1. Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions (Xbox 360)
2. Power Stone 2 (DC)
3. Dynamite Cop (DC)
4. Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate (Xbox)
5. Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox)
6. Ranma 1/2: Chounai Gekitou-hen (Neighborhood Combat) (SFC)7. Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle (SNES)8. Ranma 1/2: Chougi Ranbuhen (Super Battle) (SFC)9. Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (Xbox 360)Is SFC the correct abbreviation for Super Famicom? Someone please correct me if that's wrong.
I really haven't been playing much at all in the past month or so. Hopefully that will change now, I've got a couple of new games to work on, so I think I'm back in the groove.
I've been on a Ranma kick lately, so I went back to revisit these old fighters. For the Super Famicom games, yes I do have the actual carts, if anyone is wondering.
One thing about Ranma is that I'm a big fan, so I'm a lot more forgiving when it comes to the quality of:
Ranma 1/2 Chounai Gekitou-hen - This game is... well, lets call it disappointing. Even for its time, I'm not really sure what they were thinking. Its stiff, clunky, and limiting. It still drives me crazy that you can't use the other characters in the single player mode. Whose idea was that? The US version stripped everything about the game that redeems it (just the license really) and what's left is, nothing at all. I can pop it in and have fun playing it, but that doesn't last long since there's really nothing to do, and its more because I'm a fan than anything else. I usually don't revisit this game unless I'm between bouts on the following two.
Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle - The only one of the three that was properly localized. Still pretty stiff, and the music is either fun or completely horrible, but overall its a major improvement over the last one. Much improved roster, far more fun to actually play, (though its a bit slow). Thankfully, while this game still has a jump button (Chounai Gekitou-hen forces you to use it) it also allows you to map the jump to up on the d-pad. Makes things much better. Two unlockable boss characters are available (though one of them is the very definition of a one trick pony) and a secret third boss can be selected through a debug mode, which is nice to have. Like the other two, I've had this game for years, so even if its been a while since I've played, after a couple minutes to adjust I can easily burn through the single player mode with every character. Its not a great game, but its decent, and I genuinely have fun with it. The sprites in my sig are from this game.
Ranma 1/2 Chougi Ranbuhen - They almost released this game in the states, but they canceled it at the last moment. Which sucks, as its easily the best of the three, and the closest the series ever came to mimicking Street Fighter (once they jumped to 3d on the playstation, Tekken became the inspiration). This game has some lovely sprites and backgrounds, nice music, and a cast that finally plays like a real fighter. This game finally opened up with a variety of moves and specials, so you obviously have a lot more options in a fight and it naturally feels more free because of that. It was one of the earliest fighters (that I'm aware of) to have a tag team mode, but for some reason that can only be played with two players, which really sucks. I'm sure big fighter fans will disagree with me on its quality (Ack, I know you played the other two, but did you ever try this one? Just curious), but I really love this game. The only thing it needed was a Turbo speed, and it would have been awesome.
Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 - I'm as addicted this game as anyone else here. I haven't unlocked everything yet (takes a long time to clear arcade with 36 characters) but I'm having a blast playing it. Online has its ups and downs, like any game. There's certainly too much whining from other players (if you lost, you suck, if you won, you're a cheater, there's no middle ground with some people), but for every 10 jackass fights, you get one, really good, breathtaking fight that's intense from the first moment to the last, and all is right with the world. I will say the mission mode drives me crazy. There's no way I'm ever going to clear all 360 of them.
I'm thinking I might tackle MegaMan X7 soon, just for the hell of it.
...
Nah.
