Top 10 Game Openings

Gamers don’t seem to appreciate the opening sequences you get before the “press start” screen comes up.  They’re practically the first impression you get from a game, assuming you don’t skip to the title.  It’s the pre-title openings that really get you in the right mindset for whatever you’re about to experience for maximum fun, be it getting you ready for epic wars in an RTS or magic and adventure in a fantasy RPG.  Game openings have taken many forms as diverse as the games they represent, but I’ve found that there are 10 in my collection that stick out particularly well.  This is the Shonen Otaku’s top 10 pre-title game openings.  The only qualifications are that they need to play before you press a button to play the game and they must display the game’s title at some point, be it the beginning or the very end to transition to the title screen.  Considering, in my experience, the quality of an opening is indicative of the effort put into a game, each of these games are ones I recommend.

Honorable mention: King of Fighters 11:

A short, but sweet, rocking guitar riff.

10. The King of Fighters 96

I know most people really like the opening for King of Fighters 98, but the opening for 96 stuck with me better and gave me more accurate expectations of what was in the game.  Its use of still images has enough movement to never look bland, and through a number of clever transitions, it’s able to display every single fighter in the game (besides the bosses) in a small time span.  I also like the way the music starts at the same time the 96 logo centers and the spokesman says “in 1996” before it goes into faster-paced build-up music that ends with a confrontation between Iori and Kyo, indicative of the rivalry between the two.  As a whole, it’s more appealing to look at than the openings for KOF 94 and 95, which is another indication that unlike those 2 games, 96 one will probably be GOOD.  Nothing gets me more in the mood for one of my favorite fighting games ever than one of the greatest openings ever.

9. Banjo-Kazooie

A pre-title opening with a single musical track is a given, but Banjo-Kazooie is unique in that it actually has the onscreen characters playing the song themselves, which is something rarely seen in any game.  It uses a number of different, unconventional instruments like banjos, xylophones, and flutes to make a fast-paced hoedown song you can really tap your foot to.  The upbeat tone of the opening perfectly matches the whimsical, yet bizarre feeling of the game itself, which is exactly what any good opening should do.  I also like all the stuff that happens while they’re still playing, like Tootie being chased by a bull and Banjo kicking away Mumbo’s xylophone, just for extra silliness.  The Banjo-Kazooie theme has become iconic in the eyes of 90s gamers, and this is the opening that started it all.

8. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom; either one.

For number 8, I’m including both versions of the opening to Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, for Cross Generation of Heroes and Ultimate All-Stars.  The opening to Cross Generation of Heroes looks excellent with all the different characters on both sides confronting each other with stellar animation from Tatsunoko, while the opening to Ultimate All-Stars is just a bunch of still artwork of the characters mixed with fancy effects and clips from the game and the original opening.  I should really like Cross Generation of Hero’s opening more, since it looks far better, but I liked Ultimate All-Star’s opening just as well because it SOUNDS far better.  I like the English opening of the song more than the Japanese version.  I think it has a better singer and a better beat to it.  Plus it has Viewtiful Joe in it!  HOLY SHIIIIIII-

Thankfully, no matter which version you like more, they’re both viewable in Ultimate All-Stars (which was released in America).  You just need to unlock Cross Generation of Hero’s.

7. Bleach: Dark Souls

I may not be much of a fan of Bleach, but Dark Souls was a good fighting game and I admire the effort that goes into the openings for the Bleach games.  All 3 Bleach DS games had their own opening number made specifically for the game, and are accompanied by various high quality still-images taken from the series and game itself (most in turn taken from another Bleach game) with different transitions and editing techniques to make them come alive.  This opening in particular stuck to me with the images it uses to set the context.

The first batch of images convey the point in time in which the story takes place, with Aizen and his followers walking away and Byakuya in bed, and then it briefly establishes a few of the fighters, like Rangiku passed out, Ichigo’s bankai, and Urahara in front of the shop with his assistants.  Then, on the last few notes of the song, it quickly glances over every single one of the playable fighters (and adds more as you unlock them).  I can think of no better way to open a Bleach DS fighting game, and it helps that the song is great and comes out of the DS’ speaker clearly and cleanly.

6. Sonic Unleashed

This is the only entry on this list that isn’t simply a cinematic with a single track of musical accompaniment for audio.  No matter what anybody thought of the game as a whole (I personally liked it), nobody denied that Sonic Unleashed had an extremely kick-ass opening cutscene.  With the highest production values, the scene features Sonic attacking a robot-infested spaceship with his super speed, weaving, dodging, and striking with awe-inspiring grace.  Things heat up even more when he goes Super Sonic and chases after Eggman, who pleads for his life before trapping Sonic again, draining his power, morphing him into a beastly monster, and splitting the earth apart!  Then, in a coup de’ grace, Eggman shoots Sonic and the emeralds out the airlock with what seems to be a victory for the villain.  That is an epic action sequence if I ever saw one.  Mike Pollock’s eccentric acting is just the icing on the cake.

5. Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes

Capcom graces this list a second time with its stylish, beautiful, and flashy opening to Sengoku Basara 3’s English release: Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes.  The only difference in the two versions’ opening is the music track, and I can safely say the Samurai Heroes’ version is far superior, with T.M. Revolution’s Naked Arms rocking out to the images of sword-slashing, hurricane-punching, and arrow-shooting in front of active and colorful backgrounds that show off each character’s abilities.

T.M. Revolution has been making theme songs for Japanese stuff for a while, including both seasons of the Sengoku Basara anime, and the anime version of Soul Eater, but here’s the kicker: This version of Naked Arms is in English.

Considering it’s impossible to understand the lyrics without having them on paper, I think it’s safe to say that Takanori Nishikawa’s English sucks, but I don’t hold that against him.  Even if the lyrics are incomprehensible, the music itself is awesome, as are the visuals, and that’s what’s important.  Rock on T.M.!

4. Clash of Ninja 2

I’m a little embarrassed this is so high on the list, to be honest.  Not because I’m afraid to say I like Naruto (to a degree) of course, but with all the fancy pre-rendered graphics and vocal tracks that dominate this list, this one seems rather inferior… Or at least it SHOULD.  There’s something about this opening that seems to encompass everything that an opening to a fighting game should have.  It shows all of the fighters in action with some very well-chosen clips from the already well-animated anime series, and has some great editing to make it look even more like the game’s going to be fun.  Take, for example, how it briefly shows the faces of a fighter before showing them in action (or vice-versa), reflective of the pre and post-battle relaxed demeanors the characters take when delivering dialogue, or how the majority of the moments shown are represented in the game’s story mode.  Take all that in with a poignant guitar-heavy track that’s both simplistic and provocative, and you get a damn good AMV-styled opening to a good shonen fighter.

3. Super Smash Brothers Melee

This is the most spectacular Nintendo-heavy musical number ever put in a game.  It’s difficult for me to put into words just how awesome this opening is.  All the visuals that showcase all the ever-shifting Nintendo characters onscreen flow seamlessly together with the music to create its own pseudo-mini-backstories, showing a number of the fighters in their different universes establishing who they are, all with the use of clever transitions and camera angles you’d expect from only the highest-budget movies.  There is little for me to say other than it is something that needs to be seen to be believed.

2. Jump Ultimate Stars

That last one was hard to put into words, but this one outright defies description.  Just watch it.  Not only is the video pre-rendered in amazing detail on the Nintendo DS, but it makes itself look like the most cosmically epic manga-based THING ever made!  And it is!  It’s like shonen incarnate!

Up to this point we’ve had a lot of different openings and a lot of different songs to accompany them.  We’ve seen samurai, ninjas, Nintendo characters, and the near-entirety of Shonen Jump.  So what could possibly top all of that?  What game opening could possibly be better than the likes of Sengoku Basara and Super Smash Brothers Melee?  It’d have to be something huge.  Something transcendent.  Something…. Perfect.  There is only one game series in this world that is truly perfect, and I think we all know what that is.

1. Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble

But of course.  A great game based off of the greatest anime ever made based off of the greatest game series ever made happens to have the greatest game opening of all time.

Flawless.  That’s what it is.  Absolutely flawless.  Every single thing about this opening is pure unfiltered perfection.  You can make a list of all the things perfect with this opening.

1. It has top-notch animation by the geniuses at Group TAC with footage made exclusively for the game.
2. It introduces every fighter and shows them off in true Viewtiful Joe fashion.
3. It sets the mood (trust me. Red Hot Rumble is the most fast-paced, chaotic multiplayer action game I have ever played).
4. It sets context.  Blue’s directing as well as fighting, Sprocket is ordering Biankies and Flaties around, evidence shows it’s all for a movie, and Rachel looking at the props from the anime is foreshadowing, to name a few.
5. It’s all to the iconic anime music track, Mounting the V-Watch.
6. IT’S VIEWTIFUL JOE!!!  There is no argument, there is no competition, and there is no CHANCE for the greatest game and anime series ever made to not take first place in every list any aspect of it qualifies for.

No matter what the comparison, Viewtiful Joe wins.  That’s as simply as I can put it.

Be sure to give your opinions in the comments as well as links to some of your own favorite game openings.

Epic Gaming Moments: Final Fantasy 6

It’s Final Fantasy 6.  You’ve got your memory back, joined up with a prince and his knight, and are now hiking through a mountain to reach a contact on the other side.  But you’re not alone.  A mysterious figure has been spying on you throughout the trip, and cuts you off near the end of the road.

The man accuses the party of working for his fellow combat student, and prince Edward’s brother, Sabin.  Naturally, reasoning and working things out through talking is for weenies!

And the guy has the uncanny ability to grow 3 times bigger than you in battle.  Great.

Cue the music!

This is Vargas, a martial artist who was apparently training in the mountains to get stronger.  How well has that training paid off?  You need only look at his partners.

Vargas has apparently trained a couple of bears (actually called Ipooh, but we might as well call them bears).  He is so badass, he trained these bears with his bare hands to fight for him!  Just imagine how much bear wrestling it took to prove his superiority and keep them in line just to make them obey him.  Someone call Zangief!  We found a new playmate!

What I love about this setup is not only the bears that show off his badassitude, but his stance.  There are different interpretations you can come up with for Vargas's stance, and all of them make him look powerful.  He’s either in a karate bracing stance, tightening his sash, charging his ki like a Dragon Ball Z character, or all 3.  In every case, that stance is like Vargas’ way of saying “Bring it on!”

The fight itself is also invigorating, as it’s a wake-up call to most players, and the first boss I died at.  Vargas and his bears have a decent amount of health, so you need to utilize healing items to outlast them, because even though it’s 3 on 3, Vargas has the edge in strength.  He can use both his bare fists and a wind attack.  Keep in mind that magic is nigh nonexistent to humans in FF6’s world with very few exceptions, so that means he is so strong, he can punch the wind hard enough to cut your entire party with it.  That is badass!  That's the kind of stuff you expect from Might Guy!

Furthermore, you can’t target Vargus until the bears are gone, so you’ll be hit with the big man’s strong offensive the entire time, which means some strategizing is in order.

That is until you whittle down Vargas’ health a fair bit.  At that point, Sabin makes his appearance and attempts to speak to Vargas.

Apparently Vargas attacked his father (also their master) and fled to the mountains because Vargas thought his father was going to choose Sabin to be the new successor.  Sabin tells him the master was going to choose Vargas anyway, but, Vargas doesn’t believe him.

Vargas then makes it personal, and blows everyone else away with his “blizzard fist” technique, which definitely would have been useful to him earlier.  That leaves only the two manly macho men to settle their differences.  Vargas, however, has apparently learned Hokuto Shin Ken, and makes it so that Sabin dies in a little over a minute if Sabin can’t win first.

It shouldn’t take that long though.  The player is supposed to input a specific command for one of Sabin’s techniques.  Sabin outright tells you how to do it if you wait long enough, but, in what I see as a flaw in the game design, he won't tell you if you keep trying to use his blitz technique and constantly fail.  You're supposed to just wait there.... Wait there while an instant death clock is ticking.

Conveniently, apparently Sabin has also been practicing Hokuto Shin Ken, and uses 北斗百裂拳 (North Star hundred crack fist)!  After a couple hits of that, Vargas seems to be disintegrated by Sabin’s attack, judging by his distinct death animation.  I think with Sabin on our side, this is going to be one easy game.

And that wouldn’t be the last time Sabin stupefied everyone with his godlike might.

Epic Gaming Moments: King of Fighters 99

I try not to do more than one entry on the same subject.  I already described the awesome finale of The King of Fighters 97, but I'll be danged if the series doesn't have its standout endgames.  I promise this will be the last one for a long time.  For those of you who haven't played KOF99.... Spoilers.

The finale starts after you fight K's team (that is unless you're playing as K's team, in which case it's just a random team) in a sewer arena that eventually turns into an elevator going down into some sort of industrial complex.

After your victory, the team is cut off from the observers, and the lift keeps doing down until the team reaches a door.

Since there's no other way out, they have to open it, and when the team does, they're confronted by some white-haired goth in a dark turtlenecked trenchcoat.  This being King of Fighters, he naturally just up and attacks you without a word.

That's the player team talking.  Not him.

The fight with the mysterious figure takes place in a very strangely designed arena.  You fight on a platform in what appears to be the inside of a computer, and in the background on another platform there's a holographic projector and two pillars with all manner of gadgetry and wires attached to it.  It's detailed, but not excessively so, and the distance from the main platform gives the stage depth.

The man himself (named Krizalid, as you can tell by the health bar) is actually one of the easier fights in the series if you're not reckless.  All he does is throw fireballs and use basic attacks.  That's really it.  The fireballs do a lot of damage if you aren't guarding, but they go slow enough to make blocking a breeze.

It's not that this boss fight is disappointing.  The game is just taking it a little easy for once.  It's a warm-up, and the music of the fight reflects that, as at first it doesn't sound like music.  It's almost entirely computer noises, fitting the stage.  Once it gets going, however, it has a simple beat for the slower pace.

After savagely beating his strappy arse, the computers say that a download is complete.  The man identifies himself as Krizalid, and demonstrates his evil plan to take over the world with an army of clones of Kyo Kusanagi, the winner of the first 4 KOF tournaments.

That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard!  From what you can tell from the cutscenes, these clones are unarmed!  True, Kyo is extremely skilled and strong in a hand-to-hand fight, but against a real army with real bullets, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be able to take a single country let alone the entire world!  Especially with only a few dozen, or a hundred of them at best.  Hell, Ralph Jones tears down more armed forces than that in the Metal Slug series!

But it gets better.  Krizalid tells the team that his suit sent battle data to his organization and to the clones.  Now, all the clones need is the killer instinct to activate them, and apparently another fight with Krizalid will give it to them through his suit.

But that raises the question of why they sent the clones out when they weren't done!

I could go on about the logical fallacies in this positively ludicrous plan, but the player gets far bigger things to worry about.

His suit spontaneously combusts and, for lack of a better term, shite gets real!

Krizalid gains an entirely new moveset utilizing all manner of techniques.  Jumping slashes, counterattacks, grab moves, and streaks of fire are all in his repertoire now.  But worst of them all is the dreaded typhoon kick.  He spams the typhoon kick (though he calls it out as "tornadis!") with absolute priority.  Jumping over it is almost impossible, so you have to just sit there and take it.

The music is perfect for this situation, invoking pressure and difficulty with its fast pace, with its computer-sounding ensemble to back it up.

To make matters worse, his AI is incredible.  He will counteract your every move.  You can't jump because the typhoon kick is too high.  You can't approach him because the typhoon is too fast.  You can't attack him because he'll counter your attack and punch you across the screen.  You can't even go near him because he'll just grab you and slam you against the floor with the kind of quickness only a cheating AI could pull off!

To make matters even worse, you can't take your continue bonus with you to the second fight.  Ordinarily, you have the option to give yourself a handicap, like giving the boss only a third of his health.  That works on his jacketed form, but you have to fight both versions of him in a row.

But it gets worse!  Not only do you not get any bonuses for the second fight, but if you lost any teammates in the first one, you aren't getting them back!

And so, the game ends with the player getting every one of his teammates punched around the room.  Time and time again they try, but they never win, and Krizalid pounds them into jelly. Eventually, the player rage quits, Krizalid wins.

I assume the army gunned down the unarmed Kyo clones with a fraction of its military and saved the day.

Epic Gaming Moments: King of Fighters 97

The King of Fighters series has never been anything short of epic shonen action since KOF 96.  Thanks to its colorful character designs, soundtrack, and dynamic backgrounds, every fight is a memorable one, and that goes doubly so for the climax of each game (excluding 12).  You could choose the closing fights of almost any King of Fighters game, and it would count as an epic gaming moment, but I’m only sharing my favorite: the climax to King of Fighters 97, one of the most epic of King of Fighters finales.  Not that it's major for a fighting game, but.... spoilers.

The beginning of the end begins at the end.  You’ve beaten all the challengers and have been declared the King of Fighters.

For some reason I always imagined a buck-toothed Asian stereotype saying this.  Does that make me evil?

However, Iori (who is now spectating after killing his teammates last year) starts feeling strange.  His half-orochi blood is being stirred by some nearby force, and he can’t control it, so he outright assaults the champion team in a wild rage.

That is unless you have Iori in your team, in which case it’s team Ikari’s Leona (the other half-blood) who goes crazy.

The fight that follows is the first part of KOF 97’s endgame.  Both Orochi Iori and Orochi Leona are pretty much the same fighters as their normal, less-crazy counterparts, only hunched over and much faster.  That speed puts you on the edge and requires you to up your fighting tempo, creating a hyped-up high-speed brawl that will probably take at least 2 of your teammates to win.

Someone can probably come up with a better caption than me for this picture.

Making it more epic is the background and music.  The background is a red filter over the previous stage with time standing still, and the music is a guitar-heavy, fast-paced song that encompasses the feeling of danger, rage, and conflict all at the same time.

After rightfully defending yourself, the source of Iori and Leona’s unrest are revealed to be the New Faces team, who have been using the fighting energy produced by the King of Fighters tournament (it’s kind of like Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s ener-D) to finish what Goenitz started in the last game and revive the world-destroying entity Orochi.  However, they need a little more power, and fight you to get it.

Now, since fighting gives Orochi his power, you’d think you should just run and not fight…..  You’d be extremely boring.

So you fight the new Orochi team in probably the most epic (pardon my overuse of the word) battle in the King of Fighters series.  There are a large number of reasons its so epic.

First, it’s unexpected.  Previously, the New Faces team was dance battlers on par with most of the other characters in the game in terms of strength.  Suddenly, they’re all using devastating elemental powers.  The fight reaches all new extremities for the series, with firey explosions, lightning balls, and hand blasts somehow sucked out of the earth.  They’re not so harmless now.  Their victory poses show off their revealed powers too.  Chris holds out one of his flames, Shermie raises her hand and catches a bolt of lightning, and Yashiro hunches over and shakes the earth like a Dragon Ball Z character.  They’re certainly skilled in the art of intimidation.

It’s worth mentioning this new team is comprised of evil counterparts of the main characters, the Japan team.  Chris, like Kyo, is fast and uses fire.  Shermie, like Benimaru, is tall, thin, and uses lightning.  Yashiro, like Goro, is bulky and uses grappling moves and earth.  They also have the honor of being the only team of bosses in the series (unless you count the boss team in the previous game, but they didn’t get an introduction).

The explosive fighting all takes place on one of the best stages in the game: the Orochi altar.  It starts out as a simple radial pattern with a big purple fire in the middle of it, but once Shermie comes up to fight, the mountains in the background become covered in clouds, and as the fight goes on, the pillars are demolished by bolts of lightning, emphasizing the power at hand.  But the destruction comes to a new high when Yashiro comes up.  The altar starts shaking under the fighters’ feet, the hole in the middle becomes filled with bubbling lava, and the mountains in the background get their own lava flow.  It’s a good thing you fight on a 2D plane, because it’d be easy for Yashiro to throw you in the lava pit if he could.

At last, to top off this battle...  The icing on the cake… The music: Rhythmic Hallucination.  A simple, catchy tune with heavy beats to, once again, emphasize the Orochi team’s power.  It seems to be a combination of a chant and rock ballad, which, considering the Orochi team members are both worshippers and a rock band, so it’s a perfect fit.

After sustaining god knows how many third degree burns and shattered bones, the Orochi team reveals that the fight gave their god the energy he needs, and Orochi uses Chris as a vessel to be reborn and grow a few feet taller.  The final battle of the Orochi saga begins, as your team takes on an otherworldly entity!

He doesn't exactly live up to his god status when a bunch of martial artists can beat him.

Sadly, the fight with Orochi isn’t as impactful as the last 2, nor is it as difficult.  What makes Orochi a challenge is his ultra-powerful projectiles and super moves.  He’s not a great hand-to-hand fighter, though he did somehow learn Rugal’s genocide cutter.  By far the worst attack he has is one move in which he calls some kind of holy force from the sky to obliterate your entire life bar if you’re not guard-

Here's a recap with funny commentary: 

Epic Gaming Moments: Trauma Team

Welcome to a new feature of the Shonen Otaku Corner I shall appropriately name Shonen Otaku’s Epic Game Moments.  An uncreative title, to be sure, but an honest one.  In these posts, I will recall some of my favorite, epic, conflict-ridden moments in gaming and describe what it is about them that makes them so effective.  With me being a shonen otaku, you can expect more action than emotional drama.  And speaking of action, my very first epic game moment is one of the mind.

Before I get started, I should warn that since a lot of the moments are climaxes, there are going to be spoilers, so read at your own risk.  The size of the word "spoilers" on each of these posts will be proportionate to how big of a spoiler you will get if you read on.

Today’s epic game moment is brought to us by Trauma Team.

In the forensic investigator Naomi Kimishima’s second-to-last mission, she finds the address of the bombing murderer she is tracking.  Immediately, ignoring suggestions from her assistant, she goes to the known arson’s house without any kind of backup or protection.

Once she goes in, the door is locked behind her, and in the small beach house there is a table with 4 phones strapped to bombs.  A nearby radio (Or tape recorder.  It isn’t clear.) turns on, and the bomber talks to her.

I'd like to play a game.

The bomber says Naomi has 10 minutes to disable the bombs by simply calling the phones they're attached to, and that she needs to use clues, given to her by the room and the bomber, to figure out what their numbers are.  The clues in the room are smeared in washed-off blood on the wall, smeared on a mirror, and fingerprinted on a phone.

You’ve got to admire the amount of effort that must’ve gone into this.  Not only did the bomber have to somehow rig the deactivation to the phones, but he had to find 4 different phones, request specific numbers of differing area codes for each one, and pray that nobody else in the world was using that number.  And how did he smear all that blood on the wall?  Whose blood is it?  There wasn’t any blood on the floor, and containers of blood aren’t easy to come by.  From that we can assume it was his blood, but with that much out of his system, he should’ve fainted or died!

What makes the scene especially mentally invigorating is the puzzles themselves, the music, and the fact that up until this point, your character hasn’t been in danger whilst you've been in control.

The puzzles test knowledge, observation, mathematics and problem-solving.

You only have 10 minutes to do them, not counting dialogue breaks, but if you honestly run out of time, you need to see Dr. Cunningham.  Even though you have plenty of time, the music makes it seem as though time is ticking.  Its metronomic repetition is decent for helping you focus when you’re having to think during deduction sections, but against the clock, in the only section in which you can actually die, it comes off as more tense.

After the 4 puzzles are solved, the door unlocks, but Naomi thinks its too easy and looks inside a familiar-looking teddy bear.

Oh my god!  JC, a bomb!

This, of course, leads to the ever-classic and gripping wire-cutting scene not unlike the bomb disabling in the original Trauma Center.  There’s a lot of tension on the player to get this right, because if they don’t, they’ll have to go through the room all over again (and you may not have written the numbers down).  Once you cut it, the game gives you a moment to close your eyes in hope and be met with congratulatory silence or an explosion that engulfs the screen.  It’s the final showdown with the mad bomber, and it’s epic.

Is that what you think?  Naomi, I think you need a lesson from the book of Joe.