Leona Trial 10 – The King of Fighters 13

The Trials in The King of Fighters 13 represent a fine line between testing your skill and outright destroying your hand. Leona Heidern’s Trial 10 is a good example. It consists of 16 hits with the need to transition from a Moon Slasher to a Baltic Launcher by canceling out of the latter not once, not twice but three times in a row. Then you have to execute and cancel out of a Grand Saber run, perform the Moon Slasher to Baltic Launcher inputs again, execute a V-Slasher – an in-air Desperation Move that requires one directional quarter circle followed by a half-circle and either Low or High Punch – before ending with a Leona Blade Neomax, which is another quarter circle followed a half-circle into a Low or High Punch. Got all that? Naturally, you need to be frame perfect, especially with the cancels, to pull it off properly.

Konami’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has seen a few re-releases since its iconic debut on PlayStation One in 1997. However, you can now experience it on iOS and Android. The publisher recently released the genre-defining action platformer RPG for just $2.99.

The story doesn’t focus on a Belmont but rather on Alucard, the son of Dracula who’s looking to slay his father. This was done by exploring a large castle, gaining new weapons and abilities, and revisiting previous areas to find the way forward. Seen as ground-breaking for its time, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Metroid would define the Metroidvania genre as we know it.

The mobile version offers quite full support for controllers along with implementing a “new continue feature”. Players can also choose between six different languages including English, Japanese, French, German and so on. Furthermore, you can earn achievements for completing certain tasks. If you’re keen on experiencing the game on consoles, it might be worth looking into Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood for PS4.

Sega 32X

Releasing an add-on for the Sega Genesis that would allow for playing 32-bit titles – what could possibly go wrong? As it turns out with the Sega 32X, everything. The idea seemed fairly optimistic but maybe the 32X would find a niche for those willing to invest in it. As it turns out, Sega ruined that promise as well, both because of the rush to release it and from the announcement of the Sega Saturn which would present “true” 32-bit gaming, that too with CD-ROMs. Because the add-on was rushed, there weren’t nearly enough games and it failed to attract developers when more appealing consoles were on the horizon.

Here’s a franchise that has maintained a remarkable level of quality and consistency throughout its lifespan, and though it’s by no means a system seller, or one of the top billing games on any PlayStation platform, its still a series that millions of people hold very close to their hearts. In recent years though, Wipeout has slowly but surely all but faded away, to the point where it now seems like little more than a hazy memory. Sure, we got a remastered release not too long ago – and an excellent one at that – but how long has it been since we got a true sequel? Too long, I say.

And why exactly is that? It’s hard to think of a bad Wipeout game. Most of them have been legitimately good, while many have been downright excellent. Even Wipeout Fusion, which often divides opinion among series fans, is at the very least a solid racer, while Wipeout 2048, though somewhat unremarkable, is never not fun. So why is it that even in the face of such remarkable consistency, this series finds itself on ice? What the hell happened to Wipeout? 

Though this is a series that is closely associated with PlayStation and Sony, funnily enough, it didn’t start out that way. Before their restructuring in 2000, SCE Studio Liverpool were known as Psygnosis, the creators of Wipeout, and though they were acquired by Sony in 1993 – two years before the first Wipeout game came out – they actually retained a surprising amount of independence that would be unimaginable in today’s day and age- to the extent that many of their games were even multiplatform titles.

The very first Wipeout came out on the PS1, of course, but it also came out on PC and – just a few months after its PS1 launch – on the Sega Saturn. Its sequel, Wipeout 2097, released for the PS1 in September 1996, followed by a PC release in July 1997, and, once again, a Sega Saturn launch in September of that year. Hell, before moving on to Wipeout 3, they even made a Wipeout game for the N64, with Wipeout 64, which was published by Midway Games. Imagine that- a Sony-owned studio making an N64 exclusive title.

It was only with the fourth game in the series, which was Wipeout 3, that the franchise went all-in as a PlayStation exclusive property. That, incidentally, was also the last Wipeout game the development team made under its original name, with 2002’s Wipeout Fusion on the PS2 – and every subsequent Wipeout title afterwards, being developed under the SCE Studio Liverpool moniker.

That is, until 2012. 2012 saw the release of Wipeout 2048, a launch title for the PlayStation Vita, and though the game by no means set the world on fire – its excessively long loading times attracted a lot of criticism, in fact – it was still a technically impressive and deeply enjoyable game with some excellent track design. It was, sadly, also the last game to be made by SCE Studio Liverpool, with Sony shutting it down in 2012.

It’s been seven years since Wipeout 2048 came out and SCE Studio Liverpool was shuttered, and we’ve received no new Wipeout sequel. We did see the launch of Omega Collection on PS4, a remastered collection of PS3’s Wipeout HD, its Fury expansion, and 2048. Releasing in 2017, Omega Collection was very well received upon launch, and though it’s definitely worth experience for all PS4 owners – especially if you own a PSVR headset, for which it is probably one of the top 3 games to date – it still doesn’t scratch that itch for a new game in the series.

With SCE Liverpool no longer being in the picture, the future of Wipeout remains a little hazy. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that Sony has given up on the franchise- the 2017 remaster would suggest that they still see some value in this property. But with half a decade having passed since the last new entry in the series, and more than a decade since the last console entry, one can’t help but wonder what the future holds for the franchise.

Before the studio was shuttered, they had been working on two launch titles for the PS4. One was going to be a Splinter Cell-style stealth game, while the other was a new Wipeout entry. It was billed as being “drastically different” from previous games in the series, and when the studio was shuttered, it was already pretty far along in production, having been in development for about 12-18 months. What does that say about Sony’s confidence in the series? Well, it doesn’t necessarily say anything about Wipeout specifically- internal restructuring and shuttering of studios isn’t something that is all that uncommon in this industry, sadly. But it does tell us that Sony doesn’t have too much of an issue cancelling a game that has been in development for over a year, and shutting down the studio that was in charge of not just that game, but the entire series from its very inception.

It should be noted, that, that back in 2015, Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida made comments that were quite positive about Wipeout. When asked about the future of the franchise in the wake of SCE Liverpool having been closed down, Yoshida said that there was always a chance the series could make a return. “Never say never,” he said. “There are many IPs that we kind of stopped iterating with new games. One of the reasons is we always love to work on new IP. From my standpoint I try to balance the number of games in a franchise. In the future there might be a chance to come back to a game like Wipeout.”

All of which is to say that as things stand right now, we’re probably not going to see another Wipeout title for a while. “There might be a chance to come back to Wipeout” is by no means a definitive statement- it leaves the door open for Sony in case they ever want to come back to the property, but it also tells us that for now, they have no plans to do anything with it.

And really, one simple look at their first party philosophies and lineup in recent years should be enough to tell us that anyway. Sony’s leaned very heavily into cinematic single player experiences, and it’s worked out very well for them. Their games receive widespread praise and sell millions following that direction, and it stands to reason that that’s what they’re going to continue doing. That’s where all their resources are being diverted- and it’s not like they even have a dedicated studio to work on the series anymore.

Sony has, to be fair, stated in recent months that it would like to focus a bit more on online gaming with the PS5, and that is something that Wipeout would definitely qualify for. But even if they were to make good on those words, wouldn’t it make sense for them to go to other, more financially successful properties first- such as Killzone, for instance? Sadly, it seems like Wipeout is going to remain in the shadows for now- which is a real shame, because when this series was at its best, it delivered some of the best racing games any of us ever saw.

Sega will at last be putting out an honest-to-goodness internally developed Sega Genesis Mini, much in the vein of Nintendo’s NES Classic Mini and SNES Classic Mini consoles. It’s due out this year, and naturally, fans of Sega’s glorious 16-bit days are excited. But is this a one time thing, or might we expect Sega to continue producing these?

For instance, could they not follow this up with a Sega Saturn Mini? The Sega Saturn was famously a failure, thanks to an extremely complicated hardware architecture, high pricing, and lack of third party support, but over the years it’s developed a cult following—not to say anything of Japan, where it actually did better than the N64. So there would be a few people who would want a Sega Saturn Mini, right?

But don’t expect it any time soon, if you are one of those people. Speaking to  IGN Japan, Hiroyuki Miyazaki, who is leading the Genesis Mini project, pointed to the cost of the chips necessary for Saturn emulation as the big roadblock to having it be a reality.

“It may be possible in 10 years. By that time the necessary chips should be cheaper,” he said.

As noted, the Saturn’s architecture was famously complex—it was the Cell of its time, with multi-core CPUs far before multi-core CPUs became a thing, and a bevy of components thrown together in a mad dash to match the PlayStation’s raw hardware power (spoiler: it didn’t). Still, I hope it won’t actually take ten years—like many, I too would love to play Saturn games again, and a Saturn Classic would be a great reason to do so.

The Elbow – Double Dragon

The Elbow trick is one of the most revered moves in Double Dragon history, particularly because it knocks down enemies faster and does lots of damage. It’s also not a trick – it depends on the number of points one has because that leads to more hearts. With five hearts, you can execute the elbow, smashing foes behind you and knocking them down for those quick, no-death speed-runs.

E3 2013 – PS4 Priced Lower Than Xbox One

E3 2013 was not an…ideal time for Microsoft. Coming off of the Xbox One reveal in May, which had more sports and entertainment references than actual games, Microsoft further capsized at the expo. Always online, no used game support, mandatory Kinect and of course, the $500 price tag sent many in a tizzy. Cue Sony to announce in its presser that not only would the PS4 be priced $100 lower but also support used games and no online requirements.

Sega is a company that has often treated its venerated and storied past with shocking, cavalier casualness—but even when it does attempt to tap into nostalgia, it mostly does so by releasing, and re-releasing, Genesis/Mega Drive games from its 16-bit heyday. In a way, it makes sense—most people know Sega for that, after all. But at this point, Genesis games have been released on practically every platform known to mankind, and other, equally great (if not better) Sega games released on platforms like Saturn and Dreamcast have languished in obscurity.

However, with Sega AGES, a line of classic games being re-released for the Nintendo Switch, that might change. While, for now, the collection will focus on Genesis games (again), it might expand to include Saturn and Dreamcast games in the feature. Speaking about the future of the initiative, the senior director of the project said (translation via ResetEra) that it could be expanded to include Saturn and Dreamcast games in the future. Not only that, but Sega’s Sam Mullen from the localization team chipped in on ResetEra to suggest that this might in fact happen—but he did note that fans should express their interest in that happening on social media like Twitter.

Hoopefully, it does happen. Some of Sega’s best games ever made were for Saturn and Dreamcast (including many that, sadly, barely or never got any release in the west). I’d love for the chance to be able to play them on the Switch.

Soul Hackers was released on the Saturn (which was irrelevant in the west) and on the Playstation (which was, in fact, a haven for JRPGs, even in the west), so it is a bit puzzling why we never got it before now.

However, Atlus has finally brought it to North America in all its glory, in the form of an enhanced port. Nearly two decades separate us from the game’s original release, and even though they have caused it to lose a lot of its superficial luster, the core game design, which probably stands as among the strongest in the series, remains undiminished and as good as it ever was.

Soul Hackers is a first person dungeon crawler with a turn based battle system. Given that it is a part of the larger Shin Megami Tensei cycle, it very obviously features a focus on devils, demons, and the occult and paranormal; Soul Hackers takes these familiar elements and mixes them with a cyberpunk theme.

The resultant story is often bizarre, and at the beginning seems to be downright absurd. However, with time, the game masterfully weaves these clashing themes together and gives us a heavily moving and involved plot, filled with some memorable characters, and some provocative ideas.

The focus on demons extends beyond just the game’s plot – while demons and demon summoning play a central role in the game’s narrative, they are also inextricably built into the game’s rather unique battle system. As mentioned above, Soul Hackers has a turn based battle system, but it adds so many layers on top of that, it probably ends up getting more stressful than any real time battle system would have.

Like most turn based RPGs, you have to consider your party members, their classes, and their consequent positioning in your battle formation: keep the weaker, support units at the back, let the more aggressive, powerful units fight on the frontlines. In addition, however, you can also enlist and then summon demons that you encounter to fight for you.

When you encounter a demon, you are given the option to talk to it. Depending on the demon’s personality, its predisposition towards you, along with how your conversation with it goes, it will join you. From then on, you have the option to summon it and have it fight for you.

Fighting itself is so immensely complicated. For each party member, you can either choose to direct them, or let them attack themselves (which they then do based on their personality types and their loyalty towards you). In all cases, you need to make sure you are not asking the demon to do something that it wouldn’t want to do, because it might just disobey.

If it does, then it loses respect for you, and its loyalty for you falls. You also need to take into account what phase of the moon it is, because several demons get specific powers based on that as well. Then there are further added enhancements like demon fusion, which add another layer of complexity to it all.

It’s a LOT to take in, and it can get nuts and overwhelming. It perhaps is also leading you to the impression that battles are an unbearably slow paced affair, but surprisingly they are not. They’re almost lightning fast, and most of the times they are over before you know it. You do need to pay attention to what’s going on, though, because as stated above, there’s a lot going on, and it’s easy to lose track.

Thankfully, in a concession to modern players, the game allows you to adjust the difficulty level, and it lets you do it on the fly, at any time, even in the middle of battles, by simply pulling up the Hackers menu (represented by a small Spanner on the bottom screen) any time.

The rest of the gameplay involves old school dungeon crawling in first person, and it’s here that the game’s age begins to show. The dungeon designs themselves get more and more complex, with save points few and far in between, and random battles abound.

Plus visually, the game very clearly looks dated; the Saturn was never a 3D powerhouse, and this game is an almost perfect port of that version. Poor draw distances and some very poor textures seem to be the common problems; the music, too, sounds really dated and old, though it does have a bit of a rustic charm to it.

In another concession to modern sensibilities, Soul Hackers has voice acting, but you will find that it gets grating and on your nerves eventually. Most of the voices are actually fairly appropriate, but as with all Japanese games, the game makes the mistake of ascribing its female characters with irritatingly high pitched voices, with exaggerated emotional responses. Like I said, it’s annoying, but you get the option to turn them off.

All this time has passed since the game was first released, and in many ways, it shows. From a mechanical and technical perspective, the game stands as a window into a different era of game design sensibility; from a narrative perspective, so many of the assumptions and presuppositions that the game makes about computers and what they can do are almost naively sweet.

And yet in the end, if you have any appreciation for uncompromising, great game design, then there is no chance of you not liking Soul Hackers. It’s a great game, with a provocative story, and some excellent mechanics that have, against all odds, stood the test of time.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo 3DS.