded in the shadows. There's no time for rest, as Edgeworth has to get to investigating immediately.

The interesting aspect of AAI's story is that all of the chapters are connected. There are no trials or story sequences that serve as a respite period between the actual plot, or just for comedy relief. That is not to say that there isn't any comedy, of which there is plenty. The overall story depicts a smuggling syndicate that's working from behind the scenes, and the earlier happenings are what lead Edgeworth and his companions to fully investigate it.


Like the previous games, the localization is exquisite. It's definitely a challenge for the team behind this game to shift the location of the game from Japan to America, and changing the names and jokes while keeping their intent intact. By "intent," I mean the Japanese versions of all the AA games are rife with jokes and puns that only people fully ingrained in Japanese culture, or have dedicated an ample amount of time studying it, would comprehend. The challenge for the localization team is making those jokes relatable for an American audience, and on that front, they've succeeded admirably.

If you're the kind of person that's had a problem with the form of logic that's impeded the games before, then you'll also have a problem with this. Though the game requires less spurious leaps of logic - it's a bit easier than the previous games - they sometimes find their way in. But the best approach to this is to not expect anything fully grounded in reality. And honestly, I sure hope you don't approach games expecting full realism.


Common points of contention with the last game, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, were the lack of returning characters and memorable new characters. It's evident that the AA team took this criticism to heart here, because it rectifies both of those problems. There are plenty of returning characters from the Phoenix Wright titles, and the new characters introduced here have a better lasting impression. Every AA game seems to require that the main character have a cute, bubbly sidekick, and Kay Faraday fills this role here. But her very existence isn't purely for eye candy and jokes, she actually has some excellent uses. And while the well-intentioned Interpol agent Shi-Long Lang will try to approach Edgeworth with some haphazard logic, he's still helpful.

The main question posed by series fans is whether court cases would hinder its enjoyment. Unfortunately, it does, but not as much as you'd expect. Battles of logic are nice, but those sessions lack the desk-slamming fun between an attorney and a prosecutor, along with the hapless (or opposite of hapless) client or witness caught within. And then, you'd also have the judge making his eyebrow-raising comments. It's a feeling completely gone from this game, but again, it's not as detrimental as it sounds. You still have your "Objection!" "Hold it!" to deal with. Pressing people and watching them go crazy is almost as fun to watch.


The Ace Attorney games, starting with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All, contain a gimmick that involves the main character using extrasensory abilities to put the situation together. Phoenix had a magatama to use in breaking Psyche-locks, Apollo needed to Perceive to find the answer, and Edgeworth must use Logic. Presumably as a demonstration of how smart and level-headed he is compared to the rest of the loonies in the cast. It works pretty well, and it's probably the most realistic of the aforementioned examples. It's also the easiest to use, though that's in-fitting with the rest of the game's comparatively lax difficulty.

The music, provided by Noriyuki Iwadare (with some assistance from Yasuko Yamada), is great, and practically begs for its own Gyakuten Meets Orchestra installment. I'm sure the big Apollo Justice orchestral production will wait until another one or two games are released in that series (if ever?), but the music here is so good that waiting for one is going to be a pain.

If you're a fan of the older games, you know almost exactly what to expect here. Heck, you've probably already played this game! And if you haven't yet, I'm just going to assume there's a good reason you haven't gotten around to it. We just came off a ridiculously crowded first quarter for video games, so if you unfortunately missed it, it's still around.

Despite the first look existing within the pages of Famitsu and Game Informer for a few weeks, the first direct feed bull screen shots were revealed for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds a couple of days ago. When Capcom expressed their desire to make the game look similar to a comic book, they were completely serious. That's regardless of how most of the game's potential fans thought it was a little farfetched -- especially after them saying the individual character designs were actual in-game models -- and how some of them really would have liked to see the anime-style look from the previous game and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom transferred to this game.

And then you have the small-though-vocal subset of them that would love to have this thing in 2D, despite how unachievable it sadly is. I like 2D as much as any other dedicated fan, and I definitely prefer the look of Street Fighter III to Street Fighter IV -- mind you, I still think the latter looks great. But the reality is SFIII cost Capcom a lot of money, money they definitely didn't make back because of the reception towards the game. Part of that had to do with the gameplay systems, but a sadder reason for that is that a lot of people prefer 3D to 2D. The only games you'll see in 2D are games where you know the publisher will definitely recoup the cost. A game as wonderfully animated as Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is a rare sight these days.

But it might not be so bad if some companies can successfully blend the two styles together to make a 3D polygon-laden game look as visually appealing as a hand-drawn one. It's harder than it sounds, but looking at MvC3, I think we're making it there. SFIV was a nice attempt but some aspects of the looks were a little off. Specifically, some of the character models didn't look as nice as their 2D counterparts (like both Ryu and Ken, for instance). The backgrounds, save for Super Street Fighter IV's newly introduced ones and the African airport one, needed some work. But it was the first attempt at this for Capcom's fighting games, and it's well worth some respect.


Considering how good it looks, I can understand how some fans may have a problem with the way MvC3 looks right now. The stocky-armored Iron Man of the 90s has been replaced with the lankier iteration seen in the 00s, an expected change given how Capcom wants this game to appeal to a wide of an audience as possible. I prefer the old one, honestly. Some don't like the look of the Hulk either (more specifically, his hair), but I think he looks fine. Chris Redfield is about as buff as he was in Resident Evil 5, and he needs to be if he wants to take on the Hulk. And we all know he can.

I'd also like a good look at Morrigan. Not because of what you're thinking upon reading that. I just want to see how her new comic book-style look will be represented in-game is all. Yeah.

For people who think that it doesn't look to great now, Capcom has plenty of time to refine its visuals. Street Fighter IV looked a little rough when it was first introduced back in early '08, but it came a long way in a short time. We'll probably get our first real look at the game in two weeks at E3, but these screen shots probably confirm that the Shinkuu Hadoken animation at the end of the Captivate trailer was probably in game. For pure 2D, we'll have games the Blazblue and King of Fighters titles, but this will serve as a fine alternative.

Super Street Fighter IV made me realize that having 35 characters in a fighting game is the worst idea ever.

But only because it makes it so hard to pick one to stick with. It's overwhelming! So many different fighting styles to choose, along with so many more match-ups to learn. Don't be surprised if, upon playing this game the first few times, you'll find yourself winding around the character select screen trying to settle on someone to main. It was bad enough with 25, but add ten more and craziness ensues, especially when they all look intriguing. Most of them have the potential to be pretty good.

I played quite a bit with both Guy and Ibuki. I managed to rack up more wins with Guy pretty quickly, but once you really get into him, you'll begin to realize he isn't all that great. I had a lot of fun playing him in the Street Fighter Alpha titles, but his incarnation here feels a little...stiff, to put it plainly. I thought Chun-Li had a floaty jump, but Guy's makes hers look normal; and his jump is much more floaty than the Alpha games. What also hurts is that his elbow drop doesn't go diagonally down anymore, and it can be blocked in a crouching position. He's still fun to play, but ugh.

Ibuki, on the other hand is pretty good. Maybe too good. She does take a plethora of practice, though. It took me about 40 matches to really get a grasp of her normal and special techniques. It's what happens when your character has a command list that consists of 20 unique moves. But she is quite the powerhouse. There aren't a lot of characters in the game that can get 400 HP damage from one combo without using a super or an ultra. She might be the best of the new characters. I can't super jump cancel into Ultra II to save my life, though.

Having fun with Makoto in Street Fighter III: Third Strike, I decided to play with her a little here too. Her situation is the same as Guy's, except far more severe. She's nowhere near as dominant as she was in Third Strike, and it's incredibly difficult to get wins with her. That kind of makes me sad, because though she was a tough character to learn in Third Strike, she was at least competent.

Capcom's also doing the nice (though admittedly silly) alternate costume situation again. Again, you can't unlock these through the game itself like any other fighter, you'll have to purchase them in five for $4 packs released incrementally. Price gouging that a company like Namco or Activision would be proud of, but damn if they don't look nice. Well, most of them.

I mentioned in the review that the story overall is definitely worse, but Arcade Mode is worth playing at least once to see the credits. It's absolutely beautiful. The theme itself contains a remix of many of the most popular themes from the franchise, along with seeing the characters move in slow motion. It's heavily focused on the most popular characters in the series. And Juri, who I guess is pretty popular now. It comes across as a big tribute to Street Fighter; watching it gives off the feel that this game is the last in the franchise. Which is pretty sad.

So yeah, I'm enjoying this game. Super Street Fighter IV may not be the last game in the franchise (not if there's any justice left), but this will be my last post about it here for a while. On to Marvel vs. Capcom 3, then.

Super Street Fighter IV is what most fans of Street Fighter IV could ever want from one of the most venerable fighting game franchises today. But people reading this that are the least bit interested are probably already sold on it, and are getting their fill of the online play as we speak. So there isn't much more to say here. Go buy it.

Ah, but we live in a time where reviews are held up to a specific standard, regardless of whether that length is justified. So you'll just have to settle for this detailed review about its intricacies. Sorry.

A popular point of conjecture around its announcement was that SSFIV was just Capcom being Capcom. This means that the company, upon the success of the previous product, has decided to milk this game to hell until fans get seriously sick and tired of the formula. Ostensibly, it's a pretty good consideration given their penchant for it, but the fact that it actually started is silly in itself. This version has ten characters over last year's game, with balance changes made to the existing 25. The existing characters have also been given another Ultra Combo, with the game allowing you to choose your Ultra on the character select screen; in that vein, it's similar to choosing your Super Art in the Street Fighter III games. There are also five new stages (one is a redesign of an older stage) that look absolutely gorgeous and completely outclass all of the existing ones. There was plenty of variety before, but now...man. Anyone who thinks this is a typical cash-in shouldn't be taken seriously again, because they obviously can't discern the difference.

There are ten new characters here, but only two of these are brand new. Eight of them are fan favorites from previous games in the franchise. T. Hawk and Dee Jay make it in to complete the Street Fighter II cast. Though the first game went out of its way to avoid the inclusion of anything Final Fight, Guy and Cody make it in here. Adon joins the cast from the original Street Fighter, though more people know him from Street Fighter Alpha. Dudley, Ibuki, and Makoto make it in from the Street Fighter III titles. Meanwhile, Juri is the first Korean Tae Kwon Do fighter in the franchise. Oh, and she's evil. And you have Hakan, an oil wrestler who is one of the silliest characters in the franchise. It helps that's he's charmingly silly, though. They both bring unique fighting styles to the franchise, and while Juri is pretty easy to grasp, Hakan is going to require some serious practice.

More importantly, Capcom fixed a critical flaw that unfortunately hampered the playability of the original: multiplayer lobbies. Being dubbed the clever name "Endless Mode" here, these lobbies allow up to eight players to gather and take turns fighting each other. It's a mode to relive the glory days of arcades with people who don't live near you. It's just that, you know, it's online. There's also a Team Battle mode that allows teams of up to four players to compete against each other.

That's enough modes to keep you playing for a while, but the most important aspect to consider are the balance changes, and they've made plenty. Sagat was a little too dominant in the last game, so he's received the heaviest changes. They've toned him down heavily, reducing his overall damage output and removing the light kick/Tiger Knee block-string shenanigans. He has one new technique, the Angry Scar, which allows him to make his next Tiger Uppercut stronger (and it's the only new move attached to an existing character). He also has more combo potential, but it's nothing that makes him as strong as he was before. Also, Ultra Combo damage has been reduced all over to help makes this game less defensive than the last one.

Everyone in the original cast has been given both buffs and nerfs in some way, with some of them just getting the former and the latter. For instance, while Rose has a very slightly nerfed backdash, she has increased damage on some normals, more combo potential, and a very useful new Ultra. And they even buffed Dan! You wouldn't believe how many air attacks his low taunt stops. Meanwhile, Fei Long, who was near the bottom of the tier list before, was given zero changes. Who knows why Capcom hates him so much, but he'll still have the name Fail Long.

The online netcode overall is pretty good, being a notch better than the one found in the original. That's not to say it's lag free though. Even in a four bar match, the highest possible connection instead of five from the last game, there's still some obvious input delay problems present there. It's nothing you can't adjust to, but it's that process that can make things a little frustrating. It's no problem finding a match in Ranked, but sometimes you can be paired against people with less than stellar connections in both Endless and Team Battle modes. Online games are usually better on 360 rather than PS3, so if you had the choice of both, I'd choose the former.

The online competition so far is a pretty varied, ranging from people who obviously had a lot of experience with SFIV to people who are not yet warriors, but beginners. Oh, and if you weren't a fan of the scrubby crap that people could only get away with online (mashing reversals, turbo abuse), they're here to entertain you again. The nerfs to certain characters help with some of the inanity, but it still exists in spades. But despite all that, there are going to be a large number of people that can kick your ass legitimately too, so be prepared for that.

The three fans of the single player modes are actually going to find less variety here. Arcade Mode is still as intact as it ever was, with rival scenes for every character. Unfortunately, aside from six of them, everyone from the last game still has their same rival scene. That's pretty lazy. Capcom also promised that the anime story sequences would be better this time around, but the animation itself is still spare-every-penny cheap. And though Capcom promised a better story this time around, it seriously isn't. In fact, it's worse.

The Time Attack and Survival Modes are gone, which is good since they were a serious grind. Challenge Mode is back, and though there are plenty of new challenges for each character, some are recycled for the existing ones. Just for you, the ones that are recycled are the same that gave people grief in the last game. Aren't they sweet?

The main problem with the single player is that there isn't a mode to introduce gamers new to Street Fighter to the game. Challenge Mode helps in teaching them some moves, but it also helps in teaching you combos that no one in their right mind would ever use in a real match. No one will burn their entire Super and Ultra meter for a paltry four hit combo.

If you played the original, you may remember that the music for the individual stages, save a couple, was some of the blandest material to ever grace a fighting game. However, the music that played during the Rival battles in Arcade mode, which consisted of mostly remixed tracks from older games, was fantastic. The same music still graces the stages here, but you now have the option of using the remixed tracks for regular battles against human opponents. While seven characters from the previous game didn't have a rival theme, they do now. They're all quite exquisite.

Despite a few flaws that hamper its experience, Super Street Fighter IV is well worth the buy for anyone with even the slightest interest. If you enjoyed Street Fighter IV and like fighting games but haven't jumped in the pool yet, then why the heck aren't you playing this right now? And it's not at all a cash-in, as Capcom has learned their lesson. Now, if Super Street Fighter IV Turbo comes out next year, we may have to rescind that logic. Don't count on that happening, though.

It took a while to get here, and the wait was one of the worst I've ever had. But my copy of Super Street Fighter IV has finally arrived. Yeah, yeah, it's just an upgrade to last year's game, sure, but this release is special to people who really enjoyed that for too-damn-many hours. That, and Capcom has thrown a lot into this game, with ten new characters (eight returning from older games), more online modes, and new moves for the existing 25. In other words, it's a heck of a lot more than what Capcom's offered for their older upgrades. And it's a lot more than what you'd get with your average sports upgrade. So stop complaining.

And the game's pretty good too! I'd been itching to try out the ten new characters and see what techniques they have, along with trying out some of the newer tricks with the older ones. And by that, I mean I was doing it obsessively; well into the night. Otherwise, I would have probably posted about this last night.

Concerning the single player material: I'm glad that I'm not required to unlock the other 1/3 of the cast, or that unlocking taunts and colors doesn't require grinding through some unbelievably boring modes. In fact, said modes - Survival and Time Attack - aren't even included in this version. Challenge Mode, however, is back from the last game. And it's just as sadistic as ever, if the challenges I've done so far (Ryu, Chun-Li, and Juri's) are any indication of the whole cast's trials. Quite a few of them made me want to punch a hole in the wall.

Right now, the only question is which character I want to main and take online. There are so many of them! I'm thinking about Ibuki, though I can't Super Jump Cancel into Ultra II consistently to save my life. And I've always been intrigued by Guy's move set since the Street Fighter Alpha games, so I'm considering trying him as well despite plenty of people saying that he's pretty bad. Cody, Juri, Dudley and Adon also seem like a lot of fun to use. Makoto, unfortunately, appears to be a shell of her glorious Street Fighter III: Third Strike iteration, which makes me sad. I should have more impressions tomorrow, so stay tuned or something.

So what has Sony been up to, these past couple weeks?  Well, there's been a lot of furor over their firmware updates, specifically their latest.  It was previously reported that European law has inspired customers to get partial refunds from Amazon after the Other OS feature was removed from their PS3s.  Well, Sony has no intention of honouring such refunds, which means that if more people in Europe demand partial refunds, retailers will lose quite a bit thanks to Sony's actions.  Then again, Sony's had carte blanche to do whatever it wants with your PS3 from day one, but so far they haven't abused such power.  Meanwhile, gamers who bought Final Fight: Double Impact got a little more than they bargained for when they found out that it came with unannounced DRM.  It works similarly to Ubisoft's DRM, in that you have to be connected to the PSN in order to play the game.  Capcom apologized for it since it's easier to force DRM upon gamers and apologize for it, than it is to get gamers to voluntarily use it.

But speaking of Ubisoft, if they're not dragging their heels over the problems people are having when they try to play The Settlers 7, they're pretending to be environmentally conscious.  Okay, it does cut down on the amount of paper being used if they stop providing manuals with their games, but here's what's really going on: they're trying to save money.  That's all it is.  Their whole DRM fiasco is probably costing them plenty, especially now that hackers have cracked the DRM on Assassin's Creed 2, this time for real.  I wonder how Ubisoft is going to spin this one.

It is apparently possible to become extremely addicted to sex thanks to video games.  That, unfortunately, is the case for a British lady who had a mishap while using Wii Fit, and ended up damaging a nerve.  Okay, I call bullshit on this story, since it appeared in a tabloid.  I'm not convinced it's real news.  Instead, let's take a look at Roger Ebert's recent gaming editorial, explaining why he thinks video games are not an art form.  There's enough there to tide you over until tomorrow, so stay tuned for more Geek News.

Hey, it turns out this is a Captivate-related post. This means I'm a liar! Whoops.

Captivate was a good time to hear about a bunch of Capcom's upcoming games, because it's always exciting to hear about new products from a Japanese game development company that' hasn't screwed up this generation. I had a mental list of games I figured would be there, and there were was a nice surprise as well -- meaning Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, though I'm still curious about whether it will turn out well. But there was a game I was looking forward to hearing about that unfortunately wasn't present: Last Ranker.

Last Ranker is a PSP RPG developed by Image Epoch (the Luminous Arc games, Arc Rise Fantasia) whose credits consist of some of the best names involved with JRPG development. It's being directed by Kazuya Niinou (Etrian Odyssey, 7th Dragon), produced by Minae Matsukawa (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter), and features a scenario from Kazushige Nojima (of various Final Fantasy games, including Crisis Core). Also, it has character designs from Tatsuya Yoshikawa (of the Breath of Fire games; because it's not like there are any of those to work on), and music from Yoko Shimomura (of...yeah, just look). That's a lot of great people there.

The game is about a man named Zig, who's on a search for meaning in his life. He eventually ends up joining a combat organization called Bazalta, a home to all warriors who seek to compete to obtain the number one ranking. The battle system will be a mix of both turn-based and real-time actions, though Zig will mostly fight alone in them. Certain characters will help join in some battles, but unlike your usual JRPG, you'll never form a party.

It certainly sounds bizarre, but I'm trusting in that staff to deliver a quality product. Last Ranker was recently dated in Japan for July 15th, and given that it's coming out so soon, I figured Capcom USA would announce its release; but...no dice. (Though they announced the sequel to the great-though-niche Okami in Okamiden, which is farther off than this game.) I'm hoping they haven't completely given up on the PSP outside of Japan because of its dire straits everywhere else, though I wouldn't blame them. But there's still a chance that it could be on their E3 slate. Keep hope alive!

As of today, Super Street Fighter IV's official release is only a few days away. And I say "official" because there are already plenty of people who have already managed to acquire a copy. The bastards. Anyway, since that game is nearly upon us, it's time for a retrospective about the game that inspired its name: Super Street Fighter II.

Super Street Fighter II continued the franchise's popularity among fans when arcades were still considered a popular destination in the mid-90s, 1993 for this particular game. The last three games had been very well received, responsible for making the fighting game genre relevant. To maintain its momentum, Capcom decided to produce another sequel to keep fans interested while plenty of other games within the same genre begged for more attention.

Actually, part of that is a total lie. SSFII was the turning point in the franchise in a very bad way. Its release marked exactly when fans thought the franchise was becoming long in the tooth, and it arrived at a period when arcades were beginning to lose their stronghold on the average person as a popular hangout - though the effects of it wouldn't be seen until around four years later; a slow-but-gradual depopularization. It was also the game that began the reduction of Street Fighter into a niche franchise.

SSFII actually represented one of the largest jumps in the franchise, especially in terms of its aesthetics; as it should have. It was the first game in the series to make the jump from CPS-I to the CPS-II arcade board ("CPS" standing for "Capcom System"), which it displayed through its additional visual effects. Anyone who played the previous games in the series was accustomed to hearing the same male voice for almost all of the characters. Not so here, as everyone received their own distinct voice to further solidify them as having distinct identities. The character art has also been completely redone, and the music is given an enhancement. The endings have also been completely redone, and Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and Bison actually have real endings now (they were just text before). Lastly, the game has new sound effects, and the announcer was changed to the infamous "Big Bird" iteration.

(Side note: The new announcer also provided Guile's new voice. With dreadful results.)

The thing is, those are all aspects that only the most dedicated fans of the series could appreciate. But that's not to say there wasn't anything to offer for the average player. Realizing that the aforementioned enhancements wouldn't provide anything useful, SSFII also added four new characters: Cammy, Fei Long, Dee Jay, and T. Hawk. All of them had their own unique movesets to deviate from the preestablished 12. Additionally, the aforementioned 12 also had at least one new technique, whether it was a normal or a special move. Capcom figured this was enticing enough to get people to try this game, to show that they just weren't regurgitating the same thing over and over again.

They were dead wrong.

The fact that it even looked like the previous games was enough to keep anyone with wavering interest in the franchise at bay. It takes a special, abnormal person to appreciate the admittedly minor aesthetic changes the game received, and though they give the game a different feel - mainly one of pseudo-realism - none of them really change the core gameplay. Many fans felt that Capcom would never get to Street Fighter III at this point, and that they would be doing anything but.

(They eventually did, but it wouldn't be until 1997. And its first incarnation was an obvious beta.)

But it's not like the game itself was neglected quality. In fact, SSFII has one fatal flaw that makes the entire game feel like a step back: the speed. When fans first played Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting/Turbo/Special Champion Edition (good grief), they admired the speed boost it had received to increase the intensity of the game's pacing. Capcom apparently didn't realize this, and decided to reduce the speed. All of that new momentum and feel you obtained from playing hours and hours of Hyper Fighting? Gone. What a great idea this was!

It was sad to see the franchise that revived the fighting game genre slowly fade into obscurity, but Capcom has no one to blame but themselves. And it's not like this is their only franchise this happened to with Capcom.

So how did the home console version fare?

Not very well!


Super Street Fighter II hit both Super NES and Genesis in July 1994, less than a year after Turbo and Special Champion Edition hit both systems, respectively. Though the port itself was good, the home release makes for a perfect example of releasing a sequel too soon, and how a company can severely overestimate demand for its product.

The home version fixed the flaw that crippled its arcade counterpart: the speed could now be increased in the main menu. You couldn't set it as high as Turbo before it (unless you used a code), but it was still pretty fast. In order to compensate for the increased data, the music for both versions was done in unfortunately lower quality. Some of the sound effects from the arcade version didn't make it into the home games either. However, interestingly enough, the Genesis version had sound effects from the arcade game the SNES didn't. The Genesis version's music was definitely emphasized the bass and drum sound effects more, though. If you wanted a game that would be the basis of a good comparison between the SNES and Genesis' sound chips, it's this one.

People are undoubtedly complaining about how Super Street Fighter IV is Capcom's way of going back to the old days of milking their franchises, but said people fail to stack together the dissimilarities between their releases. Street Fighter II: World Warrior and Turbo were both pretty expensive, costing $60 and $70, respectively. Following the trend, SSFII demanded an even higher price at $80. Capcom couldn't have been more misguided when they figured everyone who made the last two games worldwide successes would flock to this one. Retailers marked the price down after only a few months on the market. SSFIV adds a bunch of characters, online modes that seriously should have been in the first game, and a bunch of balance changes. And it's priced lower than the original was. It's basically what SSFII's home release should have been.

You could consider Super Street Fighter II the textbook example of how to release a sequel the wrong way. A good thing Capcom has learned from its mistakes these days with adding significant content and selling it at a cheaper price. Well, unless they come out with Super Street Fighter IV Turbo next year, but that's doubtful.

Game images courtesy of VGMuseum.

This blog is now dominated with Capitvate '10 coverage. Sorry! Just bear with us for one more post, barring any other plans from someone besides me.

You may remember that Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, a localization of Sengoku Basara 3, for PS3 and Wii was announced back in September of last year. Though Capcom USA remained silent on the game before -- despite weekly updates on the progress of it in Japan -- they decided to unveil the localized version at Captivate, complete with English voice acting no less.

Capcom decided to demo the English version with four videos, all of which can be found on Capcom Unity's Youtube channel. And it sounds pretty good. They only feature four characters (one for each video), but we're already hearing the voices of both Yuri Lowenthal and Johnny Yong Bosch. Saying they're overused is a massive understatement at this point, yeah, but that's only a testament for how good both actors are.

Unfortunately, if you're a fan of the Japanese voice acting, which would be for whether you're a fan of authenticity -- since this game is loosely based on Japanese history -- or because you like Masamune Date's hilariously bad Engrish, you might be out of luck. A comment on Capcom Unity stated that the localized version won't have Japanese voice acting because they want both the PS3 and Wii versions to be equal in terms of experience. It was announced before that the PS3 version would already have an advantage over the Wii version because of the inclusion of online co-op, not to mention the former obviously being in 720p. So time will tell if this is a load of crap or not.

As said before, Funimation is also releasing the anime, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings in the US. They're both smart companies, so it should be releasing along with the game. Don't ask me why the subtitle's different, though! It was announced today that the first two episodes are available for free streaming on Funimation's website. They're available in Japanese with English subtitles. I'd almost say they were rubbing it in for anyone who wanted the game in Japanese, but it doesn't seem like this was done with Capcom's knowledge, given the wording on Capcom Unity's post.

Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes is planned for an American release later this year, meaning it won't be releasing too long after its planned Japanese release date of July 29th. That is, as they say, pretty damned spiffy. If you're looking for more videos, you can see a plethora of them on the official Japanese website; it will undoubtedly be updated with even more as it nears its release date.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 wasn't the only game Capcom had to announce at Captivate '10. No, they also announced that Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 was coming soon, a sequel that probably not too many people expected to be in development. Since the developers of the original Bionic Commando Rearmed, GRIN, no longer exist, Capcom had to find someone else who could be up to the task: Fat Shark. But that's OK, since it's a company staffed by mostly ex-GRIN employees -- similar to the recently introduced Might and Delight.

Unlike the original (you know, the remake of the original), Rearmed 2 is a brand new game being made as a follow up to the last one. Since its a sequel, it will have features that further "enhance" the experience, though your mileage may vary on whether that's a good thing. This is, of course, not to say that enhancing on the original isn't a good thing, it's just that some of them seem reactionary instead of logical on the surface.

It's not possible to tell whether the new weapons and alternately designed levels will be good right now, but adding jumping to the mix could make or break this game, literally. It was awkward initially to have a platformer where you on-screen avatar couldn't jump in the prior 2D Bionic Commando incarnations, but it was something that you could easily adjust to. That adjustment was assisted by the level design, with each section being finely crafted with that mechanic (or lack thereof) being accounted for. Hopefully the idea is that levels in Rearmed 2 are designed around the mechanic, and that it's not just there for the sake of it. There was a level design template to use for the original game, but this time Fat Shark is developing it from the ground up, which is a cause for concern since some of GRIN's games were a little messy; like everything aside from the original Rearmed.

It also looks like Shinkiro isn't doing the designs this time around, with the cut-scene art being handled by Massive Black, who worked on Infamous, God of War III, and Bioshock 2. That's...a real shame, because the cut-scene work in Rearmed was entertaining and hilarious. Hopefully they make sure to capture that with these.

After reading that, you could probably gauge that I'm cautiously optimistic about this. I'm thrilled to have the chance to play a sequel to Rearmed, but a lot of the changes make me skeptical about how the final product will turn out. The game is still a while off, due for a release in Q1 2011 for Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network.