aksys
Latest
VC Monday Madness video wrap-up 4/21/08
Well folks, we're back with video commentary and ready to give you the lowdown on this week's Virtual Console releases. This week will go down in history for us, as it shows the release of one of the best NES games ever here in the United States. So what are you waiting for? Hit up the video above, then cruise past the break for the rest.
River City Ransom on VC next week
Wii owners might finally get a new Virtual Console title that they actually give a damn about, when the classic brawler River City Ransom hits the service next week. Publisher Aksys has confirmed that they'll be releasing the title next Monday, as part of Nintendo's regular weekly releases.Hooray for nostalgia and all, but we're getting a bit concerned with the glut of content now available on Virtual Console. Perhaps Nintendo should implement a rating system, to help users distill the garbage from the few titles that are actually as awesome as we remember them.
'Is this fun yet?' It will be next week!
Hey, Generic Dudes, guess what? Aksys Games has announced that they are, in fact, bringing the two Technos games found in the ESRB database to the Virtual Console -- along with another one that just happens to be the best game on the Nintendo Entertainment System! River City Ransom. Next week. Five dollars.The week after that, Double Dragon will become available (which would be awesome news if not for OMG RIVER CITY RANSOM SERIOUSLY), and the week after that, Renegade. If you don't have a Wii, you should probably go ahead and buy one now, because it just got its killer app.
Super Dodgeball Brawlers sped up for American release
The only complaint we've heard about the Japanese version of Super Dodgeball Brawlers is that it is very slow compared to previous games, though you gain the ability to speed your characters up over time. Aksys Games, publisher of the American version, apparently paid attention to this criticism: according to IGN, who totally got to play the game already, Brawlers has been sped up, and this timing has had a positive effect on their ability to catch the ball.The items have also been rebalanced since the Japanese version, which now makes us glad we've waited. Just like Bangai-O Spirits, which will come with many new Treasure-created stages not found in the Japanese release, the American version will be the definitive Super Dodgeball Brawlers.%Gallery-14440%
May 6th is Shooter Day
In a bizarre turn of events, two new scrolling shooters will face off for the money of the tiny audience who buys scrolling shooters on May 6th (well, probably May 7th, since the games ship on the 6th). Both Majesco's Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy and Aksys Games' Castle of Shikigami III will be released on that day, according to Gamestop. This makes May 6th either the most awesome day in years or the worst for shooter fans, depending on their financial situation. There usually aren't two original shooters to choose from within six months of each other!Exacerbating the shooter overload, Jack of All Games' 3D fighter-jet game Rebel Raiders is also coming out on the same day. Too many options! And of course, all three will be competing with whatever shooters Nintendo puts on the VC that week.Read - Castle of Shikigami IIIRead - Blast WorksRead - Rebel Raiders
Jake Hunter gets busy boxart
Thanks to a sweet thread over at GAF, we've got a look at the boxart for upcoming Aksys title Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles. Regular readers of the site will know that we're pretty darn anxious to get our hands on this game and give it a try. If there's one thing we'll say about the boxart, it sure is busy. There are tons of characters crammed onto the boxart, but none is so prominently displayed as the lead man, Jake Hunter himself. And, because of this, we consider the boxart a great success. What about you all?See also: 2008 Blips - Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles%Gallery-9685%
DS Daily: Super Bangai-O Brawlers
There's a considerable number of DS games out there that we cherish, but Super Dodgeball Brawlers and Bangai-O Spirits must rank amongst our greatest obsessions.By a happy coincidence, both titles recently released within days of one another in Japan, so the next question is obvious: as the U.S. still has a couple of months to wait for these gems, did you buckle under the pressure and import either? If so, we'll be happy to place our extreme envy to one side for the time being, and listen to your impressions! We're nice like that, see.%Gallery-16997%%Gallery-14440%
Super Dodgeball Brawlers plays dirty
Hands-on impressions of Super Dodgeball Brawlers have been coming in since the game's release in Japan earlier this week, and while previews indicate that the game's "pacing" seems slow in comparison to the NES original, we're happy to hear that this design decision is in favor of a much deeper experience with stat-tweaking and buyable upgrades. Even without an online component, Brawlers already sounds like a title with a lot of replayability! All the special throws and jumping skills won't save you, however, when your opponent can pick up and toss a bomb at you, literally (0:50). As you can see in these two in-game videos -- complete with face-smashing sound effects -- a mess of potential weapons litter the arena, enticing you to abandon the gym pastime's dated rules. According to 1UP's preview, the Canadian team, in particular, has no problem relying on under-the-belt strategies rather than its own abilities.Why bother waiting to get beaned when you can just run across the chalked line and mollywhop whoever has the dodgeball? Head past the post break for another foul-play-filled Super Dodgeball Brawlers clip. %Gallery-14440%
Super Dodgeball Stats: the strategy behind the face-smacking
NeoGAF's Sp0rsk has provided us with new information about Million's Super Dodgeball Brawlers -- after buying it. At least those of us waiting for the English version can benefit from his gameplay sessions (even as we cry).The "Create a Dream Team" mode gives you 150 stat points to distribute among your team. There seem to be some light RPG elements involved as well, as you can shop at one of the stores from River City Ransom, which probably ups some of those stats. You can also change the appearance of your team members.In addition, the special team attacks actually temporarily change the team's stats rather than executing a large attack. You can boost your team's catching ability, speed, and such. Now we just need someone to change Brawlers' "American release date" stat.
Taking out the trash in Castle of Shikigami III
Aksys Games' Shikigami no Shiro III may not have enjoyed amazing first-day sales in Japan, but we're still glad it's coming to North America. If you're clueless to the whole thing here, hit up the video above. Basically, you just shoot the crap out of everything in sight. We're sure there's more to it than that, but we really don't care. Shooting things is enough for us.%Gallery-11810%
Get a taste for Jake Hunter's kind of justice
When not figuring out who ate all of the damn pizza rolls, Jake Hunter is often busy solving other, less-important mysteries. You can get a taste for his caseload by hitting up the video above, which indicates (to us, at least) that this is going to be one sweet game. Not only do you solve crimes, but you get to beat up street punks through turn-based combat. So hit up the trailer above and see the latest on Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles. Zwapp!%Gallery-9685%See also: 2008's Biggest Blips - Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles[Via Go Nintendo]
Videos from 'that other Brawl'
Though Aksys published these Super Dodgeball Brawlers clips to keep the game fresh in our minds, the videos are also a reminder of the potential that playgrounds have to serve as battle arenas for our nation's youth. Imagine a utopia in which children of all creeds and races, rich or poor, can come together during recess and pummel each other with dodgeballs, crude weapons, and their own two fists. It is a dream we have worked our entire lives to realize.The Brawl Mode in Super Dodgeball Brawlers is a window to that dream, allowing up to eight kids to battle it out in a no-holds-barred, free-for-all game of Murder Ball. Adolescents are encouraged to swing lead pipes at each other, throw exploding rocks, and transform the dodgeball into a tire-hugging panda whilst a small yapper-type dog cheers them on. Wipe that proud tear from your eye and step past the break for another clip of elementary school children locked in gladiatorial combat.%Gallery-14440%See also: 2008's Biggest Blips: Super Dodgeball Brawlers
Guard your grill: Super Dodgeball Brawlers trailer
We estimate that about 95% of the people who're hyped about Super Dodgeball Brawlers's release are nostalgic fans of the original NES game, scarred veterans of the flickering playground. Publisher Arc System Works must have come to the same conclusion, as its latest promotional trailer introduces the return of the Kunio dodgeball series with "archival footage" of the 1988 title, positioning Brawlers as a modernized remake. Smart move!This minute-and-a-half-long video has a lot more excitement than the mini-clips we've featured the past two months -- it has florid lines of text flying around, chaotic scenes grabbed from the 8-player free-for-all battle mode, and some dude lifting a vending machine over his head. Expect Super Dodgeball Brawlers to hit Japan this March 19th (the February 21st date advertised in the trailer is from before the game was delayed).%Gallery-14440%See also: 2008's Biggest Blips: Super Dodgeball Brawlers
2008's Biggest Blips: Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles
Developer: Arc System WorksPublisher: Aksys GamesRelease: May If your law-and-order interest leans more towards the law side, you'll want to take a break from the Ace Attorney series and try out Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles. As with Phoenix Wright, most of this adventure title relies on menu interaction to move the plot along, but you'll spend more time on the streets interrogating suspects, following leads, and digging up clues from crime scenes. Aksys plans to publish the game in the US with a budget price of $19.99, promising 4-to-5 hours worth of playtime for each of the game's three cases.Those of you who've followed our coverage of Jake Hunter (Tantei Jinguuji Saburou) already know that it's an established series in Japan, boasting two decades-worth of releases for nearly every video game platform since the Famicom Disk System. But were you aware that before he ever hit the screen, our chain-smoking gumshoe had dozens of hardboiled crime novels to his credit? It's true! We've collected quite a few of the paperbacks, scanning and posting them below for your viewing pleasure: %Gallery-9685% placeholder text placeholder text Back He'll never settle
Super Dodgeball Boxarts
According to Amazon, Super Dodgeball Brawlers now has a release date: May 27th. That's pretty far away, but okay! We don't mind having just Dodgeball to play during what is usually a lull in game releases. That's totally fine. Also, take a look at that boxart! It uses the same artwork as the Japanese boxart (which is welcome), with the characters all rearranged and the background replaced with some purple lightning or something. Most interesting to us is the little "Kunio Series" label on the box. Since there aren't that many Kunio fans who wouldn't already know about this game, we totally take that to mean that Aksys is looking forward to continuing the series. Or they're just making us happy.See also: 2008's Biggest Blips
You can't dodge these Super Dodgeball Brawlers screens
We haven't really seen much on what is sure to be the sports game of the century: Super Dodgeball Brawlers. Actually, scratch that. We've seen so many different aspects of the game, we can probably already go insane within a mental playground constructed of the game itself. We will feel the agony of being crushed by a 225mph fast ball to the gut. In reality, we'll have just walked into a bus. Probably on the day it releases.But, we digress. There's always more to look at, more to appreciate about the game. These new screens in our gallery, for example (which come courtesy of JeuxFrance) are more the former: just more of the game to look at.%Gallery-14440%
Super Dodgeball Bummers: Arc delays the game
Japanese publisher Arc System Works announced that they're delaying the release of the Japanese version of Super Dodgeball Brawlers from February 21 to March 19, citing the usual desire to improve the game. We asked American publisher Aksys Games if the delay would affect the U.S. release, which, according to Nintendo's gigantic list, was slated for April. The Aksys rep told us that the game had never actually gotten a confirmed release date, but that since the American version is built from the finished Japanese game, Aksys will certainly have to wait for the final version before releasing it elsewhere. In happier news, Aksys posted another spate of wonderful special-attack videos, this time focusing on the French team. The new Fake Shot (above) may be the most diabolical throw in the history of the series.
2008's Biggest Blips: Super Dodgeball Brawlers
Developer: MillionPublisher: Aksys GamesRelease: April 2008 Parents:You've seen the news. Our children are rapidly falling under the sway of insidious video games, spending hours upon hours watching and even taking part in the most brutal acts of violence imaginable. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt 2 are designed with nothing in mind but a devious plot to corrupt our children and disrupt our society. Not only that, but many of these games expose our youth to graphic sexuality. Case in point: Mass Effect, which is a pornographic game targeted at preschoolers and (reportedly) given away with boxes of cereal.The latest threat to our children's sensitive minds comes from Super Dodgeball Brawlers, a game of such stark brutality that it should be banned. And yet, it's going to be released on the Nintendo DS, a game system for children. This shocking violence simulator allows children to play a game called "dodge ball," in which characters break up into teams and attempt to murder each other with thrown projectiles. Disgustingly, this "dodge ball" is presented as a sport, suggesting that it's an acceptable activity for children to engage in on the schoolyard or in the park. Publisher Aksys Games should be held accountable when this deadly game begins claiming young lives. It's bad enough that children will be taught to use harmless playground balls as weapons, but Super Dodgeball Brawlers takes the corruption a step farther. It satisfies murderous fantasies by giving the players super powers, allowing them to electrify the ball, multiply it in the air or throw it at super-speed. These attacks will even turn our harmless pizzas, cacti, panda bears, and Eiffel Towers into brutal weapons. Kids will even be able to drop the pretenses of sportsmanship and batter each other directly. Worst yet, Super Dodgeball Brawlers will allow children to connect their DS units wirelessly and perform the simulated violence in groups of eight. Even if you can keep this out of your own home, your children are in imminent danger of having the offending software forced onto their DSes. We must put a stop to this! If you don't complain to your congressman and do your best to block sale of this disgusting game, it will be on you when children, too addled by flashing lights and cartoons to understand the difference between fantasy and reality, begin acting out this "dodge ball" with their friends.%Gallery-14440% Ninja Gaiden Back EXTREME INVADING
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Boot country'
If you're having trouble making out what it is exactly that Lorenzo is tossing across the field, it's a giant pizza, heavy on the green peppers. Aksys' most recent video update for Super Dodgeball Brawlers showcases the special throws of Team Italy, a smooth bunch that insists on walking into every match wearing leather jackets, open arms and thumbs up, introducing themselves with an "Aaay!"IGN also has a two-minute movie worth checking out, in which you can see the two teams actually trading shots with each other. We need more of this! As with the mini-clips, the video is soundless, but you'll get to see our paisanos throwing a vending machine at people's heads. Team Italy's celebratory pirouettes are worth watching, too!
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Ich bin ein Dodgeballer'
Aksys' latest Super Dodgeball Brawlers videos take us to Germany, the land of Deutsches. Boasting a six-man squad of supermen, Team Germany has its own array of power throws to show off.Those of you who've been following Aksys' updates should already know what to expect from this new set -- clips without sound or any lasting entertaining value. Also, while each of the eight special attacks shown varies in its style of dodgeball delivery, the result is always the same -- dudes getting beaned in the face. Not very exciting, but it's Super Dodgeball Brawlers!
