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X3F review: Puzzle Fighter HD
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is an interesting game. Unlike many puzzlers out there, Puzzle Fighter never spawned any sequels (despite the "II" in the title, only one game was created). Then again, as any Puzzle Figher fan could tell you, there really wasn't any need. Puzzle Fighter was just about perfect, truly incorporating the fighting mechanic into its core gameplay, rather than simply cashing in on the successful Steet Fighter franchise and the arguably less successful Darkstalkers franchise. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix brings the game to XBLA along with a few changes and gameplay modes that never saw the light of day outside of Japan. Does the game hold up after all these years? Oh, hell yes.
Summer XBLA titles announced
Following the announcement of Track & Field yesterday, Microsoft gave us a sneak peak at the Arcade titles coming this month and in the coming weeks. They announced that this month we'll be seeing Ecco The Dolphin, which we caught on the ESRB a while back, Hexic 2, and War Worlds. Outside of August, or potentially on the tail end as a twofer, we have Geon: Emotions, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Streets of Rage 2, Space Giraffe, and of course, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Out of that line up, what are you most stoked for?
Puzzle Fighter to be rebalanced for XBLA
It's no secret that we here at X3F are very excited to get our hands on Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. It's a genuine classic and a welcome title on Xbox Live Arcade (as well as the PSN). While we were looking forward to the classic gameplay, it seems that the folks at Capcom came to realize that the game could actually use a few tweaks. These changes are detailed by Sirlin, one of the game's designers. Fans of the original release will know that certain characters (Ken) are much better than other characters (Chun-Li). This is because of drop patterns. Each character in Puzzle Fighter drops a predetermined pattern of blocks on their opponents when attacking. Knowing your opponents drop pattern is crucial if you want to build the appropriate counter measures.Some characters, to put it simply, have easy drop patterns that leave them wide open to counter attack, particularly characters that drop whole power gems like Felicia and Chun-Li. As such, Capcom has decided to tamper with gaming history to come up with some more challenging patterns. An example of these changes is shown at the top right of this post. There are some other interesting changes too, such as leaving Chun-Li's pattern unchanged but allowing her to cause 120% damage. She is the strongest woman in the world after all. Frankly, we think these changes were a great idea, and we imagine most Puzzle Fighter fans will agree. Oh, and don't worry, Dan's pattern is still completely red, so, if you've got what it takes, you can still school people with the worst character in the game. See the complete list of changes, as well as the reasoning behind them, after the jump.[Via GSW]
Puzzle Fighter definitely arrives this month
Puzzle Fighte ... er ... Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is rightfully one of the most anticipated titles coming to Xbox Live Arcade. According to an IGN, the game is coming out much sooner than we thought. In fact, it's already out. No, don't go running to check your Xbox. It's not really out. The truth is that IGN was hosting an advertisement for the game -- which has since been removed -- that stated the game was now available. It looks like someone at IGN jumped the gun. Still, with this disheartening news comes some good news. Joystiq contacted Capcom for comment on the whole affair and Capcom confirmed that the game is scheduled to launch this month (alongside its PS3 counterpart). So, you might not be able to quench your puzzle fighting thirst just yet, but it won't be long now.
Puzzle Fighter site is live ... sort of
The official website for Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is now live. Well, it's really only live in a manner of speaking. Despite it being officially announced by Capcom's Digital blog, the website clearly has a few kinks to work out. First of all, the site doesn't scale to browser windows, so scrolling is a little difficult at the moment (use your arrow keys for now). The website features a synopsis, a video (with more promised), and some wallpapers (Chun-Li and Sakura FTW). There are screenshots, too, but our attempts to open them thus far have resulted in broken images. We're sure Capcom will fix these issues eventually, but if your stout enough to handle the website's currently wonky state, it's worth a look.[Via XBLArcade]
Undertow, Puzzle Fighter rated by ESRB
The ESRB database has been updated with several new Xbox 360 titles. Most notable among these are the Xbox Live Arcade releases, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (E) and Undertow (E10+ oh noes!). Also rated was Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, a title with which we are completely unfamiliar. A quick look around the internet reveals that it's exactly what it sounds like: Dynasty Warriors with giant mechs instead of human warriors. Also rated was Hour of Victory, which recently had a (terrible) demo released on Xbox Live Marketplace. We already knew Puzzle Fighter was planned as a July release, but this may mean that Undertow will be coming sooner than we thought. Let's hope so; we can't wait to try out underwater Battlefield. [Via GameStooge]
