Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Grandia II is Getting An Updated PC Release
Of all the different JRPG series that launched around the Playstation rush, Grandia is known to be one of the more unique battle systems in the group. When the sequel released on Dreamcast in 2000, it celebrated larger than life reviews netting a 9.75 in Dreamcast Magazine, 35 out of 40 in Famitsu, and high 80s/lower 90s in the US. Unfortunately, like many titles of this pedigree, it failed to impress with less than 200,000 units sold. Efforts that ported the game to the Playstation 2 and PC in 2002 were met with the technical limitations that ironically could not keep up with the Dreamcast original along with the PC front being problematic due to being counter to most popular PC RPGs like Balder’s Gate. Fortunately GungHo, has announced that due to an ecstatic response, it will be updating the Dreamcast version to PC that will run with keyboard/mouse controls, controllers, updated resolution, and even integrate Steam achievements and trading cards. No word was given on price point or release date, but with the lightening fast load times of my SSD and a 1080p upscale, I’d be happy to purchase this title if it releases at a reasonable price. For note, you can currently pick up a Dreamcast copy for around $20-$25 online. Stay tuned for those details to update as a launch date and price are announced.
Koji Igarashi is Making the Spiritual Successor to Symphony of the Night
As Konami continues to sink into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the United States, its famous creators are coming out of the woodwork with new games. Enter Koji Igarashi – or “Iga” as we’ve come to call him – who is the man responsible not only for Symphony of the Night, but also the man who created the MetroidVanaia (or IgaVania) sub genre. Quite possibly the best Playstation game to release (we shall see when that Top 10 comes around), it’s no shock that fans were overjoyed when his newest creation, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, popped up on Kickstarter yesterday and fully funded the title in a handful of hours. Touted as the spiritual successor to Symphony of the Night, Bloodstained puts you in the role of Miriam, an orphan who has been cursed by an evil alchemist and is slowly becoming a crystal being. The first to receive this curse, Gebel (voiced by David Hayter thanks to stretch goals), set out to make Miriam a castle of her own to live in, but as his curse progressed he’s gone mad and filled the castle with demons and trapped her inside. As Miriam (and potential other protagonists that could become a co-op partner if the stretch goal is met) you fight through the castle in that classic style we’ve all come to love from Iga. While Fred does not participate in Kickstarter, the funding having reached triple its original request means that hopefully within the next two years we’ll all be able to get our hands on this game that is coming for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, and Linux. If you want a more tangible reward, head on over to the Kickstarter to secure your digital copy for $28 and your tangible disc copy for $60 plus plenty of other rewards for different backer amounts.
Double Moon Densetsu (NES) Fan Translation Released
An English fan translation of Japan only Double Moon Densetsu has been released. You probably aren’t aware of this game, but from all I’ve heard Double Moon Densetsu is quite literally a Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest rip-off. The reason you may want to play this game is that as early as Dragon Warrior 2/Dragon Quest 2 the party system was introduced and the game changed drastically, so in a way this is the closest sequel/remix to the original title as you can get your hands on. So if you’ve been dying to play a newer version of the original game – of which I’m not totally against – then this may be worth your time. You can download the different patches using the link in the first sentence.
Holy Crap! The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is on the US PSN Store!
I was jumping around my RSS reader and somehow missed yesterday’s announcement on Capcom-Unity that The Misadventures of Tron Bonne has released on the US PSN store for only $6. Why is this such a big deal, you ask? Well if you’re not familiar with the title – and there’s a good chance you are not – The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is somewhat of a mini-campaign (not mini-game, mini-campaign) collection starring the female pirate from Mega Man Legends. Released on the original Playstation, the game had a very limited print run and sells for $100 on eBay for a disc only copy and nearly twice that if you have a case and instructions. This game had you setting out on multiple adventures, but each adventure was a different game type such as RPG, platformer, puzzle game, etc., and I’ve heard it’s great. Now we all will get a chance to play this fantastic side project spawned from Mega Man Legends without having to worry about getting ripped off, getting a scratched disc, or even digging out a home console as this is both PSP and Vita compatible. If you’ve missed the subtle hints, get this game NOW.
Clock Tower: The First Fear Gets Fan Translation
A fan translation of the enhanced PS1 port of Clock Tower, known as Clock Tower: The First Fear and only released in Japan, has been released in a patch from user “arcraith” on romhacking.net.
I don’t know if you’re as big a fan of Clock Tower as I am, but unlike the 3D installments that existed on the Playstation 1 and 2 in the US my big draw is the original released on Super Famicom (SNES) and only in Japan. What sticks out about this title is that unlike the sequels it’s a 2D point-and-click adventure that has lots of scares, intense moments, and violence. This makes it somewhat of a successful version of what games like Phantasmagoria were hoping to accomplish. A fan translation of that version is available if you’re interested, but there was a Playstation re-release that had enhanced graphics, new scenes, and – my personal favorite – FMV sequences added in. Unfortunately just like its original Super Famicom release, this was the only game in the series not to make it to the west yet again (probably due to the translation/localization cost). Thanks to a new English localization, you can easily patch an ISO to play the game localized, in English. If you missed it, the link for that is in the opening sentence of this post. Hopefully this works well on a modded console and I can enjoy this game on real hardware, otherwise I will most likely stick to my flash cart translated version on the SNES, but it’s a great game that everyone should play. Perhaps it would make a good game club?
Everything is Better in 3D!!! Right?!?
So how many have you own one of the remastered 3D games on your 3DS, whether its an NES title or Mega Drive game? Me neither, I have none. I almost brought Streets of Rage in 3D just for the hell of it but decided I just was not going to be “one of those guys,” you know the ones that download every version of a game you love (Fred). Well looks like I might give into temptation this September as Nintendo is bringing three more Mega Drive classics in remastered 3D to the 3DS. Those games are:
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Streets of Rage 2
- Gunstar Heroes
Sonic 2 is practically available anywhere, I just won’t be buying that game again (unless it comes to my fridge, maybe). Streets of Rage 2 is one of my favourite games of all time so I’m probably sold there but the one that I’m really keen on is Gunstar Heroes. I really don’t give a crap about the 3D but the thought of having a classic game like that on a portable sounds very tempting. The price is believed to be about £4.49 (approx $6 US) for each game which is fair. So there you go, more Sega goodness coming to the portable in 3D! Will you be buying into this? Will you be “that person”? Let’s hope this trend continues and we continue to see more classic games coming to the eShop on 3DS, with or without 3D. Lets also hope someone finally ports Doom to my damn microwave keypad already.
Sonic Xtreme Prototype Moves From PC to Saturn
Recently a prototype of Sonic Xtreme released that shows off the fisheye cam and is more complete than the basic demo that has been available for years. Unfortunately that prototype was on PC and didn’t have that wonderful Saturn feel, until today. Yep, the Saturn ISO has been released and runs on modded consoles (like mine). Head over to get it or keep an open eye for the video I hope to do later this week. If you want to brush up on your history, we did a podcast that covers the long and sordid history of this game that migrated multiple consoles and dev teams before disappearing completely.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATcm_1oneb0]Podcast: Pixelated Pints Episode 29: It’s All About the Benjamins
This week Fred and Heffe reflect on the value of the game Risk, 80s cartoon crushes, large sums of money involving game development, getting plastic guns through airport security, and of course end on Bloodborne.
Opening Song: It Was A Good Day – Ice Cube
Closing Song: It’s All About the Benjamins – Puff Daddy featuring Rob Zombie, The Notrious BIG, The Lox, & Lil’ Kim
Long Lost SNES Music Maker, Sound Factory, Finds Mass Release
I know plenty of people that have done some amazing things in Mario Paint on the SNES, including one of our guests Gary Butterfield from duckfeed.tv. Well perhaps many of you are unaware that there was a fleshed out music creator by Electroplankton designer Toshio Iwai who back in the early 90s was set to release his music creation tool Sound Factory on the SNES and it would be bundled with the mouse and mouse pad. It’s been almost 15 years since the project was canceled and both the Eastern and Western releases faded into oblivion, but thanks to eBayer KiiroBomber and a tip from Nintendo Life, the recently purchased prototype of Sound Factory is available to all. It’s a bit of a slog to find the rom, so we’ve made it easy and said you can find it in the links to the YouTube demo video here. Enjoy!
Dragon Force II English Fan Translation Releases
After nearly eight years of development (Verve Fanworks originally started the translation in 2007), anyone with a copy of Dragon Force II can now play the game fully translated in English (although still with Japanese voice dub) on an emulator or modded Sega Saturn. If you head on over to Verve Fanworks site, you will find the handful of different patches depending on the version of the disc you own and instructions on how to patch and integrate into emulators.
Gaming History 101 