Volume 2/Issue 8 - Hardcore Gamer

NAME: JASTER \\ DORGENARKCRIME: INTERGALACTIC LARCENYLAST SEEN: VEDAN\\ GUIN SYSTEMTHE DAYTRON CORPORATION POSTS A BOUNTY TO BEPAID IN FULL TO ANY INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBLE FOR THECAPTURE OR KILLING OF THIS INTERGALACTIC CRIMINAL.TEXT“JASTER ”TO 65579 TORECEIVE YOURREWARDzwww.roguegalaxy-thegame.comRogue Galaxy is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Created and developed by Level 5. ©2006 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “Live In Your World. Play In Ours.” is a registered trademarkof Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. *Standard text-messaging rates apply, per your cell phone carrier/text-message plan. No Purchase Necessary. Open to legal residents of 50 U.S. & DC aged 13 or older at time ofentry. Void where prohibited. To enter: 1) Between 12:00:00 am PT on 1/1/07 & 11:59:59 pm PT on 2/25/07 (“Promotion Period”), text-message either “Jaster,” “Zegram” or “Kisala” to “65579” using wireless device capable of 2-way text-messaging. You will receive a return text message including a phonenumber. Call the provided phone number to hear a prerecorded message from a Rogue Galaxy character on your wireless device. During message follow directions to enter Sweepstakes & receive 8 text messages about the Rogue Galaxy game; OR 2) To enter and listen to prerecorded message from 1 ofthe Rogue Galaxy characters above without sending a text message, visit www.spacepirateswanted.com during Promotion Period & complete & submit the Official Entry Form to receive 1 entry & 8 e-mail messages about the Rogue Galaxy game. You may opt out of receiving text or e-mail messages at anytime by following instructions in the text/e-mail message sent to you. Eight (8) Grand Prizes; 1 prizewinner per Entry Period: one (1) Silver PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system & five PlayStation®2 games (SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs, Shadow of the Colossus, Ratchet: Deadlocked, Jak X: CombatRacing, and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves). ARV = $229.94. Selection of games at Sponsor’s discretion & based on availability. Taxes are winners’ sole responsibility. Odds of winning any drawing will depend on the total number of eligible entries received for the applicable drawing. Subject to Official Rules& Entry Period details available at www.spacepirateswanted.com or by sending a SASE for receipt by 3/30/07 to: Rogue Galaxy RULES, P.O. Box 13198, Bridgeport, CT 06673-3198. For winners list, send SASE for receipt by 3/30/07 to: Rogue Galaxy WINNERS, P.O. Box 13198, Bridgeport, CT 06673-3198.

Carry the scalesof justice in onehand, and a two-tonsedan in the other.* Limited time offer—see www.xbox.com/halo3 Xbox 360 ȚM hard drive, Xbox LiveTMGold required. CrackdownTMdeveloped by Real Time Worlds Ltd. for Microsoft Corporation.Crackdown, the Crackdown logo, Real Time Worlds, and the Real Time Worlds logo are trademarks of Real Time Worlds Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. All rightsreserved. © 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, the Microsoft Game Studios logo, Xbox, Xbox 360, the Xbox logos, Xbox Live, and the Xbox Live logo areeither registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.You’re a genetically enhancedagent of justice authorized todo whatever it takes to sweepthe criminal scum out of PacicCity. From the streets to therooftops, use anything you canget your hands on to show thethugs that crime doesn’t pay.And for the ultimate payback,combine forces in co-op playfor twice the destruction anddouble the retribution.All Justice. No Restraints.WWW.CRACKDOWNONCRIME.COMINCLUDES INVITATION TOHALO ® 3 MULTIPLAYER BETALimited time offer—look for specially marked boxes.*

INSTANTLYGOFROMZERO TOPreview by SardiusPublisher: AtlusDeveloper: Ninja StudioRelease Date: February 2007Genre(s): RPGCategory: Roguelike# of Players: 1War has ended. All feuding territories have settled theirdifferences. Even the finicky gods have started toloosen up a little. At last, all seemsright with the world.That is, unless you’re a ninja.When you live a life of thieveryand murder, world peace sort ofleaves you out of a job. Such is the problem facing our heroineIzuna, a former ninja settling into a newfound life of joblessnesswith what is left of her clan in a sleepy little mountain village.Izuna’s kind of a clumsy girl, though, and it isn’t long before shesingle-handedly angers the gods and the world once again needs theskills of a ninja.If you’ve played Torneko: The Last Hope, The Nightmare of Druaga, or PokémonMystery Dungeon, you already know what to expect from Izuna: Legend of theUnemployed Ninja. It may not officially be a part of Chunsoft’s Fushigi no Dungeonseries, but Izuna’s randomly generated levels, strict turn-based combat, and highdifficulty level will remind you of the hardcore dungeon hacks of old.Thankfully, Izuna does away with many of the gameplay annoyances that made Rogueand its successors so aggravating to play, making it easier to focus on its charmingstory and unique characters. Customizable weapons and strategy-intense boss battlesonly sweeten the deal. Get ready to step into the unemployment line in February.GET COIN, GEAR,AND MORE.NOWGET10%OFF**Use coupon code cgsvad. Expires 4/1/07CHECK YOUR SERVER @ WWW.IGE.COMLIVE CHAT & PHONE SUPPORT | BUY & SELL | HUGE SELECTION | INSTANT DELIVERY16_PREVIEW_IZUNA: LEGEND OF THE UNEMPLOYED NINJAHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED

Preview by LynxaraPublisher: Microsoft Game StudiosDeveloper: Hudson SoftRelease Date: 1/30/07Genre(s): Mini-GamesCategory: Cartoony# of Players: 1-4Preview by HonestGamerPublisher: TBADeveloper: Edge of RealityRelease Date: 2007Genre(s): ActionCategory: Stealth# of Players: 1The talented folks at Hudson Soft developed the various Mario Party gamesfor Nintendo, and in Fuzion Frenzy 2 they’re pretty much doing the samething for Microsoft. To match the 360’s sportier audience, the character designshave a bit more of an action-cartoon vibe to them, and they look much better onthe 360 than they did on the Xbox. All six of the original playable characters return,along with rumors of a new, hidden seventh character.What sets Fuzion Frenzy 2 apart from the other Hudson titles in this veinis the way it incorporates Xbox Live into the gameplay, and its tournamentmode. Fuzion Frenzy 2’s mini-games are strewn about seven planets, mostgrouped together by some obvious theme. You clear tournament mode bydominating so many planets (selectable when you start a tournament,up to five) by clearing all of the mini-games there and winning thatplanet’s Battle Royale. During tournaments you play “Card Get” gamesto gather up “Frenzy Cards” that let you manipulate the rules of thetournament as you go.Online or off, Fuzion Frenzy 2 is pure party game. If you don’t want to dothe standard tournament mode, you can simply play individual games you likein Mini-Game Frenzy mode, or create your own tournaments in Custom mode.The mini-games themselves all use colorful 3D graphics, and seem designed withboth young players and older gamers in mind. Usually, they involve collectingsomething or similarly outracing the other players to perform a particulartask, with some hazards thrown around that can penalize you in various ways.It’s fun light gaming, and definitely good for making sure little gamers don’tup and start trying to play that copy ofSaints Row you probably have sitting around.Cipher Complex, Edge of Reality’s take on the whole “government likes you enoughto grant you carte blanche but won’t admit you exist if you get caught” sort ofgame, is an in-your-face twist on the genre presently dominated by Sam Fisher andSolid Snake. Built on the Havok engine, it boasts stunning particle effects, detailedcharacter models and a glossy sheen that makes something crystal clear: graphicsand action weren’t afterthoughts.You can see it in the big details, like a hallway that fades into the sweet darkness.Two soldiers patrol the lonely chamber, guns diagonal across their chest, facesdown. You can see it in the small ones: John Cipher stands at one end or thecorridor, leaning against a wall with a bloody knife the size of a lead pipe hangingalmost negligently from an arm so muscular it would make Arnold Schwarzeneggerwake in a cold sweat. Biceps and veins bulge.As one soldier strays further from his comrade than is wise, Cipher steps out frombehind the wall, lifts his hapless adversary with one arm and slams him against thewall. He’s like James Bond, if England’s finest ditched the martini for an extra 50pounds of pure muscle. The soldier’s bones crack against the concrete and he goesdown in a heap. Already Cipher is moving on to the other patrolman. He hasn’teven broken a sweat.The blend of stealth, action and a visual kick in the abdomen are just what somegamers are seeking. It’s hard not to look at Cipher Complex as a long-overdueupgrade to the genre. The folks at Edge of Reality would certainly like yourconsideration and, after what we’ve seen, we’re ready to say they just mightdeserve it. Sometimes you don’t see the good ones coming.18_PREVIEW_FUZION FRENZY 2HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_Fission MailedCipher complex_PREVIEW_19

NAME: ZEGRAM \\ DORGENARKCRIME: SPACE PILLAGINGLAST SEEN: ZERARD \\ GUIN SYSTEMTHE DAYTRON CORPORATION POSTS A BOUNTY TO BEPAID IN FULL TO ANY INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBLE FOR THECAPTURE OR KILLING OF THIS INTERGALACTIC CRIMINAL.TEXT“ZEGRAM ”TO 65579 TORECEIVE YOURREWARDzwww.roguegalaxy-thegame.comRogue Galaxy is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Created and developed by Level 5. ©2006 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “Live In Your World. Play In Ours.” is a registered trademarkof Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. *Standard text-messaging rates apply, per your cell phone carrier/text-message plan. No Purchase Necessary. Open to legal residents of 50 U.S. & DC aged 13 or older at time ofentry. Void where prohibited. To enter: 1) Between 12:00:00 am PT on 1/1/07 & 11:59:59 pm PT on 2/25/07 (“Promotion Period”), text-message either “Jaster,” “Zegram” or “Kisala” to “65579” using wireless device capable of 2-way text-messaging. You will receive a return text message including a phonenumber. Call the provided phone number to hear a prerecorded message from a Rogue Galaxy character on your wireless device. During message follow directions to enter Sweepstakes & receive 8 text messages about the Rogue Galaxy game; OR 2) To enter and listen to prerecorded message from 1 ofthe Rogue Galaxy characters above without sending a text message, visit www.spacepirateswanted.com during Promotion Period & complete & submit the Official Entry Form to receive 1 entry & 8 e-mail messages about the Rogue Galaxy game. You may opt out of receiving text or e-mail messages at anytime by following instructions in the text/e-mail message sent to you. Eight (8) Grand Prizes; 1 prizewinner per Entry Period: one (1) Silver PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system & five PlayStation®2 games (SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs, Shadow of the Colossus, Ratchet: Deadlocked, Jak X: CombatRacing, and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves). ARV = $229.94. Selection of games at Sponsor’s discretion & based on availability. Taxes are winners’ sole responsibility. Odds of winning any drawing will depend on the total number of eligible entries received for the applicable drawing. Subject to Official Rules& Entry Period details available at www.spacepirateswanted.com or by sending a SASE for receipt by 3/30/07 to: Rogue Galaxy RULES, P.O. Box 13198, Bridgeport, CT 06673-3198. For winners list, send SASE for receipt by 3/30/07 to: Rogue Galaxy WINNERS, P.O. Box 13198, Bridgeport, CT 06673-3198.

Konami may have skipped out onbringing the final game in the GameBoy Advance Boktai trilogy to theUnited States, but disillusioned seriesfans are likely to forget about their angryInternet petitions upon the release of LunarKnights. As a spiritual successor to the Boktaiseries, Lunar Knights aims to resuscitatethe franchise while simultaneously addingseveral new features to make the coregameplay better than ever.Preview by SardiusTake Boktai and Boktai 2’s characteristicsun sensor, for instance, which requiredplayers to expose their GBA cartridgesto direct sunlight in order to triggerin-game effects. While it was a neatenough gimmick at first, many felt thatit often impeded gameplay and presentedneedless complexity.In Lunar Knights, the sun sensor is an optionalelement that only comes into play if one of theoriginal Boktai games is inserted into the DS’sGBA cart slot, and serves as a bonus rather thana requirement. Many other improvements havebeen made as well. While gamers can expectthe same action/RPG/stealth gameplay hybridthat defined the Boktai series, Lunar Knightsadds more depth to each of these components.RPG nuts will be pleased by weapon customizationfeatures and numerous sidequests, sneaky sortswill enjoy the simplified and understated stealthsegments, and as for fans of action games... well,how do full-on, ship-in-space shooter levels sound?CMYCMMYCYCMYLunar Knights’s earnest, almost puppy-like efforts atpleasing gamers of all breeds seem to be working inits favor so far. The end result should satisfy longtimeBoktai fans and series newcomers alike when it dropsin February.Light it up!Publisher: KonamiDeveloper: Kojima ProductionsRelease Date: 2/6/2007Genre(s): Action/RPGCategory: Suntanned# of Players: 1K®22_PREVIEW_LUNAR KNIGHTSHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED

FLY AWAY, WIRE.Publisher: 2K GamesDeveloper: ClimaxRelease Date: February 2007Genre(s): ActionCategory: Combos set aflame# of Players: 1 (4 on PSP)Preview by Metalbolt“Oh, no! Not another movie game!” was probably the first thoughtyou had when looking at this page. Fear not! Ghost Rider (so far) isturning out to be a solid game.In the vein of Devil May Cry and God of War, Ghost Rider is anaction beat ‘em up that focuses on outlandish combos. Using hisfists, chains and shotgun, Ghost Rider puts the smack down withplenty of style, and fire. Lots of fire. His head is on fire, after all!© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks are property of their respective owners.FLY AWAY.THE NEXT GENERATION IS A WIRELESS WORLD. Stand upfor freedom and sit down wherever you want. With the WirelessHeadset, Wireless Racing Wheel with Force Feedback, WirelessControllers, and more, all optimized for the Xbox 360 ȚMyou canplay around while you move around. xbox.comThe other half of the game is filled with fast-paced bike levels.These have plenty of obstacles to avoid (via jumping or sliding),lots of demons to kill, and of course, more fire.There will be plenty of unlockables as well. Never read thefirst issue of Ghost Rider? Now you can. Never read The Endof Ghost Rider? Get enough points and you can read that too!There will also be concept art and interview videos with thegame developers. There have been rumblings of unlockablecharacters as well, but I won’t ruin that surprise.If you’re into Ghost Rider, Combo Orgies, or skulls that areset aflame, watch for this sometime in February.26_PREVIEW_Ghost riderHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_Fission Mailed

AboutThe Midnight GamingChampionship is thefirst competition of itskind, giving gamersthe chance to show offtheir skills at a varietyof games for a chanceto win cash and prizes.MGC is the brainchild ofJeff Gross, the Presidentand founder of the VideoGamers League. VGL is oneof the largest video gameleagues in the country and has puttogether some of the best competitionsto date. Players of all skill levels are encouraged to comeout and compete.McDonald’s was the title sponsor of MGC, along witha who’s who of well-known companies like Coca Cola,G4TV, and Best Buy. MGC featured Tekken 5, Guitar Hero,and NCAA 07 competitions on the PS2. The qualifiers tookplace over nine weeks, with the top twenty-four winnersgoing forward to the Championship. The AdrenalineGaming Zone, through a close relationship with RockstarGames, was able to add Rockstar Games Presents TableTennis to the semi-final tournament. There was an opencompetition for anyone who wanted to compete at thefinals, which were held in the private Diamond Club atAmeriquest Field.The sponsors put up the following prizes for champions:• a $1,000 Best Buy Gift Card• an Xbox 360, courtesy of GameZnFlix• a Sony PSP, courtesy of Best Buy• a $100 Arch Card, courtesyof McDonald’s• $500 cash, courtesy ofMcDonald’s• The Guitar Herochampion received aguitar autographed bythe GH developmentteam, courtesy of RedOctaneResultsRockstar Games Presents Table TennisDon’t sell this game short, or you’ll miss out on one of the most addictive games forthe Xbox 360. The competition used a college basketball-type elimination bracket ofsixteen players, each going for a best two out of three wins in order to advance. Thewinner from the previous week’s tournament at the semifinals suffered a surprisedefeat to F-minus, who moved on to the finals to face “puppy,” an eight-year-old girlwho’s so good that it was scary. Once F-minus figured out puppy’s strategy he madepretty quick work of her, though, and took the title for that game. His winnings includedapparel and a $100 Best Buy card from Rockstar Games. Adrenaline Gaming Zone added abonus Game Face faceplate for the Xbox 360 courtesy of Nyko Technologies.Tekken 5Dozens of players turned out for Tekken, including some of the bestplayers in the world like Hatman and Unkonkable. The tournamentwas speechless when new players like Crow, Jinmaster and DJKor pulled off completely new moves. The final match was a“best of seven” brawlfest. Christopher Villarreal, aka Crow,won the championship undefeated by spanking Rene Maistry,aka DJ Kor, to claim his $2500 in cash and prizes.Guitar HeroA lot of the players in the finals, like Forge Fanatic, wereactually real-life musicians, and it showed. The finalbattle was between JW McNay, aka JW2, andKevin Creadick, Musa, playing to songs like “NoOne Knows” on Expert difficulty. The bass wasthumping and the crowd was going like it wasa concert. JW2 walked away the victor, withthe $2500 in cash and prizes including theautographed Guitar Hero controller.NCAA 07 FootballNCAA 07 Football: This came in strong with ahuge following of dedicated gamers. Games werelong and full of trash talk from the competitors.Vistoth Am, aka The Punisher, took home thebig prize of $2500 in cash and prizes aftergoing undefeated andbesting runner-upJimmyDee.ADD HD DVD TO YOUR XBOX 360 ṬMTHEN ADD SALT TO YOUR POPCORN.THE NEXT GENERATION IS A MORE BEAUTIFUL MOVIE. Plug inand tune everything else out with the Xbox 360 TM HD DVD Player.Experience six times the resolution of DVD at up to 1080p and up tosix times the disbelief, for one clearly affordable price. xbox.com© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks are property oftheir respective owners. © 2006 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.• One lucky winner wona trip to appearon G4TV’sAttackof theShowKing Kong on HD DVD andUniversal Media Remote includedfor a limited time.a feature by Vernon Ross of www.agzonline.com28_FEATURE_TOURNAMENTING: THE MGCthe midnight gaming championshipHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED

REVIEW24: Agent Down is the second adventure based onFox’s hit television series. In the game, CTU LosAngeles has been raided by a group of terrorists.They barricade themselves in the building,and threaten to start killing hostages if anyoneattempts to come in. Now, it’s up to Jack and theremaining agents to save the day.Like the first title, Agent Down is a mixtureof action and puzzles, the latter of which arecarefully woven into the storyline. Most of thegame takes place in Infiltrate mode, where Jackruns around the CTU building freeing hostages,taking out the bad guys and wreaking havoc tosecure the safety of his fellow agents. He mustquietly go about his missions without promptingsurrounding terrorists to raise the alarm, resultingin a Metal Gear-esque feel to the gameplay.Jack has access to weapons like dart guns andknives, butthe mostcleverlyused itemis the Decoy. It can be planted in one spot while he moves away. Activate it, and a terrorist guardwill go searching in that direction. Then Jack can sneak up on the guard or bypass him altogether.If you take the guard out, you can then drag his body somewhere less visible. You can call onCurtis to provide sniper cover, and take out enemies before they knowwhat hit them. Opportunities like these bring amazing depth to thegame, because you can choose how to tackle each level.When Jack needs to pick locks, defuse bombs, or hack computers,you begin an appropriate puzzle-like mini-game. A few of theseinclude stopping a rotating light on a specific, also rotating target.It’s something like a roulette wheel with concentric wheels inside ofit, each moving faster. There’s onewhere you have to keep an electriccharge “afloat” over a certaindistance. Defusing bombs is amatter of pushing pins into holes.All of them are new and challenging, just like the main game.The enemies are much smarter this time around and become veryaggressive when the alarm level goes up. They will hunt you down assoon as they see a fallen partner, or until the threat level goes down. It’simportant to stay cool and proceed with caution without taking too long.While each level emphasizes stealth action, it’s also timed.24: Agent Down has twenty-four total missions of well-designed actionthat clearly surpasses the first 24mobile title. The game flows fromaction to mini-game exceptionallywell, and the simple one-thumbcontrols are responsive andintuitive. Like its source material,the game’s drama is constant. You’llbe hard-pressed to put it down untilyou’ve reached the conclusion.Publisher: I-playDeveloper: I-playRelease Date: NowGenre: The Jack...Category: Bauer Show!# of Players: 1 4.5 of 5© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks are property of their respective owners.EXPRESS YOURSELF THE WAY NATURE INTENDED.WITH YOUR FACE.THE NEXT GENERATION IS SEEING FRIENDS FROM MILES AWAY. Thefuture of gaming is here, and it looks like your buddy Keith. Video chat withfamily. Personalize your gamer picture. Practice your smirks. With theXbox Live TM Vision Camera, those closest to you get even closer. xbox.com30_MOBILE GAMINGHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED

The first Centipede for mobiles was marred by slowdown and bad control. Fortunately,an updated version is now in the works, with an eye toward correcting the issues of theprevious version.Purists will be glad to know that Glu has been diligently keeping the look and feel of theoriginal while improving performance. Most of the sounds have been kept intact and thecontrols, while still lacking a trackball, feel comfortable and are suitably responsive.One of the big features of the new version is the ability to customize the appearance ofyour game with a variety of graphical themes. While you can play the game in its arcadeoriginal form, you can also choose to play arcade-quality Centipede with a moderngraphical skin on it. The themes offered include “Contempo,” of what the game might looklike if it were created today, and “Robo,” which gives it a futuristic sci-fi look.The other big feature is a new “power-up” option. After selecting the theme of yourchoice, you can choose to play the game with new weapon types added. These additionsreally enhance the classic shooter in a great way. Youcan pick up shooter mainstays like lasers, bombs,three-way shots and shields, just to name a few.Centipede is fun, but Centipede with modern powerupsis even better.PREVIEWThe new version of Centipede won’t be availableuntil Q1 2007 at the earliest, and it’s good to finallysee a worthy version of this classic game ready for download. Given that arcade classics tend to do wellon the download charts, and that this version maintains the core Centipede experience while offering avariety of enhancements, Glu may have the next big mobile hit on its hands.Publisher: GluDeveloper: GluRelease Date: Q1 2007Genre: ArcadeCategory: Retro Remake# of Players: 1Fight Night Round 3 is EA’s boxing simulation powerhouse that features real-life worldrankedboxers going mano a mano. Included are greats like Oscar De La Hoya and Roy JonesJr., but you’ll also find other boxers like Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward that have had bigrivalries throughout the years.The two modes available are Quick Fight and Career, where you can use a customized boxerto fight your way through three circuits. You can give your boxer a name, skin tone and colors. You can then add points to attributes likePower, Stamina, Heart and Speed to build a fighter that fits your style. Before matches, you can opt to train and this increases or decreasesthe point values of the different attributes. Training takes the form of three types of mini-games and each awards different point values, soyou’ll need to decide what is important to you. For instance, if you choose Weight Lifting, you can increase power but at the cost of speed.For controls, you primarily use the d-pad, which is good for beginners. With the keypad, you can access extra punches. Your fighter canmove forward or back, and by pressing up or down, high and low versions of punching and blocking are available. You can taunt or tie-upthe opposing fighter to replenish stamina, or use an illegal head-butt that can give you a huge advantage or cause a disqualification. If youhappen to get knocked down, another sort of mini-game ensues where you must move a cursor over a target before the 10-count ends. Inthe early going it’s not very difficult but after a couple of knockdowns, your aim can be completely off.The fighting is fine-tuned so that you can’t just button mash your way through a match. You must setup strong punches with jabs, and good combos aren’t necessarily obvious. The opponent intelligentlycounters your attacks from very early on in the rankings. Reaching the top spot is going to take someblood, sweat and tears.Fight Night Round 3 has excellent 3D graphics, with a wide range of motion for each boxer. The game’sambience is dazzlingly console-authentic, with superior music, cut-scenes, sound effects, and blowby-blowcommentary onboard. The controls do take some getting used to, but your reward is a greatmobile boxing experience.32_MOBILE GAMINGPublisher: EADeveloper: EARelease Date: NowGenre: BoxingCategory: Fight it out!# of Players: 14 of 5REVIEWHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED

Building Blocksby: WandererIf It’s Wireless, Put It DownAll right. That’s enough.Intro by: Daniel Kayser of GameTrailers.comShut the computer off. Stop grinding your pally; the guildcan last for a few hours without you. Shut off the 360;Locusts will have to remain unchainsawed for the timebeing. Don’t log onto your favorite forum, either. Youaren’t actually going to win that argument you’re havingabout Final Fantasy 7, or about the PS3 and whether ornot it has the ability or even the right to survive. Stopworrying about how you’re going to afford an HDTV,or whether or not Oblivion sucked, or whatever yourparticular, unique gamer war happens to be.“What an awesome time to be agamer!” I’ve been hearing that phrasea lot lately, and with good reason. TheNintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox360 are ushering in the next generationof gaming while a plethora of PCand portable games along with theresurgence of retro gaming are addingtons of variety (and plenty of spice) tothe budding culture of video games.But how did we get here? What hashelped define what a “great game”really is over the years? How willinspirations of the past spark thegames of the future?All of us here at HGM are, well,Hardcore gamers. We’ve grownup playing games that we not onlyremember, but cherish. I’m talkingabout games that made us fallin love with an industry very fewbelieved in while instilling a lifelongappreciation for the art ofinteractive entertainment.In honor of this excellenttime in gaminghistory, we atHGM decided totake a hard lookback at the gamesthat inspired us asindividuals. Of coursethe Marios, Zeldas, andFinal Fantasies of the world all havea place in our hearts and on our listsof personal favorites, but we wantedto compile a sampling of games thatexist somewhere between the knownand the unknown. Somewhere between“Super Star” status and “One HitWonder.” Games that you may or maynot remember (largely based on yourage), but games that you should knowsince they impacted the industry in oneform or another. While we all revel inthe current state of gaming goodness,here’s our invitation to whip up a warmcup of nostalgia and enjoy thislook back at some ofHGM’s favorite HardcoreClassics.(You know what a gamer war is. Every one of you has one.It’s that one topic, that one thorn in your side, that burrin your bonnet that always gets you into those long onlinearguments. You could be in a terminal coma and you’djump up and get into a thread on the topic. If you’revoluntarily reading this magazine in the first place, nomatter what else you have in your life, you have a gamerwar. Forget it. It does not matter today. (Or any day,really, if we’re going to be honest about it.) Put it away.)Go to the attic, or the basement, or the dusty cornerof your game room. Open the box where you putyour childhood, and clear the cobwebs away. Ditchthe Weebles, the denim jacket, and the Motley Cruecassettes; they’re incidental to the process. We’re afterthe old hardware.(If you’re too young to have an old console, then gobuy a Flashback or something. We’ll wait. You cancoast on our nostalgia.)Remember these controllers? Remember blowing onthe cartridges, or seeing something ridiculous likeActRaiser and thinking this was as good as graphics couldget? Remember blast processing, fighting Slimes outsideBrecconary, that stupid reset trick onX-Men for the Genesis, or getting yourteeth kicked in by Zelda’s secondquest?Of course you do.Old Memories At Bold New PricesIt’s never been easier to pick up old games than it is right now.Between eBay, arcade compliations, the Xbox Live Marketplace,the Wii Shop Channel, the PlayStation Store, abandonware,GameTap, emulators, and DOSBox, you could be up to youreyeballs in old games in the time it takes you to read the rest ofthis article. It’s weird, but at a point in time where we’re talkingat tiresome length about the next generation, we’re spending alot of time revisiting the past.A cynic could note at this point that half the reason we’re doingso is because it’s cost-effective, and because game companiesseem to have this thing about making us pay twice or more forthe same title. Fortunately, I am not that cynic right now.Still, you can’t deny it. Everyone is cashing in on nostalgia rightnow, so we figured it was our turn.We didn’t want to do a top ten, though, or some other ridiculousand artificial ranking article. Oh, sure, the temptation was there;the temptation is always there, to go on autopilot and churn outthe Top One Hundred Old Games That If You Have Not Played,You Are A Worthless Smear of Protein Who Should Turn His GamerCard In To His Local Union Representative, Never Mind The FactThat Half Of Them Go For Two Hundred Dollars or More on eBay.We avoid that temptation, most of the time, because that’sextremely stupid. All those articles seem to be predicated on thefalse premise that there’s one way and one road to being, dare Ieven say it, a hardcore gamer; that if you don’t like this and thisand this, you don’t get into the club. That’s crap. It’s been crapsince second one on day one. If anyone tells you otherwise, tellthem the same.This isn’t the top ten, the top hundred, or the top anything. It’swhat we like, what we decided to talk about, and why.34_cover story_RETRO A GO-GOHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedRETRO A GO-GO_cover story_35

The Hardcore Gamer Hall of FameWe sat down and had an argument about this, and eventually,it was resolved by dint of the fact that some of us are moreimportant than others.These are the most influential, important, historic, or just plaingood games we could think of. They’re the games we’re stillSuper Mario Bros.PLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1985We’re all herebecause ofthis, moresothan anythingelse. SMB isthe focus pointthat everythingcomes from. Asthe pack-in gamewith the NES,it contributed mightily to rescuing the entirevideo game industry from the post-Atari crash.Even more importantly, Super Mario Bros. isthe first console game with an ending.In the 8-bit era, it touched off a relentlesswave of sidescrollingplatformers. In the16-bit era, SMB’ssequels led directlyto the mascotexplosion. Even now,any time you see alittle cute thing withan enormousattitudeproblemjumping overa bottomlesscliff, it’sbecause Mariogot there anddid that first.Street Fighter IIPLATFORM: ArcadeYEAR: 1991DoomPLATFORM: PCYEAR: 1993Capcom has spent a lot of time recently trying to make sure thatanyone who owns a gaming platform has a copy of Street Fighter II(and a couple of our staffers have three or more), since it celebrated itsfifteenth anniversary this year. This, on top of the multiple releases thegame’s already enjoyed on the SNES,Genesis, PSOne, Dreamcast, PS2,Xbox, 3DO, and some select models oftoaster oven, is getting a little silly.It wasn’t thefirst FPS. Itwasn’t eventhe firstFPS from idSoftware. Itwas, however,the game thatput the FPSon the map,with everything that comes with it. WithoutDoom, we wouldn’t have half the games thatmake up the gaming landscape now, fromHalf-Life (and thus Counterstrike) to Halo.We also wouldn’t have an entire style ofgaming. Doom embodies the balls-to-the-wallshoot-’em-up in a way that very few gamesin any genre manage to pull off. It’s pureadrenaline-fueled twitch gaming, and it hasno real equal. Its recent rerelease on XboxLive Arcade just reinforced the point.Perhaps most importantly, though, Doomtaught us a very important lesson that is stillrelevant andwholesometo this day:chainsawsrule. Findsome meat!Of course, they couldn’t have gottenaway with this for so long if theydidn’t have something special ontheir hands. Street Fighter II startedplaying, either by themselves or through the hundreds of gamesthey’ve influenced since then.If we had giant, shiny gold trophies to give out, these are thegames we’d give them to. They’re the building blocks of gaming.Respect them.ZorkPLATFORM: PCYEAR: 1979“You are aboutto be eaten bya grue” is oneof those gamerin-jokes thatvirtually everyonerecognizes.If we shouldever be drivenunderground by a violently dystopian worldgovernment and be forced to unite into aragtag but determined rebel force, “You areabout to be eaten by a grue” will be thesecret phrase that lets you into the hideout.Like Doom, Zork wasn’t the first game inits genre (and Colossal Cave Adventure ispretty fun in its own right), but it set a lotof balls rolling nonetheless. It started off theinteractive fiction genre, it led directly tomodern adventure games, and it providedus all with hours of entertainment beingdevoured by grues. It seems a little lessinfluential these days, now that the entiremeaning of the phrase “adventure game” haschanged sodrastically, butthat doesn’tdiminishZork’simportanceat all.the 16-bit fighter explosion, which in turn spawned the most enduringand fervent fanbase in the industry. It doesn’t hurt that SF2 itself, inseveral of its iterations, is one of the most strategic games out there,with people who’ve spent a decade mastering it. It not only kickstarteda genre, but it’s got more staying power than most games can evendream of.By the way, this needs to be said: Capcom. Street Fighter 4. Now,please. Hire whoever you have to.The Legend of ZeldaPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1987Anecdotally, Shigeru Miyamoto based the first Legend of Zelda onthe experiences he had exploring the fields and caves outside Kyotoas a kid. Along those same lines, every Zelda game since the first onehas provided the player with a vast playground to explore, with littlesecrets and side passages to find almost everywhere you look.TetrisPLATFORM: PCYEAR: 1985This is whatgot your mominterested invideo games.Maybe she trieda couple ofMario gamesfirst, but themoment she sawthose blocksfalling, she was hooked. She may even stillbe hooked to this day.Tetris is also the game that put the Game Boyon the map, beginning Nintendo’s dominanceof the portable gaming industry. It startedan argument between Tengen and Nintendothat ended with Tengen releasing its gameson those characteristic black cartridges thatlooked like something out of 2001.More importantly, it started a seventeenyears-and-countingtrend of not only showingup on any platform with buttons on it, butinspiring dozens of falling-block puzzlegames. Some of them have been innovativeand great in their own right, but few manageto live up to the simple genius of theoriginal, and few versions of the original areas good as the version that shipped with theoriginal Game Boy. At this point, Tetris willprobablybe aroundfor aslong ashumankindhas thumbsto play itwith.Zelda is a fairly obvious candidatefor an article like this just on itsfanbase. A modern Zelda gameoccupies a unique niche as HowYou Do This Kind of Thing; almosteverything it does (barring theoccasional misfire; Miyamoto’s onlyhuman, after all) is how things oughtto work, from fighting to explorationto dungeon and setting design. Ifevery game that came along wasWizardryPLATFORM: Apple ][YEAR: 1981By the time you reach the end of your life asa gamer, you will have explored somethinglike five hundred thousand dungeons,according to HGM’s Bureau of Impressive-Sounding Statistics That We Just Made Up.Wizardry started this tradition off with theProving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, andin so doing, basically created what we nowknow as a computer RPG.Wizardry started many things that we nowtake for granted, from dungeon delving tocharacter creation right down to somethingas simple as hit points. You can see its stampon every CRPG that’s come out since 1981,clear asday, nomatterwhere thatCRPG wasdeveloped.Wizardryinfluencedthem all.halfaspolished as a Zelda game, we would not be able to get anything done.More importantly, Zelda’s influence wouldn’t really show up in othergames until the last generation. If you sit down and think about it,The Legend of Zelda is the first “sandbox” game; it allows you to gowherever you want, and you only need to follow what story it possessesif you feel like doing it at the time. Whenever you find yourself setdown in the middle of a massive, persistent world, you are, in someway, back in Miyamoto’s pocket garden.MetroidPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1993Metroid arguablyhas as much of aclaim to being thefirst “sandbox”game as TheLegend of Zelda,if not more. Theonly thing keepingit from gettingthat position is that it’s essentially meant tobe somewhat more linear than Zelda, andbecause it’s had a different effect on thegames that came after it.It’s a fairly standard gameplay trope atthis point. You start out at the entrance tosome kind of mazelike area — a dungeon,a mansion, an underground network, youname it — with no real abilities to speak of.Everywhere you go, you find obstacles youaren’t quite equipped to circumvent yet. Asyou explore, though, you’ll find well-guardeditems, bits of equipment, or tools that’llallow you to overcome what’s standing inyour way. Get a little bit further in, andyou’ll find more obstacles, and more toolswith which to overcome them.This pattern’s been repeated in countlessgames at this point, but Metroid, in manyways, got there first. It provided a gameplaymodel that modern action games are stillusing today. The real tragedy here is notonly that Gunpei Yokoi died before he couldhave created moreclassic Metroidgames, but thathis name isn’t aswell-known asMiyamoto’s.38_cover story_RETRO A GO-GOHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedRETRO A GO-GO_cover story_39

Editor Ramblings About Old-Ass GamesBesides the universally loved classics with which Wanderer justentertained you, there are tons and tons of other crusty old gameswhich you folks may have never heard of, or perhaps never realizedwere any good.Sardius , s PicksDuck TalesPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1990It’s based on a licensedproperty, it’s almostinsultingly easy, and youcan finish it in about tenminutes if you know whatyou’re doing. It’s also oneof the best platformersto ever be released onthe NES, which had no shortage of impressivesidescrollers to begin with. While Duck Tales isn’ta difficult game in the least, the gameplay is funenough to make it worth playing through multipletimes, and it’s insanely fun to speedrun. There’salso multiple endings,numerous gameplaysubtleties, and hidden areasgalore. All that aside, whodoesn’t like Scrooge McDuck?A heartless dick, that’s who.Don’t be a heartless dick.Play Duck Tales.Bionic CommandoPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1988This is the perfect game. BionicCommando takes a number ofplatformer conventions and forcesyou to examine them from anall-new perspective thanks tothe implementation of what, at first, seems to be aliability. Your character cannot jump, and can onlyclimb platforms and cross gaps by swinging off ofbackground objects with a grappling hook. This turnsout to be a crazy effective mechanic that breatheslife into what would otherwise be a fairly genericexperience. In essence, Bionic Commando takes a fungenre and makes it more fun in a unique way that hasnever been fully duplicatedsince. Capcom? Pleasedon’t ever remake BionicCommando. You got it rightthe first time, and if BionicCommando: Streetwise isever announced, there willbe murder.Therefore, we thought it’d be a grand idea to give each of our editorsthe green light to extol endlessly about what games really turned themon back in the day. Then we thought better of it and limited them tofive games each. We’re not so dumb, see?GhostbustersPLATFORM: GenesisYEAR: 1990Here’s a pick I don’texpect anyone to agreewith. Screw you guys,though. I love this game.The Ghostbusterslicense may be totallysuperfluous here (aside from allowing for somereally goofy-looking renditions of Ray, Peter, andEgon... sorry, Winston fans, Japan apparently forgotblack people existed in 1990), but the game itselfis a brilliant, underrated platformer developed insecret by Compile, the creators of the Puyo Puyoseries and classic shooters like Zanac and BlazingLazers. Sometimes silly, other times inexplicable,this is a game that not only stands tall as the bestGhostbusters game evermade (though that’s not muchof an achievement), it’s alsoan unforgettably bizarreadventure you won’t regretplaying through.Money PuzzleExchangerPLATFORM: Neo GeoYEAR: 1997Magical Drop III? Pssssh.This is by far the bestgrab’n-throw’n-matchpuzzler on the Neo Geo.Money Puzzle Exchangertakes Magical Drop’s basicdoodad-matching premiseand adds in a dash of math to up the challenge andmake for a more addictive experience. The idea:match up a certain number of like-faced coins andthey will disappear and leave behind a single coinof a higher denomination. With some planning, youcan create big combos to put the hurt on a secondplayer or computer opponent.I could do without theplayed-out anime motif, butotherwise, you won’t find abetter competitive puzzler onthe Neo or elsewhere.SnatcherPLATFORM:Sega CDYEAR: 1994Before Hideo Kojima went allcrazy with the Metal GearSolid series, he directeda text-based cyberpunkadventure game calledSnatcher. The enhanced SegaCD port of Snatcher is actuallyone of the best things theUnited States never realizedit had; compared to previousJapan-only versions, Sega CDSnatcher has extra scenes anda number of additions to itsplot. Of course, it’s a Sega CDgame, so nobody ever playedit. It’s never too late to payupwards of $100 for a copy oneBay, though! Come on, you’llget a great localization byMetal Gear Solid’s translator,tense light gun shootingsequences, and a timidminiature Metal Gear sidekickfor your money. Trust me, it’stotally worth it.T & C SurfII: Thrilla , sSurfariPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1992Donkey Kong Jr. made itfun to play as an ape, butT & C Surf II: Thrilla’sSurfari makes it cool.The game is the sequelto a skateboard andsurfing combo cartridgefeaturing a witch doctorand a gorilla. Here, thosecharacters star in a plotthat finds the witch doctorkidnapping Thrilla’s bikinicladgirlfriend. To save her,Thrilla must skate and surfthrough numerous jungleand desert stages, withstops along the way tobattle boss monsters likescorpions and a giant shark.Mini-games provide anopportunity to swap tokensfor extra lives, in betweenfast and frantic stagesthat test your reflexes andfortitude to their limits.Thrilla’s adventure willnever be rememberedas one of the system’sfirst-rate classics, but itdefinitely warrants a fewhours of your time.Captain SkyhawkPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1990Before it was knownfor platform titlesstarring bears andbirds, piñatas orsecret agents, Rareproduced a lot ofunique titles for theNES. They reallyshowcased thedeveloper’s ability to work within numerous genres.In Captain Skyhawk, you pilot a fighter jet as yousoar through one mission after another, first bombingthe heck out of alien outposts or delivering suppliesto the resistance force in a down-to-earth isometricoverhead perspective, then taking it straight to thehigh skies for air duels that feel like they’re straightout of Top Gun. Action comes fast and furious andthere’s an amazing sense of speed. Simplistic visualsgrow on you by thetime you completethe first stage, untilyou’ll do everythingin your power to seethe unexpectedlytimeless adventurethrough to itsconclusion.Pinball QuestPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1990The NES featured itsfair share of pinballtitles, but none of themprovided me with moreentertainment thanPinball Quest. The mainattraction is arguablythe quest mode. Youprogress from onepinball table to the next, breaking apart tombstonesand battling monsters with stops in between tovisit shops. Completing the last of the tablestakes superhuman focus and endurance, since thechallenge is significant and making mistakes causesyou to drop back to a previous table. If the questmode isn’t your thing, though, there also are themedtables for multiple players. These include golf anda carnival setting, plusa party-themed area.Alone or with friends,Pinball Quest providesan engaging pinballexperience that manymore recent titles inthe limited genre haveyet to capture.HonestGamer , s PicksAstyanaxPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1990Castlevania had itsgothic atmosphere.Ninja Gaiden hadcutscenes that tolda riveting story.Astyanax has both,with visual polishand an atmosphericsoundtrack throughout. Saving the princess Rosebudmeans venturing deep into one of the darkest worldsthat the NES ever featured, with swords and axesyour only defense against dragon-riding monstersthat serve a dark sorcerer. The highlights includean infuriating trip through a swampland wheremonsters leap from the murky depths, capped offby a fight with a manticore. You’ll have to use everyitem upgrade to its fullest and have nerves of steelto reach the final encounters. Fortunately, lessexperienced gamers can make use of a stage selectcode that’s floatingaround the Internet.Doing so makes itdelightfully simple toenjoy Astyanax in itsthoroughly satisfyingentirety.Swords & SerpentsPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1990There are plenty ofcompelling role-playinggames on the NES, ifyou’re willing to lookpast the blocky graphicsto become immersedin the adventure.Swords & Serpents isdistinctive because suchaccommodations hardly seem necessary. It takes placefrom a surprisingly proficient first-person perspectivethat allows you to pass from one screen to the next,never knowing whether an enemy or a powerfulartifact lurks around the next corner. Combat isseamlessly integrated, and progresses swiftly. Upto four players can play together, hacking at limbsas spiders, orcs, soldiers and more try to cut youradventure short. Thereare numerous floors toexplore on a massivetower, making this oneof the best dungeoncrawlers around (fromany gaming era) if youcan find a buddy toshare the adventure.38_cover 40_cover story_RETRO A GO-GOHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedRETRO A GO-GO_cover story_45story_41

Lynxara , s PicksArcanaPLATFORM: SNESYEAR: 1992It’s not the most famous SNES RPG, but Arcana sticks out asa massive departure in style from most other console RPGsof its vintage. It was a first-person dungeon crawler witha battle system that really forced you to pay attention tomore than making your damage numbers bigger.ToeJam & EarlPLATFORM: GenesisYEAR: 1992In Arcana, human characters were governed by the typicalRPG laws of the day: HP and MP depleted in battle untilyou healed or died. The twist is that you always had a spiritcharacter in your party of four who could recover MP andHP whenever you took a step. How far into the dungeon didyou dare explore before surfacing? Losing a single charactermeant game over, so every step forward courted disaster.Playing Arcana was thrillingly nerve-wracking, and beatingthe game felt like an enormous accomplishment.ToeJam & Earl is the deeply surreal and satiricaltale of two lost, funky aliens who crash-landed ona dangerously insane planet called Earth. Playing asEarl or ToeJam (or together with a friend), you needto find the pieces of their spaceship to escape. The pieces are scattered across twentyfivedangerous levels infested with violently annoying Earthlings. Gather presents todefeat or outrun them. Be careful what you open; some presents are trapped.TrogPLATFORM: ArcadeYEAR: 1990What’s amazing about this game is that it just nevergets old. The random levels meant you never really gotthe same experience twice. Even if you beat it, it wasalways tempting to pick the game up and see if youcould manage it again. And again. And...... nine pieces already, I’ll finish it in no time, just onemore level...Trog was a four-player spin on the old Pac-Mangenre of “maze”-type games. It had two versions,but the one covered here is one where youcontrolled one of four dinosaurs that traveleda maze, collecting eggs and power-ups whileavoiding hazards. The eponymous Trog is a race of cavemen who intend to catch andeat you. Collect eggs, clear level, repeat until game is finished. Trog sported unusual“PLAYmation!” graphics that were digitized claymation models, and really stood out fromthe typical arcade fare.Trying to emulate Trog to recapture the experience is pointless,because it was the social aspect that made Trog sing. How agiven group of players would interact was totally unpredictable.A game of Trog could turn into an organized anti-cavemaneffort, or a festival of backstabbing and skullduggery. You neverknew what would happen until you got to the arcade.Kirby , s Dream LandPLATFORM: GameYEAR: 1992BoyThe original Game Boywas a terrible system,with ugly graphicsand tinny sounds.Even if you ownedone, you knew it. Ifyou were temptedto buy a Game Gear,it’s because you knewjust how ugly andterrible most of your Game Boy games were. It’sa miracle that any good Game Boy games exist,and Kirby’s Dream Land is nothing less than animmaculate conception.This is a stellar 2D platformer from start to finish,with wonderfully tight controls, catchy music,and surprisingly pleasant graphics. Even on theugly old creamed-spinach screen, watchingKirby bounce and drift through his dreamy worldof forests and cloudcastles was fun. Whilethe game itself is a bitshort and easy, Kirby’splethora of unusualmoves made for aunique and memorableplatforming experience.ExcitebikePLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1985This game is purezen. It is like theNES spewing up aperfectly-arrangedrock garden, with starkpixels forming lines offeng shui that conformto the contours ofthought and impulse.Also, it’s fun!Excitebike is a motocross-themed racer. You canplay against CPU opponents or do time trials, butthe gameplay always prioritizes clearing tracksvery quickly. Go too fast and your bike overheats,so you’ll start wiping out on jumps, which costsyou time. Each challenge was about finding theway to master the track and get a good time.It was also one of those games with controls sosimple and perfect that anybody could pick it upand start playing it.One button makes yougo faster, the otherslows you down, andthe D-Pad moves yourbike around. Thestark simplicity mademastering Excitebikea surprising challenge.AladdinPLATFORM: GenesisYEAR: 1993While it seemslike good licensedgames can becounted onthe fingers ofone foot, theGenesis versionof Aladdin wasone of the bestaction platformers of its time. Loosely followingthe movie, Aladdin ran through Agrabah and itssurroundings armed with throwing apples and agood, sharp scimitar. Aside from being a reallyfun romp, the exceptionally smooth animationswere straight from the Disney studio thatmade the movie, filled with lots of detail andpersonality. Running around the levels swipingAladdin’s sword at baddies was a good time, ofcourse, but the sheer volume and smoothnessof the animation (on a Genesis cart!) was whatreally sold thegame. The cleverlevel designfilled with tonsof backgroundgags just sealedAladdin’s place asa Genesis classic.Earthworm JimPLATFORM: Sega CDYEAR: 1995The ancientconundrum,“What wouldhappen if yougave a worm apowered suit anda blaster?” wasfinally answeredby Shiny’s brilliantrun & gun platformer. It turns out that the resultis one of the craziest, funniest, nails-tough actionshooters around, with some of the best animationthe Genesis could produce. Jim launched cows,fought Evil the Cat in Heck, defeated a goldfish,rescued Princess What’s-Her-Name, walked adog through a meteor storm, and blasted theliving crap out of everything that moved. WhileEarthworm Jim spawned a sequel and cartoonshow, the original game was never topped,although it was perfected on the Sega CD thanksto new levels, an underutilized new gun, andvastly improvedaudio. Plus ittaught the veryimportant lifelesson we ignoreat our peril— watch out forflying cows.James , s PicksThe Adventures of Lolo 1-3PLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1989-1991The single-screen puzzler used to be a common genre,requiring a near-defenseless character to run around dozensof levels avoiding hazards, pushing blocks, and using whatmeager powers s/he had to avoid death and the inevitableresetting of everything in the room back to its startingpoint. The Lolo games wereprime examples of this, although they used an overheadrather than the more common side view. Each room had anumber of heart tiles for Lolo to collect, all while avoidingmonsters and the deadly gaze of the Medusa statues, andwhen they were all collected a treasure chest would open.Getting the chest destroyed all the monsters and openedthe door to the next level, usually accompanied by a cryof “Finally!” and a small party. Lolo was fun, brilliant, andbrutally tough in the best possible way.Milon , s Secret CastlePLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1986Everyone likes secrets. They’re fun to search for,let you feel all sorts of clever when discovered, andferreting them out is what Milon’s Secret Castle isall about. Sure, Milon is armed with deadly, viciousbubbles and fightsmonsters in a sidescrollingplatformer,but each level in the castle is covered in hidden goodies.Money bricks are easiest to find, but hidden doorwaysto stores selling items required to advance, extra healthhoney combs, and the Hudson bee shield are all muchtrickier. Getting through the castle takes perseverance,especially due to lack of saves or continues, but likea lot of early NES games it had that “I know what I’mdoing this time, one more try!” quality.Impossible MissionPLATFORM: Commodore 64YEAR: 1984“Another visitor. Stay awhile; stay forever!” You can’tthink of Impossible Mission without rememberingthe voices in the game, but it wasn’t just synthesizedcatch-phrases that kept people coming back. Therandomized nature of enemy AI and level layout meant that every game was somethingdifferent, with an easy room one game becoming brutal the next.Our secret agent hero had to search the furniture ina mad scientist’s lair while being chased by robots,all in the hopes of finding fragments of passwordsto fit together in order to avoid doomsday. Witha mere six hours on the clock before disasterstrikes, and each death setting you back ten wholeminutes, Impossible Mission’s combination ofpuzzle and platforming got the world destroyedmore times than most C-64 owners can count.42_cover story_RETRO A GO-GOHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedRETRO A GO-GO_cover story_43

Jeremy , s PicksPole PositionPLATFORM: Arcade,Atari 2600Pool of RadiancePLATFORM: Commodore 64YEAR: 1988KouAidou , s PicksVirtua FighterPLATFORM: Arcade,Saturn,32XYEAR: 1993,1995After a sea of Street Fighter II clones (and uttertrash like Rise of the Robots) in the early ‘90s,fighting fans needed a change, and Sega providedthem with it. Here was a game that truly tried something new when it first hitarcades, and while it only provided eight playable characters, they had completelydifferent fighting styles and actually felt like distinct fighters. Of the heavyweights,Wolf was more of an all-around fighter, while Jeffrey’s heavy attacks favored playersseeking a visceral thrill from his head butt barrage.Pai and Sarah were the fastest of the bunch, whileJacky and Lau were easy to jump in and dominatewith. Kage and especially Akira rewarded cerebralplayers’ attentiveness by giving them many timingsensitiveattacks that could defeat players in seconds.Virtua Fighter’s gameplay was so impressive that itled to me buying a Saturn at launch.YEAR: 1982,19831988 was a big gamingyear for me as it notonly marked my firstexperience with NightDriver, but also my firsttime playing a homegame of any kind in PolePosition on the 2600.While I wasn’t all that skilled at the other games we’dpurchased, I took to Pole Position instantly. As a fanof all kinds of racing back then, I was addicted to thisgame that allowed me to do what my heroes did onTV. While my love of racing has cooled, my adorationof Pole Position hasn’t. I can play it at any time andstill enjoy it. The play sessions might be shorter, andon a different controller than the 2600’s trackball, butthey remain enjoyable and conjure up memories of myfamily hooking up the 2600 to our basement’s TV andplaying it until daybreak. For that, I’ll always hold thisparticular game close to my heart.If there was ever a gamethat struggled against thetechnological constraintsof its day, it was Pool ofRadiance. The Commodore64 version shipped on eightdouble-sided disks, whichrequired constant swapping and multiple minutes ofloading time. Assuming your disk drive didn’t overheatin the process, it was worth it: creating a customizableparty of six, you travelled the land of Phlan, rightingwrongs for profitable rewards with nary a rail insight. The journal system (which put a majority ofthe game’s story-related text into a physical manual)allowed for a more in-depth plot than RPGs had seenin a while, when every character of text took upvaluable disk space. Though itinspired a series of imitatorsand sequels (including thetravesty Ruins of MythDrannor), none of them evermatched the original.Star Control IIPLATFORM: PCYEAR: 1992It would be a crime to do a classic gamesretrospective and not include Star Control II, soit’s a good thing it happens to be one of my favoritegames of all time. In control of a powerful alien ship,you travel the galaxy trying to liberate the humanrace (and numerous others) from the control of the paranoid but powerful Ur-Quan,unravelling the secrets of the universe as you go. Containing a combination of sandboxspace travel and arcade-style combat, a plotlineequal to any space opera you can name, hundredsof pages’ worth of interactive dialogue and dozensof memorable, unique races, it’s easy to see whymost reviews of Star Control II quickly turn into loveletters. In the fourteen years since its release, it stillhasn’t met its equal. If you haven’t downloaded thefreeware version at http://sc2.sourceforge.net/, youowe it to yourself, as a gamer, to do so.Night DriverPLATFORM: Arcade,Atari 2600YEAR: 1976,1978I first played thisbarely-colored classicin the spring of ‘88while in Cape Codon vacation with mygrandmother, anddespite only playing it that one time, I neverforget my experience. Its simple graphics letmy young mind create a lush racing world asI played, and gave me nearly two decades ofmemories during my single play with it. It alsoprovided others (like Mark Pursey, the manbehind Drivey) with the inspiration to createtheir own tributes to it. Despite its legendarystatus, Night Driver has been forgotten by somany who played it. Fortunately, its legacylives on in the ‘04 Atari Anthology and inthe minds of all who cherish their memorieswith it. Time has been kind to it, and whileits minimalist graphics have certainly beensurpassed, the suspsenseful gameplay theycreated has yet to be equaled.StriderPLATFORM: Arcade,GenesisYEAR: 1989,1990After a four-year wait, the Sega Nomad sat in my hands inJuly of ‘99, and the most memorable experiences I had withthat system were with Strider. Having only seen screens andheard it praised, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. Then, Itore open the box, took out the cart, and crammed it into the portable monstrosity as soon ashumanly possible. Its sword-slashing and platform-jumping (and hanging) were unlike anythingI’d experienced. Everything happened quickly, but it never got overwhelming, despite beinga fast-paced game that challenged you in every way possible andnever relented. You’d be swarmed by six foes at once and thenimmediately have to battle a screen-filling boss, then go back tofighting more enemies. Players never got a break, and most neverwanted one. Strider’s challenging game design has held up well,and can now be enjoyed by a new generation of players thanks toCapcom’s first PSP and second PS2/Xbox compilations.Saturday Night Slam MastersPLATFORM: Arcade,SNES,GenesisYEAR: 1993,1994,19951993 was the year I became addicted to pro wrestling, and then gotexposed to the wonders of Slam Masters. Sitting in the back cornerof the local arcade was WWF Wrestlefest and to its right, this fourplayerfighting/wrestling game hybrid that combined the genres seamlessly and whose concepthas never been repeated, even after a sequel. As a Final Fight fan, I loved Haggar’s inclusion,and he ended up being one of my favorite characters to use outside of Biff Slamovich, whosetombstone piledriver looked far better than the ones animated in today’s wrestling games. TheSNES version brought the fast action home pretty much intact,while the Genesis version nixed the team elimination matches andplaced barb wire bomb matches in its place for two-player action,using one of the rings from the sequel, and marking the onlyappearance of any kind of that game on a home platform. Thatbit of info gave me the inspriation to write a review of the Gennyversion, and that was the first review I ever wrote for a game— starting me on a path that has lasted seven years.Legacy of the AncientsPLATFORM: Commodore 64YEAR: 1987The Commodore 64 had no lack of RPGs. I know this,because we had most of them. Legacy of the Ancientssticks out in my mind, though, thanks to its intriguingframing device. As a native of the planet Tarmalon,you are charged with a quest to nullify the evil WizardsCompendium using the exhibits found within the mysteriousGalactic Museum as your guide. You’ll travel the land tocollect special coins that allow you to unlock the displays,which in turn provide you with special bonuses, or transportyou to dungeons containing treasure and other importantitems. Third-person overworld travel was combined with firstpersondungeon crawling and arcade-style training games tocreate a highly varied experience. Sadly, its superior sequel,The Legend of Blacksilver, was never given a PC re-release.Indiana Jones and TheFate of AtlantisPLATFORM: PCYEAR: 1994In any discussion of LucasArts adventure games, the usualsuspects will always come up as nominations for the greatestof all time: Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango, or evenManiac Mansion for the more retro (and masochistic) gamer. While these are all classics, to besure, my perennial nomination is Indiana Jones and TheFate of Atlantis. Based on an original story and full ofglobe-spanning intrigue and snappy, sarcastic dialogue,Fate of Atlantis managed to perfectly capture the feelof the classic Indy flicks with a Lucasarts twist. Add tothat some breathtaking pixel artistry and a pathsplitwhich allowed you to replay the game’s significantmiddle portion three times using vastly differentstrategies, and you’ve got a recipe for pure enjoyment.The Colonel , sBequestPLATFORM: PCYEAR: 1989While we’reon the subjectof overlookedadventuregames, let’stalk about oneof the best andleast appreciated games in Roberta Williams’seminent lineup. A murder mystery takingplace in the 1920s, The Colonel’s Bequestputs you in the shoes of Laura Bow, a collegegirl with an inquisitive nature. When herfriend Lillian invites her back to her uncle’smurky mansion in the Louisiana bayou, shefinds herself surrounded by a classic lineup ofshady suspects with murder on their minds.Multiple endings, early real-time elements,and a ton of side mysteries made multiplereplays a must, and Sierra’s infamous “deatharound every corner” tropes felt much moresuitable in a setting where mortal tragedy wasde riguer. Primitive though the graphics maybe, The Colonel’s Bequest’s artistry makes itimpressive to look at even today.44_cover story_RETRO A GO-GOHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedRETRO A GO-GO_cover story_45

Shoegazer , s PicksThunder Force IIIPLATFORM: GenesisYEAR: 1990Golden AxePLATFORM: GenesisYEAR: 1989Daniel Kayser , s PicksChronoTriggerPLATFORM: SNESYEAR: 1995As Squaresoft reached a pointwhere it could no longer fit its epictales onto a cartridge anymore,it still had a few tricks left upits sleeve that would allow it toexit the SNES era with a bang.Originally released in 1995, ChronoTrigger would become an instantclassic and set the bar for RPGs foryears to come thanks to its sci-fistoryline, unparalleled characterdevelopment, and perfected useof the Active Time Battle system.Even before the days of Sephirothimpaling Aerith with his sword,Square was the master of tuggingat the heart strings of the playerby immersing them in a captivatingstory and creating moments thatwould keep nerds debating foryears. Today, Chrono Trigger stillstands as one of the greatest RPGsever made, hands down.Baseball StarsPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1989Whether you loved sportsor not, there were ahandful of games thatevery NES owner hadfond memories of: MikeTyson’s Punch-Out,Blades of Steel, DoubleDribble and BaseballStars. While there weremany great baseball games, none even came closeto matching the depth of Baseball Stars.Long before EA Sports was a household name,SNK packed its title with never-before-seen levelsof detail, which included stat-tracking, customleague play, and complete managerial control ofteam operations. Best of all were the create-ateamand create-a-player options that requiredactual strategy. The perfect team needed the rightbalance of rookies, veterans and superstars if youever wanted to be able to takedown the mighty AmericanDreams. Winning gamesearned you cash to purchaseattribute upgrades, whichgave Baseball Stars replayvalue for years.Phantasy StarPLATFORM: SegaMaster SystemYEAR: 1988After many sequelsand online time sinks,there still isn’t a gamein the Phantasy Starchronology that matchesup against the original.The word “epic” getsthrown around a lot inthe RPG category, butPhantasy Star truly deserved to be classified assuch. It was light years beyond any other RPG of itstime and introduced gamers to the awe-inspiring (atthe time) 3D-scaling, multi-level dungeons.It was all too easy to become engrossed with Alis’stale of tragedy, political strife, and interstellartravel: a tale that would sprawl out across threedifferent worlds before a final showdown withthe evil ruler, Lassic. However, with an M. NightShyamalan-esque twist, thefall of Lassic was not theend of the struggle. EnterDarkfalz: a nightmarish bosscharacter that took up theentire screen.There may havebeen a jillionhorizontal shooterson the marketback in the olddays, but theThunder Forceseries was astandout becauseof its superior design. It borrowed heavily fromgames like R-Type and Gradius, but with the thirdinstallment, it separated itself from the pack. Thebrightly-colored graphics, huge and challengingboss fights, a rockin’ soundtrack, and of coursethe powerful CLAWs all helped to create a trulyimpressive game.The ability to adjust the speed of your ship wasincredibly innovative for its time. There were alsogenuine “holy crap!” moments such as one levelwhere you get knocked off course and are about tohit a wall, whenall of a sudden thescreen stops, andshifts into reverse,forcing you to doa section of thelevel backwards.Simply awesome!Fester , s QuestPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1989One has to wonderhow exactly thedevelopment pitchfor Fester’s Questwent down. It couldhave been intendedas a Halloweentie-in, or maybeit was meant as aprecursor to themovie that would hittheaters two years later. Or maybe it really was assimple as someone wanting to make a game aboutUncle Fester being the last line of defense for allhumankind as alien invaders attempted to takeover the Earth. Come to think of it, that would’vemade Independence Day even more enjoyable.Taking a page from successful 8-bit era shooterssuch as Ikari Warriors, Fester runs n’ gunsall over the citycollecting power-upsand avoiding powerdownsin an effort toblast alien scum. Itwas as bizarre as itsounds, but incrediblyenjoyable, withintense boss fights.Over the yearscertain gameshave helped definea genre. ThinkSuper MarioBros. and youthink platformer.Think Tetris andyou think puzzler.When it came to one of the most popular genresof the 16-bit era, beat-’em-ups, one game helpedlay the groundwork that would define a generation,SEGA’s Golden Axe.The beautiful thing about Golden Axe, and mostbeat-’em-ups for that matter, is that there wasn’tmuch to it. You basically advance the screen fromleft to right by eliminating hordes of enemies in abutton mashing exhibition of skill (or lack of skill,depending on who you ask...). Despite its lackof depth however, the overall charm of GoldenAxe was found in its solid game play, multiplayerfunctionality, memorable characters, catchyanthem and spot-ondepiction of a classicmedieval setting nearlyevery gamer longed toexperience. Down withDeath Adder!Ikari WarriorsPLATFORM: Arcade,NESYEAR: 1987Before Gears of War,before Rainbow Six,heck, before anygreat multiplayergame with guns, therewere a few titlesthat introduced theconcept of blowingstuff up with yourbuddy. SNK’s IkariWarriors is one of the better examples of these.Released across a wide array of platforms, IkariWarriors delivered frantic action fest for one ortwo players as you vertically scroll through rivers,swamps, jungles and other terrain using madamounts of weaponry (and even tanks!) to blast theliving crap out of everything in sight.At a time when Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Predatorwas lighting up the silver screen, wanna-be actiongamers were pumping quarters into Ikari Warriors.Thankfully, the game showed up on the NES (andother home consoles) so that gamers could enjoythe non-stop, bullet-slinging action anytime theywanted to. Like the Predator movie however, thehell spawn of a sequel that was Ikari Warriors 2(do we have to go to space in every sequel?) lackedthe fun and originality of its predecessor. Oh well…one hit wonders have their place in history too!ShadowgatePLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1989Very few games on theNintendo EntertainmentSystem involved morethinking than action.Shadowgate, developedby ICOM Simulations, wasone of those games and itplayed more like a medievalfantasy novel than a typical RPG. The term “TextAdventure” comes to mind here, but while thatmight sound boring to the average modern gamer,the sheer amount of possibilities in Shadowgatemade the gameplay anything but.As a “young adventurer” (you could get awaywith that back then…) sent to the ancient keep ofShadowgate, you must find the Staff of Ages and stopthe Warlock Lord from summoning an age-old demoncalled the Behemoth! C’mon... this was prettyoriginal back then! Solving riddles, experimentingwith item combinations, lotsof dying (creatively, mind you)and a vast sharpening of yourliterary skills all await youin Shadowgate! A must-read— um, I mean play, for anyclassic adventure gamer...Out of This WorldPLATFORM: SNESYEAR: 1992Back in 1992, whenplatformers were allthe rage, a few gamesstood out from thecrowd by offering upsomething unique.Developed by DelphineSoftware and publishedby Interplay, Out of this World was one of the firstgames to deliver a truly cinematic experience.Featuring vector graphics and animated cut scenes,the game offered a level of immersion not commonfor its day. While still an adventure game at its core,OotW managed to provide a refreshing blend ofplatforming and puzzle solving while kind of freakingyou out by the game’s weird imagery and story.Personally, I was into OotW ever since I first laideyes on it. I always wanted to prove that gamingcould be more than just what it appears to be onthe surface, and OotW helped usher in some uniquecinematic trends still found in the gaming industrytoday. Besides, who the heck doesn’t want to playas a young physics professor named “Lester” whofinds himself captured, unarmed, and in a strangealien world after lighting strikes his peculiar particleexperiment? Awesome!BattleToadsPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1991Considering how much I (andmany other gamers) love theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,it’s hard to believe that ablatant rip-off of a game such asBattletoads could win me over.That’s exactly what happenedback in 1991 when Zitz, Rash, andPimple (yes... those were theiractual names) found themselveson an intergalactic romp afterpartying too hard on a Lost Vegaleisure space station (WHAT!!!).Crazy namesand gimmicksaside,Battletoadsdeliveredwhere itmatteredmost: gameplay. A ratherinteresting hybrid of theaction platforming, racing,flying and even beat-’em-upgenres, the game perfectlybalanced numerous gameplaymechanics within a fun, oftencrazy adventure starringthree memorable characters.I’ll always love the Turtles,but their amphibious cousinscertainly delivered one heck of amemorable experience on the NESback in the day.46_cover story_RETRO A GO-GOHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedRETRO A GO-GO_cover story_47

DJPubba , s PicksBlaster MasterPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1988Quality Metroid orCastlevania action/platform-style games arefew and far between.If you missed BlasterMaster on the NES, youmissed a great gamewhich took the best partsof the Metroid-vaniaformula and put you incontrol of a futuristic, well armed, wheeled fightingvehicle (the SOPHIA NORA MA-01) that is an absolute joyto control. The bouncy, ultra-maneuverable “SubatomicOmni-directional Probative Hyper-responsive IndomitableAbdicator” should be used in game design school to showhow important fluid control and animation are to thefun factor of a game. Add quality level design and wellthought out power-ups andupgrades, like getting longerjumps, hover ability, beingable stick to different surfaces,etc., to the awesome controlsand you may have one of themost under-appreciated NESgames of all time. It’s too badthe sequels didn’t stand up.Kaboom!PLATFORM: Atari 2600YEAR: 1981This game can’t beproperly appreciatedif you don’t have areal Atari 2600 systemhooked up and working.This is because youcan’t properly emulatethe required Atari 2600paddle controller witha keyboard, mouse,joystick, analog stick or anything else.If you are able to play it properly, and practice a lot,you’ll find out why it earned its spot here. This is thegame that grabbed me by the short hairs of my brain andled me into “the zone” for the first time, at the tenderage of 12. The object is to catch the bombs as they fall ina water bucket sothey don’t explode.The game startsslowly but after afew short rounds,you’ll find yourselfplaying a furious,trance-inducing,adrenaline factoryof a game.Ultima III: ExodusPLATFORM: Apple ][YEAR: 1983The Ultima series defined the RPG genre. Nearlyall of the basic concepts in today’s RPGs came fromUltima. Ultima III was the high point of the serieswith a massive world map to explore, countlessdungeons, towns, enemies, weapons, spells,treasures and was the game that introduced meto the joys of power-leveling to achieve completeworld domination.When you boot the game, you’ll be able to startcreating characters right away, and once you havefour to form a party with, your adventuring canbegin. The best thing about the game is that it’spure, undiluted gameplay. Instead of shoving amelodramatic story down your throat with a 20 minuteintro and countless cut-scenes, the story unfolds asyou play with the focus on adventure instead of thelines and lines of dialog that plague modern RPGs.Boulder DashPLATFORM: Commodore 64,Amiga,Atari 800,etc.YEAR: 1984Part action game, part puzzler, and obviously alittle inspired by Dig Dug, Boulder Dash has youcontrolling an alien named “Rockford” in his quest togather crystals from under the earth. The fun comesfrom ingenious level designs which have you figuringout how to dig your way through the dirt to collectthe pre-determined number of crystals while avoiding the enemy’s lethal touchor being squashed by falling boulders which become dislodged by your passing. Atimer keeps the pace and you don’t know wherethe exit will appear until you’ve reached yourcrystal quota, which creates a new challenge inmost levels to even find the exit once your quote isreached. Precise controls and not always needing tomemorize the levels by repetition to beat them givethe game a long shelf life.Tower TopplerPLATFORM: Commodore 64,Amiga,etc.YEAR: 1987Also known as Nebulus or Castelian, in TowerToppler, you control a two-legged alien pig whoarrives at the bottom of a tower in his submarinewith one thing on his mind — reaching the top, ofcourse. The thing that makes this game unique isthat the pig remains in the center of the screenand the tower rotates around as you move. Thisgives the game an impressive 3D effect rarelyfound in contemporary games.This is one of those incredibly hard games thatwill only appeal to those kind of gamers whorefuse to let a game beat them. It requires you todie a lot to learn what not to do or what path notto take. For normal people to enjoy the game,cheats are required. Unlimited lives and unlimitedtime are just the thing and then you’ll find it a lotof fun (although you’ll still die a lot).Devil , s CrushPLATFORM: TG-16YEAR: 1990One of the things that developers seem to forgetfairly often is that just because you have the powerto completely simulate a real-life activity, it doesn’tmean you have to. As a matter of fact, you probablyshouldn’t. There’s nothing wrong with the Maddenseries that a few homicidal cyborgs couldn’t cure.More relevantly, Devil’s Crush embodies thissimple, basic principle. It’s not just one of the twogreatest video pinballgames ever made. It’s also the greatest heavy-metalalbum cover ever made. As a game of pinball, it hasa loose grasp of basic physics at best, but the gameturns that into a net positive. Devil’s Crush, alongwith Alien Crush and Military Madness, is the reasonto score that TG-16 off of eBay. It can’t pop up on theVirtual Arcade soon enough.Dragon Warrior IVPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1992There are days where I’d like to live in a paralleluniverse where the Dragon Warrior and PhantasyStar series got all the press and acclaim that theFinal Fantasy series wound up getting, at least overhere. (Then again, that means I might have paidseven bucks to see Dragon Warrior: The SpiritsWithin. Never mind.) DWIV was the last and arguably the best of the four DWgames that were translated for the American NES.Pick Axe Pete!PLATFORM: Odyssey-2YEAR: 1982By the time DWIV rolled around, the relentless grindinghad been toned down some, in favor of a huge partythat you gradually assembled over the course of fivechapters. This game, to some extent, was my FinalFantasy VII; DWIV’s cast and scenario occupied adisturbing amount of my brainspace for several years.It may be the finest RPG on the NES, and it might’vebeen the finest console RPG in the world right up untilPhantasy Star IV came out.The Odyssey, looking back on it, was almostembarrassing. It existed almost entirely to play badripoffs of popular Atari 2600 games, including twodifferent bold-faced Pac-Man clones (one of which,KC’s Krazy Chase, was actually pretty good).It had some occasional moments of inspiration,though, one of which was Pick Axe Pete!It wouldn’t exist without Donkey Kong, butPick Axe Pete! has its own style. You play asa miner avoiding falling boulders, timing ajump or duck to avoid the boulders’ randombounce patterns, while trying to collectkeys. At the same time, all the ladders arerandomized, turning this into somethingbetween a twitch game and a protoplatformer.I played this for about... 1983.Yeah, that sounds right. All of 1983.Wanderer , s PicksA Boy and His BlobPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1989David Crane, thecreator of Pitfall,put this odd gametogether for theNES in 1989. It was,and probably is,the definition of“idiosyncratic” ina host of differentways. A Boy andHis Blob is a deeplybizarre, decidedlyflawed game thatwas nonetheless a complete trip. It’s easy to cheatyourself out of victory by doing too much jellybeanexperimenting in the first five minutes of the game,and there are a couple oftreasure chests that canseemingly only be obtainedvia divine intervention. Forall that, though, this is stillone of the lesser-knowntreasures on the NES. It’sa short, one-way ride,but it’s one that you’llremember fondly.GyrussPLATFORM: NESYEAR: 1988Even now, yourshooter options aredangerously limited.Would you like yourquixotic battleagainst uncountablealien legions to betop-down or sidescrolling?Those, sir,are your options.Gyruss, on the otherhand, allows you tosave the galaxy while playing the role of some kind ofxenocidal Scrubbing Bubble, much like Tempest. It wasone of Konami’s stealth releases under the Ultra imprint,and as such, it has alittle bit in common withthe Gradius series. Thegraphics are top-notch,the bosses are inventiveand bizarre, and thechallenge factor iskick-you-in-the-beanbagintense. Fortunately, ithas an odd backwardsKonami Code.48_cover story_RETRO A GO-GOHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedRETRO A GO-GO_cover story_49

Ashura , s PicksSonic CDPLATFORM: Sega CDYEAR: 1993Sonic CD is easily the alternate road that the Sonic seriescould’ve taken if Naoto Oshima was in charge instead of YujiNaka. This weird little gem came about when Naka and half ofSonic Team left for America (making Sonic 2), and left Oshima to his own devices. What cameout was a darker, slower-paced Sonic the Hedgehog with awesome music and an animatedintro. In this game, Sonic must save the time-traveling Little Planet from the chainy bondageof Dr. Eggman. Instead of just heading to the goal, Sonic must go back and forth in timeand fix the past to save the future. Each stage has 4 different iterations: Past, Present, BadFuture, and Good Future. Make everything a good future? Good ending! The game feels muchdifferent than its successors, especially with the alternatetake on the spin-dash and the mostly abandoned infinitumdash. The levels themselves are more puzzle based, and themusic (in the Japanese version) is haunting. Forget about thenext-gen Sonic. Naka and Oshima were the ying and yang ofSonic Team, and without them the only thing left now is wang.This game was worth it when I traded 3 PSX games for it, andit still is now. Toot Toot Sonic Warrior.Metal Slug 2PLATFORM: Neo GeoYEAR: 1998The iron cavalrymen areback in hell! The evilDEMON GOD REBIRTHGeneral Morden returnsand Macro and Tarma mustdefend the Earth againsthis evil army with the helpof two new members ofSPARROWS, Eri and Fio,and of course the Metal Slug. If you’ve never played it,Metal Slug is a great series of comedic run-and-gun gamessimilar to Contra. The concept of the game is simple: Yourun around in a flurry of chaos, collect weapons, shootenemies, jump in vehicles, and save the Jesus-dudes. Er,I mean, refugees. Metal Slug 2 introduces many of theseries’s staples, such as the item-carrying Rumi Aikawa,the hadouken-shooting Hyakutaru Ichimonji, the ‘oooh big’and mummy transformations, Mars People, and everyone’sfavorite: Camel Slug. Though it’s a little less balanced,difficulty-wise, than the first iteration, MS2 is my favoritejust for all the other awesome it contains. Yes, even over X.Just one question: What’s a Rocket Louncher?Since Atari first licensedSpace Invaders fromTaito for the Atari VCSand little Ricky Strattonhad his very own homearcade, consumers haveclamored for the abilityto play an arcade gamein their home. Even theclassic Colecovision boldly stamped “PlaysLike the Real Arcade Game” on the retailboxes of its home conversions of now-classiccoin-operated games.Fast forward to the modern day, and you’llnotice the giant arcades of the ‘80s are nowrarities. Most of the arcades have closed theirdoors, and your antiquated consoles havelong since been sold in a yard sale or havemelted in the attic. You still want to playthe classics, and now they are nowhere to befound. You want to relive the good ol’ days ofsitting on a stool in a dark room with a blueneon glow engulfing your pale body. Well, myfriend, prepare to be floored, because yourchildhood dreams of having an entire arcadein your own home are now possible!First, you should know that there are several“arcade alleys” that you can choose. Thereare highly technical routes available forthe do-it-yourself type that likes to diginto a hobby. There are also options forthose people who are more timid aroundtechnology, who just want to take a strolldown memory lane.The first and most obvious option is to simplypurchase an actual arcade coin-operatedmachine and place it in your home. However,if you are into the classics, you will comePongPLATFORM: ArcadeYEAR: 1972Pong is this greatgame with twolines and a dot. Theobject of this gameis that you have tokeep that dot fromever escaping yoursight by bouncingit around with theclever use of those aforementioned lines. It isrumored that if you ever let the dot continue pastthe confines of the semi-rectangular viewing area,Armageddon will befall man and your girlfriend willdump you for Phillip the Elevator Operator. Said tobe much like ping-pong, not much is known aboutthis classic as it has been lost forever due to globalwarming and the evil machinations of Adolf Hitler.Its creation predating the discovery of bacon,most current information about Pong is actuallyextrapolated from the little-known Ms. Pong,which is said to be exactly like the original Pongonly the pixel is colored pink. Legends abound ofan almost arcade perfect port of Pong for the Atari2600, though no one knows for sure. There weretalks of a port of Grand Theft Auto for the Atari2600, as well. It went something like this: OH SNAPTHE RED PIXEL JUST TOTALLY JACKED THE YELLOWPIXEL FOR HISGREEN PIXELAND... very slowlymoved to the rightside of the screen.Above is anartist’s conceptionof what Pong mayhave looked like.Popful MailPLATFORM: Sega CDYEAR: 1994This 2D action platformer started life on the PC-88 of all places,and was later ported to the Sega CD with massive updates includingbeautiful sprite art and 20 minutes of animation. The game followsthree adventurers that you can switch between at will: Mail, a greedy elven warrior looking formoney, Tatt, a magician’s apprentice looking for his master, and Gaw, a purpley blob thing which canjump really high. This of course can alter the gameplay from melee, to projectile, to, uh... jumpinghigh depending on who you’re playing. PM was one of the first games where 99% of the dialogue wasspoken as well, so depending on which character you’re using at the time, the dialogue can changedrastically. These bits of speech and animation are half the fun of the game,and a lot is owed to Working Designs’s localization in conjunction with Sega’swork improving gameplay for the Sega CD version. Castlevania: Symphonyof the Night and its successors owe more to this game than it does Metroid.Gigantic Bosses, Item System, Status Effects, on-the-fly character changing,it’s all there. Do yourself a favor and seek it out.Twinkle Star SpritesPLATFORM: Neo GeoYEAR: 1996Twinkle Star Sprites is what happens when a shmup and a puzzlegame collide together and have a traffic accident (4 people died!)of epic proportions. In this game you play Load Ran (yeah), and youmust fight your way through various weirdos which spout the mostexquisitely crafted Engrish evar. You are presented with a screen divided in half, one side with you,and the other with your opponentos. The object of the game is to shoot anything which comes at you,which in turn shoots the things you just shot onto your opponent’sside. The bigger combo of destruction you create, the more stuffyou throw at your enemy! Take away all their hearts, and you arethe winnar. And so is the game. Find this one and take it to partieswith you; I guarantee people will play it for hours. Unfortunatelythat’s the catch — this game is a little hard to find. Don’t be brue,reader; lucky for you they just re-released the sequel for PS2 (LaPetite Princesse), and this game is an unlockable on it. Hooray! Letus all munch sweet tacos!GAME NOT OVERto realize that a lot of those machines have just not agedwell over the years and require a great deal of work to keepthem in working order. At this point you are partaking in yetanother hobby, that of restoration and repair, which takesan enormous amount of mechanical and electrical skill.Of course, there are several groups that still dealwith pieces and parts such as joysticks, spinners,trackballs, light guns, steering wheels, sound systems,and buttons. These groups can sell you parts outright,or become hired hands that will actuallyrecondition a vintage coin-op machine foryou... for a fee. If you’re good with yourhands, then by all means jump right inand watch your hobby and wealth ofknowledge grow in spades!Of course, having one coin-op game inyour home is fine, but once you haveit, you’ll quickly learn that one justisn’t enough. That’s where the beautyof emulation comes in, which can leadto cabinets that pack dozens and eventhousands of games into a single unit.In early 1997, what are now typicallyreferred to as emulators began toappear. The most popular is M.A.M.E.,Plays Like the Real Arcade Game and KeepYour Quarterby: Michael Thomasson of GoodDealGames.comshort for the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.This handy hobbyist-made program emulatesthe actual arcade games using dumps (end usersupplied) of the original read-only memory(ROM), and has evolved to be enormous overthe years. Those thirsty to replay all the gamesof the past can currently pick from just shy of4,000 individual games to play using M.A.M.E.By placing a standard computer within the baseof an arcade machine, one can make a full-sizeunit that is capable of playing the majorityof all the arcade games that have ever beencreated. However, we strongly suggest that youdo not buy an arcade cabinet with a computerinside running M.A.M.E. with thousands of ROMsalready installed. That would violate all kinds oflaws and hurt everyone involved, including theM.A.M.E. developers. Instead, we’d rather seeyou take the time to populate your home-madecabinet with a collection of your favorite legal50_cover story_RETRO A GO-GOHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedRETRO A GO-GO_cover story_51

classics, and only use M.A.M.E. for the ones you absolutely can’tlegally obtain otherwise. It’s much easier to stay legal nowadaysthan when emulation was in its infancy.If you have noticed a resurgence of classic gaming in the pastdecade, you are not alone. Dozens of publishers with a historyto profit from have been releasing game compilations to cash inon the popularity of the retrogaming scene. Several releases forconsoles and PC have been published, and many titles are nowalso available for download through services likeGameTap, Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, andNintendo Wii’s Virtual Console. GameTap is anespecially great option for access to hundredsof classics inside an arcade cabinet. Some gameshave fallen into the public domain as abandonwareby publishers that no longer exist or whose assetswere never sold prior to closing their doors andupon completion of bankruptcy. A few games haveeven been generously donated with permission ofthe original developers. However, it can be veryconfusing and often difficult to determine whichgames are legal and which are not. While it isdoubtful that Mappy of the Micro Police, or anactual law officer, would come a-knockin’ on yourdoor, many of us choose to respect such copyrightissues. Other legal options are available.For example, My Big Games (http://www.mybiggames.com) has released two full-size units available atmany big-box retailers such as JC Penney, Target and Wal-Mart forfive hundred smackers each. These cabinets feature twelve fullylicensedgames each by either Midway or Konami. However, theywould definitely not have survived in an arcade. They are cheaplymade and unlikely to satisfy any hardcore gamers.More durable and expanded options are available through AwesomeArcades in the form of their AC-605SP Arcade Center ($1799) andtheir smartly designed Personal Arcade Machine, also known asP.A.M. ($1300). A particularly nice feature of P.A.M. is that she isdesigned for a smaller room or office. Furthermore, the PersonalArcade Machine is portable. P.A.M. can be removed from herpedestal for easy relocation to a desk, bar top, or any other freespace. These machines include a whopping one hundred fortysixgames total. They currently play eighty-one legally licensedarcade games and sixty-five Atari 2600 console games. A full list isavailable online at their website (http://www.awecades.com), andtheir library is ever-expanding.The units by My Big Games and Awesome Arcades are fullyloaded and ready to go from the moment you open the crate. Notechnical set-up is required for either of these units; no diagramsare needed, no tools are necessary, there’s nohardware to assemble, and there’s no software toinstall; there’s no hassle! You just plug ‘em in andplay until your heart is content.SUPPORTING INFOThe My Big Games Midway version offers the classicarcade titles Bubbles, Defender, Defender II,Joust, Rampage, Robotron, Root Beer Tapper,Satan’s Hollow, Sinistar, Splat, Timber andWizard of Wor.Additionally, Blades of Steel, Castlevania,Contra, Frogger, Green Beret, Gyruss, HyperSports, Jungler, Scramble, Shao-Lin’s Road,Super Basketball and Time Pilot ’84 are availablefor play on the Konami edition by My Big Games.M.A.M.E.SUPPORTING INFOOtherDaphneFinal BurnMESSModelerNebulaZincRainehttp://www.mame.netEmulators:http://www.daphne-emu.com/site3/index_hi.phpDaphne emulates only Laserdiscgames, including Dragon’s Lairand Space Ace.http://www.finalburn.com/An alternative to M.A.M.E., FinalBurn emulates many arcade gamesnot emulated by other emulators.http://www.mess.org/Multiple Emulator Super System.Emulates 100’s of old console andhome computer systems.http://www.emuhype.com/Modeler is the origin of the V60CPU core emulation, used in SegaSystem 32 games.http://nebula.emulatronia.com/Nebula emulates Neo Geo, games,Sega Model 2B CRX and 2C CRXgames including Dead or Alive.http://www.emuhype.com/Zinc is the emulator for arcadePSX-based games, such as theSony ZN-1, ZN-2 and NamcoSystem 11 hardware, used by SoulEdge, Tekken games, and more.http://www.rainemu.com/Raine emulates arcade titleslike M.A.M.E. but requires lessresources so it operates moreefficiently on older computers.Visual Pinball http://www.randydavis.com/vp/3D pinball program that playsrebuilt versions of classicpinball tables and emulates thescoreboards using pinMAME.If your home is just too small to house an actual full-size arcademachine, or your wife wouldn’t appreciate a hulking box in her diningroom, then the $1799 Arcade in a Box (http://www.arcadeinabox.com) might be an alternate solution. This nifty box includesthe computer and controls in a portable self-containedunit that simply hooks up to a television viaan S-Video connection, and transformsyour family room TV into amega arcade.If you have a lot of quarters (23,900, to be exact) you can add thecommercial UltraCade Showcase multi-game arcade systemto your home. This heavyweight contains 86 games andcan be upgraded with many more licensed game packs.While the UltraCade can be programmed to operateon “Free Play,” you may want to have your friends usethe coin slot to try and recoup some of those quarters!UltraCade does have three other models available,but if you are going to plunk down this kind of cash forthe “real deal” then go for it all! For a breakdownon all the models, visit http://www.bmigaming.com/ultracade.htm.ControlInterfaceHanahoHotRod SEOzStick SuperSingleOzStickUltimateSlick StickSolitaireTreyonicsCenturionTreyonicsDevastator IIDual JoystickThere are several companies that make new upright andtabletop units designed specifically to house a computer andrun emulation programs. These can be purchased in kit formwith most pieces already cut to scale, needing only minimalinstallation or construction, or completely assembled unitsready to be placed in your game room!If you’re up for building your own, remember that different games have different controlschemes, so you’ll need to have an interface with options! You could make your owninterface with quality arcade parts (http://www.happcontrols.com/) or purchase a controlinterface from several different companies. Check out the following chart to learn more:JoystickButtonButtons Trackball Spinner InterfaceLifetimeWarrantyYes No 18 No No PS/2 No $99No No 8 No No USB No $129Yes No 15 No No PS/2 or USB No $199Yes No 15 Yes Yes USB No $399Yes Yes 24 Yes Yes USB Yes $449Yes Yes 19 Yes Yes USB Yes $399X-Arcade Solo No No 9 No No PS/2 or USB Yes $99X-ArcadeDualX-ArcadeTankStickYes No 18 No No PS/2 or USB Yes $129Yes No 18 Yes No PS/2 or USB Yes $199X-Arcade TankStickTreyonics Devastator IITreyonics CenturionTreyonicsOzStickX-ArcadeSlik StickHanahoSUPPORTING INFOArcade in a Box $1799Pricehttp://www.treyonicscontrols.comhttp://www.ozstick.com.auhttp://www.x-arcade.comhttp://www.slikstik.comhttp://www.hanaho.comhttp://www.arcadeinabox.comSuper Link:http://users.bigpond.net.au/paj/links_and_resources.htmBuild your own arcade controls:http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htmSo, if you remember watching Ricky Schroeder play Dragon’s Lair in his mansionarcade back in 1982 on “Silver Spoons” and you are still envious, you can finallyemulate that experience. Now, all you need is an oversized indoor train set and abreak-dancin’ friend named Alfonso and you’re almost there!52_cover story_RETRO A GO-GOHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_fission mailedRETRO A GO-GO_cover story_53

Our guidesaren’t foreveryone.Rogue Galaxy Miss nothing. Learn everything.This comprehensive guide ispacked full of extreme detailabout every inch of the game.• Complete maps of every planet• Every weapon identied• Lists of every enemy’s stats• Every secret revealed• Too much to list here!SMT: Devil SummonerLearn the terrible secrets of theSoulless Army!• Crush every opponent• Find every secret• Collect every demonBeat them at their own game, intheir own world.Disgaea2:Cursed Memories640 pages jam-packed withextreme detail. If you’ve ever seenour Monster Size guides, youknow they’re fat. This one is ourfattest ever. We went a little nuts.Genji: Dawn ofthe SamuraiWhether you’re a novice or anexpert player, there’s somethingfor everyone in the ofcal strategyguide for Genji: Dawn of theSamurai.Castlevania®: Dawnof SorrowSet one year after the eventsof 2003’s Castlevania®: Aria ofSorrow, this sequel follows theprotagonist Soma Cruz into a newcastle, and a new adventure.Disgaea: Hour ofDarknessSecrets, techniques for capturingmonsters, all the item ranks, jobevolutions, class prerequisites andmuch, much more.www.DoubleJumpBooks.com(Some people don’t play video games.)Rogue Galaxy is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Created and developedby Level 5. © 2006 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. SMT, Shin Megami Tensei and DevilSummoner are registered trademarks of Atlus USA.Disgaea ©NIPPON ICHI SOFTWAREINC. ©NIS America, Inc. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow © 1986-2005 KONAMI. “KONAMI”and “CASTLEVANIA” are registered trademarks of KONAMI CORPORATION. “CASTLEVANIADawn of Sorrow” is a trademark of KONAMI CORPORATION. Genji: Dawn of the Samurai isa trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Developed by Game Republic. ©2005 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. DoubleJump and Monster Size are trademarks orregistered trademarks of DoubleJump Publishing, Inc.

Review by LynxaraPublisher : Capcom Genre(s) : 3PSDeveloper : Capcom Category : BRR, Chilly!Release Date : 01/12/2007 # of players : 1-16Rating : T (Animated Blood, Mild Language, Violence)Lost Planet is a third-person shooter that lets you battle it out with rivalpirates and insect-like aliens called the Akrid on the frozen ice planetE.D.N. III. You can opt to fight on foot, or using rather VOTOMS-esquemecha called Vital Suits. Refreshingly, Vital Suits aren’t simply your winbutton in combat. In some situations they dominate, and in others they’lljust get you killed. You can even remove the heavy weapons froma Vital Suit and use them on foot, à la Mellowlink, which is bothsurprisingly useful and tremendously satisfying.Much like Resident Evil, you’ll notice that you move rather slowly inLost Planet (relative to the usual 3PS fare, anyway). This is actually notoff-putting at all; it adds an engaging tactical element to the action.For instance, you quickly learn that you need to evade oncomingenemies with leaps and dodge-rolls. The left and right triggerbuttons let you make instantaneous 90-degree turns, and youhave to remember to use them.Falling more than a very short distance leaves you staggeredand vulnerable, so you must make proper use of your “anchor,”a grappling line that lets you descend from ledges and scaleotherwise-impossible heights. If this description is making youthink of Bionic Commando, you’re right on the mark. At timesLost Planet feels like nothing so much as a snowy, 3D updateof that incredible andoft-forgotten platformer.Lost Planet’s arctic setting easily could’ve degenerated into a gimmick, and in thehands of many developers that’s all it ever would’ve been. Capcom, to its enormouscredit, did not churn out a game full of bland white empty areas. Lost Planet isbrimming with inventive level designs, and offers a wide variety of environmentsfor you to explore. Along with the windswept cliffsides (where you can actuallyfall to your death!), you can creep through abandoned parking garages full ofdestructible cars, and bizarre underground Akrid hives.Capcom really pushes the 360’s particle physics with this title, frequentlyputting enormous smoky explosions, falling torrents of ice, and sprays of snowfrom the ground all on-screen at once. Add in environments that are almostcompletely destructible and dozens of enemies moving onscreen at a time, andyou have a gaming experience that truly feels next-gen from the graphics alone.There’s a gameplay kink to the game’s polar locale, too. In the upper left corner ofyour screen, you’ll notice a thermal energy reading in addition to the usual life bar.Your thermal energy depletes constantly. If you take damage, it depletes even morequickly in order to boost your life gauge back up to full. The only way to get more is toextract it from destructible objects or dead enemies, and the only way to stretch out yourenergy supply is to not get hit. Lost Planet encourages you to playas aggressively and perfectly as possible. Levels are long enoughto be nerve-wracking, often lasting around fortyfiveminutes, which only adds to the senseof satisfaction when you clear one. It alsomakes Lost Planet’s singleplayer ratherunusually long and substantial for amodern action title.2nd opinion by Roger Danish • Alternate Rating : 4.5 of 5Lynxara has pretty much summed it up. Lost Planetrocks. Like Dead Rising, The talented people at Capcomare creating amazing and unique experiences on the360. I can’t wait to see what they do next!Lost Planet hasa multiplayercomponent, and whileit’s a solid effort, it’sjust not as interesting asthe single-player campaign.It’s basically the same sortsof deathmatch and capturethe-flagvariants that most360 games offer for their onlinemultiplayer. Being able to useLost Planet’s unique weapons andVital Suits in combat definitely makesit worth a try, but the novelty quickly wears off. If you’relike me, you’ll just go back to focusing on the single-playercampaign, which cannot be praised enough.These few pages don’t give me the words necessary topraise Capcom’s enormous attention to detail with thistitle, but just as a final example: this game has the firstoriginal score I’ve ever heard in a 360 game that wastruly interesting. Most 360 action titles don’t even botherwith much in the way of music, because they knowplayers can just import custom soundtracks anyway.Capcom had to know this, too, but they went to theeffort of giving you a rousing score that perfectlyenhances the feel of the game anyway. LostPlanet is full of superior, artful toucheslike that. It’s one of the 360’s growingnumber of must-have titles.Rating : 4.5 of 54.5 of 5THE STORY OF LOST PLANETMost action games don’t bother to havemuch of a plot at all; Lost Planet has,amnesia aside, one of the most wildlyinventive stories you’ll ever see in avideo game.Humans came to colonize E.D.N. III inT.C. -80, and their efforts met withsuccess until the emergence of the Akrid.The colonists were simply overwhelmedby the Akrid’s strength and numbers, andthose who could afford to fled the planetimmediately. Those who couldn’t wereforced to stay behind and try to fight asbest they could.Driven by sheer necessity, the humans’ability to fight the Akrid improved. Theydiscovered that Akrids’ bodies containedtremendous amounts of thermal energy,which is a precious resource on a frozenworld like E.D.N. III. This only intensifiedthe human will to resist. Advancedmobile weapons called Vital Suits weredeveloped to increase human offensivepotential. Time hardened the survivorsinto bands of roving nomads called “icepirates,” who battled both each otherand the Akrid.One such band of ice pirates finds ayoung man frozen inside a Vital Suit.Miraculously, all it takes is an infusionof thermal energy into the Harmonizermounted on his arm to revive him.His name is Wayne, and his memory isspotty at best. All he knows is that aterrifyingly powerful Akrid called “GreenEye” killed his father during some sort ofenormous disaster.Wayne remembers how to fight, andhe’s the only Vital Suit pilot the grouphas. Wayne really wants vengeance onthe Akrid, but there’s far more at stakethan he realizes. It was no accident thatWayne’s division fell before Green Eyetwenty years ago, and even on a halfdeadplanet like E.D.N. III, secrets won’tremain buried forever.56_REVIEW_LOST PLANET: EXTREME CONDITION HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDLOST PLANET: EXTREME CONDITION_REVIEW_57

Review by WandererReview by LynxaraPublisher : KonamiDeveloper : KonamiRelease Date : 12/5/2006Rating : TeenGenre(s) : Whip it Right...Category : ...Like You Should# of players : 1-2Publisher : NIS America Genre(s) : RPGDeveloper : GustCategory : GirlsRelease Date : 02/06/07 # of players : 1Rating : Teen (Language, Mild Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes)For the last few years, the best titles in theCastlevania franchise have been 2D portablegames (although Curse of Darkness was decent),all of which are attempts to live up to thestandard set by Symphony of the Night.They all follow the same basic formula. Youstart at the entrance of the castle, and mustexplore it to find the relics you need to get furtherinto the building. These relics are guarded by bosses.Eventually, you’ll run into either Dracula or someschmuck who’s trying to resurrect Dracula and whowill succeed three seconds after you find him. KillDracula... with violence. Watch the castle collapse.Bonus modes are unlocked. See you next year, everyone!I’m ordinarily fine with this. Now that I’ve beaten Portraitof Ruin, though, it’s becoming obvious that Konami has goneabout as far as it can go with this formula. Portrait hasperfected the formula, but if you’ve played the other five“Metroidvanias” as much as I have, it’s very much old hat.Portrait is set in 1944, at the height of World War II. Theworldwide chaos has caused Dracula’s castle to reappear,and two hunters rush to the scene. One is Jonathan Morris,the son of John Morris from Castlevania: Bloodlines and the wielderof the mysteriously-depowered Vampire Killer whip; the other is hisfriend Charlotte Aulin, a powerful magician.Inside the castle, they find a series of magical landscape paintings, createdby an insane vampire named Breuner. Each painting is kind of a pocketdimension, making each painting an area you can explore. This allows fora little variety in the game’s backgrounds, which is a nice touch.You control both Jonathan and Charlotte simultaneously, which addssome new gameplay and an awesome online co-op mode. A lot ofthe issues from Dawn have been improved as well; it’s much morechallenging, the enemies’ item drop rate is much higher, the menusare better-designed, you have more accessory slots, and you can goonline to purchase items from other players worldwide. You can alsofind an amazing variety of upgradable subweaponsand nonupgradable spells, which makes the gamealmost as customizable as Dawn.The biggest problem that Portrait has, in fact,is that it’s too much like its predecessors. Ifyou played Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait will seemoddly familiar, even with its new features. Youget many of the same special abilities, manyof the subweapons are functionally identicalto what you’ve had in past games, they’verecycled a lot of sprites (for no real reason,Portrait is full of shoutouts to Symphony),and even a couple of the bosses are thesame. Other series can and have gottenaway with this much repetition, butwe’ve gotten an exploration-basedCastlevania almost every year likeclockwork since the GBA launched.The series needs to break newground.If you haven’t played as muchCastlevania as I have, you shouldadd a point onto my score. Dawnof Sorrow is one of the bestgames on the DS, and Portrait’sbiggest problem is that it’s too much like it.Obsessive Castlevania fans (i.e. me) may feellike they’ve been here before, but other gamers(and me too, honestly) should have a blast.Rating : 3.5 of 5If you’re like me and have alreadyplayed Atelier Iris and Atelier Iris 2,you may want to take half a point off ofmy score. This is because Ar tonelico is,functionally, the same game you’ve alreadyplayed twice before. The characters are quirkyand shallow, the dungeon crawls are almostlaughably easy, and the game’s real challengeis primarily in collecting all of the many itemsyou can synthesize. Very little is differentaside from the names and the dungeonenvironments, and what new elementsare present feel more like elaborationson the core formula than real change.In addition to items, Ar tonelico letsyou collect power-ups and costumesfor your three song maidens, and“conversations” that serve to developtheir personalities. Your song maiden (or“Reyvateil”) is in theory the heart of Ar tonelico’sgameplay; you can only ever have one in your partyat a time, and she uses “song magic” either toattack enemies or buff up your party in variousways. Other characters are more general types ofattackers, or protect your Reyvateil from damage.All this is really a bit academic, though. You’ll neverneed to exploit the finer points of the combat engineto accomplish anything other than maybe trying toget extra item drops from enemies. Fortunately, Artonelico limits random encounters with a depletinggauge as in Atelier Iris 2, so you never really have to fight more thanyou want to. You can use items you’ve acquired for a variety ofpurposes, ranging from customizing weapons to synthesizing newitems entirely. You can in turn use items either in combat, orto create other items. This is the part of the game that can getaddictive, as the item synthesis system is even better in this titlethan it was in the alchemy-driven Atelier games.By fighting battles you also accumulate Dive Points, and you canthen go to Dive Centers and cash them in to enter your Reyvateil’sCosmosphere. The Cosmosphere is simply, well, her mind. Oncethere, you engage in story events that unlock extra costumes and newpowers for her. How deep you can Dive is only limited by how manyDive Points you have, which is a problem. It’s very easy to trigger Diveevents that reference story events you’ve yet to play through.Even more of a problem: your three Reyvateils just aren’tinteresting characters. The datesim-style gameplay is somewhatinteresting as a gimmick, but doesn’t really work without acompelling cast. How deep you Dive with given characters ultimatelyjust feels like a means to the end of collecting all seven of thegame’s endings. It should be mentioned that you do unlock some“suggestive” still art of the girls later on in the game as a rewardfor deep Diving, but the imagery is extremely tame compared to,say, DoAXVB. Make of that what you will.Ar tonelico is not a bad game, although it does feel less interestingthan it should be. It’s primarily a collecting sim with a vestigial RPGattached, and most of the enjoyment in the game comes from the simlikeelements and beautiful 2D sprites. The soundtrack is far and awaythe best it’s been in any Gust game to date, and is almost worth theprice of admission by itself. While the localization is a bit disappointingas NIS-A efforts go, Ar tonelico still has some good gags and an intactJapanese voice track to offer. It’s easily a better play than either ofthe Atelier games, but still frustratingly similar to them.Rating : 3.5 of 52nd opinion by Lynxara • Alternate Rating : 4 of 52nd opinion by KouAidou • Alternate Rating : 3.5 of 53.75 of 5PoR is almost a perfect evolution of DoS’s spin on the Castlevania formula, but the level and bossdesigns are hopelessly trite. It’s a shame; the new online features and co-op are brilliant.This game is delighfully weird, but it really needed deeper characters to make the system work.Still, I can’t hate a game with Japanese gangsta rap on its OST. Can you?3.5 of 558_REVIEW_PORTRAIT OF RUINHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDAR TONELICO: MELODY OF ELEMIA_REVIEW_59

Review by 4thletterPublisher : SEGADeveloper : Psuedo InteractiveRelease Date : 11/19/2006Rating : Teen (Violence)Genre(s) : RacingCategory : Road Rage# of players : 1-5Full Auto 2: Battlelines is okay. It’s neither great nor terrible.It’s just kind of there. To be quite honest, I think I like theracing more than I do the car combat.The racing is fun, if a bit floaty. I’ve hit a wall or obstacle andspun in a complete 360 in mid-air more than once. Otherwise,the action comes fast and furious. Attaining high speeds netsyou a cool, but not distracting, motion blur. That sensation is atemporary one, however, since you’ll most likely go careeningoff into a wall or gas truck post haste. The trick is to find a nicemix between all-out speed and careful driving. Judicious use ofthe handbrake on your turns can make what would’ve been a skidinto a gas truck into a smooth turn around a sharp bend. Gettingacross the finish line isn’t quite as simple as good driving, though.You’re going to have to manage car combat while you push150mph. You have primary and secondary weapons at your beckand call, each with their own special characteristics. Shotgunsdeliver a lot of power at short range, while machineguns give youtons of low-strength shots in a short period of time. You aim withthe right analog stick, and I think that that is where my biggestproblem lies with this game.The aiming is clunky and awkward. You have to take your thumboff the fire button in order to aim the crosshairs, which isgenerally a bad idea. There is some good news, though: you don’treally have to aim very much at all in this game. You can leaveyour crosshairs set at the default and do a perfectly good job ofsmashing up the competition. Sure, aiming may come in handy forcertain specific environmental destruction traps, or if someoneis just off to your left or right, but if they’re that far over, theycan’t hit you anyway. Better to just tap L1 and boost away fromthem period.The rewind feature makes it onto the PlayStation 3 intact, andit is quite useful. You can easily turn the tide of a battle byrewinding to a point a second or two before your death andmaking a slight course adjustment or firing your weapon. It’s acool little feature, and one that I hope sticks around.Overall, though, Full Auto 2 is a competent, but fun, racer anda so-so car combat title. Seeing cars and buildings explode isalways fun, but putting it into a genuine race atmosphere seemslike an odd mix. Even the destruction derby-style minigame fallsflat. Actually getting a bead on an enemy is a pain and a half. Thegame’s physics engine is much more suited to actual racing thancar combat. It’s a decent game if you’re thirsty for somethingon your PS3, just don’t come in expecting the second coming ofTwisted Metal.Rating : 3 of 52.5 of 52nd opinion by Roger Danish • Alternate Rating : 2 of 5Full Auto 2 plays like a poor man’s version of Burnout with the inclusion of guns and the played-outrewind mechanic. Hold out for the real thing.60_REVIEW_FULL AUTO 2: BATTLELINESHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED

Review by SardiusReview by Kou AidouPublisher : KonamiDeveloper : Blitz GamesRelease Date : 1/2/2007Rating : Everyone 10+Genre(s) : KaraokeCategory : With Angry Brits# of players : 1-2Publisher : UbisoftDeveloper : Nival InteractiveRelease Date : 11/14/06Rating : TeenGenre(s) : Strategy/RPGCategory : Fantasy# of players : 1-8Konami’s rhythm-centric Bemani series shone brightly upon itsdebut, but in the PS2’s twilight days, this luster has started tofade. Years of similar sequels to Dance Dance Revolution andKaraoke Revolution have failed to evolve the core gameplay foreither series in any meaningful way, and with Karaoke RevolutionPresents: American Idol, this lack of progress has never been moreprominent or as detrimental.Though its name may suggest otherwise, KRP: American Idol is justas much of an expansion pack-styled upgrade as all previous KaraokeRevolution sequels have been, offering only a select few newfeatures to make itself stand out. Thankfully, the gameplay in KRP:American Idol remains much the same as previous Karaoke Revolutiontitles. Blitz Games’s attempts to add to this engine, however, arewhere the real problems lie.Unlike previous Karaoke Revolution games, you are now rated by apanel of judges at the end of every song, making for a significantlytougher experience. While a middling performance may have allowedyou to barely pass a stage in earlier Karaoke Revolution titles, thatsame act will probably get you ripped to shreds when it’s analyzed bypolygonal representations of Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, and...uh,some woman who isn’t Paula Abdul.These judging sequences — arguably the main selling point of thegame that best distinguishes it from previous Karaoke Revolutionreleases — are awful, if you’re lucky. At their worst, they’reterrifying. Karaoke Revolution’s polygon character models may bewell suited for singing and dancing, but during the judging sequences,you’ll see creepy facial expressions, laughably repetitive animations,and a scenic view into the depths of Randy Jackson’s throat.This is not to say that the criticism offered is of any significance,either. The judges have a habit of criticizing your lack of rhythm, forone thing, even thoughthe Karaoke Revolutiongameplay engine onlydetects vocal tone, notrhythm. The attemptsat humorously slammingpoor performances oftenfall flat as well, and postshowstandings are reportedby a very obviously recordedfrom-TVRyan Seacrest. American Idolfans will be disappointed by the poor execution of admittedly neatconcepts throughout.None of these shortcomings would be worth any consideration ifKRP: American Idol’s song list was at least halfway decent, butunfortunately, this is not the case. Here’s hoping you like crap-popbands like Nickelback and Fall Out Boy. While it’s fun to win theAmerican Idol finals by singing the wrong words to Nickelback’sheinously terrible song “Photograph,” (”Look at this Nickelback!/ Every time I do, it Nickelbacks!”) series fans looking for familiarclassics — or at the very least listenable music — will find little ofinterest here.Lacking the sort of fun additions that made Karaoke Revolution Partyworthwhile, Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol comes acrossas gimmicky and entirely unnecessary. It’s a shame that the series’srun on the PS2 had to end on such a sour note.Rating : 2 of 5Heroes of Might & Magic V was my first experience with theHoMM series, and upon playing it, I immediately lamented allthe years that the series had not been in my life. Thankfully,there’s now an expansion set, Hammers of Fate, which providesa new campaign, a new faction, and fixes a few of the originalgame’s problems.The most important of these fixes is the addition of a map editor,a series standby that for some reason wasn’t included in HoMMV’soriginal release. As this is the kind of game that’s designed to letplayers get crazy with online multiplayer, this expansion pack wouldbe worth buying purely for the addition of the map editor and itsadded multiplayer potential. Fortunately, there’s a decently tastysingleplayer campaign to be found there as well.Things have gone badly since the events of the war against thenecromancer. Queen Isabel reigns on the throne, but her characterhas changed, and even her most loyal subjects feel that she mayhave come under the influence of dark magics. Her generals declarewar on the dwarves, who have provided sanctuary for the onlyother heir to the throne, and it’s up to a small band of human anddwarven rebels to put a stop to her evil machinations. The plotlineis covered over a series of fifteen missions. They offer a widevariety of challenges, from escorts to sieges to simple survival.The graphics have significantly improved from the original,resulting in better cut-scenes that, unfortunately, make the terriblescriptwriting stand out more. It’s at its worst when it attempts to behip and humorous: try to imagine an overblown John Rhys-Daviesesqueburr speaking the line “Elrath has sent us a few more buttsto kick!” and you’ll know what I mean. The voice actors do theirbest, but usually just sound embarrassed.Fortunately, the gameplay additions are all positive. The newdwarven faction has the ability to spend resources in battle toemploy runic enhancements, providing for new strategies andstructures. There’s also a new gameplay element, caravans, thatallow you to directly recruit creatures from dwellings withouthaving to send your hero out as a go-between. The latter isextremely useful, as it means your hero can spend more time beingheroic out in the field, and less time babysitting your towns.There are also some charming little touches that have been addedhere and there, such as the descriptions that accompany thenon-game-significant weeks (my personal favorite is ‘Week of theHamster,’ which doubles unit growth for Battle Hamsters). Sadly,these touches are offset by occasional programming sloppiness,such as text runovers and typos in unit names. While none of this isterribly significant, it takes away from the product’soverall polish.While Hammers of Fate may havebenefited from a few more weeks ofquality control (and a new scriptwriter),it’s overall a welcome addition to thefabulous HoMM family. The mapeditor more than justifiesits $30 pricetag, and thelittle changes don’thurt either.Rating : 4 of 52nd opinion by Lynxara • Alternate Rating : 2.5 of 52nd opinion by MrPennybags • Alternate Rating : 3.5 of 52.25 of 5I’m amazed that Konami found a way to make Karaoke Revolution even less fun. The American Idollicense is used about as well as you could hope for, but this was just a bad idea from the start.Offers more of the solid, varied strategic gameplay that the Heroes series is known for. The presentationis still uneven (and unintentionally hilarious at times) but at least the characters’ mouths move now.3.75 of 562_REVIEW_KARAOKE REVOLUTION PRESENTS: AMERICAN IDOLHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDHEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC V: HAMMERS OF FATE_REVIEW_63

Review by HonestGamerReview by 4thletterPublisher : EidosDeveloper : TT GamesRelease Date : 11/14/2006Rating : Everyone 10+Genre(s) : ShooterCategory : Kid-Friendly# of players : 1Publisher : UbisoftDeveloper : Ubisoft MontrealRelease Date : 11/21/06Rating : Mature (Violence)Genre(s) : FPSCategory : Tactical# of players : 1-16Bionicle Heroes Bionicle Heroes works because it removes thecarnage so many gamers like but remembers to replace itwith something equally cool: robots.Levels begin with a few available robots. From thereit’s all about finding more of them and destroyingthe bad ones. Switching between any of the sixstandard heroes is easy, provided you’ve found theappropriate masks. If you take a lot of damage youlose whoever you’re presently controlling (savvyplayers will switch to less valuable characters whenthe end is near), but gaining him back is as simpleas relocating his mask.It’s important to keep every robot nearbybecause every stage features areas only onecharacter can access. Hidden passages abound,but you can’t reach them without purchasing theproper upgrades for each Bionicle.With or without upgrades, you’ll eventuallyexperience what the game calls “Hero Mode.”This turns your robot invincible and lasts untilyou use golden-colored building blocksto construct a way across some gapor wall, or until you create a beastto help you in one of the numerousboss encounters. Such battles areunfortunately rather redundant, sincethey usually just require fighting smallenemies until you refill your meter, thenunleashing a special attack and repeatingthe whole process. If you proactively retrievemasks whenever you’ve taken too much damage,victory is assured.Fortunately, the game provides new content to keepyou busy even after you win. You can go back throughany conquered stage to collect items you’ve missed.In fact, you’ll need to if you want to gathereverything. You can also play as new robotsonce you’ve bested them in battle or foundall the right goodies scattered throughoutthe zones. That’s cool, but it can’tcompletely mask the game’s primary flaw:tiresome combat.Though each world you visit is brimming withdetail and life (more than you might think iseven possible in the case of the PlayStation 2version), combat is not. It mostly amounts toa lot of strafing and is worsened by yourinability to adjust the camera or yourshots while running and firing. At leastyou can lock onto targets.Because combat sometimes isn’t assatisfying as it should be, the stagessuffer. Aside from offering a fewrudimentary puzzles, their mainpurpose is to serve as an arena for thecombat. Even though you can revisit zonesto try for better rankings or more blocks, youprobably won’t more than once or twice. Still,Bionicle Heroes is a surprisingly solid shooterthat’s appropriate for anyone who doesn’t mindthe repetition. Robots rule.Rating: 3.5 of 5Vegas is the first next-gen exclusive entry in the Tom Clancyseries of games, so it’s got quite a bit of hype tolive up to in this HD-era. Luckily, it is morethan up to the task. It takes place mostly inthe first-person perspective, save for a fewcontext-sensitive areas that pull out tothird-person. So, yes, this is yet anothermilitary/tactical FPS, but it’s a standoutin the genre.The gimmick is that Las Vegas has beentaken over by certain terrorist groupand only RAINBOW can clear it out. Youwill fast-rope in and command your squadto victory or death, depending on yourskill. The controls are standard first-personshooter fare, from weapons selectionand acquisition to accessory activation.Commanding your squad is accomplished viathe d-pad, which is really the only sensiblechoice. This does result in making movingand commanding at the same time somewhatrough, but it’s nothing insurmountable. Youshould be commanding from cover, anyway.Speaking of cover and commanding, bothare just as important as always. You aren’tgoing to be able to rush into a room or down acrowded hallway without a gameplan. Commanding your mento move to a certain position on hot or cold status is simply done.Setting them up to bang and clear a room is super-easy, too. Youalso have the option of having them form up on a door while you gosearching for another entrance, resulting in a two-pronged attack.There is plenty of audio feedback from your squad, as well. They’lllet you know if what you’re planning is a stupid idea. If they tellyou something isn’t tactically sound, listen to them.The plan may be more trouble than it’sworth. Luckily, if you get shot to pieces,you can just duck behind somecover until you heal up and areready to get back into the fray.If this new Unreal Engine is thebeginning of the future, consider meduly impressed. Rainbow Six: Vegas is onepretty-looking game, and it doesn’t playtoo shabbily, either. There is a stunningattention to detail at work throughout thegame. The first stage in the game alone, awashed-out urban area, has enough debris,scratched up walls, dirty streets, and realisticgrass to impress even the most jaded ofgraphics nuts. The requisite nightvision andinfrared goggles are available and look quiteimpressive in hi-def.We’re left with a visually impressive packagewith perfectly solid team-based gameplay.The multiplayer is, as per usual with theClancy titles, excellent, too. You could makethe point that shooters are prevalent to thepoint of oversaturation nowadays, but that doesn’t detractfrom the overall quality of the title. It’s fun, and I figurethat is all that matters.Rating : 4 of 52nd opinion by Racewing • Alternate Rating : 3.5 of 52nd opinion by Shoegazer • Alternate Rating : 4 of 53.5 of 5Are these are the same people who gave me Sonic 3D Blast? This’s quality run-and-gun, and oh-soshinyon the 360. I didn’t expect to have fun with this, but I did.After a dismal last outing, the Rainbow Six series is back on track thanks to several newgameplay implementations and some of the fiercest multiplayer firefights ever.4 of 564_REVIEW_bionicle heroesHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDTOM CLANCY’S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS_REVIEW_65

Review by RacewingPublisher : TecmoGenre(s) : Sports/SimulationDeveloper : Team Ninja Category : Pixellated Pimpin’ Ain’t EasyRelease Date : 11/13/2006 # of players : 1 (2-4 online)Rating : Mature (Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Simulated Gambling)When Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball was released, itblew my mind.Never before had a mainstream developer so brazenly sacrificedbasic concepts of video game structure and design for the sake ofsomewhat tasteful fanservice, skin-shots, thinly-veiled lesbianismand general fluff. As this magazine’s resident fanservice connoisseur(trust me, it’s tough work), I was on cloud nine… for about a week,after which, I went back to playing games with actual substance.Now, the sequel is here, on next-generation hardware; however,instead of weeks, I have sadly tired of it in mere hours. DOAX2somehow feels like a phoned-in sequel, a project that Itagakiperhaps had second thoughts about mid-production. At everyturn, there are aspects that could and should have been executedfar better.DOAXVB pushed the Xbox hardware almost to its limit for the sakeof fantasy fulfillment. DOAX2, on the other hand, is surpassedgraphically by this Christmas’s crop of Xbox 360 hits. Gears of War,Sonic the Hedgehog, Smackdown vs. Raw 2007… all of these containfar more convincing graphical feats than the game that truly needsto contain such fidelity. Why is there clipping and flat polygon usagein an Xbox 360 game? Why do hands and feet look almost like solidmasses on my high-definition TV? Why do the girls move stiffly,and act like they’re afraid to come within five feet of each otherbesides? Finally, for God’s sakes, what is up with the independentlybouncing breasts? They don’t work like that, Itagaki. Seriously.Gameplay-wise, DOAX2 “fixes” things that weren’t broken. Thefunctional volleyball from the first game is now an utter mess,with spotty AI and extra control mechanics that didn’t really needto be added. Pool Hopping now incorporates the color-coding ofthe face buttons, which makes no sense when you think about it.Which would you ratherconcentrate on, guys — ahopping girl, or your controller?The new minigames don’tfare much better. Beach Flagsis imprecise, Tug of War and ButtBouncing are too simplistic and almostbased on luck. Water-Sliding isn’teven fun to look at, let alone play.The best of the bunch is Jet Skiing,and even that can get frustrating.This is supposed to be my dreamvacation? This is supposed to be mystress relief? This is supposed to bevirtual worship and appreciation ofthe female form? Consider the balltotally, completely dropped.The one good thing about this game iswhat it does for your ears. The bouncysoundtrack makes a return, and theEnglish voice acting is actually decent.(Extra props who whoever cast Zack’s voicethis time. Boo-yah.) Sadly, this is the onlyplace where Xtreme 2 truly excels. Yourmileage may vary, but for me, this game wasa mess of disappointments that could havebeen easily avoided with extra developmenttime. Rent before buying.Rating: 2.5 of 52.75 of 52nd opinion by Wanderer • Alternate Rating : 3 of 5I’m honestly torn. This is harmless fanservice, and its total lack of pretension orviolence is endearing, but just like the original, it’s not actually much of a game.66_REVIEW_DEAD OR ALIVE XTREME 2HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED

Review by WandererReview by RacewingPublisher : Graffiti EntertainmentDeveloper : Sabarasa EntertainmentRelease Date : 12/6/2006Rating : TeenGenre(s) : RPGCategory : Time Paradox# of players : 1Publisher : SNK Playmore Genre(s) : Retro Shooter CompilationDeveloper : Terminal Reality Category : Leave No Cute Soldier Girl BehindRelease Date : 12/14/2006 # of players : 1-2Rating : Teen (Blood, Violence)You could be forgiven for thinking Mazes of Fate is a repackagedten-year-old PC game, sort of like Astonishia Story on the PSP.It’s got all the earmarks of a classic first-person dungeon stomp,right down to a somewhat unfair difficulty curve.The weird thing is that it’s a brand-new game. SabarasaEntertainment, out of Argentina, is the first Latin Americandeveloper to make a title for a Nintendo console. I’ve beenfollowing this game for a little while, and they’ve been up frontabout what they wanted to do. They played a lot of classic dungeoncrawlers, and were hoping to make a game that was a distillationof what made those classic titles fun.Mazes of Fate, as such, is aimed strictly at hardcore retrogamers.Think of Wizardry, Dungeon Master, and Eye of the Beholder, andyou’ll get some idea of what Mazes of Fate is all about. You beginin a small village, with no greater ambition than surviving longenough to become a hero. Early conversations serve as teasersfor what’ll eventually become the game’s driving plot — a battleagainst a race of evil goatmen to save humanity from extinction atthe hands of the gods — but you start off as J. Random Adventurer,with a hundred gold crowns, a simple weapon, and the lifeexpectancy of a snowball in a cyclotron.You pick up on quests by talking to the people around town, whoshow up as hand-drawn images whenever you enter a building, andwho you interact with through conversation trees. Most of thesequests will take you into caves, crypts, dungeons, towers, andforbidden temples; in other words, you go to many of the usualplaces where evil things with fat loots tend to hang out.Exploring those areas forms the bulk of the gameplay in Mazes ofFate, and this is where the retro kicks in. You interact with yourenvironment by pressing B, then moving a hand icon around thescreen and pressing A, to pick things up, take objects, pull levers,or what-have-you.When enemies show up, you take them on by calling up a combatmenu. It looks like the combat should be real-time, but it’s turnbased,and its conflict resolution system seems to owe more topen-and-paper RPGs (or maybe to early computer games that wereessentially based on pen-and-paper RPGs) than to anything else.You should expect to miss a lot, but then, so should the enemies; atthe same time, you may drop an enemy in one lucky hit, but theycan sometimes do the same thing to you. You need a few levelsunder your belt before you can really expect to survive withoutconvulsively saving the game every couple of feet.That may be the biggest problem Mazes of Fate has. It’s anunapologetic throwback of a game, and it faithfully recreatesan entire bygone subgenre... including a few of the bad parts.It’s riding the boundary between being challenging and beingcompletely ridiculous. That, on top of a generally unpolishedpresentation (the script’s full of minor translation problems, andthere’s a certain amount of input lag on all the menus), is enoughto dock it a point and a half. There’s a hell of a sequel lurkingsomewhere in Mazes of Fate, but for now, how much you like thegame may depend on how fondly you remember the PC RPGs of thelate eighties.Rating: 3.5 of 5Alongside Contra and Gunstar Heroes,Metal Slug has always stood for runand-gunaction on an awesome level.Throughout its seven installments(Metal Slug 3D/Evolution doesn’t count,though I can’t quite bring myself toloathe it outright), expertly-animatedhand-drawn sprites populate thescreen, leaving you and a friend toshoot them down without gettingshot yourselves.For the most part, all six MetalSlugs (and Metal Slug X) are allreproduced faithfully on the Wii.It even lacks much of the slowdownthat the NeoGeo games had. There’s just one nigglingbit that the developers left out: when enemies with largeamounts of hit points are shot, they’re supposed to flash. In thisanthology, that rarely happens. Sure, it adds some challenge, but notin the way it should.The presentation itself also shows signs of being rushed. The menusare bare-bones, not even going to the trouble of giving you visualdiagrams of the control schemes. Also, is it asking too much these daysfor developers to provide high-resolution official art as unlockablesinstead of small, blurry images? The unlockable arranged music is aplus, lack of online play is a minus.Seven differing control schemes have been included, and thedevelopers went all out. Some are welcome additions, such as theone that moves your character with the nunchuck while letting youshoot with the Wii Remote’s trigger, and chuck grenades by flickingyour wrist. Some are just crazy enough to work, likethe Nunchuk-Only mode that lets you playone-handed. Some are well-intentionedflops, like the Arcade mode that asksyou to hold the remote as if it werean upright arcade joystick. Finally,some just outright fail, such as theone that asks you to tilt the Wii Remoteleft and right to move your character.However, depending on your point of view,these control setups are eitherMSA’s biggest draw or biggestflaw. For all of its ways to play, thedevelopers neglected to include atraditional mode with digital controland three buttons. The closest it getsis with the Gamecube controller, andD-Pad support for it was disabled, alongwith Classic Controller support. This meansthat people wanting to play with a control pad or anarcade stick are pretty much SOL.Is this a ballsy move, or just developer idiocy? You be the judge.The lines have already been drawn regarding this one by the fans.Personally, I got the game for the Wii-specific controls, and have otherways to get my Slug on, normal-style. Therefore, I’m not complaining.If you absolutely, positively must recreate a “true” arcade Metal Slugexperience, you’re best off looking for a different version of MSA inthe months to come. If, however, you like your shooters with addedcomedy and play variation (trying out all of the different controls is ablast with friends), then you might want to give this a shot. You boughtyour Wii to play games in non-traditional ways anyway... didn’t you?Rating : 3.5 of 52nd opinion by Jeremy • Alternate Rating : 1.5 of 52nd opinion by Ashura • Alternate Rating : 3.5 of 52.5 of 5Due to dim dungeons, a slow pace, and choppy battle, this is only recommended for Eye of theBeholder fans. Curious players should wait for a price drop, while the rest can safely skip MoF.I am probably the biggest Metal Slug fan here, and the lack of a classic controller config (or GC d-pad) andhit-flash brings MSA down. The collection is great despite its flaws, however, and well worth picking up.3.5 of 568_REVIEW_MAZES OF FATEHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDMETAL SLUG ANTHOLOGY_REVIEW_69

Preview by ArliethPublisher: Sega | Developer: Sega Rosso | ESRB: Teen |Release Date: TBAGenre: Head to Head Racing | Category: Driving Way Too Fast | Players: 1-2Platform: Arcade (Sega Lindburgh)70_ARCADE_INITIAL D: ARCADE STAGE 4Sega is bringing a longawaitedupdate to theInitial D: Arcade Stageseries to arcades, completewith new graphics, newhardware and plenty ofnew cars to redline downthe hills of Akina, Tsuchisakaand Irohazaka. Featuring thenew Lindburgh platform (also used in Virtua Fighter 5)and a 40-inch wide-screen HDTV, it is no longer referredto as “Arcade Stage ver,” in order to signify its statusas a true sequel and not a simple upgrade. The vehiclephysics have also been revamped, getting rid of thegimmicky speed glitches from Initial D: Arcade Stagever.3 and removing much of the artificial balancing thatevened out the capabilities of many vehicles. Initial D:Stage 4 contains a variety of courses, playable in reverseand with varying environmental conditions such as rain,snow and day/night, as well as new cutscenes usingcel-shaded models of the characters from the anime (notthat anyone really bothered reading the cutscenes, butit’s nice to know that Sega’s going all the way with theoverhaul).Not all of the new features will be a step forward forplayers, however. Stage 4 will also introduce the IC Cardsystem, which holds more data and is more durable thanthe magnetic cards used in the past. Because of this, itwill no longer be backwards-compatible with previousversions, meaning that you’ll have to start over fromscratch. With the IC Card’s enhanced capacity, however,it now has room for a new avatar feature in which playerscan customize and accessorize their likenesses (drawn inthe Initial D manga style) with new haircuts and clothing.Players also won’t have to buy a new card every fiftyplays, like before.Initial D: Arcade Stage 4 will also feature Sega’s All.Netonline link system, allowing players to challenge eachother from separate arcades! Combined with the IC Card’savatar customization system, this allows players to sufferthe indignity of being smoked by a fourteen-year oldgirl driving a super-tuned RX-8, anywhere in the world!Previously, this sort of online network was attempted byTaito for its Battle Gear 3 racer, but the NESYS network(which players logged onto by inserting a slick-lookingkey into the ignition) established in the United States wasprematurely cancelled, and U.S. arcade operators foundthemselves unable to connect to the Japanese NESYSservers. (NESYS did not support online head-to-head play.It only provided network support for stats and scores.)Hopefully, Sega’s American All.Net servers will allowdomestic players the opportunity to race head-toheadagainst the best in Japan, or at least acrossthe country. It’s this combination of an immersiveexperience with the convenience of online playthat is a key strategy to reviving the arcade coinupindustry in the United States. Don’t expectthe American version of Initial D: ArcadeStage 4 to arrive until late 2007, but in themeantime, keep your fingers crossed forAll.Net’s online play support!HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED

GAMES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD AND PLAY ON YOUR CONSOLES AND COMPUTERING MACHINESGUNSTAR HEROESDownloaded by JamesDeveloper: TREASURE. * PLATFORM: WIIGenre: Action * Category: Twin-stick destruction# of Players: 1-2 * Price: 1200 Points ($10.00)GET IT AT: Wii Virtual ConsoleThere’s been a lot written about GunstarHeroes over the years, starting off with callingit the best run & gun shooter ever made andonly getting more positive from there. Well, it’sall true, every bit of it.The leveldesign isflawless,with everyarea offeringsomethingdifferent. Thestandard enemiesare fun to fight and swarm the screen in largenumbers, which is fine seeing as you’ve got tonsof firepower in addition to a number of hand-tohandmoves, and it all controls perfectly withthe standard three button setup left over fromthe Genesis days. Bosses are huge, creative,numerous, and require a variety of strategiesto defeat. Gunstar Heroes deserves a spot onevery Wii owners’ Virtual Console. It’s Treasureat its best, showing exactly why after all theseyears we pay so much attention to everything itdoes. This game deserves a permanent spot onevery Wii owner’s Virtual Console.Developer: BlitWise Prod. * PLATFORM: PCGenre: Arcade Shooter * Category: CLASSIC Trippiness# of Players: 1 * Price: $20.00GET IT AT: http://www.blitwise.com/neonwars.htmlNEON WARSEver since the success ofGeometry Wars 2, arena shootershave been in the middle ofa renaissance. While most ofthem stick to the tried and truetwin-stick formula, Neon Warsdoes something new, taking firecontrol away from the playeralmost completely. Instead, theplayer guides the ship around asit shoots a constant stream offirepower at unending waves ofenemies. Collecting stars powersup the weapon, eventuallyturning it from a slow-firingsingle-shooter into a high-speedspread of death.The lack of control over firedirection combined with theneed to constantly collect starsmakes Neon Wars a game ofmaneuvering. Because the shiptargets the closest enemy, aimbecomes a matter of decidingwhich group of enemies toclose in on, assuming they’renot coming to you at top speed.With a bit of practice it feels likethe game is reading your mind,usually shooting at just the rightenemy without any consciousthought involved. If that’s notworking, there are a variety ofsuper-weapons to either clearthe screen immediately or giveyou enough firepower to do thejob yourself.KNYTTDeveloper: Nifflas * PLATFORM: PCGenre: Exploration * Category: Ambient# of Players: 1 * Price: FREEGET IT AT: http://knytt.ni2.se/It’s not always necessary toslaughter everything that moves;sometimes it’s nice to be ableto just kick back, explore, andsoak in the otherworldly sightsand sounds of a new land. Ofcourse, it doesn’t help that Knytt,after being abducted by an alienspaceship, is kind of stuck onthe planet until he finds all themissing saucer parts, but there’sno reason not to enjoy the sightsalong the way. Knytt can jump,climb walls, and send out a beamof light to point a straight line tothe nearest saucer piece, and therest is pure exploration.On land,jumpingfromcloud tocloud,throughcaverns and tunnels, but notthrough water (he can’t swim),Knytt makes his way throughthe large, side-scrolling worldas best he can in a relaxed, lowkeyadventure that’s a greatchange of pace from the usualadrenaline rush.ROBOBLITZDeveloper: Naked SKY * PLATFORM: Xbox 360, PCGenre: Adventure ** Category: ROBOT MAYHEM## of of Players: 11 ** Price: 1200 Points ($15.00)GET IT IT AT: Xbox Live Arcade, http://www.roboblitz.com/Space pirates get into everythingif you’re not careful, and inRoboBlitz they’re attackingthe space cannon that spacetechnician Blitz is spaceprotecting. Under attack froma variety of enemy robots, Blitzhas to roll around the station andbring all the systems back onlineso that the cannon, currently in asad state of disrepair, can repelthe advancing horde. Each of thestation’s broken-down systemsrequires two levels full of combatand simple problem solving, plusa boss battle, to bring back upto speed. Finding the computerchips scattered around each arealets Blitz upgrade himself froma slow, weak mech into a highspeed,heavily-armed robot ofdoom, complete with a spiffydouble-flip slow-mo jump forthose bullet-time moments.RoboBlitz is a good deal of funwhen everything’s working right,with some creative weaponry likethe homing missile that burns intoenemies, launching them into theair where they explode in a lovelydisplay of fireworks. Blitz alsoearns a bungie cord-like energydevice, allowing him to connectitems together, reel smaller stuffin from a distance, or sproingtowards any surface at highspeed. It’s just unfortunate thatthe floaty controls and spasticthird-person camera can be sofrustrating, because it almostovershadows the fun of linkingtwo airborne enemies togetherand watching them explode. Itdoesn’t quite do it, though, sodespite its issues RoboBlitz endsup being a good round of mechblasting adventure.Developer: Wanako Games * PLATFORM: Xbox 360Genre: Action * Category: Twin-stick destruction# of Players: 1 -2 * Price: 1200 Points ($10.00)GET IT AT: Xbox Live ArcadeASSAULT HEROESIn Assault Heroes, a heavilyarmedbuggy drives alongblasting everything in its pathusing far more firepower thansuch a cute vehicle should haveavailable. Movement and firingare controlled in the classic twinstickstyle, with the left analogused to steer and the right tofire. A click of the right bumpercycles between the three mainweapons, each of which has itsplace. The machine gun putsout a steady stream of weakfirepower, great for mowing downinfantry and small vehicles, whilethe slow but powerful cannon isgood on buildings, bosses, andlarger armored tanks. Finally,the flamethrower’s powerful butlimited-range constant streamof burning death is good oneverything, but can overheatand conk out with constantuse. If that’s not enough thengrenades and a screen-clearingnuke are available to aid in thedevastation.While the screen doesn’t getas crowded with enemies asGeometry Wars and the like,there’s still a lot going on at once.Spiderbots and infantry, all sortsof tanks and aerial threats, andhuge, creative bosses abound.The colorful graphics and boomingexplosions are even better in coopplay, although the doubling offirepower doesn’t equal twice theenemies so it can be a bit easy.Assault Heroes is the game TotalCarnage should have been: anass-kicking mindless blaster withoverpowered characters facingridiculous odds, made even morefun when taken on with a friend.Games like this are why we haveLive Arcade.SCORE: 5 of 5 SCORE: 4 of 5 SCORE: 4 of 5 SCORE: 3.5 of 5 SCORE: 4 of 572_ON THE DOWNLOAD HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDON THE DOWNLOAD_73

PUBLISHER: AQUA PLUS • DEVELOPER: AQUA PLUS + FLIGHT PLAN • RELEASE DATE: 10/26/2006 • GENRE: ADV/RPG • CATEGORY: NEKOMINI MODE • # OF PLAYERS: 1Every game has a plot, but few have anythingthat could really be called a story, and fewerstill tell their stories well.Utawarerumono is inthat happy minority. That’s not too surprising,since it started life as one of Aqua Plus’sexperiments in seeing how far they could pushthe gameplay aspect of the already storyheavy(and much maligned) datesim genre.Half of Utawarerumono is the familiardatesim process of going through dialogue andwandering from location to location to triggerevents, but the other half is a full consolestylegrid-based strategy RPG. The way AquaPlus brings the plot demands of these twodisparate genres together is quite clever, andresults in one of the more fully-fleshed andengaging game stories you’re likely to find onthe PS2.In all fairness, the original Utawarerumono waspart of the thriving genre of adventure-game throwbacks that still finds an audience in Japan.It was originally an H-game, but virtually all of those girl-get elements have been excisedfrom the console version. Instead, new subplots and artwork were added to replace them,and the overall result is a far better and more logical story. It also means you get higherresolution,better-drawn artwork than most PS2 titles that use still art usually bother with.The original PC game’s combat system has received an overhaul courtesy of Flight-Plan,the developers of the excellent Summon Night series, and the result has all of the tacticaldepth you’d expect. The gameplay is more like Shining Force than Disgaea; which is to sayit’s more about using what characters you have efficiently than running a sprawling powerlevelgrind into infinity. Instead of making an army of characters from generic classes,Utawarerumono gives you one or two story characters who conform to each of the majorSRPG archetypes (archers, caster, healer, etc). This helps give the game a livelier andmore engaging cast than most recent SRPGs, since there are more named characters togo around. Most characters have a variety of inherent special abilities that need to beexploited properly on the battlefield, and stats you can customize by investing bonuspoints in them at level up.The green “energy gauge” that each character has is particularly interesting. It goesup every time a character takes an action on the battlefield. You can spend energyon special maneuvers, like team-up attacks with compatible characters when they’renearby, and have sufficient energy to pay for the attack, or on combo chains. Theteam-ups are vital because they’re really the only way to damage more than onetarget at a time, and how you use them will frequently determine the overall courseof a battle. Whenever a character attacks (or when Eluluu heals) and you haveenough energy, a circle flashes around the target. Tap the circle button in time withthe flash and your character attacks again, doing extra damage at a reduced rate.The combat engine is fond of letting enemies hang on to life with single-digit HP,so using your combos properly can save you a lot of grief in the long run. At highenough levels, you can finish combos with beautifully animated and catastrophicallydamaging “finisher” moves, but the timing required to do one is remarkably exacting.The story is probably going to be hard to appreciate when you play the gameas an import, especially since it’s conveyed largely in spoken dialogue and text,with the odd battlefield cut-scene using the marvelously detailed, high-resolutionbattle sprites. Digging up a synopsis of the game won’t help you much either, sinceUtawarerumono’s core plot doesn’t really cover any new ground: it’s got the amnesiacprotagonist, secret origins of the world, and political bickering between rival fantasykingdoms all down. What’s special about Utawarerumono’s story is the way its told,with a truly novel-like attention to detail. It subverts quite a few game storycliches to fascinating effect, and takes a delightfully realistic view of what thelogical end of a game character’s progression of power-ups would likely be.Despite the large cast, no character gets forgotten about and everyone getsfleshed out with a variety of personality quirks, preferences, and sometimesgenuinely surprising revelations. Before long you are likely to find yourselfgenuinely interested in who the man called Hakuoro really is, and what thismeans for his adoptive family Eluluu and Aruruu. When the game’sending rolls around, you’ll be sad to see it over so soon.Given how badly most RPGs overstay theirwelcome these days, and how blandlyinterchangeable their castsare, that’s high praiseindeed.Review by LynxaraIf you’ve heard ofUtawarerumono at all beforethis, you either hang out onthe Megatokyo forums, aresome other sort of datesimgeek, or happened to hearabout the anime. TheUtawarerumono TV serieswas produced by OrientalLight and Magic, who havein the past produced sometruly dire material whenadapting video game licenses.For Utawarerumono they werein good form, though, and theresult is a show that is not justwatchable but often downrightentertaining. The series shows signs ofbeing low budget throughout its run,much like the game, but still managessome lovely battle sequences and oneon-oneduels.ADV snapped up the license in Augustof 2005, and the first volume of thedomestic DVD release goes on saleJanuary 16th asUtawarerumono:The Mask of a Stranger. If you’reinterested in the Utawarerumonoplot but afraid of trying to slogthrough reams of Japanese text inthe game, the anime’s domesticrelease may seem like an attractiveoption. Caveat emptor: while theanime sticks to the game’s overallplot, it’s not nearly as well-told astory. Up through the show’s halfwaypoint it’s a good watch, but the lasthalf of the series is so rushed as to benearly incoherent. You may ultimatelyfind yourself wanting to play the gameso you can better understand what thehell was going on in the anime!It’s very worth picking up Utawarerumono if you’re willing to hang with the immensely long text sequencesbetween battles. A kind soul by the handle “LegoTechnic” has written an excellent FAQ that tells you basicallyeverything you’d ever need to know to play it as an Englishspeaker,complete with Shift-JIS support. Still, I hope someenterprising American publisher will read this review and get it intheir head that this is a game worth localizing. Atlus?NIS America? Mastiff?4 of 574_JAPAN_UTAWARERUMONO HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILED HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDUTAWARERUMONO_JAPAN_75

Review by WandererReview by KouAidouPublisher: SunriseDeveloper: Sunrise InteractiveRelease Date: 10/26/06Genre(s): RacingCategory: Cyber Formula# of Players: 2Publisher: Idea Factory Genre(s): Turn-Based StrategyDeveloper: Aruze/Atlus/Idea Factory/Red Entertainment # of Players: 1Release Date: 9/21/2006 Category: Hey Kids Look It’s Yuri HyugaChaos Wars is sort of like the RPG equivalent ofNamco x Capcom or Super Robot Wars, with thecasts of the first two Shadow Hearts, SpectralSouls, Gungrave, and Growlanser all teaming up.The story involves a first-year student, HyomaKusaka, inadvertently fulfilling a prophecyabout his family when he opens a magical gate.Strategy-themed combat on a host of differentworlds ensues, as does a ton of text.Fortunately, Chaos Wars is a fairly intuitiveturn-based strategy game, so playing it doesn’trequire any real fluency in Japanese. It’sactually very much like Phantom Brave; thebattlefield is hexless, you dispatch your fightersfrom a base panel at the beginning of a fight,and characters and monsters take actions basedupon their stats rather than alternating betweenplayer and enemy turns. As you progressthrough the game’s missions, you’ll graduallyaccumulate more fighters for your “army,” whichyou can dispatch one by one at the start of afight. Fortunately, the similarities to PhantomBrave stop short of implementing the bizarre“hopping” battlefield, so surrounding a weakcaster with meatshields is once again a viabledefensive tactic.Chaos Wars’s combat system is probably themost interesting thing about it. Instead ofassigning characters one action per turn withat least one “free” combat option (i.e. Attack),everything you can do costs something. AllWORTH IMPORTING?combat abilities cost their user a certainamount of SP, some of which regeneratesbetween turns. At the same time, if you attackan enemy who’s within a certain radius of oneor more of your allies, you’ll have the optionto team up for a devastating combo attack.Of course, the natural consequence of this isthat you may wind up burning all of a givencharacter’s SP before their turn comes up.It also means that in order to use your bestattacks, you’ll have to forfeit a few turns.At the same time, Chaos Wars has a bizarresort of “momentum” system. Every timea character acts in combat, they mayfractionally improve one or more of theirstatistics. You don’t exactly level up,per se; you just use a character until heor she stops sucking, and his or her rankconsequently increases.That actually winds up being a problem. Yousee, characters level up very quickly in ChaosWars, so it’s very easy to wind up ahead ofthe curve. That’s the only explanation I haveas to why I steamrolled the game as hard as Idid; by the time I hit the second world, I couldnot be stopped. Imagine Gamesharking yourway through an average Nippon Ichi game, andthat’ll be a lot like playing Chaos Wars. It’slong on fanservice (sort of), but very short onany real challenge, and without a challenge,there’s no real reason to play it at all.This will receive an American release right about when they open an ice-skating rink in Hell,unless it gets a fan translation. Die-hard strategy gamers and the hardcore American ShadowHearts fans might get a kick out of it, but it’s not much more than a brief distraction. 3 of 5Future GPX Cyber Formula: The Road to the Infinity 3 is a game that makesa lot of promises, any arrangement of which would send any good CyberFormula fan scrambling to the nearest import site to place an immediateorder. It promises an all-new story mode written by Mitsuo Fukuda andChiaki Morosawa, new character designs by Hirokazu Hisayuki, and new cardesigns by Shoji Kawamori. It promises a GPX mode where you can follow thestory of any character featured in any historic Cyber Formula race since the13th. It promises an unprecedented amount of visual and audio fanservice,from music to voice clips to character profiles.It also promises new graphical and racing engines, and here’s where you mightbe fooled. I’m going to tell you now that “new” does not always mean better. Inthe case of RttI3, think of “new” in the sense that it is used in the following phrase:“beating my head against that brick wall was a totally new experience.”This is an ugly, ugly, ugly game. The crisp detail and reflection effects that madethe original Road to the Infinity a delight to play and watch have been tossed out inexchange for something that would almost look more appropriate on the PS1. Thecars are blocky, jaggy, and cheap; the backgrounds are stark and lacking in detail.The anime screencaps that help tell the various story modes don’t appear to be takenfrom a remastered source: they look muddy, blurry, and dark, especially next to thevibrant digital footage of Hisayuki’s newly-drawn character designs.The gameplay’s not much better. While the original RttI was accessible even to casualracing fans, with a multitude of cars that catered to a variety of skill levels, here,the cars all handle like 10-ton shopping carts. You’re screwed if you don’t know howto Drift, and God help you if you want to use a Grip racer. I guess it’s possible thatthe developers were going for a more realistic engine — cars that regularly do400 kmph shouldn’t exactly be great on corners — but who had the idea to packa game full of anime-related unlockables, and then make the actual racingcompletely inaccessible to casual fans?What’s ironic is that, in all other ways, the game fixes just about everything thatwas weak with the original RttI. All the additional voice clips and customizableBGMs give the game a more personal feel, and the story modes would add a tonof replay value if individual races were worth playing in the first place. That itshould simultaneously lose everything that made the first game attractive andfun in the first place, though, just makes it an exercise in frustration.WORTH IMPORTING?There may be some Cyber Formula fans out there dedicated (or skilled) enough to struggle throughall this to access the plentiful unlockables and story modes, but the visual quality is so bad overallthat even as fanservice, it hardly seems worth it. Maybe we’ll see a remake in the future that givesus the best of both worlds; until then, all but the most hardcore should pass.Same car, same track, same location, butthe image on the left is from the 2003 game,while the image on the right is from RttI3.Yeah, apparently they just hate you.2 of 576_JAPAN_CHAOS WARSHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDFUTURE GPX CYBER FORMULA: THE ROAD TO THE INFINITY 3_JAPAN_77

y MetalboltJon Fotis and Destiny Burch, cosplaying Final Fantasy 6’smagitek armor being driven by Terra, have experienced thehighest honor a cosplayer can possibly experience. They werehand-chosen for an award by the creator of the charactersthey were cosplaying. The man himself, Yoshitaka Amano,chose and presented them with the “Amano’s favorite”award at the Metrocon: Amano’s World cosplay contest.When he first saw it, Amano said: “This is exactly the sizeand the shape as I pictured it, as I was thinking of it. Youguys did an amazing job with this. I love it. You guys areawesome.” When presenting them with the award, he hadthis to say: “Back when I was coming up with the generalidea for [Final Fantasy 6] I was coming up with ideas thatwould make a good posterfor the game. I thoughtthe best thing I could dowould be Terra and themagitek armor, and thisweekend, my poster cameto life... and the winner isJon and Destiny!”Over one hundred manhours, six hundred dollars,and a torn ACL later, all ofJon’s hard work definitelypaid off!POLITICIANS CONSIDER VIDEO GAMES TO BE AS DANGEROUS AS GUNS AND NARCOTICS.AND THEY’RE SPENDING $90 MILLION TO PROVE IT.Cos-play (kos-plä)v. A combination of the words costume andplay. People known as “cosplayers” dress up astheir favorite characters from anime, movies,and video games.Photos by: risingsun.netFight back at www.theeca.com78_COSPLAYHARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 8_FISSION MAILEDCopyright © 2006 Entertainment Consumers Association. All rights reserved.

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Character Wayne by ©Lee Byung Hun/FANTOM CO., LTD., ©CAPCOM CO., LTD. 2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAPCOM and the CAPCOM LOGO are registered trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTD. LOST PLANET is a trademark ofCAPCOM CO., LTD. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, the Xbox logos, and the Xbox Live logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. The ratings icon is a registeredtrademark of the Entertainment Software Association. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners.

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