Invalid characterset or character set not supported Recent Stuff 19





Recent Stuff 19
August 22, 2016

Been about two months since I did one of these, so figured I would crank another one out before I completely lose these thoughts.

-GAMES-

Mighty No. 9: In my last entry, I said I was worried about reviewing too many bad games, since they could potentially wear me out. Well, my next review was for this game. While I was curious to play Mighty No. 9, I was also concerned reviewing it could turn into a nightmare. Thankfully, doing the Legacy Collection and Mega Man 10 reviews prior to this helped tremendously, and it was one of the easier things to churn out. If there's one positive to come out of this debacle, it's that No. 9 persuaded me into finally purchasing the Mega Man X Collection for the PS2. That's right: I've never really played the X titles. The most I ever experienced was a stage or two of X 1. I've heard the collection isn't a perfect conversion, but I'm also not gonna buy all six games separately on their respective consoles...

Hilariously, after writing the above, I discovered I had an incomplete blog entry draft for July which also had a Mighty No. 9 segment. So here it is, just for kicks:

Mighty No. 9: While the initial announcement of this game was pretty exciting, I more or less stopped paying attention to the game after the first update or two of development progression. The only time I heard any type if news surrounding Migthty No. 9 during these last three years was when I happened to bump into a news article in passing, when I was actually searching for something else; PR drama, delays, the criticized Red Ash kickstarter, the cartoon announcement, and the infamous Masterclass trailer. Never in my life have I seen such a widely-publicized and documented disaster prior to a game coming out.

Despite having reviewed Mega Man Legacy Collection and Mega Man 10 in the previous months before Mighty No. 9's launch, I never really felt compelled to do a review of the game. After a year, year and a half after the game's initial announcement, I just stopped caring. Then one day, I was snooping around Amazon for stuff, and that's when the site recommended Mighty No. 9, and I thought, "Oh, it's finally coming out?" Then I bought it, thinking I might as well give it an actual, personal impression.

I just really can't believe this game exists the way it does. Inafune had an opportunity to show people what he can do with the Mega Man formula without being "restricted" by Capcom... and this was the best he could do? Unless he's able to turn it around drastically in a sequel, this release made me question how much actual hard input he had with past Mega Man/X/etc. titles.

The Incredible Baron: So I chose this from the prize pool after receiving RotW, and unfortunately I had to sit on it for a few days while I plowed through Mighty No. 9 and the subsequent review. When I finally DID have a chance to touch it, I was gonna give it a go for a solid hour, and, well, that one hour transformed into four hours. Surprised how much I enjoyed this "simplistic" take on base-versus-base strategy. It's hard to explain in so few words why it's entertaining, other than it pulls off the strategy element well. Just read EmP's review!

Rhythm Heaven Megamix: When it comes to this franchise, it seems I have the complete opposite feeling towards it (disappointment and frustration) compared to others that played it. I dunno, I just think there's so much room for improvement when it comes to the way the gameplay is handle. Megamix is probably the closest this series will ever get to how I personally think it should have been from the start. I read that this was the final game by the studio that made it before being merged with another Nintendo division, so I hope that doesn't signal the end of the series. Then again, this was the first new Rhythm Heaven game in five years, and it's just a compilation.

Assault Suit Leynos: Prior to downloading this on launch day, I decided to pull out my Sega Genesis and give the original game a shot, just so comparisons would be easier with the new version. Man, Target Earth is one of the roughest games ever. It's downright amazing how unforgiving the action is. The remake is an improvement, but they easily could have done some more work with extras or additional modes. Makes it even more questionable that the game is also getting a physical release at the end of this month; I just don't see enough here as a game to justify that, and I'm saying that from the perspective of how much the publisher could possibly lose in money by doing this.

3D Classics: Urban Champions: Moving on.

Super Star Path: Interestingly, I came across this little title when I was eyeing the developers' second game on Steam, Bot Vice. I was actually going to review that, but this got my attention more, so I went with this game first. As mentioned in the review, it has its share of faults, but it's an entertaining, brief shoot 'em up with a twist. Dunno if I'm going to do Bot Vice right away now, but it's on my list. I do recommend taking a peek at the developers' Twitter page, too, since they constantly make their own sprite interpretations of video game characters, as well as other stuff.

-MOVIES/TV SHOWS-

I've watched a bunch of movies over the last two months, so I'm not even going to try talking about every one. Keeping up with my Gundam talk, I'll instead focus on the following movie:

Char's Counterattack: I've had an unfortunate viewing history with this film. For those not in the known, the original Mobile Suit Gundam finally aired on US TV in 2001, on Cartoon Network, and I attempted to catch all the episodes. However, that plan fell apart when September of that same year rolled around. Cartoon Network was concerned that a show based around war would be too insensitive to air after the events of that month transpired, so they began skipping episodes, and soon after, the show's US run was cancelled, before showing the remaining episodes. Worse, if I recall, an episode or two of the unaired episodes popped up that same year during a New Years Eve block... and I remember one of them being the final episode. I didn't get a chance to see the latter half of the show, and when given the opportunity, I was shown the very last episode. So... I missed out on a lot of context and drama.

Skip to 2003, where Cartoon Network airs Char's Counterattack on their Adult Swim block. Put yourself in my shoes at the time: my only experience with the Universal Century timeline was with a butchered run of Mobile Suit Gundam, and I was vaguely aware of Zeta Gundam and Gundam ZZ, let alone their connections to both the original show and this film. So you can imagine that my first experience with this movie was like trying to put a puzzle together... a lot of it flew over my head. All I knew was that Amuro and Char are rivals, but I didn't realize at the time how deep this rivalry went, and how much development each character went through. By the time the ending credits popped up, I was like, "Okay?"

After having watched the entirety of Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, and even Gundam ZZ, it's amazing how much more impactful this movie feels. I agree the movie has some issues, especially the thing where you're introduced to new characters that take up more screen time than they should (Quess), but it still feels like a fitting climax to the original U.C. "conflict", as well as a conclusion to Amuro and Char's arc. Personally though, the more Lalah Sune pops up in any incarnation of Gundam, the more ridiculous she comes off. I also noticed faces that I previously thought were movie-made characters, such as Cameron Bloom and Astonaige. Mirai's appearances in the movie felt overplayed, but I guess Tomino wanted to plant a familiar face to the viewers as a way of putting extra emphasis on the planet meeting its potential doom? It's also interesting how the movie is based on a novel written by Tomino, and that the beginning of the movie is actually the second half of said novel. Explains how things felt already in motion when the movie begins. Fantastic music and superb animation where it needed to count, in a surprisingly packed, two-hour movie.

However, do NOT watch this movie if you haven't dove into Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta Gundam. It's the equivalent to having Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain be your first MG game, then going "Who's that?" every two seconds. Sadly, a lot of people did that when the game came out last year, simply because it was the next big hyped game of the fall season.

(spoilers about the movie)

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Having rewatched the movie, I'm absolutely shocked how powerful Amuro is here. Like, at the start of the film, prior to receiving the Nu Gundam, Amuro was walloping Gyunei with an "inferior" mobile suit, and if it wasn't for Char's intervention, he would have died right there. I can't believe Gyunei believed he had even a glimmer of a chance against Amuro later in the movie. Just makes his sudden death all the more hilarious. Also, I guess my memory of the film was fuzzy all these years, because I just assumed the fight at the end between Amuro and Char was even. Then I watched the movie again on Blu-ray, and man....... Amuro beats the crap out of Char. Not only that, but he denied him the opportunity to escape, rubbing his escape pod into the falling asteroid.

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(end spoilers)

Turn A (∀) Gundam: I was soooooooooo set to watch my two DVD collections of this series after finishing Char's Counterattack. But the day I was going to view the show... an announcement came out that RightStuf and Sunrise are going to release Blu-ray collections in early 2017. I was seriously irritated at first, until they also noted there would be an exchange program for those who bought the DVDs. No further details about said program, but I hope they won't be stingy with it and have it only apply to people who bought it off the RightStuf website.

Now I have to wait just a little bit longer to watch Turn A Gundam. Unless patience falls out the window at some point. In the meantime, I ordered the first Blu-ray collection of V Gundam off RightStuf, so should be getting it within the next few days. I dunno if I'm prepared for it, though; I keep reading and hearing this series is one of the most depressing shows of the U.C. timeline. This isn't the first time I experienced V Gundam, either. This was another of the Gundam shows I caught on TV in the 90s while living in Okinawa, Japan, and it was only one episode. Believe it or not, it was the... um... the episode with the bath scene. Even back then, I was going, "What the heck is going on?"

Later.

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joseph_valencia joseph_valencia - August 23, 2016 (11:59 AM)
V Gundam is weird. It's overall a very bleak show, but I think the ending is less somber than Zeta. It's also the most "real robo" depiction of Gundam ever. Darned V Gundam gets its legs blasted off every other episode.
dementedhut dementedhut - August 25, 2016 (11:24 PM)
I couldn't help but smirk thinking about your comment after seeing the Gundam's legs get blown away before it got a chance to connect in the first episode.

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