Posts Tagged ‘konami’
Podcast: Silent Hill 3 Revisited
Ever since the 10/01 episode “Silent 3vil” released, we felt one thing was severely missing: everyone’s impressions on Silent Hill 3. In honor of Halloween Fred, Jam, and Vos all got together 30 days later and had a little round table discussion about what we appreciate about the third and final Team Silent installment in the series.
Please Note: This episode is a follow-up to an earlier episode this month (Silent 3vil).
Now & Then: Silent Hill
Console: Playstation
Released: 1999
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Digital Release? Yes, PSN version compatible with PS3, PSP, and Vita for $5.99
Price: $20.87 (disc only), $33.99 (complete), $130.00 (sealed) per Price Charting
Note: I did not have screen shots available from my last play and it appears all screens online are from emulation. This title does not look this good on the PS1.
Dichotomies exist in all forms of media. Whether it’s Elvis or the Beatles, Shakespeare or Marlowe, Alien or Aliens, and even Star Wars or Star Trek, the rule remains the same: you are allowed to like both but you always prefer one. In the realm of survival horror, the clear competition is Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Longtime readers and listeners know where I stand (RE), but that’s not to say the Silent Hill isn’t just as easily justified, if not moreso, as the better game even if it’s not necessarily the more popular one. Despite the original Resident Evil being a living haunted house, the game still rooted itself into a world of intense action, the ability to kill just about every opposing force, and a heavy science fiction/biological manipulation concept – proven even more by the game’s Japanese title Biohazard. Silent Hill, on the other hand, is classic unexplained horror and phenomena at its best. Where Resident Evil employed pre-rendered backgrounds and forced camera perspectives, Silent Hill was fully rendered and seemed to follow the player, thus linking the character on screen with the player. This makes it more terrifying because what happens to Harry (your playable character) seemingly happens to you as well. Not only that, but the perspective of the title is completely different. Harry is a regular guy, not a soldier, and he’s frantically trying to find his missing daughter, not to simply survive. It’s all just a different perspective to the horror game where instead of trying to scare you with jumps and big gross monsters (although you will get those in this title), Silent Hill thrives on the unknown and maintaining tension instead of random fear. In short, it’s Alien to Resident Evil’s style of Aliens.
Podcast: Silent Evil 2: Resident Hill
This week we are tackling quite possibly the two most popular titles of survival horror: Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 2. Resident Evil 2 was scrapped only a few months before completion and completely redone, resulting in many of the staples that carried the franchise forward and stands as a fan favorite. Meanwhile Silent Hill 2 waited until the Playstation 2 hit the market and with one of the creepiest atmospheres of all times redefined what horror gaming could be. We openly discuss the notable aspects of both.
Rated M For Mature
Today I’m going to touch on a topic that is near and dear to my heart: maturity. It’s quite a complex word and rarely is it defined correctly because the USA, and most of the world, like to gauge a work’s “maturity” by the quantitative amount of content that is unsuitable for public consumption. This does not make a mature game in my eyes. While it may be chock full of breasts, f-words, and toilet humor that literally 
has you flinging feces, Duke Nukem Forever is not a mature game despite what its rating says. It is a reality of a world that is forced to categorize appropriateness of a medium, in this case software, for a quick guide to consumers on what’s appropriate. At the same time I do feel that games can and sometimes do represent true, mature scenarios that mix graphic content with justified plot. Sadly this is not the case for the majority of titles and the main focus of this article deals with the controversy surrounding Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and specifically plot points that come about at the end of the 120 minute campaign. In writing this I first read articles by Lucy O’Brien of IGN¹, Cameron Kunzelman of Paste Magazine², and on a more informal note the talented Ria Jenkins of Introskeptive³ (article links at the bottom), who have dissected the ending in a much better way than I ever can. As you proceed forward, be warned that some of the topics of MGSV: GZ will be touched upon and the referenced articles definitely spoil these events in greater detail. It should also be noted that the following content, while not explicit, does discuss some gritty subject matter.
Podcast: Heroes in a Half Shell
You can’t have grown up in the late 80s and not been struck by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It apparently transcends geographic location as co-hosts Fred (@spydersvenom) and James (@Jamalais) both had similar experiences growing up in different parts of the world. In this episode we dissect TMNT’s roots, marketing, and obvious integration into video game culture, covering the games that made the surfer-style pizza-eating New York crime fighters a pop culture sensation.
Podcast: Silent Evil
This week Fred is joined by listeners Allen and Jamalais to discuss the Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises. They do not get as far as planned, but the initial iterations of each series is thoroughly covered and a sequel is promised.
Podcast: Devil’s Castle Dracula
This week Fred is joined by Allen (@tearsofafeather) to discuss the Castlevania franchise. As a fan of both this show and Castlevania, Allen assisted in talking about the vast adventures of the first six titles for the Belmont clan (Castlevania I-IV along with Rondo of Blood and Bloodlines). Join us in one of the most technologically advanced and entertaining horror action platformers ever released.
Podcast: Game Club – Salamander/Life Force
This week Fred flies solo to discuss the shoot-em-up (shmup) series Salamander, better known as Life Force in the United States. He discusses the various games from the arcade titles to the NES/Famicom port, to even the MSX and PC-Engine (Turbografx-16) ports. Additionally the connections to series Gradius are discussed and the various ways to play the games today. He also announces April’s game club title.
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Supplemental Videos:
Retro Game Challenge: Stinger (NES)
Console: NES
Released: 1987
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Instruction Manual: Not necessary – Link
Difficulty: Moderate
Played it as a child? No
Value: $3.65 (used), ???? (new) (pricecharting.com)
Other Releases: Yes – as Muero! TwinBee in Japan on the Famicom Disc System and Famicom (cart version)
Digital Release? Yes – Virtual Console for Wii (Japan only)
Below is the completion of the hybrid horizontal/vertical shmup Stinger, better known in Japan as Muero! TwinBee due to the fact that it is a sequel to the original TwinBee set 100 years after the events of the original. Since we did not get TwinBee in this country, the title was changed to Stinger and a different back story was given, the title belonging to the given name of the ship you pilot. It’s clearly a TwinBee title, though, with the distinctive bells that you juggle to gather power-ups and point bonuses. Other interesting differences between the American and Japanese version were multiple difficulty settings, selectable as medium or hard in Japan and eventually an easy option was added for the Famicom cart release. In America we only received one default difficulty (medium) but the game immediately starts over upon completion on the hard difficulty, easy does not exist in the US version. This title was intended to support up to three players and in Japan the cartridge had an extra controller port for the third player. Since carts loaded out of the top on the Famicom this was possible, however at this point there was only a side load for NES carts and thus the game was forced into a two player only mode. If you had the optional accessory, the four score, which added four more port to the console, Stinger would still only support two players. In the video below I complete the entire game although I do not replay the harder difficulty as it does not give more content or a different ending.
Gaming History 101 