Entry #664: Tales of Vesperia

 Tales of crashes and freezes.

 Tales of Vesperia has long been THE Tales Game, you know, the one stuck on X360 that a lot of long-time fans, such as myself, never got to play. I was hyped for this port, like, a lot, but in pure Namco-Bandai fashion... they screwed it up. It's sad, because it looked great on paper: Both English and Japanese dubs alongside all the extras from the enhanced Japanese-only PS3 version, just what could go wrong? Well, nobody tested this dumpster fire it seems, because every version of the game is prone to crashing, but the Switch version is EASILY the worst one. Reports for PS4/XOne crashes are very few, but one needs not look very far to find just how many people suffered this game. Namco-Bandai released a couple of patches which do make the game more stable, but I had the game crash once during my post-patch playtime, and I've heard reports that the post-game is still pretty unstable. As for me, I finished the main game, what I cared the most about, and had my fill with the game, and after reading so many reports about its crashes... I decided not to play it.

 As for the game itself, it's certainly very overrated, or maybe it has simply become yet another victim of its own age. The story is a mixed bag, every thread regarding Yuri's vigilantism and Yuri and Flynn's friendship was fantastic and fresh, even if the resolution to Yuri's solo-activities felt a bit underwhelming. On the other hand, a lot of the story has to do with 'Guilds', and it was just so... dull and boring. This makes the story have a lot of ups and downs, as far as my interest went, sometimes I was invested in seeing how the story would develop and others I was just going through the dialogue waiting for something interesting to happen. The rest of the story is made up of generic anime tropes, as per usual, as well as the repetitive Tales of tropes, so you have your Traitor and also your mandatory annoying kid character. This version of Vesperia also adds ANOTHER annoying kid to the party

 The combat in the game is pretty decent, but it's not as fun as I've had with other Tales of games. Customizing the CPU felt a bit more limiting than I expected, and the Healer would fail to use the most appropriate spells for the occasion. That said, I've always liked Tales real-time combat, and this is no exception. The Skill system sounds great on paper: Learn skills from weapons by using the weapon for a certain amount of time, but it translated into quite a bit of grinding, since it took a far too long to learn a few skills. As for the environmental puzzles, they are pretty simple affairs, nothing too memorable.

 Tales of Vesperia is alright. The story has its moments and the gameplay is alright. I think I would've enjoyed the game more had I not been scared of crashing every few minutes or so. As it stands, this is a bland port of a good game.
 6.5 out of 10

Entry #663: Psikyo Collection Vol.3

 Breast-pad included.

 Here it is, the final entry of the 3-part compilation, Psikyo Collection Vol.3. In what can only be described as baffling, this entry includes even less extras than the previous collections: No bonus art, and each game get its own slot on the Switch's dashboard, as opposed to a single program running all four games. It's a weird couple of choices, but there must be some reason as to why they changed it up for this installment. There must be.

 GunBarich

 A pseudo-sequel to the Gunbird series, this is an Arkanoid-Breakout-shooter hybrid that's actually kinda disappointing considering how much I grew to like GunBird. There are a few power ups to make your life easier, and the game is quite cutesy, but while I can tell that it's a decent game, it just wasn't a good way to end the series.
 6.0 out of 10

 Sengoku Cannon

 The Sengoku series quickly became my favorite from these compilations, and Sengoku Cannon does the series right. 6 different characters, and now we've got: Spread shots, focused shots, cannon shots(Which turn enemy bullets into coins if you defeat said enemy with it) as well as the mandatory bomb. This is probably the best in the series.
 7.5 out of 10

 Strikers 1945 III

 Strikers 1945 III is the prettiest of the bunch, but it's also the hardest, to the point that I wasn't having much fun. Keep in mind I'm not much of a fan of shooters(And I purchased these games because I thought Strikers 1945 was Aerofighters!), so this high level of difficulty, even on the easiest setting, was a big turn-off. On that note, the game follows the formula Strikers 1945 has been following to a tee, with nothing noteworthy for this last installment. It's alright.
 6.5 out of 10

 Zero Gunner 2-

 Oh boy, oh boy, now this is something special. Zero Gunner 2- is unlike anything else from these compilations. Well, it's still a shooter, so it's not THAT different, but it's very unique. This is the only game that's completely in 3-D, but it also adds a new dimension to the shooting: You can turn your ship in a full 360 degrees. This is done by holding down a button which will make a target-reticule appear in front of your ship, now, as long as that button is being held, moving the analog stick will make your ship move in around this marker, as opposed to 'strafing'. It's a bit hard to explain, and seems daunting at first, but getting the hang of it is very simple. The game is a bundle of fun, and one of my favorites from these compilations. On another note, this game is called '-' because it's been rebuilt from scratch since they lost the original Dreamcast code. I've read a lot of comments about how bad it's in comparison to the Dreamcast original, but I found the game to be great.
 7.5 out of 10

 Psikyo Collection Vol.3 is a bit of a letdown, coming right out of Volume 2, but it's not half bad. Sengoku Cannon is brilliant and, having not played the Dreamcast original, Zero Gunner 2- is fantastic and a breath of fresh air from everything that I had been playing from this collection. On the other hand, GunBarich wasn't very interesting, and Strikers 1945 III stuck too close to its guns failing to make any sort of impression outside of 'I've played this before at least two other times'. Not that any of these games are bad. Bottom line is: I still think Volume 2 is the best one, but everyone's in luck: This collection is being re-released in a 2-part edition, bumping the games to 6-per-cart which will make for a much more appealing purchase and will help make up for the few less remarkable entries.
 7.0 out of 10

Entry #662: 64 Memories - Cruis'n USA

 Outrun, made in America

 Part I: The Flashback
 As a famous racing game hater of the 90s I never really did care much about Cruis'n USA. I must've played it a few times when we went for dinner to a few restaurants that had Nintendo 64 consoles for children to play with. It's a shame I wasn't able to appreciate this game back then, because this is exactly the type of game I've been looking for since I can't get my Outrun fix outside of said franchise.

 Part II: The Entry
 I know, alright, I know. This game is supposed to be a terrible port of a great little arcade game. The framerate is choppy, the physics are weird... but I loved it. Heck, the unpredictable physics when you crash and hit other cars is part of the chaotic fun that is Cruis'n USA. The game is an Arcade racer through and through, and unlike most other racing games, this one is about going from point A to point B, kinda like Outrun. However, instead of one long track, the game is divided into 15 shorter courses. You can play on any course by itself, but the main attraction is 'CRUISE THE USA', in which you play every race in a set order.

 The game is a bundle of fun, easy to get into, simple to understand and play. It's fast, even if the framerate can't keep up, and I absolutely love this type of racing game. Honestly, it feels like an American take on Outrun, and I say that as a huge compliment.
 8.5 out of 10

Entry #661: 64 Memories - War Gods

 Gotta love generic green dudes. This game loves generic green dudes.

 Part I: The Flashback
 War Gods was one of the first games I rented(So many firsts!) for the console, although I wouldn't buy it until much later down the line. I remember for a fact that I rented this game a bunch of times, for whatever reason. I don't know, alright? I loved fighting games and it's not like the N64 had many to choose from!

 Part II: The Entry
 War Gods is pretty much Mortal Kombat 4 beta. It plays like Mortal Kombat, High and Low variations of both punches and kicks, alongside fatalities. The characters even look like Mortal Kombat rejects. It's only got two modes, Arcade and VS, so there isn't much you can do. The gameplay is fairly basic, but it's kinda fun and kinda stiff. It's alright.

 One advantage it has over the PS1 version is that there are absolutely no loading times, making fights seamless, making the game as a whole much more tolerable. It's nothing worth writing home about, but I wouldn't write it off either. And the N64 version makes the PS1 version completely obsolete, the five-button control scheme works really well with Nintendo's clunky trident, so even the much more comfortable Dual Shock won't sell you on its version.

 5.0 out of 10

Review #660: 64 Memories - Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards

 All you can eat buffet of powers.

 Part I: The Flashback
 I'm pretty sure I rented this game at least once, but I can't really say for certain, what I do remember is that my parent purchased it for me once we crossed the border into the Chuy and found all these amazing low prices on Nintendo 64 games.

 This is my favorite Kirby game for the simple reason that it's the only one, as far as I know, in which you can mix powers. I loved, LOVED using the Fire Sword and the Electric Glave.

 Part II: The Review
 Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards is a 2.5D platform game in which you play as the infamous pink blob with a massive appetite. As per usual, you use the B button to suck your enemies into your mouth and eat them to steal their power, and jump/float with the A button. But here's where things get interesting... If instead of eating an enemy you shoot it towards another enemy, a power-wielding enemy, you'll be able to merge both powers together.  So, while this Kirby doesn't have so many powers(Electricity, Ice, Fire, Bomb, Needle, Cutter and Stone) you can combine any of them for a total of 49 different powers. And there's a lot of variety: Bomb+Fire turns Kirby into a firework shower, Fire+Stone turns him into a volcano. Electricity + Needle turns him into a lightning rod! There's a lot of variety here, and it's always fun to see what powers you can get.

 The game is made up of 6 world, 4 of them having 5 stages and 2 of them having 4. Every world ends with a boss fight. In this game your main objective is helping a fairy collect all the crystal shards, 3 per stage, and finding all of them is the only way to fight the true boss and get the good ending. The game is a bit on the short side, but it's a lot of fun and all these different powers make it highly replayable, even if just to fool around. There are 3 multiplayer minigames that, while simple, are a decent diversion.

 Kirby 64 holds up very well to this day. Something about the powersets he can acquire in this game makes it feel fairly different from the other games in the series, so it's worth checking it out. I don't know if I can still call it my favorite Kirby game, but it definitely has my favorite ideas, and I'd love to see Nintendo tries this concept once more.
 8.5 out of 10

Review #659: 64 Memories - Killer Instinct Gold

 I hate Killer Instinct. But at least it's got a killer soundtrack.

 Part I: The Flashback
 This is gonna get me into some hot water, but... I never liked Killer Instinct. I've always loved fighting games. Even though nowadays I say that classic Mortal Kombat was never good to begin with and only got good with 9 onwards, games like Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Mortal Kombat 4 entertained me a lot during my childhood. I loved fighting games, and I loved Mortal Kombat. But I hated Killer Instinct Gold. I even gave the Arcade originals a try via Emulation, and I never ever found what people found so appealing about the franchise.

 This was among my earliest games, probably among the first ten and I do have some fond memories of playing this game against friends or my father. But I never really liked it as much as my other fighting games. Even back then I couldn't ignore just how ugly the characters looked, how weird their proportions and animations were. Nowadays its even worse, the females have HUGE heads and smaller bodies with HUGE breasts which looks all kinds of deformed and ridiculous, heck, even TJ Combo gets a huge neck and tiny T-Rex arms. Tusk and Maya both have orangutan arms that reach down to their knees. Some of the character designs, like Jago, are just dumb.... and the animations aren't far behind, even though it has a few well animated moves, others, like Jago's walking cycle, are just unappealing. The music, however, is amazing.

 Fun fact, I'm writing this after I finished my conclusion. As I finished writing I noticed that all of my complaints were leveled against the graphics, but as far as gameplay went... I liked it. I also took a step back and realized something: I actually had fun playing the game before writing this, but my negative bias I held towards the game since my childhood... was making me think I actually hated the game. I didn't. I even popped the cart back in just now to check, and I really liked the game. And I'm not changing the rest of this write-up because I found it so interesting how much a 'bad memory', or a memory of something, can twist your feelings towards it. Curious.

 Part II: The Review
 As I said before, I don't very much like KI:Gold. It's a 1 on 1 2-D fighting game with ugly 2-D digitalized sprites over surprisingly pretty 3-D backgrounds. It's a six button fighter, 3 punches and 3 kicks, with input commands for special moves. It has a few original mechanics, like auto-combo and combo-breaker, but I don't much care about it. The usual normal-into-special cancels are here, as they should, and you can also cancel from an auto-combo into a special move. That said, if I can say one thing in its favor, is that the game is fast, and I really liked that. Controls are very responsive, moves come out quickly and it feels really nice to land combos.

 The game also deserves props for having a nice amount of modes: Arcade, VS Player, Team, Team Elimination, Tournament, Practice and even a tutorial that teaches you the basics as well as a few simple combos for whatever character you choose. Fairly ahead of its time if you ask me, most fighting games of the era  expected you to either read the instruction manual or figure everything out on your own.

 As you can tell by how quickly I wanted to get Killer Instinct Gold off my platter, I don't have much love for this game. If it's worth anything, I'm clearly in the minority since people seem to love this series. And, in the game's defense, if the sprites weren't so darn ugly I would've enjoyed the game a lot more, and I'm usually not one to care for graphics, but when the presentation is so sloppy it takes you out of the game completely. I could've done with simpler, less detailed sprites if the proportions were better.

 7.0 out of 10

Review #658: 64 Memories - Mystical Ninja - Starring Goemon

 Also starring FERNANDEZ!

 Part 1: The Flashback
 I really liked this game way back then, it wasn't one of my favorites, but I quite liked it. I discovered this game through Club Nintendo magazine, and I knew I had to have it. I feel extremely lucky to have owned this game, and it made me really happy to get my hands on it again, because this game wasn't available anywhere. I never saw it up for rent, I never saw it up for purchase(Besides the store in which I found the single copy I owned), none of my friends had it, heard about it or cared about it.

 I really loved having the first person Impact fights, and I thought there were a lot of them.... there were only three. And they are not as fun as they were for the younger iteration of myself, but what the heck. I loved the Japanese intro and the Impact songs, added a lot of flair to the game.

 Part II: The Review
 Mystical Ninja - Starring Goemon is basically Zelda. It's a 3-D adventure game in which you explore various cities, talking to NPCs to learn how to proceed, clearing dungeons, each dungeon having a map, a compass and keys to collect, finding items that'll let you clear obstacles and even collecting Cat-Dolls, and every four dolls you get a new heart. It's 3-D Zelda before Zelda hit 3-D. Although, unlike Zelda, Mystical Ninja never takes itself seriously, being a silly, humor-filled adventure from beginning to end.

 In this game you play as a team of four characters: Goemon, the Ninja-thief, Ebisumaru, his friend, Yae, the Kunoichi and Sasuke, the Robot Ninja. All characters share the same life bar, but each one has their own weapons and magic needed to progress trough the game. For example, Sasuke has bombs that can destroy cracked walls, Yae can turn into a mermaid and go underwater, Goemon has a hookshot-pipe. You can easily swap characters at any time by pressing C-Down. It sounds fun 'n all, but the game is very short, about 8 hours in all, so the game fails to capitalize on puzzles requiring their different abilities. For instance, there are only three walls in the ENTIRE game that require Sasuke bombing them, and after you clear the submerged submarine, unless you hunt for the cat dolls, you'll never have to touch Yae's mermaid powers again.

 At three different points in the game, you'll be assaulted by giant robots, in which case Goemon will summon the Ninja Mech Impact to fight. Impact's sections are made up of two phases: One in which Impact runs forwards, and you have to smash and destroy as many things as you can on your way to the boss, in order to get more health for the next phase, when the real fight begins. Mech battles are fought in first person, and they are kinda fun. B is a fast jab, A is a strong punch, R can be used to hookshot your enemy, Z throws projectiles and the C buttons are used to block. There are a few hidden combos(And the all mighty C-UP, C-LEFT, C-DOWN,C-RIGHT+Z beam) that you can use to aid yourself. Besides the final boss, these fights are fairly easy.

 As fun as the game is, it does have one fatal flaw: The camera is horrible. In order to move it you have to hold down R and then press the C buttons. Problem? If you double tap left C or right C, in an effort to move the camera, this will spin out of control even if you let go off of R. Although, sometimes, the camera will refuse to turn at all. Many times you'll enter through a door with Goemon looking towards the camera, so naturally you'll immediately need to turn the camera to see what's in front of you, but even then, sometimes, the camera won't budge until you take a few steps forward towards the unknown. Needless to say, the camera is erratic and one of your biggest obstacles. I lost a ton of health due to the camera getting in my way, mostly by moving while I was trying to jump somewhere.

 When it's all said and done, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is a little gem in the rough that desperately needs more love. The ridiculous world of Goemon is always entertaining to explore, so much so that I wish it was a little longer. But what you get is a bundle of fun.
 7.5 out of 10