Father K's Favourites!

Since August of 2006, when I was first asked by the great Tomleecee, to contribute to the Dreamcast Junkyard, I've been a blogger. A confirmed, enthusiastic, some would say compulsive blog addict. But blogging has not been just about me sharing my thoughts about video games with you, it's also been about being welcomed into a community and making good friends, without ever having met those people face to face, in "real life". I now have fellow bloggers who I consider friends, in London, Greece, The Republic of Ireland, Portugal and the good ol' US of A.

Allow me to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my esteemed colleagues and flag up some of the wonders available to you on their rather wonderful websites!

There is a nice article about my first ever PC game, sent to me recently by those kind folks at Moonpod, Mr. Robot. It can be found over the wonderful Video Games Of The Damned, a website that needs to be visited more often. Please explore the archives of this noble site, as there are Saturn treasures galore available for your perusal...

My good colleague, friend and diminutive brother, Mr. Gnome is in his element at the moment.



For he has found gaming paradise in the cyber version of Middle Earth. Read his stunning review of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (amongst other things) over at the rather wonderful "a Random Gnome's random Lair".
As well as this superb article you can find out all about Role Playing Games, obscure retro computers, chthulu (whatever that is) and emulation (oh and gnomes obviously...)

It's hard to know where to start with my next favourite. Games, films, music and cosplay are all explored in an often hilarious, but always insightful manner. It's J's Corner Of Randomness, and you can start off your love affair with the Corner, with J's rather excellent post on the beauty of Soul Calibur 4, and then carry on reading, and reading , and reading.

As well as Mr. Gnome, my other blogging 'homie', friend and aged brother, (the third musketeer in my blogosphere) is the very old, very wise and extremely funny Elderly Gamer. His rather fabulous place, is the only games site I know staffed by a genuine, living, breathing and ever so horny little leprechaun!




But like J's place, you'll find interesting and informative posts on a variety of topics, such as games, films, music, oh! and some stunningly beautiful images. Oh, and you'll laugh your ass off on a regular basis too...

Across the Pond, in the Land Of The 'Free', resides the hard working, smart and media-savvy
guru, that is the mighty Caleb. This hulking power house of a man, when not wielding a chainsaw or running a TV station, is the United States premier expert on all things Dreamcast. So much so, that he was recently taken to the Whitehouse, on the 4th of July, to be crowned with the title of The American Dreamcaster, by none other than George Washington* himself! *Thats George Washington, the janitor, aged 54, who has the responsibility of unblocking the Presidential can...


His mighty Hunyak blog, is a gold mine of retro gaming goodness. Recently he posted this excellent video about his Dreamcast collection and you can watch it here!



Have you ever noticed the stunning portrait of Father Krishna holding a smoking gun, in the top left corner of the Saturn Junkyard? Apart from capturing his stunningly handsome good looks and macho aura, this work of art was actually crafted by the Mega-Talented Deitrix, without him ever seeing my beautiful visage! Clever stuff eh? That's because Deitrix is THE most shit hot artist on the planet! Think I'm kidding? Well jump on over to Deitrix Artworks and prepare to be amazed! Without doubt THE best looking blog I've ever seen, its a chance to bask in the visual feast created by my colonial cousin. To emphasise the friendship element of the blogosphere, Deitrix and I regularly chat on AOL IM, in fact I talked with him this very evening!


Nebachadnezzar is the saviour of this hallowed site! His prolific posting on the Saturn Junkyard has revolutionised the site. But this young Saturn officianado, is already something of a legend in his native Portugal. Though I don't understand a bloody word of it, the PT Gamers website is clearly a highly professional deal! I may be rubbish at speaking Portugese, but I can stare at the visual feast and click on the links, pretending I know whats going on... Lets face it, gaming is an international language. I don't have to speak the language to know it's pure quality!


Caleb isn't the only good thing America has got going for it! Oh no! There is also the noble Ross who is commander in chief of the mighty Pro-Gamer website, and of course the God of Retro Gaming, the awesome Racketboy! Check out their places on a very regular basis, you won't be disappointed!


But blogging need not be a solitary venture! Oh no! This site is testimony to the power of collaboration! For other great collaborations, check out mine and Gnome's collaboration on Gnome's Gaming On The Go... A cornucopia of handheld gaming goodness!

Then there is the collaborative efforts of myself, Gnome and Elderly, the frankly fantastic Retro Treasures! I don't so much contribute, so much as chip in the odd lame post, Gnome and Elderly do all the work... however, if your looking to purchase a bit of console history, you might want to get your arse over there and score yourself a bit of 8 Bit goodness!

The Dreamcast Junkyard was my inspiration, the first place I ever blogged and perhaps my favourite blog of all time! A combination of the work of Tomleecee, The Gagaman(n) - hallowed be their names- Caleb and myself, if I were you I'd rush over there to look at Tom's Dreamcast Pimped Out Ride and the G-Man(n)'s stunning video about the merits of the VMU!


Finally two other blogs of worth are my very own Father Krishna's Wiikly Sermons and mine and Gnome's Sega Master System Junkyard. Whilst both sites are very young and criminally over-looked, they are both worth a visit! Oh and don't forget the very exellent Junlee's Blawg! Worth a visit any day of the week, particularly if you like Southern Gentlemen and Harry Potter...




So here's to blogging, friendship, gaming and brotherhood!

...and without wishing to be to too male-centric may I formally welcome the First Lady of the Saturn Junkyard, Hex! It's great to have you as a correspondent on the 'Yard! Please comment whenever you feel able!

Oh! Before I go may I also give a big shout out to Pierre La Stank! Where are you dude? We miss your presence!

This is FK saying, "Goodnight children, wherever you are..." :)

Panzer Dragoon meets Virtua Fighter

So, what's up guys (and girl, hi Hex)? Been playing a lot? Hope so. Well, for me, I haven't played as I much as I'd like lately, and in the near future that probably won't change. Between studying for my driving licence and working for PTGamers, now more than ever (trying to convince those guys to give me a job there someday), my Saturn has been quite quiet (<-nice succession of words, isn't it?). Despite this I had the time to play a unique fighting game lately that I'm pretty sure most of you won't recognize.
It's name is Elan Doree, a Japan-exclusive arcade port of a fighting game different from everything you've seen before (and after, I don't recall seeing any game even remotely similar to this). Anyway, in most fighting games you control petty humans (now I sound like that alien from Futurama...), and there are even some where you control robots, animals, cars, palm trees, etc... Well, in Elan Doree you do control humans, or something like it, but they're mounted on top of dragons! Now, how cool is that? Really cool? Or Fonzie cool? "Aaay!"

Anyway, now that I've explained the title, let's talk about gameplay! I have unfortunate news, though, for the controls are too simplistic for they're own good. You just have 3 main buttons: attack 1 (quick but weak), attack 2 (slow but powerful) and jump, which you can combine with the attack buttons to make a jump attack. Also, if you press the 2 attack buttons at once you do a special attack that, if done well, can take up to half of your opponent's energy bar. Now, that's a lot!



You need to be careful, though, because this special attack takes time, and if you're interrupted you'll loose your chance (you can't do it everytime you want).

And that's it, those are the actions you can do. Of course there are other things you have to take in consideration, like the fact that you can move in every direction (you are, after all, flying) and that you can get knocked off your dragon (specially when jumping, and until your back on top of your beast you'll be more vulnerable), but overall this game is really too simplistic, and if you have a good timing you can win almost any matches by just using 2 special attacks and 1 or 2 normal attacks in between.



This makes for a very short game, because once you've completed the arcade mode with one character you'll feel like you've already seen it all. There's 2 hidden characters you can unlock, but it's like the palm tree in Fighters Megamix, not worth it unless you're a real fan of the game.



At least the graphics will appeal to everyone, and even shut a few mouths that said the Saturn couldn't handle effects like transparencies. All the fighters, along with their dragons, were modelled with great detail and all are well animated. Even the backgrounds deserve a mention for their quality.


So, is this game worth it or not? Well, if you're a dragon lover like me you should try this game, but if you're just looking for a quality beat'em up there's plenty other titles better than this one.

All hail the princess!

With all the expectation around my Metal Slug 3D post everybody seems to have forgotten about that little Japanese gem I talked about a couple of times. Anyway, here I am to remind you all and, of course, write something about that title.

The game in question is Princess Crown, a lovely action-RPG in the vein of Sword of Vermilion (or so I've been told, I've never played that game).


But unlike other games of the same genre, like Legend of Oasis for example, the gameplay of Princess Crown is a bit different. Instead of going from a scenario to another, killing the countless monsters you see in the way, here the battles are way more scarce but each one is much more intense because it all happens in a way that reminds me of a 2D fighter, making for a really unique game in that aspect.



Another highlight of the game are the gorgeous graphics. Believe me, you've never seen anything like this. It's not just the big detailed sprites, it's also the fluid animation and the backgrounds that seem to be hand-painted. Overall Princess Crown's graphics are a sheer example of what the Saturn was capable of in the 2D department. Let a picture demonstrate:

There's one big downside to this game, though. All the text is written in Japanese and since this game as a lot more text than your average action-RPG (it seems almost like a traditional oriental RPG in this aspect, for there is tons of dialogue) it's really difficult for a non-japanese reader to make the most out of this game. Hell, it's even hard to know what to do or where to go next! Of course there are a couple of walkthroughs on the web and there's even a translation page I found (which at some point uses this beautiful expression: "she thinks she's all-that-and-a-sack-of-dreamcasts"), but it's just no the same thing.



Even as it is, if you really like this kind of game s you should definitely pick this game up and in case you don't want to waste your whole bank account on the original Saturn version there's always the more accessible PSP port. And in case you didn't know, there's also some kind of spiritual sequel on the PS2 called Odin Sphere (I'm yet to try this one).



Since I've played little of this game, mainly because I hate when I can't understand what the characters are saying and I hate even more when I have to check my pc for the walkthrough every 5 minutes, here's a better review.

Fighters Megamix: Its the Dog's Bollocks....

God this game has consumed me this weekend. I've ignored the DS, the Wii and even the Dreamcast for three days to give it a proper road test, (in other words), to put some serious time into Fighters Megamix.

What a game! I'm gonna post a proper review of this game soon... Until then, enjoy the video of this stand out Saturn legend... Yu Sazuki I love you! AM2, you rock! Saturn... Best console of all time!

2D to 3D done well

So, as promised, and after almost 48 hours of pure expectation, here I am to talk about the latest addition to my (tiny) PS2 import collection. Yes, the title I'm going to talk about is a PS2 game, and yes, it's an imported one. And finally, yes, it's a Metal Slug game, which explains my previous post.

So, without further delay, ladies and gentlemen (are there ladies visiting this blog?), I present to you:

...

...

(uh, the expectation, I can't control myself xD)


Metal Slug 3D!!!



Oh yeah! You heard me, it's Metal Slug 3D!

Ok, so now you're thinking, is it any good? Well, I'm happy to say that it's pretty damn good actually, especially if you're a fan of the series. Of course, you can't expect the quality of the "great PS2 games", but if you're interested read on, for I'm about to tell you exactly what is good and bad about this game.

But first it's time for a little introduction. Although I'm, as I said before, a huge Metal Slug fan, I never knew this game existed until some days ago when I was browsing racketboy for SNK related articles and, by luck, stumbled across a news article talking about some MS 3D. I immediately searched the net for more information about this unexpected title and it was just a matter of time before I had the game in my hands.



I was a little reluctant about it, though, because we all know what regularly happens when a good 2D franchise jumps to the 3rd dimension. If they wanted to add a fresh look to the series they could've just make a traditional 2D MS with 3D backgrounds, or even a totally 3D but cel-shaded game, but that's not what happened, with this title being in the most pure (and raw) 3D.

Fortunately the result is actually pretty good, although it could still be better if some cel-shading was used. Anyway, it's great to see that the development studio really tried to capture the feeling of the original games and convert it to a 3 dimensional world. Almost all the little details that become trade marks of the series are here, like the exaggerated amount of blood that spills when you kill an enemy soldier, the vehicles that bounce whenever you shoot them or your own metal slug bending his caterpillar tracks when you jump.



The characters available are the most well know from the series (Marco, Tarma, Eri and Fio), the weapons are all exact replicas of those present in the previous titles and even the narrator is the same, yelling the weapon's name whenever you pick up a new piece.

There are some things that I miss, though, like the destructible parts of the environments, the character's transformations (zombie, fattie, etc...) or the animal slugs. The whole story and the way it's told is also a lot different from what we're used to. Unlike the classic games, where the story had a lot of humour involved and was light-hearted, in this game it has a way more serious tone and it's told by some FMV's and several cut-scenes that sometimes take way more time than they should in a fast-paced action game.



Now, let's talk about the gameplay. In it's core this is just a brainless action game, where you just have to shoot everything that moves, with that being the traditional Morden soldiers and they're vehicles, like thanks, trucks or an occasional helicopter. The action is so fast-paced that, if it wasn't for the great lock-on system, it would have been really hard to hit anything without being shot to death first. Thanks to your friend lock-on, though, you just have to press R1 and then smash "square" to shoot mercilessly and slaughter a whole battalion in a matter of seconds (like in the previous games the regular enemy soldiers die with just one hit).



While in a Slug the things are a bit harder to control, with your slow tank being an easier target, but the fire-power kind of makes up for that. There are also two sections where you control a plane or a submarine, just like in some of the 2D games, which is really a neat addition that is going to make every fan smile.

But not everything is about recovering old things, for there is space for some new additions too. For a start, every character has its own abilities, like the amount of energy, accuracy, etc.., which can be improver either by spending the experience points you gain in each mission or by winning some medals.



But probably the most important addition is the customizable Slugs. Yes, that's right, now you can build your own Slug! You just have to complete the game with a good score to unlock the various parts you can change, like the whole core of the tank or just the cannon or the machine guns.

When you finish the game you also unlock a special grenade called Monolith (you throw a small monolith to the ground and then a giant one falls from the sky and pwns everything) and a mini-game where you control one of the POWs (you still have to rescue them along the levels).



So, I think I've already said everything worth mentioning about this game. Although it's not perfect, I was pleased to see the commitment of the team behind this game in recovering almost all that was good about the old games and converting it into 3D. The result is a pretty good game that any old Metal Slug fan simply must own.

Saturn Titles for The Next Gen...

There has been a BIG resurgence of interest in the Saturn since it was announced that a new NiGHTS title was coming to the Wii, and in EVERY gaming mag I've read since that announcement, the Saturn has been referenced in one way or another.

Take the June edition of the excellent Games TM magazine for example. Now admittedly, this outstanding journal has always flagged up fine examples of yesterday's games in its Retro Section... But it has recently surpassed itself in terms of Sega-Love, posting some brilliant retrospectives on Dreamcast and Saturn titles.

In this issue there was the following article. I'm taking the time to copy it out for you, 'cos I value its opinion, and for our Trans-Atlantic cousins who can't get hold of this missive, it deserves a read... So here goes...

"Right then, you've just picked up a second hand computerand are looking for some classic games to play on it. The only problem is, you're not too surewhat to buy. Hopefully we can help. This month, inspired by the news of NiGHTS 2, we take a look at the other Sega games we'd love to see a sequel for:

Burning Rangers, Estimated Price £20, Format: Saturn, Year Of Production: 1998.

Aside from NiGHTS, Burning Rangers is the one Yuji Naka creation that was most criminally overlooked. Taking the part of a team of futuristic firefighters, the players mission was to explore randomly generated space stations, put out fires and dodge deathtraps, using a jetpack.

Uniquely for the time, the player was given audible directions, in order to make their way through the burning stations. We'd love to see this on the Wii with the remote taking the place of game's laser hose.

Shining Force III, Estimated Price £30, Format: Saturn, Year Of Production: 1998.

Sega's Shining serieshas been going for ages with several excellent and varied entries, but Shining Force III is undoubtedly the best. Taking the series into 3D for the first time added a new element to the game, as did the innovative civil war story that allowed the player to experience the conflict from three different perspectives. There have been several follow ups since, but none were made by their original creator, Camelot. We'd love to see them at the helm of Shining Force IV some time.

Virtua Fighter Kids, Estimated Price: £15, Format: Saturn, Year Of Production: 1996.

Virtua Fighter Kids is just the sort of game that typifies Sega; a concept that feels like the stuff of Internet rumour , but actually turns out to be true and even plays quite well. Virtua Fighter Kids used a modified version of the Virtua Fighter 2 engine to pit childlike renditions of the classic beat 'em up characters against each other. With the recent success of Virtua Fighter 5 and Nintendo Wii's penchant for cute characters, this series is about due for a comeback right about now.

Fighters Megamix, Estimated Price £10, Format: Saturn, Year Of Production: 1997.

Even more of a fanboy project than VF Kids was Fighters Megamix, a 3D beat 'em up that teamed the characters from Virtua Fighter with those from Fighting Vipers, along with others from Sega's arcade history. With diverse charactersfrom Sonic The Fighters and even Daytona USA, as well as a move set partly taken from Virtua Fighter 3, this was a must have Saturn title. Now how about a PS3 version with characters from Shenmue and Yakuza in it?"

Wow! Great article wasn't it? I have two of the games mentioned above, Virtua Fighter Kids and Fighters Megamix. I first became aware of VF Kids through the capsule toys collected in Shenmue. It was months before I realised it was an actual game. My copy is an imported Japanese version, and to be honest, I've only played it a couple of times... Again, with Fighters Megamix, I've played it a few times without realising its potential. I aim to become more familiar with it this weekend...

This is FK for the SJY, wishing you a GW... (great weekend!) Peace out!

The End Of An Era...

I'm in a state of shock. Something great and worthy has died. I went up to Gamestation before, to see whether they had any 'new' Saturn games in and was devestated to find that the whole Saturn section had been cleared out...

Gamestation has some of it's own independent shops, but they were largely to be found at the back of Blockbuster video stores. Gamestation was a literal treasure trove of retro gaming goodies. They are where I bought the majority, of Saturn games, (the best ever purchase being the original arcade port of House Of The Dead- £24.99, the cheapest being Sega Rally for 20p, closely followed by Sega Worldwide Soccer for 27p.)

Its where I bought my four Saturn Light Guns (one boxed up Virtua Cop Edition) , my Saturn Steering Wheel, and also where I bought the majority of my Dreamcast games and peripherals, my Sega Game Gear, the majority of my Master System games collection and also a variety of PS1 and PS2 games, PSP and DS titles...

Certain standout memories include discovering my Dreamcast Keyboard and Mouse, Shenmue 2, My Namco Light Gun and RE:CV Survivor's Guide, the time I was given a Dreamcast 4MB VMU and a copy of Retro Gamer magazine for free... Plus all the "buy one get one free" (or BOGOF) deals which meant that you could walk in with £10 and come out with two Dreamcast games and four Saturn games.

Gamestation has been bought out by its 'landlord', Blockbuster. Having seen the DVD rental business dwindle, as people download movies or buy cheap pirate copies, Blockbuster have seen the capital potential of the gaming industry as a way it can recoup sales.

But the new ownership of the franchise has decided in its wisdom, that the retro market is not profitable enough, and therefore it will concentrate on PS2, PS3, Wii, DS and 360 sales.

One ray of hope is that it might send a little business the way of 'Chips', which despite being a chain, is certainly not a multi-national corporation, and retains the feeling of the "independent" game shops of yore...

So, I'm pouring a 40 oz to the kerb, in honour of my homie Gamestation, and the end of some great times... I won't be going there again.