Street Fighter V: Champion Edition…

I honestly thought that I was done discussing this game. I’d spoken at length about my problems with Street Fighter V in general THEN I gave the uprated Arcade Edition a second chance before finally reaching my concluding sentiments towards Capcom’s flagship fighting game. I didn’t think I’d be making any further posts about SFV and that I’d simply enjoy playing the game from time to time (because Soulcalibur VI is just BETTER and enjoys more of my attention).

But then Capcom decide that they are going to release ANOTHER subtitled entry into the Street Fighter V series – Street Fighter V: Champion Edition…

The gaming world be like:

Now, some people are pissed about this and some aren’t but before I get into that, let’s have a look at what the Champion Edition consists of, shall we? Essentially, it’s as close as you can get to a “complete” edition of SFV. CE includes all of the currently available DLC characters, stages, costumes and new V-Skills. The only bits not included are the Fighting Chance costumes, collaboration costumes and Pro Tour DLC. Even so, that’s one whopper of a deal.

Price-wise, Champion Edition will weigh in at £24.99/$29.99 for the physical edition (out February 2020) or £19.99/$24.99 for the digital upgrade kit. If you want to simply upgrade whatever version you currently have then you can do that now and get ahead of the physical release, though it’s worth remembering that the “physical” version is likely going to be a tea coaster of a disc with a voucher code in the box for the content, so the digital upgrade is worth considering.

Additionally, everybody – regardless of which version of SFV they currently own – will receive a free update that adds the new V-Skills and balance changes to their game.

Finally, there are going to be two new DLC characters added to the game and the first one is an absolute tool that Street Fighter veterans will have to remove their forcibly-erected mental blockades to recall. I am, of course, talking about the ultra-cheap Gill – one of the most notorious and cheesy bastards from the entire fighting game genre. I personally hate Gill. I LOVE playing Third Strike…but I don’t like reaching the end of an arcade run-through and dealing with THIS shit:

“Resurrection!” Literal nightmare fuel.

Hopefully, they tone this guy down for SFV. I mean, it’s kinda cool that he’s back at last – after years of being exclusive to SFIII – but he just needs to chill the fuck out.

But let’s get back to Champion Edition‘s bundled content because many are (understandably) not too happy about this. Anybody who is familiar with SFV will know that it isn’t a cheap game. Gamers who have stuck with it since launch will likely have spent a pretty penny on DLC OR earnt the add-on content by grinding away online and using hard-won Fight Money to purchase new characters, costumes and stages. Characters tend to cost around the £5 mark while costumes are (at least) a few quid apiece, as are stages. Even colour swaps cost money (remember when you had those just for using different buttons to select characters? Ah, the old days…).

So £25 for the whole shebang is a bit of a kick in the teeth for long-term players. For one, complete newbies will be able to rock up to the party late and purchase everything for this budget price. Secondly, can you even forgive Champion Edition‘s existence and low price-point when it makes a mockery of how much you’ve paid over the years for add-ons? Let’s not forget that the disc version will likely get even cheaper once it’s been on the shelves for a while.

And it isn’t as if Capcom are rewarding your loyalty because the digital upgrade to your existing copy is a mere £5.00/$5.00 cheaper. In my opinion, the discount should be a lot bigger than that. After all, that difference will be negated in no time once the retail edition’s price drops.

Of course, there are a few things to remember. Firstly, if a Street Fighter V player has been playing the game, buying bits and pieces of add-on content here and there, and feels like they’ve had their value (regardless of Champion Edition‘s devaluing of existing DLC prices), then that’s fair play. Not everybody cares about being outraged over stuff like this.

Secondly, nobody ever puts a gun to the head of a gamer and forces them to buy DLC. It is – and always will be – entirely optional. It is – as depressing as it is – just the way that modern gaming is and the way that publishers make money. If you feel that strongly about a publisher’s business model for their game, then don’t buy what they’re peddling.

Lastly, Capcom have some form with this. If you were naive enough to believe that THIS time it would be different, and that THIS time, Capcom would “play fair”, then I only have one response for you:

This is the company that charged full price again and again for multiple updates of Street Fighter II back in the 90’s. It’s the same company that promised that it would be different with Street Fighter IV…before they released Super, Arcade Edition and Ultra flavours. And it’s the same company that APPEARED to be doing something different with SFV, and though they technically haven’t gone back on their guarantee of the base version being the only disc you will ever need to buy, they are still trolling those who spent a fortune on DLC by packaging it all up in a cheap bundle.

I’m not defending Capcom at all but what I AM saying is that the consumer needs to accept some of the blame for trusting them over and over and over. This shit? It was always going to happen. Menat could have seen it in her crystal ball thingamagic. The smart people are those who avoided the game until now because they knew that this would happen. Those people are set for a hell of a deal if they pick up Champion Edition and obtain everything for £25/$30.

Am I annoyed? Of course I am. I only recently bought the Arcade Edition, after all, and I have purchased several characters and costumes throughout Street Fighter V‘s life. But I’m still going to pick up Champion Edition because the content I haven’t yet bought far outweighs what I have, so that £25 price point still represents big value (and I will make sure to pull the trigger once that price has dropped even lower). But I went into this game knowing that Capcom would pull these sorts of stunts; I expected it to happen so how can I be outraged? This is what they DO and people are furious every single time as if they expected something different. I mean, if being charged for fucking palette swaps didn’t alert you to that fact, then what would?

In conclusion, Champion Edition is Capcom at their trollish best and I absolutely don’t blame anybody who is angry. The discount for going digital and upgrading early isn’t big enough and the package is an almighty kick in the balls for anybody who has already sunk a lot of money into DLC. That said, perhaps it’s time to finally wise-up and take Capcom’s promises with a pinch of salt when the inevitable Street Fighter VI arrives with the ‘promise’ of there being no revised versions down the line.

History will repeat itself. You have been warned.

 

What does Tecmo have against PS4 owners?

I’ve made no secret that Dead or Alive is one of my favourite fighting game series’ and I’ve also made no secret of the fact that I enjoy the unashamed smut that Tecmo’s fighter has peddled ever since its debut. So I was disappointed when they decided to get serious with DOA6 and dial back the sexy stuff for the sake of being more “acceptable” and modern. Thankfully, that change in philosophy didn’t turn out to be too radical and we didn’t see Kasumi and co. trying to duke it out dressed as nuns.

That said, I still haven’t picked the game up. Partly because I still feel that I have some mileage to extract from DOA5 and partly because I wasn’t a fan of the in-game unlock system for new costumes. However, I sat up and took some notice when the new Seaside Eden season pass was announced, compromising of a new beach stage and a truckload of bikinis. The pass is to cost $79.99 USD which is a lot of money but I assumed that wouldn’t matter. After all, if I finally took the plunge with Dead or Alive 6, I could just cherry-pick individual costumes…couldn’t I?

This was where I discovered something pretty surprising and annoying. For those who have been playing DOA6 for a while now, this is probably a really dated rant but I genuinely had no idea that costumes can be purchased individually on every platform EXCEPT for the PS4…in the West. Playing DOA6 on the PS4 in an Asian market? No problem. Xbox One or PC? We got your individual costume purchases covered, buddy. PS4 in America or Europe though? Fuck you, says Tecmo.

What sense does this make exactly? I can’t see one although I have come across two possible theories that I think are both a load of old cobblers.

1. Sony is to blame for wanting to keep the PS Store uncluttered and streamlined
2. It is a marketing strategy in order to make more money in the West by forcing punters to purchase season passes or entire sets of DLC

The first theory makes some sense initially. Anybody who dabbled in DLC for either the PS3 or PS4 incarnations of DOA5 knows how awful the organisation of the DLC was and the nightmare of pissing about with compatibility catalogues or trying to make old DLC purchases work with updated versions of the game. So it would be understandable if Sony insisted on keeping things clean with DOA6. But this theory falls apart when you remember that PS4 owners in Asian markets can buy whatever the hell they want.

The second theory also has no legs when Xbox One and PC owners don’t have to commit to a season pass.

So why are Western PS4 owners snubbed? I honestly don’t know but what I DO know is that I won’t be buying Dead or Alive 6 until Tecmo sort this shit out. Some may argue that missing out on the DLC (especially superficial sexy stuff) won’t harm my enjoyment of the actual game and while I agree with that, I also know that I purchased a lot of DLC for DOA5 and I would likely want to do similar with 6. This isn’t even an anti-DLC rant. I want to buy what Tecmo/Team Ninja are selling but it’s the principle of being forced into buying a mega-expensive season pass that turns me off, especially when owners of other platformers don’t have to deal with that crap.

Sort it out, Tecmo.

My E3 2019 thoughts

I’m fairly confident that the internet doesn’t need any more opinion on this year’s E3 but look here for a moment: I need to put out some quick ‘n dirty content to stop this blog from completely flat-lining. If it hasn’t already, that is (I’ll let you guys be the judge of that). On a positive side, I don’t plan on boring you with in-depth E3 2019 analysis or any attempt at “complete” coverage. What this is going to be is my thoughts in quick-fire format.

But quickly, before I get into that, I’ll just give my brief thoughts on the event overall. Personally speaking, E3 hasn’t made me feel moist for some time now. A lot of what is big in gaming at the moment doesn’t really appeal to me. Nor does the push for more power and better graphics because I’m satisfied with what we have now when it comes to the aesthetics. Lastly, I have so many games still lingering in my “to play” pile that I don’t really need anything else so unless a game strikes me as “essential”, I won’t add it to my wishlist.

With that said, let me jump into those quick-fire thoughts on some stuff I saw…

Blair Witch Project

This one came out of nowhere and despite what I’ve just said about not being interested in hyper-realism, I was very impressed by the trailer. Blair Witch Project looks creepy as fuck and I would certainly be interested in experiencing the final product.

A new Xbox console

A new Xbox is coming next year and promises to be uber-powerful. At first I was like, “really? already?”. Then I checked the dates and was horrified to see that the Xbox One was released in 2013! Where has that time gone? The XBO and PS4 still feel new to me but I guess Project Scarlett will arrive at the end of its predecessor’s 6-7 year lifespan which is consistent with previous console life cycles. One thing I WILL say however is that I’m positive that the Xbox One, PS4 and their beefed-up X/Pro versions were touted as hardware that would last longer at retail and thus save consumers from having to keep buying new consoles. Perhaps I’m mis-remembering though. In any case, I’m really not interested in more raw power so I couldn’t care less about a new Xbox and the inevitable PS5 that will surely be announced in due course.

Marvel’s Avengers

Just…no. This is like some sort of bootleg Avengers thing. Black Widow looks like a guy in drag. [Source]

So there’s an Avengers game which isn’t surprising given the current popularity of Marvel’s superhero franchises and the Avengers movies. Ironically though, this game doesn’t look to be linked to the MCU despite looking eerily similar. The gameplay looks okay but nothing outstanding. And can somebody tell me why Black Widow looks like a man? One to try when it’s in the bargain bins methinks.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

I know she’s just a bunch of polygons and code but damn, Aeris is cute. Aeris’ eyes > Tifa’s boobs. Tell me I’m wrong.

The first part has finally been confirmed for 2020. Honest opinion: it looks better than it did before but I’m still not sold on the action-based gameplay. Also, I think they shrank Tifa’s boobs a little bit. Because progressiveness and all that boring jazz.

Link’s Awakening

How awesome does this look? Genuine Switch envy right here, folks.

One thing that E3 2019 proved to me was that the Switch is now a very appealling console with lots of great exclusives on the horizon. The super-charming remake of the Gameboy’s Link’s Awakening is one such game. I had great fun playing the ‘DX’ version on my Gameboy Colour back in the 90’s so I would be down for this.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I should be hyped for this because Fire Emblem WAS one of my favourite series’. Times have changed though and now all I see is the waifu content and anime tropes so I find it hard to want to be a part of the FE fanbase these days. What I need to do is try some of the other games that came after Fates (the games that killed my interest in FE) and see if my cynicism can be put to rest.

No More Heroes III

A Switch-seller for me that WILL be awesome by default. I don’t even need to see any more footage or gameplay to confirm this theory.

Panzer Dragoon

I didn’t ever expect this to happen. Any chance of Saga next, Sega? [Source]

I loved Panzer Dragoon on the Sega Saturn so a remake was both surprising and welcome. I don’t necessarily condone excessive remakes over original games but nobody can deny that 3D games on the Saturn haven’t aged well. And that’s a shame when Panzer Dragoon has such beautiful world design so this is one instance where I will grant a free pass to a remake.

More Resident Evil ports…

This time it’s 5 and 6 to the Switch. My opinion on these? Just stop already. Enough with the ports of older Resident Evil games.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3

I missed the first two games back in the PS2 era because I was busy playing other stuff but by all accounts, the Ultimate Alliance games were solid action efforts and I know that fans have been shouting for a third one for some time. Also receives bonus plus points from me for NOT being influenced by the MCU.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2

It’s happening. I still haven’t finished the original though due to getting sidetracked by random exploration so I need to get that sorted at some point. I sequel that is set to follow the same formula took me by surprise but I’m not complaining.

Mai and Kula in Dead or Alive 6

It must be her winning smile… [Source: knowyourmeme.com]

No, I still haven’t bought into DOA6 but I liked these two character reveals. Kula has long been one of my favourite characters in KOF and so I’m looking forward to seeing her fighting style and breezy personality in DOA-vision. Mai was no real surprise having already successfully integrated herself in DOA5 but I’m a sucker for Ms. Shiranui’s charms (you can read that how you like).

Those are my brief thoughts on things shown at E3 2019. I’m sure I’ve missed lots of trailers and announcements but you’ll never find me watching the live streams of videogame events or sinking my time into those mammoth recap videos on Youtube. There’s actual gaming to be done you know.

Let me know what you thought and whether you agree or disagree with any of my verdicts.

Thoughts on Mortal Kombat 11’s Microtransactions

In the interests of balance, I will begin by clearly stating that I have no intention to buy Mortal Kombat 11 anyway regardless of this microtransaction issue. The game looks fantastic and in another universe, I would purchase it day one purely on the basis that MK9 and MKX were so damn good. But this is THIS universe and here, I don’t have as much time or the drive for gaming as I used to. When I do feel like picking up a controller for a few hours, I have other fighting games that I’m already enjoying and want to get my money’s worth from. I have big story-driven games that never seem to end as well as a large enough backlog of unplayed stuff on the shelves.

What I’m saying is this: yes, I am going to grumble about something I’m not even buying into but I just wanted to make clear that my initial reasons for not picking up MK11 have nothing to do with what I’m about to talk about here. I feel that the microtransation topic is worth discussing however as it effects an entire genre – a genre of gaming that I am most passionate about.

So basically, NetherRealm Studios has locked masses of cosmetic items such as character skins, taunts and intros behind a microtransation paywall. You CAN earn the “Time Krystal” currency in-game but as you may have already guessed, it takes ageeeeees to amass enough of this currency to buy anything. Conveniently, you can also purchase Time Krystals with real money…funny that, isn’t it? There are no LOLs to be had when investigating the prices however. At the time of typing this post, the exchange rate is $1.00 for 100 Krystals (I’m UK-based but using a US article as my source so dollaz it is) which means that a character skin is costing $5.00. Intros are a whopping $7.50.

Each character has approximately 90 pieces of add-on gear and if you want to buy the skins alone then your wallet will be held up for something in the region of $300 which I find insane.

[Source]

You aren’t being forced to purchase any of these bolt-ons of course and it’s perfectly possible to buy the game and just enjoy some Mortal Kombat without being parted from more of your money. But this is how publishers get away with implementing these sorts of systems. That and the fact that they DO allow players to accumulate the bespoke currencies in-game for no extra cost. Unfortunately, there is also nothing preventing them from fixing the acquirement rate so low that people will inevitably cave in and start spending real money. If you’re anything like me and have the need for completion then this will be immensely frustrating.

To summarise my main issues with what Mortal Kombat is doing using quick bullet points:

• This microtransation system was kept under wraps right up until launch, giving nobody time to accept the game’s structure for what it is and know what they were buying into. Sucks if you pre-ordered.
• All of this was pre-planned content, locked away before the game was even released.
• It is a full-price retail release that already costs in the region of £40, not a freemium or F2P game where you should expect microtransactions as the nature of the beast.
• It’s cynical design, playing to consumers’ need to have everything NOW and enticing them with shiny goodies that only cost “a few dollars”.

This mobile phone game style of making money seems to have infected consoles and fighting games in particular in recent years much to my dismay. As I said above, it’s easier to swallow if you are downloading an F2P game, not so much after dropping a stack of notes on a full-price retail release. Dead or Alive 6 has implemented something similar while Street Fighter V was an utter disgrace in my restrained opinion. Now it has arrived in Mortal Kombat too.

I have no issue with genuine post-release DLC. Right now, I’m enjoying SoulCalibur VI a lot and the developer is putting out new DLC over time which takes the form of new characters and packs of customisation equipment. It keeps me playing the game beyond the initial launch window and is genuine post-release content that the developers have been working on. It comes with a price-tag and you just buy it. Straight-up, traditional DLC with no tricks or attempts to hide monetary outlay behind smokescreens of in-game currency accumulation or philosophies of “well, you don’t have to buy it…”

But to me, these microtransations are simply bullshit that spoil modern gaming. It’s why I had no love for Street Fighter V when I’m happy playing offline but can’t amass enough fight money to buy anything – a real problem when Capcom want you to pay for simple things like palette swaps. It’s why I would probably boycott MK11 if I was in the market for a new game and my aforementioned reasons for giving the game a miss were no longer obstacles.

As I say, I don’t have to pay for any of the extra content if I’m THAT against it. After all, the “buy it if you want it that much; don’t buy it if you don’t” way of looking at things is a valid and usually accurate approach to all things DLC and add-ons. That said, I firmly don’t believe in these money-grabbing systems when the game is a full-price release. Street Fighter V was exactly the same and I waited until I could pick up the game for £15 or thereabouts because I know there would be some bits I’d want to buy but not if I’d already put £40-£50 up for the disc in the first place.

You can grind, grind, grind for alternate costumes like this…or just give Capcom money. [Source]

It wasn’t so long ago that there was uproar when Capcom were asking a lot of money for a bunch of extra characters in Street Fighter X Tekken…extra characters that had been found to be on the launch disc by data miners. In other words, post-release DLC had been exposed as already existing prior to launch and closed off to the consumer. Your money didn’t buy brand-new content; it simply unlocked a part of the game you already owned. People were pissed and SFxT‘s name was dragged through the mud. Yet here we are with the same companies pulling the same shit and now we seem content to just shrug our shoulders and accept it.

I don’t know whether the younger generation of gamers are on-board with paying through the nose for costumes and colour swaps but I’m an old-school gamer. I remember having to beat Tekken 2 with all characters to unlock everybody. I remember having to hunt down shit loads of weapons to play as Sophitia in a bathing costume in Soul Blade. I remember having to have perfect runs and then beat horrendous over-powered bosses to unlock sweet stuff. I remember earning in-game currencies at sensible rates. Nowadays it seems that everything in fighting games is either already unlocked or needs paying for. I miss the thrill of chasing content and earning it with effort. I miss paying for the game disc and that was it – the complete, straight-up deal.

When I read about what Mortal Kombat 11 was doing, I felt very disappointed. Yes, I wasn’t planning on buying it anyway but even so, I certainly wouldn’t now because I wouldn’t want to give NetherRealm my money and support such a crappy method of squeezing every last penny from the playerbase.

R.I.P Stan Lee

I haven’t made any posts relating to comic books here on DS90 Gaming as of yet (though I did have a few mini reviews in mind) but even so, I felt that it was impossible to ignore the passing of a comic book legend. To say that I was surprised to hear that Stan Lee had passed away would be a lie because I’d been expecting the worst for a while given his age but I was still sad to hear the news. Usually I’m not moved by celebrity deaths (as cold as that may sound) but it’s a little different when it’s somebody from “our” community who gave us so much and seemed like a genuinely nice guy.

Comics were a form of escapism for me in my adolescent years and I got into the world of Marvel through Spiderman and The Avengers, religiously buying the UK reprints (that are still sold here) on a monthly basis. It was from there that I first discovered the classic material and then the wealth of original US-published material that we don’t always see on this side of the pond.

This was my favourite era of Spiderman

My preferred era of Marvel comics was the 1990’s and all that came before. I stopped caring after the onslaught of mega, universe-consuming crossovers that began with House of M, Civil War and Secret Invasion. To me, It felt like Marvel overplayed the shock value card with constant deaths, major shake-ups and the end of self-contained books. Constantly resurrecting dead characters and undoing the emotional impact of their original demise also began to grate on me. I didn’t read very much beyond the aforementioned crossovers (which seem so long ago now) but I have had a look at various storylines from the following years and decided that current Marvel really isn’t for me.

The 90’s and previous were just so much more colourful and the artwork more raw and less computer-enhanced. Plus, the comics could be dark when they wanted to be dark (see the early 90’s Ghost Rider run for example) so there’s no argument to say that the older stuff was more ‘kiddie’ and less serious. I really cannot be bothered with current Marvel and the movie universe(s) which receives such massive hype. I’m not saying that any of this is crap in any way (because it most certainly isn’t) but it just isn’t for me and I’m comfortable with that.

Anyway, all that is a subject of its own for another time. The reason I talked about it at all was because Stan Lee is heavily intertwined with 60’s/70’s/80’s/90’s Marvel – my personal golden era. This was a time when he was creating new characters, penning the scripts or editing for the company. I’d just like to say “thanks” for creating so many fantastic characters and capturing my imagination over the years. You will be missed.

Excelsior!

My Plans for this Blog

Recently I have found it a bit of a struggle to produce posts for this blog and that’s despite having a great many ideas in my head for discussion pieces and reviews. This writer’s block of sorts is my own fault because I have a tendency to try and turn everything I write into some sort of huge, in-depth feature that takes a lot of time and energy to actually finish off.

So I’ve decided to switch things up a bit. From now on, I will be making the reviews smaller and more bite-sized so that I can get them out faster. I also aim to get to the point(s) more concisely by writing in this way.

For those who are here because they have enjoyed some of my larger, more essay-like discussion write-ups then worry not because those will still happen. There are many more subjects and debates that I wish to cover and so I have every intention of getting around to them at some point.

In any case, I thought I’d just quickly put this out there. To the small number of visitors who follow this blog, I truly appreciate that tiny act of deciding to follow Darkstalker90 Gaming even if you don’t read everything my brain vomits out here.

Nintendo kill off SNK Heroines for PS4 Owners (thanks for that)

Console exclusitivity…it sucks, right? By and large though, we have pretty much moved beyond these practices over the last few generations and while some may say that it ruins the individuality between platforms, I say “bring it on”. There’s nothing worse than not being able to play all of titles you are interested in without owning multiple systems that cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds each, not to mention the storage space required.

This generation has been pretty kind to me in this respect. Nearly everything I want to play is available on the PS4 with the only Xbox One exclusives able to invoke envy within me being Killer Instinct and Rare Replay. The arrival of the Nintendo Switch didn’t initially mix things up at all but as the decent exclusives began to flow, I was seeing more and more things I liked. The Switch is, after all, the first Nintendo console that I haven’t owned since the N64. That said, consciously deciding to NOT buy a Nintendo console will always automatically lock you out of their exclusive properties so there can be no hard feelings about not being able to experience the likes of Mario Odyssey if you make a decision not to purchase the hardware.

Unfortunately, it certainly does grate my gears when something like this happens, ‘This’ being Nintendo striking a distribution deal with NIS America to make the physical edition of SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy and Switch exclusive in the West.

It’s time to get my moan on!

It’s more fan service-y than a serious fighting game but I’m still interested in playing Tag Team Frenzy.

The game had originally been slated for both the PS4 and Switch. I had personally been aware of the game’s general release window and was looking forward to picking it up but this crappy news only popped up on my radar yesterday. Annoyingly, there IS a physical release available for the PS4 here in the UK (and – I assume – the US) but to get at it, you have to buy the ‘Diamond Dream Edition’, a big Collector’s Edition box that comes with loads of extras and weighed it at around £100. Unsurprisingly, the asking prices for copies on ebay UK as of making this post are edging closer to £200. *sigh*.

This is my own fault for being a bit of a magpie when it comes to having a collection of physical games I suppose but downloading full retail games digitally has never sat well with me. DLC, retro re-releases and indie games…sure, that’s fine but when it comes to the full fat stuff, I want a box and disc for the shelf. Call it future-proofing or obsessiveness but I feel a bit deflated if the only option is digital.

The contents ARE admittedly very cool but (a few exceptions aside) I don’t buy these kinds of CE’s anymore. They are expensive, take up too much room and I’d never touch the extras again (other than the artbook perhaps).

Then there is the other consideration to take into account: The PS4’s HDD space and how fast that sucker fills up just with regular game installs, let alone full games. So the options left for me right now are:

1. Don’t buy the game at all
2. Buy digitally (yuck)
3. Import a physical Asian/Japanese copy but be locked out of any DLC

I will likely opt for the third route even if means not being able to purchase any DLC down the line. I just need to get a good price which is a lot more difficult when dealing with imports versus domestic releases which usually drop in value quite quickly if you are patient enough.

So thanks for that Nintendo though I’m not sure that this game will be the big exclusive hit that you hope for on the Switch.

Bitter much? You bet!

Pigs Fly as Streets of Rage 4 is announced

Us grizzled, old-school gamers have waited a very long time for this day: the day that an official Streets of Rage 4 is announced. It was one of those most-wanted sequels that seemed doomed to never happen but as the likes of Shenmue III have proven in recent years, never say never.

Sega themselves aren’t on development duties this time around. That honour falls to a conglomerate of developers/distributers consisting of Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games and Dotemu who – between them – are responsible for the remake of Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, Irem Arcade Hits and Streets of Fury to name just three projects.

The initial trailer shows SoR mainstays Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding back to doing what they do best: beating the shit out of hoods in an urban 2D environment. Not much is given away but it has to be said that the art style is utterly drop-dead gorgeous as well as completely hand-drawn which is a serious turn-on for me in an age where even 2D fighting games have polygons hidden in the background.

There’s no sign of Max, Adam or any of the other classics as of yet but this is very early days so I see no need to start getting concerned. What I can see is that Blaze looks sexier than ever while Axel’s new facial fuzz has made him look more than a little hobo-esque. But otherwise, the art is beautiful, the animation superb and it’s amazing just to be able to have a brand-new Streets of Rage on the way at last.

The original fourth installment was to be a 3D game back in the 90’s (since going 3D by default was THE law in the 32-bit era) before it hit troubled waters due to a disagreement between developers Core Design and Sega, the game morphing into the lacklustre Fighting Force. A further demo by original SoR developers Ancient was put forward for the Dreamcast but this too came to nothing.

Ironically, it was an unofficial fan-made project that was arguably the greatest sequel to the SoR saga. Streets of Rage Remake was an incredible achievement that fused all of the levels and characters together for a huge, branching game with lots of new features. You could now play as enemies such as Mr.X, Shiva and Electra and mess with the expansive settings to pick and choose the best bits from each of the original games to create a truly enjoyable custom Streets of Rage experience. Sadly, Sega missed a trick by not picking the game up and officially releasing it, deciding instead to put the corporate boot down and ensure that Remake was pulled from the internet which is a shame because many will not have experienced this love letter to a series that Sega (at the time) had left to die in the gutter. I imagine that Remake is still available somewhere however; this IS the internet after all…

Anyway, Streets of Rage 4 certainly has a lot to live up to with both its official and unofficial predecessors raising the bar so high. What I have seen so far looks very promising however and I genuinely cannot wait to get my hands on the game.

Linky Linky to the trailer!

 

Samus loses her boobs; fans DON’T lose their sh*t (too much)

[Disclaimer: yes, I am very late to be discussing this but I’m way behind on gaming news…]

Later on this year, Nintendo will be hitting us with another killer app for the Switch in the form of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the fifth installment in the fan-favourite smash ’em up which celebrates all things Nintendo while also managing to be a hot tournament favourite for competitive gamers. The game looks set to really live up to its ‘Ultimate’ suffix too thanks to the inclusion of every character that has ever been playable in a Smash Bros. game no matter if they are obscure, a relative clone of a more popular combatant or a licensed guest fighter. Everybody is in for the throwdown.

As you can probably imagine, there is a lot that can be discussed about such a game but surprisingly (or unsurprisingly if you’ve been around the videogame community long enough) the biggest talking point that I have seen cropping up across the internet is how Nintendo have decided to tone down the sexuality of Zero Suit Samus and…Solid Snake? The ACTUAL surprising element to this is that there appears to be greater outrage towards the smoothing out of Snake’s butt than there is for Samus losing a few cup sizes since the Wii-U/3DS Smash Bros. Yes, I have just typed that and no, I can’t quite believe it either.

While I would love to talk about Solid Snake’s butt definition, I’m more interested in the fact that the fan outrage to this change hasn’t been as fierce as I’d expected. After all, I’d like to think I’m pretty familiar with the gaming community having being a gamer since the early 1990’s and in that time, I have seen a lot of anger directed towards developers who censor their games or tone down specific aspects in order to not offend. To name a recent example, it wasn’t too long ago that Street Fighter fans were pretty pissed when Capcom manipulated the camera angles for Cammy and Rainbow Mika’s intro animations so as to hide a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it crotch shot for the former and an ass slap for the latter.

I should know because I was pretty annoyed about it. Not because I demand games to be as gratuitous as possible for no good reason but because I am 100% against the act of censoring or modifying existing designs/products/artwork in order to pander to the easily offended “won’t somebody think of the children?!?” brigade. In the case of Street Fighter V, I felt that this is what had happened: Capcom hastily commissioning a scrappy edit to a couple of harmless animations just in case somebody, somewhere would create negative press born of the crazy idea that a bit of mild sexuality is obviously the devil incarnate. Let’s overlook the fact that Street Fighter is built upon general violence, brutal holds and genuinely evil characters like Bison and Akuma. All of that is fine but Mika giving her big butt a provocative smack is just not on. Oh no.

But I’m going off-track here. My point is/was that I have seen enough of these kinds of scenarios over the years to be genuinely surprised that the reaction to Samus becoming less chesty wasn’t as volcanic as it might have been. Sure, I have read comments of outrage and dismay but the change does seem to have been accepted more willingly than I’d anticipated.

With this in mind, I thought it would be fun to discuss it. Was Nintendo right to tone Samus’ anatomy down and does it even matter anyway?

Samus grew even more top-heavy when Nintendo decided to give Team Ninja the reigns on Metroid Other M. Considering their Dead or Alive work, this was still quite tame.

I feel that the place to start this discussion/debate is at the point just before Samus’s Ultimate re-design. The character had steadily grown more and more busty when you look at Metroid: Other M and also her appearance in Smash Bros. for Wii-U/3DS, the latter being particularly notable considering that her breasts were pretty damn big when the rest of her was reasonably slender. The game also included an alternate costume that placed Samus in a swimsuit-like outfit, further emphasising her sexuality and giving the Deviantart crowd much to cheer about. There was nothing inheritently wrong with any of this but it has to be noted that the character of Samus Aran had changed dramatically in a short space of time.

Samus is meant to be a tough-as-nails intergalatic bounty hunter. The fact that she turned out to be a woman beneath her externally masculine Power Suit was one of gaming’s earliest twists. The fact that she was also an incredibly attractive design was inevitable in a visual-orientated medium of entertainment. However, by the time we were playing Smash on the Wii-U/3DS, Samus was less about her action-packed exploits in space and more about her skintight bodysuit and physical appeal. The problem that many have pointed out is that Samus’ design has become less and less suited for her profession and background and had begun to border on daft. After all, those Smash 4 bunker-buster boobs can’t exactly aid her agility and it’s improbable that a hardened veteran of countless cosmic adventures and deadly battles against the likes of Ridley and Kraid should resemble a flawless supermodel beneath the armour.

So when we see that Nintendo have decided to tone Samus’ figure down, should we be less concerned about meddling for the sake of satisfying Nintendo’s traditional family-friendly audience and more interested in the fact that they might just be trying to get their heroine back to being more believable? It certainly seems to me that this process already began with Metroid: Samus Returns, looking at the concept art below:

Smaller boobs but no complaints at all.

In the Samus Returns art, the character has a flatter chest but is still an attractive design with a more than ample, womanly figure. This to me is getting closer to what a I believe a realistic Samus should look like beneath the armour. I’m all for the sexy-sexy in videogames (as my love for DoA confirms) but even I think that Samus should be an athletic woman in terms of build with some musculature. I would personally go even further with a shorter, more functional hairstyle and an even more athletic figure with more muscle.

Swinging back to the other end of the figure scale, it’s interesting to note that Nintendo originally described Samus Aran as a 6″3, 200 pound muscular woman (source: Nintendo Power) which would put her firmly in the amazonian category where you would expect a woman to perhaps have a more curvaceous, striking body. This was allegedly later re-conned to say that Samus is only that tall when wearing the Power Suit but even if we were take the original description of Samus as how she should look sans armour, the outgoing Zero Suit version from Smash 4 still wouldn’t make much sense. She wasn’t depicted as a mighty amazonian or an athletic girl – just a slinky blonde that had been given large, prominent breasts for pure sex appeal.

The original depiction of Samus…

In this sense, it’s actually surprising that Nintendo had let us have this rendition of Samus for so long because they are traditionally a family-friendly company not known for sexualising their female characters, especially in Western releases of their games. They have also been quite strict in recent times when it comes to censoring games e.g. Tokyo Mirage Sessions (upskirt views blurred/blacked out, certain costumes edited to remove cleavage) and Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water (lingerie-style costumes removed). So you could say that this change for Samus is not surprising at all, especially when the Switch is doing so well and being marketed at an all-inclusive age range.

The flipside of the argument for greater realism is that gaming is meant to be pure escapism so if Samus has bigger boobs and the face of a model then…so what? Not much else in gaming is grounded in reality so why do we need to pick up on certain characters or games and ask for them to make more sense? Gaming is meant to be fun and it is meant to be fantasy so a push for greater realism on any level feels like a direct contradiction. A lot of people like to slate the Dead or Alive games for how their women are designed/depicted and while I am aware of a much larger and more complex debate behind the criticism, the games are ultimately daft and just harmless fun. I can only speak for myself but I don’t play these games and then have an expectation of real women to resemble the likes of Kasumi or Tina. It is escapism and fantasy.

An ocean of sexy ZSS artwork has appeared online since the character’s debut, proving the popularity of the design regardless of realism (or lack of). [source: vengarlsolarblade @ Deviantart.com]

Of course, cynical character design and sexy for the sake of sexy is never a very clever thing. I don’t however believe that Nintendo ever set out along this path when they designed Zero Suit Samus. Obviously they must be aware of the reasons for the character’s popularity but do I think that they (or associated developers) have intentionally set out to gradually increase her bust size in order to sell software? No, I really don’t.

Ultimately (pun 100% intended!), I am fairly neutral about what Nintendo have decided to do with Samus. On the one hand, I can’t deny that I like the bustier rendition of the character and I would certainly be aggrieved if Nintendo have actioned a reverse boob-job purely to appease the easily outraged. However, they have given Samus a slightly more realistic figure while maintaining overall attractiveness so I think to get too angry about this would be a bit silly provided the reasons are genuine and not born out of a desire to sidestep potential lashbacks from pressure groups. And as I detailed a little earlier, I would happily go even further and design a sexy, athletic/muscular Samus that strikes an even greater balance between looks and believability.

Besides, there’s always Deviantart for your E-cup (and beyond) equipped Zero Suit Samus…

My Picks of E3 2018

I’m not a totally mainstream gamer (as you may have noticed) so when everybody got a bit excited over the likes of the new Fallout and Elder Scrolls games that were revealed at this year’s E3 event, I was pretty much nonplussed. It was similar case with many big names that were shown to be returning for sequels either later this year or in 2019. It didn’t used to be this way either because in years past, there’d be so much coming out of E3 events that I wouldn’t know where to look first and while this was great back then, I now see some value in only coming away with a few games that interest me. After all, money and time are both finite resources so not having around twenty upcoming titles on my wanted list is actually a positive thing. So what did catch my eye then?

Dead Or Alive 6

I’ve already spoken about DOA6 so I won’t rabbit on about it too much here. In brief, it’s another awesome-looking fighting game from a series I’m already a fan of so a brand-new installment is a good thing. Team Ninja are apparently trying to grow up at last (moving out of their parents’ house and getting a mortgage not yet confirmed) and tone down the boobs so that will be interesting. I’m hoping that they don’t go too far with the whole getting serious thing but I will definitely buy this regardless.

Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition

As a big fan of Namco’s Tales series, I’ve always been well served by owning every Playstation console to date. However, the last generation threw a curveball in the form of Tales of Vesperia, a critically acclaimed installment in the long-running franchise, which became an Xbox 360 exclusive back when Microsoft were determined to attract fans of Japanese games to their system. Save for the original black slab, I’ve never been an Xbox owner so I missed Vesperia the first time around and was pretty peeved that an eventual upgraded PS3 port remained a Japan-only release complete with incomprehensible language barrier. Thankfully, a new ‘Definitive Edition’ is coming to various platforms including (yay!) PS4 so I will at last be able to play this game. I’ve recently gotten back into JRPG’s and the Tales series with the two superb Xillia games on PS3 so this news is fantastic timing.

Cyberpunk 2077

It wasn’t until it was pointed out to me on a gaming forum that I remembered Cyberpunk 2077‘s original teaser from waaaaaay back in 2013. That trailer ended with a statement along the lines of “ready when its ready” and boy, they weren’t kidding were they? Five years later, the game looks completely different and all the better for it. I absolutely adore anything Cyberpunk-y that even vaguely resembles the likes of Blade Runner or Ghost In The Shell so Cyberpunk 2077‘s detailed futuristic vision is right up my dystopian alley. I’m not sure whether it will a first or third person game at the moment but either way, this is something I will almost certainly pick up just for the art style alone.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD

The (very pleasant) surprise of E3 2018 has to be a the remaster of Metal Wolf Chaos for PS4 and Xbox One, due later this year. Surprising because of it’s obscurity and pleasant because of it’s notoriety as one of the sparse reasons to import Japanese games for the original Xbox. The game is a batshit-crazy mech-style affair starring the president of the United States and while the game itself isn’t meant to be anything super-special, it’s one of those that can sell itself on sheer madness alone. The original Xbox was a very western-orientated console that barely performed in Japan and as such, the number of games worth importing can be counted on one hand. Hardcore Xbox collectors have been spreading the word for years about Metal Wolf Chaos however so the fact that we will finally be able to play the game natively is very welcome. I am still genuinely shocked that something this niche is being revived but who’s arguing?. Not me.

Team Sonic Racing

Not strictly an E3 reveal since the game was already leaked pre-E3 but since a new trailer was shown at the event, I thought I’d throw it in here anyway. Developed by Sumo Digital who were responsible for the superb Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (THE best Mario Kart game to date), the footage revealed thus far shows only Sonic characters but even so, I have high hopes for this one based purely on how good its forerunners were. I’m not sure if I will enjoy it as much if there aren’t any additional Sega characters/representation as in Transformed but even so, it’s a racer that I’m definitely interested in. Fans of the Sonic Adventure era games will also be pleased to see the return of Crush 40 on soundtrack duties so open your heart for this one.

Fist Of The North Star: Lost Paradise

Even though I have no knowledge of the legendary Fist of the North Star, I have to take an interest in this awesome-looking beat ’em up purely because it’s from the same team behind Sega’s Yakuza franchise – one of my favourite things ever in gaming. The gameplay shown at E3 looked suitably brutal and over-the-top so this is one that I will be quietly keeping an eye on.

Resident Evil 2 Remake

It disappeared for a long time but now – just like one of its own zombies – the highly-anticipated Resident Evil 2 remake has resurfaced at E3 2018 (with a January 2019 release date) and man does it look good! Anybody who has played the original Playstation classic will instantly recognise the locations shown in the trailer but otherwise, it looks all-new with an over-the-shoulder Resi 4 style viewpoint and quite graphic, gory violence. I’m very excited for this game because RE2 is probably my second favourite game in the series after RE3: Nemesis and it’s going to be great to return to a virus-ravaged Raccoon City without all the baggage and divisive direction that some of the most recent sequels came with. I really hope that this a success and Capcom follow-up with a Nemesis remake in the same style.

Doom Eternal

Old-school FPS favourite Doom was a critically-acclaimed success when the franchise was recently revived but even so, this freshly-revealed sequel was still a surprise and a sweet one at that. Looking set to take its cues from Doom 2: Hell on Earth, Doom Eternal should be one hell (I’ll get my coat…) of a no-holds-barred blaster with a lot more enemy designs promised this time around. I still need to get around to playing the recent Doom reboot but Doom Eternal goes straight onto my wanted list based solely on how much I enjoyed the original games and their attitude of pulling no punches.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I’ve not kept up with the Fire Emblem series since the superb Awakening on the 3DS and with valid reason. I found Fates to be an extremely dull follow-up that had taken too many anime tropes onboard and it had me questioning whether the franchise had become a waifu simulator. Not owning a Switch, I missed out on the Heroes spin-off and I’ve not as of yet picked up the last 3DS installment which was a remake of one of the classic Famicom Fire Emblems (so possibly all the better for it?). This newly-unveiled sequel for the Switch however looks mighty tasty with high production value. It’s certainly a step up from previous home console versions such as Path of Radiance which – while an excellent game – was a bit fugly in the graphics department and didn’t really push the host hardware at all. But then, am I calling the Switch a home console? Is it really? Regardless, this is the kind of thing that makes me want to a buy a Switch so it gets a huge thumbs-up from me.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

I honestly thought that I’d gotten over falling for Smash Bros. hype. After all, where could they possibly go from the last game save for mixing up the roster and adding in a few new bits from recent Nintendo games? How about an ‘Ultimate’ version featuring every single character – no matter how minor – that has ever been playable throughout Smash history? Oh and coming even further out of the left-field by granting the wild fan-favourite wish of a playable Ridley from Metroid? And the naysayers said it could never happen because Ridley was “too big” to be a playable character…

If the promotional artwork above doesn’t get you excited about this then I’m not sure what will. Bringing back everybody ever for one overcrowded character select screen is a simple move but a genius one that should please most people. Even more impressive is that Nintendo seems to have secured the use of all previous guest stars hence the return of MGS‘s Snake who hasn’t been seen since Brawl on the Wii. Again, I’m feeling the need to buy a Switch!

So that was E3 2018. Okay, so my “few games” turned into a ten-strong list in the end and Betheseda DID sneak in there thanks to Doom Eternal so call me a liar and sue me. The big absent elephant in the room was the Final Fantasy VII remake which seems to have vanished for the time being. Like Resi 2 though, I have no doubt it will use a Phoenix Down on itself and return before long. Shenmue III and Kingdom Hearts 3 were two other disappointments given how both games have been knocked back to 2019 now. Overall though, a pretty decent E3 showing and more than enough to get hyped for.