Posts Tagged ‘capcom’
Friday at the Movies: Street Fighter
Video games and movies, you would think the two would go hand-in-hand, but unfortunately given that the film medium is a passive experience and the gaming medium is an active experience, the hybrid of the two usually goes horribly (and laughably) wrong. This segment will be our weekly realm to appreciate the more “classic” medium of film. Of course, whenever possible I will review a “video game” movie.
It’s almost ironic to me that Jean-Claude Van Damme plays lead character Guile in this film because Mortal Kombat, direct competitor for the Street Fighter franchise, was originally supposed to be a Bloodsport video game. Despite that, and the fact that Mortal Kombat was also made into a film, Street Fighter released to American theaters on Christmas Eve in 1994 up against Dumb & Dumber and The Santa Clause. Director Steven E. de Souza was best known for penning action blockbusters like Die Hard and The Running Man as well as horribly written flops like Hudson Hawk. Street Fighter marked his most known directorial title (he also wrote the screenplay), which probably explains why he isn’t known as a director. In interviews de Souza explains that he did not want this movie to be a simple tournament full of fight scenes – side note: he stated that decision was due to the flop of Super Mario Bros. a year before and its apparent faithfulness to the game, which proves that Hollywood did not pay attention to video game details – and instead created an interesting international terrorist film. To its credit, the overarching plot isn’t bad, albeit quite overcomplicated and tries way too hard to integrate as many people fromSuper Street Fighter II as it can, not to mention Guile’s horrible lines. Despite being a worldwide commercial success (it made just under $100 million in combined worldwide theatrical release against its $35 million budget), the film was destroyed by critics and gamers alike for having slight nuances in both worlds but failing to implement either in a decent way. In fact, if it weren’t for all the praise to Raul Julia’s performance as M. Bison the film would have nothing positive for critics at the time to talk about.
19XX Series (Capcom)
I figured we would start of this Shmuppreciation month right with one of the first examples of a true shoot ’em up: Capcom’s 19xx series. It’s a bit funny that I even reference it as such, because to the best most gamers are only aware of the first two titles and they are quite similar: 1942 and 1943: Battle of Midway. The lesser known three titles are 1941: Counter Attack, 1944, and 19xx. There are, however, many different iterations of each so we will discuss the premise, differences in versions and significance to the series. Over the years I have come to realize that shmups make for pretty poor screen shots; it can be nearly impossible to discern what’s going on in most stills so this year I will be providing gameplay video. While it’s ideal for all video to be shot by me from my own consoles/arcades, it’s a lot of work so I will try to capture my own video when I can.
Capcom is definitely no stranger to the arcade scene, but before they generated monster hits with Final Fight and Street Fighter II, they managed some strong success with 1942 in 1984. Set in the Pacific front of World War II, it was pretty interesting to see that this title had you flying a “Super Ace” to destroy the Japanese air force and attack Tokyo. You would think that a World War II title out of Japan wouldn’t focus so much on some of the rougher international relations with the United States, but regardless of that fact 1942 not only came out but was a runaway hit in both regions. Known best for the distinctive twin booms of the plane, which closely resemble the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane the Super Ace was clearly designed after, and the ability to perform a loop-the-loop that made you temporarily invisible. 1942 introduced the vertically scrolling shooter, gun power-ups and small assisting planes, all significant staples to shmups moving forward. While it wasn’t the first Capcom arcade to get a sequel, it was definitely the most popular. As such, this title has been ported to several systems including the NES/Famicom, MSX, PC-8801, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Gameboy Color, Playstation 2/Xbox/PSP (in a Capcom collection), and even a recent revival on PC/PSN/XBLA as 1942: Joint Strike.
What is a Shmup?
For some reason, this screen from R-Type is always what I think about when I hear the word “shmup”.
It’s leap day, a day that on most years doesn’t even exist, and had it not been for today it would officially be March. For those of us in the retro gaming world, shooter fans or basically anyone who listens to Drunken Gamers Radio it also means Shmuppreciation month. For 31 long days we show our appreciation for intergalactic starships, Moai heads, tiered power-ups, sexy young girls with large breasts that aren’t involved in a hentai game, dodging thousands of bullets and actually seeing a vertical raster effect in a high-definition game. It is all for the love of the shoot ’em up, these days called “shmups” for short. What’s distinct about the shmup is that aside from most other genres, it has been around as long as video games themselves – yes, the first video game was a shmup – and has remained relatively unchanged for more than 30 years. As an avid fan with probably more than $1,000 in shmups alone among almost every system – did I mention the shmup has some of the most expensive games in existence? – I wanted to reflect on the history of the shmup.
Review: 1942 (NES)
What Are You Supposed To Do?
As far as shooters go, this is as simple as it gets. You need to navigate your plane and shoot down all other planes. You are given 3 lives and can collect power-ups for your guns as well as assistant planes. In a pinch, the A button can be pressed to make you temporarily invulnerable. You have 32 missions, each one the goal is to go from beginning to end without dying.
Review
Gaming History 101 