Recent pickups 15/6 2013

Just shoving my face in here for a quick loot post.

Picked up more video processing hardware from a user on the System11 SHMUPS forums: a Vigatec Dune-F.

In terms of 240p performance, it seems to be essentially the same as my Vigatec FX2+, but I have yet to see it act up like the FX2+ could do when games change resolution mid-game. It looses sync and the image starts jumping. A quick reset fixes that but it’s hardly ideal. So if this works out well, I’ll be mighty pleased just by that. It also seems like it’s quite competent in other areas as well, but I’ve yet to try any new systems with it since I haven’t got the adapter I need yet (and I picked up this thing just yesterday).

Also, some games have made their way into my post box.

All nice ones. I may already have Ridge Racer 7 but it really feels more right playing RR6 using the 360 controller. Those triggers are great for racing games. The music’s also pretty great, well, some tracks are. Happy to own Gyakuten Saiban on DS, or as we know it, Ace Attorney. I have played most of the games in the series, but through less legal means (sadly) so to get a proper version feels great. I have made it through the Japanese version once before, it shall be interesting to see if I can do it again.

Speaking of JP versions, getting Rockman EXE 3/Mega Man Battle Network 3 has got me absolutely stoked. I have a bit of history with the first three MMBN games and anime series it spawned, so this was a very nice thing to pick up and I’ll be sure to give it a whirl. I actually picked up the second game last year, and I beat it (well, the story mode anyway) so hopefully I’ll be able to repeat that feat. I’m only used to play these games using an emulator, after all.

Snatcher for the PC Engine is another one that I look forward to getting into. I already own the Saturn version, but after comparing the two, I really wanted to play the PCE version instead. Stoked about that one as well, even though the case has got a few blemishes.
Wing Arms for the Saturn I haven’t tried yet but I’ve watched a bit of gameplay and it seemed like fun. Borderlands 2 I picked up to play through with a friend.

And that’s all I got for now. I am waiting for a big package to arrive but it’s going surface post so maybe just not yet.

Genious bickering (Artwork)

You know what? It’s been almost a year since I last did any artwork worth posting…that’s quite a long time.
But here’s a little something: MM Legends fanart!

Click me!

I recently completed Rockman Dash 2 and I’m currently playing Tron ni Kobun (Misadventures of Tron Bonne) so that’s what made me do it, I guess. (Funny that, I’ve been eye the PAL release ever since I got my PS2 but I ended up getting it much cheaper for my import PSone. Hmm).
Been wanting to do something MML-related for the longest time actually, had some things work in progress quite some time back but they never turned out very well. I get the feeling this too could look better in some areas, but at least I finished it instead of giving up 😛

Book lootage 2012-03-25

Went a little shopping around on eBay for once – didn’t know you could find cool books like these on there for prices that doesn’t cost X amount of limbs or your eternal soul. Or both. Generally, I only buy electronics & the occasional game from eBay, and I know what things can cost there sometimes – the word “eBay gauging” wasn’t coined for nothing.

Man, taking photos of artbooks like these is a pain, some even needed a little bit of photoshopping afterwards to make them readable.

For the keen-eyed reader, there’s two MM-games in there as well: Rockman EXE 2 (Mega Man Battle Network 2) and Rockman DASH 2 (Mega Man Legends 2). I’ve played both of these before and the reason for getting them is a bit…weak, perhaps but why not. I’ve played through MMBN 2 a few times before using the excellent VisualBoyAdvance emulator, but I’ve felt a craving for the early MMBN-games again recently. So, I thought that I could try to play them “for real” this time, on real hardware & no save-states, and then in Japanese for kicks just to see how far I will get.
As for Rockman DASH 2…well, I already have it for PC and I’ve actually reached what I believe to be the final boss BUT, I’m sort of stuck. The controls are a bit wonky, the added mouse-support really can become problematic sometimes. Soo, maybe it will go better with the PS1-controller…not sure, but I’m happy to have it anyway.

Now for the good stuff~! They say a picture can convey a thousand words, and I can’t be arsed to write that many words. Picture spam imminent!

GALL FORCE MOOK*

The fighting gallant girls

GHOST IN THE SHELL OFFICIAL ART BOOK

3D action-shooting game for PlayStation

PATLABOR – Pulsation

Dragon Magazine Special**

Maybe, just maybe, this amount of photos is a bit overdoing it : |

* “Mook”, in this context, refers to a book styled and laid out similar to that of a magazine.
** While Wikipedia says that Dragon Magazine is a publication mainly for light-novels, they have released a number of artbooks as well. I have another one, featuring art from Michitaka Kikuchi (Silent Möbius, Borgman) and I’ve seen some for Slayers as well. The ones I have are very good, so keep a look out!

MML – Lakeside Town curiosity

In Lakeside Town, or Uptown depending on region, there’s a house hidden behind the TV studio. Okay, not exactly hidden. Anyway, in the western release the girl in front of it will tell you that it is a “computer game school” and she’s totally going to make sweet games like Resident Evil. Right, that’s cute but somehow doesn’t really make sense. I always wondered what the deal with this house was, it felt too detailed to just be something they decided to throw in, especially since you can’t enter it. What does “YAG” mean, anyway?

Turns out, in the original Japanese version, things make a little bit more sense. Well, a little.
Instead of it being a computer game school, the girl says that this is an animation school. She continues with a phone number – “please call if you’re interested”, she says. Okay, still weird. Turns out though, YAG is real and it stands for “Yoyogi Animation Gakuin”.

Here’s the homepage, which also features a student gallery.

So, Capcom and Y.A.G. had tied up. Why? I don’t know, can’t find a proper answer. And apparently they changed it to something else in the PSP-version. I haven’t played it but I want to remember reading it became a cooking school or something – don’t take my word for it :p

But yeah, I just thought I’d share this piece of non-relevant information.

Mega Man Legends…

…or Rockman Dash, if you want.

I’m in the middle of re-playing the first Mega Man Legends-game, again. I already completed it once since it was featured in one of my loot-posts. And before that I’ve completed the PC-version a few times. I have yet to finish MML 2 on PC but that mostly boils down to awkward controls.

My import PC copy of MML 2

PC doesn’t seem to be the most obvious platform of choice in this case but the reason is simple, I got into MML before I got a PS1 of my own, which was just some year ago. A few years back, my old PC-gaming self found a torrent of the first game, packed to just over 100 megs, floating around a well known tracker. Way to small, I thought, but it worked flawlessly. Prior to that, I had tried the demo, but it was limited to 15 minutes or something and that time was spent in the menus, trying to make the controls acceptable.
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To me, this game was uncharted territory. Most of the other MM-games, save for some of the later X-installments, I could easily enjoy through an emulator of some kind. But I hadn’t had any real successes with PSX emulation.
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I booted up the game and made my way through the first dungeon. The demo had ended somewhere around the end of it, so I didn’t know what to expect after that. Controls felt clunky and weird, the fact that it was a very direct conversion was obvious. No upgrades to the control scheme or added things like mouse support.
After having fought more with said controls than the first boss, I started to glimpse what the game had to offer. 15 minutes later and after my first run-in with Tron and the Bonne-family, I was in love. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I just couldn’t leave the game alone.

Now, a few years later, I can finally enjoy the game on the PS1. Despite the lower resolution and warp-happy textures, it looks great. Actually, some parts look better. The PC-versions of both MML 1 & 2 are plagued by blue, sharp borders around all clouds, for example. Mega Man Legends just manages to strike something inside of me just the right way. The blocky but charming & colorful aesthetics are enjoyable, the music is simple but strikes the right mood and the english voices aren’t actually that horrible at all. Though, being the weeaboo I am I prefer the Japanese voice over, of course. Anyhow, the only negative thing I immediately can point out would be the length, it’s a bit on the short side.

After I finish the game, again, I will have to look for MML 2 and The Misadventures of Tron Bonne for PS1 as well. But before that…maybe a new memory card is in order.
My thoughts about the now cancelled Mega Legends 3 for the 3DS is probably best suited for another time.

Further reading about Mega Man Legends:
Retronauts wrote a piece about the first game.
Mega Man Legends Station is a recommended visit for anything MML.