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TGS 08 hands-on: Spelunker (PSN)
Click to make it bigger, okay? Spelunker is a remake of the NES classic from Irem. Does it look familiar to you? Do you remember the game from way back in the day, 20 years ago? If you do, it's probably because the aesthetics haven't changed much. Though boasting updated, modern graphics, the game's visuals retain a retro-stylized feel. The 2D characters are still there. The lifts and ladders are still in the places they would've been. Overall, it looks like an interesting title for those old-school gamers looking for a blast from the past. Of course, the question is: How does it play? First off, the controls are simple enough. It's a 2D game with a focus on platform jumping, with other actions including: riding down elevators; leaping over pits; climbing ladders; and dodging fire, steam, and toxic liquids. You can collect items such as bombs to demolish obstacles in your way, or keys in order to progress through locked sections of a stage. It all sounds very simple, familiar and arcadey -- in other words, a perfect fit for a PSN game. Right? Gallery: Spelunker
Two out of three SCEI TGS games revealed, Irem brings Disaster Report to PSP
Here's another three new titles set to be shown at this year's Tokyo Game Show. Let's start first with two out of the three unannounced SCEI games, shall we? Both games are adventure, investigation-type games according to PSPHyper. They're called Enkaku Sousa and Diamond and the Sound of a Gun Shot. The third mystery Sony title is apparently Resistance: Retribution, which is something we've known about since E3. Not really much mystery there.The last title we'll mention in this article is Irem's Disaster Report game for PSP. The company is bringing the series of survival adventure games over to the PSP with Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3. The series has come over Stateside before, so this one might turn out to be a title that could make its way over here. Source 1 - PSP HyperSource 2 - PSP Hyper
Bumpy Trot trailer takes a page from Custom Robo
Irem's upcoming Bumpy Trot game on PSP looks rather ... bumpy. And we don't mean that in a good way. This robot battling arcade game looks a lot like the DS Custom Robo, even graphically. We know visuals don't make or break a game, but we just wish this looked a bit better. [Via PSPHyper]
Pre-order Bumpy Trot, get nifty pouch
If you've been out of the loop for Japanese game releases, Irem Software has Bumpy Trot: Vehicle Battle Tournament set for sometime in July. The game is a spiritual successor, of sorts, to the PS2 game Steambot Chronicles. It hit shores outside of Japan, so this one might, too. Well, if you're an import-friendly type of person and want to jump on this with a pre-order, you'll get this really nifty PSP pouch as a bonus. Enjoy![Via Siliconera]
R-Type Command to include R-9 collectible
If you're looking forward to the upcoming May 6 release of R-Type Command for the PSP, but are wondering where to pick it up, Atlus USA might have just made the decision a tad easier. The company has announced that for a "very limited" time those who buy the game from GameStop, Amazon.com, GameCrazy, EB Games Canada, and other select retailers will be able to take home a free plastic miniature replica of the game's R-9 spacecraft, which we imagine to be perfect for keeping your desktop safe from the Bydo Empire.
Virtually Overlooked: Street Combat
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.Once again, we're turning to a crappy game for our weekly recommendation, due to its historical (or hysterical, amirite) notability. We've proven that we kind of enjoy bad Street Fighter II-era fighting games; now that time has passed and the awful clones didn't lead us into another crash, we can enjoy them as bizarre and hilarious curiosities. Well, "enjoy" is a strong word.Street Combat on the SNES is one of those curiosities, mostly because of its origins. Don't be fooled by the "IREM" on the label -- this game dates back from when good old IREM had enough money to publish other people's games. Don't take it as the mark of quality it usually is.
R-Type Command bosses PSP around on May 6
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAs you can see, we follow Atlus USA's requests to the letter. The quirky company has asked us to tell you lot about R-Type Command, "a bold new turn-based strategy entry in the long-celebrated series of side-scrolling shooters." Hitting the PlayStation Portable on May 6th, the game has players going up against the evil "Bydo Empire" in "exciting tactical gameplay!" The exclamation mark is theirs. You'll have close to a hundred different upgradeable units at your command, including those hailing from the aforementioned Bydo Empire. Oh, and a little protip for those eager to engage in the wireless Ad-Hoc multiplayer: Make sure your underwater module with powerful anti-air missiles and torpedoes doesn't lose its resupply function! (That one was ours.)%Gallery-15956%
Grab a hammer, Ikuze Gensan is coming (to Japan)
Developer Irem, notable for their R-Type franchise, is working on yet another PSP game. Carpenter Story Ikuze Gensan looks like a 2D/3D platformer, where you carry a big hammer and cause lots of explosions. We like.Supposedly, you play a boy who's on a mission to stop an irresponsible construction company. In your quest, you will savagely destroy tons of private property and cause general chaos on the streets of virtual Japan. With Irem's penchant for mayhem, we're pretty psyched for this -- even if it means we'll have to import it.Check out Famitsu for more screens.[Via PSPHyper]
Import R-Type Tactics if you dare
It's no secret that among the horizontal scrolling shooters, Irem's R-Type and Konami's Gradius series' are the best of the best. If you disagree, go play them. Seriously. Anyway, we were alerted via e-mail today that Play-Asia is selling R-Type Tactics today, as it was released overseas. Normally, importing games requires some kind of knowledge of another language, unless you don't mind having no idea what's being said, but this is R-Type at its core. The story won't revolve around much more than "kick ass, don't take names, but do it tactically this time." So go ahead, if you really want, snag this game and take advantage of the region free PSP! We're tempted to.
Steambot Chronicles sequel to resurface at TGS
The original Steambot Chronicles, known as Bumpy Trot in Japan, wasn't perfect. In fact, it was relatively far from perfect, but it delivered some fun sandbox-y robot RPG fun. The sequel to the game, aptly titled Bumpy Trot 2, was first announced at last year's Tokyo Game Show. This year, it's resurfacing after an entire year of zero information to show off what it has become. From the official website, it looks like it's adopting a similar style to Sega's Valkyrie of the Battlefield. Sega has a more stylish approach, but Bumpy Trot 2 looks like it's a hybrid of anime-style graphics and cel shading. Of course, our eyes could just be crazy groggy.Since we can't read Japanese very well, we can't tell you if the game is going to show up in video or playable form, but we can tell you Irem is still in the driver's seat and if the title makes its way to America, it'll probably be thanks to everybody's favorite "let's make a game rare by releasing four copies, total" company, Atlus. One thing that's clear, though, is the platform for the game: PlayStation 3. It seems Japanese developers are finally coming out of their shells and cracking away at the PS3. It's about time! We'll tell you more after we see the game at TGS.
Virtually Overlooked: Deadly Towers
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.Deadly Towers is the most frustrating game on the NES. It may be the most frustrating game of all time, although we're sure that there's some Koei number-crunching Chinese war game out there or realistic PC submarine simulator that's much, much harder. You go into those things expecting a convoluted mess; you go into an NES action-RPG expecting at least to understand where you are or what you're supposed to be doing before you die. Deadly Towers doesn't afford you the luxury. Why do we suggest that others should play it, then? Because we had to.
Ten new R-Type Tactics screenshots
Okay, so we admit we're a little biased. Any time we see Irem do anything, we want to report it. They've released ten new screenshots of their upcoming strategy game, R-Type Tactics. While they look good to us, we'd love it if Irem released a demo, so that we can fully understand how to play the game. We're sure R-Type will be fine as a strategy game, but a nagging voice in the back of our head remains a little unsure ...Check out our updated gallery for all the pictures.%Gallery-3448%
Virtually Overlooked Special: A bunch of NES games I get mixed up with each other
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative. Last week, I asked for reader suggestions for this week's Virtually Overlooked. One reader suggested The Guardian Legend, and I thought that was a perfectly reasonable suggestion. The Guardian Legend was one of the biggest sleeper hits of the NES era, and something that is definitely worth checking out, especially for fans of Ys and Faxanadu.It was only later that I realized that I was thinking of Legacy of the Wizard. I get those two mixed up a lot. They both fall into that "sleeper" category, they were both published by Brøderbund, and they both have "Leg" in the title. They're practically the same game, except that one's a hybrid vertical shooter/Zelda-style adventure developed by Compile, and the other is a side-scrolling action RPG from Nihon Falcom. But other than that, the same game.Inspired by my inability to keep two similar things separate, I thought this week we could look at some more NES games I get confused about, either because they're so similar or because I'm so dumb.
A first look at R-Type Tactics
If you haven't heard, Irem is working on a new R-Type game for PSP. R-Type Tactics looks to take the series in a bold new strategic direction. Tactics will feature all-new turn-based battles based on grids ... while retaining the series' trademark good looks and massive explosions.Check out the first direct-feed screenshots of the game in our gallery below. Then, visit the official Japanese website to find out more about the game (provided you understand Japanese).%Gallery-3448%[Thanks, Thien!]
R-Type Tactics makes shooting a strategic experience
Side-scrolling shooter meets ... turn-based strategy game? According to a blurry Famitsu scan, a new R-Type will attempt just that. R-Type Tactics features traditional side-scrolling shooting action confined to a turn-based grid system. Instead of cursing bosses for cheap kills and numbing your fingers slapping the fire button, you'll take turns attacking and plotting devious schemes with your enemies. Look for the strange mix of genres on the PSP in Japan later this year.[Via PSP Fanboy]
Steambot Chronicles producer making a PSP game
Irem's Kazuma Kujou (the producer of Disaster Report and Steambot Chronicles), is reportedly working on a new PSP title. In an interview with Gpara, he mentions that he's working on a sci-fi strategy game for our beloved system. He unfortunately didn't reveal any other details about the game. Later in the interview, he did say that he'd like to explore player freedom in an upcoming game. Though it is unknown if that desire specifically applies to this upcoming PSP release. I quite enjoyed both Disaster Report and Steambot Chronicles. They still stand out as being unique, even in the crowded PS2 gaming space. Let's hope he can bring that same quirky and creative gameplay to the PSP.[Via IGN]
Ninja Spirit headed to VC, we take full credit
Have we mentioned recently how much we love Hudson? Not only did they make tons and tons of incredible games for the Turbografx-16 (and lots of other systems!), but they're better than anyone else about actually releasing their games on the Virtual Console. And now we have news that some of the best Turbografx-16 games are coming to the US in May! Also some stuff for Nintendo consoles in Japan, but we'll get to that. It finally happened. A game we profiled in Virtually Overlooked has been officially announced for the Virtual Console. Even though IREM's Ninja Spirit was one of the best and most popular TG16 games, we're going to go ahead and declare this as a victory. As if that weren't exciting enough, Hudson announced plans to release a personal favorite, Blazing Lazers, as well as Ordyne (excellent, adorable shmup) and World Sports Competition (we haven't played it, but we'll assume it's great because we're in a good mood). Nintendo of Japan also has some fantastic stuff planned, including Super Mario Bros. 2 and F-Zero X, either of which would no doubt be the headline if anyone else were writing this. That's Super Mario Bros. 2, the Japanese version, released here as Lost Levels. The really, really hard one, as opposed to the silly one about throwing vegetables.
Virtually Overlooked: Ninja Spirit
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.This is the second time we've ended up following a theme from week to week in these features-- in this case, we wanted to talk about Ninja Spirit for the Turbografx-16, and didn't remember until we started researching that, like last week's Photograph Boy, Ninja Spirit was developed by IREM.The best way to describe Ninja Spirit for people familiar with Virtual Console games is "The Legend of Kage, but good." And we say that as fans of Kage.
Christmas sees first VC price increase
Wii owners waking up this Christmas morning expecting to download some classic space 'shmup goodness might be a little surprised at what they have to pay to get it. R-Type, released today on the Wii's virtual console, is the first TurboGrafx-16 game to be available for 800 VC points instead of the normal 600.This didn't come as a total surprise: Nintendo casually mentioned last month that virtual console games merely "start at" the now-standard point levels (NES: 500, TG16: 600, SNES/Genesis:800, N64:1000). They also mentioned the R-Type price specifically in a press release last week, but our eyes glazed over and we misreported it at 600 points. Silly us... we thought the price used in six other TurboGrafx-16 games so far would carry over to the seventh.While R-Type is a bit more popular than a similar game like Super Star Soldier, we can't help but wonder why Nintendo chose this game to break out the first price hike. While a 200 point increase isn't too outrageous, we can only hope this does not represent the start of a trend in ever-increasing virtual console prices.
