Nothing Sez “Student Game” More Than The Dinosaur Evening News (that’s a good thing, btw)
The above is Mediazoic, which takes place in an alternate reality in which dinosaurs have come back to rule the earth and they've hired you, puny human, to make sure their televised broadcasts are dino family safe.
You moderate comments left on message boards, censor full frontal dino nudity, and so on. It's a student game alright, and one of my top picks from the NYU Game Center Student Showcase2018!
I was also fond of Dreams For Your Computer because CRTs, magnets, and cats...
... Here's what it looks like in action, btw.
Though the one game that I liked the most, and which would actually fare well on the marketplace, would have to be Static...
And honorable mention goes to an updated take on Flight Simulator, which recreates a 6 hour long commercial flight as a passenger...
... The best part was the look on Stephen Totilo's face, who kinda didn't get it.
When was the NYU thing btw? Over two weeks ago, and it’s been even longer since the last update. Sorry about that. You know the deal: a million, billion things going on. As usual.
Hence why it’ll take not just one, but two bursting at the seams posts, to cover the second half of May! So onto part one…
Please, please, PLEASE let these Game Center CX Blu-rays have an English language option (via miki800.com)...
Not a day goes by in which I don’t wonder how that guy who appears in the instruction manual for Bomberman B-Daman is doing these days (via videogameartarchive & videogameartarchive)...
I really love the “are you for real?” vibe that Samus gives off in the instructions for the original Famicom Disk System release of Metroid (via nintendometro)...
If you’ve ever wondered what a pair of bosses from Mega Man 9 & 10 would look like with 8’s 32-bit sheen, well here ya go (via mendelpalace)...
A print ad for the Famicom adaptation of Akira that wasn't all that hot (via videogameads)...
Though whenever anyone hears the words “Akira video game”, this is basically what immediately comes to mind. Anything else is a disappointment, no matter what (via aaronkraten)...
Welcome to the rabbit hole that is the Memorex VIS (via @ColinWilliamson)...
Is the soundtrack to some ultra-obscure home banking software for the Mega Drive worth a listen? You goddamn right it is (via mendelpalace)...
… The accompanying article is also totally worth a read.
It’s the Battletoads X Blue Swede mashup that you can’t believe hasn’t been done yet (via SiIvaGunner)...
Replace Link with myself & Navi with my iPhone, which I use as an alarm clock, and you have earlier this morning in a nutshell (via nintendometro)...
“So where you going?”
“Down a road. A low poly road…”
“Where you headed towards?”
“Whatever’s at the end of this street. This low poly street...”
“If you look up, what do you see?”
“Low poly buildings, under a low poly sky. Who knows, maybe there’s some low poly birds up there, behind those low poly clouds…” (via pmpkn)
From looking at low poly skies to soaring high above them, but what a difference an arcade board makes huh (via kazucrash)...
This is what Metal Max 2: ReLoaded on the DS looks like, at its normal resolution...
And this is what it looks with the resolution bumped up (via gaucheartist)...
Is this sprite of a BMX biker animated unusually well or am I just out of touch when it comes to 2600 software? Granted, it does come from a game made in 1989 (via segagenesisevangelion)…
According to the law: “NO JUMPING” (via vgadvisor)
“Hi guys.” (via beowulf-ultra)
Such a heartwarming scene (via @PicturesFoIder)...
This is what VR looked like many years ago, which is basically how it still looks today as well (via peazy86)...
It’s Yuji Horii, from way back in the day, presumably before he had created Dragon Quest (via videogamesdensetsu)...
Why yes, I have heard of the Ocelot Arcade System, by virtue of it being Quality Simon Carless content...
... BTW, “Quality content” is in reference to this. Moving on: yes, I've also heard of VecFever. It plays games that you might be familiar with, since it emulates old vector MAME titles...
Meanwhile, am only just learning that Tiger released their handhelds in Japan under the Game Vision label (via segacity)...
The Sega Dreamcast: it's thinking... about you, cuz it cares about you (via posthumanwanderings)...
"Wait… was he always there?" asks the official Sonic the Hedgehog Tumblr (via sonicthehedgehog)...
And the final nail in the coffin for this gag came courtesy of the official Sonic Tumblr as well (via sonicthehedgehog)...
"Good news everyone skyrim has been ported to the Bethesda offices carpet"
"Who the fuck designed support pillars to obstruct a quarter of the hallway?"
"Bethesda" (via mysteriouslypeculiar)
Yet another "it's funny cuz it's true" (via highlandvalley)...
So annoyed that I only find out about this Games Glorious shirt on the very last day of kylefewell‘s Japanese extrusion (via miki800.com)...
Not a fan of the game (don’t hate, I just don’t find it very enthralling), yet for whatever reason, I REALLY want this vintage Mappy sweatshirt (via namcomuseum)...
When video game attire looks plausible IRL (via @cvxfreak)...
Much like with regular attire, with cosplay, sometimes it’s all about the accessories (via frankiebalboa)...
Don’t think I’ve ever seen this piece of Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter art before (via segacity)...
For those who dig POC, as well those who dig VF, and also those who dig FV... that last one's Fighting Vipers, BTW (via fightersmegamix)...
It’s a crying shame that Fighting Vipers is such an unknown commodity these days (via kazucrash)...
Virtua Fighter vs Virtua Fighter… Kid (via segacity)...
It’s a crying shame that Fighters Megamix is such an unknown commodity these days (via segacity)...
So hyped for RPG Time, based solely upon the headline image used for this 10 ten list of BitSummit games (via @indiegameweb)...
Please enjoy yet another thing that I originally posted on a Saturday late at night, whatever time it might on your end right this second (via contac)...
Been a while since I’ve seen the handiwork of Joe Bleeps, largely since it’s been a while since I’ve been collecting Game Culture Snapshots; the man has certainly stepped up his game (boy mods) since way back when (via kotaku.com)...
Am also very much impressed by the Game Boy Macro, though once again, am super irritated that GBA games do not rest flush with the DS Lite’s body...
An example of function over form I guess (@gamesyouloved)...
Familiar with Line Wobbler? Ever wished you could play it on the go? Are you into demakes? For the Game Boy Advance? (via @diskmem)
Today’s corrupted GBA boot up sequence is (via corruptionasart)...
Can anyone tell what Famicom game we’re seeing that’s all glitched out? (via mendelpalace)...
My fave part of this NES 2 print ad is how, in order to truly drive the message of “EVOLVE OR BECOME EXTINCT” home, whomever felt it necessary to include a little picture of a dinosaur (via nintendometro)...
Was this an ad for the SNES? I ask because it’s considerably more sophisticated when compared to what you usually encountered in gaming rags at the time (via nintendometro)...
This ad for the GoldStar version of the 3DO, hailing from Korea, makes me so proud to be (half) Korean, you have no idea (via notablegamebox)...
This Space Invaders tribute piece is like the cover art to some 80s heavy metal record (via shmups)...
Meanwhile, the album art for the Metal Black soundtrack feels more Pink Floyd-ish than anything else (via reportal)...
As amazing as it would have been to attend a ZUNTATA concert 20 years ago, I desperately wanted to see them perform various Darius cuts live just the other week (via miki800.com)...
This cover art for a tribute album celebrating 25 years of Mega Man is still quite good, 31 years after the fact (via rnn-draws)...
My recommended reading this time is a comparison of all the various Mega Man sprites that have been, including a few that you may not be familiar with (via retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com)...
Apparently there was a Mega Man boss that was part arcade machine, but he only appeared in some mobile game, for f's sake Capcom (via mendelpalace)...
Guess now’s a good time to share another random game canter pic (via gogopri)...
Pathos at the game center, even among Sailor Scouts (via funnysailorm00n)...
A pride & joy of my personal collection is both the original retail Japanese release of Jet Set Radio & the available via Sega Direct only edition: De La Jet Set Radio (via videogameartarchive & videogameartarchive)...
Here's an alternate take on it’s alternate cover star (via @Drooling_Demon)…
Putting together the necessary gear to properly grind the streets of Tokyo-to (via kiroziki-cosplay)...
JSR tales place in a fictionalized, idealized interpretation of Japan, whereas this gif is a very realistic take, yup (via dehtyar)...
Meanwhile and elsewhere, somewhere in the United States of America it would seem (via behexagusthegreat)...
There's still dinner time in the future (via kirokazepixel)...
My contribution to #WorldGothDay (via it8bit)…
From dark & dreary, to warm & fuzzy, yet still black & white (via this old post from a few years back)...
Old photos of a Japanese school kid obsessing over the Famicom are somewhat dime a dozen, but the PC Engine? A very rare treat (via gamingremembrance)...
From black & white photographs of Japanese 80s kids playing consoles, to a full color animated gif of US 80s kids at the arcade (via tvneon)...
Time to wrap things up by touching upon something that kept me awfully busy over the past few: Death By Audio Arcade X Dreamhouse II. Here's a rather mysterious image that appeared on the FB event page, and which was utilized in my promotional push...
... Did it work? You’ll have to find out in my part 2 of my Attract Mode X Tumblr: May 2018 recap! Due tomorrow. Maybe.
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Six years after the release of Marvel vs Capcom 3, which recently was ported to this generation of consoles, it is finally time for Capcom to reveal its new opus of this cross-franchise fighting game, with the rather very different Marvel vs Capcom Infinite. With the aim of appealing to a bigger audience, did Capcom manage to do so without pushing away fans of the series?
Who ever had the idea to unite the Marvel universe with the world of Capcom could give birth to such an unexpected and successful crossover? A series that kicked off back in 1996 with over 4 different editions over the years, this new opus is banking heavily on making some sort of sense of how these two universe collides. Marvel vs Capcom Infinite tells the story of an interplanetary chaos set by Ultron Sigma, born from a cross between Ultron (Marvel’s iconic robot evil) and Sigma (the main antagonist of Mega Man X). Thanks to the two Infinity Stones which he has in his possession (another key Marvel reference), which are linked to Space and Reality, he managed to merge these two worlds together. Like any big villain wishing to control the galaxy (and all dimensions), Ultron Sigma wants to shape it to its effigy, seeing himself and peers as a supreme god of living beings. In any case, a bunch of heroes from both Marvel and Capcom will have to put their egos aside, in order to recover the six Infinity Stones, to accomplish their mission and defeat this ultimate evil.
This previous paragraph is basically the story of the “Story Mode” found in the game, something Capcom omitted in the previously launched Street Fighter V, which should be something amazing if it wasn’t for this script that is all over the place, barely piecing things together, confusing you along the way like some sort of 12 season running soap opera where the mother is now the adopted daughter of the father of the main actor’s wife. I’m not going to bash it much, and I did particularly enjoyed the frantic pace of the story but after actually enjoying the ones in Tekken 7 and Injustice 2 (both reviewed earlied this year), and with the narrative direction of Marvel, this game would’ve been better at telling a tale of mighty heroes saving the world. The relatively dynamic stage set for these character is reinforced by the humor of certain ones like the devilish Dante from Devil May Cry, Frank West from Dead Rising, or everyone’s favorite angry and facetious Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy. We simply regret that not everyone was entitled to the same preferential treatment, and some character are either fillers or just really in bad roles.
I would say the main issue here with maybe not enjoying the story mode other than the script is two simple things: graphical quality and loading time. While the latter doesn’t need much explaining, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite has a really long loading time between the story mode cutscenes and the actual fights, which kills the flow and annoys the impatient players. The second point is the character design of almost the entire roster. I get that blending Marvel and Capcom character styles is a feat of its own considering the different artistic origins of each media house, but there’s not enough compromise on each end, which gives us some very weird versions of our heroes. If Chun-Li got “fixed” successfully after the feedback of the community, Ryu looks rather cubic during the cinematic, and Dante almost looks nothing like the Demon hunter we know. To finish on the graphical part of the game, the game is still a feast for the eyes in battle, with volley of visuals mashing through the screen, especially supers that are so crazy that it could give instant epilepsia attacks.
Before attacking into the heart of the title which is the gameplay, Capcom seemed to have learned the lesson in terms of content at launch. When playing offline, you’ll have no less than six modes ranging from Story, Arcade, Mission (which are sets of challenges to learn each character’s combos), the inevitable Training, and finally Versus with friend or CPU mode. The Collection is added as a bonus, and includes information about each heroes, the music of the game, and cinematics to replay. For those of you brave enough to play online (or those with decent connections), you can then access to Ranked match, Casual Match, and the Beginners League (for those under the level 14), Lobbies to accommodate up to eight players, Rankings to see the world’s leaderboards, and finally a replay feature to rewatch all of your previous matches.
Now that we tackled everything, how’s Marvel vs Capcom Infinite when it comes to gameplay, and has it been really turned into a casual mess to attract newcomers? Thankfully no, and if the game made drastic changes that may be detrimental to the series, the overall package is still decent. First of all is the switch from a 3v3 to a 2v2 combat, something that has only been done in the Tatsunoko vs Capcom series (my personal favorite of these crossover franchises). While this choice has been made to enhance readability so that the action is more clear than it was before, I now understand this with the new generation graphic engine, as a three player mashup would’ve become a gigantic sore for the eyes. This also makes it easier for Capcom to reconquer the pros of the Marvel vs Capcom fight, and hopefully have enough leverage to add the game in its annual Capcom Pro Tour.
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In addition, the gameplay, specifically the combos, have been made much easier to input. Unlike the technical tenors of the genre (Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, Tekken), big attacks that used to require a severe set of input can be done by pressing for example LT + RT, or a quarter circle followed by the combination of low and high punch. This simplification thus has the consequence of making the whole more accessible to ordinary players, and thus gives this immediate pleasure of play which does not require to get your thumb sores to see these amazing super moves. On the one hand, and although it can be played in the high ranks of the fighting game community, the franchise is not specially known for its technicality. Moreover, the combos, hyper and super automated jumps can be deactivated, relying on you to customize the experience to your liking, so you can do the combos like the good ol’ days.
Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite shares another common trait with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: the presence of the second character, which can be used if the main one is KOed, and more interesting acts as a helper to establish a chain of combos. Exploited as it should, in other words by having the right timing, the Active Switch can be turned into an ability to break the movements of your enemy, even the most impressive ones. However, you will need to make sure you have two bars of Super in stock, otherwise it will not work. A good other part of this dynamic is that fighters that are “out of the ring” will recover a certain amount of health with time, which can call for some fun last minute switch of tactics.
You’d think that it’s enough to change the recipe, but there’s is one parameter that still allows to change things around which are key to the whole direction of the game: the Infinity Stones. Like in the Marvel universe, there are six of them, which you will have to pick one at the beginning of each match, according to your affinities, your pair of characters picked, and obviously your opponent. Whether it is the Stone of Reality, Time, Power, Soul, Mind or Space, these invaluable jewels with “infinite” powers can shape and alter the game. These will obviously activate numerous unique abilities depending on the stone, whether it is an Infinity Surge (LB) or an Infinity Storm (LB+RB). I’m not going to explain the whole are not going to make the inventory at the risk of falling asleep, but it is necessary to give you some examples. Let’s say you decided on picking the “Mind” Stone: the Infinity Surge allows you to lock your opponent in a suspended bubble that stun him for a short moment, provided that you are close to him since. But when you switch to the “Infinity Storm” state (which is activated once you hit 50% of your Infinity bar), your Super gauges fill up at crazy speed, leaving you to freely go mental and abuse Super moves.
Marvel vs Capcom Infinite was reviewed using an Xbox One downloadable code of the game provided by Capcom. The game is also available on PlayStation 4 and PC in online and retail store releases. We don’t discuss review scores with publishers or developers prior to the review being published.
With this new episode, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite retains its core elements while drastically modifying certain gameplay features in order to seduce as many newcomers as possible. Six years after the release of Marvel vs Capcom 3, which recently was ported to this generation of consoles, it is finally time for Capcom to reveal its new opus of this cross-franchise fighting game, with the rather very different Marvel vs Capcom Infinite.
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