After a long day of rolling katamaris, the Prince of All Cosmos likes to roll something else and play some vinyl. No wonder his dad is disappointed in him.
Check it: More Katamari on Albotas
Buy: Adventure Time Katamari T-Shirt Tee
The 3DS is getting a ton of cool limited edition paint jobs. The newest one is this Shin Megami Tensei version, which is limited to Japan so far. If the fact that the 3DS is region locked doesn’t turn you away, maybe the price tag will. You can pre-order one for $440 (before shipping) from Play-Asia.
Check it: More 3DS on Albotas
Pre-Order: Shin Megami Tensei IV
It’s a degree or so chillier in hell today. Nintendo finally got their shit together and made tons of awesome announcements on this week’s Nintendo Direct.
First, that awesome looking Animal Crossing themed 3DS XL is coming to North America this summer. It will cost about $220 and will come with the new Animal Crossing game pre-installed.
Next - and this is the biggest shocker - Earthbound is coming out for Virtual Console. I never thought this would happen. Unfortunately, this will only be available to Wii U owners and won’t be on the Wii’s VC lineup, as far as I know.
A sequel to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was also announced. The game looks like it plays like earlier top-down Zelda games as opposed to something like Phantom Hourglass, which is a good thing in my opinion.
The world of Mario is getting two new additions, too. A third Yoshi’s Island game is coming out. This one’s got some really weird art direction, but I’m excited to see how it turns out. The other game is a new entry into the Mario & Luigi RPG series where Mario has to enter Luigi’s dreams. How Freudian.
Last but not least, Nintendo and Square-Enix will be publishing Bravely Default next year in the US.
That’s a lot of great news for one day. It’s about time, though. When the Animal Crossing 3DS launches, I might just have to pick one up. I’m still jonsing for the mint flavored one though.
Check it: More Nintendo on Albotas
Pre-Order: Shin Megami Tensei IV
Jon Prusik, Albotas’ go-to CSS wizard, has released his handy new online tool, Steam Gauge. Using the Steam Web API, the Python-based web app pulls data from your profile and spits out the storage space needed to install your complete library, along with the value of the collection. Check it out here.
Check it: More Valve posts from Albotas
Buy: Official Portal Weighted Companion Cube Plush
![Pre-Orders are up for DoDonPachi: Saidaioujou
Get ready to be obliterated over and over again. Cave’s (presumably) final Xbox 360 port will be released on May 30. Play-Asia are currently taking pre-orders, with a shipped total of under $80. That’s for the regular edition at least. There’s also a limited edition and and super limited edition. I was able to 1CC DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu after a month or so of practice. Hopefully I can pull off a 1CC on this one.
Warning: This is an import. It hasn’t been confirmed to work on non-Japanese 360s.
Check it: Albotas' Favorite Shmups EverPre-order: Dodonpachi Saidaioujou [Regular Edition] (Xbox360)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/8202447545b755dabff12f538f7f6936/tumblr_mk8ybbtPNc1qbg80vo1_1280.jpg)
Get ready to be obliterated over and over again. Cave’s (presumably) final Xbox 360 port will be released on May 30. Play-Asia are currently taking pre-orders, with a shipped total of under $80. That’s for the regular edition at least. There’s also a limited edition and and super limited edition. I was able to 1CC DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu after a month or so of practice. Hopefully I can pull off a 1CC on this one.
Warning: This is an import. It hasn’t been confirmed to work on non-Japanese 360s.
Check it: Albotas' Favorite Shmups Ever
Pre-order: Dodonpachi Saidaioujou [Regular Edition] (Xbox360)
Microsoft accidentally published this image today. Albotas has heard rumors of a new Strider game over the past few years, so it’s cool to see this finally coming to fruition. I’m hoping for a new game rather than a Strider HD Remix.
Check it: More Capcom posts from Albotas
Buy: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Carson Catlin has 1-upped himself this time. He’s customized these Mario and Luigi toys for Game On in San Francisco. Love ‘em more than ‘shrooms and facial hair? Plunk down 500 coins for one of the figures or 900 for both at the show on March 22.
Check it: More Carson Catlin customs on Albotas
Buy: Tanooki Suit Mario 8" Plushy
Shoot ‘em ups, shmups, shooters, STGs - call them what you want. They’re undeniably one of the most enduring yet progressive game genres around. From Space Invaders, the game that kicked off Japan’s arcade craze, to DoDonPachi Saidaioujou, Cave’s latest release, shooters have kept our index fingers pounding on the Shot button and our middle fingers precariously hovering over the Bomb button. Hit the link for a list of our favorite shoot ‘em ups.
It was no surprise when Nintendo quickly released a revised model of the 3DS. In fact, I’d say we’re due for another in 2014. Anyway, I wasn’t mad at Nintendo for putting out new hardware. My main gripe was that the XL was kind of fug. It’s still not great, but this mint color scheme has got me interested. It’s currently only announced for Japan, which is a bummer since the 3DS is region locked. Oh well. I promised myself I wouldn’t get a 3DS until I had finished all my original DS games anyway. And I’m nowhere near reaching that goal.
Check it: More 3DS posts from Albotas
Buy: Fire Emblem: Awakening
Let me go on a tangent. I’ll admit, I’ve been on a bit of a break from gaming. The recent Sim City and Alien: Colonial Marines fiascoes have simply made me sigh in frustration. However, there are great games out there that have me coming back to the medium I love so dearly. Games like Ni No Kuni, Bit.Trip.Runner.2 and Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm have sucked me back into gaming.
As a result, hype rarely gets to me. However, Injustice: Gods Among Us has me hyped. Surprisingly, I let this one go under my radar. I was curious when it was announced at last year’s E3, but then simply forgot about it.
Then news of my favorite Teen Titan being added to the game got me interested. Apparently GameTrailers accidentally uploaded the reveal trailer, which was originally supposed to air on GTTV. However, it was far too late.
There is a lot to be excited about here. A dark comic book fighting game from the creators of Mortal Kombat. On top of that is stellar design. It looks amazing. The detail in the environment, from the different depictions of the Joker and “Fuck Superman” graffiti to the awesome special moves, this game looks like the work of people who truly love what they do. It looks like a game for fans, but made by fans. It looks sincere.
That sort of thing pulls me back from the edges of gaming. I am incredibly excited for this.
Check it: More gaming on Albotas
Buy It: Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition
Exciting news: Drakengard 3 has been announced and the team behind the amazing original is returning. Famitsu’s announcement came out of left field, but I’ll happily embrace it.
The original Drakengard was a cult-hit on PS2. The game involved a soldier making a pact with a dragon and as a result they are both forever connected. They are soon hunted down by a crazy empire but receive help from numerous other memorable characters who have also made pacts with mythical beasts.
Drakengard stands out for not only a great story, but also great gameplay. The game placed the player in a wide open field and sent waves of soldiers after them. From the perspective of the main character, the game played a lot like Dynasty Warriors. However, if you became overwhelmed, you could call upon your dragon (or in the later missions when you get some of the other characters like the child who made a pact with a giant golem) and fly around the field reigning fire down on everyone. On top of that, there were a number of sky battles where you controlled the dragon in aerial dog fights.
The game deserves a wider audience. Here’s hoping that if Drakengard 3 does well, that an HD collection may be on its way. I’m also left wondering if the batshit insane endings (spoilers in the video) from Drakengard may be returning.
Drakengard 3 will be releasing for PS3.
Check It: More Gaming on Albotas
Buy It: Drakengard on PS2
I admit it. I was wrong. I never thought the Neo•Geo X would get any more games. But a big list of games on a new compilation called Neo Geo X Classics Vol I-V has just been released. (It’s unclear if these are sold all together or as different bundles.) Here it is:
There’s still not enough here for me to justify a purchase of the portable. Most of these games are already available as ports, re-releases and compilations. The only one I’m dying to play is Blazing Star (since the iOS port is god awful. Either way, it’s good to see that this thing is actually being supported.
The FM Towns Marty was a Japanese console released by Fujitsu. It was able to play super accurate ports of arcade games and is highly collectible today. I’m not exactly in the market for one of these, but I like to keep tabs on the prices on eBay, just in case.
I was checking out the photos of one when I noticed some incredible copywriting on the chassis:
Marty is a powerful ally with the brains it takes to make ‘smart television’ a reality. With Marty, you can experience a marvelous new dimension in intelligent, interactive television performance.
I’ll take five of them, please.
Check it: A Short History of Video Games & The Compact Disk
Buy: The Video Game Bible, 1985-2002
There’s been a Genesis-styled chiptune cover of some Mega Man music making the rounds on the Internet, which has been making people ask, “What if Mega Man was released on the Genesis?” Well, it was! Rockman: Mega World was released in late ‘94 for the Mega Drive in Japan and was released in ‘95 as Mega Man: The Wily Wars in Europe and Brazil.
The game was an upgraded compilation of the first three Mega Man games. It never received a physical release in the US, but was available on Sega Channel, the satellite service.
All versions of the game are collectible, going for at least $250. Don’t be fooled though. Any physical copy you see with Genesis branding is a reproduction and is worth about $40, not the three digit prices you’ll see on eBay.
Check it: More Mega Man posts from Albotas
Buy: Bandai Tamashii Nations Mega Man Figure
What will likely be Cave’s final release for Xbox 360 will launch on May 30 according to the famous shoot ‘em up developer. The arcade version of the bullet hell game was released last year. This is presumably the final game in the DoDonPachi series, which started with DonPachi back in 1995, and is the followup to the very awesome DoDonPachi: DaiFukKatsu. The Japanese version will likely be region-locked, but Rising Star Games have been localizing recent Cave shooters like DaiFukKatsu and Akai Katana.
Check it: More Cave posts from Albotas
Buy: Dodonpachi Resurrection: Deluxe Edition (Region Free)
