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Rumor: Factor 5's Animal Wars revealed, possible Turrican reboot
It's been a few years since Factor 5 shut down its US operations and now it would appear we're getting a look at some of the shuttered studio's projects underway right until the end. Remember Superman? That wasn't all the company was working on, if this thread on NeoGAF is legit. Some leaked concept art of what is being called a "Beaver Pioneer" and some nondescript robot appeared on the site -- later in that same thread, a poster claiming to be an ex-Factor 5 employee called the game Animal Wars. It supposedly "played like Warhawk," pitting animals against each other in a WWII-themed setting. How novel. Perhaps more interesting is the concept art of a lone white robot, what some in the thread are saying is from a Turrican reboot that was in the works at Factor 5, but there doesn't appear to be enough evidence to effectively conclude as much. As of right now, it seems the closest we have to a real Turrican reboot is Hurrican. [Image credit: NeoGAF]
VC Monday Madness: Super Turrican 2
Super Turrican 2 (SNES, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)Wii Fanboy says: download it! With there being only the one Virtual Console game this week, it had better be a good one, right? Well, Super Turrican 2 is a pretty solid title, but with the other great entries in the genre available on the Virtual Console, why should you check this one out? Well, hopefully the video helps answer that, otherwise we only have one thing to say: explosions. Each week, we here at Wii Fanboy like to check out the latest Virtual Console releases in our VC Monday Madness feature, in the hopes that you can make the most sound decision possible regarding purchasing retro titles from the Wii Shop Channel. If you're looking for more retro goodness, check out Virtually Overlooked, which talks about games that should be on the Virtual Console.
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]
Mega Turrican enters Fantasy Zone on Virtual Console
This week, Nintendo reckons we're all in the mood to engage in some "perilous, heart-pumping adventures" on Virtual Console. That suits us just fine, as moments when we're not in that sort of mood are few and far between. Why bother getting out of bed if you don't intend to blast some robots to smithereens? Mega Turrican (Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): Leap into an assault suit with one Bren McGuire, a man tasked with foiling the nefarious "Machine." Kick-ass side-scrolling shooter, or layered commentary on industrial action? Either way, it has a terrific soundtrack. Fantasy Zone (Master System, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points): Pilot the Opa-Opa spaceship and lay siege to a remarkably gaudy environment, taking care to upgrade your ship and destroy any sinister blocks of wood.
VC Monday Madness: Fantasy Zone and Mega Turrican
Following up Friday's releases for Europe, the North American Virtual Console receives a familiar title this week. On top of that, it's just more Turrican. This week's Virtual Console releases are: Fantasy Zone (Sega Master System, 1 -2 players, 500 Wii Points) Mega Turrican (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
Virtual Console Monday: Super Turrican stands alone
Keeping expectations in check is the key to having a wholly satisfying life, so we probably shouldn't have grown accustomed to the three-game cornucopia that once characterized Nintendo's weekly Virtual Console release schedule. Now that the standard has dropped to two-per-week and, occasionally (as today), one solitary game, we can't help but pine for the old days a bit. But it's our fault, really, for getting our nostalgia-fueled hopes up in the first place. This week's sole release is barely worth a bulleted list, but we'll use one anyway to describe: Super Turrican (Super NES, 1 player 800 Wii Shop Points) - Developed by Factor 5 (of Rogue Squadron fame), the 1993 side-scrolling, run-and-gun sequel to 1990's Turrican has a decidedly old-school, Contra vibe to it. Those who want to get a feel for the gameplay without shelling out the Wii Shop Points should check out Hurrican, a more-than-satisfactory freeware clone.
High-res Turrican coming to PSN? It's possible
In a recent sit-down chat with Gamasutra, Factor 5's outspoken Julian Eggebrecht gave his impressions on the new DualShock 3, and answered a few questions that would interest those with a gaming history longer than ten years. About the new controller, Julian seemed pleased and wouldn't mind going back and implementing it in Lair. "I'd love to do a patch for Lair, to get the rumble in there. It just about didn't work out for us for Lair, because this is basically one OS past the one that we shipped with, which I think is a shame, because it's a natural fit, especially when you're ramming into other characters."Eggebrecht was also quizzed about the classic Turrican titles, whether a hi-res remake of any of the old games would make their way onto the PlayStation Network or XBLA. Surprisingly, he seemed to have an answer prepared. " Yeah absolutely, both for XBLA and PSN, it'd be fantastic. I think that probably a high-res Turrican more based on the Amiga Turricans would be great on those platforms. We obviously have the Virtual Console out there on the Nintendo side, and that'd obviously work well for the Genesis and Super Nintendo Turricans. So yeah, we're talking!" We hope these talks turn to actions, as we'd love to see those games revived in HD, as we feel HD sprites are the sexiest things alive. With multiple exceptions.
Turrican remake released, rocks you like a Hurrican
German programmer Poke 53280 has just released a freeware remake of the classic Commodore 64 game Turrican for the PC. The Metroid-esque title (that feels a lot like Contra at times) Hurrican is packed with vast, non-linear levels filled with weapons to find and swarms of enemies to use them on. The control scheme is a bit complex with several button combinations to memorize, but us old-school gamers are used to putting in effort to squeeze more fun out of our games. Download Hurrican (40MB, Windows).
Super Turrican 1 and 2 VC bound
Upon checking out the ESRB site, one might find the entries for Super Turrican and Super Turrican 2 under the Wii section to be a bit alarming. And you should be, as the game was added to the site only recently. Obviously, this causes us to believe the game will be headed to the Wii's Virtual Console service, leaving us clueless as to when it will arrive.Do we have any Super Turrican fans in the house?[Via Go Nintendo]
Factor 5 wants to rock you like a Turrican
As we've previously mentioned, the Metroid-inspired Commodore 64 game Turrican might be making a return to systems, courtesy of original developer Factor 5. In yet another interview, this time with Gamasutra, president Julian Eggebrecht mentioned that they are still exploring ways to bring this series back. He's particularly intrigued with the way that Metroid Prime helped relaunch that franchise, turning it from a sidescroller into 3D, and wants to do the same with Turrican. Maybe without looking so much like Metroid this time around. The trouble is, any time you roll your character up into a ball, people are going to scream Metroid ... so get to work on fixing that, Factor 5.
Factor 5's Lair almost complete, Turrican PS3 possibly next
Speaking with Game Informer, Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht opens up about his studio's PlayStation 3 project Lair. Currently estimated to be 80-90% complete, Eggebrecht is confident that the development team will reach the vaguely stated spring deadline, but admits "Sony's not going to ship it the next day."Next up for Factor 5 is likely a smaller project -- a downloadable game (or two). Eggebrecht supposes it'll be an original "mini franchise," but doesn't rule out the possibility of also porting over some old Turrican titles; not necessarily straight-up ports, but perhaps "something like that but in 3D," teases Eggebrecht.Also, Eggebrecht reports that Factor 5's break-up with Nintendo has not spoiled the two's friendship. We're no talking Rogue Squadron IV; just the occasional happy hour cocktail. Eggebrecht adds, "When I read all of those things about how you have to buy a 360 and a Wii, that's not true. You have to buy a PS3 and a Wii-that's the perfect combination."
