We tried to wait for the blue bomber. We watched his franchise spawn many branches and go through numerous changes. And then, we weren’t so sure we wanted to wait any longer.

A lot of the adults playing games today started that habit in their childhood. Primarily, marketing departments aim for the 20-24 age bracket of young men, and believe they’re only capable of playing Halo and more Halo. This results in a lack of gameplay variety amongst AAA releases. Because a lot of these aimed-for consumers played Mega Man entries during the late 1980’s and mid-90’s, and Master Chief’s diminutive predecessor was also armored and did have a gun he could shoot, maybe executives thought it wouldn’t hurt to release a title like that today. Were they right?

There are no franchises I love more than Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man, but I don’t see the sense in a release that mimics graphics from 1988. One could argue that Mega Man has never been about originality, but over the years, it did introduce Rush, new moves (like the slide), additional playable characters, and more. It was the same old, same old at its core, but it did evolve. Why buck that trend? In this effort to revitalize the original series, and after the fine Mega Man X8, why are we going so far backward in time?

This is a game about robots, isn’t it? You know, from the future? Where things are supposed to be… advanced?

Regardless, I await the game, knowing that Keiji Inafune is involved and this isn’t just some throw-together knock-off (even though it looks like that so far). If he’ll be able to infuse some excellence, much as he did with MMX4 and the original Zero, I’m all for it. More closure beyond what Mega Man 2: The Power Battles’s story offered? Please, I’d love that too. What about a memorable soundtrack? Oh, that better be there! It’s going to be hard to top the music from the series’s NES entries, along with inspired tunes by modern bands like The Protomen, and unofficial remixes by Japanese doujin artists.

In other words, you’ve got your work cut out for you, Capcom. Fans are jaded, and the market group you’re aiming for already rejected the wonderful Mega Man Powered Up!. This has to be amazing, and is it going to be?

Does anyone even care?

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext’s official position on the subject.

Now with some nifty online features.

For the five of us who have not been swallowed by the Halo 3 hype machine, I offer this tasty morsel:  the venerable Sega Genesis classic, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, is now available for purchase on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 400 points (or five dollars).

It is part of the SEGA Vintage Collection, which is essentially a way of saying that they are going all Square Enix with their library, but in a more economically reasonable manner.  While there is no online co-op mode, you can utilize the Internets to play the versus mode.

Classic games enhanced with some form of online multiplayer…  Are you paying attention, Nintendo?

Granted, Sonic 2 has seen several releases over the years.  However, if you suffered a deprived childhood, or if you didn't pick up Sonic Mega Collection a few years back (and shame on you if you didn't), go ahead and part with your points.  It's a small price to pay to experience blast processing in its arguably finest form.

And now, special "behind the scenes" insight that you couldn't care less about: I should point out that this isn't exactly "news," as it was released a couple weeks ago.  But when your day job encroaches on the twilight and seeks to also become your night job, these things happen.  Hopefully, I will soon have enough capital raised to open Andrew's Dildo Emporium.  From then on, as an independently wealthy entrepreneur, I will be able to bring you the latest and greatest in a more timely manner.

That's my roundabout way of saying I've been busy over the past couple of weeks, but everything is now back to normal.  If any non-Halo 3 news drops in the near future (unlikely), I'll let you know.

It's gotta be cheaper than 16 NeoGeo games on VC. 

Anyone who was considering purchasing individual NeoGeo games on Virtual Console for $9 a pop, you may want to wait a little while and see what games will be making their way on to SNK's recently announced NeoGeo Collection for the Wii. No specific titles have been mentioned but there are going to be sixteen of them, so chances are there'll at least be a few that catch your eye.

It should be interesting to see how they price this, since collections such as these usually sell for $20 and no more than $30. Quite a bit cheaper than the $144 that sixteen NeoGeo games would cost you in WiiPoints. And certainly much cheaper than the $3200 the games originally retailed for.

If there are 3-4 games on it you want, it's already paid for itself in that regard, and the rest are just gravy. I'm hoping there are at least a handful of games included that aren't 2D fighters…

[via GoNintendo] 

Yes, you read that right.

If you raised an eyebrow at the headline it's because you know that there never was an SNES version of Secret of Mana 2, and furthermore, that no such game by that name was ever released anywhere. Ever.

Tell that to ebay seller kurt.roussel, who decided that such minor philosophical issues as "existence" weren't about to stop him from auctioning one off. What is real anyway? Sure the game isn't "real" in the sense that it is about as unofficial as it gets, but what IS real is the desire to acquire that images of it instill in me. I'd love to have that on my shelf just to blow people's minds.

(more…)

OK, maybe $9 isn't really steep.

After all, NeoGeo games were $200 and up when they were originally released and they played on a console that cost $650 in 1991, which in today's money is something like the equivalent of a hundred thousand dollars. And the thing couldn't even play Blu-ray movies! From that perspective, $9 is almost stupidly cheap.

Still, charging a $1 premium over the NeoGeo's contemporaries, the SNES and Genesis, seems out of place when titles for another lesser known contemporary, the TurboGrafx-16, sell for $6. Further emphasizing the high price is the fact that NeoGeo fighter Fatal Fury Special is coming out for Xbox Live Arcade, with online play and achievements, for $5. 

While there are no doubt many gamers out there who wouldn't hesitate to shell out $9 to play Samurai Shodown II on their Wii, I can't imagine most people are going to be familiar with the majority of the Neo-Geo's library. VC operates largely on nostalgia and not too many are going to be nostalgic for Magician Lord and 'Nam 1975. Oddly enough, I'm nostalgic for both and I've never played either. Chalk that up to time spent staring at Nobody Beats the Wiz ads every week, trying to wrap my brain around how a console could cost $650, and more importantly, how I could get one.

Nintendo, whittle the price of these things down to six or seven bucks and then we'll talk.

[via Joystiq]