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Zero Takes Mega Man X3 By Storm

Capcom's Mega Man X series grew throughout the 1990s to allow for more playable characters. While the first two games in the series only gave us Mega Man X himself as the sole controllable protagonist, the third installment finally let players take X's partner in Maverick hunting, Zero, for little test drives. Zero could be summoned once per stage, but could not fight any of the game's sub-bosses (save one) or Mavericks, could not pass through more than one-third of any given stage, could not access any of X's special upgrades, and only had one life. If a player accidentally dropped Zero onto a bed of spikes three seconds after calling for him in the second stage of the game, then he was out for the remainder of the adventure. Playing as Zero was pretty awesome in Mega Man X3, but the many limitations placed on him were not. Later games in the series brought Zero in as a spotlight hero with all of the powers and abilities granted to X himself.  Now thanks to a hack for the Super NES version of X3 from Justin3009, it's possible to let Zero spread his metaphorical wings, shatter Capcom's handcuffs, and tackle the game from start to finish without the usual restrictions. Here's some of what you can expect in this alteration:

• Play as Zero anytime except areas where he's unavailable such as the introduction stage.
• Zero is able to use sub-weapons.
• Zero is able to air-dash.
• Zero can scroll through sub-weapons with any method.
• Zero is able to gather Heart Tanks, Energy Tanks and Ride Armor chips. He's able to fill sub-weapons and energy tanks while also able to use them.
• Zero can use Ride Armors.
• Slightly updated dialogue to reflect both characters being playable.
• Zero can use Capsule upgrades to a certain extent.
• Zero has 4 more health pieces than X.
• Zero has new animations for charged Triad Thunder, Ray Shot & Gravity Well.  There's a new damage animation when you've obtained the armor capsule.
• X and Zero are swapped during events. If you're Zero, X will appear, vice versa. If Zero is destroyed for the ending then Doppler will take his place.
• Energy Tanks work like [Mega Man Zero]. If you're full health during a sub-tank use, it will stop healing.
• The game remembers who you played as last after you've beaten a level or died.
• Character select on Stage Select screen.  The Giant "X" at top center is the character select.  Buster noise for X and a Sabre noise for Zero.
• Golden Armor is savable.

I love seeing creative fans tinker with classic games to make them new all over again.  The more talented ROM hackers have some intriguing ideas and it's great to see them come to life.  I've long since seen everything that Mega Man X3 has to offer, but being able to go back to a game that I know very well and find a new set of challenges really is a breath of fresh air.  Emulation is the only way to play this hack and of course it isn't endorsed by Capcom, but it's still a worthwhile undertaking.  Take a look at Zero in action and tell me that you wouldn't kick Capcom a few dollars if this version of the game turned up in an official capacity on the download service of your choice.

(image via The Mega Man Network)

Jak And Daxter Were Almost Realistically Rebooted

Before developer Naughty Dog began focusing on its upcoming Sony PlayStation 3 title The Last of Us, the company explored the idea of returning to its big PlayStation 2 series, Jak and Daxter, and updating it for the modern era.  While the franchise was certainly successful in the past decade, Naughty Dog stepped away from it when the PlayStation 3 era began in order to focus on new challenges (such as creating the Uncharted series).  Other developers have since been tasked with creating new Jak titles for the PlayStation Portable, but the company that started it all nearly circled back to the franchise following work on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.  The reworked Jak and Daxter concept shared little with its more well-known incarnations, however, as Naughty Dog tried to give the series a realitstic reboot.  Game Informer has the story.

Naughty Dog wanted to find a way to apply elements from Uncharted 2’s award-winning game design to Jak and Daxter. The team experimented with implementing Uncharted-style narrative techniques and rendering Jak and Daxter in the same realistic style seen in the company’s gorgeous PS3 games. According to Wells, the new project would be a departure from slapstick, comic book-tone of previous games. But before full-blown work could begin on the game Naughty Dog would have to create new, more realistic versions of the titular heroes.

The lighthearted Daxter proved to make the transition from wacky hijinks to a more grounded experience particularly difficult.  “There’s a lot of baggage that comes with Daxter,” says The Last of Us director Bruce Straley. “If he’s not lighthearted and slapsticky and fun then he’s not Daxter to the fans. We were thinking what if he’s mute? What if he’s this? We had all these ideas that made Daxter interesting, but then we’re still trying to be creative within that box of ‘I have this rodent on my shoulder.’”

“It started feeling like a compromise,” says [creative director for The Last of Us, Neil] Druckmann. “The more we tried to make Jak and Daxter like we wanted to, it didn’t feel like things were matching up. We have folders and folders filled with scrapped ideas.”

It sounds to me as if Naughty Dog has creatively moved on from Jak and Daxter, and while the company may want to revisit the series, if they're not interested in carrying on the franchise in a style welcomed and expected by the fans, then there's really not much of a point in doing so.  Imagine if the circumstances were reversed and Uncharted became a light-hearted animated romp, for instance.  While reinvention can bring wonderful new ideas to the table, dismantling key elements that make a famous game so beloved doesn't really do anyone any favors.  I'm very glad that Naughty Dog recognized that and decided to create something completely new instead.  After all, the last time someone tried to change a famous and top-selling animated-style fantasy world into something realistic, the result was this.

Dead Resident Evil For Game Boy Color Resurrected

With all of the Resident Evil games scheduled to release this year, why not add one more to the stack?  While the original Resident Evil scored big on the Sony PlayStation, Capcom had interest in taking the property to other platforms.  We've seen remakes and ports of the game for the Sega Saturn, Windows, Nintendo GameCube, and more, but one iteration of the game that was lost in the shuffle is the Game Boy Color.  Created by HotGen, this scaled-down version of the PS1 classic reached the 90% complete point before Capcom shelved the project.  The dead game has been reanimated now, however, thanks to an anonymous collector and a bunch of Resident Evil fans that all kicked in the money needed to pay the collector's price.  Two near-complete versions of the GBC game are now floating around out there in the murky digital underground.  Take a look at the game in action if emulation isn't your style:

Judging the game based on appearances, I think Capcom made the correct decision to terminate development.  This version of Resident Evil comes across as more of a "because we can" indie art project more than an actual Capcom-sponsored production.  Turning PS1 and Nintendo 64 games of the era into Game Boy Color titles was something of a fad at the time (consider the handheld versions of Metal Gear Solid and Perfect Dark, for instance) and the end results were never pretty.  While I'm glad to see a little lost piece of Resident Evil history resurface, I don't think we missed out on anything major when this project was cancelled.

EarthBound Journal Scrapbooks Across Eagleland

Plenty of people in the video gaming community have gone on and on about Nintendo's EarthBound for the Super NES, and for good reason: it's spectacular.  It's also really hard to find now outside of Japan unless you want to spend a lot of money, so if you're curious about this whole EarthBound thing and want to get a feel for the story, here's your chance.  Created by Armand K., The EarthBound Journal chronicles the story of the 1994 RPG in scrapbook form as written by the characters themselves.

Having finally played Nintendo’s classic game Earthbound (Mother 2) earlier this year, I was compelled to create some art inspired by the game and the joy it brought me. After many, many hours (150+), I give you The Earthbound Journal. It’s meant to be a journal written by the four heroes from the game, recounting their adventures through commentary and imagery. Basically, it’s Paula’s scrapbooking project.

The journal mostly sticks to the established storyline, although it takes a few creative liberties here and there to flesh out some details (not to mention the surprising plot twist at the end).  It's an interesting art project and worth a peek.  Now, is this the part of the article where I'm supposed to implore Nintendo to offer Mother 3 as a downloadable title for the Nintendo 3DS?  Because I'm still very interested in doing that.

(via MetaFilter)

Game Boy Glaucoma And Other Problems

There's nothing like a well-built video game system, but even the most beloved and famous pieces of hardware are subject to weaknesses.  Some are more glaring than others.  Pins were out, screens lose their pixels, joysticks snap off, and lasers lose their ability to lase.  Over at Topless Robot, Shaun Clayton has a list of ten of the most common hardware failures of video game consoles and handhelds both past and present.  For instance, consider Nintendo's original Game Boy and how, over time, its screen degrades:

The Game Boy came onto the scene in the late 1980s, and essentially established the firm pylons of portable gaming that Nintendo clings to this day. Still, it had one slight problem - over time, the screen edges would start losing pixels, or having garbled pixels, and eventually the view space grew narrower and narrower, like a digital glaucoma. Apparently one of the cables would just start wearing out and begin losing the connection. It wasn't a huge problem for Nintendo as they had released successive Game Boy models by the time massive failures started to arrive; still, a Game Boy with a good screen after three years is a small miracle.

I can vouch for that one.  I still have my original Game Boy from 1989, but it's not like I can see anything on its screen anymore.  The darkness began to close in in 1995 and steadily grew worse over time until, eventually, only the middle third of the screen had enough active pixels to show what was happening.  As it turns out, it's very difficult to play Donkey Kong Land when one cannot see what's coming up ahead.  The solution was to buy a used Game Boy Advance SP that will play my old Game Boy cartridges with a clarity not thought possible by my eight-year-old self.  I still hang on to the increasingly faceless Game Boy though.  There's a lot of memories and a lot of miles in that little plastic brick.

The Simpsons Arcade Game Returns!

The rumors were true!  Fans of Konami's original arcade game based on the then-controversial FOX program The Simpsons should celebrate as the company has officially announced that it's bringing the 1991 title to the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 as a downloadable game.  $9.99 / 800 Microsoft Points will snag you the adventures of Homer Simpson and his family as they battle their way through Springfield to rescue Maggie who has been kidnapped by the evil Waylon Smithers.  As an added perk, the game includes some improvements not seen in the the original version and even has a bit of bonus content.

• Four-player online action. The Simpsons family is a force to be reckoned with when all 4 members of the family are teamed up. Now you'll never have to go it alone with online four-player cooperative play!
• Four different ways to play the game. Relive your favorite game modes, including the original coin-op experience in "Quarters" mode, or enjoy "Survival" mode which challenges you to see how far you can get with only one life! And for those looking for a more casual experience, "Free Play" gives unlimited continues so you can enjoy the ride.
• Bonus content! Play through new unlockable content that is sure to bring you back to 1991! For the true fan of The Simpsons™ Arcade Game, unlock and discover the never-before-seen Japanese version of the game, view classic flyers and posters, and peruse a guide that highlights the many Springfield characters who appear in the game!

PlayStation Plus members can download the game for free next week when it hits the PlayStation Network on Tuesday, February 7.  Microsoft Xbox 360 owners can get an early start on things this Friday, February 3.  Why now, you may ask?  As it turns out in what I'm sure is totally a coincidence, the five-hundredth episode of The Simpsons airs later this month.  It's cross-promotional marketing synergy at its finest!  As for that mention of the Japanese version of the game, Hardcore Gaming 101 notes that this iteration of the game features an easier difficulty level, increased frequency of health power-ups, a different scoring system, and the ability to jump while holding a melee weapon.  There are no lost levels to be found, but it'll be interesting to play a variation on a classic creation.

You Also Can't Own These Gaming Collectibles

Platypus Comix has put out another edition of its ongoing list of video game collectibles that are most likely way out of your price range.  There's some interesting and rare items here such as the box for the Sega Dreamcast version of Half-Life that was never released, an invitation to a party thrown by Accolade to celebrate the 1993 release of Bubsy for the Super NES and Sega Genesis (it's printed on a sandal), the Tiger handheld version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and the special North American version of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Master System.  What makes it so special, you ask?

The Master System was a failure in the US, and Sega wanted to use Sonic as the main selling point of the Genesis. However, there might have been some stubborn people who wanted the game on SMS, so they put together an inferior port for their older console.

The Master System was still going strong in Europe, and they had plenty of Sonic copies to go around. Sega just took the European version and pasted a new UPC sticker on the box. The European version is nearly worthless. But guess how much that one little sticker makes the same package worth in the US?

eBay Price: $981.33

Stickers are serious business!  There are also a few video games graded by the Video Game Authority on the list.  These are games that have been judged to a set of standards regarding the actual physical condition of the game in question and assigned a numerical score correlating with its supposed worth.  The game is then sealed in a hard acrylic so it can never be disturbed or devalued.  While I'm all for keeping one's games in great condition, the idea of essentially trapping them in amber rubs me the wrong way.  I take great care of my games, but I do play them.  Sealing them up changes them from games to things that I have to lug through life that are only worth as much as some external authority grades them to be.  I'm sorry, I don't care how good a condition it's in, but nobody is going to realistically pay $700 for a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga for the Sega Saturn that can only be examined through a protective shell and not actually enjoyed.  At least, I hope not.

(image via Price Charting)

Older, Fatter Mega Man Stars In Street Fighter X Tekken

Capcom certainly has a strange sense of humor.  After cancelling two different Mega Man games last year and excluding the character (any iteration of him) from both versions of Marvel vs Capcom 3, the company has finally resurrected him to star in Street Fighter X Tekken as a playable fighter.  The strange thing about this is that it's the version of Mega Man from the original Nintendo Entertainment System game's box art in which he's a pudgy middle-aged armed with a gun and dressed in a yellow and blue body suit.  Capcom officially announced the inclusion with a new trailer that shows him in action (along with Namco's Pac-Man and the previously announced Cole "inFamous" MacGrath and Sony's own cats, Toro and Kuro).  All of them are Sony version exclusives, by the way, landing only on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of the game.

Mega Man fans are not happy, particularly since this Mega Man's backstory establishes him as some kind of the Mega Man Legends version of the character.  Consider the wound freshly salted.

Known as a Digger, a person who digs up relics from the past for research. He is a hot-tempered man, but has a strong sense of justice and is also very polite. His weak point is that he is easily rattled when backed into a corner. He is always running around in a hurry due to the demands of his partner Roll, and this time he’s been asked to travel to Antarctica to retrieve a mysterious box.

I don't particularly have an issue with this Mega Man appearing in the game.  He's not the version I'd have picked if I were calling the shots at Capcom, but it's kind of a funny gag if you remember that Mega Man fans have been chiding Capcom for decades about the art on the original Mega Man game box and that we were supposed to see this version of Mega Man in Mega Man Universe as a playable character prior to seeing him here had Universe been released.  It's almost as if this is a punchline to a joke that's missing the setup.  I can see how this would cause irritation in the fan community still reeling from the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe, but I wouldn't say that the Mega Man legacy is diminished by this design choice.  Mega Man's original creator Keiji Inafune was even in on the development prior to his departure from Capcom according to Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono.  That seems about as sanctioned as it gets.  Besides, things could be worse.  It could be this version of Mega Man that appears in the game.

You Need These Street Fighter Tidbits

Capcom's Street Fighter franchise turns twenty-five years old this year, but how much do you really know about the series?  Yes, you know the old Sheng Long story from the Electronic Gaming Monthly days and you know how M. Bison, Vega, and Balrog all had their names shuffled when Street Fighter II left Japan.  However, do you know that at one point in the Street Fighter IV planning process, Abel was a woman?  Or that Chun-Li turns up in the background of a level in Final Fight 2 at a little sidewalk cafe?  Are you aware that Dee Jay's original name was Mantis?  Would you finally like to know that the mode select cursors from the Super NES version of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II Turbo are taken from Capcom's own Side Arms: Hyper Dyne arcade game?  Learn all of these little factoids and many more over at Street Fighter Miscellany where lots of minor but interesting details about the franchise are cataloged and dissected.  Hurry on over and you can watch the introductory movie from Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix that was cut from the final version of the game.  There's plenty of fascinating minutiae for you to explore in between tournaments.

You'll Never See Final Fantasy VII Again

Fifteen years ago, Square Enix released it's most popular title for the original Sony PlayStation.  Final Fantasy VII has led to a number of sequel/spin-off projects, but rabid fans have yet to see the high definition remake for modern hardware that has been in high demand for years.  What's the delay?  Why hasn't Square Enix driven the big truck around back to load up on the money that fans are ready to dump on them in exchange for a remastered Cloud Strife?  Ryan Winterhalter over at 1UP.com has several reasons why you haven't seen the Final Fantasy VII remake yet and why, in all likelihood, you never will.  It all comes down to timing, cost, and a lack of general development resources.

One could be forgiven for thinking of Square Enix as little more than "the Final Fantasy company" after examining their TGS lineup nine years ago. The company unveiled the first round of titles in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series: Dirge of Cerberus, Before Crisis, and the capstone project, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. 2003 marks the beginning of Square's Final Fantasy fever. From Crystal Chronicles to Final Fantasy X-2, the company decided that leveraging Final Fantasy would lead to massive profits.

Yet, Square Enix never greenlit a Final Fantasy VII remake during this gold rush. If the market was ever ready, it was then. True, HD consoles wouldn't appear for another two or three years, but remake rumors began to pop up as early as 2000 (where fans pinned the PS2 as the target platform for the remake); yet in those interim two years, all the company managed to put together was a three minute long tech demo.

If Square didn't buy in on remake development while they remained blissfully ignorant of the pitfalls of HD game production and were already milking the franchise for all its worth, they certainly won't do it in the far more dangerous market of today.

The Square Enix of today just isn't the same Square that existed back in 1997.  Company cultures change, markets shift, and what could once have been a slam dunk product several years ago is today an expensive, risky proposition.  If fans really want to see Final Fantasy VII reborn, perhaps they should focus their enthusiasm in another direction.  Why not aim for a remake on a handheld such as the Nintendo 3DS or the PlayStation Vita?  Heck, why not give the game a minor visual touch-up and bring it to Apple's iPhone and iPad?  While a big PS3 or Microsoft Xbox 360 remake isn't going to happen, there must be viable alternatives on which both the company and the fans can agree.  Failing that, perhaps it's best left alone.