I’ll admit I’m disappointed it’s currently at Switch exclusive, but I’m psyched Capcom has revisited this classic series. The stages are familiar but the visuals are outstanding and this new piece of art is simply remarkable. Here’s hoping for a Playstation port (along with Hades, please!)
Way back in 2005 I played Shadow Of The Colossus but never completed it. While I was enamored with its uniqueness, its vision and purpose, there’s no secret the game didn’t run particularly well.
A number of years later it was released on the Playstation 3 with updated visuals. The new iteration, by Bluepoint, was pretty good, but it was based on the same skeleton of the original and I lost interest around colossus #7 or 8, much like I had a number of years prior.
With Bluepoint’s return and total reimaging of the game on the fourth Playstation, I opted to venture yet again into this world but unlike those prior attempts, I completed the game for once! The controls and camera sometimes felt quite archaic, but you could tell they worked hard to bring it up-to-date without losing the original’s magic and feel. Encountering early colossi for the third time (at least!) was a nice way to reminisce and seeing new ones for the first time was an impressive spectacle. The polished visuals, new experience and helpful photo mode let me enjoy the game like I never had before all while allowing me to share some of the more interesting and picturesque moments. I never beat Ico or The Last Guardian either despite playing the former twice. Perhaps for it too, the third time’s the charm! Here are some cool snapshots replete with spoilers, of course! They are in no particular order.
In celebration of resurrecting this site after I accidentally killed it, here’s Morrigan from her Vampire Hunter / Night Warriors OVA appearance. This was drawn by Masashi Ikeda and is utterly phenomenal. That’s all for today.
I’ve been writing for so long that I haven’t really touched anything else. Today, for some reason, I felt compelled to check out SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium on the NeoGeo Pocket Color. I was always disappointed that I couldn’t capture the bonus characters and I never had the patience to unlock them in any legitimate fashion. Well, thanks to ArtMoney, I didn’t have to! So, I finally captured the standing animations for the four bonus fighters: Bulleta, Vega, Evil Ryu and Gouki! And then why not grab the character portraits, now with the secondary colors as well?!! I’m pretty psyched to have these now.
Because I don’t know how to run web pages properly, you can find these at different sites. The standing animations are at my slateman site with the character art at SFGalleries. Or, why not just post it all right here? Enjoy!
Bonus Characters
As for character art, remember the NGPC’s screen resolution was like 160×152 so it explains why these are so tiny!
After season one started slow and ended well, it’s been a long wait for season two to arrive. I expect more of the same this year, but it should be exciting, especially given how the debut season finished off! Until October rolls around, the new poster should tide me over.
Unfortunately, it looks like the show will have to suffice. It doesn’t look like Konami is looking to return to the series in game form – in either 2D or 3D – any time soon. It’s a shame too, as Castlevania sits at #8 of my favorite game franchises ever!
After finishing up Ys II and Ys: The Oath In Felghana, I picked up Ys Origin, a game I’ve been meaning to play. Its arrival on the PS4 this year gave me the perfect chance! In addition, I just grabbed Ys Seven so that may make another title beaten in 2017, we’ll see.
In any event, the game was pretty fun though I rued the lack of voice acting like the other two titles I played. The story was fun enough and the gameplay solid. Therefore, with yet another Ys title under my belt, I thought I’d share some more images, replete with spoilers, of course! There are two more campaigns but I can’t say I have much interest in doing them, although I’d like to see how the third one pans out; I think that one is canon.
And so, here are some images from my runthrough of Ys Origin which really offered some fan-service about the…ahem…origins of Ys and the games I’ve been playing for over 25 years! Enjoy!
This game is insane. It’s weird though. In no way is it new. The visuals hearken back to nearly a century ago and the tough-as-nails platforming isn’t far removed from my own youth. However, it is gorgeous and one of the more refreshing titles I’ve played in years. In an age when everything feels like it’s been done before, Cuphead comes along and tells you that old can be new again. I’ve opted to share some screenshots, but they simply cannot do this game any justice. The silky-smooth animations and impressive boss battles can only be appreciated by watching it in action…something I highly recommend anyone doing.
This last image is one you’ll see a lot of. It taunts you with showing your level progress, thus inciting another retry. And another. And another.
Ys Books I & II remains among my favorite games ever. That’s partly tied to the time of my life, about 13. However it is also tied to its innovation, its technological prowess (CD quality!) and its music, which is still remarkable. But now having finished the remake of Ys III and my save game but a few hours into Ys II, it was time to complete this retelling. And now that I’m done, I realize…It’s dated.
The game was still great, with the familiar faces of Feena and Reah bringing a smile to mine. However, its source material is almost 30 years old and it shows. The labyrinthine level layout was needed with limitations of the ’80s. Now it just feels empty and repetitive. A guide helped me through this journey and I’ve no shame in that. In addition, Felghana’s remade soundtrack may very well be superior to the PSP iteration of Ys I & II. In fact, the former may be the best the series has ever seen.
As Ys VIII hits shelves this week, my return to Eresia will have to wait. Until then, here are some snapshots from the last hour or so of Ys II – spoilers, quite obviously!!!
This is a totally unnecessary post – but I found it humorous. Having gone back to beat The Oath In Felghana, I figured why not polish off Ys II as well. I abandoned that title at around the same time as Felghana. Well, once you land in Ramia village, you can go upgrade your equipment by meeting Zalem. Well, turns out if you talk to her before trying to do any business, then give her three herbs, then visit her bed, you’ll be given an option to join her there. It’s entirely juvenile and silly, and I certainly don’t recall this option back in the TurboCD days!!! In any event, here’s some visual evidence. Warm and sinful indeed.
I quite liked posting those Final Fantasy XII snapshots and I recalled that this year’s GotY contender, Horizon: Zero Dawn was absolutely gorgeous to look at as well. Therefore, I dug through my snapshots from this spring and decided to post some of my favorites. Potential spoilers here! Man, the game’s photo mode is spectacular. Enjoy!
