Objective Tangent: Pros and Cons of One Hit Kills

By MixMasterLar
with inserts and notes by nestlekwik

Since the first Atari Boxing game came out (and whatever might have happen to come out before that), the fighting genre has tried many things in an attempt to improve how the games played while helping its replay value. Since the first, we have been graced with such techniques as jumping, blocking, running, rolling, parrying, air combos, air blocking and a lot of neat material I’m leaving out. Most have become standard issue now and every game we can think of within the genre has them, while others were implemented, failed to make an impact and later ditched. The newest technique that the genre has been experimenting with for the last few years is what we like to refer to as “instant kills” or “one-hit K.O.s" - a single move that can win the bout for you. Many games have tried it and a few made it work, but a lot of developers - especially those making 3D games - have stayed away from such things. With Namco adding in a form of instant kill in the upcoming Soul Calibur IV, I feel that the technique is here to stay for a bit. But are they really that great or merely a cheap move to win whenever you care to?

What are you doing?

First, let’s define exactly what people think of when we make mention of this mystic move.

A one-hit kill is generally a move that can only be executed when certain conditions are met, require a player to do something that is “out of the norm” from the average day at the fights and also requires an advanced input command. A great example is Guilty Gear XX, where a player must save up half or more energy and then press all four attack buttons to enter rage mode - just so they can have a short time limit to enter a super move-type command just to pull the move off (for those who are familiar, I believe the most common GGXX command is QCF, QCF + HS). Sounds like a lot of work, but with some practice then most every player can pull it off at least once in awhile. One-hit kills must also kill anything. In only one hit. But I guess you figured that out by now

However, some people have referred to air combos and juggles as being “instant kills” if pulling the combo results in 100% of the opponent’s heath bar being depleted. An example is in the first Virtua Fighter, where Jeffry can knee someone in the air, punch a couple of times, headbutt and then pancake the opponent for every bit of HP in the round. While not a “One Hit Kill” in the truest form, it’s about as hard to pull as one and gets the job done. Thankfully combos like that have been taken out of most major games (including the later VFs), so no need to fear them anymore. Essentially, anything which allows players to string a death command that a player has no defense against has been hotly debated in the fighting and gaming community. The question remains: Do one-hit kills justify the skill of the player who pulls them off in a pinch or can pound out commands to stringent timing or are they just cheap shortcuts to piss off opponents?

While one-hit kills or knockouts definitely have a place in titles such as Bushido Blade or boxing titles as a measure of counter-attacking, timing and positioning, the real matter of the fact is their place in traditional one-on-one fighters where, normally, a dozen or more attacks are necessary to put your opponent on their back for good. Perhaps the true origin of the one-hit kill can be traced to the very obscure Time Killers (arcade cabinet and one of the Genesis' rarest games). Being dizzied in Street Fighter II was frustrating, but getting dizzied in Time Killers was just downright embarrassing. When an opponent was dizzied at any time in the round, pressing all five attack buttons (yeah, five. Evidentially a "head" attack button was deemed necessary) would unleash a frenzy attack which dismembered and then decapitated the opponent for an instant, and gory, victory in the round.

Because the title never broke beyond cult status, even it in its BloodStorm follow-up, one-hit kills never really gained mainstream notoriety until Guilty Gear XX (X2), even after being featured in Guilty Gear, which, again, never amounted to much outside of the United States through its low-key Playstation (One) release (these one-hit kill fighting games are a bit of a collector's item, eh?). Even though XX brought the series more into the spotlight than it had ever been before, not many more people jumped onto the Guilty Gear train. Through solid reviews, all most took away from the game was the gimmick of one-hit kills. Is that really fair?

On to part 2

Back to GemuBaka

Objective Tangent: Pros and Cons of One Hit Kills Part 2

In the case of Guilty Gear, one must actually witness the process to judge. The moves require the fighter to have been aggressive enough to have accumulated a tension meter, input two commands and have the precision of a hawk. The one-hit kill is essentially the "Hail Mary" of fighting games - the defense knows it's coming, it works maybe 10% of the time and once it flies, the offense waits with bated breath and a prayer - but if it hits it will definitely make the highlight reel. If the move whiffs or is BLOCKED (yes, it actually has to hit clean), the player is penalized by not having a tension meter for the rest of the fight. If you whiff in the first round, it's going to be another long one or two rounds until you can use super moves, Roman cancels, safe guards and more. When a sword has two sides, you can be assured the possibility of cutting yourself is there.

Since then the theory has carried over into games such as Hokuto no Ken or Mortal Kombat's stage fatalities and the future bodes more with Soul Calibur IV's Critical Finish maneuvers. EGM's preview of Soul Calibur IV in issue #229 is the perfect example of the public groaning resulting from the implementation of one-hit kills:

"... Soul Calibur IV dares to break that rule by adding a controversial new system: Critical Finishes, wildly over-the-top maneuevers that end the round with one incredibly dramatic supermove ..."
"... If this sounds distressingly like Mortal Kombat's Fatality system (or even worse - Guilty Gear's arbitrary Instant Kills) ..."

The article puts forth the attitude that the consensus is against one-hit kills. Seemingly, the new idea of adding in a one-hit kill feature can't be met with interest due to its implementation. In fairness, EGM hypes the SCIV feature with its own segmented section. However, is the idea being given merit because it is a good idea, because the game in question is the heralded, best-selling Soul Calibur or is EGM just singing praise via exclusive information? No matter what the reasoning, it seems being featured in Guilty Gear and Mortal Kombat just isn't the ticket for the feature.

No one questions why a single bullet to the head of a Spartan or Covenant places that player in the afterlife so why can't we give the benefit of the doubt to Faust's nuclear explosion, Scorpion uppercutting Sub-Zero down onto stalagmite, Sueng Mina piercing Maxi with a flaming spear or some chainsaw wielding dude with a mohawk from the year 2024 lobbing off extremities? Let's weight in on the pros and cons and maybe then people can judge for themselves rather than going on the premise of a single move killing off an opponent.

PRO: CERTIFIED BACKUP

Instant kills can give you some serious backup if you need a little help with a battle. If your rival is beating the tar out of you and you just can't pull ahead via conventional means, then pulling out the ace and getting a hold of the situation can result in victory. Rarely is an instant kill in Guilty Gear a matter of showing off or humiliation - it's a last resort. When there is no light at the end of the tunnel, you sometimes just have to lob that Hail Mary - throw that attack and pray.

CON: RIVAL RELIES TOO HEAVILY ON INSTANT KILLS

On the same token, having that sneaky, evil, disgusting rival pull one off every chance he gets is no fun and you could end up losing even if you are better at the game. Fortunately, most of the newer games however have too strict of conditions for this to happen (such as Soul Calibur IV’s where your opponent must block nonstop to the point their armor breaks). It is extremely vital that a great game that has this ability takes the time to program a complicated command and/or a strict time frame to pull such a move or this one con can single handily make the entire game unworthy to play. Time Killers resorts to a lot of cheap play in order to set up dizzies and instant kills. When this becomes the focus, the cheese factor can go through the roof and fun might stop in its tracks.

PRO: MORE STRATEGY

With the prospect of you or your rival being able to end it all in an instant (or one long animation, cue Guilty Gear) it’s important to take the time to think about what you want to do before you start pressing pretty buttons and such. Having a battle plan to avoid getting chomped on or even setting up your own death trick requires perfecting combos so you can easily carry out your rival’s demise. With strategy comes replay — having to practice and try out dozens of techniques. Obviously, you have to know the stages in Mortal Kombat Deception and use your noodle to not stand in front of that incinerator with the red line around it. If you are continually being slammed off the top of the temple and splatting onto the ground, don't hate the player, hate yourself for constantly putting your character in front death traps.

CON: KILLJOY

Again, working extremely hard to perfect combos that will allow you to perform an instant kill might simply only help anger you when all that falls apart when, in the middle of your tactic, your rival pulls his one-hit kill and blows you out of the water. While one-hit kills can allow strategy, if they are simple to connect in battle then why bother practicing, as your opponent will simply whip one out? And you don’t even have to lose to feel like the game cheated you; how fun is killing someone over and over watching him have no chance of survival? Nil. We have to question how much range some of the death traps have in Mortal Kombat. When an attack normally flops an opponent two feet in front of you, it's slightly disheartening to see the same move slam you 20 feet onto a bed of spikes.

PROS: MISS AND YOU'RE F***ED

A normal gamer might not realize how much of a crutch players face by not having a tension gauge in Guilty Gear, but, man, there's a reason why you'll hardly see instant kills attempted in competition. If you are mid combo in Mortal Kombat and an opponent jumps over you - your back will not only be wide open, but your front could very well be neatly located directly in front of your death. One of the most intense factors of one-hit kills is in its brutal oneupmanship. Nothing gets competitive juices flowing like situations that allow players to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Just when you think you've won, a reversal or whiff can put you in a very uncomfortable position.

CONS: PROGRAMMING OVERSIGHT

Many of the juggles and 100% combos we've mentioned in the opening of the piece aren't really the result of complete skill, but oversights by the programmers of the game. Early versions of Mortal Kombat are notorious for having 100% corner juggles that ended the game of anyone who got caught in them and let's not forget about how Sub-Zero can infinitely throw you in Genesis version of the original (bastard). By allowing for strings that result in 100% damage, this opens up the possibility of exploits and the use of glitches to get ahead in the game. Thankfully, games such as Primal Rage, with its awesome no cheese symbol remind you that 100% is not cool. Even if the situation allows for more hits games such as the newer editions of Mortal Kombat force your character away from the opponent so combos stop just before ridiculous.

PROS: THEY LOOK COOL AND GET PEOPLE TALKING

If you thought people lined up for and played Time Killers because it was a technically sound game, you should guess again. While people griped about the level of violence in Mortal Kombat, games not popular in that time could do as they pleased as the game pushed the envelope of violence (well, for 1992). High score tables actually kept tabs of how many heads, arms and legs players lobbed off, which meant the one-hit kill was the primo way to see your name on the list (it's alright. Through the time machine mechanic, limbs were digitally restored for future rounds). In most any game, the one-hit kill is given the flair and entertainment as if it were its own cutscene and players can't help but smile at the result.

CONS: THEY COME ACROSS AS ONLY A GIMMICK

Need to do something that the media will talk about - add one-hit kills. Usually, one-hit kills do little to add to the overall game play and skill involved in competition. As said before, Guilty Gear one-hit kills are rarely seen in competition and I can't say Mortal Kombat Deception or Time Killers is played in a worldwide competitive manner. In fact, SCIV's critical hits warranted an entire section in the said issue of EGM. Are the attacks a mere PR device where the game companies can show off pretty colors and insane attacks? Not likely, but given how the moves are viewed, it seems no one takes the addition seriously.

Final Thoughts

So in the end, I can only guess that whether a move can mow down anyone in a single hit is a good thing or not is proportionate to whether or not is implemented correctly. I personally like the one-hit kills in Guilty Gear, but I never cared for a game to allow 90%+ air combos. Just me though. Will Soul Calibur IV finally do these maneuvers justice or will gamers and press continue to roll their eyes when the words "instant kill" are muttered as a fighting game feature? Only time will tell. Until then ... is anyone up for some Time Killers? Man, all that talk about the game has got me hankering for some limb hacking.

Feel free to visit the forums and share your opinion in the comments as well.

Back to GemuBaka

El Fuerte's Mexican Food Buffet of Special Moves

By nestlekwik

I had to create some more GIFs just so people would believe me I wasn't just making up names for El Fuerte's special moves. Seeing these moves in "motion" though kind of makes him seem more interesting as a playable character:

The dreaded brown eye attack from the previous update is officially known as the "Picadillo Jump."

This anti-air special move is banned in 34 countries and known as the dreaded "Guacamole Leg Throw."

Capcom didn't provide many frames for the "Fajita Buster" so it may look a little choppy. Yes, the Fajita Buster, as in chicken or steak with vegetables wrapped in a tortilla. Speaking of tortillas ...

"Propeller Tortilla." If the move didn't look somewhat cool, I'd probably laugh at the name. Who am I kidding? The name is still stupid so I'll laugh heartily for five minutes.

Things are shaping up for the game as El Fuerte and Rufus seem to be quite playable now. While MixMasterLar may hate Rufus, I'll post a pic of Rufus just for Lar:

PWND

Capcom Finally Gets Around to Officially Announcing Rufus

By nestlekwik

MixMasterLar - cover your eyes.

Street Fighter IV's answer to Tekken 6's Bob, Rufus, has been officially revealed after months of online media from the Japanese testing locations. While he's quite rotund and ... uh, shoving his face full of popcorn - he seems quite agile for sporting such a huge frame. Just look at these super moves in action:

Capcom's press site has this move billed as the "Space Opera Symphony."

And this fine move is known as "Spectacle Romance."

For some reason, Capcom also released a lineup of screens detailing El Fuerte. There's nothing much new in regard to the SF luchadore, but once I have time later, I may GIF some of his moves which feature some of the most stereotypically cliche names you can imagine: Fajita Buster? Guacamole Leg Throw? Habenero Dash? Propeller Tortilla? We can only hope the Burrito Slam and Chili Con Carne Clothesline are tucked away in the game somewhere. Somewhere El Stingray is at home pissed that he wasn't reused in another Capcom game because his Jalepeno Comet didn't cut it. Damn. Now I'm hungry for some tacos.

But just for craps and giggles (oh, man, that's going to turn into a pun in a second), here's a pic of El Fuerte giving Zangief the brown eye:

Street Fighter IV Commercial Debuts Saturday

Yeah. We're getting just as tired of waiting for Street Fighter IV as you are. Hell. We're so anxious, even E. Honda vs. Guile sounds exciting:



At least this Saturday, hot on the heels of Capcom finally announcing the completely obvious Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC home ports of the game, gamers can get a first official U.S. dose of hot Street Fighter IV media. The U.S.'s first SFIV commercial will air during CBS's EliteXC Saturday Night Fights event on Saturday, May 31, beginning at 9 p.m. EST. If two people punching each other out isn't your thing, we may have to question why you're interested in Street Fighter IV, but you can opt to catch the trailer afterward on the official Street Fighter site.

The event actually marks the first time an MMA fight has aired on U.S. broadcast television and during the event, the network premiere of a 60-second SFIV trailer along with 30-second television spots will launch. After the premiere, the Street Fighter Web site will officially launch with new trailers and GameStop will be accepting pre-orders for the game. As an incentive, those who pre-order will receive a limited edition Street Fighter Tribute artbook.

We can't wait though, and, honestly, how can you mess up a Street Fighter commercial? Oh, wait ... this is how you can do exactly that:

Dodge the Double Ds? The Dodge Ball Time Line

By nestlekwik

Imagine the rush I received when my e-mail inbox alerted me to an e-mail about a new game entitled Double D Dodgeball. As a blush came across my face when I clicked on the message, imagine my disappointment when these screens came up. I'm puzzled as to how double Ds fit into this, but Yuke's has announced the newest title in the long-running virtual sport of dodge ball.







I'm not sure where Yuke's is going with what appears to be a laser light show, but we're hoping the game play holds up.

- Eight-person multiplayer
- Four modes: Exhibition, Player Match, Ranked Match and Tournament
- GamerScore achievements and online leaderboards
- Four ball types with multiple playing surfaces
- Select between Eastern and Western rules

That sounds pretty earnest to me for a game costing me $10. But ... will it hold up to Kunio-Kun's crew of motley dodge ballers?



What gamers mostly bill as the dodge ball video game of epic proportions. Super Dodge Ball was the second title produced by Technos Japan in its Kunio lineage (The U.S.-named Renegade was the first, with the third becoming the even more infamous River City Ransom). This was the NES version, while ...



This was the Technos arcade version. While not spotted too often any more, I believe most gamers aren't missing out on much by only nabbing the NES version. These versions follow the "Eastern Style" of dodge ball referred to in the Double D Dodgeball descriptions, where defeated players are hosted in an "outfield." Unfortunately, if a player in the outfield takes down a member in play, they are not permitted back into play like in traditional Eastern rules.



The Neo-Geo MVS arcade release of Super Dodge Ball takes the Kunio crew into more brutal three-on-three combat with some downright creepy characters. New to the version were super reversals, powered-up team moves and multiple super throws made possible by Street Fighter-esque quarter circle commands. This version is certainly more worth the time to find than its original arcade release.



Released near the GBA launch, Super Dodge Ball Advance didn't fare too well with reviewers if I recall correctly. In fact, there is a stack of these sitting in my local Wal-Mart. When will they learn no one is going to buy these at $30? Anyway, the game is definitely a low point in the series, but portable dodge ballers may get some redemption with ...



Super Dodge Ball Brawlers! This Nintendo DS effort was crafted by Arc System Works ("those Guilty Gear guys") and has hit the U.S. market this week thanks to Aksys Games. The title is to my knowledge the first Kunio game openly marketed as a Kunio game in the United States. Now we're making progress! We'll bring you a full review of this new title once we secure it later in the week.

So, while you await Ninjas vs. Pirates Dodgeball or Double D Dodgeball, be sure to track down these Kunio legends and practice up. While the Kunio special moves might not apply in the new titles, duck, catch and throw never changes.

Return to GemuBaka

Playstation 2 Review: Beatmania

Konami gives the US a small slice of the Beatmania IIDX Pie with the US release of BeatMania. While a good deal to have at 30 bucks, do Americans get a decent taste of the goodness?

By MixMasterLar

If you've played any music/rhythm game before, you have probably have heard of a game known as Beatmania. The game was the first Bemani game ever made and while not the first true music game, fully kick-started the genre back around 1997. Its spin-off BeatMania IIDX (pronounced Two DX) upped the ante and added more keys, more songs, more ... everything. Since then, Japan has gotten a new IIDX at least once every two years.

A few years ago, Konami decided to try its luck at bringing this game to the States. While still a fun, little game it's missing a ton of content and charm from the Japanese titles. Regardless, if you have never played the series it may serve up a small helping of fun.

We Crave Gameplay

The game is played a lot like any other music game you can think of with the difference being a keyboard-style controller with a spinning disc that is there to simulate a turntable. There are seven keys on the table as big as a mouse button. The goal of the game is to hit these keys and spin that turntable in time to music by following falling blocks (much like O2Jam or Rock Band). Like Rock Band, failing to hit a note will result in the note not being played in the game's audio, but unlike Rock Band, if you're offbeat here, then the song is played offbeat making it hard to get back on the timing. The game judges you by each note, flashing words like "Great!" or "Poor" to tell you how close you were to hitting a note on time. The "Just Greats" (or a flashing "Great") featured in all the Japanese versions was replaced with the word "Perfect!". The change doesn't directly change the gameplay, however, a more gracious timing window allows new players to better adjust to the game.

What does change the gameplay, though, is the final score at the end of a song. The judgment has been changed to resemble that of DDRMAX, and now you are awarded a grade two times higher then you would have had in the import versions. While this may cause long-time players to shake their fist, it, again, helps new players ease into the series.

We Got Da Beat!

The Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero games are made or broken by the soundtracks and BeatMania is no different. Hardcore fans of DDR will recognize a few songs by the artist Good-Cool and a couple of dj TAKA's fan favorites such as V and Colors. The remainder of the list is mostly either old Beatmania songs (a majority from pre-IIDX) or a brand new licensed song such as Moby's Lift me Higher or Timo's First Day.

The huge letdown is out of only 79 songs, you get 20 that are in 5key format and 50 that are in 7Key format, with only eight that can be played using both. And the sad part is songs on 5Key only have one difficulty. This is completely stupid and just proves Konami makes no effort to revamp the older transplant songs brought in from years of Bemani to the U.S. Furthermore, the majority of the people interested in the game will be long-time players and the lack of difficulty or variety will have experts bored from the get go. In this version, the hardest song is V, which a lot of Beatmania players have already long since mastered, moving on to harder songs by playing imports. Thankfully, for newbs, getting used to the game is very hard, so the challenge is there, but for people who have already played, it's just not enough.

The Good (side) Stuff

So with only 79 songs to unlock and enjoy, you would expect there to be extra modes wouldn't you? The game has the standard 5Key, 7Key, two player, practice mode, double play and course modes you would expect to have in a Konami game but other than that, there isn't that much to enjoy. The course mode is fun since you play a set of five songs back to back and have Internet Rankings but there isn't that much new or challenging content if you played the game before.

It's also worth noting that the Movies that play during a song are, for the most part, just not that great, but you'll probably never notice it while playing.

In the end, it's probably better to pick up Beatmania if you have never played it and are wanting to give it a chance. If you played the imports a lot, you'll probably just want to stick with those, but at 30 dollars it's with buying for the controller, which otherwise would cost you around 70 bucks in itself.

GemuBaka Review Score: 2 out of 5

Return to GemuBaka

Nintendo DS Review: Pokemon Diamond

Are you ready for the next generation of Pokémon, with a new total of 493 creatures to try to obtain every single one of? It doesn't seem all that different from the previous versions and it's about what most people would expect it to be, with only a handful of really significant differences.

By Doug31

For anyone that's never played a Pokémon game before, it's a rather slow-paced and highly time-consuming RPG where you try to catch many Pokémon and use them to battle and earn all 8 gym badges, then use them to enter to Pokémon League where you battle against the Elite Four and then a champion. You always start out with your choice of one of three starters - a grass-type, a fire-type, or a water-type. The battles seem to go very similarly to how they always have in the past: The same old choose one of up to 4 attacks or change Pokémon, just like how all of this stuff has always been. There was the usual small, yet still noticeable, graphical and sound improvement, as well. Plus there is another team, similar to Team Rocket, that will try to do evil things which you get to thwart. What a surprise ...

One of the major aspects of the game revolves around the Sinnoh Dex. It only includes about 150 Pokémon, and these Pokémon will be basically all you will ever see when battling other trainers or in the wild before you have completed your Sinnoh Dex. Many of the Pokémon in the Sinnoh Dex are new but also include many of the Pokémon that have been very common in previous games like Zubat, Geodude, Magikarp, Machop, etc. You cannot go to the areas of the game that have the Pokémon that aren't in the Sinnoh Dex, transfer Pokémon from previous generations or even do certain events before you have seen all the Pokémon in the Sinnoh Dex. It's not particularly hard and just by battling all the trainers there should only be a few left by the time you beat the Elite Four, since many trainers will have Pokémon you won't find very easily elsewhere and you only have to see them all, not catch them all.

Once you have completed the Sinnoh Dex, most of the remaining aspects of the game are unlocked. Probably the biggest thing that happens is you are able to transfer Pokémon from older versions of the series, but it's a permanent 1-way transfer and you will still have to catch the Pokémon you transferred in the Pal Park; but don't worry, there isn't really any risk of losing them in this process. A highly annoying thing about this, however, is that you can only transfer six Pokémon from each game pack per day. This means if you have 150 Pokémon in an Emerald version, and want to transfer them all before you start the game over, so you don't lose them, it's going to take you 25 days to transfer them all, assuming you don't miss a single day, and it should take about 5 minutes each time, assuming you don't have to delete any moves. It's also really annoying that you have to delete any HM moves before you can transfer any Pokémon that had any of those moves, even including Flash, which isn't even an HM move in Diamond/Pearl.

The best new feature in Pokémon Diamond is its online capabilities. You can battle people over WiFi, without even having to get in the same room as them or trade with them similarly, as well. You must have someone's friend code to do this and there is no "battle random opponent" option. This makes it so much easier to find people to battle and so much easier to obtain Pokémon and items that you want. Note that some people will trade cheated Pokémon, so beware.

There are other improvements, such as using the stylus to choose what to do in battles and go through certain menus outside of battle with the stylus, as well. This makes things easier and makes menu surfing a breeze. There were some slight modifications to battles, such as attacks being separated into physical and special attacks rather than just having each type be solely physical or special. Some new moves and some new Pokémon were added but the additions are not really that significant of an improvement. Very few of these moves or Pokémon are very original as most are copies of moves that already existed, except for the fact they are a different type or strangely resemble some of the already existing Pokémon. Some of the battles gain a few inches of variety since there are now many places where there will be weather in effect such as hail or rain that will affect the battles done in that area.

There is also a PokéEtch, which can do a few neat things such as allow you to see where wandering Pokémon are, draw whatever you want, count, see how many steps you've walked, etc. Most don't seem very useful much of the time, but it can be helpful for certain puzzles. Additionally, there is a PokéRadar, which allows you to find many Pokémon that wouldn't normally be found in the same area and also can make it easier to obtain shiny Pokémon than ever before, but the search still requires quite a bit of effort and luck.

There isn't really much else to say. If I didn't mention something, it probably means it was so similar to how it was before that I didn't even take note of it and it's most likely just how you'd expect it to be. There are many small differences in the battles and the overall flow of the game seem seven slower than before, but most changes or additions are not very significant. Diamond was nothing spectacular compared to the previous games, but it still provides an overall improvement from the previous generations.

GemuBaka Review Score: 4 out of 5

Return to GemuBaka

Playstation 2 Review: MLB Power Pros

MLB Power Pros 2008 has been announced, giving the long-running Japanese series a second shot at the pennant in the U.S. Looking back at the first title, was it good enough to warrant a second title or did it go down swinging in the first inning?

By nestlekwik

Old-school video game baseball is back with the release of Konami’s long-running flagship baseball series and with the backing of 2K Sports, the Power Pros sport recognizable likenesses for the U.S. audience. Don’t let Power Pro’s “chibi” appearance fool you – this title packs some serious game.

While the looks have certainly updated since the days of the NES, MLB Power Pros exudes the old-school feel and control of baseball games on the system, but nails it down to a crisp and easy-to-manage system. Konami uses this engine as the core of a multitude of modes, options, bonuses and more that will keep sports fans coming back for more than just the game play. The sports title concentrates a little bit less on the realm of realism and melds a number of statistical and RPG elements into a Playstation 2 sports title that is just plain fun to play.

Booting up the game allows players to play custom exhibition games, take a team through an entire season or launch into the game’s deceptively deep and addicting success mode - a type of “franchise mode,” which plays out like a traditional Japanese management sim. Power Pros doesn’t stop there, however, dishing out game options, savable profiles that track an insane amount of statistics per player, the ability to create custom teams and a shop from which viewable MLB baseball cards and game features can be purchased. The title’s offering of modes is surprisingly generous for a debut franchise and offers a robust choice that rivals the system’s long-running baseball titles.

While the title features a massive training mode that covers every offensive and defensive aspect of the game, the title still features pick-up-and-play controls. Pitching only asks a player to hold a direction and press X to select a pitch and then using the left analog stick to aim the pitch and batting requires following the pitch with the analog stick and swinging with the X button. All of the other commands common to a baseball title such as stealing bases, diving or jumping for fly balls and base running are mapped to simple one-button commands. Essentially, if you’ve ever played a classic baseball title, you’ll be able to jump straight in and Power Pros will remind you of such classics.

Outside of the actual game, there is a lot of menu surfing, which can be a tad discouraging to those who want to just jump into a pick-up game, but those who dive straight to the game will miss out on a lot of customization, statistics, management and features. The most curious feature of the game, which relies almost entirely on menus, is the success mode – a sort of franchise mode based on one player’s career from college to the minors and finally the pros. Those who want the full flavor of playing the core game of baseball will be more suited to the game’s season mode, but the success mode is one of the most unique experiences one can find in a U.S. game right now. If you give it a try, it’s addictive management nature, balancing school, social status, money, dating and stat building, is the closest thing American gamers have in a traditional Japanese simulation game and brings a real RPG flavor to the game.

Power Pros features vivid visuals and presentation that might not be for everyone, but they more than succeed in giving the title its own identity and sets itself apart from any other baseball game currently on the market. Well-done sound production rounds out the presentation as well. While the announcer at times may seem a little tacky and becomes victim to the classic disc access pauses, the driving music is very fitting and the cheers, bat cracks and glove slaps sound like they were ripped straight from a real baseball game. As stated before, the controls are very tight, but on occasion there may be an issue with the decision to also map dives and jumps to the circle button. Since base throwing operates on the diamond scheme (circle throws to first, triangle throws to second, etc.), if players jump the gun on throwing to first base, a ground ball can be missed by an errant dive or jump or a dive could cause the ball not being thrown in time.

With a few minor discrepancies aside, MLB Power Pros makes a very welcome entry onto the Playstation 2 as Major League Baseball enters its playoff strides. At $20, the title serves as not only a change of pace for sports enthusiasts, but also a good purchase for those looking for a great casual sports title. MLB Power Pros doesn’t drop the ball on its U.S. debut - it almost delivers a grand slam.

GemuBaka Review Score: 4 out of 5

Back to GemuBaka

Wii Review: Deca Sports

Obviously stepping in to take a bite of Wii Sport's mega success, Hudson steps in a year and a half after the hit's release to offer up its own update to the party sports scene. Is party-game champ Hudson up to the task of matching what is arguably the Wii's best game, or is Deca Sports a day late and a dollar short?

By nestlekwik

Using Wii Sports as a building block, Deca Sports sprints onto the system in an attempt to deliver the fun of the established launch title while doubling its content and expanding each offering even further with multiple options. At face value, players will be tackling badminton, volleyball, motocross, kart racing, snowboarding, curling, basketball, soccer, archery and figure skating in single-sport and decathlon modes for up to four players. However, most of the sports offer only bare-bones presentations of the sports and what players find is a mixed bag of enjoyable and boring.

Graphically, the title holds up to other games in the genre, sporting unique characters chosen from a number of different teams featuring speedy, powerful or balanced characters. The models resemble Wii Sport's usage of the trademark Miis, but are unique and feature their share of charm (especially the disco team's afro-laden squad). The environments of each event do their job and overall, combined with some catchy themes and appropriate audio, Deca Sport's presentation actually holds up rather well.

Unfortunately, though, the overall package is dragged down by some lame sports events. The motocross, kart and snowboard races require little skill to maneuver through and with no attack options to heat games up, your group is better off hitting the local go kart track. The basketball and soccer events are stripped to pass and shoot mechanics and might prove to be enjoyable for one time amongst friends, but there is little here to engross single players. With four players in tow, however, you'll probably see the remaining events getting much more play. Curling and figure skating are decent enough "oddity sports" to get the group riled up and the random nature of the archery contest will cause for some heated accuracy contests. Badminton and volleyball will no doubt be the party pleasures, serving up frantic competition and a ton of interaction via the Wii Remote.

While the title has been developed exclusively for the Wii Remote, the effort at times doesn't show, most notably when aiming left and right and balancing power in the badminton and volleyball events and launching your rock in curling. The title's biggest letdown is it essentially relies on players having three other gamers present in order for the game to rise above boring. Even at four players your mileage may vary, but there's nothing wrong with giving Deca Sports a day rental for a Wii get-together session. Deca Sports isn't a keeper, mixing bland events with occasionally sloppy control, which unfortunately makes the title worth trying but not buying.

GemuBaka Score: 2 out of 5

Return to GemuBaka

Retro Review: Super Mario World

With many billing Super Mario Bros. 3 as the greatest game of all time, would any of Mario's future games live up to the raccoon-tail wagging smash hit?

By Doug31

Mario's at it again, as usual. Jump your way through everything from Donut Plains to Chocolate Island on your quest to save the princess from the evil king Boswer. Yeah, I know, how original.

Right away, you'll be off on your journey, but this isn't just another Mario game that's almost the same as a previous existing one. Super Mario World is a game with levels that are made with extra fun where you'll feel like playing some of them many times. It also was the first Mario game to introduce flying with a cape, doing spin jumps and riding a Yoshi. There are even four different Yoshis which are different in more ways than just how they look. Of course, mushrooms, goombas and all the other stuff in tons of Mario games are back as well. Still, with all the new arrangements of everything, there's a lot more to this game than the NES versions.

This is not one of those play through every level once and you can't go there again games. Even after beating a level, you can go back to it to try to find a secret exit that will open up a different level than the normal way of beating the level. This makes things way cooler as you get to look through levels for secrets rather than just trying to reach the finish.

Part of what I like so much about this game is that I just can't find anything I don't like about it. The controls, sound, graphics, replay value - all of that stuff is just incredible for an SNES game. I still have yet to find another 2D platform game I think is better.

There really isn't that much more to say about this game. It's very simple, but that's not a bad thing. It's a game that virtually every gamer would enjoy. If you've never played it, well, you should give it a try.

GemuBaka Score: 5 out of 5

Super Mario World is currently available as a Nintendo Wii Virtual Console download title for 800 Wii Points.

Return to GemuBaka

Nintendo DS Review: Naruto: Ninja Destiny

With a brand new edition of the game aiming to fix the wrongs of the Japanese version, will Naruto: Ninja Destiny please fans of the series or have them wishing the game never left Japan?

By nestlekwik

With the ninja craze escalating stateside, it's no surprise companies are putting more bank in the muscle of the orange-suited escapades of Naruto Uzamaki in the U.S. While many of the series' games entered into the region with simple beginnings and content, the progress of the translated anime on Cartoon Network has allowed U.S. gamers to make more sense of the content held in the beefier sequels, which harness more and more content as the anime progresses. After a year of re-tooling from its original Japanese release, Naruto: Ninja Destiny strikes the Nintendo DS and brings the game up to speed with the progress of the anime series. While the game is hardly perfect, the result is one that trounces all other Nintendo handheld efforts thus far and results in an overall enjoyable 3-D fighter debut on the hardware.

The content bump immediately improves the value of the title as the U.S. version gets the benefit of extra characters, refined story segments and a significantly juiced frame rate, which creates a much more fluid and responsive product. Any gamer who has even touched the Clash of the Ninja home console series will be able to jump into this one-on-one fighter with immediate familiarity and even so, the simplistic basics of action will allow anyone who has played any fighter to start bashing skulls. The main hook of the action in Ninja Destiny revolves around its touch screen support, which allows players to buffer characters on the fly with more attack or defense or provide extra health or chakara energy required to execute jutsu techniques. While it may seem tacked on, the touch feature works well in the vein of the Japanese Jump series and does add extra dimensions to the fight by providing back-and-forth battles to ideally set it apart from any other Naruto offering.

Ninja Destiny surprisingly packs a total of 16 characters, putting players to task to unlock nine of them to boost the game's single-player replayability. While the story mode only features static scenes and text and is hardly in-depth, it does feature all of the key story points in the series up to episode 100 all Naruto fans should recognize. The arcade mode operates similar to the story mode but quickens up the pace by omitting story segments.

While the U.S. additions make the game more playable and valuable, the untouched core mechanics of the game serve as an appropriate entry point at best. As the origin of a franchise Ninja Destiny accomplishes a lot, but in the field of fighting games and other Naruto titles, the game play is hardly original and could be much more robust.

The frame rate boost (while there are still a few extremely minor instances of hiccups) makes Ninja Destiny a really attractive title, featuring fluid, cell-shaded characters that bring the characters to life. Sound effects and voicing (while absent from the story scenes) are placed straight into the action, absorbing gamers more into the Naruto universe. The game controls well thanks to a balance of the new frame rate and simple commands, resulting in fast-paced chains, super moves and item usage that won't frustrate even a rookie fighter.

Ultimately, however, the game is brought down a bit by its overall substance and play mechanics. Overall, the game plays identical to most anything Nartuo fans have experienced on the consoles, which, is a treat in portable form for fans, but would probably fail to pull in seasoned fighting game vets who don't follow the license. The simplistic schemes come as a double-edge sword as it is most beneficial to repeat a chain of attacks instead of experimenting and utilizing a character's full range of attacks. Furthermore, the game still heavily relies on the nefarious replacement jutsu, which computer opponents will use quite often, sometimes making the unlocks an experience of pain.

On the technical fighter side, the fights are a simple race to see who can use super moves first, however, thanks to the new item system, the power struggle can turn its tide easily, and, ultimately, the mantra of ridiculously powerful attacks understandably sticks true to any anime series. While the item system does add an extra dimension to the brawling, the items are oddly predetermined with no customization offered, which also diminishes the technicality of the game and sometimes leaves the edge of the fight to a luck of the draw.

While more than half the roster is unlockable, unless players really enjoy punishing AI fighters, there is little left to do in single-player mode when the dust has settled. Even simplistic modes such as team battles and survival could have bolstered the replayability a good amount. Even though the title does make a huge push to encourage multiplayer, the need for two copies of the game is a crutch for the feature. Even a single-card feature that restricted character usage would have thrust the mode an extra mile. The fact Ninja Destiny lacks Wi-Fi competition also damages the reach of the multiplayer feature.

Noting Naruto: Ninja Destiny has a good chunk of holes in its mechanics and features, however, doesn't mean the title is without its merits. The game runs great as the DS's first full-3-D fighter and fans of the series finally have a Nintendo portable title worthy of the license. Just as the console series grew through numerous installments, given some time, tweaks and additions, Ninja Destiny could prove to be a heavy-hitting franchise with no rival on the system. The frantically paced battles are great grounds for quick sessions of game time and no Naruto fan with a DS should pass up a chance to jump in on the action.

GemuBaka Score: 3 out of 5

Return to GemuBaka

Playstation 2 Review: Capcom Vs. SNK 2

Capcom vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 is a great 2D fighter with a great cast of characters, however, it still lacks some goodies that fans wanted.

By MixMasterLar

Being a gigantic fighting fan, I was happy to pick this title up as soon as I could. I had missed out on Capcom Vs SNK (1) and I wanted to get my hands on some 2D goodness ASAP. What I ended up with is my favorite fighting game but that doesn't by any means make it perfect.

Dream Match: Whose Dream?

Capcom vs SNK 2 brings the trademark fighters from Capcom's Street Fighter games and SNK's King of Fighters titles with additional fighters from other games from both companies as well (Rival Schools, Samurai Showdown, Art of Fighting and so on). There's about 40-odd fighters to pick but it's here that we see the first flaw in the game. The list of Characters is pretty limited and longtime favorites (mostly SNK favorites) were left out. I'm not going to make a full list, but it's only fair that I warn SNK fans that there isn't a single Ikari Warriors member in the game and only SNK fighters from '98 down are in. Capcom's list is way more complete (as it is conspicuously the developer of the game) but even then the only Alpha fighter is Sakura and the only Final Fight characters are Maki amd Rolento. What makes me mad is that Capcom can have Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Dan, Sakura, and Evil Ryu - all essentially carbon copies of each other sans speed/strength variations - but SNK cant have Blue Mary, Mature or Billy Kane. Another thing that upsets me is merging fighters together. Yun fights with some of Yang's moves and can call Yang in doing a Super Combo and Chang can call Choi to do a move whenever he pleases instead of breaking up the fighters.

One very noticeable mechanic Capcom did right was the Groove system. You know how Street Fighter III has the Parry system and Fatal Fury has Just Defend, while King of Fighters has Roll and Street Fighter Alpha has custom combos? Capcom gave us the option to choose which set of "Rules" we wanted to fight with. With this, we can have Nakoruru fight with the Stock Bar Vs Guile with the three-level Alpha super combo bar. And then, as if that wasn't enough, there is a option to make your own groove. This is huge for anyone who ever played more then one fighter in their life. There are six grooves standard and you can have up to two custom ones.

The modes of play are up to par but there isn't nothing really new. There is a Ratio Match, much like KoF2001, where you assign points to your fighters, a 3-on-3 Match, much like KoF94's, and a 1-on-1 Match, were you play a la Street Fighter II-style arcade. A Tag Match would be awesome, but the only other mode is Survival Mode.

Play by (Capcom's) Rules

SNK's 4-button layout was thrown right out the window and Capcom's 6 button layout dominates the game's main controls. This is a great thing, as it's easier to have Vice use medium attacks then Cammy to have hers ripped right out. SNK commands like Roll, Just Defend and Dodge still work with six buttons and will make you wish KoF would go six as well. The bad part is the time-old problem Capcom aways have with the PS controllers - fans will want a Joystick so that Heavy Punch/Kick will be easier to press. The gameplay plays out a lot like SFA/SF3's, but with the groove system everybody feels right at home. Good job, Capcom.

Looking ... the same?

The backgrounds are in 3D and while nothing that Disney couldn't top, look great. The characters' sprites, on the other hand are, sadly, a mix bag. The SNK fighters were all re-drawn and look perfect (everyone has the outfits they did in their games), but Capcom re-used most of the old sprites for theirs (I swear if I have to look at Morrigan's same old watered-out animations I will go crazy). Some Super Combos have been re-drawn as well, and others have been changed - a good example is that Rolento's "Take no Prisoners" Combo doesn't reach across the screen anymore. Overall, though, if you have played the old Capcom/SNK games you've seen most of the super combos before.

Note to Capcom: Get some new music

While SNK only has Terry's Theme as a trademark song in its history (not trying to down SNK's artist), Capcom on the other hand has so many tunes everyone knows I can't list them all. When you boot this game up, you expect to hear some catchy songs to learn, or at least start humming Ken's theme or something. Capcom dropped the ball big time here ... there are about three songs you'll want to hear outside the game (assuming that you even remember them). Fans of the older songs will miss Ryu's classic theme and I'm sure SNK fans will wish that Iori's theme was also present. Nothing here to get hyper about and the least said the better.

Attitude is Everything

The game is catering to old-school fans, and doesn't really explain the stories all the fighters have but if you already know them, you will be one very happy camper. Iori talks of killing Kyo, Ken makes mention of Eliza, Rolento is after the world, Rock is pissed at Geese and Mai tells you that Andy can beat you at will. What's better yet is Capcom's and SNK's fighters know each other: Kim tells Bison his famous "I can never forgive evil!" phrase, Rugal offers Guile fame and riches, Ken throws Terry his cap after Terry has thrown it in the last round screaming "OK" and Kyo tells Ryu to stick it. You really feel that this is Capcom vs SNK and not just some fan's MUGEN.

Overall if you love Street Fighter and King of Fighters then you really need to get this. The absence of complete variety in the fighters is the worst flaw but there's enough here for everyone to enjoy for years to come.

GemuBaka Score: 4 out of 5

Return to GemuBaka

GemuBaka Coming Soon

After some time off the online video game journalism market, it's high time the staff gets back in the habit of creating the same quality posts enjoyed in our previous efforts. This site will be updated in due time when I am not hard at work on Video Game Collector Magazine. Unlike our last production, GemuBaka is not about news, but rather the culture and everything enjoyable about video games. Video gaming is fun, so reading about them should be fun as well. You won't see any boring quarterly reports or PR quotes from publisher execs here, just pieces that will educate you about current games and classics of old and reviews that lend an opinion of whether or not you should bother with a game.

Expect our first full update within the week, but, until then, please feel free to visit the official GemuBaka forums and get acquainted with the members who will be helping us out. We hope to see your continued support!

-GemuBaka