Friday, May 26, 2006

Racing 100 laps & winning a bunch of sWitchblades

Well, this is my 100th POST finally. Took me quite a few months to reach and hopefully I'll continue on w/ another 100 more ;). Anyways, been busy lately w/ work and what not...:P. I've been mostly playing my roomate's Street Fighter Zero Fighter's Generations and Shin Gouketuji Ichizoku: Bonnou Kaitou (aka Power Instinct: Matrimelee) for the past 3 days. Yeah, SFZFG is an awesome compilation and any SF fan should definitely pick it up when it comes out. The US version will only cost about 30 bucks when it hits shelves June 13. My buddy and I basically spent hours on day 1 unlocking everything and getting the Hyper SFZ mode with all the cool isms (parry! Mvs! etc.) from various game. WAY FUN. Anyways, I'll probably play this game for a couple more days and wait out for the US version which i probably won't even play once i get it :P. Why? cuz there's not much incentive for me to play these games anymore as i own all the games in some form already: SFA (PSX/GBC), SFA2 (SNES, yes, i know ;)), SFA2 Gold (PSX), SFA3 (PSX/GBA) and Pocket Fighters (PSX).

As for SGI: BK, it's been a couple of years since i last played this game on NG. So it's great to revisit. This PS2 port adds returning characters from previous Power Instinct games and the return of transformations which the arcade version lacked. However, the ps2 port seems to have the Rage of the Dragon characters missing or I just haven't found a way to unlock them. I don't think they're included as in the normal arcade mode, you had to fight one of them. However, this does not happen in the single player game on the PS2. that Bobby Orogon character is pretty funny too. The soundtrack is great as all the music have vocals like PI2. One should definitely pick up the OST, i recommend it. For those unfamiliar w/ the game, it plays a lot like Rage of the Dragons which Noise Factory also developed and sooooo needs to be ported to PS2. And if you haven't played RotD, well, it plays sorta like KoF but a bit more wackier in the style of Waku Waku 7. Anyways, as you can see the graphics are pretty good, the same as RotD and almost on par w/ Mark of the Wolves. The animation however is below MotW but better than most KoFs. I was disappointed that this game didn't have an anime intro (it sorta does w/ a bit of animation w/ Sissy but then all we get are portraits) as it's got such big influences like Range Murata who did the original character designs. The new illustrations were mostly done by his understudy, Tomokazu Nakano who's very good at adapting Murata's style. Those may recognize Nakano's work on KoF Neowave, where you see a bit of Murata's style but know it's so not him. The game isn't too difficult by a hardcore fighter's perspective. Casual gamers will have fun until they play the bosses, especially Sissy. She can be a real bitch and playing her again reminded me how hard she was in the arcades. However, she's no pushover anymore as I only lost to her 3 times on my first playthrough after many years (on level 6). I'm currently going through Mission mode and i'm on the B side where certain conditions apply.

Anyways, one may be wondering why i got Masane from Witchblade anime on top, well, as you can see...she's friggin' hawwwt!!! AND it's the only show that i'm watching really. Yeah, I'm just shallow and dig the proportionate chicks...yup me and boobies :D. The show is okay and i don't find anything that great about it. The animation and fights are good sometimes but just above average mostly. It's just pure fanservice love and one might just wish she had the power of switchblade sometimes...if they're demented and have fetish for that sorta thing :P. This being a Gonzo show, on can expect Funi to release this on R1. Thus, i'll wait for it and knowing Funi, they'll have a respectable release for it, that's if they do get it. Thus, I'll present and awesome pic and covers for vol.1 and the FP cover (also my new av) which came out a while ago but was too busy to post about.



And what would a post be w/out something Hisayuki or HiME related? Most of the news are old (again, i was lazy and busy to make a post) but I thought i post them anyways for tradition's sake.
Hisayuki presents another baseball pic, w/ Mai this time (shaweet, Natsuki as a catcher next time?)
The official ZHiME site updated yesterday (and today). The CM figs for the Natsuki x Mai still creeps me out. While the bodies are nice, the skulpting on the face is just sooo off. The New Line Natsuki looks really good but again, for that price, i don't think it's worth it (On a fig releated note, Rangiku shipped a couple of days ago!!) The pics for omake 6 looks very yummy for Erstin fans, sadly i'm not one of 'em. Rad won the chara poll for males and Shizuru won for the female side again..ho hum. Speaking of Shiz, Hobby Jpaan is releasing their third My:HiME pillow w/ Shizuru. It looks very awesome. However, this one shouldn't be for the guys as we all know what Shiz's preference is ;). One scan is jacked from the 2ch thread.


I'm not in the mood to post about any gaming news today, though I will post the Xenosaga III JPN cover that was released a couple of days ago:

Lastly, being my 100th post, i felt the need to post a real chick (have fun ^_^) and a real Switchblade chick ;) ^^.
Switchblade in Action (*imagine* ;)) NSFW
Cheers!

May 27 9:20 AM edit: Heh, in relation to Witchblade, Bible Black and some, Milky updated their site w/ their monthly PR and trailers. The much awaited Akibakei Kanojyo 3's trailer is up, though it looks pretty meh. Futari no Aniyome's trailer isn't up yet as of this edit. July 25th, Milky will release 3 titles. 2 are continuations which i look forward too. They are Ane to Boin 2 and Ryojoku Hitozuma Onsen 2. Both were average Milky fares, though when compared to most other titles *cough...vanilla...*cough*, they are way awesome. Ep.2 seem to continue this above averageness. Ane to Boin 1 was a bit of a disappointment (since the source is so awesome) so i'm hoping ep.2 will redeem itself. The 3rd milky title is Ringetsu which is based on another Selen game like Futari no Aniyome. Milky is planning 3 episodes for this show. Ep.2 will come out August 25th and ep.3 will come out September 25th. I've also checked out the hentai titles for the month (which isn't much). Just have to say that Cambrian is awesome w/ it's Witchbladeness in the end :D. I'll do my pick of the month once himekishi lilia comes out since it's a title i've been looking forward to. Yeah, i know it comes in June but it's early June and I would like to include it in my post then ;).

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I've been playing Zero Collection a lot since I got it on Thursday. Bit sad that World Tour isn't in Zero 3 but I do have the PS/PSP games for that I guess... Shin Gouketuji Ichizoku: Bonnou Kaitou sounds good. Play Asia seem to have had another fuck-up with preorders and the status of shipping is now 1 week even though I had my preorder in for quite a while :(

Oh, by the way, I know you're a fan of Naruto games and playing GNT 2 last night reminded me of how awesome that game is and I want some more Naruto goodness! I order the 4th game for the DS which was in Play Asias weekly special, but want some more of the console games too. Should I go straight to GNT 4 or go through 3 first? And, if you've played them, what is/are the best PS2 games?

R8 said...

well, i don't own a gamecube but my friend (who's also a Naruto fan) owns all the game. So I usually play at his place. Being a fighting game fan, i definitely prefer the GNT games over NH's Super Smash Bros style. As for GNT4, it's undoubtedly the best game of the 4. However, i had one gripe w/ the controls and that you couldn't use the dpad in 4. If you haven't played GNT 3 (which is also awesome), i would say skip it cuz once you play GNT4 there's no going back w/ all the new and added charcters, plus you'll save some money. If you're a Naruto collector, the 3rd game will be worth it. Just make sure to get it cheap IMO (like a Best Of). The best Naruto game is definitely Narutimate Hero 3. The action/adventure (and rpg style) Uzumaki Ninden is worth picking up too for collector's sake. It's pretty fun in general and has some cool cinemas, however i never finished it (due to my lack of time and thus, lost of motivation).

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, I don't really thing much of that Xenosaga Ep III cover, but I'll be getting it anyway - its not like the cover makes that much difference to the actual game anyway. Having played the trial version this morning I can say they've completely screwed up the combat this time around (but, as one of the three people who like Ep 2s zone-break system, I guess I'm wierd ^^;).

Is there much of an improvement from Narutimate Hero 2 to 3 then? I played the first two (though I got stuck on Kakashis RPG mode quests ^^;) but kind of lost interest in Naruto not long after that one came out so ended up not getting 3. The games are an awful lot of fun, though. Its ages since I last bought a fighter (GGItsuka I'd think, though I don't think I ever played it), and SGI:BK has been awfully tempting to me. I'll probably just wait for Melty Blood:AC though.

Anonymous said...

R8 - Thanks for that. I think I'll go for Narutimate Hero 3 and then probably GNT 4. I'd love to get those Naruto RPG GBA/DS games but I guess all would be lost in my inability to speak Japanese. Hopefully at least one of the game will make it to the US at some point.

Digi - Yeah, I'm awaiting Melty Blood: AC too. I noticed that the release date has been pushed back (again?) to early August :(

R8 said...

@ digi: yeah the Xeno III cover looks pretty lackluster. Typical cover. KOS-MOS looks like a hybrid from I & II now. As for NH 3, it's pretty big upgrade. You get a whole bunch of new characters and some sweet new ougis. Most of the modes return from NH2. The RPG mode takes on a new storyline to coincide w/ the OVA that was packaged w/ the game so it's sorta neat. If you found NH2, NH3 is basically the same fun but w/ a whole bunch of new characters and moves like any sequel to a fighting game. I definitely recommend it. Yeah, I'm also looking forward to playing MB:AC on PS2. Finally after months of watching match vids, i'll be able to play it on a real system :P ^^.

@ johnny: i'm sure the naruto games will be coming over in NA cuz of the hype it's generating. i'm sure they're just waiting to release 'em to coincide w/ the anime storyline in the States (in which i have no idea what ep. they've shown up to). They want to milk this baby just as much as DBZ. DB had that crappy legacy of Goku RPG so i'm sure the Naruto RPGs will make it over. Though, they have it easy w/ Naruto since most of the work is done (I want my compilation of Famicom, SF & GB DB/DBZ rpgs!). Oh yeah, i noticed i said NH3 as the best Naruto game, i meant best PS2 Naruto game. I personally like GNT 4 the best since it's more in style w/ traditonal deep fighting games. However it probably isn't far from the the truth that NH3 is the best Naruto game since it captures the manga feel almost flawlessly, as well as anime. Both games are awesome. I guess it's just a matter of preference.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Where did you get that Witchblade picture?

R8 said...

@ somber: which one? two were from game watch (covers), one from megami (masane) and the other from triple break.