With the release of Banjo Kazooie-inspired Yooka Laylee, the upcoming Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, and the revival of Psychonauts, 3D platformers are re-emerging in mainstream gaming. Whether this will just be a short-lived nostalgia trip for gaming as a whole or if the genre is here to stay remains to be seen, but a number of re-releases have given us a chance to re-evaluate old classics or even have a first crack at the more niche titles that slipped by us.
Originally an Xbox exclusive released back in 2003, Voodoo Vince never received more than a cult following, failing to garner the widespread acclaim that its peers got. Myself a lifelong fan of 3D platforming collect-a-thons, I was eager for a chance to not only play but review one I missed. Unfortunately, Voodoo Vince fails to make the big-league cut with Psychonauts and Banjo Kazooie, instead faltering to the practice squad among the likes of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos and Blinx: The Time Sweeper.
The Wonder Boy series has sort of a complicated history. Several different franchises have claimed at least one of the series' titles, including Wonder Boy, Monster Land, and even Adventure Island. The Wonder Boy games were always confined to Sega platforms, which is probably why they didn't catch on like Adventure Island did.
I didn't own any Sega consoles when I was growing up, and in the U.S., that places me squarely in the majority. Nintendo had a stranglehold on the video game console business in the late '80s, and the company controlled somewhere around 90% of the market when Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap was first released on Sega's Master System in 1989. I never got a chance to play the original, so I don't have any nostalgia for the title. Fortunately, a good game will hold up on its own merits no matter how old it is.
It's only appropriate given the episodic, seasonal structure of Telltale's games, but the opening moments of most Telltale releases tend to start strong. Events like the heist sequence from Batman: The Telltale Series' first episode and the mounting dread of The Walking Dead Season 1's squad car ride serve an important purpose.
They act as concentrated statements, quickly laying out the mood of the story and in some cases establishing the characters and stakes, priming players for what to expect from the game as the season proceeds.
Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series manages this feat on the opening menu screen.
Kero Blaster is one of those games where the second I published its review on Destructoid, people started questioning the score that I gave it. "How can a three-hour 2D run and gun platformer with two-frame run animations be a 9/10?" they asked. "Looks like something I'll wait to get on sale..." they said. I understand these kinds of fixed standards for what makes a game worth buying, but the fact of the matter is, some games defy those standards. They're able to do more with less, and end up being experiences you bring with you long after you're done with them. For me, Kero Blaster ended up being one of those games.
I know I'm not alone on that. Game developers in particular seemed to love Kero Blaster, especially after it was updated with a whole new 'Zangyou' campaign mode. One developer was so inspired by it that they made their own game, a cute little platformer called Crowtel, that in time, ended up getting its own bonus campaign as well.
So what is it that makes Kero Blaster so special? I touched on some of that in the review, but I'll make a few more point about it now, as the game just recently launched on the PS4.
The first episode of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, Tangled Up in Blue, arrives tomorrow, and you can get a sneak peek at all the action and space snark in the official launch trailer. The series is a brand-new Guardians story not connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After an epic battle, Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot find a powerful artifact that they all covet for their own reasons, as does a mysterious enemy who is the last of her kind.
We not be able to get our hands on The Great Ace Attorney 2 for quite some time, but at least we'll have a demo that's playable right from your browser (Japanese). Capcom released this demo along with the new trailer above and information on the game itself as part of an on-going celebration for the 15th anniversary of the Ace Attorney series.
One of the early cases involves a British exchange student who is murdered on a beach, causing her Japanese friend's arrest for being near the crime scene. The case may escalate into an international conflict.
Almost a minute into the episode one launch trailer for Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy, seconds before Suzi Quatro kicks in and steals the show, the raccoon quips "We're just going deeper into the old creepy temple to stop a literal murderizing machine. What's the worst that could happen?" With an exaggerated sigh, Gamora retorts "So this is how I die."
Except it's probably not how Gamora or any of them die! Not yet, anyway! This is the first of five chapters and killing off the Guardians up front would leave antagonist Thanos and the "unspeakable power" to twiddle their thumbs for the remaining 80 percent. Not likely.
Or, maybe they do die. This is comic book territory and that means it can rely on Comic Book Magic to resuscitate any fallen cast. I change my vote. Now I think they die.
Find out tomorrow when Episode One: Tangled Up in Blue releases. For anyone who wants to read our thoughts, our review will post late tonight. I haven't read it yet, but I bet it doesn't shed any light on how many of the Guardians get killed off.
In the Zelda: Breath of the WildTwitter thread that just keeps on giving, Dorkly's Tristan Cooper -- who previously sought to chuck a Cucco into Death Mountain -- has come up with more unscripted hijinks.
Getting a Guardian and a Stone Talus into a tussle was amusing enough, but now he's managed to escort one of the mechanical foes all the way to Gerudo Desert and... you know where this is going.
I spent an hour pushing a wounded Guardian into the desert to fight a sandworm and I don't regret it at all http://pic.twitter.com/gIaSmk36vC
It's funny to think back on how fearsome the Guardians (even half-buried ones!) initially are in Breath of the Wild. Put in the time to beef up and learn their tactics, though, and they become playthings.
What's the holdup on New Hot Shots Golf? I don't know, but the happy-go-lucky golf title is confirmed for an August 31, 2017 release in Japan, which hopefully puts the Western launch not far behind.
This trailer covers much of the same ground as before, highlighting the actual golfing, of course, but also some leisurely side activities like fishing and carting around. Seems pleasant enough!
In Japan, the game will see a physical and digital release priced at 5,900 yen, with DLC for things like extra courses and costumes making it into a 9,200 yen "All Courses Special Pack" edition, per Gematsu.
Xbox is less than a month removed from its latest big update, the one that reconfigured the dashboard and the guide button. Microsoft's method in recent years for improving the Xbox One has been intermittent major updates bolstered by a steady stream of smaller changes. Next up is one of those less substantial revisions.
In a post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft outlined what's next for Xbox One. There are two notable feature implementations. One of these is a party overlay that shows the name of the person who's talking. This is probably more for people who are inclined to party up with strangers (Microsoft uses the Looking for Group crowd as an example of folks who might not know everyone well enough to immediately recognize their voices). Like the new Achievement tracker, users can choose the screen position and transparency of the party overlay, allowing for personal preference as to how obtrusive this will be.
The other noteworthy inclusion is an addition to the esports-focused Arena feature. Coming soon is the ability for Club owners to start their own tournaments for Killer Instinct. Later on, World of Tanks, Halo Wars 2, and Smite will also be added.
A smattering of other features will also be included. Verbatim from Xbox Wire's post, they are:
Okay, so you've had your Nintendo Switch for awhile. Ganon's corpse is but a speck in the proverbial rearview mirror and hunting for the last remaining shrines in Breath of the Wild isn't all that interesting. What's a person to do? Well, that's where indie games come in. And for the purposes of this article, we're talking about TumbleSeed specifically. The charming rogue-like about climbing a mountain as a tiny future-flora will be released to Nintendo's latest console May 2nd. That's only a few weeks away!
Sony is shutting down the servers for a number of older games that you probably aren't still playing but will surely recognize. As of July 1, 2017, the following titles will lose their online features:
PS3
High Velocity Bowling
Medieval Moves: Deadmund's Quest
Sports Champions
Sports Champions 2
PS Vita
ModNation Racers: Road Trip
PS4
Kill Strain
I'm always curious how many people are still playing games like these. Not many, I'd imagine, given their age (and also Sony's willingness to sunset them). That said, Kill Strain only just came out last year, and it's a Sony San Diego production to boot. It really must not have caught on.
Halo Wars: Definitive Edition is a remastered version of the 2009 real-time strategy game that came included with the "Ultimate Edition" of Halo Wars 2. Two months after the release of the sequel, Halo Wars: Definitive Edition is the subject of two news tidbits -- one surprising, one not.
On April 20, Microsoft is releasing Halo Wars: Definitive Edition as a standalone product. This is the sensible end for something like this. First, use it to leverage additional sales of your new game. Once that well has run dry, try to wring some extra revenue out of it by selling it a la carte. (It's a small miracle that Activision has had the self-restraint to not yet offer Modern Warfare Remastered standalone.)
The surprising aspect is in the platforms that the Halo Wars remaster is coming to. It's obviously coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 PC, the two places it originally shipped for. But, it's also coming to Steam. Considering how intent Microsoft is on fostering the Windows 10/Xbox One gaming ecosystem, releasing a first-party title outside of that is kind of a big deal.
In the short-term, it's probably the best business move, though. More people will pony up for something like Halo Wars on a service like Steam. That's where it has the best chance to thrive. If Microsoft sees Halo Wars as anything beyond a two-game franchise, this is the way to raise the player count before making installment.
That's all dealing in hypotheticals from the relatively-distant future, of course. For now, Steam users will get a chance to see what the "best-selling console RTS of all-time" is all about.
Even now Spelunky is a polarizing game. Some claim it's one of the best in the genre, others think it doesn't do anything special and has been over-hyped since launch. But as someone who wiled away many hours with my wife in its dark perilous caverns, I fall squarely in the former camp.
Outside of a brief tutorial, Spelunky is very much a hard knocks type of game. Everything from fall distance to enemy patterns to item arcs are learned intuitively, and discovering some of the game's more esoteric Easter eggs without the use of a guide or stream is a special kind of reward. It has its issues, but it's something that I'm going to play for years on end, and eventually show my future kids.
Naturally I was keen on giving this Noclip documentary an hour of my life, as it chronicles the journey of creator Derek Yu from an intrepid freeware developer to a worldwide phenomenon. It's odd how closely my career has been entwined with his, as Aquaria (his first big award winning project) was one of the first games I covered when I started in this industry.
As all good fans of PaRappa Headcannons already know, it's fun to think about ChopChop Master Onion making car noises when he's alone or when he's having a break, but did you know it's also fun to think about PaRappa characters having deep emotional relationships, or even falling in love? I've never done it myself, but given the popularity of this whole "shipping" fad that's so hot with the kids right now, I have to imagine that it's a real treat.
Sometimes, these "ships" lead to actual changes to the official story in question. For instance, the relationship between Marceline and Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time is widely thought to have started with the fans, before bleeding into the show itself. If this email from PaRappa series character designer Rodney Alan Greenblat is anything to go by, it looks like something similar may be cooking for Lammy and Katy, two of the franchise's lead characters. Statement of intention isn't the same as making it happen though. We'll just have to wait and see if we ever get a new game in the series, and if so, how much say the character designer will have in determining the storyline.
Side note ~ one of the first things I did when I joined Destructoid in 2007 was email Rodney Alan Greenblat and ask him for an interview. The full interview never happened, but he was very gracious, answering a few off the cuff questions I had for him at the time. I've looked many times for the email he wrote me all those years ago, but I think I accidentally deleted it, which makes me feel very, very sad.
I remember asking him why the caterpillar boss from stage 3 of UmJammer Lammy vomits pink candy glop then re-ingests it mid-conversation. I remember him saying something like "Your guess is a good as mine. That wasn't my idea, but I was thrilled to be a part of it."
Will my grief over this lost email ever go away? Probably not!
Edmund McMillen is a pretty smart guy, so this Binding of Isaac amiibo tease could either end up being an elaborate AR game, or a pro-level troll. But hey, it's something, and when you consider how much love he (and Nicalis) have given the series up until this point, it could easily happen.
Right now he's teasing it by way of a Twitter poll, and at the time of this writing the results are 70% in favor of "yes." I mean who would say "no," but my guess is that he's looking at total votes to garner interest in providing an initial first run print -- and he has over 10,000 so far.
I wonder how the whole amiibo thing is going to pan out after the Smash line is done. Nintendo is going out with a massive bang with two variants of the last three characters (with slimy exclusive deals), but other than that they're kind of just rehashing the same lines over and over (Pikmin, Zelda, Splatoon).
One of the characters I'm sure most folks were excited to see in action, once she was announced for Injustice 2, was Poison Ivy. Of the many Batman villains on the roster, her addition actually makes sense given the character's popularity. Sharing the vibe of Black Canary's hand-to-hand move set coupled with a few plant traps (even touting an adorable dino plant), she seems like a balanced fighter with both zoning and combo options.
Oh, and uh...she's going to be my main character for...uh...reasons. Let's just say that these character designs and animations have undergone a major improvement from the early announcement days.
It isn't every day that we here at Destructoid review imports, but like Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 which I also reviewed, Kamiko also features an all lady cast and offers an English translation if you grab it from the Japanese eShop. For a mere 500 Yen, which Google tells me is currently $4.60 USD, it was worth making a Japanese account and taking a chance on.
Also, if should be noted that as of writing, Kamiko hasn't been announced for release outside of Japan, but it's highly unlikely that it won't be. But if you're like me and can't wait, you can either buy it with a credit card off the eShop if your card supports it, or if it doesn't, you can grab Japanese eShop credit from Amazon Japan pretty easily.
Right after Disney disavowed the expanded universe, they're keen on expanding the hell out of it. In addition to explaining how Captain Phasma escaped certain death in Force Awakens, they're also commissioning a book that serves as a prequel to Star Wars Battlefront II, which is also said to be cannon.
Christie Golden will be penning Inferno Squad, a novel that's set between episodes IV and V, that takes a look at the history of the elite special forces team that witnesses the death of the Emperor and the destruction of the second Death Star on Endor. It's out on July 25, well before the release of the game on November 17.
Sidling up a previously unheard of yet formidable team within the narrative of the original trilogy is a smart, and safe move -- it'll probably pay off.
Not content to sit on the sidelines, the Internet Archive recently resurrected something, too. This time, it's a swath of apps, games and software from the original Macintosh circa 1984. That means stuff like Lode Runner, MacOS System 7.0.1, Microsoft BASIC 2.0 and Space Invaders are on offer in their pixelated, black-and-white glory. Just like the old days. Except, you know, these run in a browser window. The Archive says this collection of stuff from 1984 to 1989 is just the first set of emulations from the machine, so it might not be too long before more apps are available.
What happens when you go back to the well and try to make a clone of a 20 year old game? Well, not exactly good things. But, maybe, still what crowdfunding supporters were after? You'll have to listen to the latest Podtoid special to see who really didn't like Yooka-Laylee and who thought it was ok, I guess. Can you guess who got a perfect gamerscore on it before it even released? It's Brett. He really has nothing better to do.
Before someone yells at me, this is technically a "spoilercast," for all you pedants and obsessives who think "there's an ice level" is a spoiler. Sorry not sorry. And check out our last special episode on Resident Evil 7, if you haven't already.
NieR: Automata is getting a TON of new content. After Final Fantasy XV added Square Enix's Yosuke Matsuda, NieR: Automata did one better by not only bringing over Matsuda but also the CEO of PlatinumGames, Kenichi Sato. They will appear in one of three coliseums that appears beyond an elevator guarded by the mysterious "apologetic machines," where you can unlock new costumes, hairspray to change 2B and A2's hair color, equipment, music tracks, masks, and special bullets that change the appearance of enemy bullets.
The new costumes for 2B, 9S, and A2 are based on characters from the Japan-only Nier: Replicant. 2B will get a Kaine outfit, while 9S and A2 will dress as young Nier. Bearing the odd name "3C3C1D119440927," this DLC pack is confirmed for western release, though no date or price has been given yet beyond "soon." It will release on May 2, 2017 for 1500 yen (~$14) in Japan.
A free costume for 2B based on Gravity Rush's Kat (with and without 2B's visor) will release separately in Japan before the end of April. While this is also likely to come west, there is no official confirmation yet.
After the release of two other non-Warcraft heroes, we're getting yet another one with Overwatch's Genji -- the fourth Overwatch character to hit Heroes of the Storm after Tracer, Zarya, and Lucio.
I had a chance to test him out, and I think both Overwatch and Heroes players alike are going to be pretty happy. Especially when they go at it on the new Hanamura map.
Even with a season pass loaded with pointless stuff, Watch Dogs 2 keeps receiving a bunch of free DLC. That is a pretty nice gesture, especially since this newest update looks to be adding something super cool. Along with a new PvP mode called Showd0wn and multiplayer functionality for races, patch 1.13 will be adding a paintball gun to Marcus' arsenal. I like how Ubisoft seem to be embracing a more non-lethal approach to combat, but this reminds me more of Goldeneye 007.
Showd0wn features two teams of two players playing some standard shooter gametypes (King of the Hill, Capture the Flag, Defend the Point) while the race modes from single-player will now feature MP leaderboards and "season rewards" for those who do well enough. I suppose that is easy enough to implement and pretty fun. Along with all of this, there will be a new emergent event for the game world in the form of Armored Trucks that you can rob, though I never had an issue with money during my playthrough.
While the patch isn't yet available for download, it will be landing sometime today. I'm not hot on competitive stuff with Watch Dogs, but I am itching to try out that paintball gun. Having a more long range non-lethal weapon would have been great for the campaign.
In several ways, this new record for The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD is nothing short of a miracle. There's a few close shaves, but ultimately, gymnast86, who also competed heavily in the initial salvo of Breath of the Wild speedruns, manages to nail it at 1:35:57.
In case you aren't aware of the typical path, it goes from Outset island, to the Forsaken Fortress, to Windfall, then Dragon Roost Island/Cavern, some item collection, and then Hyrule Castle for the final encounter. The main mechanic used to traverse everything so quickly is called "Superswimming," which allows players to shoot like a rocket across the water without a raft.
Nearly every any % Zelda run has its own tricks, and this hour and a half video is one of the most condensed ways you can get your Wind Waker fix.
Last weekend in Houston, Texas, the annual Anime Matsuri convention took place featuring Anime and Japanese culture where people who love Japanese pop culture congregate to celebrate and have fun. The convention was held at the George R. Brown center where attendance was a little over 36,000, up from 30,000 last year. I was there to take a look at the festivities and made a video for y'all to watch.
I started off by grabbing a burger from a food truck, since I have to start con right and also because I am growing boy that needs energy for anime (for those wondering, I had the "Amboy" burger from the Flippin' Patties food truck). Anime Matsuri is one of those conventions that got food trucks to give great food options to hungry con-goers, which needs to be the norm for any convention (other cons at the same place have none). I've been going to Anime Matsuri almost every year since 2008, how did I ever survive without these food trucks before?
Anime Matsuri as a lot of things going on in their main room, a giant room containing most of the convention with all kinds of stuff to do, see, and things to buy. Merchandise from a lot of anime of all kinds line tables, perfect for those people who like buying stuff in person or do not know the existence of online shopping. The artist alley are is also full of some great fanmade art, based on licensed properties as well as some original ones.
Take a look at some "Itashas" at the Import Reactor car show, which features some cars decked out with some Anime-themed wraps. The name "itasha" is derived from the Japanese word "itai" meaning painful and "sha" meaning vehicle, as in painfully embarrassing or painfully expensive, denoting the embarrassment and cost of tricking out these cars.
One of the headliner main event featured in the video is a special performance from the official musical production of Sailor Moon Live. Yes, there is a Sailor Moon musical in Japan and the cast and crew came over to perform a few of their songs. This isn't some tie-in promotional thing for Sailor Moon, this is an actual professional musical production and the performers were great, as they were danced and sang to original and anime songs.
There are two panels in the video the first one is a panel featuring YouTubers Akidearest, The An1me Man, and Misty Chronexia had a record breaking panel room attendance. Another panel featured is a live drawing panel with a Q&A with Mago the lead character designer of the anime Space Patrol Luluco from Studio Trigger (Kill La Kill, Little Witch Academia).
Check out the videos to see what I'm talking about, more videos of the convention will be added in the next few days so stay tuned!
