Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1983

So far in this competition we’ve seen both companies pushing the limits of 80s technology.  Most notably they’ve been able to flood the screens with enemies or make a 3D effect out of 2D graphics, both things that on their own would still be impressive into the 90s.  We’ll find out how much more these companies are capable of as we go over the games of 1983.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1982

Now we’re at 1982.  Both companies have brought out some impressive arcade tech, but Midway was still only starting while Namco made Pac-Man.  Here in 1982 is where Midway really gets to stretch their wings.  They’ll need to bring their best because 2 of Namco’s more famous games came out this year.

Before I get to it, some people might notice a particular game that's missing.

Yeah, Ms. Pac-Man has a hell of a history that brings it into question as to whether it should count as a Midway game or a Namco game.  Technically Midway published it, but it was developed by a separate company and now Namco owns the rights to it.  I could count it as a Midway game because they're the ones who commissioned its creation, but that creation is a glorified ROM hack of the original Pac-Man, meaning the core of it is still made by Namco.  Since it's kind of both a Namco and Midway game, determining which company gets it for this competition would be like picking sides so I'm excluding it for the sake of fairness.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: Intro & 1979-1981

The Capcom vs. SNK: The King of Arcade series I did was a lot of fun.  The advancement of technology, culture and game design through the games themselves was fascinating to see unfold and I even discovered a few hidden gems I didn’t know I liked, all while making an observation of what both companies were pulling off at the time.  I should hope that trip down the annuls of arcade history was also entertaining to read and maybe got people to try out some of the games for themselves.

It was so much fun, in fact, that I’m doing it again.  The only problem is there isn’t any arcade gaming rivalry quite like that of Capcom and SNK.  I mean they made multiple games in which they fight each other, for pete’s sake.  Who else then would make for an entertaining head-to-head competition that only exists in my mind?

The real question is what game companies have an extensive arcade catalogue that can come close to that of Capcom and SNK that’s also viable for me to play.  Some people see a rivalry between Sega and Namco, but that was mostly during the 3D era and Namco’s biggest games date back to the 80s, something Sega doesn’t have the prolific catalogue for.  There’s also arguably Taito and Midway, but it has the opposite problem, where Taito stopped making arcade games in the 90s as Midway continued to do so until 2001.

 

I found the best idea was to make it between the two default winners of those aforementioned rivalries: Namco and Midway.  One company Japanese, the other American, both with a big back catalogue of smash hit arcade games, from the most primitive of the 80s to the more advanced polygonal ones of the 90s.  Sure, they don’t have a series of crossover games like our previous contestants; in fact, Midway wasn’t exactly a fierce rival to Namco, considering Midway published some of their games for American distribution, but that didn’t last forever.

The rules are the same as before.  While not as much as with Capcom and SNK, I have a big catalogue of arcade game collections for both companies as well as a series of old-school arcades at my disposal with which to play as many of each company’s games as I can, much like last time.  As I do I’ll once again be writing my thoughts and judgements, then deciding on a victor on a year-by-year basis.  Games from Namco will be marked as “NAM” and games from Midway will be marked as “MID”.

Sengoku Basara Retrospective: Sengoku Basara 4 (Sumeragi)

I remember where I was when the first trailer for Sengoku Basara 4 was released.  I’ve never been so hyped for a game in my entire life.  No other game can come close to the excitement and anticipation for a sequel to one of the greatest games of all time and everything else in the meantime was just something to occupy me until I could finally play it.

Years passed.  The game came out in Japan, where it was promptly exalted as one of the all-time master works of the gaming medium.  People outside of Japan kept importing it and sang the same praises  Then the updated version, Sengoku Basara 4: Sumeragi, came out and importers further cemented it as the greatest game of its genre ever made.

I told those people to stop.  I told them to buy the English version when it comes out.  Just like Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, Samurai Kings, Samurai Legends and End of Judgement, Sengoku Basara 4 was going to have an amazing English release and those people importing it were both buying a worse version and putting in time to game progress that would not carry over.  That’s what I believed.  Why wouldn’t I?  This was Capcom, the greatest game company there was.  They were on fire in the early 2010s, with hit after hit after hit after hit and the occasional Bionic Commando-shaped fumble, but nobody’s perfect.  I believed in Capcom.

Year after year after year after year after year after year I kept thinking that it would finally be the year we got the English version of Sengoku Basara 4 and that with all that time being spent on it, the English version was going to be as perfect as possible.  They must’ve been doing 100 takes on every single line of English dialogue so that the sound of it touches the pleasure sensations of the brain.  There was going to be more extra content in the English version than the English release of Kingdom Hearts.  I kept buying Capcom’s games, feeding them money, comfortable in knowing it was going into the English version of the greatest game ever created, maybe even the greatest thing ever created in the universe as a whole.

The hype grew with each passing year.  Sengoku Basara 4’s English version is so hyped up that playing it might put someone into cardiac arrest just from starting the game!  I took that built-up hype to every Capcom showcase.  “Maybe we’ll get a release date for the English version of Sengoku Basara 4!”
People kept telling me there wouldn’t be one, but there was no reason to believe that.  Capcom made Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, one of the hallmark titles of gaming.  They gave us that game because they knew the world needed it and not Devil Kings.  There’s no reason why they wouldn’t just do what they already did for one more game.  That would be a complete and utter betrayal to every single Capcom fan.  I made the foolish decision to believe in something.  Never believe.

It took many years for me to realize that Capcom is no longer the good company that gave us Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes.  They have no intention of delivering nirvana to their fans.  Sengoku Basara 4 will never come out in English and they have made it their mission to make their fans as miserable as possible, keeping the English version of Sengoku Basara 4 from them just to watch them squirm.  They are, simply put, evil.

When I came to grips with that, I finally just imported the Japanese version after 6 years of hype and it is the single most depressing, soul-crushing game I’ve ever played in my life.  Not because it’s bad, but for the polar opposite reason.

Sengoku Basara Retrospective: The Other Media

With the success of Sengoku Basara 2 in Japan, it was only natural that Capcom would ride the merchandise train and branch the franchise off into other media as well as a few spin-off games.  Eventually some of that media would come to America alongside the first properly translated English game, but since the spin-off games were made during Capcom’s terminally stupid era, they were not released in English.

There was a pair of stripped-down PSP games, Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes and Chronicle Heroes, as well as a fighting game called Sengoku Basara X.  Normally I wouldn’t bother going over them because they’re not especially notable, not part of the main games and I haven’t played them, but it just so happens as I was writing the retrospective that a local arcade had Sengoku Basara X, so I can touch on that.

Sengoku Basara Retrospective: Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes/3

Capcom pretty much perfected the Sengoku Basara formula the first game created with Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes.  After riding that for a few years and releasing a fighting game in the interim, it was time for Sengoku Basara to evolve with the console hardware.  With a new game engine and new play style, the next Sengoku Basara game was indeed an evolution, but the most important evolution of all was that IT’S IN ENGLISH!  IT’S IN ENGLISH!  IT’S IN ENGLISH!  IT’S IN ENGLISH!

They even got T.M. Revolution to do the opening in English!  I don’t blame anyone for thinking it’s not though.

Sengoku Basara Retrospective: Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes

When Capcom makes a hit game it’s almost a compulsion for them to make an updated version of it later.  It’s a practice almost synonymous with Capcom and Sengoku Basara 2 follows that tradition with Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes, or at least it kind of does.

That is one of the best openings ever and it made me buy Blade Chord on the itunes store.

Sengoku Basara Retrospective: Sengoku Basara 2

The first Sengoku Basara wasn’t exactly a big hit in Japan, but it was received well enough so a sequel was inevitable.  The first game had a lot of room for improvement, to put it lightly, so this was another chance to do the formula it established better and boy did it ever.  Sengoku Basara 2 is where the franchise really starts.  It’s like the Street Fighter 2 or Metal Gear Solid of Sengoku Basara.  Like those franchises, the improvements are so drastic, and the story so unrelated, that the first game can be ignored.

No T.M. Revolution.  We’re off to a… bad start?

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe anime: Episode 18

In this episode, Joe and Junior are in a futuristic city and one of the robot servants there washes the V-watch, causing Joe's mach speed to go out of control and function as a flux capacitor.  I'm pretty sure the film they're in is Metropolis, which is supported by the city being named Mechatropolis.  I can't imagine there's a lot that would need editing for this episode, but let's see.

Sengoku Basara Retrospective: Devil Kings

In a well-lit office building on the top floor, an executive of a major gaming company inhales a line of a white powdery substance through a straw up his nose.  We will call him Crappy Com.

Shortly after, Crappy Com’s subordinate comes in.  This subordinate knows a thing or two about game design and what people like in a game.  We will call him Captain Obvious.

“Sengoku Basara is a decent hit,” says Captain Obvious.  “We should get it ready for America.”

Crappy twitches and stares at nothing in particular.  “Yeah.  Yeah.  America.  Yeah,” he says.  “I have an idea though.  What if we, like, do that, but make it NOT Japan?  No Japan.  Americans hate Japan.  Yeah.”  Crappy then sniffs a dribbling nose.

“That’s a terrible idea”, says Captain.  “Being in Japan the entire premise.  It’s where the title comes from.”

“Glad you like it.  Let’s do it!”

And thus, Devil Kings was born.

No T.M. Revolution.  We’re already off to a bad start.

Sengoku Basara Retrospective: Sengoku Basara 1

Capcom has made some of my favorite game franchises of all time and there was even a time when I considered them the best company in all of gaming.  The Viewtiful Joe franchise is my favorite in both gaming and anime, Resident Evil is somewhere in the top 5 and Devil May Cry is somewhere in the top 15.  I already did a long series all about both Capcom and SNK’s accomplishments in the arcades, but just below Resident Evil and above Devil May Cry in Capcom’s portfolio is the greatest crowd fighting beat-em-up franchise ever and unfortunately one that Capcom has routinely squandered for anyone outside Japan: Sengoku Basara.

Sengoku Basara has an interesting history, particularly for the western world. What used to be a shining example of Capcom’s brilliance over a decade ago is now symbolic of why Capcom is now the worst company in gaming, but to understand how the franchise got to that point, you have to know where it came from up to where it is today.  Everyone who has ever held a controller who hasn’t already needs to play these games.

For this retrospective, I will go over each main game in Sengoku Basara’s history, what makes them so great (or rather, what makes the sequels great), what made/makes Capcom so bad or otherwise incompetent, and I have a lot to say about some of the spin-off media too, of which there is much.  I won’t go too into the production history because what matters to me most is the end result and the context of when they were released.

The starting point of the whole franchise is of course the very first game and its very first opening, performed by T.M. Revolution, who would come to establish themselves as THE rock band of Sengoku Basara.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 17

In this episode, Joe and Alastor pose and Captain Blue and a made-up squid villain, respectively, in order to cheer up a little kid in the hospital voiced by Mona Marshall.  It's an episode that leans hard into the comedy aspect of this franchise so there isn't a lot that needed censoring.  When you don't need to cut for content, you cut for time.

Capcom Fighting Collection 2 Review (and Capcom vs. SNK bonus round)

With Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves happily promoting a well-known potential rapist and tax evader, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 was my most anticipated game of the year and a huge deal for fighting games on the whole.  Just think that in the old days, having one of the games on a console was worth 50 dollars each and now they’re all in one place for 40 dollars.  Those games on consoles have had varying degrees of inaccessibility over the years, with one in particular being virtually impossible to play until now.

This new collection also means that it’s time for another addendum in this blog’s documented battle between SNK and Capcom.  Until this collection I couldn’t take Plasma Sword, Project Justice, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper or the first Capcom vs. SNK into consideration, but now just like with the Marvel Collection, that will be amended and Capcom will have the chance to break the tie and be the king of arcades.  I will still be going over the games I’ve already looked at as well to judge any subtle differences between the versions featured in this collection and the ports I played before.

Me Playing Magic: The Gathering

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 16

Joe and Junior travel to a flower field where a mysterious girl with magic powers named Alisa protects a miracle flower that never blooms.  This flower is supposed to allow for fairies to come to the human world.  Inconveniently this is right before Charles goes after it for an ingredient in his potion.

TV Edits of The Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 15

In today's episode, Joe and Junior help a team of rebels take back their kingdom, now named Black Jadowland, from Jadow themselves.  Jadow, meanwhile, pose a wedding for Silvia and Alastor to lure Joe out.

The name of the episode is To Have and Hold Captive, which is likely a play on the movie To Have and Have Not, but if this episode is supposed to be based on that, it's very loose.  To Have and Have Not involves France during World War 2, but this one seems to be based more on Joan of Arc, whom the resistance leader bears a resemblance to many modern depictions.  I could be wrong though.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 14

The clip show episode.  After everyone's failures at Jadow, Sprocket has the biankies make a film of everyone's past defeats and are threatened with termination if any of them interfere with the editing.  Apparently not understanding what "interfere" means, they all interfere with the editing process.

Since this episode is all about the members of Jadow, Sprocket plays an important role, but she isn't visibly present for most of it, meaning there isn't as much that needs to be edited for her.

TV Edits Of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 13

In this episode, Joe and Junior meet someone from the real world, like Joe and Silvia are, who is being pursued by Red Leader, another enemy from the first game made into his own character, like Bianco Billy.  The name of the episode in English is The Fugitive From Beyond the Screen.  Like Roamin' Holiday, it's a reference to what movie this episode takes inspiration from: The Fugitive.  The part with the storm drain that Metal Gear Solid 3 also referenced is a dead giveaway.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 12

In this episode, Silvia is seemingly let go from Jadow and meets up with Joe once again, but it turns out to be a chameleon woman in disguise, who tricks Joe into giving her his V-watch.  This episode has panning shots of Sprocket in it, so you know what that means.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 11

In this episode, Joe and Junior come across a town with no color that has been long since abandoned after the color was completely sucked out by a pair of Jadow villains, with only one lone painter voiced by Mona Marshall still there doing what she loves, color or no.

Not exactly a premise that would require a lot of censorship, but let's see.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 10

 In this episode, the Jadow trio recreate Frankenstein and make a robot combining all of their traits to finally defeat Viewtiful Joe.  Then, well...
The words "epic fail" come to mind.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 9

This episode is called "Roamin' Holiday" in English, which is very fitting because the setting obviously takes inspiration from the movie Roman Holiday.  There's princess on the run, it takes place in Rome and the Mouth of Truth is a featured landmark.  I don't think the mouth came to life and went on a rampage in that movie though.  As for the edits, I don't expect much.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 8

In this episode, Joe and Junior are in a mountainous area of movieland and fight Fire Leo.  If you look closely in one shot you can see what appears to be the Do-Re-Mi scene from The Sound of Music happening so that's the movie they're in.

Going back to taking some characters from the game, this episode is one of 3 in the entire series where Fire Leo takes prominence and it does a good job of showing off that he's far above the others.  Less screen time means less failures, right?

Fire Leo's English voice is also one of the not-obvious ones in the English dub, where almost everyone used an alias or was uncredited for whatever reason.  People used to think it was Crispin Freeman, but no.  It was Jonathan Lipow, who is criminally underrated because his voice as Fire Leo is way better than The Big Man's usual deep voice baritone in the first game.  If you look at the guy's IMDB page, he's in a lot of high-profile projects, but usually as background voices.  He needs more roles like this one.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 7

Episode 7 is where the Viewtiful Joe anime starts really deviating from the game and gets original.  Villains of all the previous episodes, with the exception of the biker gang, all came from the game, but this one starts the first in a series of new villains for Joe to fight.  I also remember this episode airing much later than its episode number, being aired closer to when the season finale aired, but I could be remembering wrong.

In this episode, a weirdo mascot man gives away telepathic head creatures called Slugoon to all the kids in town, but of course they're actually evil mind control monsters.  This is going to be a very short post because it's almost uncut.  Almost.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 6

In this episode, Joe and Junior get Machine 6/6 Machine from the old farmer Cyrus Brown (first name is mentioned in a later episode, second is in Red Hot Rumble).  This is just in time, as Charles the Third aims to take advantage of Joe's flying ability with an aerial assault.

So there's no bars?  No?  No guns?  What about bombs?  They're colored green?  They don't even explode?  Ok.  Phew.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 5

November 5th.  One of the turning points in American history.  Newvember.  The day the greatest anime ever made graced our airwaves, starting with the 5th episode.  I'm halfway certain they started with the fifth episode because otherwise viewers would be asking who this Captain Blue Junior in the opening was.  They aired the other 3 episodes later on during its weekday block at the time except, as I detailed, episode 4.  Because of this, there were some expo dub lines that were necessary.

Like I mentioned at the end of episode 4's breakdown, this episode has a fair amount of broadcast no-nos, but it's apparent that the people editing this one for TV weren't the same people 4Kids had.  They actually work around things in very natural ways.

In this 5th episode that was the first we ever got, Joe goes to Captain Blue's favorite old western town, Blue Town, and meets his mainstay partner, previously Captain Blue's sidekick, Captain Blue Junior, who after being harassed by some bikers is stormed by Bianco Billy.

Let's get the big one out of the way first: signs.  Remember all the signs that got edited in the last episode?  Well, Blue Town is an old west town and those had bars.  Can't have that in English, although the word "saloon" is allowed in one shot, even though that's a kind of bar.

No gun shops either.

And... Pornography?!

Why does Captain Blue's town have a porn shop?  Did someone on the background team just throw that in without knowing what it meant in English?  I'd change that even if this WEREN'T broadcast television!  That's distracting!

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 4

Viewtiful Joe episode 4 is a lost episode, in a manner of speaking.  It never aired in America.  I remember it was GOING to, but something happened with the network and it never happened.  Many episodes of the anime only had one shot to air and then never aired again and that includes this one.  It's a DVD exclusive.  The DVD was ever advertized as such, but I got hyped to buy it and watch an episode I never saw before.  The Wikipedia page giving the air dates lies about this and says it did air.

As for the episode itself, Sprocket gets the idea to make a demoralizing video to manipulate Silvia while Joe faces the Bianky Primas.  That first plot point isn't super obvious at first, which is why we have

Expo Dub: "Yes, of course.  If we can somehow turn the girl against him, she'd be an absolutely devastating secret weapon."

The plan isn't super obvious in the Japanese version.  In that, she's just looking at a film reel of Joe punching a Bianky in silence.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 3

Joe lands on a small crescent-shaped cay and fights Gran Bruce, who is clearly in his element.

Joe reacting to his new surroundings is shortened a bit, cutting out him looking at the palm tree and a close-up of his face.  For time, perhaps.

The anime re-uses the footage of the Jadow trio's introductions except this time Hulk is there in person with his new steel shoes.  Just like the first time, the Japanese version is silent while the English version adds dialogue, including that voice recognition system voice.  Bruce even says "this again?"

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe anime: Episode 2

The second episode of Viewtiful Joe sees Hulk Davidson making a stop at Charles' home on his way to deliver Silvia to Jadow, but Joe catches up and fights Hulk

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe anime: Episode 1

 Starting off on episode 1 is the introduction.  Silvia is kidnapped after Captain Blue is defeated by the evil leader of Jadow, Joe gets his V-watch and gets in some superhero action.

TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Introduction and blanket changes

 The Viewtiful Joe anime is without a doubt the single greatest anime ever made, based on what was already the greatest game franchise ever made.  It keeps the spirit of the games while changing the plot into a more streamlined narrative and follows up on some of the themes the games explore with how media and super hero stories can project passion and inspire others.  It's a perfect anime, or at least the English version is.

The English version of the anime from Geneon has the talent of some of the best voice actors around and punches up the dialogue to make an already fairly self-aware and funny anime even funnier.  This can probably be attributed to the dub being directed by Bob Bucholz, one of the most prominent English writers of the first two seasons of Digimon, as well as Duel Masters and Bobobo-Bo-Bo-Bobo, all shows that wouldn't be nearly as good without the English script.

While the English dub of the first half of the Viewtiful Joe anime doesn't change a lot, there were changes that had to be made because, like Digimon, it was on a Saturday morning broadcast, subjecting it to Broadcast, Standards and Practices, meaning things had to be adjusted to be allowed to air.

Sea of Thieves and the art of Psychological Warfare

As per the title, Sea of Thives is a game of thievery.  It is a game of fighting and stealing.  You make friends and you make enemies.  The players fighting each other is almost secondary a lot of the time, but when conflict arises you must come out on top.  Most players win the traditional way: with cannons, guns and bombs, but an even better, more effective, way of fighting others players is the less-direct art of psychological warfare.
 
In the United Kingdom there was an elite group of psychological experts whose tactics were used to help cats get out of a catatonic state.  This tactic works just as well with humans, but with the opposite effect: send normal-acting people into a state in which they cannot function or are lacking in function.

This tactic can come in several different variations, but before going out to fight, there are some things you must have prepared.