Review #785: Mobile Suit Gundam - Journey to Jaburo

 This one might be a Zaku.

 Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo might be as basic as third person action games can get, but it has a very special place in my heart: It was my first proper introduction to Gundam outside Gundam Wing. I LOVED this game, I remember being stuck on mission 3 for the longest time, and then spending countless mornings replaying the Tactics mode. I really liked this game, and while it hasn't aged very well, it still has its charm.

 The game is made up of two modes: Story Mode and Tactics Mode, which is unlocked after finishing the Story Mode. The Story Mode is incredibly brief, being made up of 9 short missions, most of which can be beaten in about 5 minutes or so. It kinda sucks, but the presentation is fantastic, not only are the graphics pretty decent, considering how early in the Playstation 2's life it was released, but it also has a ton of clips and stills from the show. It is a passable adaptation of the story, from beginning up to Zeon's assault on Jaburo. I mean, you'll probably need to be familiar with the original series or compilation movies to get the most out of it, but the anime clips are very neat. Tactics Mode, however, is divided into Federation and Zeon, each mode has 3 6-8 minute long missions(I'm not sure if the difficulty is random or if it's tied to which suit you are using), but, as mentioned inside those cheeky parenthesis, you can pick from various Mobile Suits that you unlock the more you play. By the end you'll have played each mission about 10 times or so, but unlocking new Suits is fun... even if they are all pretty similar.

 What really brings down the game is how unresponsive and awkward are both movement and controls. You have to use the directional pad to move around, which is very clunky and turning takes forever, R1 and L1 can be used to strafe, which also feels odd, and dashing is done by double tapping any direction on the DPad. Trust me, you'll often times find you dashing by mistake. Square is used to slash or shoot, but you have to swap weapons with triangle... which is impossibly slow. Heck, sometimes when slashing you might cancel your first slash with another slash, which is just weird. If it helps, you can think of these poor controls as adding to the realism of piloting a Mobile Suit. It didn't help make them any less unbearable, but hey, maybe it could work for ya. One mild annoyance is that the only way to get a proper Radar is by pausing the game.

 I'll admit liking this game is tough, but listen, as someone that really likes Gundam I think there's a little fun to be had here. I found the story mode very appealing thanks to all the anime clips, and Tactics Mode was shockingly addictive, I didn't think I'd stick so long with it, but I did, and I don't regret any minute spent in there. So, that's my verdict, Gundam fans may want to give it a look, otherwise don't bother.
 5.0 out of 10

Review #784: Sega Classics Collection

 It's Sega.... on a budget!

 Sega Classics Collection is not yet another of Sega's various recompilation of their games. I mean, it is another compilation, but instead of reuniting its Arcade classics, it actually reunites a series of Japan only stand-alone releases of low-budget 3-D remakes of a few of their Arcade games. And I'm not kidding when I say low-budget, the graphics look like something out of a Playstation 1.5 and the gameplay can sometimes feel a bit janky. That said, these were very basic Arcade games in the first place, so even at its worst not much is lost. If you're up for alternate but not alienating takes on Outrun, Space Harrier, Columns, Bonanza Bros, Virtua Racing, Monaco GP, Tant R, Golden Axe, Fantasy Zone and Alien Syndrome, well, look no further.

 Outrun

 I really like Outrun. I mean, Outrun 2006 on PS2 is one of my favorite games of all time, and I won't lie, this Outrun remake is a big part of why I sought out this collection. And I'm happy to report that it's pretty dope!

 Outrun is not your average racing game, but rather, it's a driving game of you against the clock, you're constantly driving forward trying to get no the next checkpoint, and get a time boost, while avoiding curves and traffic. You get to pick different routes in between checkpoints by taking picking either the right or left fork at the end of every 'section'. This remake is more than just skindeep, but alongside 'Arcade' mode, that plays like the original, we also get Time Attack and Arrange. Arrange is what really matters, and I suggest jumping straight into it, for you see, it adds a completely new set of zones, heck, it adds MORE zones, for you see, a run in Arcade Mode lasts 7 sections, and it also adds Rivals to compete against, like Outrun 2006.

 While I managed to get into, and wound up loving, the drifting system in Outrun 2006, I'll admit that I've never been too good at the original Outrun. Thankfully, this game adds way to tweak the experience to your liking, you can select difficulty settings and increase your starting time. I think this is the first time I've ever managed to finish Outrun, and thanks to this, you can turn the game into a very chill experience, which is something I really liked. While you can pick any of the original music tracks to race with, you can also pick from 3 new remixes. The only issue I can think of with this Remake is that sometimes the camera angles are too low, so it gets a bit hard seeing any traffic in front of you.

 Overall, and I'm writing this before playing the next 9 games, I'll claim right here and now that this collection is worth it for this game alone. I don't care if what comes next is garbage, this is a very neat version of Outrun to own.
 8.0 out of 10

Columns

 I'm too slow in the head for this game, I don't feel any shame in admitting that. It's a bit like Tetris, since you have things coming down, but what actually falls are columns made out of three gems. You can press buttons to shift the order of the gems, your goal being to make vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines between gems of the same color. As you play the game and score higher, the gems will start dropping faster. I'm really bad at this game, which probably tinted how much I actually enjoyed it.

 The game can be played in Endless, VS Player and VS CPU, but you can also pick between two HUDs for Endless mode. There's the classic look to the game, which is very basic and a bit rough, just like it used to be, but there's also the new HUD that makes everything sleeker and prettier, now gems actually rotate on their spots, which is just a cosmetic visual effect, but adds more life to the game.

 I won't lie, I don't care about Columns. I'm not good at it, but the game doesn't interest me enough to want me to get good at it. Still, for what it's worth, it's not a bad take on the falling blocks type of puzzle games, and it has value in this collection since it adds something different from the rest of the games.
 6.0 out of 10

Tant R

 I didn't know that this game existed, but... it's Sega's very own WarioWare, for you see, this is a minigame collection. At first I didn't really like it too much, but it quickly grew on me. There are about 20 different minigames and they are rather fun, things like sharpening pencils by rotating the analog stick, put on the brakes on your car at the right time, figure out in which coffin Dracula is hiding through hints, stop a timer at the right time, put an 8 block picture in the right order and the such. It's not as bonkers as WarioWare, but I'm sure that for its era it was quite wacky. You can play the main game with another player, or play Free Mode with either 2 or 4 player, which is pretty neat.

 As far as the remake goes... I think they sharpened up the 2-D sprites, but not much work was put on sprucing up the presentation. Regardless, it's a pretty fun game for a short while.
 7.0 out of 10

Bonanza Bros.

 Bonanza Bros is actually somewhat hidden with Tant R, and is yet another game that keeps its 2-D look, heck, I don't think they changed it much. Regardless, it's a fun light stealth game in which you must infiltrate buildings and steal their valuables before escaping. You can hide on back planes, shoot to stun enemy cops or smash them on the wall when you open a door they are standing next to. By your lonesome it's a bit average, but with it's a fun time when played with another player.
 6.5 out of 10

Virtua Racing

 A racing game that I sorta kinda maybe think it looks better than the original, but not by much. It offers Arcade, Grand Prix, Free Mode and 2P, as well as 6 different tracks. The game is sorta fun, but I'm not a fan of the checkpoint system, for you see, while you have to run a certain amount of laps, you're also against a timer, and you only get time by passing checkpoints through each lap. It's weird. It's fun at times, but overall, pretty forgettable.
 5.0 out of 10

 Monaco GP

 Finally we're back with budget 3-D remakes! This is a top-down driving game that offers three modes: Arcade, Grand Prix, Time Attack and Versus Player. The game can be played in both Original and Classic modes. Original is very straightforward, the road might twist or curve a bit, but for the most part, you're moving in a straight line. Classic adds proper curves, but you must turn your car with the shoulder buttons, which is pretty original. You can also jump and grab power ups. The game is a bit boring, but the biggest issue is the framerate, any time there are more than two cars on screen at the same time the framerate will take a hit.
 4.5 out of 10

Fantasy Zone

 This remake is actually quite pretty because we get cellshaded models for the player ship and the enemies. It has three modes: Normal, Arcade and Challenge. Regardless, all modes have the same objective: You, as a flying ship, find and destroy big enemies until the boss arrives. Enemies drop coins that you can use to purchase temporary power ups. The main difference between Normal and Arcade seems to be that Normal doesn't have a story but has bonus rounds after bosses. Challenge Mode lets you pick from any stage, and purchase power ups for use in Normal and Arcade modes.

 Overall? It's a bit boring and it froze on me once.
 4.0 out of 10

Alien Syndrome

 The surprise wonder of this collection, I had played the original Alien Syndrome on one of Sega's other game collections, and I didn't really like it. But this one? This one is pretty good. It's a very basic top-down shooter in which you play as a space soldier thing that visits various spaceships, and after your character sets up the bomb, must rescue a minimum amount of alien prisoners before you can get to the exit, while under the bomb's time limit, and fight the boss. A better idea would've been to set up the bomb AFTER rescuing everyone, but I guess our hero fails to plan ahead. It can be played with either 1 or 2 players.

 It's a very simple game, but it's very fun. There are a fair amount of weapons you can collect, such as bombs(useless), homing rockets(USELESS on the third boss, I had to restart the level), flame missiles(really good), a flamethrower and a laser(best weapon in the game). You can also collect option bits that will hover around you, shooting when you do, but you can also press another button to make them explode for tons of free damage. You can shoot ahead of you with X or shoot in a locked direction, allowing you to strafe, by using the circle button. It's six stages short, with a seventh boss at the end, and although it has a few framerate issues.... as a whole, it plays relatively well. I swear, I didn't expect it to be this much fun, but this game was a pleasant surprise.
 7.5 out of 10

Space Harrier

 The bad news? It's a very ugly version of Space Harrier. The good news? It's just as addictive. So, you know the deal, it's a third person endless runner(or flyer in this case), constantly moving forward. Sadly, you are harassed by incoming enemies. Thankfully you can fly around the screen and shoot them down. This version adds a few new novelties: Aside from mashing the Square button to shoot, you can hold down X to shoot a weak, homing laser as well as collect bombs that clear the screen from basic enemies and deal damage to bosses. Supposedly, R2 is rapid fire but it seems to need a cooldown period or something? It's not reliable. Just mash square. There are also floating power ups that I've no idea what they do, but the floating B is a protective shield.

 I hate the main character's redesign, and at first I hated the fact that they removed the running animation.... but it's still there, you just need to play on a flat stage. Stages and enemies are a bit drab and boring when compared to the original, but after stage 7 it gets a bit prettier. While there are no continues, which is a bit harsh at first, after you reach stage 6 you can start a new game from there. You can turn off Fractal mode for simpler graphics on the floor, and maybe you should, it's more colorful that way. Regardless, it's pretty faithful to the original game, but, in my opinion, the added gameplay mechanics don't amount to much and the new art style leaves a lot to be desired. It's not ugly due to technical reasons, but merely purely artistic ones.
 6.0 out of 10

Golden Axe

 The other reason I purchased this game. While I've always loved beat'em ups, I always thought Golden Axe was very lame, however, I used to own a copy of the Japanese release of this game, under the Sega Ages label, so I kinda had to get it back! And that's how I discovered this collection. That said and done, by the time I finished the game I have to admit that I had a fair share of fun with it.

 The game offers a single/two player mode campaign, a VS battle against another player, and Time Attack and Survival offerings for single player. I think the campaign is a bit longer, because I don't remember having to go underground in the original. Regardless, the game feels as stiff as the original, while also feeling cheaper, floatier even. A few changes to the original were made, for instance, now you can earn magic points, for screen-clearing magic attacks, by defeating enemies, and we also get an overpowered back-slash that's SO good it even hits enemies in front of you. On the same token, rideable monsters are pretty much useless in this game because their animations are too slow and their attacks leave you open for way too long. The most common rideable beast turns around every time you press attack, which is a huge handicap most of the time.

 I've always disliked Golden Axe because even by beat'em up standards its too repetitive. There are no fun weapons to pick up and use, the monsters you can ride are more of a handicap than anything and it has about 5 different enemy types in total. The music, however, is downright amazing. My other big gripe with the game is something that they kept very true to the original: How cheap it is. Enemies love to surround you, and as soon as you start pummeling someone, an enemy will rush towards you and kick you in the back. Sometimes a new enemy might spawn behind you as you slash an enemy, and you are too slow to either jump or try to move sideways. It's too stiff. A few enemies seemed to have had a bit of trouble navigating the new third dimension, which sometimes works in your favor, as they get stuck leaving you open to finish off a few baddies. As with most games in this collection, it has a few framerate issues.

 I won't deny that the game had its ups and downs, but I think most of the fun I had with this game stemmed for the nostalgia I had for this remake. I have a ton of fond memories of playing through this very version of Golden Axe with my friends in highschool, so that might have tinted my enjoyment of the game.
 5.5 out of 10

 Sega Classics Collection is quite a mixed bag, some games are fun, some are dated and some are just dull, but at least we get a nice variety of genres, and I like the fact that most of this games are alternate takes on classic games. If you're into driving games or Outrun you'll probably get the most out of this collection, I mean, I was so content with the Outrun remake that the rest of the games could've been garbage and I would've been just as satisfied.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #783: X-men VS Street Fighter

 Capcom are gonna get their time and money's worth out of that Wolverine sprite.

 "How lazy can we get?" was the question Capcom was trying to answer with X-Men VS Street Fighter, a game they made by grabbing those beautiful Street Fighter Alpha sprites and pitting them against their beautiful X-Men: Children of the Atom sprites. Out of the 17 total characters, only 3 are complete new sprite sets: Sabertooth, Rogue and Gambit. Apocalypse too if you wanna count Arcade Mode's final boss. To be honest, I never spent much time with this game. I played it once or twice in the Arcades, but by the time I got a PS2 I was too busy with Marvel VS Capcom and Marvel VS Capcom 2 to care about this one, as once I got my hands on a copy of the game I just gave it a few cursory plays. And.... that might've been a mistake, as having delved deeper into this game... I quite liked it.

 First things first, when talking about the PS1 port of X-Men VS Street Fighter one has to acknowledge that this is a very different game from the Arcade original, as the PS1 just couldn't handle the game as a whole, so the whole tag mechanic got completely axed. Think of this as a simple 1 on 1 fighter, because that's what it's turned into for this PS1 port. If you can live with that, as well as the cut animation frames from every character, then you just might find a fun little fighting game on PS1. Plus, from the get go we get Arcade, VS(player), Training and Survival, as well as the aforementioned 17 character roster, so we're already getting a much meatier game than Marvel Super Heroes before it. I also quite like the roster selection and the fact that it's limited to just X-Men and Street Fighter. Once again, and like most games of its era, there's no in-game moveset.

 While the tagging system is gone, making this a 1 on 1 fighting game, you still get to pick a partner, and they can be used with the games two main new mechanics: Variable Hyper and Variable Counter. By pressing reverse quarter-circle-forward + Punch+ Kick when you bock an attack, your ally will jump in, consume an energy gauge, and hit the enemy with a special move. Variable Hyper is simply pressing quarter-circle-forward+Punch+Kick which will make both you and your ally use your Super moves, at the cost of two energy bars. If there's anything to complain about is that some characters' supers don't synergize well with each other, like Akuma and Sabertooth, and since the tag mechanic is gone... it kinda makes some teams downright useless.

 The rest of the game is pretty much what you'd expect, 6 attack buttons(3 kicks, 3 punches), special moves, super moves, aerial combos, dashing, the whole gamut. Loading times are pretty tolerable, and there's not as much slowdown as there was in Marvel Super Heroes. A few super and special moves will tank the framerate, like Magneto's special Beam, but as a whole it's quite playable, as long as you don't expect a perfect arcade conversion. Which you shouldn't.

 Just like Marvel Super Heroes before it, and any Street Fighter Alpha game, this is an incredibly gorgeous game, sprites are big and beefy, and very colorful to boot. The music is sublime, and the stages are very eye-catching, I's say it has some of the most memorable fighting game stages of its era, like the Police raid that breaks into the sewers. And looks aside, despite having some framerate issues every now and then, the controls are responsive, and the game is quite fast and snappy, making for some great looking fights that are fun to be a part of.

 Fact: The Arcade version is infinitely better. No framerate issues, better animation with no cut frames and the game-changing tag mechanic. It's a better game, period, end of. However, taking the limitations of the Playstation in mind, I think that what we have here is very fun, and I find it so interesting to have a one-on-one version of this game. If you can accept that this game will never be as good as the Arcade version and that its framerate issues keep it from being competitive... I think you'll find a rather fun  fighting game in here.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #782: Kong - The 8th Wonder of the World

 I wonder if any gorilla got hurt during the making of this game?

 While I know I even owned King Kong on VHS back when I was a little kid, I've never been too fond of the character, so even if Peter Jackson took a swing at the franchise hot on the heels of Lord of the Rings I just didn't care. Not that that would stop me from giving Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World a try! I'm not too sure of how I came about it, but I saw either a video or a screenshot of three playable characters on-screen at the same time and right then and there I knew that I had to play it.

 This game is a very brief adaptation of the movie by the same name, taking form of a puzzle/adventure game not unlike something like Zelda, but much, much worse. You're thrown into Kong's Island and must adventure threw the land following various objectives, at first, you only get Jack and Carl, who must rescue Anna from the villagers, and once that's done you get your full 3 member party. If you decide to explore instead of going from objective to objective, you might find a few collectibles that permanently upgrade your characters' lifebars, so there're rewards for going off the beaten path. Every now and then you'll get to play as the big banana itself, King Kong, but his short stages take the form of decent, but unremarkable, beat'em up sections.

 Each character has their own set of tools: Jack is the ONLY one that can attack, and he can do so with a Machete, a Rifle or by throwing javelins, the latter that can also be used to trigger levers from afar. Carl can push and pull certain objects, throw grenades(to crack rocks or defeat man-eating plants) and use a torch to light other torches. Anna... Anna follows gender tropes to a tee, being able to use a herb to heal the party, use another type of herb to heal villagers, use a hookshot or.... scream for Kong. Yes, one of her 'tools' is a scream. To add insult to injury, the couple of times you must summon Kong with her screams, you need to hide immediately before he arrives, lest he kidnaps Anna and you have to go fetch her again. Or, y'know, load your savefile before screaming. You can swap the character on the lead with the L button, or separate the party with select, as sometimes you might need someone to stay over a switch so that another character can go do something across a bridge or somethin'. Each character has their own health bar, and even the character you aren't playing as can get hurt if he or she touches an enemy, but its game over if anyone dies.

 At first the game seemed really amazing, the puzzles were fun, finding collectibles was rewarding and it even had a light crafting element! But.... it quickly went downhill after I cleared my first temple. The fun crafting element? Eventually became dumb, because Torches, Grenades, Hookshots and Javeling all run out, so you must keep crafting them, which means cutting down plants and pots every single time because your puzzle-solving tools actually run out. I mean, to be fair, the dungeons/temples are the game's high points, they are very, very fun. If the game was only made up of these it'd be an easy 8, but alas, we've also got to contend with the Island itself....

 So, why did the game go downhill after I cleared my first Temple? Because I realized the map is downright useless. You can check the map while traversing the menus(Start, then L button, then select) and it'll show an X on the area that you need to reach. Problem? The game doesn't tell you how areas connect, so even though the X is to the right of the area you are standing in, you might have to approach that X from above or below, it's a gamble to be honest. Some areas have like five different entrances/exits so you'll never know just how to reach whatever zone you want to reach. Maybe you didn't see an exit? Maybe I have to go below before and get to the area through another route? I don't know, the map won't tell me. The map is useless. All this needless meandering through the Island quickly sapped me of any and every enjoyment I was having. What's even worse, the jungles sometimes has endless enemy respawn nooks and crannies, nooks and crannies you need to walk through, so you might take damage because the enemy immediately spawned next to one of your characters.

 Man, Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World has been, easily, the worst disappointment I had this year. The game started off SO promising, and to be fair, every temple you visit is fun to figure out. Pushing rocks to cover air drafts so that you can carry a lit torch without it getting blown out, figuring out how to get from one point to the next, etc, etc is very fun, it's just that getting to those really good parts requires going through some awful, awful parts. Sadly, this game is a case of the bad vastly outweighing the good.
 4.0 out of 10

Review #781: Biker Mice from Mars

 Rock and Ride!

 I'm a 90s kid, so I grew up with all of them anthropomorphic heroes. Sewer Sharks, Extreme Dinosaurs, Road Rovers, TMNT, Swat Cats, The Adventures of T-Rex, All My Monsters and, of course, Biker Mice from Mars. I wanted something to remember the show by, something like a videogame. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered.

 The game is modeled after the series 00's reboot and not the original series, but it doesn't matter too much since the main mice are pretty faithful to their original counterparts, although the same can't be said about the supporting cast. I'm not sure if the game follows the plot from its only season or what have you, but it's 15 short missions long in which you can play as any of the main characters. Surprisingly, there are a lot of voiced cutscenes, although the animation is a bit suspect, it's all jerky and stiff, something tells me they had an algorithm fill in between key frames.  Regardless, all 15 missions follow the same story thread, in which Ronaldo Rump(The original Trump detractor) and the Catatonias(Space Cats) team up and the Mice must stop them. Regardless, you'll know that something is up with this game, because after you create a file you get two options "New Game" or "Missions". Turns out New Game is actually "Create new file", and "Missions" is the game's only mode.

 The game has two modes: Driving and Beat'em up. Every single stage has a driving section, and if you're unlucky(Or lucky, if somehow you like the beat'em parts more) you'll get a very brief beat'em up section. Driving feels very cheap, like something out of a modern mobile phone game, while on-foot fighting is as lifeless as it gets, so pick your poison. During missions you can get coins that you can then spend on the 'garage' to upgrade your mice. Each character has their own set of combos to buy, although they are basically the same even though, at least, the animations are different, while on Bike the only thing that changes between characters are their base stats and how high you can upgrade them(Modo can get the most HP upgrades, Vinnie gets the most Boost upgrades and Throttle gets the most Maneuverability upgrades). The beat'em up sections are so simple and easy that you're better off upgrading everyone's bikes' health and upgrading its main weapon, since the driving stages are the only ones that matter. Most of the game is pretty easy, but the final mission was a nightmare, talk about a difficulty spike.

 Driving sections are usually about getting from point A to point B, you use your basic weapon with R1, which has a cooldown period, and you can pick up alternate, limited weapons from fallen enemies or spread throughout the race track. Driving is not completely awful, it just feels cheap, there aren't any thrills to be had in here. And there's no driving in reverse, if you hit a wall... just hit the accelerator and slowly turn away from the wall. Combat is just devoid of any fun, X is a weak attack, square is a strong attack and L1 blocks. You can purchase more combos in the store, but you don't really need them. Maybe one of the combos that ends on a wide-area covering move could be useful during the missions in which you have to protect something, but otherwise? Stick to bike upgrades. The camera in this sections are too zoomed in on the player character, and every time you hit something the camera jerks around which is very off putting. Landing hits doesn't feel very satisfying either, so it's not much fun.

 Biker Mice from Mars on PS2 is way below average, although I'll admit that a very sparse few times I had a teeny tiny bit of fun blasting enemies on my bike, but the very few and rather low highest points can't save this game.
 3.0 out of 10

Review #780: Marvel Super Heroes

 The original adaptation of the Infinity War.... after the SNES of course.

 Not long after Capcom struck gold with X-Men - Children of the Atom, they aspired to higher heights with a new game, built on the same engine, that would break away from the boundaries of the X-men Franchise and would cover more of Marvel's finest with Marvel Super Heroes. This is a fighting game that's framed around the Infinity War, you can take any of 10 characters, 12 if you count the secret playable bosses, and duke it our while wielding the mighty power of the gems.

 Arcade and Versus, that's all you get, not more, not less. The 12 character roster is pretty skimpy as well: Wolverine, Pylocke, Magneto and Juggernaut return from Children of the Atom, the latter three that had little to do during the Infinity War but Capcom loves being lazy, joined by Spider-man, Captain America, The Hulk, Iron-man, BlackHeart, Shuma Gorath, Dr. Doom and Thanos himself. As per usual with games of this era, no in-game movelist. I have to say that I absolutely adore '90s 2-D Capcom: their colorful sprites were a sight to behold, and the music, oh god, the MUSIC! This game is classic Arcade Capcom, looks great, sounds great and plays... well...

 On paper, it plays great. 6 buttons: 3 kicks and 3 punches, you get aerial combos, super jumps, super moves that run on an energy gauge, air blocking, y'know, the usual. It plays like most Capcom fighters, it's fast and snappy. The game's unique gimmick are the Power Stones, you and the enemy can use any of the six stones to gain various temporary advantages, such as healing, super armor, extra power, extra speed, etc and some gems will power up specific moves from specific characters. You have to be careful, because if you get knocked down whatever gem you're carrying will fall and the enemy can pick it up and use if it he wants.

 On paper it plays great, but there's a little issue with the PS1 version. No, not the PS1's trademark loading times, but rather the copious amounts of slowdown that plague the game pretty much all the time. I mean, it's downright annoying at times, and pretty much any stage and any match up will produce slowdown at one time or another. Iron-man's specials and Hulk himself are pretty big culprits too.

 I'm sure the arcade original is a fine game, but this port is anything but. A very small roster, no bonus modes and tons of slowdown turn this port into nothing more than a pretty game cover. I mean, '90s comics art needs to make a comeback. Regardless, Capcom has made better games and better PS1 ports, and the PS1 itself has many better fighting games, making this one a hard pass.
 3.0 out of 10

Review #779: Dragon Quest XI S - Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition

 Where the hell did Square Enix get the money to budget this masterpiece?

 So... I've never been much much of a fan of first-person JRPGs, so I never did quite get into Dragon Quest, not until IX anyways, and I loved that game. I own VIII but never got around to playing it, but for one reason or another I decided to jump right into the Switch version of XI, Dragon Quest XI S - Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition. As the opening line would lead you to believe, I loved this game. Like love-love. It's so big, so large, so beautiful that I simply can't figure out how Square Enix could spare such a large budget to an RPG.

 The story pits you as the Luminary, the reincarnation of a hero of old who is born to save the world from darkness. Sadly, the King of the city nearby doesn't seem to think so, casting the hero as the Darkspawn and sending him to the dungeons. Luckily, the hero manages to escape and sets out to clean his name and save the world. Alongside him is a party of seven different heroes, with their own backstories, personalities and motivations, and absolutely everyone gets their own scenarios and moments to shine. Every character is absolutely endearing, it's hard picking a favorite from among them. I know that Dragon Quest loves to stick to its traditions, but man, the mute hero is getting stale. And it shows, flashbacks to the hero's youth will have him gain a voice and personality, because a mute hero is too limiting, it's a wasted opportunity for yet another fantastic personality to join the adventure. That aside, the game is made up of three acts, the third one being considered the post game and somewhat optional. I'm a bit torn, because the second act has a pretty good ending, and because reasons the third act involves time travelling... and losing a ton of character development. Some characters get a bit of re-development but it's nowhere near as deep as it was during the second act. The third act aims for a happier ending, but undoes a all of the best moments from the second act. At least it's optional and the story is not too bad, but it pales in comparison to Act 2.

 This is as classic as JRPGs get without feeling dated. You have a relatively large world to explore, it's not open ended like Western RPGs, there are set routes between places and you can't make your own routes. You go from town to town, talking to NPCs to further the plot, while partaking in dungeon exploring and monster slaying to fund your equipment and to proceed with your adventure. Environments are pretty large, larger than your average JRPGs, and they are gorgeous. There are plenty of towns to explore too, very different and distinct from one another, from the architecture to the accents their citizens speak with. There are a ton of sidequests to fulfill, although most of them open up on the third act, as well as plenty of bonus objectives that don't count as sidequests but still are worth your time thanks to their rewards. It's very meaty, I cleared the second act after clocking 67 hours, and the postgame/act 3 took me about 10 hours more, and I didn't finish every single sidequest. My hero was nearing level 90 and the rest of my party were averaging 80, I was quite happy with my equipment and the alternate costumes I managed to find and even got to select my bride(exclusive to the Switch version!) so I decided it was time to slay the bigger bad. And I did.

 Combat is your tried and true turn-based affair. Each turn you can attack with physical attacks, abilities unique to your character, spells or items(Remember that each character has their own bag, and if they aren't carrying the item on their bags they can't use them!). There's the Pep mechanic, randomly your character may enter Pep mode which lasts a few turns and enhances a few of their stats, as well as granting them access to very powerful Pep techniques. If more than one character is in Pep mode you may even get to use combined Pep techniques. Regardless, combat is pretty snappy, landing critical hits is made extra crunchy thanks to the slowdown and the white flash on the enemy. Leveling up earns you stat points that you can then spend on each character's unique skill tree. I'm pretty sure that by level 99 every character can learn all their abilities, since my 80ish level characters had their skill trees almost completely unlocked. As for grinding, if you're smart about it, or know anything about Dragon Quest, you shouldn't need to go out of your way to end completely overleveled, just remember to learn Metal Slash on any character that can and try to use multi-hitting abilities on Metal slimes before they flee from battle.

 There's also a simple crafting system, you gather materials(in the Switch version you can purchase them when forging, which you can now do at any time on this Switch version), get a recipe and then try your hand at a very simple forging minigame in which you must bash steel, trying to fill various gauges without going outside their sweetspot. You unlock different bashing techniques(2X2 zone bash, double strength bash, etc) and have to mind the heat of the forge, as a higher temperature nets stronger bashes. It's surprisingly fun once you get the hang of it.

 So, what makes the Switch version the 'definitive' version? Well, the graphics obviously took a hit and the framerate is capped at 30fps. Not that it really matters, because the game is still beautiful, character models look great and textures are fantastic, it's a beautiful game no two ways about it. That aside, we get to ride a few new monsters, nothing to write home about and a few bonus scenarios between Act 1 and Act 2, which total about 2-3 extra hours worth of content, once again, nothing special. But now we can select costumes as a different equipment piece, not being tied to the equipment itself as long as you owned the equipment pieces at least once, which is purely cosmetic but something that adds a lot of charm to the game. Squeenix also integrated the 3DS' 2-D mode, and you can freely swap between 3-D and 2-D at Save chapels. It seems that the transition sometimes may reset a bit of your progress, I wouldn't know since I didn't care about 2-D. It's VERY slow paced and the combat mechanics change to feel more like the retro DQ games. If you're itching for a more retro experience, go ahead, it wasn't my thing. And that's the beauty of it, you can pick whatever mode you wish, and the ENTIRE MASSIVE game can be played in either mode, so in a way, it's almost like 2 games in one. They also added the Retro stages, which are alright and I actually did play. You can only play these in 2-D, but the game transitions between 3-D and 2-D, provided you are playing in 3-D, seamlessly, so nothing is lost and you don't even have to pick to return to 3-D, you simply exit the TickinTock town and you're back to where you were, alongside the 3d dimension.

 Dragon Quest XI is easily one of the best JRPGs I've played in recent times. The story is engaging, the characters are lovable, the combat is decent... it's got everything you could want out of a JRPG. It also sticks closely to its roots, which makes it stand out from more modern JRPG offerings, which focus more on waifus, and cutesy girls and derpy boys doing cutesy things in a whimsical world that isn't going to fall in peril from a world-devouring monster any time soon. It's a very classic SNES/PS1-era JRPG but with a very modern coat of paint, exactly what I've been looking for. It also has a very simple combat system that isn't bogged down by countless mechanics stacked on top of each other or other popular pitfalls of the genre. What I mean to say, is that Dragon Quest XI does what it does masterfully and proves that classic JRPGs can work really well in the modern day.
 10 out of 10