I still can't get over the announcement of a new Punch-Out!! for Wii. It seemed like an obvious choice, sure, but Nintendo has avoided cashing in on plenty of obvious choices. To celebrate, I could have written a post about Super Punch-Out!!, but that's no fun at all. Well, actually, it's a lot of fun, but as a game. Instead, I have decided to reach a bit deeper into the tiny Punch-Out!! catalog and talk about ... the one that isn't about boxing.
In 1985, the Nintendo IRD team created a second arcade game for the bizarre stacked-monitor cabinet that housed Punch-Out!! Like that game, it featured a small, nearly featureless competitor facing off against giant, grimacing dudes who happen to be broad stereotypes. But instead of punching the guys out, you ... wrestle ... their arms ... down. I'd be terrible at writing PR copy. And instead of a kid in a black tank top, you're a dope in a blue shirt with a black sweater-vest on. The effect is that of a rejected 1940's superhero sidekick.
Ultimate Shooting Collection will release in the U.S. later this month, but it might not be the last shmup port we see from Milestone. Sega's Illvelo / Illmatic Envelope is based on the NAOMI arcade system board (the Dreamcast was rife with NAOMI ports), and appeared earlier this year in Japanese arcades. Now, according to a Play-Asia listing, the Wii will be getting its own port on November 13th in Japan.
As you can see above, it looks pretty wacky, with cel-shaded levels populated by everything from giant cutlery to confectionery, a tongue-in-cheek approach that reminds us of Star Parodier. Presuming it does exist, will Illvelo Wii get localized? UFO Interactive helpfully picked up Ultimate Shooting Collection for the States, but that contained a wallet-pleasing three shmups -- as Illvelo will only feature one, a North American release looks less likely.
Remember that rumor we posted regarding Tatsunoko vs Capcom? Well, Capcom is saying that the title might not be destined for the United States (does this imply all of North America?). In fact, the possibility of the arcade game coming over here is situated somewhere between slim and none.
Of course, this doesn't answer questions regarding the Wii port of the title. If the game does get ported to Wii, and released in Japan, homebrew aficionados will have little problem enjoying it on their console. For the rest of us that want a localized version, however, we should probably stop holding our breath.
Musicians have Vienna. Catholics have the Vatican. And gamers have Japan. While many significant contributions to the world of gaming have come from outside the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan is the unassailable fountainhead of modern video gaming. It's the birth and workplace of gaming giants such as Hideo Kojima, Shinji Mikami, Yuji Naka, and probably others. To say that Japan is a place that hardcore gamers need to check out is an understatement at best.
Recently, I took a week to visit my brother who teaches English at a Japanese university near Nagoya. Hundreds of thousands of words could be used to describe the wonderful food, the beautiful temples, and the unique culture of the country. But being a life-long gamer, I paid special attention to the distinct connection between the country and the gaming scene we all know and love. For the Top 5, I usually come up with a topic, then list the top five items for that topic in order. For this edition, it was truly difficult to narrow it down to only five. With that in mind, here's my best attempt at listing the Top 5 gaming elements of my time in Japan.
The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, check out What Are You Playing?, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Dream Arcades sells complete PC arcade cabinet kits meant for use with MAME and official arcade compilations; they also sell kits without PCs so you can use your own -- or the console of your choice. The company has announced that all of their kits, which start at $589 and top out at a heavy-in-quarters $4000 (for a system that includes a projector) will now include support for every current console, including, of course, the Wii -- via console-specific adapters sold separately.
You're totally welcome to stand in front of an arcade cabinet (or sit down at one of the cocktail units) and waggle -- in fact, now that we think about it, both arcade cabinets and Wii motion controls lend themselves to standing. But the real attraction here is the ability to play Virtual Console games on a real arcade cabinet, with real arcade controls.
Well, sort of real arcade controls. Instead of the high-quality Sanwa or Seimitsu buttons and joysticks that arcade stick nerds prefer, Dream Arcades uses cheaper knockoffs of Happ parts, which are already considered inferior. Most people won't care, but if you're dropping $1200+ on one of these, you might want to look into some replacement parts.
This year, is the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders' original Japanese release, and Taito has marked it with the release of Space Invaders Extreme on the DS and PSP, a significant upgrade to the original game with new powerups, music, and a beautiful new techno-rave sheen.
It's not the first time Taito has departed from the base Invaders formula. In 1995 (the less auspicious 17th anniversary of Space Invaders), Taito put out an arcade sequel to the primordial shmup that is every bit as visually divergent as Extreme, but in a totally different direction. Whereas the new handheld game goes for (and achieves) cool, Space Invaders '95 (known in Japan as Akkanvader) went in the wacky direction.
There are only two ways to think of Target Terror: bad, or awesomely bad. The game is so ridiculous that it's in the same vein as the cheesiest of low-budget movies. It may surprise you, then, that the inspiration for Target Terror came from something as serious as the events of 9/11. Eugene Jarvis, the head of Raw Thrills, recently told MTV Multiplayer, "I think video games spend too much time in fantasy realms of little relevance to life today. The 9/11 story is so rich in action, destruction, death, heroism, megalomania, patriotism and paranoia that it begs for a video game to be made. What red-blooded American would not want to turn back time and heroically change history?"
You may be even more surprised, however, to learn that there's a sequel on the way. Jarvis promises a more fleshed out storyline, oddly enough (that doesn't seem like something that Target Terror fans would be concerned about). The game will stay true to its fanbase, though, as players can still shoot terrorists and enemies in the nuts.
It's astounding that, despite all the eBay auctions we've followed and Nintendo oddities we've researched, there are still so many Famicom accessories out there that we've never seen, much less heard of. Thankfully, an obsessive Japanese collector has put up a page documenting these rare controllers and peripherals, like Hori RF adapters and Disk System cleaning sprays. Check out the Hyper Shot Zapper-clone pictured above -- can you believe that Bandai made a submachine gun for the Famicom? Jump past the post break for more Famicom odds and ends.
As much as we'd love to import one of these gorgeous arcade sticks -- modeled after the original Neo Geo AES arcade stick -- $59.90, not including steep shipping fees for the 4+ lb. controller, is just too rich for our blood, especially since it's only compatible with a limited selection of Wii games. For Virtual Console games, however, this would be the business.
For now, we'll just have to live through David Spreckley who bought one of these sticks from an Akihabara shop and posted photos of the unboxed product online to torment jealous gamers. Down, Down Forward, Forward + Punch past the post break for another glamour shot of the Neo Geo Stick 2.
At full price, the Wii remake of the fossilized arcade game Crazy Climber was a ridiculous proposition. But at $18.90, it's ... a ridiculous proposition that we're actually considering, which, we suppose, makes us ridiculous. Maybe even crazy.
But that's the situation Play-Asia has put us, and no doubt others faced with similar, uncomfortable feelings of casual Crazy Climber interest, into with their weekly deal. For this week only, Nihon Bussan's Crazy Climber Wii is marked down from $60 to $18.90. Of course, you'll need a Freeloader or a Japanese Wii in order to play this, so it's a bit less of an impulse purchase than it would seem.
Namco Bandai's new huge monster fighting game, Kaiju Big BattelDaikaiju Ultra Battle Coliseum, features a wide array of familiar, but legally distinct, monsters in your everyday city-destroying scenarios. There's the big flying thing! The walking lizard guy! The robot! Coliseum, it turns out, is an adapted version of an arcade game called Daikaiju Ultra Monsters, which has also been adapted into a TV show from Ultraman producers Tsuburaya Productions. Thankfully, Namco Bandai has swapped out pretty much everything from the original game. While the arcade game is one of those card-based things that are so popular in Japan, Daikaiju Ultra Battle Coliseum uses Wiimote motions to control the (ultra) fighting.
Posted Mar 22nd 2008 2:00PM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
Namco Bandai seems to have come up with a solution to their problem of (possibly) Wii-fueled arcade downturn: involving the Wii in the arcade. According to a very sad Asahi Shimbun report about closing arcades, Namco is now planning games that will allow data to be shared between the cabinet and the Wii -- we assume by Wii Remote data transfer.
Home/arcade integration from Namco is not terribly surprising, since Tekken 5 actually has PlayStation 2 controller ports on the cabinet. No, the really interesting thing about this story is trying to figure out what Namco Bandai is going to design for play on both the Wii and in the arcade.
The news article is pretty interesting in other ways, as well: it goes into possible reasons for arcade business slowdown other than the Wii ... like the economy.
Much to our delight, SNK's Neo Geo Stick 2 for the Wii will retain that classic black look of the original and PS2 controllers, foregoing the predictable white case that Hori opted for. Jeux France has uncovered several photos of the arcade stick, unboxed and beside its packaging, and it is gorgeous. Leaving one of these displayed on your coffee table sends a clear message to your visitors: "This guy is serious business." Just make sure not to break up that illusion by letting them see your Chewbacca bedsheets -- you don't want people to think that the business you're serious about is living like a twelve-year-old.
Back on topic, the Neo Geo Stick 2 supports both Wii games and Virtual Console titles. Retailers in Japan won't begin selling the arcade controller until April 10th, but you can preorder one now from import shop Play Asia for as cheap as $59.90. Step past the break for more photos from SNK's product page.
Now before you remind us that arcades are long dead, this story is about Japan. After a 38 percent cut in their profit forecast, in response to which Namco Bandai is closing between 50 and 60 of its arcades, the company's spokesperson Yuji Machida directed the blame at home video games. "A lot of the types of games that people played at an arcade can now be done at home," said the representative of the Namco Museum publisher.
Machida mentions the Wii specifically, due to its popularity and its ability to simulate the kind of specialized controls that are a strength of many arcade games. While arcade ports are nothing new, and neither are arcade ports of games requiring special controllers (such as Dance Dance Revolution), a home console whose controller can substitute for many motion-based control schemes is. Also, it's a convenient scapegoat.
There could be truth to the idea that people are saving their game money for home consoles more than usual, but we doubt that has anything to do with any similarity in game types. It's still terrible for the poor arcade industry in the short term -- until some "expanded audience" gamers decide to get into competitive Tekken or something.
As much as we adore Hori's arcade sticks, we love hardware with the words Neo Geo printed on them even more! Both Amazon.jp and Japanese retailer Rakuten have posted product pages for a Wii version of the Neo Geo Stick 2, an arcade-style, ball-top controller previously put together by SNK-Playmore and Sega Logistics for the PS2.
If it's anything like the PS2 remake of the original Neo Geo Stick (see above image), this new edition will also have non-analog L and R buttons hugging its four primary convex buttons like a set of parentheses. Hopefully, the Wii version will keep that classy black color; it would be a travesty if it didn't!
The Neo Geo Stick 2 is scheduled to arrive in Japan this April 10th, selling for ¥5,040 (approximately $47). According to Rakuten, the controller will support both Wii games and Virtual Console titles. With this announced, a Wii release for SNK Arcade Classics seems like a sure thing!
I still can't get over the announcement of a new Punch-Out!! for Wii. It seemed like an obvious choice, sure, but Nintendo has avoided cashing in on plenty of obvious choices. To celebrate, I could have written a post about Super Punch-Out!!, but that's no fun at all. Well, actually, it's a lot of fun, but as a game. Instead, I have decided to reach a bit deeper into the tiny Punch-Out!! catalog and talk about ... the one that isn't about boxing.
This year, is the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders' original Japanese release, and Taito has marked it with the release of 
