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Panzer Dragoon

Now it’s time for one of the most famous franchises on the console. Created by Team Andromeda, one of many autonomous studios created by Sega for the purposes of making games for their consoles, Panzer Dragoon was the brainchild of Yukio Futatsugi. Futatsugi was unique amongst Sega’s staff as his background was in filmmaking as opposed to game design. However, the dude had a clear nack and passion for the art form and had the benefit of a talented team of programmers and artists backing him up. The result was Panzer Dragoon which would go on to become one of the most critically acclaimed series ever to appear on the Sega Saturn.

Panzer Dragon takes place in a dystopian future where humanity was pushed to the brink of near extinction after losing control of a biomechanical weapons system that evolved to the point where it could no longer be kept in line. After getting by for centuries after reverting to a primitive lifestyle, humanity gets a second wind when a nation known as The Empire discovers the mysterious Black Tower: A Treasure Trove of ancient technology that they then use to better keep the machinations at bay while also using it to impose a trantical rule over the rest of the planet. In the game, you take the role of a young hunter of the Wasteland who witnesses a midair duel between the two riders atop dragons. One of the riders is fatally wounded and with his dying breath, transfers control of his dragon to the hunter. Pleading to the young man to mount the dragon, pursue his rival and stop him before he reaches the Black Tower. What will happen if he reaches the tower? Well, you’ll just have to play the game yourself.

The story of Panzer Dragoon is great. Though it is very simple at its core, the mysterious nature of the game, the compelling game world and great deal of lore makes for an amazing experience. It’s just a wonderful sensation, riding through this barren wasteland atop the back of a dragon as you discover the remnants of an ancient civilization while fighting off the creatures that nearly destroyed the world and those who wish to control it is an experience unlike anything else. All without going into any excessive detail. When developers think highly of their games, they tend to refer to them as “experiences” and most of the time, it comes off as pretentious. Panzer Dragoon though, is an experience through and through. Though it is a fun game to play, getting a window into this amazing world is the main draw of the game.

It’s supported by some damn impressive graphics for the time. Given that Panzer Dragoon was one of the launch games for Saturn, the team had to start development without knowing what the Saturn was capable of. Several teams had to do this as well and most made the mistake of over estimating the Saturn’s capabilities. Team Andromeda had the sense to underestimate the console’s capabilities and then built up the game once they had the specs. The result are graphics that run well and do a good job bringing the world of Panzer Dragoon to life. And what a world it is. Though Panzer Dragoon doesn’t compare graphically to anything on the Playstation or Nintendo 64, the art style is really what sells it. The world, the creatures, the characters it’s all so unique. I’m glad sequels to this game exist because once the game was finished, I was eager to see more. And need we forget the soundtrack? Holy crap is it good. Because of the on rails nature of the game, the team was able to send a prendered video of exactly what would happen in game to the composer. Allowing him to craft a score that perfectly fits every beat of the game. If I had played this a few years ago, I would for sure have included it on my top 10 VIdeo Game Soundtracks.

As for the gameplay, Panzer Dragoon at its core is an onrails flying game in the vain of something like Starfox or Afterburner. The dragon flys along a set path and all you really have to do is steer the dragon out of harm's way and shoot down any enemies that come at you. Your methods of attack include the hunter’s pistol, which can fire rapidly and the dragon’s breath, which you activate by holding the button and painting targets. When you release the button, the dragon will take them all out in one shot. One area where Panzer Dragoon differs from other games is that you don’t have to worry solely about what is coming towards you. Enemies will come at you from behind and the sides so you will have to rotate the camera to deal with them. It’s a lot of fun though I do have some issues with it. For starters, the dragon is a little slow to move and it’s hitbox is large due to the wings. Rotating the camera is also a little finicky due to how sensitive the Saturn’s shoulder buttons are. Still, despite these issues, the game is still pretty easy to play. I was honestly surprised at how well it played with the Saturn’s basic control but that’s just the benefit of such a simple gameplay loop. 

Panzer Dragoon has held up really well but it does have some clear shortcomings. For starters, the game is hard. It’s designed with arcade sensibilities in mind so once you run out of lives, you go back to the start of the game. This also means that the game is short. Though it will take you a few hours to cinch the game, once you do you can basically beat it again without much effort. Though you do unlock hard mode after completing it. This coupled with how pricey the game can be with very few cheaper alternatives makes it very hard to recommend to the modern gamer.

Panzer Dragoon would become one of the earliest successes on the Sega Saturn, which is saying something considering it was going up against pre established titles like Virtua Fighter. Sega was pleased with its success so they made sure to keep the money flowing into Team Andromeda as they began work on two new games. One was Panzer Dragoon 2: Zewi, which was a mass improvement on the first game with branching paths to increase game time, a greater sense of progression with customizable dragoons and greater focus on narrative elements. It however paled in comparison to the other game the team was working on: Panzer Dragoon Saga. Shifting gears to an RPG, Panzer Dragoon Saga is widely considered to be one of the greatest RPGs of all time with critics at the time saying it even surpassed the likes of Final Fantasy 7. A reputation it certainly lives up to. I started playing a bit of Panzer Dragoon Saga just to get a taste of it and as I was working through the rest of the games I wanted to cover, I would always come back to Saga when I felt I needed a break. It’s such a good game and it's a shame that it was so overlooked. 

Panzer Dragoon Saga had the misfortune of being made towards the end of the Saturn’s lifecycle and by the time it was finished, Sega had all but abandoned the console. It’s telling that when the game landed stateside, Sega of America only had 2 employees to translate the game, who put their damnedest into it because they saw how good it was and knew very few people would actually play it. And they were right because evidently less than 100,000 units were sold, making Panzer Dragoon Saga one of the most expensive and sought after games ever. To make matters worse, Sega lost much of the source code for both of these games, meaning they can never be rereleased in their original form. Panzer Dragoon would get one more game after Saga with Panzer Dragoon Orta on Xbox but after that, the series would fall by the wayside. There was an attempt to revive the series with a remake a few years back and supposedly the same team is working on a remake of the second game too but given that we haven’t heard anything of it since, I have a feeling it’s been canceled. Probably for the best because that remake was definitely subpar. Recently though, Sega has announced new entries in several of their neglected franchises so who knows. If they do well, maybe they will give Panzer Dragoon another shot. I’d recommend a collection including Panzor Dragoon 1, 2 and Orta and then a remake of Panzer Dragoon Saga as a stand alone game. Make it happen Sega, these games are way too good to be left on the Saturn.

I give Panzer Dragoon an 8 out of 10.

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Clockwork Knight

You would think that with all the success that Sega had with Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis that they would have had an entry in the series ready to go for the Saturn at Launch. Unfortunately, Sonic Team was eager to work on something different and Sega of America still had the Technical institute screwing around on the Genesis and 32X. So the Saturn would launch with no Sonic game in sight which left the task of bringing in the platforming fans to a new face. That game would be Clockwork Knight and while the game isn’t terrible, it just couldn’t fill the void left by the blue blur. 

In the game you take the role of Sir Tongara De Pepperouchau the 3rd (Pepper for short), a toy soldier who is in love with Chelsa, a clockwork fairy princess who’s singing voice brings the toys to life every night at midnight. However, one night, Chelsea is kidnapped by an unseen force that also casts a spell over the lesser toys that makes them aggressive. Without Chelsa, the toys will lose their sentience so Pepper takes it upon himself to find Chelsa and save the day. The story here actually isn’t too bad. When I first came across this game I was expecting it to be little more than a Toy Story clone but it does have its own flavor surprisingly with some strong characters and interesting lore….at least if you are playing the Japanese version of the game. For whatever reason, much of the story in the North American release was cut which is kind of lame. Then again, the guy in charge at Sega of America at the time was an idiot so this doesn’t surprise me.

The presentation is certainly a mixed bag. On a technical level it’s good. The game uses a combination of pre rendered and 3D graphics, which typically I’m not a big fan of but it does work here. This is primarily because of how detailed a lot of the Prerender Sprites are. THe animations are so fluid that at times I questioned when I was looking at a pre rendered sprite vs 3D model. It leads the sprites to blend better with the 3D backgrounds which are used to create some great levels. The game takes full advantage of the fact that Pepper is the size of a toy which makes for some fun level design. That being said, the character designs just suck. They tend to be overdone and when they are rendered in the cutscenes, they look downright creepy. The music is pretty forgettable though and maybe even bad at points.

As for the gameplay, it’s a pretty typical platformer. You run, you jump, you dodge hazards and fend off bad guys. It’s nothing you haven’t played before and for the most part, it is fun to play due to the level design. However, I do have some annoyances with the controls. For starters, to run, you double tap the direction on the d-pad which is clunky. Not sure why that’s the case considering you have 8 buttons on the control to work with. Would it have been so hard to allocate one of those buttons for running? The play control is a little finicky too. When you jump forward, Pepper continues to move forward slightly even after you let off the d-pad. Had to remind myself to push back on the d-pad to cancel out the momentum. The boss fights can be slightly obtuse too so that’s a bit of a pain. Despite these issues though, Clockwork Knight never gets that challenging. It’s a pretty easy game all things considered though not exactly fun enough to where it never gets boring.

Though Clockwork Knight didn’t leave much of a splash when it came out, it must have sold well because it would get a sequel the following year. However, Clockwork Knight 2 was really just more of the same. This is probably why they opted to package the two together for the Japan only release, Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchau No Fukubukuro as the two really do play like a single game. Sadly, Clockwork Knight wouldn’t be popular enough to live on past the end of the Sega Saturn’s lifespan but due to its commonality, it has become something of a cult classic amongst collectors.

I give Clockwork Knight a 6 out of 10.

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Virtua Fighter

Let’s start things off with the Saturn’s initial killer app: Virtua Fighter. Released in 1993, Virtua Fighter turned heads in the Arcades with its groundbreaking 3D graphics and addictive gameplay. It was particularly popular in Japan so when it was announced that Sega was bringing the game to the Saturn as a launch title, it got people interested right away. Even today, Virtua Fighter is still widely remembered as a Sega Saturn game even if they did have to make some concessions to bring it to console.

There isn’t anything noteworthy about the plot in Virtua Fighter. It’s just your typical tale of an international fighting tournament. It’s very much in the vein of Street Fighter but what fighting game doesn’t owe at least a little bit to Street Fighter? Really, what made Virtua Fighter so groundbreaking were its graphics. It’s often cited as the first 3D fighting game and some may argue that it shows. The character models are just simple polygons with very limited articulation but I don’t know, there is a charm to the presentation here. I feel like they are trying to sell it as a style since even on the promotional art, the characters match their in game models. It was also one of the first games to use motion capture which is cool but I still wouldn’t call the movements and animations here realistic. Especially when you go to jump.

As for the approach to fighting, it’s also pretty interesting. Rather than go for the fantastical or hyper violent style of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, Virtua FIghter instead goes for an approach grounded in reality. A button masher’s worst nightmare, a flurry of punches can be countered with a well placed kick to the face. I actually really like that idea but I can’t say it’s done terribly well. For starters, there isn’t a lot of variation in the characters. They don’t represent their fighting styles in the same way the characters in Street Fighter do. The only character that really seems unique is the ninja which is a little lame. Street Fighter does a similar thing and I gotta say, I prefer how it handles the idea. The anime exaggerated fighting styles are just a bit more fun and given that the series was still working in 2D, it was capable of being even more wild. Something the simplistic 3D graphics of Virtua Fighter just couldn’t keep up with.

As for the gameplay, I’ve also got some issues with it. For starters, the game forgoes the 6 button control scheme of Street FIghter in favor of a simpler, 3 button system. You have a button for kicking, punching and blocking…and I’m not fond of it. The idea was to create a fighting game that was simple and easy to understand as opposed to the complex systems in other fighting games. Or at least that’s the idea but I’d argue that this makes the game more complex. With the six button control scheme, you have access to a wider variety of attacks right off the bat and you slowly pick up more when you realize you get different attacks depending on how you move the stick and then start figuring out special attacks when you combine the button and joystick inputs. With this, you just have a punch and kick and then have to start figuring the special inputs right away. These aren’t straight forward inputs either. Usually button combinations with strict timing. Now that’s not to say Virtua Fighter isn’t fun to play, but I just prefer the systems in place in Street Fighter.

As for the Saturn Port, as I said, it was a bit of a concession as it wasn’t exactly arcade perfect. The graphics were a little rough, the most famous example being the stages which are rendered as you approach the edge of the map. Still, the port was super popular and reportedly had a 1 to 1 sales ratio. An updated version of the game was released called Virtua Fighter Remix which updated the graphics to compete with more modern games like Tekken and Soul Blade. This is the best version of the game for Saturn and it would later be followed by Virtua Fighter 2 though that game would be overshadowed by the superior Dreamcast port. The series would continue beyond the Saturn with the most recent release being in 2006 with Virtua FIghter 5. Since then, Virtua Fighter seems to have been forgotten as Sega puts more focus on Sonic and Yakuza. Thankfully, Yakuza has kept the memory of the series alive with Arcade Perfect ports appearing in the games as bonuses.

I give Virtua Fighter a 6 out of 10.

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Sega Saturn Retrospective: Introduction

Well folks its June again which means it’s time for me to take a little vacation and dig into the library of another console. And this year, I’m really excited because we are taking a look at the Sega Saturn. Released in November of 1994, the Saturn was intended to be Sega’s successor to their popular Genesis console. However, as a lot of you probably know, the Sega Saturn didn’t really live up to the legacy of its predecessor for far too many reasons to count. For starters, the console was just poorly put together. Sega thought the next major step in graphical technology was going to be advanced sprite scaling and thus built the system with that in mind. So when Nintendo and Sony announced that their respective consoles would be primarily built for 3D gaming, Sega scrambled to rework their chip set in order to accommodate 3D. The result was a dual chip setup that was very difficult to program for as one would have to get the two working in tandem in order to get the most out of the console. Even if you could work some black magic with the chipset, it never impressed in regards to 3D. Yeah, the console was a 2D powerhouse but people didn’t really care about 2D games in those days. They were often criticized simply for being 2D. Regardless, the Saturn would become a haven for Arcade Perfect Ports of some of the best games of the time. The arcade scene was still very popular in Japan so this attracted a lot of gamers to the Saturn. Many of whom would also find enjoyment in a vast amount of quality exclusives.

However, while the Saturn was successful in its Native Japan, the same couldn’t be said for its run in North America. Sega of America had burnt a lot of good will with consumers due to the untimely launch and abandonment of the Sega 32X. Something that was further compounded by a surprise shadow drop of the console that was intended to give Sega a leg up on the competition. A ploy that backfired as it blindsided both consumers and retailers alike. Some of which would adopt an anti-Saturn policy in response. Western development was a joke too, mostly due to infighting between Sega of America and Sega of Japan. With Sega of Japan being stingy with development kits and Sega of America opting out of localizing many of the console's best games due to preconceptions that they wouldn’t sell well. During the last couple of years the Saturn was on the Market in North America, less than a dozen games would be released. So despite the fact that the Saturn was able to compete with the N64 and Playstation for the duration of its life lifecycle in Japan, that didn’t matter because its performance in North America was so abysmal that it started to cut into the profits from the Japanese Market. By 1998, it was clear to Sega that the Saturn was not going to be their future and thus they began prepping for the launch of the Dreamcast. 

Today, the Sega Saturn has sort of become a case study in how not to launch, support and eventually phase out a console. It would also be the beginning of the end for Sega as despite learning from their mistakes and actually doing a good job with the Dreamcast, they made one major miscalculation that would lead to their exit from hardware manufacturing. The Saturn was a failure on all fronts but that’s not to say that it isn’t worth looking into. There are lots of unique and interesting games that are of a high quality that you can only get on Saturn. I’ve dug into the library and am ready to present my findings. With all that said, I humbly present my Sega Saturn Retrospective.

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a 2024 science fiction film directed by Gil Kenan and is the fourth film in the Ghostbusters Franchise…..yes I said fourth and I did not miscount. And let me tell you, words cannot describe how happy it makes me to see this movie get made. I was over the hill when Ghostbusters: Afterlife released after waiting for so many years for a proper 3rd Ghostbusters movie to release so for it to not only do well but well enough to get a sequel had me grinning so much, I’d have the Joker telling me to tone it down. Then I started seeing the trailers and got even more excited. It was darker, it looked like the original cast would be working alongside the new team and they were continuing to bring in new cast members such as Patton Oswald. However, when the film released last week, it garnered mixed reviews, leaning mostly towards the negative side of things. That had me a little concerned but the same thing happened with the Super Mario Movie and Gran Turismo and I ended up loving those movies. And I’m happy to report that this is a similar case with Frozen Empire. While it’s not as good as Afterlife or the original movie, it’s still another decent enough entry in the series.

The film takes place a few years after Afterlife and we find that the Spanglers have relocated to New York to start up the Ghostbusters business again. Unfortunately for them, Walter Peck has wormed his way into the role of Mayor since his last appearance and has made it mission to once again shut the business down. The first thing he does is threaten to charge the Spangler’s with child labor due to Phoebe’s role on the team and thus, they are forced to bench her until she turns 18. Left with little else to do, Phoebe ends up hanging out with Ray & Podcast who begin investigating a mysterious orb that gives off so much Psycho Kinetic Energy, it breaks the PKE Meter. They discover that the orb is a prison of an ancient demon who aims to escape and wreak havoc on the world. So the Ghostbusters, new and old, must once again team up to prevent this great evil from bringing about the end of the world.

One of the main problems I have with Frozen Empire is the plot. Now the plot itself is good. I was excited to see the Ghostbusters go up against a new threat and the big bad of this movie is great. Threatening, creative in its design and abilities and having a lot of interesting lore behind it. Even when the damn thing is trapped in the orb, it’s freaky as hell. I was also happy to see the Spangler’s return to take up residence as the new Ghostbusters and they are just as charming as ever. They even address some questions that I knew would arise with the new team, namely Phoebe's age which was sure to be a problem considering Ghost Inc is supposed to be a legitimate business. Above all else though, I was excited to see all the original Ghostbusters be integrated into the world in support roles, all of which make sense for all the characters. It was great but there are a couple things that do sort of muddle the plot. For starters, the film continues the Ghostbusters tradition of everyone but the Ghostbusters being idiots. You still have people like Peck who refuse to believe in the existence of ghosts despite duh and others tend to blame Ghostbusters for stuff that isn’t their fault. It even starts to spill over into the main cast. There is a scene where Pheobe and Ray get into trouble and Winston ends up calling them out for it even though it was a complicated situation and the two were working on something important. This is the kind of stuff you tend to have to accept when you are watching Ghostbusters I find but I would say this is the first time in the series where it got out of hand.

The other problem is the main subplot regarding Phoebe and a spirit by the name of Melody. At first I thought it was interesting as friendly ghosts are sort of rare in the series but then I remembered we kind of already had that with Egon in the last movie. And the more I thought about it, these two didn’t really have a lot going for them and the whole thing sort of undermines Phoebe's character. She does some really out of character things with the biggest instance of this coming right out of nowhere. It can make her come off as a little selfish and stupid which is a shame because Phoebe is such a good character. I feel like it was a mistake to have her be the center of the subplot. Especially considering there is still plenty for her to do outside of catching ghosts. She could help Winston’s scientist in their studies or assist Ray in his research. In fact, she does the latter and that’s probably the best part of the movie. She and Ray just have a great student teacher dynamic that I would have preferred to have explored. Now that’s not to say that the subplot with Melody doesn’t serve a purpose, it does but I feel like it should have been with a different character. Maybe Charlie or Lucky who were two characters in Afterlife I felt needed a bit more development.

At the end of the day though, what pulls it all together are the characters. Issues with the subplot aside, Phoebe is still a great character and it’s fun to see her interact with Ray more. I also really like that Ray is more front and center this time. Honestly, while it is cool to see Winston and Venkman again, I would have been happy if it was just him in this movie. Acting in a support role and providing his expertise and knowledge to the new team. I also really liked the family dynamic of the Spanglers and the way they worked Podcast and Lucky into the movie was believable. Some people have said that they feel forced but I loved to see Podcasts here and was happy to see Lucky get more screen time. They also introduce some strong new characters as well. Winston’s lead scientist is a fun character and I enjoyed seeing him work alongside everyone. Patton Oswald is great as the Folklorist at the New York Library who offers his expertise and knowledge to everyone. I wish we could have seen him interact with Ray more because you can tell just by watching the two that they are the best of friends. Not all of them are winners though. I’m not the biggest fan of Melody. I didn’t think there was much of a character there and her interactions with Phoebe outside of their initial encounter weren’t terribly strong. There’s also this other character who fills the comic relief role and though he can be a little annoying, he never oversteps his role. He serves his purpose in the plot just fine and as long as he doesn’t stick around for the sequel, I don’t have a great deal of hate for him.

The look of the movie is great too. It’s nice to see the Ghostbusters back in New York and living in the firehouse and we even get to spend some time in new locations like Ray’s Occult Bookstore and Winston’s secret research facility. There are plenty of great action sequences too, chief among them being the final showdown between the Ghostbusters and the big bad which is just rad. I was honestly questioning how everyone was going to come out of this one and the way it’s all resolved great. Yeah some of the CGI isn’t exactly convincing and there is some recycling going on here and there but it was still entertaining. It honestly brought me back to watching the old cartoons when I was a kid.

So yeah, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has issues. In fact, the more and more I think about it, the cons probably do outweigh the pros but not to the point where it’s terrible. It’s still Ghostbusters as I have always known and loved which is more than I can say for the damn reboot. If you are a fan of the series, this is still worth checking out. It’s not as good as Ghostbusters or Afterlife but I’d say it’s about on the level of Ghostbusters 2. I give it a solid 6 out of 10.

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State of the Blog:

Hey guys, I'm sure some of you have noticed that there wasn't any content posted last week. Well, I've been swamped lately and I just haven't been able to keep up with writing content. So I decided that I'm going to take another break. A longer one this time. I don't know when I will be back but I will be in time for June for another console retrospective. In the mean time, be sure to check out my youtube channel where I've been doing regular streams. https://www.youtube.com/@Bladeslingerplays/videos

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LotS: Sean

“Don’t hold back.” Welcome to Legends of the Streets, the series that breaks down everyone and everything in the world of Street Fighter. Today, we will be exploring the character of Ken’s self appointed disipale. The young and confident amature from Brazil, Sean.

Sean Matsuda is a young fighter from Brazil who is the offspring of a Brazilian woman and a Japanese man. At a young age, Sean would prove to be an outstanding athlete, being a member of his University’s basketball team in college. Despite his position however, Sean’s true passion is in the martial arts. Despite coming from a family of Capoeira and Brazilian Ju Jetsu Practitioners, Sean sought to learn a different kind of martial art: the Shotokan School of Karate after witnessing Ken Masters fighting in person. Upon witnessing this, Sean would set out to find Ken and become his pupil.

Similar to Sakura, Sean fights using a self taught version of the Shotokan Style of Karate. The Shotokan style is a well rounded system of strikes, graples, evasive movement and defense intended to remove all weaknesses at the cost of having no real strengths. This is in addition to ki based attacks such as the Hadoken, Shoryuken and Hurricane Kick. However, unlike Sakura who was able to master all these techniques through observation and made adjustments to the style to suit her own needs, Sean more rigidly stuck to what he saw Ken doing and upon actually training with Ken, this would be furthered. So while Sean isn’t exactly a poor fighter, you sort of get the sense that he is still learning. In Street Fighter 3, Sean could only do the more advanced set of attacks as Special Attacks, implying that he could only do them when he was focused. As such, I’d have to say that Sean is one of the lower tier fighters in the series. Just a notch above Dan I would say.

Sean would eventually find Ken and though he would decline to take Sean on as a student at first, he eventually realized that there was no turning the kid away and decided to allow him to study under him. However, despite this, Ken would prove to be something of a poor teacher as Sean’s attempts to compete in martial arts tournaments haven’t been all that successful. Losing to random fighters during the qualifying rounds. It’s unclear what happened next for Sean as he has yet to appear in Street Fighter 6. 

Some more loose facts about Sean:

Though it’s unclear if Sean has ever meant Dan before, he seems to be aware of him and views him as the epitome of weakness. He also hates being compared to him though I hate to tell you this kid but you are only marginally better than he is. 

Sean’s older sister Laura would also become a playable character in Street Fighter 5 and is by far the superior fighter. I feel like Sean would have done better following her example.

Though he is now officially Brazilian, Sean was originally intended to be American. I kind of like that they made that choice.

And that pretty much does it for Sean. Hope you enjoyed this little history lesson and that you will join me next week for another.

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Justice League

Justice League is a superhero series that ran from 2001 to 2004 and is the fourth show created by Bruce Tim and his rockstar creative team. After the successful runs of Batman & Superman the Animated Series, Bruce Tim’s next venture was to do a Justice League series. Seemed like the next logical step. They had established two of the key players and had spent their last days on Batman/Superman exploring the idea that there was a greater DC Universe out there. However, when the idea was pitched to Kids WB, they rejected it. Kids WB was more interested in shows about teenage characters so they had no interest in a show about adult superheroes. Even when they tried to add a few younger characters to appease them, they still passed on picking up the show. They eventually forced the team to make a show about a teenage Batman which evolved into Batman Beyond but as they worked on the series, they were still shopping the idea of a Justice League show to other networks. They eventually found a home at Cartoon Network and thus, Bruce Tim and his team went to work. I still remember when this show first aired. I grew up watching reruns of Batman and Superman so to see those two join forces with all these different superheroes was amazing for my 7 year old mind. After the premier, I’d do my best to keep up with the series as it aired, which was difficult as this was before me and my brothers had our own TV to watch. I remember the show being really good though having rewatched it as an adult….it’s not as good as I recall. It’s not bad mind you, it’s fine but it’s clear to me that even the great Bruce Tim was struggling with this.

In Justice League, conflicts in the world are reaching a head as the world’s nations begin to stockpile weapons of mass destruction for their own protection. Hoping to defuse the situation, Superman offers to extend the scope of his protection to the entire globe in exchange for everyone agreeing to demilitarize. This comes at a bad time however as just as this plan gets underway, a group of aliens invade that prove too much for even Superman to defeat. Thankfully, he is joined by six other superheroes to mount an offensive. The Caped Crusader: Batman, The Amozonian Princess: Wonder Woman, Representative of the Green Lantern Core: John Stewart, The Fastest Man Alive: The Flash, Lost Galatatic Warrior: Hawkgirl and the Refugee from Mars: The Martian Man Hunter. Together, they are able to defeat the aliens and decide to make their partnership permanent. Forming what would become the Justice League.

So the start of Justice League is great. THe alien invasion plot is exactly the kind of thing I would expect to bring the Justice League together and there are points in the show where they do a good job justifying all of them remaining together to combat crime. However, that’s also kind of the problem. A good chunk of the show’s episodes revolve around the Justice League interacting with the greater DC Universe. Usually exploring the world’s that these characters come from. And to some degree that is fun. It allows all these characters to interact and deal with stuff they otherwise wouldn't, which is pretty cool. However, at times it feels like they are devaluing these characters, particularly Superman who had a habit of getting inexplicably one shotted in the first season. It’s clear that they were struggling with how to give the other characters significance in the presence of the Man of Steel. I think the best example of this is in the episode Injustice for All, which sees Lex Luthor put together his own team of Supervillians to fight the Justice League. Sounds like a good concept right? Well, the problem is that there isn’t anyone on that team that can stand up to Superman. Yet he struggles to fight them for whatever reason. It’s a constant problem throughout the series though they thankfully get better about it as the show enters its second season.

It also helps that the characterization is pretty damn good. It’s of course great to see Batman and Superman together again and what I like about the relationship is that it is shown to be completely professional. He and Bats are never shown to be super buddy buddy and at times, it’s almost like there is a power struggle between the two. There is an episode where Darkseid enlist the League’s help in battling Brainiac when he attacks Apocalypse and the two are constantly at odds at what the right course of action is. HOwever, despite the general friction between them, they neve come to blows. It’s crazy to think that in all the time Bruce Tim and his crew worked on DC shows they never made a big spectacle of Batman fighting Superman. And of course, it’s fun seeing them interact with new faces. I like the dynamic between Supes and Martian Man. The two seem to be kindred spirits as they are both alien refugees from another world and thus, understand each other on a deeper level. One of my favorite episodes is actually the Christmas episode which sees Supes bring Martian Man home with him and how he and the Kents work to make him feel comfortable is really charming. Batman and Wonder Woman are a good pair too, mostly due to the romance that develops between them. It might seem strange at first but when you really think about it, it makes sense. Batman might not be as powerful as Wonder Woman but he’s also the only man who is fawning over her. It’s also really funny how Batman tries so hard to keep his feelings to himself but cracks in the armor tend to form and Wonder Woman is too observant not to notice. She seems to enjoy picking at those cracks.

My favorite character as a kid was of course The Flash, who is of course the series’ comic relief. Constantly joking and using his super speed for gags which is appreciated considering how stone faced a lot of his comrades are. Make no mistake though, The Flash is dedicated to the good fight and would do anything for his comrades. The show seemed to have a fascination with pairing him up with John Stewart and I can see why. John’s no nonsense approach to everything due to his military background is beautifully juxtaposed by The Flash’s antics. Speaking of John, if this show came out today, people would probably complain that they used him instead of Hal Jordan but I like that they did that. A little bit of diversity isn’t going to hurt anyone and John is a great character. The same can be said for Hawkgirl who takes the place of Hawkman in this series. Again, I don’t mind because Hawkgirl is a fun character with her fiery temper and eagerness to fight being paired nicely with some relatable insecurities. The romance between her and John Stewart is fantastic as well. I get the sense that it wasn’t something the writers originally planned on doing but given the chemistry they had, they would have been foolish not to. You could also probably make the argument that they were doing a commentary on interracial couples and like everything Tim and his team did, it’s subtle. The scene where he and Hawkgirl confess their feelings to each other is one of the most beautiful things ever depicted in animation and one of the iconic moments of the DCAU.

But you can’t have heroes without villains and there are certainly some decent ones. Most of them are holdovers from Batman and Superman like Lex Luthor, the Joker, Darkseid and Brainiac and as usual they are great. Especially Lex who sort of falls to pieces here. He may have been able to handle Superman and perhaps Batman but he is no match for the Justice League. So for most of the series, he’s trying desperately to find a way to one up them. The show also introduces some new villains, many of which come from the rouge’s galleries of the various League members. Gorilla Grod, Fury, Aries, Sinestro and Morgan Lefay are just a few of the ones that stick out to me. Some of the antagonists for the episodes even turn out to be heroes in the long run. Aquaman, Metamorpho and Dr. Fate appear here and there and are at first at odds with the Justice League but become allies by the end of their stories. They also serve the purpose of making it clear that there are more heroes out there other than the Justice League. Laying the groundwork for the second half of the series but more on that at a later date.

The presentation is once again top notch. Having perfected the animation style with Batman Beyond, the show looks more polished than any other before it. All the characters look great and the movement is fantastic. Especially during the action sequences which feel big and epic. There are some lame aspects of it though. For starters, the occasional aggravating detail can be really distracting. Like the lines on Superman’s face in the first season. They make him look old which might have been the point but thankfully, they back pedaled on how they weakened Supes and by season 2, they had discarded the lines. Another annoying aspect is how they portrayed Stewart’s powers. Only having him create super practical constructs instead of the hyper complex ones you’d see in the comics. Had me missing Kyle Reiner from Superman the Animated series despite my fondness for Stewart. That’s really small potatoes though. In general, the animation here was amazing. As for the music, it’s suitably epic. The opening theme song is something else that was burned into my brain as a kid and it gives these heroes a great sense of presence and class. That being said, there aren’t any tracks on the show as memorable as Batman, Superman and Terry McGinnius’s theme.

Justice League would only run for two seasons at first despite it going for 3 years. Unlike previous shows, the episodes were all two parts, something done to allow the plots to be bigger and more epic. However, like I said, the first season of the show, while a ratings success, did receive mixed reactions in general so Bruce Tim and his team probably took some time to better figure things out for season 2, which was for the best as Season 2 was much better. Ending with the outstanding three parter Starcrossed, which ends with League barely managing to fend off another alien threat and one member of the team leaving in disgrace. It was a triumphant finale but it was also clear that it came at a great cost to our heroes. Perfectly setting the stage for what would come next.

Justice League is a great show but as I said, it has problems. It’s very clear that the team didn’t have complete understanding of how to handle the show and though they for the most part pulled it off, it never rose to the level of excellence we saw in their previous shows. However, it’s much easier to make a show about one superhero rather than six of them. Especially when one is powerful enough to deal with most threats on his own. For an initial attempt, I’d say they did a good job. I give Justice League a 7 out of 10.

[bladeslingerreviews]

Remake Roadmap: Sonic Adventure

Hello everyone and welcome to a new section of the blog I call Remake Roadmap. This is where I take a classic game in need of a remake, go through the initial review and talk about changes I would make to improve the overall experience. Here on Bladeslinger Reviews, I mostly critique games so I thought it would be fun to look at some games and talk about how they could be improved overall. So to start out, I thought we’d take a look at the number one game that I think deserves a remake: Sonic Adventure.

Now before the fanboys come for my head: I love this game. Sonic Adventure represents a lot of highs for the Sonic the Hedgehog Franchise. It has a great story, great music and demonstrates a lot of smart design when it comes to bringing the blue blur into 3D. However, you have to admit that the game has aged tremendously. There are even sections of the game that I’d go as far as to say are poorly designed. There is a lot of room for improvement and we are going to talk about it all today.

Story

I still stand by my opinion that the story in Sonic adventure is really good with a tightly written plot and lots of great character writing. However, the main weakness of it is how the story is told. Not only could the dialogue stand to be written better but I’d also say that certain aspects of the narrative need to be changed in order to better tell the story. FOr example, the main way Sonic and company learn about Chaos is through a series of flashbacks shown to the characters by Tikal. It never made sense that she would show this stuff to anyone but Sonic & Knuckles, particularly in regards to Big & Gamma because they are barely even part of the plot with Chaos. So I would rewrite the story to have Tikal only showing those flashbacks to Sonic & Knuckles. Primarily to Knuckles since he comes from the same culture as Tikal. I’d have her show visions to Sonic accidentally and then do so intentionally when she realizes that Sonic is more likely to deal with Chaos than Knuckles. I still think most of those flashbacks should be shown to Knuckles though who would also be searching for answers as to who Chaos is as he searches for the Master Emerald pieces.

I’ve heard a lot of people say that Amy, Big & Gamma need to be written out of the story but I disagree with that statement. While it is true that they have very little to do with the story at large, particularly Big, Amy & Gamma actually do serve the purpose of world building. I feel like those three would be a good tool to examine the world around all these characters. Show the relationship Sonic and his friends have with the rest of the world through Amy (and have other animals around too) and have Gamma show us what it’s like to being under Eggman…..no idea what to do with Big though…..maybe have his story crossover with Amy more, the two are suppose to have a good relationship after all.

Graphics & Sound

I think it goes without saying that the graphics need to be overhauled big time. The character models, animations and levels all need to be beefed up to a higher standard. Making sure the game runs at a consistent 60 FPS would also be a must. If they want to do this right, I’d say they have updated the graphics to the standard of something like Crash Bandicoot the N-Sane Trilogy or Spyro Reignited. Could you imagine how cool that would be? Especially if they got a good art team on board.

The voice acting needs to be addressed as well. Now that’s not to say that the voice acting is all that bad in Adventure but there are good deal of Jill Sandwhichs and some of it can be annoying. I’d say bring in the level of talent the modern series has seen and have them rerecord the dialogue. The music could also be remastered as well though please don’t over produce it like you did with the Colors Soundtrack. And of course, better sound effects as well.

Gameplay

Now there are a lot of changes to be made in regards to the gameplay. The biggest problem I have with Sonic Adventure is that despite how good the stages where you play as Sonic are, the rest of the game isn’t of the same quality. Now that’s not to say that all of the content where you don’t play as Sonic is bad but when the game is bad, it’s really bad. We got a lot to go through so let’s get started.

In regards to the Sonic stages there is very little I would change. These stages really established how Sonic should play in 3D but there are some things I would address regardless. For starters, I would tighten up the controls and add a few new mechanics, namely the boast mechanic from Spark Jester 2. Rather than being used to make Sonic run faster, it would allow him to jump to a top speed at the press of a button. This would also require a lot of the levels to be redesigned to accommodate that which would be for the best as not all the levels in Sonic Adventure are that great. Levels like Casinopolis, Ice Cape and Lost World need some serious reworking. 

The design of Tails’ gameplay was on the right path in Adventure in that he played very closely to Sonic but you instead had to race sonic to the finish on abridged levels. For the remake, I would nix the race aspect and have Tails run through levels built around a different move set. Namely Tails’ ability to fly. This would allow for a more platform heavy gameplay loop while also maintaining the speedy gameplay of Sonic stages. Maybe take a page from Transformed and have Tails pass through certain gates that will lead him to fly through the air. 

I think it would be best to have all the characters in Sonic Adventure play like Sonic and take advantage of their different move sets. Much like Tails’ sections, Knuckles’ stages would be designed around his ability to glide, climb walls and smash stuff. I’d also take a page from the Mario 3D games and have a piece of the Master Emerald placed on the path towards the end. These would be placed in platforming segments where you’d have to really think about how you’d get to the Emerald. In other words, they’d be easy to spot but hard to get. I’d also have combat sections similar to Sonic Heroes but be sure to have enemies that are quick and easy to dispatch so you can maintain the sense of speed.

I’d also apply that combat to Amy but also give her the homing attack so that she can bounce across airborne enemies like Sonic can. I would however not give Amy the ability to jump to a high speed like Sonic can. Instead build levels based around Amy’s ability to spin through the air with her hammer like she could in Sonic Heroes. Maybe even have elements in the game that she could gymnastic off of like in Sonic Boom…..yeah, I said that.

Big would be the most challenging character to make this change to but I feel it could be done. I think for Big I would want to base his levels around using his fishing rode to swing off of objects in the environment, kind of like in Sonic Forces, and have monkey ball style slides. Give him his belly flop too, that would be fun.

The only character I wouldn’t change a great deal would be Gamma. The lock on system allowed things to keep moving at brisk pass and the hover feature made for some good platforming. I would still recommend having some segments that rely on more moment based movement and add a dead eye function, allowing you to stop time for a second and paint targets.

Difficulty

Sonic Adventure wasn’t really a hard game but I’d say that there are ways you could make it more interesting. Part of the appeal of Classic Sonic was that it was easy to play but there where all kinds of tricks you could do to reach different parts of the level, most of which lead to a fast track through the goall. Ever since Sonic went 3D, most of the levels only had one path so designing the levels in this manner would really encourage players to keep playing and mastering the ends and outs of each character.

Content

Sonic Adventure is also a short game so it needs more content. I also have some good ideas on how to do that as well. One other change I would make to the overall gameplay is remove the Adventure Stages completely. Mostly on the grounds that they didn’t serve much purpose. I’d switch to a level to level set up like in Sonic Advneture 2 and create new stages to fill in the time that would have been spent in the adventure stages. For example, have a level where Sonic and Tails run to Tails’ workshop. Have it start in the city and have it slowly go from City Streets to the mystic ruins. There is a lot of creativity that you could squeeze out of those sections. It would also give you the sense that the characters are covering more ground rather than having to buy the fact that all the Chaos Emeralds all happened to be within the same general area at the exact time Sonic and Company decided they needed them. In addition to that, add more emblems and beef up the Chao Garden to something more akin to Sonic Adventure 2. 

And those are the changes I would make to Sonic Adventure. What do you guys think? Would I change too much? I don’t think so.

[bladeslingerreviews]

The Armory: Human Human Fruit

The Human Human Fruit is a Zoan Type Devil Fruit that allows the user to transform into a human and a…uh….human…..and a human human hybrid form….or at least that’s what it would do if it was eaten by human. In the series, it was eaten by a reindeer named Tony Tony Chopper, so he can turn into a reindeer, a human and a human-reindeer hybrid form. Sort of a reverse Zoan type if you will. Anyway, Chopper ate the fruit when he was a young reindeer and we will be examining how he uses the fruit in combat.

Strengths:

Okay so I think the big question with this fruit is what would happen if a human consumed it. This is actually something that a fan asked Oda about and the answer he gave concerned some joke about finding oneself before taking back the answer and then “running away”. It’s clearly something that Oda has not thought about and has no desire to think about because it’s fun to watch people speculate. However, Oda’s answer has led to a lot of nonsensical theories due several translations of it. Some of which fans have taken as fact which has led to statements such as “Consumption of this Fruit will grant you enlightenment”......which even if that is the case would be pretty useless for the purposes of combat. Some have also said that if a human eats the fruit, they’d become a buddha. Citing the effects of Sengoku’s Devil Fruit. However, that is just ridiculous and is clearly stated by people who know nothing about Devil Fruits. Sengoku ate the Human Human Fruit Model: Daibutsu. THe ability to transform into giant golden buddha is unique to that fruit. Chopper’s fruit is just the plain old human human fruit. No model. It would be like saying the fruit would give Chopper Luffy’s powers as well. So as you can see, there is a lot of what ifs with this fruit.

So what do I think would happen if a human ate this fruit? Well, if I had to guess I’d say it would at the very least give the user the ability to transform into their peak physical condition. I say this because when Chopper invokes his full human form, he transforms into a muscular form, which is in contrast to what one would expect from Chopper considering he is a child. If this is the case, then that would mean the fruit would basically turn you into Captain America at a minimum. Perhaps even someone of Whitebeard’s caliber if your genetics would allow it. WIth this mind, being able to access other forms would open up some degree of creative potential in redistributing the effects across the body in order to achieve different effects. However, considering that very few Zoan users can go beyond the three standard forms, that wouldn’t do you much good. Awakening the Fruit would also be a little dull as you’d just turn into a bigger human……I guess by that point you would be Whitebeard.

Really, I get the sense that the best use of this fruit would be for it to be eaten by an animal. Now really, there is nothing stopping an animal from eating a devil fruit and gaining the powers but in most cases, there wouldn’t be much point to this as the limited mental faculties of an animal would likely not understand the information as to what power they gained from the fruit when it is bestowed upon them. However, consumption of the Human Human Fruit would grant an animal a massive boost in intelligence as they will gain the same level of sentience as a human. A high functioning human by the looks of things as well considering that Chopper was able to master the complex art of medicine before he was even 16. The user would also gain the standard abilities of a Zoan user as well. Gaining the basic three forms where as a human, at best, would only get two. So yes, this fruit would be best served in the hands of an animal.

Weaknesses:

Now everything I speculated in regards to what happens if a human ate the fruit is just that: speculation. I like to believe that fruit would at least do something but there is still a very good chance that this fruit would do nothing if a human ate it. Other than rob you of your ability to swim of course. Another big issue with this fruit is that like all Zoan fruits, it does not grant you much in the way of defensive abilities. You are still completely vulnerable to all conventional means of harm. Maybe even less so as humans are not known for being durable. Even the boost in strength would be minimal as most animals are physically superior to humans. This was shown in the series when Chopper attempted to fight Dalton and was easily overpowered. Most of the Devil Fruit Weaknesses wouldn’t have much effect however though they could be used to at least weaken them.

Chopper’s Use of the Fruit:

Now this might sound a bit crazy, but I would say that Chopper may very well be one of the best Devil Fruit Users in the series. Top 10 easily, Top 3 in regards to just Zoan users. Not only has Chopper mastered going between the three different forms he got out of the box, Chopper has also used his medical knowledge in order to unlock a further 8 forms. He does this through the use of a drug known as the Rumble Ball, which grants Chopper access to the extra forms for 3 mins. Chopper has even partially awakened his fruit as he does so when he overdoses on Rumble Balls. However, I’d still rank Chopper lower than Rob Lucci who I regard as the best Zoan user in the series because while Chopper requires the rumble balls in order to access his variety of forms, Lucci does not. Given the rarity of that ability among the Zoan user, I’d say the fact that Lucci was able to do that on his own without training wheels supersedes the fact that he only unlocked one form as opposed to Chopper’s 8. However, Chopper may be changing that. Post time skip, he seems capable of accessing certain forms without Rumble Balls and can even control his awakening now whereas before, he had no control over it. He still needs to overdose on Rumble Balls in order to achieve that though so he is still using training wheels but as far as Zoan’s goes, very few are able to achieve what Chopper has.

Conclusion:

The Human Human Fruit is one of the most undesirable Devil Fruits we have seen in the series thus far. The powers you’d gain from this fruit would be limited at best and that’s even if it would do anything at all. I’ve always said that I would never eat a Devil Fruit because I don’t want to lose my ability to swim but if I was forced to eat one, I’d like to at least get some kind of cool power. The fact that the fruit could potentially do nothing makes it so undesirable. At least for human consumption. If you were to give this fruit to an animal buddy of yours, I think you’d have yourself a great sidekick but other than that, I would not recommend eating this fruit.

And that Pretty much does it for Human Human Fruit. I hope you enjoyed this little history lesson and that you will join me next week for a look at the Clone Clone Fruit.

[bladeslingerreviews]

Cody vs Oro

They are two of the most powerful freakbeast in the world of Street Fighter. Question is, who would win in a fight? This is Cody vs Oro.

Strength:

I’d say these too are even. Cody has some of the most outrageous strength feats in the world of Street Fighter. The dude can basically smash his way out of prison any time he wants and views powerful fighters like M.Bison and Akuma as complete weaklings. Oro doesn’t have the same strength feats under his belt give his isolated nature but given he’s been known to take on foes as powerful as M.Bison, Akuma and Gill with one hand for fear of killing them, I’d say his strength easily matches Cody’s.

Cody: 100% Oro: 100%

Speed & Maneuverability:

I’ve always said that Cody’s speed is underrated considering he’s likely capable of dodging bullets and while his foot work isn’t exactly flawless, it is efficient enough to get the job done. Oro on the other hand…..yeah this dude is ridiculous. Not only is his speed and footwork outrageous, dude jumps so high that I don’t think gravity has any real effect on him. Hell, he’s even capable to telekensis so he could probably fly if he wanted to.

Cody: 60% Oro: 100%

Durability & Stamina:

Despite his old age, Oro is one durable son of a gun. I mean, the guy's favorite form of travel is riding airliners…..on the outside of the plane. With the winds and temperatures at that altitude in addition to the fact Oro probably jumps off the plane when he reaches his desired location, I think it’s clear that it’s tough to injure this guy. I think he might even be capable of surviving in a vacuum. Cody is pretty damn tough too considering everything that could kill him while escaping prison but nothing on the level Goro demonstrates. I think I actually have to amend Cody’s score Oro is so damn tough.

Cody: 95% Oro: 100%

Technique:

Oro is a master of Senjustu, a mythical martial that basically allows the user the to harness the power of the universe to obtain superhuman abilities. As such, Oro is super strong, super fast, has access to a near endless amount of ki and several unique abilities such as telekinesis and immortality. All this came as a result of extensive physical, mental and martial arts training so while Oro’s fighting style might not resemble any known form of martial art, it’s still extremely effective. Hell, Oro is so powerful that he chose to bind one of his arms at all times in order to avoid killing his opponents. Needless to say, Oro is a complete monster.

Cody on the other hand is more of a pure street fighter. His fighting style isn’t so much any known form of Martial Art but rather just a basic hand to hand combat system built around the fundamentals of hand to hand combat. This coupled with all the strength training Cody has done during his imprisonment has made Cody completely unstoppable in a fight. Even the highest security prison can’t contain him. Let’s also not forget that Cody isn’t above fighting dirty though that certainly isn’t going to help against all the insane stuff Oro is capable of. I feel like if this was a pure test of strength, Cody could for sure give Oro a run for his money but Oro’s states are off the charts. If he can’t outmuscle Cody, which is certainly a possibility, he has plenty of other options.

Cody: 5% Oro: 95%

X-Factors:

Fight Prep:

While he was in prison, Cody had little else to do other than train but now that he’s Mayor of Metro City, he has less time to dedicate to that. Oro does nothing but train even after gaining ultimate power and given his isolated existence, there wouldn’t be much fight footage of him for Cody to study.

Oro: +10

Experience:

Of course this is in Oro’s favor. The dude is over 100 years old.

Oro: +10

Fight Sense:

Given all Oro’s superhuman abilities, I wouldn’t be surprised if some form of extraordinary awareness of everything that is around him. 

Oro: +10

Intimidation:

Oro might be an absolute monster but so has Cody. In fact, Cody has become so powerful that he might actually be excited to fight someone on his level. He might enjoy fighting Oro even if it becomes clear the dude could kill him.

Fighting Spirit:

Despite possibly being the strongest fighter in the whole series, Oro still keeps up his training. He seems to take pride in being that strong. Cody on the other had seems to be facing an existential crisis with his power. Feeling he has gotten so powerful that there is nothing left that can challenge him. He may just find that challenge with Oro and that might give him something to strive for. Hell, maybe Cody is that student that Oro has been looking for so long. I don’t think I can give either party points here.

Final Scores:

Cody: 36% Oro: 100%

Damn dude, I didn’t think anyone could make Cody their b**** but if anyone was capable of doing so, it was surely Oro. The main reason Cody tends to win when I do these breakdowns is due to the sheer gap in strength and durability but that issue is reversed here. Oro is actually on his level in regards to strength and durability but Oro is clearly faster and even if Cody can match him, Oro’s mastery of Senjutsu insures that he can always go further beyond. To make a long story short, Oro completely breaks my manner of judging characters. What he is capable of is completely outrageous. Even when faced with a freak beast like Cody, it wasn't even close.

The winner is Oro.

[bladeslingerreviews]

Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond is a superhero animated series that ran from 1999 to 2001. It can also be seen as something of a sequel series to the critically acclaimed Batman animated series by Bruce Tim. So the story of how Batman Beyond came to be is a rather funny. After the success of the crossover between Superman and Batman the Animated Series, Warner Bros. would have Bruce Tim and company develop a new season of Batman alongside another season of Superman to create a full hour long programming block featuring the two heroes. This proved to be successful but rather than keeping it going for a few years, Bruce Tim and his crew had greater ambitions and that ambition was to bring the Justice League together. This is part of why you started seeing appearances by so many DC characters during the year Superman and Batman were together. Bruce Tim would pitch Justice League to Warner Bros. and due to the success of Batman and Superman, they decided to turn them down…..wait what?

Yeah, despite the fact that Bruce Tim and his crew had created two of the most successful shows Kids WB had ever had, Warner Bros. wasn’t interested in Justice League. This was mostly due to the fact that the WB for whatever reason was pushing for series that starred young characters. This is part of why towards the end of Batman’s initial run, the show was retitled to The Adventures of Batman & Robin as a means to force the showrunners to include Robin more regularly. They tried the same thing with Superman by requesting they include Supergirl, something the crew choose to fight the WB on. So when they brought up the idea of the adult centric Justice League, they opted to decline despite the fact that the show would have been a sure fire hit. Bruce Tim and company would take another shot at it, this time including a few younger superheroes but the WB still passed. Finally, one of the execs said “We don’t want this. Make us a show about a teenage Batman.”. A request that Bruce Tim and his crew scoffed at. For good reason too because the concept is awful. However they had their orders so the team went to work on the project. Rather than give the studio what they wanted however, they instead got more creative to make it work. Rather than discard what they had done on Batman the Animated Series and do a show about a teenage Bruce Wayne, they instead choose to set the series decades after their previous shows and have it center around Wayne mentoring a new Batman in a futuristic Gotham City. When the show was announced, it was meant with a mixed response but when it came out, it quickly became a critical success. Batman Beyond would go on to become one of the most beloved shows Bruce Tim and his crew would ever do and my very well be my favorite show in the DCAU.

Batman Beyond takes place in Gotham circa 2019 (as envisioned by the imaginative minds of 1999) and a great deal has changed in the city. The dark deco cesspool has given way to cyberpunk metropolis, flying cars, robotics and other forms of advanced technology are commonplace and Batman and his collection of baddies haven’t been seen in 20 years. The series centers around Terry McGinnis. A juvenile delinquent from a broken family with a heart gold who encounters Bruce Wayne after he is chased onto his land by a street gang called the Jokers. Terry accidentally discovers that Bruce Wayne was once Batman and ends up going to him for help when his father is killed to cover up some criminal activity. When Wayne tries to direct him to a contact in the police, whom Terry avoided knowing they had likely been bought off, he steals one of the Batman suits and goes after his father’s killers. Though Wayne intially attempts to stop him, he ends up helping Terry and once everything is said and done, decides that it’s time for Batman to return. So he agrees to allow Terry to serve as the new Batman under his supervision.

The set of up Batman Beyond might sound gimmicky but the way it’s done in the show is masterful. The first two episodes of the series, Rebirth, do a perfect job setting up the shows premise and answering all the questions that people would likely raise regarding the series. Namely, why Bruce Wayne decided to give up being Batman. Well, that’s the first thing the show addresses and it’s one of the most shocking moments ever depicted in the DCAU. That image of Batman holding a gun in his trembling hand is something that has stuck with me all these years and it perfectly illustrates why he felt he needed to stop. How Terry comes into the picture is also really well done. I like how when Terry discovers the Batcave, Bruce’s response is to angrily throw the kid out. Almost like it's a disgusting secret he’s been keeping all this time. I also like how he initially tries to stop Terry from becoming Batman. Only relenting when he starts to relate to Terry and from there, a bond forms that the rest of the series continues to explore. People simply didn’t like the idea of some kid taking over as Batman out of the blue when Bruce spent a lifetime training to put on the cape and cowl and the show acknowledges that. Terry has to earn his chance to be Batman and throughout the series, he is constantly learning how to better fill the role under the tutelage of the man himself. So if you never watched the series just because of how premise sounds, know that you are making a big mistake.

The centerpiece of the show is of course the relationship between Wayne and McGinnis. Wayne is basically what you remember from the previous show. Very cold, no nonsense and unforgiving towards criminals. What I find interesting about Bruce here though is that there is a certain sadness to the character. As the show goes on, we find that Bruce continued to fight crime long after most of his enemies disappeared. Eventually getting to the point where all the allies he had during his time as Batman decided to call it quits. Yet, he continued to fight crime and only when his waning health nearly forced him to do the unthinkable did he give it up. And when he quit he was left with nothing. It’s not an uncommon occurrence on the show to see Bruce sitting alone in his manner and when you see that, you can’t help but feel bad for him. This is a man who stood amongst gods in defense of the greater good and this is the life he lives after being forced to give it all up. It really shows the impact being Batman had on the guy. As Bruce always says, it’s a self sacrifice. 

This seems to inform how he approaches mentoring Terry. Unlike Dick, Tim or Barbra, Terry isn’t granted much in the way of privilege. Terry isn’t living with Bruce, he doesn’t get much of an allowance outside of what Wayne pays him for his cover job as his assistant and he’s expected to be on call all the time. At times, it can seem like Bruce doesn’t really care about Terry. Having no sympathy for how his time as Batman affects his social life, his grades at school or his standing with his family. Something Terry is quick to call him out on too but I always got the sense Bruce was doing this on purpose. Both as a means to constantly test to see how dedicated Terry is to being Batman as well as making it clear he can leave whenever he wants. 

This also really informs what a great character Terry is. I thought this guy was cool when I was a kid but as an adult, I love him. Though he might appear to be a punk kid at a glance, he quickly establishes a strong moral code as the first thing we see him do in the series is defend innocent people from The Jokers. And he’s shown to be one tough ambray. Probably could have given Bruce a run for his money at that age. However, what makes Terry such a strong character worthy of being Batman is his dedication. Through all the struggles, trumas and broken promises, Terry always keeps going and seeing him grow under Bruce’s watchful eye to fill the shoes he once inhabited is great. I never understood why this character never became commonplace in the comics like Harley Quinn did. Yeah he’s made the odd appearance here and there but it’s not like he’s a part of greater Batman mythology.

As far as side characters go, most of them consist of people Terry knows in his life outside of being Batman. Though Terry lost his father, he still has a mother and a brother and though they never play a significant role in the series, they are still likable characters who do provide a good deal of levity. And the show certainly needs that. Oh it certainly needs that. Outside of Terry’s family, there are collection of people he interacts with at his school such as his long time girlfriend Dana who I find is a very disliked character. Most find her to be really b****y but I always thought she was really sweet. You can tell she and Terry have known each other for a long time and they have made a commitment to each other despite being so young. Yeah she can grow frustrated by Terry’s constant absences but I feel she is more understanding than people realize. There is one instance where Terry blows off a date they had but rather than react negatively, she just kind of accepts it. Feeling that Terry may have come to view Bruce as a surrogate father, which she feels is good for him to have after losing his real one. I kind of wish that she had figured out that Terry was the new Batman because I think that would have been interesting.

Someone does eventually figure it out though and that’s the teenage prodigy, Maxx. Now I know a lot of people like this character and to her credit, she isn’t bad. She is smart, is just as strong morally as Terry and does share a good rapport with him. It’s even fun to see her interact with Bruce, who respects her for keeping Terry’s secret but also views her primarily as a nuisance. However, I always questioned what the point of the character was. Teenage superheroes like this are always better when the character has to deal with their superhero life in isolation and considering that Terry already has Bruce to talk to, I never saw a real reason for Maxx to be there. Or why it was her who got to know who Terry was. Why not give more depth to Dana? Maybe that’s why outside of the show, Maxx never made an appearance in anything related to Batman Beyond.

Probably Terry’s greatest ally in his pursuit of justice is Comissioner Gordon….that is Commissioner Barbera Gordon. Yup, after giving up her identity as Batgirl, Barbera would take over the position once filled by her father. However, unlike her father, she isn’t as quick to make an alliance with the new Batman as her father was. Though she’s tolerant of his presence, mostly out of respect for her former mentor, she’s shown to be more competent at running the police force so she can mostly deal with the crime in the city on her own. THere are even times when Batman directly undermines a carefully planned operation, at which point, she’s quick to threaten to blow the whistle on Bruce and Terry. At the same time though, it’s clear she does respect Terry for his efforts and is willing to help him out from time to time. I also find the interactions between her and Bruce to be really charming. One of my favorite scenes in the series is when the two are enjoying a cup of tea and end up chatting about Alfred, who sadly isn’t around anymore having passed away. She’s a great character. I actually kind of wish that she had taken Maxx on as her own pupil. You know train her to be Terry’s person in the chair once Bruce expires….if he ever does. Even the immortal Superhman has doubts that Bruce Wayne will ever die.

One of the areas where I feel the creators got to flex their creative muscles is in regards to the villains. Though we do occasionally get appearances from a few of Bat’s former foes like Mr. Freeze, Bane and Ra’s Al Ghoul, Terry ends up developing his own collection of rogues such as Big-Time, Shriek, Spellbinder and Curare. All of whom are memorable in their own right and challenge Terry in creative ways. There are lots of great one off villains as well who really highlight how dark the series can get. Despite the series being made because the WB wanted to appeal to a younger demographic, Batman Beyond is somehow even darker and more twisted than even the orginal Batman series. Some of it can be downright disturbing too. It just goes to show how hardcore we were in the 90s. You’d never see something like this on TV today. 

Like the previous show, some villains standout more than others. I’d say the most effective villain to face off with Terry is Inque. Unlike a lot Terry’s enemies who showed up in his wake, Inque was a known superhuman criminal before Batman returned. And that shows because she’s the only villain that Terry was never able to definitively defeat. In her first two appearances, it took both Terry and Bruce to beat her and in her final appearance, she was done in by a third party. Or so we think as it was hinted that she was still alive. She certainly challenged Terry more than any other character in the series and she’s sort of come to be known as his arch nemesis. I think it’s telling that when the Spider-verse team pitched a Batman Beyond movie to Warner Bros., Inque was the character they had fighting him.

Another noteworthy group of villains are the Royal Flush Gang. Described as the aristocrats of crime by Bruce, the Royal Flush Gang are depicted as former rivals of Batman who return to the city upon hearing of a new one. They are also probably the most complex of Terry’s enemies. The gang is a family of criminals and the show does a good job showing how awful that kind of upbringing can be through the character of Ten. Unlike her family who take great pride in their stolen wealth and the thrill of the hunt, Ten doesn’t put a lot of stock in it and really just wants to be a normal teenager. Her standing with her family is also strained when she meets Terry outside of their respective alter egos and form a romantic relationship. Though the relationship never goes anywhere due to Terry’s preestablished relationship with Dana and his position as Batman, Ten does grow over the course of the series. Eventually leaving behind her family and taking honest work.

The biggest villain on the show Derek Powers AKA Blight. Appearing in the first episode of the series, Powers was the man who orchestrated the death of Terry’s father and thus, Terry has a more personal stake in trying to bring him to justice. However, much like Lex Luthor, Powers has too much influence for him to touch, even as Batman. Powers does have one problem though at that’s what happened as a result of his first encounter with Batman. That biological weapon he killed Terry’s father over ends up backfiring on him and when he attempts to treat it with radiation, his body starts producing it’s own deadly radiation. He tries to hide this as best he can but given the nature of his condition, it is long before he's found out. Blight was without a doubt the strongest foe Terry ever faced and it’s a shame that he fell by the wayside following the end season 1. 

As for the production of the show, the animation style has once again been updated, this time featuring just a little more detail than Superman or the last season of Batman and it looks great. This is basically the style they would continue to use for Justice League so I’d say Batman Beyond is really where they perfected the look of the DCAU. The setting is also fantastically done. Neo-Gotham takes it’s influence from several other works of fiction like Blade Runner, Akira and Marvel 2099 and the result is one of the best depictions of a futuristic metropolis I’ve ever seen. Even the way characters dress and how they talk matches the setting and it’s all done without it feeling hooky. The voice acting is great as always, I expect nothing less than Andrea Rarmono of course but all the actors here are especially good. Kevin Conroy does a really good job as an elderly Bruce Wayne and Will Friedle does an amazing job as Terry. In fact, this may be his best performance as he not only gets to flex his famous comedic chops but also his dramatic range as well. It’s crazy to me to think that this is the same guy that voiced Ron Stoppable on Kim Possible. They even reference that fact in an episode. My favorite part of the show though is the music, which goes for a techno metal soundtrack that fits the show like a glove. There are even some moments where the old Batman theme kicks in, this time amped up with an electric guitar.

I’m sure the executives at Warner Bros. felt like they asked for steak and got chicken instead but Batman Beyond would go on to become a hit show in it’s day. Running for 4 seasons and one movie based on it. That movie would be Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which saw the former Batman’s greatest enemy return. Something that up to this point, I don’t think anyone thought was possible. Well, Bruce Tim and the crew found some way to make it happen and the result is probably the single darkest thing they have ever produced. Seriously, the film was so dark, they where asked tone it down for the initial release. I even remember it airing on TV once and seeing the rating listed as R. As for why the show came to an end, it was primarly because most of the team who worked on the show would end up joining the team behind Justice League, which Bruce Tim had finally managed to get off the ground over on Cartoon Network. Like all the DCAU shows though, the Batman Beyond continuity would be revisited from time to time. Terry and the older Bruce would appear in an episode of Static Shock as well as an episode of Justice League Unlimited. The latter of which was significant as it allowed the original Batman to interact with not just his successor by his older self too, which was amusing. And of course, the last episode of Justice League Unlimited would center around Terry and Bruce. 

Batman Beyond rocks. As I said, this has always been my favorite series in the DCAU and it probably influenced the direction of my own comics more so than any other series they did. Which is saying a lot considering what a big part of my childhood these shows where. If you ever had any misgivings regarding the series, be sure to put them aside. I guarantee after the first two episodes, you will be hooked. I give Batman Beyond an 9 out of 10.

[bladeslingerreviews]

Short on reviews right now. Was thinking of this old top 10 from back in the day after playing NFL Blitz.

Blade slinger’s Top 10 Sports Games

Sports games are something that gamers generally dislike and I’m inclined to agree. The most common annoyance for most people is the fact that you are playing a video game about a sport as opposed to just going out and playing the sport. I echo that sentiment but I mostly dislike them because there are just so many of them. It seems like every sport has some kind yearly franchise. Madden, NBA, FIFA, NHL, NASCAR, these come out every year and there is little to no differences between them aside from roster updates and maybe some extremely minor gameplay tweaks if you are lucky. It just promotes lazy game design in my opinion, especially considering these days the roosters can be updated with patches and DLC. All that being said though, there are a few sports games that are worth playing and today, we are going to take a look at 10 of my favorites.

First of all, a few ground rules:

The games have to focus on a specific REAL LIFE Sport. Games that have mini games based on Sports don’t count. The sports in question must also be one found in the real world so Quidditch and Hoverboarding are not eligible.

Racing Games and Fighting Games will be kept to a minimum. Though both are forms of sports (yes racing does count, you’d be surprised how much physical dexterity it takes to drive a racecar without power steering at 200 miles per hour for upwards of 5 hours), I’m going to limit any choices like that to games based on real life racing and fighting. So for example, NASCAR and UFC are fair game but F-Zero and Street Fighter are not.

With that being said, I humbly present my top 10 Sports games.

10 - Wii Sports

Wait wait, hear me out. Yes I know that Wii Sports isn’t looked at fondly by the video game community these days, especially considering that it’s initial wow factor has long since been worn out but there still is a lot of fun to have with this one, especially if you have friends to play with. There is also a good deal of depth to it too and this is the only game on the list were you are able to exercise a bit while playing it. It’s not a game you are likely to play for very long but admit it, you still get this one out at parties. Who doesn’t love a good game of bowling after all.

9 - Backyard Baseball

One of the most charming games I have ever played, Backyard Baseball was the first in Humongous Entertainment’s long running Backyard Sports series. As you would expect from the company mostly known for games like Pajama Sam and Putt-Putt, the game is very simple to play and relies more on it’s diverse cast of memorable characters more than anything else. It’s another one of those kids game that I play as an adult and still fully enjoy. The rest of the Backyard Sports series are pretty fun too and I like how as the series went on they started adding in real life players as kids. It was a good way to get kids interested in sports which I think justifies its place on this list.

8 - Surf’s Up: the Game

I’ve always viewed Surf’s Up as one of the great underrated Animated Flicks. Though it is clear at points that it was made to capitalize on the popularity of certain movies at the time, it’s representation of Surfer Culture, Philosophy and movies was very well done. It’s also one of the few movies to get a decent video game adaptation. Rather than be a platformer like so many games like this are, the game is instead a Surfing game in the vain of something like Tony Hawk. The controls are great, there is a lot of variety in the locations, some great customizable options and a lot of personality. Just like the movie it’s based on, it’s heavily underrated.

7 - Mutant League Football

I’ve heard a lot of talk about younger kids not being allowed to play Football because of the injuries it can cause. Gee, it’s almost like they are playing a full contact sport! That’s part of why Football is so much fun and no game represents that more than Mutant League Football. You know all those safety precautions that are taken today to keep injuries to a minimum in Pro Football ? Well, none of that stuff applies in Mutant League Football, where players get dismembered, crushed and decapitated only to come back for more. As you can probably guess, it’s the most brutal game on this list and while it might not be a great game per say, what other game lets you kill the ref for calling fouls on you?

6 - Mario Power Tennis

I did my best to keep the Mario Sports games to a minimum on this list seeing as how there are so many of them and a lot of them are pretty good. Of all the sports Mario has tried his hand at though, I think he’s had the most success with Tennis. The series got it’s start on the Virtual Boy but the first one that most people played was the N64 game. With it’s easy to play but difficult to master design, it became one of the most popular games on the system. A generation later, they take it to the next level with more characters, more content and crazy special shots. There is nothing more satisfying than having Mario and Bowser dueling only to have Bowser shoot a fireball that Mario is able to intercept and getting pushed back as a result. Leaving skid marks in the process. It’s a great game.

5 - NBA Jam

There was once at time when games bearing a professional sports license didn’t have to be simulations. Back in the 90’s, authentic sports experiences just weren’t possible so developers just said f*** it and made games based around sports that were simply fun to play. NBA Jam is a fine example of this. It’s mechanics are simple, the action is fast paced and the players can jump and dunk like they are on the moon. Boom Shakalaka indeed.

4 - NFL Blitz

You can’t bring up NBA Jam without bringing up NFL Blitz. This game basically does what NBA Jam did but with football. It’s easy to play, fast paced and the players can hit each other so hard that they can send each other flying backwards a few yards. It’s just a lot of fun but games like this and NBA Jam are basically extinct. With EA’s firm grip on the NFL licensed and the strict guidelines of the NFL, games like this just don’t get made any more. And when one does slip through the cracks, people tend to dislike it for some reason. Oh well, at least we still have the originals and a few of their sequels.

3 - SSX 3

You know who aren’t high on making their games realistic? Extreme Sports Athletes. These are people who embrace the insane so the crazier the better and you can’t get any crazier than SSX 3. Wild tracks, wacky tricks and insane jumps make for one of the best snowboarding games you are likely to play. Top it off with customizable features and a nice sense of progression and you got every adrenaline junkie’s dream.

2 - Tony Hawk’s Underground 2

You can’t have a list like this without bringing up the Tony Hawk series. It’s probably the most successful extreme sports franchise of all time. Question is, which one makes the list? The original? Nah, it hasn’t aged all that well. Pro Skater 2? Another great entry but not the best. Ride?……yeah right. If I had to pick one, I’d have to go with Underground 2. This game is simply one of the most complete sport games out there. You got a story mode in addition to the classic arcade mode, it’s got some great customizable options ranging from create a skater to create a course, lots of star power and a great sense of humor courtesy of Jackass stars Bam Margera, Steve-o and Wee-Man. It’s just one of those games that’s hard not to have a good time with…..just don’t let your kids play it. This was one of the few games with content like this that my mom over looked and I think she regrets ever letting me play it. Love you Mom.

1 - Super Punch-Out

It didn’t take me long to figure out which franchise was going to be number one on this list. I’m a big fan of Boxing and I even practice it as a form of self defense so obviously, a boxing game was going to be pretty high on the list. And what better boxing game is there than Punch-Out. The series basically takes the fundamental elements of boxing and crafts an addicting arcade like experience based on analyzing patterns and timing your strikes. It’s one of the most underrated Nintendo Franchises out there and I’m glad it’s getting more attention with Little Mac’s recent entry into Super Smash Bros. The question is, which one gets the spot? The original is an NES classic and the Wii Version has a great deal of content but I have to give it up for Super Punch-Out. Excellent graphics, lots of fights and the most depth in the whole series, it easy tops my list of top 10 Sports games.

So those are my top 10 sports games. Feel free to repost and give your own thoughts on any of these games or list your own. And if you have any that I didn’t mention, shoot me a message and I’ll add it to my list if I feel it justifies a review.

[bladeslingerreviews]

The Armory: Ox Ox Fruit Model: Bison

The Ox Ox Fruit Model: Bison is a Zoan type Devil Fruit that allows the user to transform into a bison as well as human-bison hybrid. It was consumed in the series by Dalton who was probably granted the fruit by Wopple in order to boost the strength of his minions. In regards to the name of the fruit, the model portion of the fruit is important to note as there do exist several Ox Ox Fruits in the world of One Piece. The Model is required in order to distinguish between them so for the duration of this analysis, I will be referring to it as the Bison Fruit. For this examination, we will be looking at how the fruit is used by Dalton in combat.

Strengths:

So given that this is our first basic Zoan Fruit, it is important to explain the basic powers of this type of fruit. What this type of fruit does is take two living creatures and combine them together. In the case of the Bison Fruit as we saw it in the series, it was eaten by a human so that human can now turn into a bison as well as a human bison hybrid form. What benefits stem from this depend on the animal in question and the bison proves to be very beneficial. Bison can move up to 35 miles per hour, can weigh up to a whole ton and are incredibly durable, requiring high caliber bullets to effectively kill. The user also gains some unique abilities such as a thicker skull, horns, a thick coat of fur that makes them more tolerant to colder climates and an enhanced sense of smell and sound. Now the Bison is a rather clumsy animal when you get down to it but any limitations the bison has that result in this can be removed by invoking the human hybrid form, which applies all these strengths to that of the human body. Making for an effective superhuman. As for the transformation, it only takes a split second to shift forms which does allow for some creative usage of the fruit. Something else that I feel is important to note is that I don’t think the user of the fruit is necessarily limited to the three transformations the out of the box powers grant. It may be possible to access other forms, which we have seen from the users such as Tony Tony Chopper, Rob Lucci and Kaku. We do know that there is at least one more form and that is the awakening. When a Zoan Fruit is awakened, they typically gain the ability to become a King Kong Size monster that is incredibly powerful. The prospect of fighting a King Kong Size Bison is not something that I find terribly appealing so this would certainly be powerful in that regard.

Weaknesses:

The primary weakness of the fruit as well as most Zoan Fruits in general is that they do not grant the user any kind of special immunity to basic forms of harm. Don’t get me wrong, the Bison fruit would for sure make the user much harder to kill but you are still vulnerable to all conventional means of harm. There are also a few weaknesses that spring up as a result of the fruit, namely that Bison have naturally bad eyesight which could be a problem until you get used to compensating for that fact with your secondary senses. As for standard Devil Fruit weaknesses, Sea Prism Stone and Sea Water will lock the user into whatever form they are in so it’s not the best tool for fighting such a user. Haki isn’t going to be of much help either considering that there aren’t any special barriers to bypass. 

Dalton’s Use of the Fruit:

I have a feeling that Dalton was given his fruit later on in his life because he is shown to be a very capable warrior even without the fruit. He was captain of Wopple’s royal guard after all. This is actually a good thing because it means that Dalton primarily uses his fruit powers to augment his natural skills, which is the best way to use a Zoan in my opinion. Using the speed and strength granted to him, Dalton is shown to be capable of fighting whole legions of foes on his own with little effort. All that being said, Dalton is something of a peaceful character so I’d say he is holding back in most cases but I’d say he still makes good use of his powers.

Conclusion:

The Bison Fruit is a pretty solid zoan type though I’d say the powers granted by it are pretty typical all things considered. That’s sort of my problem with Zoan Types in general as the powers they grant tend to be very basic superhuman abilities rather than the strange, bizarre and creatively inclined powers one would get from a Paramecia or Logia Type. Now that’s not to say that the powers of a Bison wouldn’t be powerful, they most certainly would but given that you are still vulnerable to all conventional means of harm, I’d say the user of this fruit would be relativity easy to deal with as one would not require specialized weapons and tactics to combat them. So yeah, not my first choice of Devil Fruit.

And that pretty much does it for Ox Ox Fruit Model: Bison. Join me next week as we take a look athe Human Human Fruit.

[bladeslingerreviews]

LotS: Oro

“If you train for another 81 years, you might become a good sennin…..ho ho ho.” Welcome to Legends of the Street, the series that breaks down everyone and everything in the world of Street Fighter. Today, we will be exploring the character of one of the single most powerful yet low profile characters in the series. I am of course talking about the mysterious Oro.

Oro is a ghastly looking Japanese Man of advanced age who made his first appearance in Street Fighter 3. Oro grew up in Japan and made a living as a martial artist. In 1908, Oro would relocate to Brazil with a friend though this move proved to be less than beneficial to Oro and he would eventually adopt a reclusive lifestyle. Living in a cave in the Amazon Jungle, Oro would spend most of his time studying the mysterious martial art known as Senjutsu. Given that the man is well over 100 years old and capable of immense superhuman feats, it’s very clear that Oro has mastered the martial art. Though he mostly keeps to himself, Oro would occasionally venture into a nearby city for one reason for another. It’s here that he would demonstrate his mastery of his chosen martial art and thus, would attract several students wishing to learn the ways of senjutsu. Sadly, Oro has yet to take on a student who stick with it and as of now, remains the only practitioner of the martial art in the world of street fighter.

In reality, Senjutsu is a mythical martial art that is said to be the key to obtaining power beyond that of a human form. In a sense, connecting one’s self to a plain of existence beyond life and drawing power from it. In the series, senjutsu seems to center around gaining complete control of one’s mind, body and ki. As such, Oro demonstrates a monstrous degree of strength, speed and durability as well as many superhuman powers ranging from telekenesis and ki based attacks. Oro is also immortal as he is capable of all this despite being well over a hundred years old. In fact, Oro’s power is so absurd that in battle, he chooses to bind one of his arms in order to avoid killing his opponents. Even when faced with powerful opponents like Akuma, M.Bison and Gill, Oro feels the need to do this which is a testament to how powerful this man really is.

Despite his immortality, Oro seems to have taken an interest in passing on his mastery and has grown frustrated with his students as they routinely fail to live up to expectation. During a dry spell in candidates, Oro decided to embark on a trip around the world to see if he could find a worthy student. However, despite meeting and interacting with some of the strongest fighters in the series and even facing some truly monstrous foes, Oro has yet to find anyone worth his time. It’s unclear if he still has the intention of passing on his knowledge but given that there are some truly dangerous people in the world of street fighter who have already gain outrageous power, I’d say it’s best if the secret of Senjustu died with him.

Some more loose facts about Oro:

In a few languages, Oro means gold which may be in reference to his nasty yellow skin. Leads me to believe that Oro may not be his real name.

Oro is one of only 3 characters who intentionally handicaps himself. The others being Cody and Akuma. We know Cody can take Akuma but I wonder how Cody would fare against Oro.

Oro’s favorite form of travel is via airlinear…..no he doesn’t ride in the plane, he rides on it. As in outside. Is there anything this man can’t do?

And that pretty much does it for Oro. Hope you enjoyed this little history lesson and that you will join me next week for another one.

[bladeslingerreviews]

Superman: the Animated Series

Superman: the Animated Series is an animated superhero series that ran from 1996 to 2000 and is the second animated series to be helmed by the great Bruce Tim and his staff. After 3 award winning seasons with the Caped Crusader, Tim and his crew were ready to move on to their next project. It wasn’t long before they came to the conclusion that they wanted to do a Superman show as it would allow them to make a fresh series while still making use of a lot of the same tools they used to create Batman. The show would premier to critical acclaim and though it hasn’t had the same lasting impact that Batman’s series has had, Superman: the Animated Series still holds up and is widely regarded as the definitive adaptation of the character.

For those of you who don’t know, Superman is Kal-El, the last survivor native of the planet Krypton who was spared the fate of his people when his parents sent him away prior to the planet’s destruction. He ends up on Earth where he is found and adopted by the Kents, who name him Clark. Though living a fairly average childhood, as Clark approaches his adult years, it becomes very clear to him that he is not human and upon being told the truth by his parents, he realizes that his people gain incredible powers on Earth due to the presence of our Yellow Sun. After traveling around America for a few years in order to learn how to control his abilities, he settles in Metropolis and reveals himself to the world as Superman. Working at the Daily Planet alongside Louis Lane and Jimmy Olsen, he begins to defend the city and the greater world from the various threats that be fall it.

One of the areas where Superman differs from Batman is in it’s story telling. Now that’s not to say that the show isn’t still mostly episodic. You can still for the most part pick any random episode and not feel completely lost but there is certainly a greater deal of serialization here. Events do have an effect on the world at large and storylines tend to be revisited more frequently. As a result, it is more beneficial to watch the episodes in order though that does generally mean that the individual episodes of the show are never as memorable as they are in Batman. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few episodes that stand out but there is nothing I can think of that’s on the level of sophistication as Heart of Ice, Two-Face or Almost Got Em. However, the overarching narrative of the show for the most part is memorable. Especially as the show approaches its end.

Really what makes Superman the Animated Series so special is that it’s one of the rare few adaptations of the character that consistently works. It really is a case study on how to properly do Superman which makes me wonder why so many other adaptations have failed so epically. The first three episodes of the series plays as the perfect Superman movie, detailing the events prior to the end of his home planet, his teenage years and finally, his initial appearance in Metropolis. From there, the show is constantly drawing upon the greater mythology surrounding the character to create a variety of compelling scenarios. It just goes to show how much better a Superman adaptation can be if you read deeper into the character’s lore rather than rely on what people are familiar with.

Needless to say, the depiction of Superman is great. One thing that I find interesting about the character here is that he actually isn’t too different from Batman. He’s very stern and no nonsense and while he has very little sympathy for criminals, he still does everything he can to save everyone, even if they don’t deserve it. The difference really comes in how the characters present themselves. Where as Batman operates out the shadows and actively creates a supernatural aura around himself to threaten criminals, Superman works to present himself as something of a public servant. When he’s not fighting crime as Superman, he’s typically patrolling the city in an effort to help the authorities in any way he can. He even participates in a few charity events. However, one thing that is always clear about the character is that he takes his role very seriously. Rarely cracking jokes and working to resolve situations as quickly as possible. I’d say the only area where they fail with the character in regards to his duel identity. Much like Batman and Bruce Wayne, it’s important to create a disconnect between Superman and Clark Kent. Maybe even more so as Superman never wears a mask. Keep in mind, it’s not the glasses Clark wears that fools everyone. It’s the act he puts on. Where as Superman is brave and heroic, Kent is supposed to appear spineless and unassuming and never once did that come across. There is even a scene on the show where he flat out tells Lois Lane that he’s Superman. I get the sense it was supposed to be funny because Kent told her that knowing that she wouldn’t believe him but if anything, it just makes Lois look like an idiot. 

It’s a shame they did that too because Lois is awesome in this show. Lois Lane is the classic damsel in distress and as a result, it can be very easy for her to become a load. Typically getting herself into situations that Superman has to save her from. Thankfully, this is something that the writers easily avoided as Lois is a very fun character here. Very smart, witty and a lot of fun to watch. Yeah she gets into trouble a lot but typically when this happens, she’s actively trying to get herself out of the jam. In fact, there are even a few instances where she actively helps out Superman. The romance that builds between them is just perfect too. When they finally share a kiss at the end of the series, it feels perfectly earned. 

Lois is the main side character that Superman interacts with but there are plenty of other great characters as will. Jimmy Olsen is present and is about as well written as Lois though he gets notably less screen time. Still, he has a good episode here and there. Superman’s adoptive parents make the odd appearance here and there and are great as always. Never once attempting to discourage their son from from using his powers for good and even getting a few bada** moments themselves. One of my favorite moments in the series is when Braniac is attacking Clark as a teenager and the two just pull out shotguns and start blasting the dude. I think my favorite characters Officers Dan Turpin and Maggie Sawyer, two police detectives who are tasked with handling all the crazy stuff that’s been happening since Superman showed up. You would think these characters would hate Superman in the same way Bullock hates Batman and yeah, at times I think they feel superfluous in the presence of the Man of Steel but there is also a clear respect between them. Whenever trouble is a foot in the series, they never hesitate to team up.

While the main characters are pretty good, the villains are a tad bland. Now that’s not to say that there aren’t any memorable baddies, there most certainly are but it’s rare to get a super villain as complex or interesting as Mr. Freeze or Two-Face. Still, the show never struggled to find compelling characters to match up against Superman. Yeah you have the usual stuff like traps centered around Kryptonite or the occasional Kryptonian to fight but there are plenty of other characters Superman faces who present a solid match for the Man of Steel. Characters like Toyman may not be able to engage Superman directly but are is smart enough to stay a few steps ahead of him and achieve their goals. Characters like Live Wire and Mr. Mxyzptlk aren’t really capable of harming Superman but are also not easily stopped by Superman, so they are typically able to cause a good deal of destruction before Superman can figure out how to deal with them. Then you have characters like Parasite and Metallo who are capable of direct combat with Superman. It just goes to show how much fun you can have with Superman if you aren’t so fixated on Lex Luthor or General Zod. 

That’s not to say that neither of those two appear though. Lex Luthor is probably the most consistently present villain and usually has his hands in whatever is going down in Metropolis. This is actually one of the best depictions of the character ever because of how confident he is in untouchable status. Despite the fact that everyone in the city knows he’s bad news, he has so much power and influence that he can always escape the grip of the law. What I find interesting about the depiction here is that despite him being a criminal mastermind, the show never forgets that he is human. It’s not uncommon for Lex to end up in a bad spot when his superhuman associates turn on him. He’s even willing to work with Superman on occasion when foes like Brainiac and Darkseid show up.

Supe’s constant battles with Lex and all his supervillian buddies are great but the episodes that everyone remembers are team up specials. Superman the Animated Series was really where Tim and Company began exploring the greater DC universe so you had several episodes that saw Superman team up with other noteworthy characters. They started out small with appearances by Lobo and Steel but midway through season 2, they took things to a new level with World’s Finest: an epic three part event that saw Superman team up with Batman. NOt just any Batman though, but the Batman from TAS. The two shows would actually have a couple of team ups and each one where great but nothing ever topped World’s Finest. The series also saw the first appearance of Supergirl, The Flash, Green Lantern and Dr. Fate. This was all done because Bruce and his crew were planning to pitch Justice League as their next show and wanted to lay the foundation early. It’s a shame the execs had to throw a wrench in that plan.

As for the general production, it’s steller. Though the show features the same overall art style as Batman, the characters are more structured and the instances of silly looking animation are cut down to none. Despite sharing an art style however, the show still manages to have a unique look and feel compared to Batman. Being brighter and more colorful as well as depicting Metropolis as more futuristic and less crime ridden than Gotham. The music certainly helps with the tone as well. Being more triumphant than what you would hear in the Batman show. Something that did carry over from Batman though as Andrea Romano, who once again directs an outstanding cast. Some of the best voice work in any TV show period.

Superman would run for 3 seasons with the last season running parallel to the 4th season of Batman. However, Bruce Tim and company would bring the show to close with the intention of following it up with Justice League. However, The Kids WB, who had being hosting these shows, wasn’t interested in a Justice League and instead pushed for shows featuring younger superheroes which would result in Batman Beyond and Static Shock. This version of Superman would make appearances on the two shows and would eventually return as one of the main characters of Justice League after Tim final got the go ahead for that show.

 Though Superman: the Animated Series may get overlooked in favor of it’s predecessor and successors, it’s still a great show and one that is still worth watching today. If anything as the best representation of the Man of Steel outside of comics. I give it an 8 out of 10

[bladeslingerreviews]

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge

During the early days of the Xbox brand, Microsoft was doing their best to give consumers a reason to purchase their new console. It’s not like today where they mostly rely on Halo, Gears of War and Forza and making sure their console was the best place for big multiplayer games like Call of Duty and Battlefield. Most of their early exclusives ended up falling by the wayside as they just don’t fit with what the brand represents anymore. That being said, there are a few games from that era that I feel could find a place today. One such game is Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge.

A sequel to the PC game, Crimson Skies was right at home when it released on Xbox in 2003. It was originally supposed to come out in 2002 but it ended up being delayed in order to add support for Xbox Live, which was new at the time. The game would track well with critics but it would sadly underperform at retail. It’s a shame because the idea of a multiplayer aerial combat game is a good fit for Xbox. At the very least, it does make for a fun underrated gem to look at.

Story

The game takes place in an alternate timeline where after the first world war and into the Great Depression, major innovations in aviation technology lead to a boom in airborne commerce. Large cargo ships carrying goods would become targets of airborne raiders who would become known as Sky Pirates. The game follows Nathan Zachary, the leader of a gang of Sky Pirates known as the Fortune Hunters who finds himself going after a major villain when a friend of his is killed for the plans of a doomsday machine he invented.

There isn’t much to the story of Crimson Skies. It’s a pretty basic story of revenge with a predictable storyline and sequence of events. It’s a shame that ends up being the case because I do like the world the game takes place in. I’ve always loved the idea of alternate timelines and the diesel punk aesthetic on display here makes for a memorable game world. However, that only does so much for the game. 

The characters are pretty dull too. Nathan is a pretty typical protagonist for this kind of adventure. Having that everyman charm, a way with the ladies and reckless nature that gets him into trouble. His subordinates aren’t that interesting either, in fact, I can’t think of any of them apart from this hispanic broad he meets part way through the game. The game also has the misfortune of having a villain who is underplayed to a fault. Only really becoming a major part of the game at the very end.

It’s not a terrible story per say, it’s just forgettable.

5/10

Graphics & Sound

The graphics in Crimson Sky are okay. The Xbox was always revered for its outstanding graphical capabilities but honestly, this game doesn’t look that much better than a PS2 game. The overall aesthetic leaves something to be desired. Most of the levels in the game are little more than barren wastelands up until you get to Chichgo which just looks like your typical cityscape. Even the design of the aircraft is pretty bland. Outside of the Devestor which is a really cool looking machine, most of them just appear to be pretty basic. Even the monster machines you face don’t leave much of an impact. At the very least, it runs well with little to no glitches so there is that.

The sound design isn’t much better. The music is generally pretty forgettable and typically isn’t used to great effect. The sound effects aren’t all that satisfying either but I guess it could be worse. Really the only aspect of the sound that stands up is the voice acting, which is pretty good for the time even if none of these actors are really bringing their characters to life.

It’s not a terrible looking game but it’s not what I would call a show piece for what the Xbox can do.

6/10

Gameplay

So Crimson Skies is a pretty typical arcade flight game. In the game you take control of a variety of aircraft and then undertake a series of missions. Typically when you reach a new area, you are given the freedom to fly around a bit and take missions at your own leisure and to be honest, I’m not terribly fond of this design. There isn’t much to see or do in any of these areas aside from the main missions so I often wondered why I couldn’t just select missions from the menu and go from there. It just feels like needless empty space, especially when some missions are strung together without the need to explore.

As far as the controls go, it’s actually pretty well done. The controls are simple. You steer your ship with the left stick, pitch the ship with the right stick, control the speed of your ship with the facebuttons and operate your weapons with the shoulder triggers. You can also perform some airborne stunts by clicking both sticks and performing movements, which you would think would be clunky but honestly, it works really well. Shooting down enemies is pretty easy too once you figure out how to lead your targets you have a variety of different aircraft to use, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. It’s a very competently made and polished game though I wish the ship didn’t constantly reorient itself when you adjust the pitch. That was certainly annoying. 

The mission variety is pretty good too. Of course you’ll frequently find yourself having to shoot down targets but you’ll also have to defend points of interest, escort airborne ships and land bound convoys and picking up objects and taking them to a different point. It never gets stale which is impressive for a game like this. There are even some missions where you get to hop on a turret or have the option to choose between using a turret and fighting from the sky. There are even some kicka** boss fights where you have to deal with some crazy monster machine.

Crimson Skies might not bring anything new to the table for its genre but it is fun with tight controls and a decent amount of variety.

10/10

Difficulty

I found Crimson’s Skies to be a pretty easy game. Your planes are all pretty tough and it’s not hard to get yourself out of the line of fire if you know what you are doing. Even sections where you have to do some flying in tight spaces can be done with a little bit of fenis. The only thing that annoyed me was during the sections where you are given free reign, you are expected to do all the missions in one go. If you turn off the console, you’ll have to start again when you turn it back on.

10/10

Content

Crimson Skies is a short game. It only took me about 6 to 8 hours which is a shame because it ends just as you start going up against all the cool pulp sci-fi stuff. As for price, the game is cheap. Going for between 5 and 10 bucks physically and digitally…..are we sure this game didn’t sell well?

10/10

Verdict

Crimson Skies is a tad forgettable but I do see a lot of potential with it. The world it takes place in is pretty cool, the presentation isn't bad and the gameplay is mechanically sound and well polished. It’s a shame that the game didn’t sell better because I would have loved to have seen more games like this. Could you imagine what a Crimson Skies on Xbox 360 would have been like? Faster speed, bigger bosses, more action on screen, it would have been fantastic. It’s a shame this didn’t sell well but weirdly enough, Microsoft has made it a point to make this game available via XBLA. So if you’d like to give the game a shot, you can. I give Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge an 8.2 out of 10.