And here I am, thinking he’s all about knocking off cute but dangerous enemies and bosses with silly names and powers. Some would probably prefer a less annoying Mega man experience where ladders and bridges would replace those jumps they keep missing, while others might want a less violent Mega Man without his blasters and such. If I had to choose something with less violence, I’d make the blue bomber a sly negotiator who doesn’t fire a shot, but makes enemies fight each other. Of course, there goes that cool Rockman versus Paper Man versus Scissor Man boss battle (ha ha), but that new monocle, smoking jacket and fake pipe are nice accessories Capcom could add to the character with that new attitude and see what’s what? Anyway, enough of my lousy attempts at humor – go download Street Fighter X Mega Man if you haven’t already. I’m a damn cheapskate, but I know where the good free gifts are and how to share them…
Thanks to so much happening today, I almost for got all about this FREE download from Capcom (currently PC only and a mere 34MB at that). The company is also planning to give Mega man fans and even bigger treat by releasing all six classic Mega Man games on the Nintendo 3DS as digital-only downloads through Nintendo’s eShop starting December 27, 2012 and continuing on a staggered schedule into 2013. Hmmm. In addition, Capcom is planning to release some cool new Mega Man T-shirts some MM-themed Xbox 360 avatars and a few other items from now and into next year, but they’re keeping a few things under wraps to keep us all in suspense.
Hmmm… will my dreams of eventually being able to replay the Mega Man Legends series finally see some sort of reality? I guess I’ll need to keep my fingers crossed. Double Hmmm… Perhaps I should cross my toes instead, as I can’t play many games very well with doubled digits…
Amusingly enough, I was talking to someone yesterday about fan-made indie games and this one came up, as it’s now some sort of standard in terms of a big game company like Capcom actually approving of a project like this before making sure it gets done right. Of course, the bigger story will be how well the game does with the fans once it’s let loose on December 17 as a free PC download. I say it will do well, but I’d also expect other creative fans have been flooding Capcom and other publishers with even more ideas and suggestions than they usually do. I wonder how many people come up with exactly the same ideas, write them up (and maybe do up some nice art to go with their projects) and send them off thinking they’ve struck a gold mine. Live and learn, yes indeed… but wise up at some point and create your own original content at the end of the day. Sometimes, it’s better to make a little money from all that hard work than to just keep giving away the farm for free, I say. Hey, Han Solo didn’t walk away from a cargo hold full of Rebellion credits in Star Wars (AND he later got a Princess out of it to boot)…
Ho, Ho, Ho! Once again, the fine folks at gog.com bust out something awesome and FREE for gamers everywhere this crazy holiday season. This isn’t the normal Duke, mind you, but Duke Nukem: Atomic Edition, which packs in the original game and a megaton of bonus content. In case you’re new to Duke Nukem, it’s the seminal politically incorrect first-person shooter that’s also a master class in game design, outrageous humor and tons of hidden goodies. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll kiss the hours goodbye and even better, you’re not paying a cent. Hell, if that fat man flying around in his sleigh wasn’t busy doing that, he’d be sitting at home in front of his own computer blasting baddies and peeling off digital dollar bills to check out some jingle bells. Just don’t tell Mrs. Claus!
Man, is this game going to have some gamers used to more casual “play it for me!” stuff jumping up and down on their keyboards HARD and screaming about it all over the internet. Granted, you can indeed use a controller to play this, but remember, throwing it at a monitor a foot away will cause one of two things to occur: you’ll either need a new monitor or new teeth or both should that busted controller bounce back and smack you in the mouth. Sure, you CAN try ducking, but I know you haven’t been exercising much and all that soda and chips in your belly has made you slow. Well, maybe wear a face mask like Vega or something…
Wow. I’ll have to admit that until I read the press release and downloaded the screens, I thought this was going to be a full-on visually flashy full price AAA retail product with bonus DLC in the vein of Capcom’s recent Street Fighter X Tekken or Marvel vs Capcom games. But nope – it’s a VERY cool new game that looks like it was cooked up circa 1990 for the NES. Often, fan made games using licensed characters are shot down by publishers who want to protect their IP (and a few other good to not so good reasons), but Capcom has taken a nice step by not only helping fund this soon to be released retro fighter, they’re releasing it for FREE as a PC-only download.
Even though the RPG Maker software has evolved over time, many XP, VX and VX Ace games I play leave me cold when it comes to the stock RTP visuals. Sure, the character line art and sprites are much more slick and detailed than the ones found in RPG Maker 2000 and 2003, but there’s often a really generic, SUPER clean look to these games that makes me want to skip them in favor of something a bit more… classic. On the other hand, a bit of custom fiddling and good writing has made many XP and above games truly wonderful, memorable games to play (Garden, Aetherion, Manifest, Exit Fate, Last Scenario and so forth and so on), which brings me to The Cartographer. Here’s a game that works wonderfully thanks to blending a great story, excellent use of music and some fine mapping work by developer Avedan that altogether make for a short but sweet RPG worth your time.
The game tells the tale of a young innkeeper named Rueben who finds himself thrust into the role of hero as he takes on his late father’s former position as Dragon Slayer. Toss in a Alina, a beautiful black mage (introduced in a musically flawless manner) Rueben falls head over heels for and Arcturus, an adventurer who needs the assistance of a Dragon Slayer (not an innkeeper) to complete a certain task, and it’s off to the races. While the game can be beaten in about five or so hours, it’s definitely something you’ll remember and probably go back to for the scriptwriting, humor and very likable characters. As for the mapping here, if you play a lot of RPG Maker games, you know that straight RTP maps tend to look very much alike game to game. Avedan has literally done some corner-cutting here, making maps that are far less blocky and almost organic in some spots. Of course, new players won’t notice this at all, but folks who play or make games using the software will find a lot to like here.
One cool thing about the game is all the work can be taken apart to see how it was done, enabling other users of VX to perhaps make maps just like (or better than) the ones here. Anyway, go check this one out and get ready to do a lot of smiling as soon as you start playing as there’s a lot here to love. There’s supposed to be a sequel in the works, but I’ll report more on that in the future once I get through the pile of games I have here…
Yep, it’s Catamites (or catmitts) at the wheel again. His offbeat RPG Space Funeral was of the most unusual and incredibly awesome indie games I’ve played this year, but Catamites has most certainly been a busy guy since then, cooking up a bunch of newer titles to make anyone who downloads them appreciate his take on familiar game genres and gameplay conventions. Goblet Grotto is a strange, addictive third-person exploration adventure game where you… collect goblets. Well, there’s a lot more going on under the hood, but revealing it would spoil the fun. Hell, you SHOULDN’T even watch that speed run video above (too late, huh? Oh, OK…) as it’s a fast way through the game and you need to really boogie around the game world to see and interact with as much as possible. What’s cool here is there’s a very functional game world and characters here and all those bizarre sounds and strange hieroglyphs onscreen have some meaning as does every action button on the console.
The fun part in all this (next to collecting goblets) is interacting with characters and objects in the environment. Just going around jamming on the spacebar (which makes a “KILL!” sound each time you tap it) isn’t the best solution (but it does get rid of wolves and other creatures that attack) and yes, you’ll die a lot (unless you cheated by watching that video above). However, the game grabs you, sucks you in and has you hooked in because of the offbeat visuals and eccentric sound design. Anyway, blah and blah and blah – go get this NOW, I say. It runs on PC and Macs, so you Apple-heads don’t need to sit there pouting about not being able to play a decent game. No matter what you play it on, you’ll get a few laughs, scratch your head and maybe even say “WTF???” a few times. I think that’s what Catamites wants, so please do oblige him. Oh yeah, check out his other games as well at Harmony Zone – all are worth trying out (and hell, they’re all **FREE**, so there’s no commitment other than the time it takes to download and play them).
SNK Playmore’s handheld wonder is getting some nifty pre-order love over at online retailers Amazon and GameStop. Consumers who pre-order the Limited Edition (which comes packed with some nice bonuses that turn the handheld into a home console) will get a FREE game card (the 1996 beat ’em up, NINJA MASTER’S*) with their order when the new portable ships out on December 6, 2012. As I’ve been saying for months now, for a dedicated console with a fairly large library of classics (more of which will be made available after the system launches), that $199.99 isn’t a lot at all considering you also get 20 free classic NEOGEO titles you can play on the road using the X as a dedicated portable or at home with the dock included in the LE box.
While I do play a LOT of fan-made games paying homage to classics of the 8 and 16-bit eras, Max Team’s Monster World RPG project is one of the better works in progress I’ve seen to date. Initially released as a simple RPG Maker 2003 passion project back in 2005, the game has since been reworked into a much more polished game worthy of being put onto a Sega Genesis cartridge. Even though it’s far from the flashiest game made with the ancient game creation software, the dedication to replicating the specific look of the MW games while turning it into a turn-based RPG with an active time battle system out of the Final Fantasy games is on point and the nostalgic vibe works perfectly. The two hard working guys behind this free RPG, Massimo and Fernando, met up about a year after Massimo completed the first version of the game and needed help in expanding the game further. Continue reading →
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 