The Masked Carnie

When Super Street Fighter 4 was released, I committed myself to getting Zangief's new Siberian Blizzard down enough that I could use it consistently when I needed it, and only then would I decide whether it was worthwhile.  It turns out that was time well-spent, as I swear by it in over half the matchups.  Of course, I've had one heck of a journey identifying where it's appropriate and where it's not.  Believe me, it was a journey full of surprises. UPDATED!   Arcade Edition details follow the other general uses.  Also added Juri... I don't know how I missed her the first time.

Apparently, there's an article in Game Informer talking about not only Capcom Vs. Namco, but also a separate title of Namco Vs. Capcom. One would use the SF4 engine, the other would use the Tekken 6 engine. I already made a comment earlier about how I generally hate the Vs. series, but I want to be more unbiased on this specific issue. Fortunately, anything I'm saying here is purely speculation, because this hasn't even been officially announced yet, let alone any real gameplay aspects.

Many people who know me already know that I have a thing against Capcom's Vs. series. Personally, the reason I see for them selling well is simply that people love crossovers, then the high-execution pros love the skill it takes to get the best combos involved. This is actually a good strategy in terms of sales, satisfying the core and the casual audience simultaneously. However, these games universally go too far and thus make what I consider to be flaws in their game design. Although my primary issue is the infinite combos they all have, my issue today has more to do with the level of customization they all have.

With the loss of my job, I have significantly more free time, even after going out looking for other jobs.  I can now practice Street Fighter, Doom, Halo, Catan, whatever!  I got to playing some SSF4 last night, and clearly the people there got better while I was grinding my teeth at work.  I haven't worked so hard to win my matches in a long time, even though I was consistently winning.  I also got worse in some aspects, because even though some people were playing really stupidly, they still managed to beat me.  The one thing in which I can now pride myself though, is that I can almost reliably get Ultra 2 out when I want it, and it feels really good.  I can bait out Shoryukens, answer crossups, even finally hit the Reversal EX Spinning Bird Kick.  I can't use it carelessly, but it's still a powerful tool (especially when I can manage to get it twice in a round).

This entry will kinda contain spoilers for those who have not played the game.  If you don't wanna see them, play the game and come back.  I'll wait.

Wow, I am really late to this party.  I had considered getting Phoenix Wright for a long time, but I have a little thing about doing games in order.  I could never find the first game for Phoenix Wright, so I never started it.  Well, this was made available on the Nintendo Wii, I had some points given to me free, so I finally got myself started.  Not surprisingly, I'm very glad I did this.  This game has sparked my interest in law again through the philosophies it expresses, even though the judicial system of Japan in 2016 is far from the American judicial system of 2010.  Of course, Capcom really brings it up with its music, as it always does.  If you have not started Phoenix Wright but have an interest in puzzle/mystery games, I strongly suggest picking this up (or at least start with Harvey Birdman's game).

As you can see, a lot of my time is being taken up with Super Street Fighter 4, partly because I've got a game show appearance for it coming up tomorrow.  To at least make that productive with this blog, I've jotted down some interesting things I've noticed with the game.

Well lucky me, Capcom splurged on quick shipping and it was actually overnight!  I received my package on Friday and proceeded right away to my game store to try it with my friends.  Of course someone wanted to play me purely because I didn't know any more about the moves than he did... but he didn't know I was already familiar with T. Hawk from Super Turbo.  We played it throughout the store's weekend (they close Sunday), and I'm happy to report that everybody found something else they're proud to work with.  I'm pleasantly amazed someone could put up a good fight against my Zangief with Adon.  Read past the break for details.

Today, two very interesting things happened.  1) Possibly due to pirate distribution, Super Street Fighter 4 was officially released, although not every place was complying with that.  2) I got an invitation to be a "pro gamer" from a good friend, and possibly get some Youtube fame/infamy as a result.  What's amazing is that none of this was really motivating.  Check it out.

Well, I beat the game in all its modes now and have played as all 3 characters.  For me personally, this is probably going to be the Mega Man game I turn to for any quick fix I need, at least for a while.  I suppose 9 would offer just about the same thing that 10 does, but 10's just got more for me.  Mostly, it's the challenges that will bring me back.  9's challenges were essentially pseudo-achievements you did through regular gameplay.  For 10, it actually has custom-designed levels to play through.  You can beat them normally, but you only get full completion when you do so without taking damage.  For Hard Mode challenges, you even have to use just the Mega Buster.  Getting the full completion is what's going to make this intriguing for me, and I don't anticipate myself getting all of them.  I'll be proud if I can just get in 90%. Read more past the break to get a summary of the alternate characters available for the game.

This article is about a random discovery I made and some commentary about the game Mega Man Legends.  I wanted to save my discovery for after some buildup, so to preserve space, I've put it all past the break.  I doubt you'll be as surprised as I was, but this was still a cool find.

So, I got Mega Man 10 on Friday.  I had a little issue with getting points registered, so I had to go out and buy points from Target.  Small hassle, unrelated, but at least it made me feel like I was going out to physically pick up a game.  When I started playing it, I must say I didn't feel the same kind of rush I felt when I played 9, but that's honestly to be expected.  Nobody expected Capcom to ever go into the NES theme again, so when 9 hit, it hit HARD!  It was new and bold.  It was a fresh infusion of the new retro that got everybody excited.  Now with 10, it was recently done so it doesn't have that same fresh feel.  This means it cannot possibly give the same feeling that 9 had and it has to work harder to be good.  Looking objectively, it seems this game has the same kind of replayability that 9 had, if not moreso.  However much you would have liked 9 as a game, you'd like 10 just as much if it had come first.  It's got al...

Before I go off on a rant here, keep in mind this is an image from MS Paint using a screenshot from a camcorder, not a direct screenshot from the game.  Please do not blame me for the quality, it's the best I have to work with.  That said, Capcom has made a some questionable choices on their presentation.  For the purpose of this article, I'm talking about the main menu.  You know, that thing you will always have to look at when you start the game, unless you actually take the time to make someone else go through the menu for you every time. Really?  I'm sure I don't even have to check to know that there's slash out there of Ken x Ryu (shotoshipping sounds awfully wrong in this context), but this is just disturbing.  I can read so much into this, it's scary.  You've got Ken on top, staring down in a way that looks anything but fierce.  That establishes him as the seme.  Ryu's face and body positioning is done to look like he's begging for...