Ramblings of a guy with a computer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uayoTM_vwc  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTNCDMmQVMo&feature=relmfu

To one of my favorite soundtracks on the NES (too bad the actual game was not as fun as the music)

In 1994 my parents bought a very young me an SNES and two games. These Two games were Street Fighter II Turbo and Fatal Fury 2. For the longest time these were the only two games I had on the system (We had an NES with TMNT 2,3 and Mario/Duckhunt as well) so naturally I put a lot (willing to bet over 300 hours of my life by this point) of time into both of them.

Fast Forward to the Year 2011 and King of Fighters XIII was released. “What does fatal fury have to do with KOF?” you might ask, Everything. See, SNK had created two major fighting game franchises to compete with Capcom: Fatal Fury (garou densetsu 餓狼伝説) and Art of Fighting (Ryuuko No Ken 龍虎の拳). Both of these games, while not as popular or fast paced as street fighter, pulled in quite a fan-base by focusing on the more technical aspect of the fighting game genre (AOF in particular at this time had more specials and combos than any other fighter).

1993, in arcades SNK had released an update to the second game in the Fatal Fury series. The game expanded the roster to include the unplayable bosses from FF2 as well as some of the bosses from FF1. The most important feature going forward was a last minute inclusion of Ryo Sakasaki, main character in Art of Fighting, as a hidden boss. This inspired the AOF team to make the first King of Fighters game by combining the worlds and continuity of both series. 

2011, After a long run by all three franchises, the death and rebirth of SNK, and the retirement of the Neo Geo Hardware, we have with us King Of Fighters XIII. The series had abandoned using a year moniker in 2007 with the release of KOF XI. Then in 2008 they retired all the old sprites of the series (some dating back all the way to KOF 96’) and created an HD entry with KOF XII. Unfortunately, the production of XII was rushed and thus the game had a small roster, unbalanced gameplay, too few moves, and a really sloppy presentation (the biggest complaint is the lack of any final boss or story). Finally, XIII marks the moment all SNK fans have waited for: an HD sequel worth of the title. 

Art: while I do have some minor gripes with both the background visuals (Half the backgrounds are really off-putting with things like overweight french stereotypes and too much movement that it becomes distracting, the other half fit the series tone and style well) and the sprites (there is a smoothing filter that cannot be turned off in the game, it makes the sprites lose detail compared to their XII counterparts) for the most part I can say that it’s really pleasing. The animation is smooth, the pixelation is barely noticeable, and the overall art style is fun to look at (if a bit of a departure from the art direction of the previous games).

Gameplay: Smooth as butter, the Combos are more responsive than they have ever been. No more loss of input like in 2003 and XI, and gone are the really specific joystick motions needed for supers ala 2002 (the overall “dead zone” recognition is more forgiving than before). Though it’s not as tightly balanced as Mark of the Wolves and some of the other SNK fighters, it’s not as broken as 98 or 2002UM. You can take and learn any character and still feel like each fight is fair. One complaint I do have is that the AI can still spam moves that normally require a windup (I.E. most of Ash or Leona’s specials) and the sub boss version of Saiki has some of the cheapest moves in the franchise to date (Omega Rugal, Krizalid, Original Zero, and Muraki all weep with envy). That being said, the game provides even the worst fighting game player the tools needed to survive via a system where you earn energy back by completing “target combos”. 

A target combo is as simple as making three rolls or hitting the opponent five times, you just complete the action on screen and prepare for an easy super. Another thing that helps lessen the blow of the boss difficulty is the ability to cut their health in half when you continue. All in all, this is one of the best playing games in the series, and is without a doubt the best playing 2D fighter on current consoles.

Audio: while the game does have some cool rock based tracks as it’s default OST, the real treat for gamers are the remixes of older tunes used as audio “b” (selected through the options menu), Everything from the acoustic guitar theme the Art of Fighting team had in 97 to the snazzy sax familiar to Iori fans.

DLC: Unfortunately you don’t get what I consider the full experience with just the disc.  There are three DLC characters, one of whom is necessary to the story. Iori with flames is the classic version of the character the series has used since 95’. In XII they introduced a flame less (and less fun to play as) version of the character due to the plot. With this you not only gain a new skin for then character, but a new move list and stage as well. The other two DLC characters (mr karate and nests Kyo) also provide new moves and a new stage each, neither character are as drastic an improvement over their existing versions (Takuma and Kyo respectively.) 

Online: the game uses Atlus servers this time instead of SNK Playmore’s in house servers. As a result the online is much better compared to it’s predecessor. Gone is the lag and game dropping that so frequently plagued matches in XII.


How it stacks up to the competition: While it does not have as many characters as SSFIV or UMVC3, it does have more moves and a deeper combat system. The basic control is with four buttons to attack: weak punch, strong punch, weak kick, strong kick. Then you have L1 for a defensive roll and R1 as a block shattering knock back attack. Each character has at least four specials with two supers (used by filling the super meter via offensive moves), one desperation move (an enhanced form of a super that uses an EX gauge that is filled via defensive moves.) and a super desperation move (an almost instant kill that uses both the super and EX gauges.) Add to that a deep parry system, cancel system, and reversal system, and you have a title that makes the smaller moveset of one super plus one ultra per character in SSFIV as well as the sometimes unresponsive three button combat system in UMVC3 really unsatisfying. 


All in all, it is the most fun I have had with a fighting game in a long time (too long). 

Tigun is an anime series that for all intents and purposes was over with 26 episodes in 1998 (though the manga kept going until 2008), until the team at MADHOUSE entertainment teamed with original writer Yasuko Kobayashi and director Satoshi Nishimura to create the first (and possibly only) Trigun film.

One of the most interesting things about Badlands Rumble was the choice to not continue from where the show ended, the plot takes place at an undisclosed time between Episodes 9 and 15 with cameo appearances by Nicholas D Wolfwood  and the always entertaining Insurance sales duo: Millie and Meryl throughout the latter part of the film (unfortunately they are absent thought a majority of it.). 

The villain in this tale is bank robber named Gasback whom, as shown in a flashback, was saved by Vash during a bank robbery twenty years before the show’s start that went sour as Gasback’s men began a mutiny. From here the film picks up during the middle of the series and introduces a few one off characters that exist only in the movie continuity: two thugs who exist as a foil for Vash and friends at several points in the movie, a young bounty hunter named Amelia who’s skills are far beyond her years, Cain the greedy mayor of Macca city (the central location of the film), and the unnamed sheriff who plays a much different role in the film than he initially appears.

Voice acting has always been one of Trigun’s strong suits and it doesn’t change with this (having great dialogue with pretty accurate translations is a large plus as well). The plot, while well written, isn’t all that deep and has no impact on the overall Trigun mythology. It’s straight popcorn munching action thought most of the film, this is probably a side effect of MADHOUSE fitting in some very visually impressive set-pieces dealing with a moving energy plant and a duel between Vash and Wolfwood.

overall I’d say that while entertained, I found the movie a bit underwhelming. There was a lot of missed opportunity to flesh out the overreaching story of the Trigun series as well as the opportunity to use the film and adapt the manga chapters after the arc the anime stopped on. It’s fun for what it is, but as a fan of the series I was left wanting more.