Only one more issue to go until our big 20th Issue Blowout Party!...huh? “What am I planning for it?” I thought you were in charge of the planning! Guess I’ll have to call back the catering company…in the meantime, here’s this week’s oddball gaming news selection.

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Space Invaders Extreme Z, a cheaper, somewhat stripped-down version of Extreme 2, has recently appeared in the Japanese DSiWare store – according to this article there are still Score- and Time-Attack modes and three difficulty levels, but no branching paths. For 500 points it’s not a bad deal, but I don’t know how many people wouldn’t just rather spend 20 bucks and get the full game.

The playable cast list for King of Fighters Sky Stage continues, as the Lone Wolf himself will be making an appearance, presumably complete with laughable Engrish. What would REALLY be cool is a cameo by Kelly the wolf from Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Credit to Mognet Central for the referral link.

An interesting arena shooter named Beat Hazard recently appeared on XBLA Indie Games – it borrows a bit from Vib Ribbon by not only allowing you to use your own music but tying your ship’s power level to how intense the track playing in the background is. The video tells me that the trippy backgrounds are probably a bit too distracting for my personal shooter tastes, but it couldn’t hurt to give a demo a shot.

Zoel has Sin and Punishment 2. You probably don’t. Neither does most of Japan, apparently. Zoel taunts you and yells angrily at Japan (and offers some impressions of the game, too) over here. Meanwhile, several of the title’s creators recently sat down for a lengthy interview with none other than Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata, part one of which can be read here and the second segment here - another bit has yet to be posted, hopefully I'll have a link to that one next issue (if you haven't already tracked it down yourselves).

Zuntata’s official site reveals some of the basic stats behind the upcoming soundtrack for Darius Burst – it’s out January 20th and will retail for 2,625 yen. If the series’ track record is any indication, even if the game itself doesn’t play all that well, the music will still probably be good!

Like playing bullet hell shooters? Want to win some money? Well, you might want to sign up for Arcade Extreme’s AEX Cup, where they’ll be looking for the top scorer in Cave’s Progear – even if you don’t compete it’s still a rather neat game, so try it out if you’ve got some free time.

I’m a week late in catching this one, but still had to offer at least a quick highlight of this Ikaruga pumpkin.

Speaking of Halloween, more specifically the sugary sweet end of things, a recent entry on Cave’s official blog shows what appear to be a bunch of Cave game-themed candy bars. It’s unclear (to me, anyway) as to whether these will actually be marketed to consumers or are just a one-time in-company novelty, but either way edibles is one marketing area in which Cave has yet to make an impact…until now?

While the Tribune already mentioned the European DSiWare release of Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ in its most recent issue, DToid’s corresponding news item also includes a link to some (in some cases NSFW) unused art assets for the game so I figured I’d best include that too.

At this link you can see some of the products on offer at the upcoming “Cave Matsuri” fan festival, ranging from the usual (t-shirts, posters) to the nifty (art books and other rare merchandise) to the just plain creepy (full-body pillows, panties). Not shown: the empty innards of the wallets of everyone who attends.




A pair of notable developments on the PSP fighting front – for one thing, soon you won’t need the PS3’s remote play function to get your BlazBlue fix on the go, as Arc is working on a full-fledged port. Ad-hoc multiplayer and a new “legion mode” are in the bag, but no word yet on whether any of the new stuff from Continuum Shift is included (DToid coverage here). The upcoming PSP version of Tekken 6, on the other hand, is confirmed to have some new stuff, such as a few new story modes and a “gold rush” mode which includes character customization. Prepare the thumb ointment!

Another handful of interesting reveals for Super Street Fighter IV have come to the surface as well. For one thing, click here for a few additional insights into Juri’s design process (think they still have any more of those after this? DToid coverage here). More importantly, a recent issue of Famitsu highlighted some of the new features of online multiplayer…and the return of the car- and barrel-smashing bonus stages, to boot. Check out a new trailer showing these modes here. Anything from the olden days that they haven’t re-implemented yet? (DToid coverage here.)

Better late than never, I guess…while the the PS3 version of King of Fighters XII got its package o’ fixes a little while back, 360 fighting fans can finally beat the (hopefully) lag-free tar out of each other. I have to wonder how many people just decided to wait for XIII, however…especially considering that one shop in Japan has already reduced the game’s price to the equivalent of around ten bucks. On the 3D end of things, Tekken 6 players can also expect a patch to fix their game’s online issues, though it’ll come separate from the already-announced Scenario Campaign update (DToid coverage here). Finally, here’s a quick comparison of the game’s load times on each system.

Speaking of KoF disasters, here are some new promo images for the upcoming movie, so be sure to hide the kids…and the adults…and anyone with a shred of dignity. Once again, though, judging by its own new promo, will Tekken on film be any better (seriously, could the tagline get any cheesier)?

To round out this issue’s Depression Trilogy, if you’ve been hoping against hope for a downloadable re-release of Capcom vs. SNK 2, you can click here for a list of reasons why it’s probably not going to happen, from a smaller core audience to fear of genre oversaturation. When was the last time fighting fans heard the latter of those out in the open, huh? How times have changed…

Dare we hope that a much more obscure fighting title receives what it needs for redemption before it comes here? Let’s hope so, as the ill-received Windy X Windam, previously confirmed for Europe, is also coming to the U.S. courtesy of Graffiti Entertainment. Please fix it, fellas!

Speaking of especially obscure fighters, I vaguely recall catching wind of Project Cerberus quite some time ago, but hearing next to nothing about it since…well, in the meantime the developers have been busy keeping up the official site, so apparently the thing’s still out there (though I don’t think it’s actually been released yet). I had a bit of trouble getting the videos on there to work, but there are a handful on YouTube, including this one. Looks kinda-sorta Arc Systems-esque, but at the same time not really…

The front page has a link to an unused opening for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix – I hafta agree with the general sentiment that the “Cammy-tongue thing” just doesn’t work.

The latest user-sponsored fighting tourney comes courtesy of Everyday Legend, who’s helping to organize a competition down in Florida early next month - the first games on tap are Tekken 6 and Street Fighter IV. Cash prizes are in the cards for winners, so check it out if this is your kinda scene.

One intrepid DToider decided to take a cue from Ms. Davis and show up for Halloween as Faust from Guilty Gear - next year hopefully he can figure out how to make his head glow brilliantly whenever he takes the bag off.

This video has been seen by pretty much everyone a million times by now, but I’ll still take any excuse to post it.

Finally, Wry Guy continues his “King of Fighters Love Letter” series in truly grand fashion, with a lovingly detailed write-up concerning the ’96 storyline and other concurrent series developments. In fact, in case you didn’t read the comments, his devotion has inspired me to sign up for his KoF ‘98 tourney, even though I’m going to receive perhaps the most embarrassing digital spanking of my life as a result. To support devoted fandom like this, however, it will be more than worth it – why not sign up too, you’re probably better than me!




JOY! Not a huge surprise, especially considering that the game was already listed on Amazon, but still very welcome – Atlus USA has confirmed that SMT: Strange Journey is coming to our shores on March 10th! Time to set aside the requisite 35 bucks…

Some new impressions of the Valkyria Chronicles 2 demo make for interesting reading – while the splitting up of each area into “zones” was already discussed some time ago, it turns out that this paring-down for the PSP also factors into the game’s strategy, as quicker characters may be left in the dust late in a level if their slower allies are too far behind them. Otherwise things seem pretty similar to the PS3 original – still some months to go before we get to see the whole enchilada for ourselves.

If you don’t mind some spoilers, Solgrim has put up some post-Persona 3 thoughts about the (pre-Answer) parts of the game that will stick with him the most. Might I suggest Nocturne for your next sojourn into SMT, good sir (if you haven’t been there already)? Also slightly spoiler-riffic is the second installment of the Really Long Persona 4 Comic, which includes, among other things, the phrase “Dominatrix Bananahead”. Finally, here’s a look at the various free stuff that comes with Persona 3 Portable in Japan - somebody actually bought 6 copies of the game to snag it all.

The official website for Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier Exceed (I need to come up with a workable abbreviation, and FAST) has recently updated, mainly via the opening of the Characters section. Thanks again goes to Mognet Central for the original link.

The U.S. release of Record of Agarest War has been delayed, but the news isn’t necessarily all bad – the developer keeps things vague, but says that further info will be revealed as to why customers should buy it instead of importing. New features? A disc-based release? We’ll have to wait for the official word. (DToid coverage here.)

Apparently some Atlus customers who bought the Deluxe Edition of Demon’s Souls have had some issues with the included guide, specifically that some covers’ illustrations are fading especially quickly. While they’re still working out the details, the company assures affected buyers that a reimbursement solution will be on the way soon, so keep an eye on your favorite Atlus news outlet (or here) for more if you’re among that group. (Front page item here, c-blog item here.)

3D Dot Game Heroes hasn’t been out too long in Japan, but the players are already having some fun (and trading their creations) with the character editor – if you check out this article you can see a few copyrighted samples ranging from Cloud Strife and Old Snake to Gundam and Hatsune Miku, not to mention an Atelier Rorona creation linked in the user comments. (DToid coverage here.) Heck, even From themselves included a Link-lookalike on a bonus disc.




A few more details about the recently-announced Kenka Bancho 4 have surfaced, most notably concerning the game’s setting - while the upcoming Badass Rumble has you taking to the streets, you’ll be doing your eye-lasering and face-smashing right inside the school in this one. Several previous gameplay elements also make a return - no word yet on any new ones.

Looks like Shiren the Wanderer 3 is also probably making the trip to the PSP, and boasting some new content to boot – character-specific bonus dungeons and an “easy” mode have been revealed so far. We already know that the West is getting the original Wii version, could this port come our way as well? Stay tuned.

Our last issue announced that nutty dancing-salary man WiiWare game Tomena Sanner was being localized - now you can enjoy an English trailer! I wouldn’t recommend attempting the depicted stunts at home, however (not like I‘ve actually tried or anything).

On a related front, rumor has it that Sukeban Shachou Rena Wii (sometimes referred to as “President Cat”), despite a good amount of coverage, sold really, really badly (which left Mr. North rather distraught), though there are also some possible bits of evidence to the contrary. Guess we’ll need to see some hard-and-fast sales figures to know for sure.

The Tribune first made mention of Numblast quite awhile ago, but now it looks like the game is finally coming our way. If you haven’t seen it, the basic idea is somewhat similar to Devil Dice, but in 2D – for five bucks it looks like a decent pickup (though I must concur with the commenters that the voices are unfortunate).

While there was plenty of suspicion to this end when Golgoth, currently at work on the HD Toki remake, said that they had another Data East revamp in the works, but now it’s official – Joe and Mac are next on the list for the hi-def treatment. If these titles take off, who knows what else we might see…dare I dream of Magical Drop III HD?

The usual golf clap and word of thanks to Mr. Holmes for keeping us posted on the latest updates over at the Super Meat Boy Twitter. It may sound silly, but I’m honestly as excited as he is about the inclusion of a “run” button - its occasional lack is a large part of one of my greatest secret shames, namely never liking Yoshi’s Island all that much. Yeah, I said it.

The Reverend has a late review of an interesting-looking PC title called Osmos (no relation to the MP drain spell in Final Fantasy VI, presumably) - it’s definitely the most interesting-sounding appearance of blobs in gaming recently (well, along with A Boy and His Blob, I suppose).

This item involves both fighting and shooting, so I just stuck it here - as the front page reports, Fighting Street on the Turbo CD and R-Type on the Master System are coming to the Virtual Console. I wouldn’t particularly recommend either of them, but for those who do dig ‘em, there they are.

In other left-over-from-Halloween items, last week I wondered if Ms. Davis’s somewhat vague inclusion of herself in a Prinny outfit was representative of her most recent effort, or a previous one - before long she confirmed that the costume was indeed piping fresh (possibly due in part to the steam rising off it from all the hot glue).

Finally, allow me to take a moment to wish c-blog compadre Mr. Gilder the best on his new venture, namely a “regular” ol’ independent blog outside of DToid – definitely give the new place a bookmark and keep up with what the fella has to say, as he writes about plenty of interesting stuff. Be sure to keep in touch, Mr. G!

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Planning to start a new series (of sorts) on Monday – funny thing is, this isn’t the new series I’ve been crowing about for the past several weeks, that one’s next on the list. Hopefully. Assuming that I can finally get my act together I’ll see you all next week – until then, thanks for reading and keep gaming obscurely.