You’ve Probably Never Played… Tetris (CD-i)

Posted on Feb 24, 2016 by ollie

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Tetris
Developer(s): Philips POV
Publisher: Philips Interactive Entertainment
Platform(s): Philips CD-i
Release Date: 1992

“The classic becomes a legend in CD-i”

It’s undeniable that Tetris is a classic. It has gone down in history as the undisputed king of puzzle games, available for almost every platform under the sun, as well as running on everything from graphing calculators to oscilloscopes. It’s timeless formula excels through being both easy to understand but challenging to master, helping to cement its place both as one of the best-selling games of all time, and on many occasions leading to it being called one of the greatest games of all time.

When you take all of this into account, the tagline written above that accompanied the Philips CD-i version of Tetris is making a pretty hefty claim – that somehow, this version of Tetris surpasses all others, turning the beloved classic into a truly legendary experience. With this in mind, after playing Tetris for CD-i, you’ll probably be asking yourself something along the lines of “how did they manage to take a step backwards?”. It’s almost ironic that the tagline is grammatically incorrect…

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Legends, Erasers and the 90s – Culture Collection #10

Posted on Feb 22, 2016 by ollie

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In terms of gaming history, this February is a very important month. With the likes of The Legend of Zelda turning 30, Pokémon turning 20 and most importantly, Sonic Riders turning 10 years old, it’s a fitting time to celebrate the impact and legacy of some of our favourite series. This snap by lucifervonhell contains a fair amount of history in itself, showcasing a variety of different incarnations of the original Zelda, notably the first release for the Famicom Disk System (which also turned 30 last week), as well as the GBA Famicom Mini series version which features a neat little replica of the original Famicom version’s box to hold the cartridge in!

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With the theme of Famicom/NES classics in mind, this is a great time to showcase these fantastic keshi inspired by Konami’s Contra. Produced by Zoomoth and sold exclusively at the 2016 winter Wonder Festival, these unique mini-figures portray Bill and Lance in a nostalgic manner with a very authentic take on the popular 90s collectable eraser toys. Zoomoth have also produced figures based on popular games of the era such as Demon’s Crest, Castlevania and Splatterhouse, which you can see more pictures of over on samurai_me‘s Instagram page.

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Zoomoth’s keshi aren’t the only video game-themed toys that caught my eye this week; sixteenbit’s PVC figure taken straight out of Compile shoot-’em-up M.U.S.H.A. (known in Japan as Musha Aleste) is certainly envy-inducing, even more so when you consider how hard they are to come by these days! The figure was originally released as part of the Shooting Game Historica gachapon range, with the remarkably detailed line of collectable shoot-’em-up spacecraft becoming understandably sought after amongst shooting game fans. Whilst you can expect to pay a hefty price for one of these figures, when it comes to playing the game itself your best bet is the Wii Virtual Console – acquiring an original Mega Drive cartridge copy of the game is guaranteed to set you back several hundred pounds.

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Merchandise is always great (well, almost always), but when it comes to collecting, the consoles are absolutely vital. If this is the case, DD_filia has seemingly every base possibly imaginable covered when it comes to a good choice of consoles. With everything from Nintendo’s classic Color TV-Game 15 to the Bandai Playdia, not to mention a brilliant Boardmaster supergun, it’s no surprise that it takes almost an entire room to lay this collection out. In theory such a large number of consoles would mean you’ll never get bored, but I can’t imagine deciding what to play is an easy decision to make!

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Perhaps a simpler gaming setup is more to your taste? Kazzycom’s 90s-style arrangement, in which the Super Famicom takes pride of place (although both the Famicom Twin and original Famicom with Disk System are also on display, just in case you need two different ways to do exactly the same thing!), is ideal for a particularly nostalgic gaming session. Complete with retro magazines and even VHS tapes on display (if I was any older, I’d make a ‘remember those, kids?’ joke), I can’t think of a better way to simulate the feeling of travelling in time than with some old games!

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REVIEW – Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)

Posted on Feb 16, 2016 by Peter Grant

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Fire Emblem Fates
Developer: Intelligent Systems, Nintendo SPD
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform(s): 3DS
Release Date: February 19th 2016 (US), 2016 (EU)
Links: US Site

Reviewed by Peter Grant (@AfroHorses)

Fire Emblem If was released in Japan in June of 2015, and is the hotly anticipated sequel to Fire Emblem Awakening, both of which are on the Nintendo 3DS. While there is a vague connection between the two games, knowledge of Awakening is not needed to enjoy Fates. This is perhaps just as well, as the first few hours of Fates are quite heavy on plot development, on a series that tends to not take especially long to cut to the action.

For the uninitiated, Fire Emblem is a strategy role-playing game. The best comparison is perhaps akin to something like chess, only where your pieces develop feelings for each other and enhance their powers and abilities through battle. The series is known for having a punishing difficulty level, in which case it is fortunate that the battle system is so simple. Player and the AI opponent take turns moving units into a position to attack. A signature feature of the series is that, if a unit is defeated, they have been lost permanently, unless the chapter is restarted. Thankfully, the outcome of the encounters are made very clear before choosing to act. While Awakening felt something like refined take on what came before, Fates has decided to take everything a step further. As you might expect from a sequel, the presentation is improved, but the changes are not limited to just that.

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A Little Look At… 8BIT MUSIC POWER

Posted on Feb 15, 2016 by ollie

Since its unveiling back in late 2015 we’ve been eagerly anticipating the release of 8BIT MUSIC POWER, a brand new chiptune album produced by Famicom homebrew developer Riki Iwasaki, featuring the musical talents of many different chiptune artists and delivered in the form of a Famicom cartridge, allowing you to take in the 8-bit sounds the way they were originally intended to be enjoyed, on original Famicom hardware. The cartridge released at the end of January to overwhelming success, even achieving number 3 on the Amazon Japan bestselling video game pre-order charts prior to its release, which shows that there’s still a keen appreciation for the games of times gone by both in Japan and amongst an international audience.

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VIDEO – Street Fighter V F.A.N.G Gameplay

Posted on Feb 11, 2016 by ollie

Following on from my in-depth preview of Street Fighter V based on my time with the game at last week’s UK launch event, I’ve taken the liberty of compiling a selection of gameplay clips recorded at the event for your enjoyment. Included is gameplay of the final build of the game, which has the last revealed member of the starting character roster playable, F.A.N.G – he hasn’t been present in any of the playable beta sessions prior to the game’s launch on February 16th, so it was nice to see him in action!

Whilst all of the clips are recorded off-screen, I hope it can give you a feel for how some of the new and returning cast members fair in the hands of some of the biggest Street Fighter fans in the UK.

You can expect to see more video content from Minus World going into the future, so feel free to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitch so you don’t miss a thing!

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Indulge in some retro gaming chat with SourceCast #7

Posted on Feb 10, 2016 by ollie

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I was recently invited by our friends over at SourceGaming to appear on the latest episode of their podcast, the SourceCast! The main topic of discussion was retro gaming, including our personal retro gaming memories, favourite revivals of beloved retro series, as well as some chat about which retro gaming characters we’d like to see in a future Super Smash Bros. title!

SourceGaming provide essential translation and preservation work for the gaming community, collecting and publicising research and information to benefit fans and clear up some of the factual discrepancies that have plagued the community for years. Some of their notable projects include regular translations of Masahiro Sakurai’s Famitsu columns, researched features and opinion pieces as well as exclusive developer interviews. All of these are worth a look, so consider checking them out – if you like what they do, make sure you don’t forget to drop by their Twitter and Patreon too!

You can listen to the podcast over on SourceGaming, where you can also find links to download the episode, along with all previous episodes, on iTunes and Android.

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You’ve Probably Never Played… Ikki

Posted on Feb 10, 2016 by ollie

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Ikki
Developer(s): Tose, Sunsoft
Publisher: Sunsoft
Platform(s): Arcade, Famicom, PlayStation, Mobile, PC, Wii (VC), PS4 (Arcade Archives)
Release Date: November 27th 1985 (Famicom)

For a single game to define an entire aspect of gaming itself, it has to do something pretty special. Some would argue that Nintendo’s 1985 classic Super Mario Bros. set the conventions for the platforming genre in a way that still stands today, and in the same way Capcom’s Street Fighter II continues to define what makes a great fighting game. These are just a small selection of the kind of titles that have found themselves inscribed on the pages of history, widely considered to be staple titles in their respective genres, as well as holding a powerful influence over the very direction of gaming of all forms, at the time of their release and even in 2016. Sunsoft’s Ikki wields a similar influence in its native Japan; not for remarkable graphics, outstanding gameplay or genre-defining mechanics. Ikki is notable for essentially creating the term ‘kusoge’ – literally meaning “shitty game”.

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‘Kusoge’ was the word essayist Jun Miura chose to describe Ikki in his writing, specifically referring to the Famicom version. His piece of writing in Famitsu Tsuushin coined the term, one still used today to generally describe games that simply aren’t any good, which despite their sub-par quality, have garnered a bizarre cult following and surrounding culture. At times humorous, others painful, and all as a result of any number of blaring design flaws, kusoge can often be considered gaming’s equivalent of B-movies, with a number of titles proudly bearing the label of being ‘so bad it’s good’.

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Check out some ‘The Great Ace Attorney’-themed booze you never knew you wanted to drink

Posted on Feb 8, 2016 by ollie

I think there are a fair few people who wouldn’t find it hard to argue that video games and alcohol go hand-in-hand. Necking a few cold ones over a game of Mario Kart might sound like the ideal form of relaxation for some, but perhaps you’re looking for something a little more refined to drink during your gaming sessions? How about something refined enough to sip on whilst carrying out 19th century Meiji period investigations and court trials?

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PREVIEW – Street Fighter V – Impressions from the UK launch event

Posted on Feb 6, 2016 by ollie

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Street Fighter V is undoubtedly one of the most hotly anticipated releases this year. With a little over two weeks until its worldwide release, Capcom have been holding events across the world to bring fans of the beloved fighting franchise together for a celebration of the next evolution of Street Fighter. I made the trip up to Soho to attend the exclusive event and I’ve brought back some impressions on the latest build of the game to share with you all! The build on offer at the launch event featured all 16 characters confirmed to be appearing at the game’s launch on February 16th, including the recently announced F.A.N.G, who has remained unplayable even throughout the regular beta events that have taken place on PS4 and PC. I managed to get some hands-on time with several members of the new cast, as well as seeing some play at a much higher level than I’m personally capable of that really showed off what the characters can do.

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Brand new villain and supposed right hand man of Bison, F.A.N.G, has firmly taken his place as one of the more disputed inclusions in SFV‘s character selection. Whilst opinions online and amongst attendees on the night were mixed in terms of his bizarre looks and even more adventurous play style, I can safely say that after taking him for a spin, he’s certainly a character to watch; F.A.N.G’s specials were made up primarily of charge moves, including his arching ‘Nishikyu’ projectile. His V-skill, also a projectile that moves slowly and deals continuous damage, wields interesting combo potential and helps to emphasise careful planning and control over space that F.A.N.G is crafted around. He has a handful of hard-hitting attacks and command moves, such as the ‘Sotoja’ attack, which also serves as a great tool to close the distance between you and your opponent. With some really unique tools on offer, not to mention a seemingly important role in the game’s story, it’ll be interesting to watch how F.A.N.G develops; perhaps one the wider player-base get their hands on him for themselves, their perspectives might change!

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Street Fighter IV – The End of an Era

Posted on Feb 2, 2016 by ollie

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“The weak lose and the strong win! Which of these fighters will prove the old axiom today?”

This question was posed in one of the many passionate lines spouted by the announcer in the original 2008 release of Street Fighter IV. A lot has changed since the surprising revival of this much-loved fighting series that had dominated the arcades in 90s, a revival that caught many by surprise, including internally at Capcom, but almost 8 years after its release there are still many who vow to answer this question.

In many ways, Street Fighter‘s fourth numbered instalment was to be considered a ‘return to form’ for the series. Street Fighter II had been a huge global hit on the arcade scene and on home consoles with ports to almost every system under the sun, making its way into the hands of both a widespread casual audience who adopted it as one of the greatest multiplayer titles of the 16-bit era, as well as hardcore, professional players who took the game’s seemingly basic gameplay (at least, to the untrained eye) and squeezed it for every ounce of complexity it contained. With a number of different versions bringing with them gameplay changes and even extra fighters, it was clear that Capcom clearly knew how to make the most of the wild popularity of what would become one of their biggest franchises.

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