Capcom's cards and gems

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in on a new trend Capcom seems to be interested in with their new fighting games. Of course I'm talking about the recent announcements at New York Comic con regarding Street Fighter x Tekken's Gem system and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3's card system, which seem to be reminiscent of CCG's (collectible card games).

For the uninformed, check Shoryuken.com's front page for plenty of news and videos on these new mechanics.

All in all I think it sounds like an innovative way to make for an almost unlimited variety of matchups. Depending on just how altering these new mechanics are, some characters and team ups could play completely different from your traditional idea of the selected characters. I do have my concerns though...

One is with the competitive tournament scene. Yoshinori Ono has already stated that SF x TK's Gem Mechanic is an integrated gameplay feature and cannot be disabled. I'm interested to see how tournament organizers handle this, especially if all the Gems have to be unlocked. It's going to be a pain rounding up enough completed system files so it'll be fair for all participants. What if one of the more desired Gem's by the community is something that has to be unlocked by winning a 1000 matches online, or completing all combo challenges. Not everyone is going to have the ability or desire to go for something like that. Another thing is how much time you're going to allow people for assembling their Gems and then selecting their characters. If not regulated, tournaments for that game could take ages to complete.

Another concern I have is private selection of your Gems and Cards. This will probably just be an online gripe though. For example in the Marvel card trailer, we see a team that has selected a "projectile invulnerability" card. It doesn't auto block projectiles, or give you super armor against them, it just completely ignores them! Well, what if you're the unfortunate player who has trained a team around zoning with projectiles or runaway tactics? I just wonder at what point during character selection do you choose your cards. This could swing a matchup in one players hands or another's favor depending on when you get to see the team and when you get to see the cards.

Of course these are just my first observational concerns. No one can really pass any judgement until they get their hands on the game. Like I said earlier, I think these systems sound like a lot of fun and will provide for limitless diversity in teams and matchups. Capcom just needs to do a lot of testing to make sure things get done right. I'm sure people would rather win or lose based mostly on skill rather than CCG tactics.

Time will tell though!

Marvel vs Capcom 3 first impressions

I wanted to do a write up on MvC3 much earlier than this, however my computer has messed up on me again so I'm stuck doing this with my trusty android.

That being said, please excuse any typos as I have little patience for this tiny screen.

I wanted to write about my initial impressions of the game. Since I have a new baby in the house, I haven't been able to put the time into it like I have with other fighters in the past. I feel like with my past experience with fighters I should be able to form a solid starting opinion anyway.

The majority of my time with the game has been split between training mode and online versus. I've only had a single play session offline with a group of friends and I can already tell that the online quality is about the same as Super Street Fighter IV, i.e. tolerable but could definitely use some fine tuning.

Another dissapointment in the online play is the missing ability to spectate lobby matches like you can in SSFIV. I suppose a game like MvC3 might be more system taxing, but perhaps the inclusion of a better netcode, like say lGGPO, could make up for it. I'm also having trouble connecting to ranked matches. Last time I played I got in 2 ranked sessions out of maybe 30 attempts. So yeah, the online modes could definitely use some attention.

But let's talk about the most important aspect of the game: the game itself!

Unlike in MvC2 the game appears to be balanced enough so that you can play as just about any combination of the cast and still compete (for now at least). Although it seems the game is slowly becomming Sentinel vs. Sentinel 3: the fate of two Sentinels. You also see a tremendous amount of Dante's online, but I was expecting this. *see my mini Dante rant below.

The entry level for this game is very low, but will take a long time to master. Perfect for Capcom to snag a new user base. The game has tremendous depth and can be very rewarding to learn (I haven't even scratched the surface yet, but every time I play I see new and amazing things from other players, as well as discovering new tricks myself).

It can be annoying when new players are able to unleash amazing air combos with no effort (and probably not be able to offer an explanation on how they did it) but in the long run it should provide long life and huge user base for the game.

Aside from the awesome gameplay, the graphics are also amazing, sporting character models better than SSFIV and unbelievably detailed stages.

The music consists of remixed character themes from past vs. series games and although they're more upbeat than MvC2's offerings, they could still use a bit more kick in my opinion.

All in all I'd say Capcom has done it again. We've got another solid fighter that will be played for many years to come. I'd like to go more in depth about the game, but I'd like to spend more time with it first. I'd recommed it to anyone, fighter fan or not. It's perfect for veterans and also a good jump in point if you've been interested in fighters but haven't tried one out yet. There's plenty of content to please everyone.

*Dante rant: Okay, I do see the appeal for the guy. White hair, leather coat, guns, huge sword, the ability to turn into a demon. He's like the epitomy of characters I would invent in the margins of my notebooks in middle school. On top of that, he's a really solid character in the game. But there's such a robust cast of characters in MvC3. Do yourself a favor and drift around a bit from Dante's icon on the character select screen. I'm tired of seeing the same 2 dimensional Dante gameplay in every match (doing his super the second you stock a meter, etc.) If you're going to play him, try to vary it up a bit, check out his strat section on Shoryuken.com or something. Because the same Dante scrubbery just doesn't work anymore.

Okay maybe that wasn't fair. I'm just sick of fighting this guy so much :P

See you in game!

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 promotional art

Here are a few pieces of promotional art done by my favorite (former) Capcom artist Kinu Nishimura as well as Shinkiro. I found these hi-res versions of the pieces and thought I would share.

By Kinu

Direct Link

By Shinkiro

Direct Link

X-men Arcade: Mystique achievement

Sunday night I was finally able to get that last pesky Mystique achievement in the X-men arcade game on Xbox Live. Very special thanks to Caiti, Ryan Hamilton, Donnie and the other 2 random people that joined our game for making it possible.

The conditions for the achievement state that you have to "be fooled by Mystique with 5 other people in your party." However, there is another detail they failed to mention in the achievement screen for it.

To actually get the achievement you need to have been a part of the game from the beginning lobby. So if you're going for the achievement try to wait for party members in the lobby before beginning the game, or at least hope you can get enough people to join by the time you reach that stage in the game.

Other people have reported getting the achievement by just being present at the time of the cut scene, like the achievement details screen suggests, but I'm not sure how this is happening. The above method I mentioned seems to be the only sure fire way you can be guaranteed the achievement.

I just wanted to share this method for those of you still pulling your hair trying to get this thing. If you need another party member for getting this send me a message whenever you see me on and I'll be happy to help out. Good luck!


Yeah baby! X-men 200pt club!

X-Men the arcade game review

The 1992 arcade classic, X-men has returned for XBox Live and PSN.


Here's another arcade game I've been playing since I was a kid. I'm glad there's no way to find out exactly how many quarters I've pumped into this game. I'm sure that figure would be upsetting. At least now with this version you can own the game and play as much as you want (for the roughly 10 dollar price to download).

The first place I saw this thing was in the Bristol Mall arcade, right in the middle of the game floor and taking up a space that 3 other machines could have been.




This monster machine sported 6 arcade sticks for 6 simultaneous players. Gameplay wise, this was your typical early 90's beat em up. But the draw was the fact that 6 friends could play together at once and the sprites and animation were just beautiful for the time.

But does it stand the test of time?

Yes and no. The game is pretty short, only sporting 8 stages. For the time this was plenty. Due to the high difficulty, most players usually didn't have enough money on them to be able to make it all the way through the game. Let's face facts, arcades were a place of business and they didn't want people staying on the machines for extended periods of time. So obviously the game was designed to take your quarters. No matter how good you get at this game, the high cost of using your mutant power coupled with cheap boss shenanigans had you paying to continue fairly often.

With this new version, continues are infinite and don't cost you precious quarters. As a result I've noticed that players tend to play a lot more recklessly than they did in the arcade. For example, spamming mutant powers until their health runs low and then dying on purpose to regain them. These tactics make short work of the game's stages, making them seem pretty meager. In a few online games, I've run through the game start to finish with a full group in roughly 15 minutes or so.

Regardless of scrubby player shenanigans, the gameplay is intact and arcade perfect. The netcode seems pretty solid. I've only experienced slight lag in a 6 player match with low ping. But even then it wasn't all that noticable and it's not going to really affect the game anyway. It's not like it's a competitive game.

The only thing that is a little glitchy are some of the achievement requirements. There's one particular achievement that I have met the goal for a few times but the game will not award it to me. I'm not sure if it's an actual glitch or if there's some unknown condition the description isn't mentioning. I'll do more research on this.

The menu's are easy to navigate and the player lobby thankfully displays the ping rate of each game so you can avoid laggy matches. On top of that, all versions of the ROM are available, including the USA and Japanese versions of both 4 player and 6 player versions of the game.

This was the first time I had ever played the Japanese version. The only major differences I've noticed so far are the inclusion of powerups. There are energy pills and mutant power pills that give back your health and restock your mutant power. It actually allows you to survive longer in this game. If you play as careful as you did in the arcade you can do really well. Being able to play for a longer amount of time wasn't favorable in US arcades, so the powerups were removed. Not to mention the whole "winners don't use drugs" campaign that frowned upon powerups in the appearances of pills.

All of the music and sound effects are in tact, including the laughable voice acting. With favorites like "X-Men! Welcome to die!" and "I am Magneto, master of magnet!" you may either find it hilarious or poorly done.

You may or may not enjoy this release depending on when you were introduced to the game. I personally think the game is awesome and love playing it, but if you don't have childhood memories of it like me you might just feel like this is an attempt to cash in on people's nostalgia.

Pros:
It's X-Men! C'mon!
Great beat em up action. If side scrolling beat em ups are your thing you can't pass this up.
Controls are solid.
Netcode works great.
All ROMs of the game are available 4/6 players and Japanese and US versions.
Six player simultaneous action, with plenty of people online to play with.
Animation and graphics are still top notch despite the game's age.
Has great music and sound effects.

Cons:
Might run into a lot of shenanigans online.
Game is very short by today's standards.
Character costumes and storylines are dated. This is negligible but may turn off younger players.
Possible bugs with achievements/trophys.

X-Men assemble!!!

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 casual vids

In case you haven't seen this elsewhere already, Youtube user, EvilBowlofCereal, has posted a bunch of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 casual matches from Norcal Regionals 8 on his youtube page here:

Caffeinated Gaming

Some aren't the most exciting looking matches ever, but remember that players are still figuring this game out yet (hell it isn't even out yet). Any new footage is good footage though.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Tron Bonne reveal trailer

This is a few days old now, but whatever, it's another great cinematic trailer for MvC3 that's a good watch for the action.



Things we can learn from this trailer:

-Chun li is hotter still <3

-The super soldier serum is still serving Captain America very well.

-Dr. Doom and Super Skrull are huge jerks.

-Tron Bonne is in the game (woot!)

-Morrigan is sleeping with Tony Stark :p