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The VC Advantage: A good old-fashioned code list
We've been diverging lately into video game history and ephemera in these VC Advantage columns, because those are usually a lot more interesting than just plain old cheats, while keeping in the spirit of extending the enjoyment of games through secrets. But sometimes it's nice to get back to the original stated purpose of presenting codes for Virtual Console games as if we were writing a column in an old gaming magazine.Mega Turrican seems like an excellent candidate for this treatment, because it is hard as all get out. While previous entries in the franchise involved huge, maze-like levels, Mega Turrican is basically Contra but faster (and with backgrounds that don't contrast enough with the enemies) -- a straightforward left-to-right run-and-gun. And that is almost universal code for "punishingly hard game whose first level you will see about fifty thousand times."With that in mind, an invincibility cheat seems like a perfectly relevant and helpful thing to offer. It couldn't be easier to pull off, either: just pause the game and hit A, A, A, B, B, B, A, A, A. You don't even have to write this one down! You can also skip a level by hitting right, left, down, right, and then B while paused. And now you can pretend to be successful while playing Mega Turrican![Codes via GameFAQs]
Commando: Steel Release Date
Previously announced for a Q3 release in the U.S. from XS Games, Mana's Metal Slug-ian shooter Commando: Steel Disaster is now coming out on May 6th, published by Take-Two subsidiary Jack of All Games, according to Gamestop. While we don't know about the release date, the publisher information is consistent, since Jack of All Games distributes XS's releases in the U.S. (according to the original press release).We want to believe this listing ourselves, since it puts running and gunning in our hands sooner. And it puts Commando mostly out of the way of the late-May/early-June rush of action-oriented DS games.%Gallery-18362%
Commando locks and loads for U.S. release
Mana's Metal-Slug-but-not-really run-and-gun Commando: Steel Disaster will be coming to the U.S. in Q3, courtesy of XS games. We've been keeping tabs on Commando for a while now, anxious for some Metal Slug-style blasting, and a U.S. version has felt increasingly likely since a European release for the game was confirmed.With a Metal Slug 7 release date still to be fired our way, we fancy that Commando might just beat SNK's title to shelves, while the trailer we posted earlier this month suggests it could be a capable imitator.%Gallery-18362%[Via press release]
Commando: Steel Trailer
Lexicon Entertainment has made a new Commando: Steel Disaster trailer available, and it certainly impresses. It seems that Lexicon knows exactly how to convey the important qualities of a shooting game through video. We admit that we're a bit disappointed with the lack of actual in-game sound effects in the trailer, and we don't even know if that music appears in-game.The graphics and animation are great, actually, but even that's not what really gets our attention. What tells us that this might be an interesting run & gun is that the player dies in almost every scene. In the trailer. That's hardcore.[Via GoNintendo]
Commando to Slug it out in Europe this May
It's been quite some time since we've heard from 07 Commando, the surprisingly nice-looking total ripoff of Metal Slug. Since then, the name has changed to Commando: Steel Disaster -- maybe because it's "08" now? Today, publisher Lexicon Entertainment announced a European release date for the derivative run & gun: May 9th. They'll probably beat Metal Slug 7 into stores (SNK's game was fairly early at GDC), which is probably an important component of the business model. We wouldn't mind an extra seven levels of Slug-esque shooting, ourselves, before the main course comes out.%Gallery-18362%[Via GamesPress]
VC Monday Madness video wrap-up 3/3/06
We appreciate the fact that we actually have a good game to play this week, but only one release? Come on, Nintendo! You spoiled us with your week after week of releasing multiple titles, only to have us completely let down today? For shame, considering that most also expected the first entry in a very good series of games to be on the VC (it did seem like a no-brainer). Oh well, at least, like we said, the game is good.
DS Daily: Super Vehicle NDS
One of the most significant discoveries for the DS at GDC this year was Metal Slug 7, a completely unexpected and delightful surprise to walk into. For a brief moment, all of the rushing around, missed meals, long lines, thick crowds and general weariness gave way to a beautiful, blissful reverie of, well, shooting and knifing dudes.Early screenshots were less-than-promising (we've got the same screenshots in our gallery now, in a more flattering resolution), but we can now confirm that, like every recent game, it just looks better in motion. It doesn't look as totally beautiful as the Neo-Geo or Atomiswave games, but this is every bit a real Metal Slug sequel. Did you have faith in Metal Slug 7, or were the disappointing screenshots and SNK silence enough to put you off? Did you believe that a non-arcade, non-Neo Metal Slug could be any good? Did the amazing Contra 4 help?%Gallery-16835%
Contra 4 sheds six dollars, shirts
Need an extra excuse to pick up 2007's manliest, exploding-est DS game? Amazon has posted a modest markdown for Contra 4, selling the run-and-gun game for a discounted $23.99. Women and men alike will flock to you when they see you're playing such a tough game, smitten with your virility. And, with six extra bucks in your pocket, you could probably take one of them out to dinner. Not to anywhere nice, like Ponderosa, but maybe Burger King. Afraid that all the action will be just too much for you or too difficult? Fear not! There's a little trick you can exploit to steal 99 extra mans. Unfortunately, pulling off the cheat might be harder than the actual game ...[Via CAG]
Critics' top 10: 2007 vs. kittens
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs. When determining the best games of the year, it's a good idea to go at it from different angles: by referencing our own history of reviews, obviously, but we must also look to the wider journalism community. Our reviews, while insightful and entertaining, were not comprehensive. We just didn't play everything. In addition, one reviewer's opinion is simply not sufficient data to make definitive conclusions, even if that one reviewer is me. So we turned to everyone else in aggregate to see what they thought of this year's releases. We've gathered the top 10 DS games of 2007 according to their Metacritic ranking. Keep in mind that many of these games tied in Metascore, meaning that if we were to rank the games, there would be fewer than ten positions. It's still sequential, but with a lot of tie scores. We then carefully applied science to these games in order to convert the Metacritic numbers into a rubric we feel more accurately conveys the quality of these games. Head past the post break for Metacritic's top ten DS games of 2007, graded on a scale from adorable kitten video to unbelievably adorable kitten video.
Five gifts that are Contra 4
Gaming sites are inundated with holiday gift guides at the end of the year, listing the best and most popular games that everyone pretty much already has (or knows about). Well, we're not going in for that this year. Our gift guide will help you find the best gifts in categories the other sites won't cover -- because we just made them up. All year, we held out vain hope that the American-developed DS Contra sequel wouldn't be terrible. We tried to put our memories of Appaloosa Interactive's two PlayStation failures out of our minds and have faith in WayForward. We did our best to believe that a new 2D Contra had the potential not to be a crushing disappointment. We were rewarded with one of the best games on the DS, and possibly the best game in the Contra series. It's hard to think of a better DS game than Konami's mind-blowingly manly Contra 4. So we didn't try. We've put together this guide to five of the best gifts you can give this holiday season, all of which are Contra 4. While it would most certainly be enough to list Contra 4 five times, we thought we would break it up by listing five different ways to package the gift of Contra.
Gifts for us (or people like us)
Gaming sites are inundated with holiday gift guides at the end of the year, listing the best and most popular games that everyone pretty much already has (or knows about). Well, we're not going in for that this year. Our gift guide will help you find the best gifts in categories the other sites won't cover -- because we just made them up. Of course we recommend buying DS games and accessories for everyone on your shopping list -- whether they want them or not. But, ironically, the hardest people to give the gift of DS are the people who love the DS the most -- people who live the DS. In a word, us. Game bloggers. Well, not us specifically, but people like us who are far too enthusiastic about the Nintendo DS. We're so nuts about the DS that we devote most of our lives to talking about it. We know pretty much everything out there, and we spend entirely too much time building our collections. We're emblematic of exactly the kind of brutally insane people for whom it's nearly impossible to shop. That's why we've put together this handy guide to the kind of stuff we would love, but wouldn't necessarily think to buy ourselves. Not because we want you to buy gifts for us, although we certainly won't stop you if you think we deserve a little token of appreciation. See what we did there? We've given you the gift of an obvious opening through which to insult us! 'Tis the season!
Contra 4's 99-extra-lives cheat doesn't come easy
Has Contra 4's grueling difficulty kept you from even seeing its second stage? The Konami code, while useful, only upgrades your weapons instead of rewarding you with the extra mans you need to die-n-gun your way past enemies and their scattered shots. During the throes of one of his many deaths, GameFAQs poster Empty2002120141 stumbled upon a neat, albeit elaborate, trick for getting 99 free lives in Contra 4. First, you'll need to make sure you currently have zero lives. Next, you have to die at either the exact moment or right after you kill something that pushes your score up high enough to get an extra life. Those who've pulled off the trick suggest trying it with the first level's mini-boss. This should work across all three difficulty modes!We're not sure if WayForward programmed this as an intentional cheat or if it's actually a game glitch, but it sure sounds helpful (if you can actually execute the maneuver). [Via GameFAQs]
DS Fanboy Review: Contra 4
The first time I played Contra 4, I died within a few seconds, having ignored the bullet that sneak-attacked my ankle. I remarked at the accuracy of the death sound and at the humorous Duke Nukem-style taunt that my dude issued afterward, and tried again. The same result. During that first session, I lost all of my lives before the halfway point of the first level. You have probably read about Contra 4's difficulty in previews. If you thought that those writers were inflating the game's difficulty because of suboptimal trade-show settings or lack of familiarity with Contra, allow me to disabuse you of that notion. If anything, they have undersold the game's difficulty. Contra 4 is hard. It's probably the hardest Contra game ever made. After that first trip through ... part of the first level, I tried again and made it through more of the first level. Then I made it to the boss before losing all my lives. I found that I could get a little further. As I replayed the levels, a combination of memory and improved response time had me sailing through the early levels like a badass. I was very rapidly getting better at the game, and, because it's so frenetic and twitchy, being demonstrably better at it made me feel awesome. %Gallery-4738%
WRUP: Grab some baby oil edition
Why would you need the baby oil? To grease up that buff chest of yours, of course! As you navigate many a hostile environment, keep your hands clenched tight around your trusty gun. Oh, gun ... how you never let us down, keep us safe at night. This is our gun, there are many like it, but this one is ours. There were some other interesting releases this week, but for us, none ranks higher than Contra 4. But, maybe you're of the mind that you'd rather play something else? We can't possibly understand why, but we'll promise to try, if you let us. So, what are you playing?
'Even on Normal difficulty, Contra 4 is brutal'
Normally, we're too weaksauce for exceptionally difficult games, but we want Contra 4 to be hard. Maybe that's because we want it to last for a long time (ideally the rest of our lives.) According to IGN's Craig Harris, it took over an hour of retrying just to make it all the way through the first level of the game while recording video. And the video is split into two parts, which makes us suspicious that developer assistance did not occur around the midpoint. The video depicts most of the first level, if not all of it-- we can't tell with the split. It really seems to capture the same feeling as the Jungle level of the first Contra, but with the level of red guys running at you ratcheted way up. We can't believe we're really going to get to play this game soon. It'll be sad to stop posting news and previews about it, but on the other hand, we won't care about our jobs anymore.
Contra 4 packed with Contra, Super C, robots
When you're buying Contra 4, you're not just buying a game. You're buying a lifestyle. You're saying "Hey, world! My name is [insert your name here] and I really enjoy Contra. I celebrate the entire canon! Why, right here for instance, I have a cart that features features a new game, plus the NES versions of Contra and Super C! Also, there's a "20th Anniversary Virtual Museum" and two digital comics from Contra artist Atsushi Tsijumoto. Oh, and five hidden characters, one of which ... is Probotector." Though the list of goodies is exciting, we can't help but wonder: Exactly how much room is there on a DS cartridge? Have we been getting ripped off all this time? Well, we think the bar has been raised. From now on, we won't even think of buying a DS game unless it includes at least two games. ... Probotector is optional.
Contra 4 boxed, dated, and ready to own your face
Every single step Konami and WayForward take in their march towards Contra 4's November 13 release seems in service to the series' fans, the faithful run-and-gun followers. From its recent Nintendo Power poster to rumors about preorder gifts and bonus retro titles, our excitement, long-thought dead after the Bioware/Sonic debacle, grows stronger with each news item that comes in. NeoGAF forumite The Main Event posted a press sheet revealing Contra 4's packaging artwork yesterday, and we couldn't be more pleased. It has everything we could ever ask for -- extravagant explosions, guns firing at unseen enemies, and a menacing alien watching over the entire scene. All Konami needs to do now is bundle a bottle of baby oil with every purchase so that our shirtless muscles can glisten while we play the game. Flex and shine past the post break for a look at the scanned pages.
Rumor: Contra 4 releasing Nov. 13
A NeoGAF poster has put up the alleged sell sheet for Konami's Contra 4 showing a Nov. 13 release date. From what we've seen, Contra 4 plays like a classic Contra experience, which for fans of the franchise would be a good thing. We've contacted Konami to find out if they can verify the date. Of course, it wouldn't be Contra without two player co-op which the sell sheet says is a feature. Now we just have to wait until Nov. 13 to see if the "Konami code" is in there as well. %Gallery-4766%
First batch of Metal Slug 7 screens makes us wish second batch was released instead
It pains us to admit it, but the screenshots that've followed up yesterday's Metal Slug 7 announcement aren't quite the gorgeous scenes of 2D chaos we anticipated. Perhaps 1UP's usual wonky image scaling is to blame, or maybe the run-and-gun game just needs to be seen in motion -- either way, SNK Playmore has a playable demo available at the Tokyo Game Show, so we'll likely receive some hands-on impressions soon. Though we haven't yet heard anything about Metal Slug 7's touchscreen features or any multiplayer possibilities, a "Combat School" mode in which you can complete specific missions and earn medals has been revealed. Hop in an SV-001 and drive past the post break for a couple more screenshots.
Rumor: Contra 4 fortified with extra vitamin C?
At this point, the only things that could make us want Contra 4 any more are the inclusion of other Contra games and a price tag of $0.00. We won't expect the latter, as Konami seems to have this hangup about receiving money for their work or whatever, but we may be getting some bonus games on our card. A NeoGAFfer reports that the "Coming Soon" binder in his local GameStop has Contra 4 listed as including the first two NES Contra games. The game's listing online doesn't bear this out, so we'll just have to have faith in ... that one guy ... on GAF. As the site's logo reads, Believe.
