Dr.Flintlock

Ahh, yeah, I did watch the anime and despite the ending working differently, I kinda preferred it, given the context of the story. I was a little concerned that they were ACTUALLY going to make Grave a silent protagonist, but that was nullified a little way in. As far as more hidden gems go, I'd like to bring attention to Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle in Japan). Its an updated sequel to a pretty awesome game that was unfortunately pretty overlooked due to a random release date, but it sucked MANY hours from my life. Also, what other game do you get a customizable fighting robot called Steve?

You know, I watched the first season and while yes, I did fine the series so far very funny and amusing, I didn't see why it had garnered so much bloody attention. Is it part of a particular genre of anime that I'm just not getting? I thought it was great but not the praise I was hearing from fellow anime junkies. Also, I've never seen the second season and maybe my views would be changed on the matter. Any suggestions?

Bargain gaming is your friend. Wait a couple months or so for the stuff to drop in price. Unless you're looking for an exclusive, they usually drop down to 50 or 40 by that time. As far as my stance goes, I'm going through another 360 now (My last one crapped out on me when I tried to load my berzerker on Borderlands.....I haven't touched the poor bastard since). I would've picked up a PS3 instead because generally speaking, the price cuts on the system have made it appear a little nicer, and I'd hope I would've have to worry about as many hardware crashes. Unfortunately, I've invested a small fortune in downloadable games on my 360 (around 35 games or so) and would thus lose all that if I switched over. Kind of a shame seeing as many of the games are available on PSN...Oh well. I'd say the PS3 unless you REALLY want the exclusives the other system has to offer. I'd personally rather be playing stuff like Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank instead of Halo and Viva Pinata.

I picked up Sky Crawlers Innocent Aces today and am having a helluva lot of fun with it. While I'm only the 3rd or 4th mission in, its proving to be a pretty satisfying addition to my Wii game library. Kinda plays like an Ace Combat game (seeing as it was handled by Project Aces) but with a higher emphasis on actually flying to strategically place yourself behind your opponent. You don't have any lock-on missiles and are restricted to machine guns and unguided bombs mostly, so the bigger picture is put on dogfighting instead of "fire and forget" kind of stuff you get with other flight sims. The story's so far pretty good, notably if you've watched the anime by Mamoru Oshii. The game is a sort of prequel to some of the events in the anime and serves as a nice companion to the whole thing. Cutscenes are nice and all the radio chatter is pretty good as well (although I do think they have the voice of Shamrock from AC 6 as one of your co-pilots in this one; a minor annoyance). Only nitpick I have right now is that the motion controls, while intuitive enough, take a LONG time to get used to. I still prefer using a classic controller, but if I want to mess around, using the wii-mote for throttle certainly feels pretty legit. Also, I should mention that there's no option to have a Japanese dub of the game. It doesn't bother me much, but then, I'm no purist when it comes to my anime games. Overall, its a lot of fun so far and the soundtrack is also pretty catchy with lots of synth rock and such. I'd say its a purchase, given I think its only around $30 stateside. Just my 2 cents. kthanxbai

On that note, I think Sonic Advance 2 had one of the more underappreciated soundtracks in recent memory. In particular, the music for the last 2 zones was pretty good. If I were a musician, I'd try my hand at remixing some of it, but sadly, nuts to that for now.

I recently just finished watching The Big O (Christmas present from a buddy of mine). Enjoyed it quite a bit, and its rekindled my interest in Giant Mecha anime. Although, I think the ending was done for the sake of causing tons of discussion, when there really is no de facto ending. Was it a giant piece of televised programming? Was all the nonsense about cloned humans legit? Didn't Schwartzwald (not to be confused with someone else on these here boards) look like a creepier version of Batman's Scarecrow. We will never know.... Also, R. Dorothy is one of my favorite androids, up there with Iggy from Ergo Proxy.

Well, how about: Okage Shadow King- Very traditional RPG that doesn't take itself too seriously. Character designs look like they've been ripped from a Tim Burton film Mark of Kri- What you get when you mix Disney like animation with some of the most visceral finishers in a video game. Skygunners- Cute, steampunk-like aerial shooter kinda like starfox. An Atlus title that I think had a doujin made of it. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete- Actually may not be that hidden, but I played this before Final Fantasy VII and still consider it my favorite role-playing game. Ys: Oath in Felghana- Even though I'm already a huge Ys nut, if you can get a copy of this one on the PC, its the best one in the series. A reimaginating of Ys III: Wanderers. Vib Ribbon- OMG Soundtrack awesomeness!! Journey to Silius- See above comment. Gungrave- Probably one of the most overlooked arcade shooters I can think of. Oozes style. And its impossible not to get pumped when the first thing that flashes across the screen of each stage is "KICK THEIR ASS" Also CERBERUS AAAALPHAAA!!! I loved the Beastector.

I've actually been on a Ys high tonight so I'ma gonna post what I consider to be one of the most hectic and difficult bosses in the series, this little one being Ys Origins which came out a few years back. I remember when I took on, I had goosebumps, and I died quite a bit until I could figure out how to dodge all of his attacks. In some regards, the fights in this game are similar to a bullet hell title. In conclusion, The is serious business.

While I'm uber encouraged that we've got a Theme of Adol and a Theme of Dark Fact, may I recommend seeing as he was the legitimate major villain in Ys Book I and II. His theme's also a little more...lengthy, without trying to sound too judgemental there.Dark Fact still has a kickass theme though, don't get me wrong. Some of the best synth rock on the Turbo GFX. But let's face it, you don't fuck with a demon who can "crush and consume you".

I'm actually a HUGE Ys afficionado and I'd ultimately recommend going for the psp version even though I myself only have a DS. The psp version is actually a port of Ys I and I Eternal for the PC, which is considered by most to be the best remake in the series (I actually bought the PC one and used a translation patch to get it working, but buying the import can empty your wallet.) The PSP version has updated hand-drawn art and the combat's a little more interesting; you can see sword slashes when Adol steam rolls into enemies and such. The DS version in comparison, well...Its a 3d remake but a lot of the visuals don't look that great. Control wise, you can either play it with the stylus and run into enemies but its kinda hard to control. You can play with the D-pad also, but if you intend to do that, there's an attack button for slashing, kind of like in Ys VI for the PS2, only it comes off a little wonky, if you ask me. In conclusion, I'd say get the PSP version if you can because its about the same as the Windows version, only not as expensive and with a remixed soundtrack that isn't MIDI (the only flaw of said Windows version). Now if you had a Wii, you could download the Turbo GFX version for 10 bucks on virtual console and get all the snazzy eighties voice acting and cutscenes, but the actual game itself is a little dated by most's standards. Word of advice.

Umm, if I may rectify a comment I made earlier, I will agree with those who said that Chaos made a good primary antagonist. Hell, it was kinda cool to find out why the master emerald was more important than merely holding Angel Island up in the sky, in that it also held a monster god of destruction. I guess I just kinda got sick of the idea of making Robotnik playing second fiddle to supernatural monsters who don't really interact with Mr. Sonic. And as far as the arguement about Robotnik not being as menacing as Bowser, I'd like to point out that you don't get much more evil than kidnapping cute, lil animals and turning them into your robotic slaves. I think they should start with that angle when doing Robotnik or Eggman. Only issue might be PETA controversy of the roboticizing of forest critters...

Oh hell yes. Even better, let's make him the PRIMARY antagonist throughout the game, and not some flunkie. No more Dark Gaia, Chaos, BioLizard shennanigans (although fighting a metal sonic near the end could be nice). Even though I really didn't mind Sonic Unleashed (If you slogged through it, the Eggmanland stage was actually pretty badass), I'm thoroughly stoked for this project. Also, any chance we may see a return of the Death Egg as the final stage? Space Station Ark doesn't count....It had a pointy nose.

Fighting games: I usually pick the strong brutish characters that are ridiculously slow but can beat the snot out of others without being all combo savvy. Kinda noobish, I know, but then I don't play fighters all that often. (except Powerstone, God I loved Powerstone) Shmups: Mostly doujin, anything from Touhou up to obscure stuff like Samidare, and Flying Red Wine Barrel. FPS: I'm a conservative, hording monsterfucker. I'm so stingy with my ammo, its disgusting. By the time I'd gotten to apollo suites in Bioshock, my ammunition was maxed out in every category. I was also particularly bad in borderlands, until I got a support gunner mod for ammo regen. When I used to cheat in video games (can you still?), infinite ammo was a necessity for me to enjoy my game more. Boardgames: I've been teaching myself how to play Go lately and am developing quite a penchant for that. I'm also game for a Risk night any day, especially if there's alcohol involved. Real life: I don't know about any of you, but I used to play a mean Four-Square back in my day. Cherry bombs for the win! Also, in most games, I'm pretty chauvinist and refuse to play as female characters. Going back to borderlands, anyone played as the Siren class? You know what it sounds like when you get shot without a shield? That's why I don't play as chicks...

Most shoot 'em up bosses (especially of the bullet hell variety) really do deserve a class all of their own, in some regards. I own several of the earlier Touhou games and still can't manage to finish most of them on normal (except Imperishable Night, although I think its some unanimous choice that this one is the easiest of the series supposedly). Then there's 2 whole difficulty modes after that.....which terrifies me utterly. In th end though, I keep coming back for more, no matter how many times my hitbox is spell-card raped. Generally though, when friends of mine explain how they like to play difficult games like Call of Duty on Veteran because they like the sense of success after doing such a thing, I have to agree with Schwaltzvald. There really is nothing quite like achieving success in completing a shoot 'em up title. Also on topic, I still can't complete the boss of the extra stage of Perfect Cherry Blossom...

Ahh, more LKS love. Good to hear. One of the more underappreciated titles on the Wii. I have to say I found most of the bosses in that game to be pretty difficult. I mean, one of them was a sort of unorthodox pinball game, only you're using your units as the flippers and the boss is the ball. Pretty frustarating. For a more obscure difficult boss, I'd like to bring up a little gem called Brave Fencer Musashi for the PS1, one of my all time favorites. However, the Queen Ant boss is seriously one of-if not THE-most fucked up boss fights in the entire game. If you don't have a steady supply of EX drinks, prepare to suffer through a world of hurt. You go through a frustaratingly jarring mine cart ride and your reward is one of the hardest bosses in the game. Classic. 'Course that was back when Square actually cared about franchises besides Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. Not bitter, Not bitter.

Three words: Brave Fencer Musashi. First game soundtrack I actually purchased because I liked the tracks so much. <Musashi Samurai Legend> <Giant Playground Battle> <Relic Keeper>God, songs like this bring back memories.

I was actually very skeptical about this until I picked it up a few days ago. I'm only at level 15 or so but it is a lot of fun. I thought seeing a bajillion numbers popping up as you sprayed an assault rifle would be distracting, but its a very satisfying experience. I'm getting owned a lot right now by those skag things so I probably need to update my loot though. I just don't want to sell my quick regeneration shield for a high powered one. Its saved me so many times now! /end babbling

Wow, this was a pretty awesome piece. In particular, the vocal stuff kinda reminds me of that Bulgarian Choir that does the song "The Beginning and the End" from the original OST. Nice little touch if I do say so myself. I definitely thought of Kenji Kawai's scores when listening to this though. Beautiful stuff.

Last year, I went as the Riddler and got a lot of compliments about the get-up. Even managed to stay in character for most of the evening. This year however, I'm going to be a little more devious. I've got a chicken suit I'm wearing with fake blood splotches and giant cardboard sign that reads "EAT BEEF OR DIE BITCHES" I was considering carrying a burlap sack with what looks like a cow head and maybe the cane of Col. Sanders, but I think that'd be taking it too far... I hate Chick Fil-A cows. I love Chick Fil-A but I hate their bloody illiterate cows.

As much as I love Samus and the Metroid outings, I will say punching restoration soldiers while wearing a fully upgraded Omega suit and watching them fly offscreen never gets old. Reminds me of the first 30 minutes of the Iron Man movie, especially when you get the helmet that renders you invulnerable... Is it wrong that I hope they incorporate the ability to have Samus falcon punch space pirates across the screen in Other M?

I heard about this news today, and frankly, I'm pretty ecstatic about the whole thing. Apparently, its an actual sequel too....The little kid riding on lil okami (I think they're calling it chibiterasu...cute.) is the son of Susanoo from the first game. I'm predicting more weird time travelling in it though since the timeline for the game is only a few months afterwards. Maybe we'll have a baby Waka who uses more horrid french one liners!!! And while I would've liked to have seen it on a PS3 (Would've been the killing stroke for getting me to fork over the cash for one finally), I still see a lot of potential for it on the ds. It certainly seems to capture the visuals of the original well enough. And for those naysayers who've been seeing the visuals look dated, I personally think cell-shading makes games age a whole lot less than a lot of the HD games turn out. As an example, games that use the unreal engine look great when they're first released, but after a couple years, they look downright ROUGH. In comparison, a lot of the cell-shaded PS2 and Gamecube titles still look gorgeous, even today (See, Viewtiful Joe, Dark Cloud 2, Okami, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, etc). Hell, I think the latter title still looks heaps better than its Twilight Princess counterpart. In any case, I now have something else besides Infinite Space to look forward to next year on the DS. Now excuse me while I go back to Knights in the Nightmare...

Despite the low budget, I'm pretty sure a lot of the CG was handled by WETA (a nice little addition by Mr. Jackson, if you will). On that note though, while I absolutely loved the film, I couldn't help feeling slightly irked that the main reason it got so much attention from it was because Peter Jackson had his name plastered all over it as producer. He's a great director and all, but he wasn't exactly the "brains" behind this operation, but a lot of people might miss that and not give credit to Blomkamp. Just my 2 cents, and to whoever said there was a gravity gun, I could've sworn I saw a particular scene in the 3rd act where Mr. Mech suit throws a giant pig/cow at a soldier with a similar device. Pretty random little snippet compared to the rest of the battle, but still mightily hilarious in a way. Still need to see Hurt Locker though. Probably Saturday afternoon.

Oh God, how could I have forgotten that mother...I actually didn't think it mattered which character you used, so I used Velvet (thinking they were supposed to be chronological) beat it, and then had to to THE ENTIRE DAMN THING over again. But at least the fight was epic enough.

Oh bummer. It is true a lot of his films do seem to end pretty abruptly (I'm looking at you Porco Rosso), but I guess I tend to dismiss this pretty much as I watch a lot of animated stuff because it looks pretty, even if the plot's a bit lacking. That being said, I have seen Moon and I did see the resemblence with plot twists, but I think Moon ended pretty abruptly too. I enjoyed that one more so due to Kevin Spacey's HAL-like robot intelligence. Back on topic, I think my big drawing point with Sky Crawlers was the actual scenes of aircraft flying about, and the commentary about "The Teacher" and such. The overall message in the film was good, but I will say that you're right, it did seem to be melancholic for melancholic's sake.

I just thought of another one. They could put Frollo in their and make him some sort of maniacal scientist dabbling in the occult. Theories aside however, I don't see how they could pull him off sans the late Tony Jay. Umm and while I know Chernabog was in Kingdom Hearts, his part was so miniscule, he almost NEEDS to be in this thing. Giant, steam-driven bio-mech version of Chernabog could actually be pretty unsettling. ...On another slightly different note, if the concept art shows Goofy all mechanized, I'm predicting all sorts of nasty for Mr. Donald...