Trinity Universe and Big Bang Mini arrive

I think I did a hefty amount of avoidance when it comes to NIS America and their JRPGs (Mostly because I'm terrible at finishing them. I'm looking at all you Disgaea games), so to succumb and try out Trinity Universe now at almost a month after a release is a new record for me. Hopefully this is better than Cross Edge.

Big Bang Mini, on the other hand, was only delayed for so long because I was looking for a good deal to bite on it. I've borrowed and played the game before, so I know what to expect - great gameplay, great music (which is still free to download from their site), and unique style makes the game a replayable classic. Did I mention there's single-cart 2-player mode?

DeathSpank leaves a strange craving...

I can't quite place it...demos are usually just that - a sample of gameplay to give you a taste, usually over-patronizing in tutorials, and end way too early before you get to try out the really cool stuff.

The DeathSpank demo does none of that; the demo feels like the full game, there's no countless windows of tutorial messages to clutter up your limited experience, and at one point, there is a timer in the upper-right corner ticking down from 20 minutes - probably a timer for how much time left you have to play the demo. The timer could've practically have been irrelevant to me, since the game sold me before that even went up.

I'll admit, I really had no initial anticipation for Deathspank. All I knew about it was it was created by Ron Gilbert (of Monkey Island fame) and a couple of videos. It wasn't until I actually sat down with the demo that I heard for the first time what the game sounded like.

DeathSpank's voice actor has the baritone of Qwark from Ratchet and Clank, and the allure of Zap Brannigan from Futurama. His personality is the perfect mixture of suave and heroic stupidity. All his interactions with the locals are reminiscent of "Monkey Island" brand humor, with multiple dialogue selections to carry conversations on wide tangents. And while the voice acting can get as slow as being hand-fed every spoonful of syllable, everyone else's role shines through. (Just found out now that it's Townsend Coleman, the same person that voiced The Tick from the animated series. That explains a lot!)

If you've ever played any Animal Crossing game after Wild World, the environment will be familiar ground. The terrain is like a long conveyor belt, simulating a vanishing horizon near the top of the screen, and adjusts as you traverse the world. It's both a visual treat and a practical gameplay element.

What's probably the most engrossing part is what everyone touts as the "Diablo-like" equipment system, where you can equip yourself with items, weapons, and armor picked up as you progress. And the game spares no time taking itself seriously with item names like "Cleaver of Cleavening." What it boils down to is an RPG of mixing and matching equipment based on the situation, using what works best at that moment.

Bottom line, if you like Ron Gilbert humor and mindless enemy killings, you'll enjoy DeathSpank. Hell, in the time I took to write this article, I've downloaded the full game!

Finally received my Zero T-Shirt!

Thanks to Capcom-Unity and their awesome Mega Man Zero Collection fan event, everyone that attended got a free shirt mailed to them. And mine finally arrived! Gaze at the awesomeness that is Zero in this winning T-shirt design!

Super Mario Galaxy 2...120 stars complete!

Just like the first game, I've completed Super Mario Galaxy 2 with its own 120 stars, but not without some sweat and tears. While I believe the difficulty factor was increased a notch, it didn't feel as difficult as the first one. However, they did bring back that cursed 8-bit Mario level that everyone practically hated for its purple-coin challenge with an added twist, and made a rolling-ball level on a Rainbow-Road track. Kudos to Nintendo for busting out the familiar "OMGWTF was that" references!

And like the first game, there's another set of 120 stars to collect in the form of Green Prankster stars littered in all the levels. Basically, for every star that existed in each level, another green star is there. And some of them are located in very sneaky places! I'm into 160+ stars now, so look out in the future for another post for possibly a FULL completion of a game!

E3 2010: Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Hands-On

The call for more Castlevania 2D games has been answered a number of times, so expecting another version to appear at E3 is practically a no-brainer. But what if no story were attached to it? What if all you were tasked to do was to slaughter all of Dracula's minions just for the sake of it? Enter the arcade-y stylings of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair takes the tried-and-true 2D platformer and boiled it down to a saucy reduction of pure flavor; gone are the story elements that generally weave through all the boss battles, the lengthy backtracking through the ENTIRE castle to accomplish goals, and even the use of the map as a tool. What's left are small, short bursts of vampire-whipping levels with a starting point and a boss battle goal, all on a level designed straight on the map. What's even more amusing is the three different zoom modes you can set on the level. So, you can zoom up to a normal playing perspective, a partial zoom-out to see all nearby rooms surrounding you, or a full-blown, where-the-hell-am-I zoom out where you see practically EVERYTHING.

The demo of the game had 5 selectable characters, most of which are actually from the DS games. Apart from Alucard from Symphony of the Night, there is Soma Cruz, Shanoa, and the dual of Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin from Dawn of Sorrow, Order of Ecclesia, and Portrait of Ruin, respectively. Each character also comes with their own set of special abilities they can perform with magic, all triggered Smash Bros. style by pressing a direction and the B button.

There are even unique game mechanics that characters carry with them from their previous titles. For example, Shanoa's ability in Order of Ecclesia was her surrounding sphere that allowed her to lock onto gems in levels, and you would used the stylus to drag her in one direction from the gem in a slingshot-like fashion to release and launch her to hard-to-reach areas. In the levels themselves, certain rooms will contain these gems that only Shanoa will be able to utilize. Depending on what character you choose, your level traversing options may vary.

The level structures all follow a set format: a starting point, a big boss location, and a time limit. What's awesome is that everything's happening all at once before you; enemies in every room are moving around in their own pace, platforms and pendulums are swinging around waiting to be used, and the boss can suddenly wake up and dish out an attack that crosses through the entire map aimed squarely at you. This time it's you against the entire map, and if you're not careful, the map will win.

In addition to the single-player mode, there will be a co-op mode (which will bring about harder bosses to take down) and survival mode. Games can also host up to 6 players simultaneously, and will be online. Expect Castlevania: Harmony of Despair to be released on Xbox Live Arcade on August 4th.

E3 2010: Sonic Colors Hands-On

On the floor, I decided to humor myself and see how horrible Sonic Colors on the Wii would turn out to be. Turns out, I was in for a surprise.

Not only was Sonic Colors fun to play, but it felt like a Sonic game; a game more focused on speed and agility without all the added minor gameplay elements. Getting from point A to point B was straight-forward, and the attacks were a mere button press away as you auto-lock your enemies without missing a beat. With a mix of small 3D elements and 2D platformer, it almost plays like a good (dare I say it) Mario game! Even with the added color elements, all of which perform a specific action like drilling or increased speed, Sonic Colors doesn't stray too far from its original roots.

With all due respect, this is a game I'm sure Sonic fans will revel in, since it feels like a big-brother version of Sonic Rush on the DS. Coincidentally, the DS version of Sonic Colors follows the same vein as Sonic Rush, bringing another 2D Sonic Game to the portable console.

Sonic Colors comes out on the Wii and DS this Fall 2010.

E3 2010: Goldeneye 007 Hands-On

Goldeneye for the N64 was a great title in its time, and one of the pioneers in promoting Nintendo's 4-port system toward friendly game-night gatherings. But in all honesty, it's been quite some time since I've played the game to really make any comparisons to today's remake. In the end, however, the memories that remain are the game's strong multiplayer presence, its fine gameplay, and different modes to play as. And, in that light, Goldeneye 007 for the Wii certainly lives up to it.

I got to start a two-player game with another person on the floor. I was playing as Oddjob on the Classic Controller, while my opponent was Jaws. The first thing I noticed was how the controls were a bit flighty, making me feel like I wasn't really walking on the floor. I'm sure after some personal tweaking that this is an easy issue to resolve. Also, my Oddjob character had his special trademark hat-throwing attack as his special, which I went nuts over before I got killed. As for the weapons, they were still satisfying to aim and fire at your opponent. The graphics are a nice upgrade from the much-more-blockier designs the N64 version were filled with, and adequate enough for a Wii remake; there wasn't any over-the-top glossy textures or extravagant backgrounds necessary to make the game stand out any more than it should.

Overall, the time spent in the game just whisked me away to a magical memory when gamers were still virgin FPS players, and tea-bagging was still an afternoon activity with real tea. Sure, Goldeneye 007 is a remake and not the original port of its N64 counterpart, and there will be people completely opposed to that simple fact - but the sensation of the game is still alive in spirit, and I'm sure people will gladly overlook that just to relive their childhood once more.

Super Mario Galaxy 2...finished!

It was a lukewarm reception, but Super Mario Galaxy 2 is now finished. As to it being complete, well, that's another matter entirely. If any Mario player is dedicated, the game is quite short going off the bare minimum. Even with the often double-backing I did to get some out-of-the-way stars that were just for completion's sake, the game still felt shorter than I thought. However, I've only secured only about 80+ stars, still far from collecting them all

Still, the level structures were well-thought of, and the game keeps itself quite fresh at times, so you never feel like anything's really the same. A gaming classic amongst Mario titles, for sure.

E3 2010: I finally got my hands on the Nintendo 3DS, but I'm tired

But I'll say this: The 3D works well, it's very awesome, and I want it NOW! More details and impressions/suggestions later!

E3 2010: Hands-on with...

Dragon Quest: Sentinels of the Starry Skies on the Nintendo DS! The game is much more surprising than I thought, and is a very-welcomed addition to the series. Stay tuned to Akiba-Station.com for impressions!

E3 2010: Lost in Shadow

This game is beautiful. Will have more on this game later.

E3 2010: Day 2 coverage begins today

I'm finding that having a blackberry for blog coverage is more useful than I realized. So you'll see on-the-floor E3 coverage sprinkled throughout the day!

E3 2010: Nintendo 3DS up real close

And behind glass. The lines were WAY too long to check it out, so all you get for now are pictures.

The system looks pretty slick there with its nicely-formed analog stick.

Notice how the Select, Home, and Start keys are right below the touch screen? And you can see the SD-card slot and volume control from this angle, too.

The back of the system also shows the two cameras used to make your own 3D images!

And the back of the system shows the power adaptor port, 3DS/DS slot, stylus holder, and infra-red port.

Hopefully the lines aren't so bad tomorrow for me to get a better hands-on of the actual device, as well as the highly-touted 3D experience.

E3 2010: Some random things on the E3 floor...

Just fresh from his last kill, Issac starts to eye my limbs...

Wouldn't it have been great if one of them was actually a real person in costume and waved to the crowd?

A rather timid Sonic, not sure if his presence was known on the E3 showroom floor.

E3 2010: Day One over...

...But I'll get to posting this day's discoveries tonite! Stay tuned!

The calm before the E3 storm

Portable devices...check. Laptop...check. Pen and paper...check. Camera...check. E3 pass...check and double-check. Looks like I'm good and ready to report! Remember that if you want me to ask any particular questions, send them (one question at a time) to GameritisGuy@gmail.com, and I'll do my best to get some answers!

Gameritis also has a facebook page, so please "like" it if you want to receive updates through there.

I'll also be coverage over on Akiba-Station as GameOrDie, so please check for updates there as well!

Less than 6 hours til go-time...

Bit Trip Runner...finished!

The last few levels near the end of Bit Trip Runner were nail-bitingly difficult. I mean, so-close-to-the-end-but-then-running-into-an-obstacle-and-having-to-restart-to-the-beginning-all-over-again-50-times difficult. But finally completing each level was still so worth it.

Did I mentioned that this game is a recommended purchase?

Cave Story: What I was missing...

Let me set this up for you.

• I have never played Cave Story before on my own.
• Most of my information came from the updated sprites for the WiiWare version of the game.
• I played a version of the game briefly last year at E3, with little or no knowledge of what I was actually doing.

Cave Story was a game that appealed to me in two ways: its indie status and its retro style. Nevermind that this game is 6 years old, has received game translations and tribute sites, and was completely free. Some how, some way, the game never got through to me.

Until now.

After I downloaded the game, I told myself I'll play just about 5 minutes since it was late, and then call it a night. An hour later, I was forcing myself to turn off the system.

The gameplay mechanics are so simple and addicting. You collect life capsules to increase your total health, and you have weapons in your inventory that level up depending on the triangles that you collect from defeated enemies. Collect enough of those triangles, and you can level up your weapon to a stronger level, up to level 3 max (when I first played the game, will probably increase later, I'm sure). The devilishly evil aspect is, when your character takes damage, so does his weapons level. Not only does this force you to desperately try to level up your weapon to maximum status, but it reminds you that you can't blaze through a corridor of enemies in a split second unless you're not taking damage at all. Suddenly, this has become a horizontal SHMUP!

The story is as eclectic as its character design, both done by Daisuke Amaya (aka Pixel). It starts up with a character that has no knowledge of himself or why he's there, but that's where the game shuts up. It's not constantly in-your-face that he has amnesia, nor do you get any reaction from him of any concern for that fact. Unlike most games using the "lost memory"approach, Cave Story just lets you explore the world and worry about it later. The nicely-decorated levels and assortment of random art explains itself as you traverse the world. It's a nice no-nonsense approach to giving the gamer what they want, while letting the environment and ambiance tell the story instead.

While I've heard there are some audio issues, the game is still a much-needed departure from all the "next-gen" content that comes out on a weekly basis. If you feel adventurous, download Cave Story on WiiWare and go spelunking. Hopefully, you'll encounter a gaming nirvana you've never realized you were missing.

Recap: Mega Man Zero Collection event at Capcom

The Capcom-Unity event had about 30-40 guests gather for its pre-Mega Man Zero Collection event this past Friday, giving fans the chance to sample the DS game days before its release.

The event, which was held at the Capcom offices in San Mateo, was equipped with a room of about 11-12 TVs all running Mega Man games from their anniversary collection in celebration for all things Mega Man.

The center table, which was decorated with Mega Man Zero fan art, was devoted entirely for Mega Man Zero Collection playable on 4-5 Nintendo DSes.

There was even a small theater setup to play a staffer’s Netflix queue of Mega Man: Upon a Star anime, which, despite the dubbing and dated animation quality, was a pretty decent portrayal of the blue bomber.

Food and drinks were provided for fans, including the Mega Man E-Tank drink, a red-bull-tasting energy drink that was a very dedicated shade of Mega Man blue. While it wasn’t exactly like the E-tank drinks sold in Japan, the cans were still theme-appropriate and well accepted.

There were plenty of opportunities to win raffle prizes throughout the event, and the host was playfully reminding everyone that most of them were donated from Seth Killian’s Mega Man personal collection. These included many toys and figures that, frankly, I wasn’t even aware were out in the market at all; the Battle Network electronic toys were something I thought were never going to make it from Japan. There were even some Mega Man vinyl figures (like decorated Munny figures), and even some Japan-exclusive Mega-Man-themed Kubrick figures.

But the most coveted prize went to the winners of the Endless Mode competitions for both Mega Man 9 and 10. Players survive through a random gauntlet of enemy-filled screens with all weapons unlocked and available to them, with only one life to use. Top scores are measured in how many screens you can survive through. The player with the most screens won a Mega Man 9 press kit (the faux NES box and cartridge) and T-shirt. And boy did they compete. The winner from the Mega Man 9 Endless Mode competition was doing so well not dying that the host had to tell him to manually stop due to time constraints, forcing his hand at after 41 screens and still strong.

All attending fans also got a free Mega Man Zero T-shirt of the winning design from their recent contest, which will be mailed to them at a later date.

Overall, the Mega Man event was a living embodiment of the franchise’s strength and lasting power. For a company to be able to “reboot” their series at its 9th installment AND create not one but FOUR successful branching titles using a side character AND still remain strong says a lot about their game, their quality, and their fans.

Mega Man Zero Collection is out for the Nintendo DS now for $29.99.

3D Dot Game Heroes: Sending Link

Sorry for re-using a good joke, but I've finally put my 3D Dot Game Heroes Link character up on a hosting site. And I've fully fooled myself into thinking this is a new Zelda game with this custom hero in my game now.

Thanks to everyone's positive comments on my first creation! I'll have to see what to make next...any suggestions? Post them below!

Click the link below to download your own copy of Link to play in 3D Dot Game Heroes! Directions to upload the character are located here.

Download link for Link in 3D Dot Game Heroes