Game Art #1: Sonic Showcase

MEGA DRIVE by Carlos Plays

Love the nostalgia this image invokes. The black and white is an especially nice touch. Reminds me of all those B&W Genesis instruction manuals.

Unknown Artist

I really don't have a beef with Sonic's newer design (really, can we call it "new" if it's been around for over 10 years?), but I love about Sonic's classic art-style. I think this drawing captures the classic Sonic with absolute perfection.

Green Hill Zone by UpaUpa

Go ahead and try to tell me there's a more memorable zone in all of Sonic history than this one. Man, the colors on this are out of this world awesome.

Sonic 19 by Default-Deviant

This was actually done last year for Sonic's 19th anniversary. It's my current wallpaper.

Sonic and the Black Knight by zak29

Despite the title, this scene actually comes from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This piece recreates first of many times Knuckles throws a switch to send Sonic and Tails elsewhere. Yeah, Knuckles was a real jerk back in the day.

sonic and tails by chicaramirez

Ah, Tails, Sonic's trusty sidekick. Along with taking your air bubbles and screwing up your chances at getting a Chaos Emerald in Sonic 2, he was the ultimate meat shield.

SONIC BOOM by gts

Sonic CD's FMV intro rocks. This picture rocks. That is all.

Sonic in Lava Reef Zone by nicochi

Lava Reef is one of my favorite Zones in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, though I do like Act 1 more, the crystal designs of Act 2 is still pretty sweet. nichoci has a new deviant art account you can view here.

Sonic the Hedgehog by nicochi

This style reminds me of the Saturday AM version of Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the best animated versions of Sonic, if not the best.

Sonic vs Metal Sonic by StudioZEL

Remember the race against Metal Sonic in Sonic CD? Man, was that annoying but I admit it was still one of the coolest parts to an already awesome game.

SNES Once Again

I wanted to give my nieces a few more options when it comes to games they can play. So after moving and digging through tons of boxes to find the console and all my games, I hooked up the SNES. Though as much as I connected it for them to play, I've done my fair share of gaming on it as well.

It's been nearly a year since the system was hooked up. I completely forgot that I didn't leave a cartridge in the slot, so the system was probably dirtier than it's ever been. This is also the very same SNES unit I got from my parents on the Christmas of 1991. She even sports that top half fade that most early SNES consoles do.

For the most part, the old girl still works pretty well. Yeah, I have to blow in some of the games since all of them haven't been cleaned in a very long time. I also have to make sure no one even touches the cartridges while they are being played on the system because this immediately makes the game stop working, something I never had issues with before. I suppose this could just be due to the my SNES being so old.

I have considered getting another SNES model, perhaps the SNES Model 2, or maybe even the FC Twin, which plays NES games as well as SNES games. I have legally emulated all of the SNES games I own, but it really is more enjoyable playing my SNES games on a TV screen as opposed to close up on  a PC monitor. There's also the fact that many SNES games have yet to make their way to the Wii's Virtual Console, something I really wish Nintendo would rectify.

Really, though, it's awesome to play games on my SNES again. The system is easily one of my all-time favorite video game systems, if not my all-time favorite. I've amassed a library of over 70 games for it, with a few more I'd still love to pick up. Many of the games still hold up and the sound capabilities still impress me to this day. After I nap, I think I'll fire the old girl up for more Yoshi's Island and Street Fighter II Turbo.

Lakitu and Me

Art by MathieuBeaulieu at deviantart.com

Ask any gamer what the most annoying brand of enemy is. 10/10 of them will tell you it's the flying type. It doesn't help that flying enemy types show up in many genres. Adventure games, platformers, action; you can't escape them. Their sole purpose is to be the biggest annoyance you'll ever encounter so long as you're playing video games. I cannot stand Medusa Heads in Castlevania games and I detest birds in the NES Ninja Gaiden titles, but the single greatest airborne enemy I hate with a passion would have to be Lakitu of the Super Mario Bros. series.

Like most kids in the 1980s, I was playing Super Mario Bros. I had just made it to world 4-1 for the first time and was giddy with delight. That joy was short-lived when I saw Lakitu. Now up to this point, I was not used to seeing an enemy that can stay in the air. Lakitu, however, didn't just hover above me, taunting with his airborne superiority. He dropped these wonderful little pests called Spiny's and this is what makes me want to choke Lakitu each and every time I see him. Lakitu is a mook that drops MORE mooks. I found out the hard way that Spiny's couldn't be stomped on (though it should have been obvious with the spikes on their backs and all.) So I'm thinking "I'll just scroll him off screen. No problem." Imagine my surprise when Lakitu begins stalking me through the entire stage. He made me nervous throughout the whole level. I had to exercise caution with my jumps, lest I suffer the wrath of a hatched or even an unhatched Spiny. Thankfully, a pipe in 4-1 allows you to skip a good chunk of the topside level and to this day, I still take it just to get away from him.

Lakitu has been a thorn in gamer's sides since 1985.

For a while, I had no idea that Lakitu was killable. Unless you had a Fire Flower, you were pretty much defenseless against the onslaught of Spiny enemies he threw at you and even if you did take out the ones he tossed on the ground, he could always make more. One Sunday afternoon, I'd decided that enough was enough. I jumped onto those first four blocks in 4-1, waited for him to get in range and BAM! STOMPED! HE! WAS! OUTTA THERE!! When I saw Lakitu fall off the screen in defeat, it was like I'd won a long and brutal war. I was so happy. Sadly, Lakitu did not stay dead. Twelve seconds later he was back, but it was nice to know I could take him out, provided I could reach him.

Thankfully Lakitu did not show up in Super Mario Bros. 2 (as well as most of the enemy cast from the first game for what are now obvious reasons) but he was back with a vengeance in Super Mario Bros. 3. He was much quicker than before and he'd only stay dead for about 6 seconds and he was back to irk you again. He was also in many more levels, which only made me hate him even more. At least in Super Mario world, I could have Yoshi eat him, jack his cloud and then go joyriding in it. That was always fun.

Lousy camera angles in Super Mario 64? Blame Lakitu!

In 1992, Super Mario Kart hit the SNES and Lakitu showed up as flagman. Given my previous encounters with him, I was mighty suspect of his actions here. For all I knew, he was gonna drop a Spiny right in front of me just before the finish line and cost me a race. Strangely, Lakitu did not do that, nor did he ever try to harm me or any of the other racers. He informed you if you were going the wrong way, what lap you were on and even fished you out if you fell off the track... for a price. If you have some coins, kiss them goodbye. I always hated how he took my coins from me if I fell off course. I'd even try to jump to get them back with the Feather, but to no avail. Yeah, if you have no coins, Lakitu still places you back on course, but I just know he's doing it reluctantly.

If Lakitu pops out of the Assist Trophy in Brawl and I did not pick it up, I am NOT happy.

When Peach goes missing in Super Mario 64, Lakitu shows up as a cameraman. So he's helping you out. That sounds good, right? Think about all those times you got stuck with a less than desirable camera angle. Lakitu was just being a punk for all those times you stepped on him in the past.

I could go on, but I believe I've made my point. Lakitu is one of the most troublesome foes I've ever encountered in all my years of gaming. I make sure to kill him several times in a single level in Super Mario Galaxy 2 just because his death cries sustain me. And because I hate him. I can only count the days until Lakitu shows up to "help" or hinder me in another Mario title.

Game Art #0: Plumber's Dilemma

Art by Michael Mayne.

"This is why only fools are heroes -- because you never know when some lunatic will come along with a sadistic choice." - The Green Goblin, Spider-Man (2002 film)

While browsing Gaming Art, I came across this humorous piece that was just too cool not to repost. It also reminded me of the above quote.

So who do I think Mario should save? Well, Peach is beautiful but I've always felt Pauline was smoking hot! That and Pauline has only been kidnapped a handful of times since she's been around. Peach? She's been abducted WAY too many times. Also, Donkey Kong's traps tend to be a bit easier to get over than Bowser's. But if it comes down to material needs, Mario really should choose Peach. I mean, she's a princess. Princess = kingdom. And Pauline? Well, I'm sure she has a nice house or something.

Review: Mega Man 9 WiiWare

System: WiiWare (Also on PSN, Xbox Live)
Genre: Action/Platformer
Developer: Inti Creates
Publisher: Capcom
Original Release: 2008
Cost: 1000 Wii points

SCORE: 8.5/10

For years Mega Man fans thought that Capcom was finished making classic Mega Man games. It was thought that players would have to just be content playing the titles of the past to get their fix of the blue bomber. So when Capcom made the announcement that Mega Man 9 was in development in the summer of 2008, to say that fans were excited would be an understatement. Not only was Mega Man 9 a revival of the traditional franchise, it also, quite literally, took the series back to it's NES-style roots. Mega Man 9 is without question, one of the most polished games in the series.

Its a typical day for the citizens living in the year 20XX. Typical that is until robots start rioting all over the world. Turns out these aren't just any robots that are causing a ruckus. These robots were constructed by the world's number one robot expert, Dr. Light. Even the good doctor is shocked to see his creations are causing such devastation. There's even video footage of Dr. Light trying to coax Dr. Wily into joining him in his quest for World domination, but he refuses. Now why would Dr. Light, a man who has spent the last dozen games doing good, try to take over the world? Something is screwy (cough cough Wily cough) and it's up to Mega Man to clear his mentor's name.

This reminds me of that really annoying platform segment at the start of Guts Man's stage in the original Mega Man. Except this one here is much harder. Off five robot masters, get Rush Jet and then tackle Tornado's Man's stage if you don't have much faith in your platforming skills.

Mega Man 9 is just like any other game in the beloved classic franchise. The first eight stages can be selected in any order you like. Once you make it to the stage boss and defeat him/her (yes, there's a woman this time around), you'll be able to wield their weapon. Still following the rock-paper-sicciors gameplay, each robot master is weak to another's power and finding out who's weapon defeats who is the key to eliminating your foes quickly. Of course if you prefer a challenge, the game by no means forces you to face the robot masters or the final stage bosses using the weakness. That's the beauty of Mega Man games; no two people will play them the same way.

Behold, one of the most broken Mega Man weapons of all-time.

You can expect the same tight controls the series is known for. Mega Man moves and jumps with ease, but don't expect him to slide and charge his Mega Buster. In an attempt to simplify things, Mega Man functions exactly the way he did in the first two Mega Man games. This forces you to become even more adept at evading enemy attacks in a game that can already be quite challenging at first.

Splash Woman, the series first female robot master is also the only one in the game that takes the most damage with just the Mega Buster. Hmmm...

If this is your first Mega Man game, be warned. The series is known for it's difficulty. Novice players are likely to die a lot and even veterans may take a beating until they get the hang of how certain sections work. Mega Man 9 can be difficulty but by no means is it impossible.

The arsenal Mega Man acquires in Mega Man 9 is extremely useful. 

The shop makes a return and unlike Mega Man 8, screws are not scarce. Screws can be used to purchase items such as extra lives, E-Tanks, the ever-useful spike guard, and the energy balancer.

The game does offer a few odd balls among the bunch of robot masters (Plug Man, Jewel Man), but even taking them into account, you've got a bunch that really is hard to dislike. Even better the the weapons you get from them after they fall. Splash Woman's Lazer Trident is almost the equvilant of the Metal Blade. It can be used in rapid succession and it hardly uses any energy. Hornet Man's Hornet Chaser homes in on enemies and picks up screws and other power ups for you. Jewel Man's Jewel Sattelite is the best shield weapon. Ever. It can deflect bullets from Mettols and Machine Gun Joes and it will only go away if you leave the screen, or it hits a super strong opponent. Mega Man 9 has one of the best arsenals of weapons of any Mega Man game.

One would think that Capcom would take the game in a new visual direction. Instead, it looks exactly like the first six NES games. It may look like an NES title, but it seems to brim with more detail (in the game's intro especially) and there's not an ounce of slow down, though flicker can be turned on if you desire to further emulate this being an NES game. What's more, even the game's musical score sounds like it could have been done on the NES, though this along with the graphics, really aren't a negative. One of the many reasons Mega Man games have been so popular is thanks in large part to the music and Mega Man 9 does not disappoint. The music is catchy, energetic, and very andrenalyn driven. If there's one fault with the audio, it comes from some reused music. Six jingles were lifted straight out of Mega Man 2. As great as Mega Man 2's music is, some new jingle themes would have been nice. That said, you'll be humming Mega Man 9's original tracks for days.

Mega Man 9 does offer something no other Mega Man game has before: downloadable content. Proto Man becomes playable after you fork over 200 points and he can slide and charge his shots. However, those nifty abilities can be seen as both a blessing and a curse. Proto Man not only takes double damage when hit, but he gets knocked back even further as well. To add insult to injury Proto Man can't even access the shop nor does he have any story. It sort of feels like he was a tacked on extra. The Endless Attack mode is more worthy of you spare points. You get one life to last as long as you can in a randomized endless stage, complete with the robot master battles from time to time. There's also the rather challenging special stage that pits you against Fake Man, one of the robot cops that arrests Dr. Light. There's also Time Attack mode for those of you feeling speedy and looking to compete with other players across the globe, or if you wish to compete with yourself and best your own times. You've also got a sizable list of achivements if you're looking for bragging rights. These range from simple tasks like finishing the game, to more gruling stunts like completing the game without taking any damage. Along with the Time Attack and Endless Attack modes, Mega Man 9 has some good replay value to what was already an outstanding game.

Proto Man is playable but only pick him up if you want more of a challenge.

It was a long time coming and many thought they'd never see it, but Mega Man 9 was worth waiting for. The old-school visuals should please long-time fans along with the retro-style music. Mega Man fans should get this bargain game without hesitation. If you're playing a Mega Man game for the first time, this certainly isn't a bad place to start, just be prepared for a rough start. You really can't go wrong with this one.

Motion Sickness: A Reoccurring Battle

Do you remember thee dawn of thee 3D era of gaming? I sure do. Polygonal graphics were the best thing since the invention of the digital pad, analog controls were becoming an industry standard and CD-based games were replacing cartridges. Yes, 3D gaming was a very exciting time. I thought I was ready for everything it would throw at me. Regrettably my entrance 3D gaming also brought with it something that I've battled off and on since mid 1990s: motion sickness.

For me, being sick is one of the worst feelings in the world and I nearly equate motion sickness to having the flu. There are numerous things that can cause motion sickness and sadly, gaming is one of them. Certain 3D games in particular do it for me.

My first bout with motion sickness was the summer of 1996. During this time my father and I were still renting the original PlayStation and one game that intrigued both of us was the port of the PC hit Descent. As fun as that game was to play, it had the nasty side affect of making me nauseous. All the turning with the game's 3D movement was just a little too much for me to take and after a while, I desperately need to lie down. If I'm not mistaken, I think Descent was my very first FPS style game so I probably wasn't used to that sort of view. Descent gave me motion sickness a couple of times but I eventually got over it to the point where I was able to play for extended periods.

Descent has the (dis) honor of being the first game to give me motion sickness.

I thought I was done withe gaming-induced motion sickness but I was wrong. In the summer of 1998, I rented GoleneEye, a game I'm sure all of you are no stranger to. Due to all the high accolades the game had received, I had to see what all the hype was about. The game was everything critics said it was and more and I was having the time of my life. By the time I reached the fourth stage, my old adversary, motion sickness, had shown up to cause trouble again. I was so afraid of getting sick again theat I didn't play the game on the last day I had it before it had to be returned. Still, I didn't let that fear stop me from buying GoleneEye for my 18th birtheday a year later and motion sickness never showed up once whether I was playing solo or good old split screen multi-player.

I sent my motion sickness packing during my second experience with GolenEye.

Each time I conquer motion sickness, it always comes back to taunt me. I summarize that unless I play FPS games fairly often to get used to the view, I'll catch the sickness again. Sounds good in theeory and it is. But motion sickness is not limited to FPS games. You can only imagine my surprise when Kingdom Hearts, a game with a third person view, actually made me ill. What's worse, I've gotten motion sickness twice from playing Katamari Damacy, the first time when I first got it when the game released and recently a few weeks ago when I was playing it again. I was doing so well playing it last year around Christmas time. But I let too much time pass before I played it again so that's probably why I couldn't take all the moving about.

I cannot believe I got motion sickness from Katamari Damacy. Seriously.

Motion sickness is a nasty inconvenience that can at times even prevent me from simply watching someone else play a game. I could only stand to watch my brother-in-law, Charles play Mirror's Edge for just a few minutes. The camera jerked around so badly, like a drunk frat boy that never held a camera before. Usually it takes a little longer for motion sickness to settle in but with Mirror's Edge, it was almost instantaneous. I quickly stepped away and was able to shake it off after some time but I don't think I'll be playing Mirror's Edge. Ever.

Just looking at Mirror's Edge makes me ill.

Of course I still plan on getting back into FPS games and Katamari Damacy. As I said before, I think I just have to get used to the moving and what not. Play for a bit, if I feel lightheaded, stop, lay down if necessary and resume. I've done some reading on video game motion sickness and found that sitting fartheer away from the TV can help. Playing with the lights on is also good. You can also take ginger pills and use some special wrist straps, but I'm not sure I wanna go to those lengths. Much as I loathe battling motion sickness, I've beaten it before, so I'll do it again.

20 Years of Street Fighter II

Photo by ARMYCOM at deviantart.com

In August of 1987, Street Fighter was released in arcades. It introduced the gaming world to Ryu and Ken, the game's only two playable characters. Unfortunately getting acquainted with one of the most iconic duos in gaming (and maybe scrapping with Sagat) is about all the original Street Fighter was good for. The game was plagued with unresponsive controls, making executing special moves a chore.

Japanese flyer for Street Fighter II.

The Japanese arcade flyer for Champion Edition. Hello, nightmare fuel-inducing M. Bison.

It's not at all hard to see why most people forget that at one point there never was a number at the end of the words "Street Fighter". Be that as it may, if the first Street Fighter was never produced, the plethora of updated sequels and spin-off series never would have came to be. Capcom easily could have closed the doors on the fighting genre forever. Thankfully, the company decided to give fighting games another go and rather than create a whole new franchise, they simply dropped another quarter into Street Fighter's life arcade cabnet before the timer reached zero.

In March of 1991, a tidal wave hit the gaming world via arcades. That tidal wave was called Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. Ken and Ryu returned along with six more playable characters and four bosses. Each of the game's fighters (save for Ryu and Ken who were clones of each other) had a unique feel to them along with their own fighting style. E. Honda fought in the sumo style, Guile used his combat skills obtained from his years of service in the military, and Blanka came at opponents with his beastly method of fighting. The game's subtitle, "The World Warrior" carried a lot of meaning. Zangief hailed from Russia, Dhalism from India, Chun-Li from China, and so on. You never fought in just one place, but were taken all over the world.

M. Bison was practically the blueprint for SNK Bosses.

The impact that Street Fighter II made was HUGE. College students were skipping classes, elementary school kids were sucking even more than usual in math, and dates were postponed or dropped all together because people were too busy mastering the fine art of throwing Hadoukens. It was not uncommon to see crowds of players waiting to throw down. You were lucky if you able to get a turn on a SFII arcade machine because the lines were so long. SFII wasn't just a game, it was a way of life, one that everyone was a part of.

The American SNES box art.

My exposure to Street Fighter II mania didn't come until 1992 when Capcom released a port of the game on the SNES. I didn't own the game, nor did I even know it or the craze existed. My friends Justin & Matthew Moses had already gotten me into the Mega Man and Contra series by letting me borrow their games. When they let me borrow their copy of Street Fighter II, I was introduced to my very first fighting game and a whole new addiction was born.

The SNES version of Street Fighter II looked and played extremely well.

The SNES version of Street Fighter II may not have been arcade perfect but it was still an amazingly awesome home version. All the fighters were present, along with their memorable stage backgrounds, the controls were tight, and the fighting itself was very engaging. I didn't even know about combos, priority, charging and all the other technical stuff any fighting game purist can tell you about, and really, back then, it didn't matter. What mattered most was that I was having a blast playing Street Fighter II. I'd never seen or played anything like it.

Japanese flyer for Super Street Fighter II.

The attract demo for Super Street Fighter II is still one of the most impressive openings to any game. 

My father and sister were just as engrossed with the game as I was. We'd take turns passing the controller as we made our way across the world in arcade mode. We'd hit a bump in the road on some fighters, but the biggest hurdle was the game's four bosses, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison. Up until this point, I'd never faced such strong opposition in a game. Balrog was very fond of his Dash Punch, Vega loved to climb that fence, Sagat's "Tiger!" and "Tiger Uppercut!" never stopped haunting me, and if I could see Bison's Pyscho Crusher coming, I already knew I was dead. Persistence and skill payed off and we were eventually able to put them all down, but every time we played the game, they'd crush us at first. Ah, good times.

Japanese flyer for Super Street Fighter II Turbo. 

Street Fighter II was a huge success for Capcom but they obviously saw room for improvement. Since the first installment, SFII has seen six, count 'em, six updates! Each new sub game added something new. The first update in 1992 was Street Fighter II': Champion Edition. The biggest change in Champion Edition was that all four bosses fighters were now playable, which was unfathomable levels of awesome. The next update came just seven months later in the form of Street Fighter II': Hyper Fighting. This update greatly increased the game's fighting speed and much like charging and half circle moves, went on to become a mainstay in Capcom fighters. May fans consider Hyper Fighting to be the best SF game. 1993 brought us Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. Super included four new playable characters, bumping the total number of fighters up to 16. In 1994, the final update (until 2003, that is) was Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Super Turbo gave us among other things, super combos, air combos and the inclusion of hidden character Akuma. To commemorate the 15th anniversary of Street Fighter, Capcom released Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition in Japanese arcades in 2003. This super special version of SFII let players select all playable versions of the SFII fighters from World Warrior all the way to Super Turbo, which allowed to tons of different match ups. Like every other SF game, this one thankfully received a home port in 2004 on the PS2 and Xbox under the name Street Fighter Anniversary Collection and came compiled with Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Then in 2008, Capcom released Super Street Fighter II Turob HD Remix. (What a moutfull!) HD Remix has the original Super Turbo game along with a remix mode containing high resolution graphics and rebalanced gameplay.

The fighting game scene largely wouldn't even be what it is today without Street Fighter II. I may not have been able to experince it in the arcades in 1991, but I'm glad I did get in on the phenomenon a year later and I've loved the Street Fighter series ever since. Similar to how Super Mario Bros. got me hooked on platform games, Street Fighter II made me appreciate fighters. I'm not the world's best player, in fact I'd say I'm more of a casual fan, but I still love to do some rounds of virtual fisticuffs. Here's to another 20 years of Hadouken's, Spinning Bird Kicks and Tiger Uppercuts.