Virtua Fightin’: Southern Style

I travel a lot for work, which means occasionally I go to someplace interesting. Most of the time, I don’t. One day, after work, I decided to head out to the local mall and check things out, when I happened upon an arcade. Inside were, as expected, a lot of Sega games – Crazy Taxi, Daytona, the usual stuff. And, over near some of the older games, sat the original Virtua Fighter in all of it’s glory. It was so original that the arcade cabinet had Siba on it. Now, I’ve seen this before online (I didn’t take the picture below), but I had never seen one of these cabinets in person. Did it change my life? No. But in some way, it was nice to see a piece of Virtua Fighter history before my very eyes.

By the way, if you want to find this piece of living history, go hang out at the Shannon Mall in Union City, GA.

Death of an Echidna

Some series were meant to be in 3D from the time they started. Some were not. For some, the transition was rough, but eventually they got through it. For others, things only got worse.

Enter: the hedgehog.

After Sonic’s 2D days on the Genesis and non-existence on the Saturn, it was time for the hog to catch up with the rest of the platformers – and go into the third dimension. Sonic Adventure launched and the Dreamcast and was good, if not troubled by some erratic camera angles.

And then came Sonic Adventure 2. This time, the series didn’t fare so well. Jumping aspects didn’t carry over well into 3D. Level design, where if you fall, you die, was frustrating. The side character levels were annoyances. Who wants to have to play through a game of, “Getting warmer, getting warmer… No, cold,” over and over again?

Then came every game after SA2, and that’s when most people stopped caring.

So, as many others have probably done, here are my steps to get the Sonic series back on the right track.

1. Step back into the two-dimensional world.

Jumping and instant-death levels have not translated at all. Dodgy camera work isn’t helping the case either. Combine those problems with Sonic’s speed and you’ve got a huge mess. To sort it all it, send the game back into 2D. The characters can be 3d models, no problem, but the gameplay needs to return to the side-scrolling action that made Sonic was famous.

2. Get rid of all the characters.

Shadow, Rouge, Tails, the other hedgehog, the other, other hedgehog, get rid of them all. At the very least, make sure no one can play as them. In the first Sonic Adventure, it was a novelty. Sonic was the main story, everything else seemed like a bonus. SA2 forced you to play through all of those crap levels. Nobody likes hunting emeralds.

3. No dialogue.

Hedgehogs can’t talk. Foxes can’t talk. Echidna’s can’t talk. Neither can bats, rats, or other animals. Let’s keep it that way.

I really enjoyed to the “Adventure Fields” in Sonic Adventure, I thought it was nice that the world felt a little more alive. But do I want it in a Sonic game again? No.

4. No human characters.

Sonic kissing a girl in a game? Not only does he have cooties now, but how bizarre (and might I add retarded) is this?

5. Kill Knuckles

I like Knuckles as a character, but let’s a get a sense of urgency in this game. I’d love to see Tails be the one to go, but I realize that as Sonic’s #1 sidekick, it won’t happen. Knuckles gets beat up every game and it’s about time someone takes it too far.

If Sega decided to remake Sonic 3 and Knuckles, do all of the models and maps in 3D, but kept the same gameplay, I’d probably buy it. Even though I’ve played the same levels who-knows-how-many times, it would still be the best Sonic game that has been made in the last ten years.

Until the Sonic ship is steered right, at least I can look forward to Pikachu and Mario deservedly kicking Sonic’s ass in the newest Smash Bros.

More Christmas in June

I’ve just tweaked up a few of the pages from yesterday and started fixing some of the links inside the Sega section.

I’ve been playing VF2 on the Saturn lately, and this is quite possibly my favorite game released on that system. Is it the best fighting game ever? Probably. I’m not sure why, but it seemed like the magic of the series was captured in VF2. In VF3, things got complicated – maybe a little too complicated. But VF2, that one was right on the money. I think my Saturn control pads are getting a little old though.

If there was one game that would make me think about buying an arcade cabinet, it would be VF2.

New and updated pages:
Deus Ex – Literature
Interstate ’76 FAQ
Interstate ’76 Downloads – Most are still broken, but some are better.
Q&A page
Virtua Fighter 2

Christmas in June

So, lots of updates on the site. Crazy times, indeed. It’s been a while since I’ve updated the site with any regularity, so enjoy it while it lasts.

I finally got around to answering all of the e-mails about the site. So, if you’ve asked me a question in the past 4 years and I haven’t sent a response, check out the Q&A. After answering the same questions over and over (What happened to the servers?), I decided to throw together a FAQ for I ’76 and update the BattleZone FAQ.

Virtua Fighter 5 is out and apparently VF5: Evo has been announced. Maybe, just maybe, someday I’ll actually pick up a PS2. Yes, it’s true. I’ve had the VF4: Evo game and no system for a while now. Prices should drop, I would think, but then again, the PS3 is going for $600. I thought the gaming industry had learned that consoles priced that high don’t sell.

Also, props to Sega for the VF5 web developer kit. I’m digging the massive PSD files of the Virtua Fighters. I’m not sure what (if anything) I’ll do with them yet, but it’s nice to have.

Space is starting to get tight again the site, so the I ’76 maps might have to come back down pretty soon.

It’s only taken 10 years for the site to get this far…

New and updated pages:
Interstate ’76 Music
Interstate ’76 FAQ
Interstate ’76 Downloads – Most are still broken, but some are better.
Battle Zone FAQ
Battle Zone Downloads
Q&A page

Lightning Strikes Twice

Two updates in one year? This hasn’t happened since ’03.

It seems I’ve had a lot brewing on the old brain, here’s a few snippets:

Hey, have a website like mine? Then let me know. It’s hard to find sites that aren’t part of a huge network (Gamespy, IGN, Gamespot, etc.) that actually have some content to them.

Digging through a bunch of old sites has caused me to ask a question: Why do so many 2-page sites have a forum on them? Was that/is that a passing trend?

Does Geocities no longer discriminate against “IllGAL ROMZ!!!!!!!!” I swear that’s what all of the game sites on that place have become.

So, with the announcement that NiGHTS is finally getting a sequel, I thought I’d check out the game a bit more. Actually, I’ve been digging through my old Dreamcast/Saturn library and finally getting through some games that I never did before. I finally saw the ending of Zombie Revenge (what a bummer), won a race in F355 Challenge, and I’m only one star away from unlocking everything in HotD2.

NiGHTS is one of those games that when I first played it, I enjoyed it, but I really didn’t get why some people were so fanatical about it. Let me put it this way, I wouldn’t go and devote my entire room to my hand-drawn NiGHTS artwork. Nightopians were alright, but they never really did much besides get in the way. Run through grab stuff, then run through the same course again in 10 seconds. Ok, it’s cool. The graphics are unique and some parts of the game are just downright creepy.

Now, I can see some more depth to it – trying to tie together huge links, changing music, Mepians and whatnot. These definitely add to it and it’s still a fun game, but I’m not seeing the huge “mind-blowing” experience. The game is based somewhat on the theories of Carl Jung, but I’m not seeing or feeling any extra depth added to the game that makes it feel more like an experience and less than a quick romp at the arcades.

Linkexchange is officially dead. Bought out by Microsoft years ago, it became bCentral, offering the ubiquitous FastCounter and banner exchange. Now, both are buried, meaning I’ve got to update a lot of pages on this site.

New/Updated Content: NiGHTS, Virtua Fighter 4 Evo.

Coming Soon: MBPT 3025 (finally?)