WayForward-Technologies
Latest
ESRB rates Metal Slug 2, A Boy and His Blob
According to two new ESRB listings, camel-riding run-and-gun sensation Metal Slug 2 and the fabulous A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia will be coming to the Virtual Console at some point in the future. Either that, or they'll both hang around on that depressing list of games that get rated and never seem to come out. Feed your Blob a punch-flavored jelly bean to descend past the break and see some Metal Slug 2 footage!
Contra prompts military hearings
We usually have to suspend our disbelief when playing video games, but what if such insane situations were based on real events? Take, for example, Contra, a game in which two marines -- two -- must stop the Red Falcon invasion. Without shirts. Running with this idea, popular comic book blogger Chris Sims took it upon himself to record "The Contra Hearings". Not only does this hilarious take on Contra make us realize how ridiculous the game's scenario really is, but these faux hearings also remind us that the series is so awesomely badass. An excerpt: "SENATOR ARTHUR WEATHERTON (R, NM): With all due respect, Lieutenant, I fail to see how the failure to equip two Marines necessitates a Congressional investigation. Why haven't we heard from the rest of the soldiers involved in the operation? LT. RIZER: Because Lance and I were the total forces committed to the Red Falcon conflict, Senator. SEN. WEATHERTON: ... Oh. Carry on. LT. RIZER: Right. Now, I know that at the time of our deployment, resources were already committed to providing support for the Bionic Commando project, but sending two men to fight an entire army of technologically advanced aliens... I can't imagine that America needed to close the grapple-arm gap that badly. And our equipment was... well, it was sub-par." In case you didn't know, you can unlock the original NES game (and Super C) in Contra 4 for the DS -- which is perfect in its own right. So, we expect you to man up and buy it while it's on sale.
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!
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%
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.
Down down: No Contra 4 at PAX
My PAX expo hall map showed a small Konami booth toward the back of the hall. Just small enough, I thought, for a couple of DS demo stations showing off a certain side-scrolling sequel. I was sure I'd come back a hero, having gotten my hands on Contra 4 for real, and bringing back hyperbolic froth based on real playtime rather than screenshots and video. You can imagine our disappointment when we saw the actual Konami booth, then. That's it above, occupied by Derrick and Garrett from Mega64. ProTip: it's not Contra 4. Okay, I'm exaggerating. That's not the whole Konami booth. There was another DDR machine behind it.
Ping Pals as springboard to Contra 4
How do you make us suddenly love WayForward's maligned Ping Pals? By portraying it as leading directly to our probable Game of the Year 2007, Contra 4, and the surprisingly interesting Duck Amuck, that's how. MTV's Stephen Totilo interviewed Matt Bozon of WayForward about the doomed project (which turned out not to be so doomed-- it went on to sell over 90,000 copies despite being totally redundant), discovering that what seemed like an inconsequential chat client was an extremely intensive undertaking. ""We had to prototype the game in the first 24 hours, having never seen the hardware, which is a huge testament to our programmers," Bozon said about the period immediately following their discussions with THQ. Bozon had to abandon his original concept of a DS game-- two gameplay tasks in two screens-- in order to fast-track Ping Pals. "The design doc for that thing was actually a bunch of sticky notes on a dry board, and about every four hours we would redesign the entire game for that entire five-week span because the technology kept shifting. We were working 24 hours a day. There was no point locking the door because there was always somebody in there." Hearing about the hardships involved with the development of that game, we actually feel pretty bad about making fun of Ping Pals all the time. They didn't want to spend so much time making Ping Pals. Nobody wants to make Ping Pals. The good news, of course, is that WayForward got DS development tools and official DS developer status out of the deal. And, with the experience of Ping Pals and a number of no-doubt lucrative licensed games behind them, they've achieved a level of success that allowed Bozon to successfully pitch a minigame collection based on the "Duck Amuck" cartoon to Warner Bros. And their abilities got the notice of Konami, who handed over a very important franchise to the Shantae creators.
Contra 4 controls give us pause (and other buttons)
We've reached the point where every single Contra 4 news piece that comes in has us gripping the arms of our chairs, afraid that we'll fall from the dizzying heights of ecstasy that we've just been sent to. The experience is both exhilarating and terrifying. Even this image of Contra 4's control setup, taken at one of Comic-Con's demo stations last week, gave us cause to throw our office windows open, yelling out our excitement to the pedestrians below. Press B to jump! Press Y to fire! Press L to switch weapons! How great life is!
IGN goes hands-on with Contra 4, cries
Greg Miller of IGN got a little extra facetime with our beloved Contra 4 at Comic-Con ... which was probably not a good idea, because Contra is all about face-beatings. While it seems the controls are smooth and easy to pick up, all other forms of ease end the moment you step into the big blue man pants. This is hostile territory, and everyone wants a slice of your ass. Just thinking about it makes us cry with joy. We do so love a good beating! But did Miller enjoy the game? It seems so, though he spends most of his preview writhing in pain over the punishing brutality of Contra 4. If you ask us, that just means everything is as it should be, and we continue our campaign of impatience as we wait for this one to hit shelves. %Gallery-4738%
A few more seconds of Contra 4
All we need to be happy with our job right now is a short Contra 4 video every day, so that we can watch it and think "YES CONTRA 4 OH DUDE YES," and then share it with you in a similar manner. We've been happy to see more and more Contra 4 videos and impressions posts come up after E3, now that the writers have had time to wake up from their awesomeness-induced comas. GamesRadar's Charlie Barratt is the latest to give us the gift of Contra in motion, with a video that starts with the wall boss we've already seen, but then moves on to a waterfall set piece that's new to us. The animation, the graphics, the levels, and, of course, the music-- it's all perfect. It all looks like a real Contra game. Looks like Contra 4 is going to continue the series' tradition of blistering our planet with its LMDs.
Promotional Consideration: America's toughest commandos
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out. Considering all the coverage we've given Contra 4 this past month, it was only a matter of time before the run-and-gun series somersaulted into one of our columns. This week's edition of Promotional Consideration rummages through the attic of years long past, pulling out two moth-eaten Contra ads from our faraway youth. Reminisce with us past the break.
Friday Video: 2D Friday in full effect!
We're taking that whole walking in a straight line and jumping on everything to heart, because, y'know, we're linear like that. We also like our destruction with a heavy dose of bouncing around. And also, guns. Can you guess what video we might be choosing to celebrate today? If not, we can only guess that you haven't been paying attention to our very particular tastes. That's okay -- we forgive you. Or we will if you head past the post break to check out this week's featured video.
Modojo is totally pumped for Contra 4
Contra 4 Hype Watch continues. Current Hype Level: Kool-Aid Man. Modojo's Justin Davis has joined us in freaking out over Konami and Wayforward's new shooter, saying "Konami apparently said to hell with 'market realities' and made Contra the game I would have made, if I were given the team, the money, and told not to worry about sales potential." The article is not just gushing about how freaking awesome the game is. Davis found the space for some new information about the game: specifically, that it would consist of nine levels, including three "pseudo-3D tunnel levels," presumably like the Bases found in Contra. Also, we're going to have to make some friends before the end of the year, because there's cooperative play via local wireless. Contra 4 party at our house!
