Sega Rally 2006 & Tougeki '07- Street Fighter III 3rd Strike

I've should have told you about this one on Friday, but the Tougeki '07 SFIII 3rd Strike Tournament was fun to watch. In a matter of a fact, I even can't wait till Tougeki '08 DVDs are out in (probably) Autumn this year. I've seen over at their site that SF3, Hokuto No Ken, Super Street Figher II X, Virtua Fighter 5 and TEKKEN 6 will be one of the playable in the tournament. Despite the fact that I don't understand any fucking word they'll say or write, I can only enjoy the gameplay these Japanese gamers are good at.

As for the SEGA RALLY 2006, It was a sort of a "First Press Release" that contained "Sega Rally 2006" and "Sega Rally Championship" (aka. SR '95). It's a great game and a great DVD that's worth the buys.

A fine buy indeed...

I was at work when it happend. The package with "Appleseed EX: Limited Edition" came today. The content of this one is the game itself, a figure of Deunan Knute (the heroine of the anime and in this game) and a filmcomic of "Appleseed".

Those of you not familiar with filmcomic; it's screencaps from a film, anime or series and they'll add captions of what they're saying. This book is in Japanese, so I'll ask a friend of mine if I could borrow that movie he has.

So far, the game is kind of hard, since most of it are in Japanese (of course). But it'll take a time to go through this game. And I've been enjoying it. While I had the figurine standing next by my Japanese-PS2!

2 days later, these 2 showed up!

Looks like I'm gonna have fun in the Weekends! "Gunstar Heroes Tresure Box" and "Hokuto No Ken" showed up, recently. "Gunstar Heroes Tresure Box" is a retro-collection game including Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy and Alien Solider for SEGA MegaDrive. And "Hokuto No Ken" (better known here as "The Fist of the North Star") is a 2D-fighting game made by the gang from Guilty Gear-series.

I'll probably make a review for "Hokuto No Ken" while I'll be waiting for "Appleseed EX" to come...

About frickin' time!!!

Arcana Heart (PS2)

About frickin' time! I ordered this for about last month, and thanks to that fucking Norwegian Easter-days, it took longer than I thought. This must be a reasson why air bubble posts takes longer than the other one (Darkstalkers and Street Fighter 3). Anyway, this is another fighting game that looks stylish as the Guilty Gear series. And like every fighting games, sore thumbs.

I also bought memory card for PS2 because of Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories (the game that came along with "Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix +") and it finally works fine. Now I guess that the two other game WILL come over here...

I really hope this fucking works...

I got to be honest about the "Arcana Heart"-game, I have a doubt it will show up. As the same goes to the 2 other games I mentioned. After a while, I checked around some other sites that still sells Japanese PS2-games other than PlayAsia.com. And I crossed over a site named YesAsia.com. Yeah, it almost sounds like a PlayAsia.com-ripoff, but I found a game that PlayAsia was sold out of. The game's name:

No, your eyes doesn't fuck you up! Yes, this is the game that is based on the anime-movie "Appleseed". I bought the limited edition of it, since the one on PlayAsia is out of stock. I really hope that THIS ONE comes over here. That and the 3 others that I needed right now...

REVIEW: Vampire DarkStalkers Collection

Title: Vampire: DarkStalkers Collection
Format: PlayStation 2
Published: Capcom
Developed: Capcom
Players: 1-2
Genre: Fighting











Capcom are best known for their 2d-fighting games in the 90s. One of their titles was "Street Fighter II". However, after the sucess of "Super Street Fighter II Turbo", they made a new fighting series. The game: "DarkStalkers"! Or "Vampire" as those in Japan calls it! And now are the monsters fighting in this retro-collection on the PS2 that goes throug this bizzare monster-fighter since 1994 to 1997. This collection includes these games:

• Vampire (US/EU: DarkStalkers), 1994
• Vampire Hunter (US/EU: Night Warriors), 1995
• Vampire Savior (US/EU: DarkStalkers- Jedah's Damnation), 1997
• Vampire Hunter 2, 1997
• Vampire Savior 2, 1997-98

There are also "Arrange"-versions of the 3 last mentioned games in this collection with some extras that wasn't on the original arcade verisons.

The game-select screen

THE STORY
Since there are 5 different DarkStalkers-games, their stories are based on the character you play as. Among them are Morrigan, Demitri, Felicia, Lei-Lei (named "Hsien-Ko" in US and the European regions), Donovan, Bishamon, Lilith, Bulleta (aka "Baby Bonnie Hood" right here), Jedah and several other DarkStalkers to choose from.

THE GAMEPLAY
The first two in the "Vampire"-series are just like the "Street Fighter"-games. But from "Vampire Savior" and onward, the system is changed. This isn't a regular round match. When you have drained an opponents lifebar, it's counted as "Down!". After that, depending on how much health you got, the odds might be in yours or the opponents favor. And every time you hit, the lifebar of the opponent will drop fast, unless he/she strikes back and make a small recover.
During completing a game with that character will also unlock an artwork. Since I've played most of the DarkStalkers-games (even the one on PSP), I've seen them most of them before. But some artworks are kinda new to me. Like sketches of how the characters could might have been looked like during the production of the games. And some events might unlock the "Arranged" versions of "Vampire Savior", "Vampire Hunter 2" and "Vampire Savior 2". These arranged variations of the games lets you play as all of the rosters with moves based on game 3 to 5. And a secret character never revealed in the original verisons, named "Dee".

Jedah vs. Dee

ABOUT THIS "DEE":
Dee is a crossover of Demitri and Donovan. However, this character has a story. In the end of "Vampire Hunter", Donovan becomes more darker variant of himself, consuming into the darkness! (sounds more like Ryu becoming Evil Ryu) It's just like a "What-if"-storyline, but the character itself is pretty awsome. I'm not gonna reveal how his ending are. The only thing I can say is you get to see an older Anita at the end (Anita is the little girl that follows Donovan)

"Vampire"

THE GRAPHIC
This game has the filter mode on. But when you're having it off, it really doesn't look so good while playing VDC on the TV. With filer on, it's get a little better. There's also a hell-a-lot of flashing light, so those who have a little problem with that might want to close their eyes. Especially if you're sitting in the dark. (Which is less likely unless you're playing Resident Evil 4 or Silent Hill)

THE SOUND
Like the original games, the "Q-Sound" is there like usual. While some musics are good, some are not so good.

THE CONTROL
It's like all fighting games if you play with a DualShock2. You'll get sore thumbs. But enough about that. The controls in the game it a little bit hard to control. The buttons are a little awkward, but those can be changed to you likings. I'll probably update this when I get the arcade sticks one day.

"Vampire Hunter"

THE MISSING
This retro-collection plays out like "Street Fighter Zero - Fighters Generations". (aka "Street Fighter Alpha Anthology") I've played SFAA, and when I played this game, I noticed something that might could have give me a good time. The Pallete Editor in SFAA. That wasn't include in this game. Let me explain about this: You could change the original pallete to your imagination. That was the only thing I missed about this game. But everything else is okay.

"Vampire Savior", "Vampire Hunter 2" and "Vampire Savior 2"

THE CONCLUSION
This arcade perfection of one of Capcom's greatest fighting games is a great buy if you either like fighting games or are a DarkStalkers-fan. The catch? It's a Japan-only game, meaning it wil never see the daylight in US or EU unless it's imported one. So I'm glad I bought this one. Since I'll rather like the DarkStalkers-games as much I like the Street Fighter-games.

Gameplay: 8/10
Grapics: 7/10
Sound: 6/10
Controll: 6/10
FINAL SCORE: 8/10

Screenshots by ign.com

2 SEGA-games while waiting for 1 fighting game!

While I was waiting for "Arcana Heart" to show up, I decided to buy two other games.

[From left to right: Hokuto No Ken (a.k.a. Fist of the North Star) and SegaAges 2500 Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes Tresure Box]

The first game is a fighting game by the gang who made the Guilty Gear-series. And the second game is rather more of a retro-collection just like "Vampire Darkstalkers Collection". Now I have to wait for 3 games! "Arcana Heart" is right around the corner, and these two are about to get shipped.

Looks like I have to play more "Darkstalkers" and "Street Fighter" in a few weeks.