Basurake

Well Johnny’s engaged the dragon god in a dialogue, now perhaps they can begin moving towards a peaceful resolution of their issues. See kids? Violence doesn’t ALWAYS solve problems!

Lot to talk about today! First off, with this chapter nearing its close, I’ve been thinking heartily about the next chapter. You’ll all be glad to know that I’m well into writing its fourth page! Isn’t that exciting!? In addition to writing the next episode, I’ve also been thinking of some neat bonus pages I could to to keep things spicy. I may begin posting end of episode summation pages, which sounds dumb on paper but in practice will be neat if I pull it off correctly. I can’t lie, I’m borrowing this idea from Kia Asamiya’s Steam Detectives, but flattery is the most sincere form of theft, right?

Okay, next up is some Castlevania goodness! The lost gem of the series, the Japan only PC-Engine title Dracula X: Chi no Rondo is out on the Wii’s Virtual Console! For anyone that didn’t feel like buying a PSP and slogging through Konami’s recent remake to get to the original version, this is great news! This game is considered to be among the best old school Castlevania games, and it really is just dripping with charm and detail. This one kinda slipped onto VC without much fanfare, possibly because the PSP release has made the original seem old hat, but the chance to play this previously unavailable game for nine dollars, on an actual TV screen is still exciting to me!

Next up Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom. Although I really enjoy the game, I have to say that I dislike the direction fighting games are taking. The emphasis on spamming cheap, unblockable super combos and the general necessity of absolutely lame tactics to play the game with any sort of proficiency is disheartening. He online component unfortunately only seems to serve as a window into how sad and pathetic the hardcore fighting game community has become. Shame. That said, the game is still a blast to play with friends when the focus is fun, not victory.

Well, that’s about it! With how much I talk about games here I might as well be running a different site altogether! Maybe next time we’ll discuss literature!

Okay, I’ve been pretty lazy lately, I guess the holidays kept me sorta busy. No worries though, I’m back! This chapter is finally gearing up to climax pretty soon, probably within the next 10 pages or so. I guess we’ll see. Seeya!

Oh yeah, Castlevania Rebirth came out. I like it alot. I think they should have called it Castlevania Wiibirth. Bye again!

I think I should be going. Anyway, sorry about the whole NOT UPDATING FOR LIKE A FREAKING MONTH thing. I’m a lazy jerk, what can I say? Anyway, my tick bite didn’t kill me, which is cool.

I got an assload of old games for my birthday, and the delightfully wonky fighting game Castlevania Judgment. I’m a pretty big Castlevania fan, and have been for some time, so admittedly the idea of taking one of my favorite action franchises and making it into a fighting game didn’t really sit well with me. Nor did the redesigned characters by Deathnote’s Takeshi Obata. Still, now that I’m playing it, I can’t say I’m not enjoying it. It actually is alot of fun, and is actually sorta deep, for what it is. It’s certainly no Virtua Fighter, but it’s still a good deal more complex than say Power Stone, which is probably the closest analogue for it in terms of gameplay. Imagine somewhere between Power Stone and Soul Calibur, and Castlevania Judgment is what you get. Nobody’s gonna be playing this game at the tournament level any time soon (or ever), but quite frankly I think that’s a good thing. If you have a Wii and you want a solid multiplayer game, you could definitely do worse. Or, if you simply like fighting games made by Eighting. Who DIDN’T like Bloody Roar 3?

On the topic of Castlevania, WHEN THE CRAP IS REBIRTH GONNA COME OUT!? The game came out over a month ago in Japan, and it has literally 4 sentences of dialogue. HOW CAN LOCALIZATION TAKE MORE THAN A WEEK!? Lame.

Well, his motivations are noble, even if his task is somewhat less than heroic. Go get’em, tiger!

With this page we will take a brief leave of Zan Onigiri and Johnny Matchead, and explore this new locale a bit more thoroughly. Next update on Saturday, like usual.

Has anyone ever played that old Ninja Turtles game for the NES? The not so good one? When I was a kid, I could never get through the second stage, with the underwater bomb defusing. Lately I’ve been giving it another go, and I’ve been steadily gaining ground in the game… all for nothing. Despite beating the 3rd, 4th and 5th levels, which I never even knew existed, it would seem that the 6th stage, inside the technodrome, is simply impossible. Even with 99 of the strongest weapon equipped to EVERY TURTLE, the enemies in the last stage are just too powerful. Very disheartening…

I’ve often thought of the action scenes in this game as being comparable to Castlevania. The turtles move very similarly to the pokey Belmonts of old, the level structures look a bit alike, and there are even subweapons to equip. Technically, with the overworld sections, exploration, and multiple characters, Ninja Turtles is even a slightly more deep, complex game than the earlier Castlevanias, even if these elements are poorly executed. In fact, without the Turtles branding, you could have fooled me into thinking this was a sequel to Simon’s Quest! Even more interesting is that this game is actually more difficult than any Castlevania game I’ve ever played, even going as far as to allow only two game overs. Insanity.

On the bright side, the music reminds me of MegaMan Battlenetwork, which is ALWAYS good.

Johnny’s got his assignment! Can he do it!? Who cares…

ANYWAY! From what I understand, Life Meter Volume 3 went on sale THIS WEEKEND at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, which infuriates me, because I was IN MARYLAND this weekend and DIDN’T GO. Missed opportunity I guess… Still, at some point the second run will go on sale at Life Meter’s website, so there is still some hope for me. Oh well.

So man, I am psyched about Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth. I know its just going to be a “best of Castlevania” mishmash, and not really a new game, but quite frankly I’ve been itchin’ for a classic Castlevania game for quite some time, as I’m a little tired of the Metroidvania structure. Also, its selling for 10 dollars, which is pretty much exactly the price at which I can’t complain about a game, even if it totally blows. Excellent strategy, Konami… here’s hoping that next up is The Goonies: Rebirth!

Whooo, that was kinda a long headline. Oh well. Senseless violence continues! WHAT FUN! Just like episode 2, I promise this is going somewhere. I just like to take my time…

ANYWAY, I beat Castlevania II today. Beat the first Castlevania last weekend. Anybody who wants to send me a copy of Castlevania III before next weekend is welcome to! HERE’S HOPING CASTLEVANIA REBIRTH FOR THE WII IS AWESOME!

Seeya.