The Final Days of Nintendo Online

It is once again a dark day for gaming.  Nintendo’s last bastion of online gaming, the WiiU and 3DS, has now been shut down like the Wii and DS before it.  The only thing keeping Nintendo in people’s good graces is no more and this time there’s no excuse like the shenanigans with Gamespy that I’m aware of.

Senran Kagura Burst Re: Newal Review

A remake of Senran Kagura: Burst using the mechanics of the later games seems like an easy recommendation. The original game’s story is my favorite second only to its direct sequel and Estival Versus has the best fighting mechanics among the spin-off games. Logically something good combined with something also good should create something good, but that can be hampered if the combined elements don’t come together right and Senran Kagura Burst Re: Newal is a good example.

I don’t understand why the decision was made to remake Burst in the first place. The game was barely 5 years old when it came out and I’m generally of the mind that a game should have a remake if the first one is archaic shite that badly needed the resources and technological advancements of the modern age or is simply a particularly old game that could use a makeover. Games like the first Resident Evil, first Persona and first KOF needed their remakes because, with the debatable exception of Resident Evil, they’re unbearable torture to play. The original Senran Kagura: Burst has some shortcomings, but is tightly designed, looks nice and its old-school fast-paced gameplay is still fun. Xseed’s historical screw-up was the worst thing about it and that didn’t even apply to its release in Japan.  All I really wanted was to have it on a cartridge.

The remake could have been a nice little distraction for Vita owners, but the developers couldn’t even get that right. Senran Kagura Burst’s remake is only available on the PC and PS4. With Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash there was a justified reason for this: as strong as the Vita is, it couldn’t handle a game that was half detailed water physics and matches typically had several different characters on the field at once. That’s fair enough.

Neither of those factors apply to  Burst Re: Newal, which can only mean that the reason the game isn’t on the Vita is because it uses the PS4 to its fullest potential by making games of the highest graphical fidelity on par with Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Devil May Cry 5 and the PS4 Spider Man game. It’s a bit strange that it would go that route considering the original game was best suited for quick bursts of handheld play, but surely they wouldn’t completely ignore their one of their go-to handhelds for no reason.

Prepare for disappointment.

I guess it’s nice they made a new song, but rather than play the same videos in both stories, why not just use the originals?

Senran Kagura: Shinovi Masters Review

The first Senran Kagura anime is one of the worst game-to-anime adaptations I’ve ever seen.  It took what made the first Senran Kagura game such a well-crafted story and gutted it by taking out critical character moments and what was kept was changed enough to miss the point entirely.

Despite this, the announcement of the new Senran Kagura anime, Shinovi Masters, had me optimistic, and not from the more subdued trailer nor the presence of Bebe-tan (although that certainly helped).  I was convinced to watch it based on one name credited.  I’ll give you one hint as to what that name is.

I’ve said it once and will again: Yukinori Kitajima is the lynchpin of Senran Kagura.  He’s on the level of J. Michael Straczynski, Greg Weisman and Joss Whedon in writing talent.  He can make anything work and his writing for Senran Kagura is a key reason it’s as good as it is.  You could not convince me not to watch something with his name on it unless Kitajima himself told me not to.  Sure enough, Shinovi Masters has the writing you'd expect from him.

Senran Kagura 2 Story Analysis: Chapter 5, Part 2

I hope you like bosses because the second half of chapter 5 really lets the players have it.

The ultimate confrontations are built up with one of Kitajima’s visual novel scenes depicting two characters that have never shared a scene together.

Hanzo is running through the forest after a suspicious individual.  He throws a kunai dead on into the back of their neck, but they used the classic substitution jutsu to escape.  Hanzo turns around and the person he’s chasing is revealed to be none other than Dougen.  Yes, Haruka was not mistaken.  Dougen lived through his youma dying on top of him in chapter 2.  I like to think him being part youma now had a part in that.  I assume Hibari and Haruka warned everyone about Dougen and everyone shared their information offscreen because Hanzo knows who Dougen is.  Being the head of one of the most prestigious good shinobi academies probably entitles him to enemy information as well, I suppose.

This is an interesting confrontation, not just because of their alignment with different shinobi factions, but because of their skills.  Dougen has been shown to use trickery and mind control, but now he’s being confronted by Hanzo, who has been well-established as a legend.  Even retired he is feared by evil shinobi and earning his respect is considered a high honor for good shinobi.  As such, you can probably tell where this is going.

Senren Kagoora 2 Story Analisis, Chapter Last

Asuka's friends fight the youma guys and they win and Asuka fights Cookie Monster and she wins and Cookie Monster makes bugs and monsters and they're scary and they fight Naraku, but then Bebe-tan comes in and makes them stop fighting

Senran Kagura 2 Story Analysis: Chapter 5, Part 1

We now arrive at the final chapter.  After a rollercoaster of character development and vague hints at the bigger picture, everything starts to come together and work toward the conclusion.  Nowhere is that more prominent than the opening.  Chapter 3 opened by introducing us to Kagura, chapter 4 opened with some insight into her character and chapter 5 starts with the full story from an unlikely source: Kiriya.  After harshly telling his students that he can’t tell them more than necessary, this opening shows a change of heart from his perspective.

Senran Kagura 2 Story Analysis: Chapter 4

In a parallel to the previous chapter, chapter 4 opens with another glimpse to the origins of Kagura.  Since by this point we have a better idea of who she is, there’s no need for a cryptic scroll to tell us.  The game lets us see for ourselves as Kagura looks into a river and vague memories from her past go through her head.

For over 900 years Kagura has been reincarnated several times and has known many people that have traveled with her on her youma-slaying quest, but she only vaguely remembers them in bits and pieces.  She can’t even remember their names.  She has had to say goodbye to many people she’s cared for and can only grasp fleeting memories of them, a fate that will apparently happen with Naraku as well.

The only particularly consistent memory she has is of someone smiling at her in total darkness, but she doesn’t let any of it get to her and interfere with her mission.  She knows what she was born into the world to do.  Supposedly, at least.  Without even knowing, Kagura sheds a tear as she thinks about her friends, showing that no matter how dedicated to her cause or how detached she looks, she’s still a person and can feel lonely.  Her immortality is ultimately a curse, accelerated further for her because of this mission she must do.  It is a very well-done visual novel segment that establishes the kind of life this tragic figure has had to live.

Senran Kagura 2 Story Analysis: Chapter 3

This is it people.  The true beginning.  After two chapters to set things up, chapter 3 is where the primary plot of Senran Kagura 2 begins, and the game lets you know it.  Just like the first chapter, chapter 3 opens with a poetic scroll reading, except this time it’s not about the shinobi, but rather some sort of powerful entity known only as Kagura.

No.

No.

That is very clearly Ikaruga!

What Kagura is in exact terms isn’t fully explained, but the scroll does give some of the basic ideas.  Kagura is the the bane of all youma and all shinobi look up to her power, which I assume is the game’s way of implying the Kagura rank in the versus games without going into technicalities.  She is “a flower with a fleeting lifespan and with the blood of youma it will bloom.”  I think the flower they’re supposed to be referring to and the one the game keeps showing is the red “tsubaki” flower, also known as the camellia flower. In Japan the tsubaki represents divinity as well as perishing with grace, both of which play into Kagura’s character.

If you’re actually paying attention, the scroll also says that Kagura is a “Senran Kagura.”

The word “Senran” isn’t a real word.  It’s a combination of the kanji for “brandish” and “war”.  Kagura is of course a type of traditional Japanese dance.  In this instance, XSEED translated Senran Kagura as “Shining Revolution”, which works because she is a “moment of light that flashes in battle”, much like how shinobi shine their brightest before their lives come to an end in battle.

So now that we know what Senran is supposed to mean, let’s stop misusing the word like it refers to the characters.

The poetic dialogue explains what Kagura is without actually explaining what Kagura is.  The real explanation doesn’t happen until later.  It’s not so much for some kind of twist, but for a replay bonus.  Once you know what Kagura is (or at least have a general guess as the game goes on), the opening scroll makes more sense.  Not knowing is also part of the player engagement, as we’ll see later.

To start off with some suspense, the scroll is followed-up by a cutscene in which a girl named Naraku is carrying a little girl in her arms, running from a pack of armored figures known only as the youma generals.  If Naraku knew what to call them, she must’ve been running from them for some time.

Right away the cutscene shows there’s something unique about the youma generals.  All of them attack Naraku in formation with ninja speed, even visibly injuring her and drawing the only bit on onscreen blood ever in the entire franchise.  Youma are supposed to be mindless, raging monsters, so seeing them synchronize like that tells us that they’re not ordinary youma.  It also shows that Naraku is one hell of a protector.  There are 10 of them and she has been fending them all off with her hands full!

But that’s only a glimpse.  Before that plot can begin, the rest of the characters need to meet her.  It’s road trip time!

Senran Kagura 2 Story Analysis: Chapter 2

Before it really begins, chapter 2 ties up some loose ends with its opening mission specifically titled “Hebijo’s Loose Ends.”  Asuka sneaks into the Hebijo training ground to find Homura.  Remember the Super Hidden Ninpo scroll?

That is hilarious in a meta sense because I don’t think anyone remembered.  This is the first time in the entire franchise the scrolls are mentioned after the big battle with Hebijo.  Players and perhaps even Kitajima got so invested in the characters, epic battles and curveballs that the plot device that made it happen became nearly irrelevant.

Senran Kagura 2 Story Analysis: Chapter 1

In my review of Senran Kagura 2 back in 2015, I praised its story, but I don’t think I detailed just how good it is.  Every Senran Kagura game has at least a decent story, but as much as I might nitpick, I would go as far as to say Senran Kagura 2 is Yukinori Kitajima’s magnum opus.  It is a How To guide on writing a good story and I refer to it a lot when it comes to character development, atmosphere, genuine cuteness, drama, consistent themes and character dichotomy, among other things.  The same can be said about the original game too, but Senran Kagura 2 has the addition of being a sequel and thus has an even more extensive list to refer to, like how to build on series establishments, how to please longtime fans without pandering and how to address previous shortcomings.  It takes everything that has made Senran Kagura so good and polished it into one of my favorite stories of all time and my 2015 game of the year.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way.  Some people brush off the story entirely or call it decent at best.  Some people play it before Senran Kagura Burst as if the big 2 on the box isn’t there.  Others simply say that it is written around a mundane part of the human anatomy.

I think the story deserves a closer look than that.  As a story buff, I have a lot to sing praises about.  I've played a lot of games with different stories and settings, but few have satisfied me quite as much as the Senran Kagura games.  Instead of simply summarizing what makes Senran Kagura 2’s story so good, I think it's best to analyze each individual story element of the game’s five chapters and why they all come together so well.

10 Game Soundtracks Suited for Guitar Hero

Who doesn't still get a kick out of Guitar Hero?  Average gamers may not have the dexterity to hold cords in specific fashions and tune real guitars, but we sure know how to rhythmically press buttons, and Guitar Hero used that to emulate a guitar's feel as well as challenge us with some of the most iconic guitar-heavy songs in music history.

Guitar Hero was a major party game franchise back in its heyday and is still a big favorite to this day even if all the old peripherals are no longer officially sold and all that's left is the new Guitar Hero Live.
I think the problem the original Guitar Hero games had was that they released too many games too fast and ran out of big-name songs to use, but that's only looking at the music industry.  If the eligible songs expanded to games, there's an entire medium they could use, full of challenging, catchy guitar jamming up there with the best of them.  Entire franchises are built on rocking tunes.  Look at how puny all the sections on this TVtropes page are compared to the Video Game one.

It's not like music needs lyrics.  Cliffs of Dover in Guitar Hero 3 and Frankenstein in the original game are both classics.

It's sad that the only thing qualifying for game music in a Guitar Hero game is recreations with the music creator and the Halo theme.

That's why to demonstrate the musical strength of games and just for fun, I'm making this list of 10 game/game franchise soundtracks that should be in a Guitar Hero game.  To show how impactful and challenging they are, for each I will pick out what I think would be the most difficult song to play and the most iconic song that every fan should know (usually opening or credits music).  There's only so much you can say about music in words, so this won't be especially text-heavy.

Senran Kagura: Estival Versus Review

Senran Kagura 2 was my 2015 game of the year.  It enhanced everything that made the original game great, refined everything and packed it full of content and polish.  It had a huge assortment of costumes and accessories to play around with, the series first playable male character, an epic story with great enemy designs and the best soundtrack in a Senran Kagura game to date.

I recommend Senran Kagura 2 to any and all Nintendo 3DS owners.  It has some room for improvement, but is still an absolute must-buy.

Such a game is a bit of a tough act to follow, so I wasn't nearly as excited for Senran Kagura: Estival Versus on the Vita, especially since it follows the more competitive aspect of Shinovi Versus.  I still got it, of course, in the Endless Summer Edition that came with a third 2-disc soundtrack, second art book and holographic cards.

That increase in content is indicative of Estival Versus itself, because it's definitely the biggest, fanciest Senran Kagura game yet.

Senran Kagura Anime Review

Game to anime adaptations in recent years have a pretty good rap sheet, as opposed to movie adaptations.  Viewtiful Joe, Sengoku Basara and Inazuma Eleven all have great anime adaptations that are faithful to the source material and capture their inherent fun.

Senran Kagura had the potential to do the same.  Like Viewtiful Joe or Sengoku Basara, the Senran Kagura games are all about flashy shonen action with a distinctive visual style and a strong story that, if adapted word for word, is practically a good anime already.
Instead, what we got is an embarrassing, insulting failure that drives away fans and newcomers alike.  Anyone I ask who has ever recommended the Senran Kagura anime hasn't watched it and anyone who has watched it is disgusted by it.   It's easily the worst game-based anime I've ever seen since the Art of Fighting anime all the way back in the 90s and as a fan of the games, this trash needs to be addressed.

Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson Review

As previous reviews show, I've always liked the Senran Kagura games, but they never seemed to realize their true potential.  Shinovi Versus was greatly enhanced, but I felt that expanding on the first game rather than going on a tangent would have been a better follow-up, so when Senran Kagura 2 promised to be just that, I got legitimately excited.

I hadn't been so excited for a game in a very long time.  With so many $60 games revolving around guns and grim tones on crappy systems, I just wanted to play a fun, lively, $40 (50 with the included soundtrack) action game with shonen trappings on the 3DS and go on another adventure with the badass adorable Senran Kagura heroes, all in a nice physical package I could hold in my hand, because XSEED stopped trying to open unlocked doors by using their heads as battering rams, unlike Bandai Namco.
Fuck you Bandai Namco.
Consistent delays weakened the fire, however.

Needless to say, I had high expectations.  Some might say they were unreasonable, but in the end, as expected from a Senran Kagura game up to this point, Senran Kagura 2 is an enjoyable experience and my enthusiasm was not squandered.

Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus Review

Senran Kagura: Burst was one of my most memorable games of 2013.  With cutesy characters, unrelenting combat, a well-paced story and the greatest female character in gaming, it exceeded my expectations and made me a fan of the Senran Kagura games (and ONLY the games) to the point of buying a Playstation Vita almost solely so that I could play the new games exclusive to it.  I was that hooked.

Being on an even stronger system than the 3DS with 10 more playable characters added to the lineup of cuties, I was expecting Shinovi Versus to be even bigger and better than the first.  I was right about it being bigger, and even better in some ways, but maybe not quite better overall.

Daidouji: The Ultimate Female Game Character

In discussions of feminism and the portrayal of females, I often find people citing their favorite female character from the media and why they are so effective for reasons other than sex appeal or for the story to have at least one token female.

When it comes to games, the most commonly cited examples in my experience have been the likes of Samus Aran and Alyx Vance.  With the possible exception of the controversial Metroid: Other M, the both of them have been portrayed as tough, but still human, treated with just as much respect as you would expect of a male hero, but not denying their gender.  I'm no feminist, but that's the way I see it.

I have a different icon.  Over the last year I've vehemently clung to a relatively new female character from an unlikely source.
Recall in my Senran Kagura Burst review when I stated that the unlockable character for the Hanzo side of the game is my favorite.  I didn't go into any more detail than that out of fear of spoiling an unlockable, but now that she's all over the marketing for the subsequent Senran Kagura games, I think the time for spoiling it has long since passed.

I was of course referring to the eldest playable character in the Hanzo side of Senran Kagura: Daidouji, my favorite female character in gaming!

Senran Kagura Burst Review

Beat-em-up and hack and slash games are usually a hit or miss affair with gamers.  For some, massacring hundreds of enemies as a one-person army using stylish attacks and being an overall show-off never gets old, while for others, it gets old fast.  As a fan of Sengoku Basara and Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2, I fall into the side that loves them, and alongside all the action-packed greats, Senran Kagura Burst fits right in.