Frenzy Score

Playing some Colecovision Frenzy. 22702. Setting #1.

Streets of Rage

I'm trying to go play Streets of Rage and Streets of Rage 2 on my Wii. Both are awesome games, especially for fans of the genre. I found this Streets of Rage Online fansite, and for the last hour I've just been looking through their info. They have all the info. 

Also searching around I found some cool fanart. Tons of dedicated Streets of Rage players, and with good reason. Streets of Rage is one of the best Beat 'Em ups of all time and it was released very, very early in the Genesis's life, in 1991. It would beat out Final Fight to the arcade, although it seems likely that somehow one dev team spied early versions of the others's sprites. I don't know for sure who ripped off whom, but both games defined a genre more than Double Dragon and River City Ransom ever did.

Not that the Technos games are bad, and both Final Fight and Streets of Rage rip plenty of things from both games, while introducing the idea of multiple characters instead of RPG stats (later games like The Bouncer would hybridize the two formats, having multiple characters and allowing the player to level them all up).

The Bouncer also included the traditional 1v1 mode that some many games have. I picked up The Combatribes for a few bucks a month ago and it's versus mode is just awful. All the 1v1 modes were total shit.

Back on topic: Streets of Rage kicks ass and the music kicks ass. 

Below: fan art.

Where is Mega Man 11?

2008 saw the release of Mega Man 9, possibly the greatest installment in the entire classic Mega Man saga. Shortly after, Capcom followed up with Mega Man 10, which smoothed the formula even more.

Endless Attack modes in each provided an awesome new mode of platforming that has significant potential. You can already find about a dozen "endless attack" romhacks online. Proto Man and Bass provided the variety and challenge necessary for keeping the interest of the hardcore players. I still rank beating Mega Man 9 and 10 on hard with Protoman as some of my greatest gaming achievements.

Years later, however, I'm left wondering: where is Mega Man 11? Maybe the Wii is just coming to a close, or maybe Capcom is hesitant to continue the classic series without Inafune. Maybe that's it for Mega Man.

I recently purchased Mega Man X7 on a whim, but I've never really considered the MMX series all that great when compared with the classic NES and Wii 8-Bit adventures. 

I'm sure Starship Mega Man 55 or whatever else Capcom is putting out is equally good, but I just can't get motivated to play the other games in the series. The platforming always felt sloppy and the game always felt like it was marketed to younger kids or people seriously into techno and mohawks. Only with classic Mega Man does one need to be badass mother fucker to achieve victory, without the artificial dark and gritty "edge."

The edge comes from the game itself, and if you don't have serious nuts you might as well go cry at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Song of the Week: Lufia & the Fortress of Doom Town Theme

Lufia has the perfect town theme: happy and fun. That's why it's this week's "Song of the Week." We continue hope for the VC release of this most epic of RPGs.

Retro City Rampage Still Forthcoming

The long-awaited 8-Bit GTA parody is "almost at the finish line" according to its development blog. I can't wait to get my classic controller on this game. I've actually been watching development since the project was titled "GrandTheftendo" and was a Famicom homebrew project. Thankfully the developer scrapped that idea in favor of the possibilities available in a modern format.

If you wanna see some screenshots, click here.

You can also read the post I made right after E3 about Retro City Rampage.

Hopefully Nintendo won't drag asses with this project, but knowing them, they will. You'll be able to download the game on either the 360 or Wii, and its nice to see cross-platform publishing that includes the Wii.

Mr. Driller W Review

If you haven't played Mr. Driller you really owe it to yourself to give the series a try. This wiiware edition functions as an acceptable point of entry into the series while simultaneously satisfying fans.

Basically you dig down destroying blocks in an attempt to reach the bottom of the stage. If a block crushes you, you die. If you run out of air (time) you die. Along the way you pick up air capsules. Blocks also disappear if 4 or more of the same color fall or touch each each other while at least one is falling... the combos are hard to explain but you'll get the idea almost immediately.

Mr. Driller W has several levels, each with 3 difficulty settings. Each difficulty is like an entirely new level because the playing fields are radically wider on expert, and very narrow on easy. The expert levels are truly huge, bigger than anything else in the Mr. Driller series.

There are 7 characters to play as, each with their own voice and special abilities. Some characters are faster, but consume air quicker. Some can jump up 2 blocks instead of 1, and one can be hit twice before dying. The characters add even more variety to an already great game.

What IS missing, however, is other modes. You only have the stages to play through, though each stage does feel very different from the others. One stages has a lot of disappearing blocks, another has a lot of "white" blocks which wont attach or combo (these can be extremely dangerous).

The highlight of the game are probably the 2 endless levels (technically 6 when you count difficulties) which allow you to drill to your heart's content. One of these stages is easier than the other, and that's one of the best features in the game: the learning curve has been greatly reduced providing new players with easier access to the series. New players can play the easiest stage on the easiest difficulty with the easiest character (the robot) and learn the mechanics before moving on to something more challenging.

However, if you are a hardcore fan don't be deterred, because the expert difficulty is by far harder than the previous games.

Other features include: local leader board, 5 save files, unlockable stages and an unlockable character who plays quite differently than the others (I won't spoil it in this review). The game doesn't track stats like Mr. Driller 2 for the GBA, but it does track time.

Finally, all 4 control schemes are supported (wiimote, classic controller, GCN controller, and wiimote+nunchuck) which is an important feature lacking on many games.

For 8 dollars it's the best bargain in the series, I highly recommend it to everyone. Anyone else enjoy the series? Which version do you prefer?

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Screenshot Gallery

Here is a collection of some of the more artistic Skyward Sword screenshots from around the web. Special thanks and credit goes to www.videogamer.com for these screenshots. You can click on this link to see their gallery as well.

These represent the best screenshots, in an easy-to-navigate format.

It's about time the Wii got it's Zelda update. I have to admit, after looking at the screenshots I have some high hopes for the game. The Wii party might be coming to an end, and it won't be long before all the Wii releases will be fair game for sites like 8-Bit City.

The systems, they come and go so quickly.