The Ghost in the Shell movie came during that magical time in the mid-90s where anime hadn't really reached much of a saturation point in the US, and it could still wear that "awesome cartoons for adults!" label. Around that time, there was a PlayStation game released - which was actually more closed based off the manga - and followed up with PlayStation 2 and PSP titles down the line. This article covers all three, all focusing on super agent Motoko Kusanagi (and her less sexy buddy Batou, in some cases) as she fights crime in a cyberpunk future, along with the assorted spinoffs.
I'm sure most people nowadays only know the 3DO thanks to the Angry Video Game Nerd and his skewering of Plumbers Don't Wear Ties (which was well deserved) but there are still a handful of exclusives that are definitely worth checking out, especially Electronic Arts' unique first person shooter Immercenary. A more embarrassing remnant of the 90s is Survival Arts, one of the many terrible Mortal Kombat ripoffs, this one coming way by Sammy. And Midway's NBA Jam and NFL Blitz series are well known as two of the best sports arcade series out there, but there were actually precursors to both series, in the form of Arch Rivals and Pigskin 621 AD.
This month's >Game Club 199X podcast covers the offbeat NES action-adventure game Dr. Chaos, which we've also prepared an article for. It's a lot like The Goonies II, in that it's exploratory side-scroller with first person point-and-click sequences, though it's not remembered as fondly as Konami's faux-sequel, for reasons that both the podcast and the review make evident. Take note that the podcast is now available on iTunes and now has its own proper RSS feed if you'd like to keep up with it.
The >iOS Shooters article has been updated with reviews of Earth Defense Force (one of DotEmu's arcade ports), X3000, the Cotton-esque Blazing Arc: Magical Shooting Game, EnbornX, and the goofy Flying Hamster. Your Weekly-ish Kusoge is A Week of Garfield, a Famicom side-scroller starring the famed cartoon cat, unreleased in the US because it's a very bad game indeed. And the spotlight article is Data East's The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy, a tragicallyoverlooked action-packed arcade game that borrows heavily from Indiana Jones, and is sort of a proto-Uncharted, with all of its crazy sprite scaling setpieces, though done entirely with sprites. It's unported, sadly, so give it a go in MAME as soon as possible.
"If you want to see super sexy NSFW renditions of the future, keeping in theme with his earlier Ghost in the Shell, try Bing searching (with safety off) for Galhound. "
ReplyDeleteHahahaha, no. This is a terrible idea. There is nothing sexy about the shit Masamune does nowadays. If creepy pseudorape porn (now featuring bestiality!) gets you off, there's something wrong with you.
Don't be such a prude, dude.
DeleteI'm quite sure the Galhound stuff is mostly just futuristic super-shiny policewomen in compromising semi-consensual poses. Shirow's modern stuff is kinda like what Gwenmedia would put out if they did manga. We're in the modern era, dude - there's no need to judge others because of your own inhibitions.
ReplyDeleteNice coverage on the GitS games :) Good thing someone had use of those photos.
ReplyDeleteMan, what I wouldn't give for a proper, old school OVA done in the style of the game's cutscenes. Personally, I also feel that Shirow should return to his old style instead of his current, oiled up photoshop obsession but that's a discussion for another time and place.
Aha! The creator of Flying Full Force. Thanks again for the pictures - as you can imagine, something like that isn't easy to find. Really good blog you have, too. Great content, and lots of nice visuals.
ReplyDeleteI would like to suggest a correction: at your article about the game "Immercenary", you say the opponents known as Venuses were "named after the Greek Goddess of Love". However, Venus is the _Roman_ Love Goddess (her Greek version should be Aphrodite).
ReplyDeleteExcept for that, it's a very nice piece of text, about a game I didn't even know it existed. Keep up with the good work.
And, please, forgive any English mistake I probably commited. I am Brazilian, and have yet to improve my writing!