Two blogs in one day? I didn't plan to make two blogs today, but this is gaming related so I thought I'd share it with you guys. And I'm sure I'll use the above picture again someday.
Today I wrote a blog, which I wrote in about an hour. When I emerged from my lair to go get something to eat, or perhaps a cup of Hot Cocoa, I was told that a package had arrived for me. Happy days! Now this could have been either one of three things: Anthrax, the book I ordered from eBay, or that Anthrax I ordered from eBay (KIDDING! Although you can get a lot of things from eBay, anthrax is not one of them). Well, I looked at the well package and thought:
The package didn't appear to be ticking. That's always a good sign. And when I started opening it, I didn't begin internally bleeding. That's always desirable in recieving mail. Also, it appeared to be much weightier than most low-grade explosives (again, kidding). Well, when I had opened the package and peeped inside, I saw, that it wasn't an attempt on my life, but rather a nice surprise. It was the book I had recently purchased from eBay. What book you ask? None other than Resident Evil: Archives.
Now those of you who read one of my most recent blogs, will know that I take great enjoyment from the Resident Evil series of games (that was a shameless plug, by the way). There also is a series of novels revolving around the series, but I can't tell you if they are any good because I haven't read them. But this book is different. This Book is Resident Evil Archives.
The book is a 304 page reference guide to the entire series summarising the events and biogenetic shenanigans of the Umbrella Corporation from 1960 to 1998. The game also deals with main characters in the series and covers the events in a wide variety of the games.
From Wikipedia:
Resident Evil Archives (Biohazard Archives) is a reference guide of the Resident Evil series written by staff members of Capcom. It was translated into English and published by BradyGuides. The guide describes and summarizes all of the key events that occur in Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and Resident Evil Code: Veronica. Along with the main plot analysis, it also contains character relationship charts, artwork, item descriptions and file transcripts for all five games.
So essentially, its a nice little 304 love-letter to the fans of the series. This book was only printed in English in America to the best of my knowledge costs quite a pretty penny on Amazon.co.uk. £60, ouch. Even on Amazon.com it'll set you back $69.99. Originally sold in the US for $29.99 I managed to pick it up for £10.50 on eBay, and although it's quite heavily used (some of the pages are sellotaped in), I'm ecstatic that I was able to find a copy so cheap, especially since mint condition copies are known to go for very high prices on eBay.
Remember when I said I got my tonsils out? No? Well, read my last blog on games so similar that they could be in the same series where I explain how the free time gave me a lot of time to think (it's a good blog, honest!). Anyway, now that you've hopefully bought into my shameless plug, I have a new offering of thought. Guitar Hero Unplugged, or Acoustic Hero, or whatever you'd like to call it. Not that I'm seriously considering that a Guitar Hero game dedicated to purely acoustic songs could exist, but if it did, this would be my ideal setlist for it. Here I goes with the hypothetical:
Tier 1: Classical and Beginner
1. Estudio By Terrega
2. Romanza by Niccolo Paganini
3. Etude by Ferdinando Carulli
4. Wonderwall by Oasis
5. Encore: You're a Girl (Montage) by Strong Bad
6. Co-op Encore: Anyone Else But You by The Moldy Peaches
Tier 2: Talent Show
7. Suicide is Painless (Acoustic Arrangement) by Manic Street Preachers
8. Architecture by Chequerboard
9. Close to Me (Acoustic Arrangement) by The Cure
10. Mr. Jones (Acoustic Arrangement) by Counting Crows
11. Boss: Kimya Dawson's Acoustic Battle
12. Encore: Time of Your Life by Green Day
13. Co-op Encore: If I had $1000000 by Barenaked Ladies
Tier 3: Dream Arrangements (As far as I know, none of these arrangements exist... Yet) 14. Soul to Squeeze (Acoustic Arrangement) by Red Hot Chili Peppers
15. Another Girl, Another Planet (Acoustic Arrangement) by The Only Ones
16. Let Her Cry (Acoustic Arrangement) by Hotty and the Blowfish
17. Niave (Acoustic Arrangement) by The Kooks
18. Modern Way (Acoustic Arrangement) by Kaiser Chiefs
19. Co-op Encore: Feeling This (Acoustic Arrangement) by Blink 182
Tier 7: Live From Dublin
39. JCB Song by Nizlopi
40. Hey There Deliliah by Plain White T's
41. Canticle (Scarborough Fair) by Simon and Garfunkle
42. Under the Bridge (Acoustic Arrangement)
43. Encore: Mrs Robinson by Simon and Garfunkle
Bonus Tracks:
50. Everything'll Be Alright (Will's Lullaby) by Josua Radin
51. Knockin' on Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan
52. Ain't no Reason by Brett Dennen
53. Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch
54. Diamond Day by Vashti Bunyan
55. The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice
56. Clear by Nizlopi
57. Creep (Acoustic Arrangement) by Radiohead
58. The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkle
59. Razor by Foo Fighters
60. How to Save a Life (Acoustic Arrangement) by The Fray
61. Toothpaste Kisses by The Maccabees
62. If I was President by Wyclef Jean
63. Green Eyes by Interpol
64. Delicate by Damien Rice
65. Get Up and Go by Broadcast 2000
66. Overkill (Longer Version) by Colin Hay
67. The Reason (Acoustic Arrangment) by Hoobastank
68. Sad Song by Oasis
69. Hurt by Johnny Cash
70. Fire and Rain by James Taylor
71. I Walk The Line by Johnny Cash
72. The Weight by The Band
73. Viva Las Vegas by Phil Cody
74. Stairway to Heaven (Acoustic Arrangement) by Led Zeppelin
So there you go Activision, Whin I give you lemons, you make a game out of them (I'm kidding of course). All the above songs should be availble for listening on Youtube, except for the some of the arrangements that don't exist, though I'd like to see them. Well, this has been a quite long post, so If you made it to hear, Good for You! Have a Cookie!.
Also; I can't help myself, This video is too good:
I wonder if that Recipe actually works...
Credits: Every Artist Listed Above. Activision, Neversoft, Harmonix, Youtube, Google Images, Wikipedia, That guy that uploaded the GH Chocalate Salty Balls on Youtube, You the Reader, Destructoid
Note: A few days ago I tried to make a post like this, but as I hit the 'PUBLISH LIVE:D' button the page refreshed and I lost the entire blog, has that ever happened to you? Also, this post may be a tad long.
I just had my tonsils removed last week. And so it game me a lot of time to think. Conversely, it also gave me a lot of time to play some vidja games, which was more than welcome. Now, when people have some spare time, they begin to think. Legend has it that Isaac Newton was simply shooting the breeze by some apple trees when he discovered gravity. Sure, a myth, but a popular one. Craig Zobel and Mike Chapman were bored one afternoon so they wrote a children's book, thus creating probably the greatest internet cartoon ever, which by the way has its own WiiWare and PC games coming out this July, which you should totally buy! Albert Einstein is another good example. And I'm pretty sure it was boredom that made Albert Einstein think up a little thing called the Spacial Theory of Relativity. And proceed to kick ass with it. E=MC-hells yeah! Here he is kickin' back with his main-man, Neils Bohr, no doubt discussing the A-bomb whilst waiting for the barkeep to hand him some brewskis.
Anyway, by this point you may be asking yourself, what on earth did the preceding paragraph have to do with video games? Well, whilst I was 'recovering' with some Ice Cream b/w a side of gaming, I got to some serious thought myself. Whilst I was playing Neutopia on the Virtual Console, I got to thinking; "This game could easily be part of the Zelda series with a few tweaks". I had believed that for a long time, but that little train of thought travelled even further and got me really thinking about games that are so similar that they could easily be considered in the same series, give or take some minor details.
So, here are my findings. There are some stupidly obvious choices that I could have included, such as most WWII shooters and sports games, but I omitted them, because after all, do you really need me to tell you how similar those games are? Anyway, I tried not to get into any serious tin-foil hattery, but some stretches had to be made, so without further ado, here I go: Two examples of where a game is so similar to another that they could be in the same series.
Neutopia = Zelda
It's not hard to see the similarities, especially when Neutopia is, for intensive purposes, designed to be a ripoff of the Zelda franchise, to help bring the same lustre and popularity of The Legend of Zelda to the PC Engine (Turbo Grafx 16). The controls are similar, the story is similar, the graphics are similar, even the animations are similar:
Look Familiar? Do-do-do-dooo
Now, for those of you who are still a bit skeptical, here's some gameplay footage of Neutopia:
It's uncanny. Great game in it's own right, though. To further enhance the notion that Neutopia could easily be a Zelda game, change 'Jazeta' to 'Link', 'Neutopia' to 'Hyrule', the Neutopian Princess to 'Zelda' and 'Dirth' to 'Gannon' or 'Agahnim' since they are both wizards.
Neutopia was released 1989 whereas Zelda was released in 1986 and Link to the Past in 1991. I feel that Neutopia bridges the gap between those two games very well, although Neutopia II was released after Link to the Past. Both Neutopia games are really good and if you like the Legend of Zelda, you should definitely pick up both Neutopia games on the Virtual Console.
Alright, that was easy, what's next?
House of The Dead = Resident Evil Or Vice Versa
I hope this connection isn't stepping on anyones toes, as I love both of these franchises, and the similarities between the two compliment each other, so don't be offended by this harmless hypothetical. I'm still waiting for SEGA to announce HOTD 4 on Wii, and a Wii Zapper remake of the first HOTD games wouldn't go down bad with me at all.
Don't tell me you haven't ever even thought of HOTD as Resi-Evil's Brother-from-another-mother?
Both of the original games in these two distinguised franchises came out in 1996, however, they both came out as very different games. You could make claims as to who came first to the zombie shooting party, though it doesn't matter to me. And other Zombie-killing games did come before these two. Seemingly, the only connection is you shoot zombies, however, the plots of the two games are pretty similar indeed. For a start, both of the original games start with government sanctioned teams infiltrating a mysterious mansion which just so happens to be the filled with the bloodthirsty creations of a Scientist-Gone-Wild.
Now, Capcom have dipped their feet in the zombie-lightgun pool before, and their latest example, Umbrella Chronicles, simply made me want to go out and get 2&3 Return for my Wii. Not because I thought that HOTD 2&3 would wash the taste out of my mouth, in fact, quite the opposite. Before playing UC, the last time I had picked up a Lightgun Zombie shooter was when I came across a HOTD4 cabinet on the ferry I took to Scotland last year, and playing UC simply re-ignited my enjoyment for the genre.
Now, it would be glib for me to say that these games could be put together to form some sort of Superfranchise if HOTD just adopted some plot fixtures about the Umbrella Corporation, or if Resident Evil acknowledged the HOTD universe, and trust me, I don't ever expect that to happen. But still, someone who is really jonesing for HOTD4Wii to be announced (E3 please?) could pretty easily pickup Umbrella Chronicles and enjoy themselves. Both these series are highly recommendable and Co-op on UC or and HOTD game is a blast.
Also, whilst I'm making 'E3 Pretty please with sugar on tops', Sega, if you're reading this, start porting your lightgun classics to Wii. Same for you Namco, Time Crisis4 would really go down well (lucky PS3 owners...), and more lightgun Resi-Evil stuff from Capcom would be well recieved by me, anyone else?
Here's a video showing the terrible voice acting in Resident Evil, in all it's terribly written glory. You know you loved it.
Jill, here's a lockpick. It might be handy if you, THE MASTER OF UNLOCKING take it with you.
There are quite possibly many more examples, some of which I already have made connections for, but it's pretty late, this post has gotten very long and If you're reading this, I feel you nice people have humoured me for long enough. I could make more of these blogs depending on the reaction this one garners. What do you think? Also, I'm open to suggestion, so if there's any games you guys think are similar enough to be in the same series post below and I might just be willing to see for myself! Thanks for reading and don't take this post too seriously, as it is merely hypothetical.
Credits: Hudson, Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, any other developers involved, IGN, Youtube/various uploaders, Google images, various image owners, Craig Zobel, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Mike Chapman, you the reader and Destructoid.
Many, many of you should know who Mario is. I'd go so far as to say that if you don't know who the plumber is, then congratulations on waking from your recent 25 year coma. The little 'shroom poppin' handyman is so recognisable, he's more recognisable than Mickey Mouse.
Some of you might know Mario from some othergames, but I first got introduced to the Mushroom Kingdom's famous face in the Christmas of '96. I had recently moved to Ireland from America that previous Summer and my parents decided we should get an SNES for Christmas. By this point, the Super Nintendo had been out in Europe for around 4 years, yet I still had never gotten a real chance to play one. I had played games before, and I did quite like them, as did my siblings, so when we were asked what we would like Jolly Old St. Nick to give us, me and my older Brother's response was simply 'a Nintendo'. "Ask and ye shall recieve" because a Nintendo we got. A Nintendo we got.
Awexome.
By this point in the lifespan of the SNES, the 16-Bit powerhouse was beginning to age ever so slightly. Thus Nintendo did something that has now become common in the gaming world, they re-released old games. But not just any games; they released Super Mario Allstars + Super Mario World as a pack-in game with new SNESes. Essentially, if you bought an SNES at the time I recieved one, you got 5 brilliant games included straight out of the box. Some argue that it was a cheap marketing ploy to just spit-shine old games and release them as a compilation in order to boost sales, but I had never actually played a Mario game before, so all was fair by me.
There were actually two versions of Super Mario All-Stars released, one that came with enhanced versions of Super Mario Bros, The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3. Then there was the version I recieved which also included Super Mario World. Here's an old advertisement for the 'World-less' version. Try not to have a seizure.
Gameplay of the 5 games was almost identical to their independant counter-parts, bar a few cosmetic changes and a few edits to Lost Levels to make it a tad easier. These edits didn't help much. I still can't get past 3:3 on either version. Super Mario All-Stars was well recieved almost universally despite the aforementioned criticism of its marketing. That said, don't excpect to see it hit Virtual Console anytime soon. Unfortunately, the fact that all the main Mario sidescrollers from NES to SNES have been released as standalone games on the Virtual Console, abeit Lost Levels for a limited time. The simple fact that a consumer could get these 5 games with updated graphics for the fraction of their stand-alone selves' price is enough to keep Allstars away from the Virtual Console, at least for the time being. Please prove me wrong Nintendo. Oh how I would love to be proven wrong.
If you live In Europe, I hope you snagged this while you could.
I lost my Copy of All-Stars, along with my SNES when I moved into the house I currently inhabit. Losing things is common when you move however, I still find it strange that I lost it, wehn my former home is across the road from my current dwelling. I've asked my family if they've seen it since the move which took place around 1998, and apparently we either gave away or through-out our SNES. You can imagine my chagrin. Before I end this post, I think its only fitting to put a video of the gameplay of Super Mario All-Stars (now referred by various typists as 'SMAS'):
Do-do-do-do-du-dodo-do-dododo...
And last but not least, because no blog post is truly complete without it, here's a crazy Japanese commercial for SMAS. Oh Japan, you so ca-raz-ay.
This is a lot less seizure-inducing than the American Commercial...
Credits: Thanks to various helpful Youtubers for their videos, and to the various people uploaded images that could easily be found on Google Images. And to Wikipedia for some helpful fact checking. Oh yeah, and Nintendo, thanks for the great game.
I hate to say That I 'told you so' because I really didn't want it to happen because I didn't want it to happen, but YUKES has done it. They completely banjaxed the Wii version of WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008, and thus have denied us of the 'WWE Experience' for this year... Or have they?
Lemme bring you back a few months to when details about the Wii version were announced; Motion Based moves? Could be cool if they impliment it correctly. They Didn't. Rather than work through the issues like game designers - they decided to strip the game of anything... well, I think stopping there would be appropriate, because they really did strip the game of anything that was deemed necessary. And it was a grim necessarium. Like all these different types of matches? Too bad, bitch - you get a total of FIVE (count 'em: 5) match types - Single, Hardcore, Tag Team, Triple Threat and K.O. Match. Wrestling games on my Game Boy Advance have more matches than that. So, because visual aids are always helpful, lemme lay it down for you:
Like Steel chairs? Good, Because that's all the weapons you're gettin'. And you know all that environmental Grapple realism you used to have? Yeah, realism and all that? Nope. STFU, Wrestling Wii Gamer. And yeah, Season mode is different to all other versions too. Also, the Rosters are terribly outdated, But that's a problem with all versions.
Yeah. Ouch. My PSP can handle a Hell in a Cell, but not my Wii? I can bust-up The Undertaker on my PS2 in a First Blood match, but not on my Wii.
By this point I feel that I've rubbed salt into the wounds for long enough. In fact, right now, I remember my original point:
WWF No Mercy Remake.
Yep. Rumour has it that the 'Best wrestling Game of all time' is in the wiiware remake pipe according to 1UP. Yeah, Exactly. Where are my complaints now? Well, If this is true, then they're effectively dead. Unless they screw this up. THQ's No Mercy was the definitive wrestling game. No other Wrestle-'em-up has been so heavily supported with CAWs and Mods, and Rom hacks than it( particularly the 'TNA 6 Sides' mod). But if you're a fan of wrestling games, that shouldn't be news to you. And, then again, neither should the Remake rumour. And if they release it on Wii-Ware with updated rosters and possibly matches and possibly unlockables, and other stuff, the Wii owners will get their dedicated wrestling Franchise game. And 5-year old will get their John Cena 'Look Mommy I can do an FU' family moment. And we'll all be happy. Except Midway.
Because, as a lot of wrestling fans know, TNA are working on their own game, with Midway. And yes, It's gonna be on the Wii. But if they are smart about it, they won't force idiotic Wii controls on us. No one wants to have to do some sort of inane motion for a Canadian Destroyer. Or a Hindu Press. That would be stupid. Also, According to Sources the game is gonna have about 25 wrestlers - "with room to grow if a few top names decide to join the wrestling promotion". Sounds good, not a lot, but if they put in a good control system and a Create a Wrestler/Moveset mode it would work. Again, don't mess it up. And, please, don't paste Mortal Kombat: Armageddon controls onto it. They don't work in attitude games. That's why after (The classic that is) WWF Smackdown, control systems never looked back. So, hopefully if there IS a No mercy Remake, and if TNA Impact follows up well, it could be a good wrestling year on Wii.
Well, That's it for this week's Coirant, however you should read my Supplimental, below on 'The Dynastic Hero/Wonder Boy in Monster World' VC release topic.
Virtual Console Doppelgängers - The Dynastic Hero/Wonder Boy in Monster World
I'll keep this short and sweet, when you release a game onto the Virtual Console, Don't try to release it again under a different title with a different soundtrack. The consumer is smarter than that. You know, I was going to buy The Dynastic Hero. And then I realised that it was already on the VC, as Wonder Boy in Monster World. And so I got neither. (Not because the game was already on the system, but because I thought about what else I could get. Pokemon Snap? b/w Ninja Gaiden and Super Metroid? Sold.) And you did it under the eyes of the all knowing (portrait of) Chad Concelmo. For shame...
I'll probably get ONE of the two eventually. But its a shame when I have to decide which game to get based on differing soundtracks and a 'Bug vs Medieval' difference...
I found this today, whilst checking out the articles on Sydlexia and I found a new one, His (and other people's) 100 greatest SNES games.
For those unaware of the Sydlexia, (Or rather the site itself) It's a pop-culture site, which parodies pop-culture from the '80's and 90's. They sometimes delve into Video Games, but alot of the stuff on the site has nothing to do with them. The site is very witty and loaded with swears (yes, something can be witty AND be loaded with swears), and the List is no exception.
The SNES was my first console, so a lot of the games on it hold quite a bit of Nostalgia for me, and reading over this list is pretty refreshing, and reminds me of some of the great games they really have to release onto the Virtual Console.
I didn't write it, but I think its something any retrogamer should check out:
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
