Street Fighter Alpha Anthology

Man, I love me some Street Fighter Alpha.

I used to spend a lot of time and tokens on this thing back in the day. I'd just started college and Capcom was in a weird stage with their arcade games. They had kind of saturated the market with Street Fighter sequels and they took a break. Then they released DarkStalkers in June '94 followed quickly by X-Men: Children of the Atom in December that same year. It was quite a departure from the look and feel of the Street Fighter series, which by now felt rote and old-fashioned.

Then in June '95, just as I was starting college, Street Fighter Alpha came out, with a definite anime look and super fluid animation for the time (yes, I know Street Fighter III has more fluid animation, but it would take a number more sequels before we'd get there.)

Anyway, I never really wanted to play any of the home versions of Alpha because I can tell when a home port is cutting corners. I could always tell with the Super Nintendo. However, this anthology is the real deal. These are basically slightly modified emulated versions of the arcade games. And by modified I mean they added a training mode and button config features, little more. These games are frame by frame perfection.

My only problem is that I'm already as good as I'm ever going to be with a gamepad. If I want to get better, I think I want to try my hand at an arcade type fight stick, and since I don't have one, and I already spent a bunch of money on Christmas, I'm gonna move along on this one. I wish it had online play, but beggars can't be choosers.

Moving along. 

Hanging Up the Webs

I finished Spider-Man 2, though there are still a bunch of challenges and other things to do, I will move on. This is a fantastic game, and one I would play again.

Fully recommended. 

The Mysterio stage at the Statue of Liberty was a pain in the ass, but the game is still good.

Spider-Man 2, or "Hey Man, Go Be a Hero"

This is Spider-Man 2, the surprisingly good movie tie-in. 

I've never been super interested in Grand Theft Auto. I'm a teacher and I find the idea of a game that my students can play where the point is to be the worst criminal reprehensible. Sorry. I'm not interested in it. It might be hilarious. I don't really care. 

But when my friend Julio told me there was a sandbox Spider-Man game out there where the point was to be the best hero you could be, I was immediately interested.

The graphics look pretty terrible by today's standards. They look like N64, hard to believe they're actually Gamecube. However, this game's got it where it counts: gameplay.

You basically go around New York City, swinging around and meeting people. Sure, there's a storyline and you can follow it, but you can't advance the story without going out and helping at least a few denizens of New York. And it's a good thing, too. You go out and stop muggers, hijackers, bank robbers; you save people hanging on ledges; and you catch little kids' balloons when they lose them. You're basically the man, the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It's pretty sweet. In fact, you can forego the main game and just dedicate your time to helping New Yorkers. It's that fun.

Actually, there's a lot of variety. You can earn the hero points by helping people, but you can also sell pictures to the Daily Bugle, deliver pizza, or complete acrobatics challenges. Which leads me to the swinging. 

There's awesome web swinging. Aawwwhhh, man! The web swinging is immensely fun and satisfying. The web swinging makes the game. Sure, you can choose auto-swinging to make things easier, but what you really want is to do it manually. Here's the deal: with as limited an experience as playing with a controller can be, Spider-Man 2 succeeds at making you feel like you're swinging around New York. The mechanics just make a lot of sense. You shoot a webline, swing, build up momentum, anticipate a jump, release at the right time, and shoot another webline before you smash into something. Just like Spidey. 

This is a wholly recommendable game. I lost my save file and I've had to start over from zero, and I'm thrilled. It's been a long time, and I've been looking forward to this. 

Sonic Mega Collection

So I once got this game. I went to my cousin's house and his kid had a gamecube and we decided it'd be fun to trade a game or two for keeps. I gave him a James Bond and he gave me this. It's a compilation of Sonic games

There's over 7 Genesis games on this, and a number of unlockables.

I can name a few:

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic 2

Sonic 3

Sonic Spinball

Sonic 3D Blast

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

Sonic & Knuckles

Here's the only one I had ever played before

Sonic the Hedgehog

I used to play this as a kid at my kid cousin's house. This game has not aged super well, but. I played it till the end. No, I didn't bother getting all the Chaos Emeralds. 

There's a few issues with it. You can't save. It's not super long, but it's not super short either. Plus, Sonic doesn't really do very much. Sonic runs. Sonic jumps. He's super fast when he can go, but it takes him a long time to build up speed. So, what do you do with a character like that? You give him a few levels where he can run a lot, and then you put him in endless caves where he can't build up speed worth a crap. Yay!

This is pretty much the only game in this compilation that I give any crap about. The music has a special place in my heart. Some of the graphics bring back memories. It's fun, but its fun factor is limited.

I tried Sonic 2 and I put it down almost immediately. I don't have any special feelings for it.

Oh! I also played Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine for a while but it's hard :(

There is something a little cool about this compilation. You see, back in the day, Sega was crazy, and thus did a bunch of crazy things. Case in point, Sonic & Knuckles

Allow me to show you a picture of the cartridge.

What's that? You don't think it looks weird? Have you noticed the lid on the top?

Okay, so you bougt Sonic & Knuckles. It's a game. A full game. Kinda. You see, Sega ran out of time when they were making Sonic 3. They cut that game short and released it as Sonic 3 leaving out some of the ideas they had for it. Later, they released the unused ideas as a game called Sonic & Knuckles; however, it was all supposed to be one game. This is how they took care of that problem:

Sonic & Knuckles had a second port and you could plug in your copy of Sonic 3 and it made a whole 'nother different game! Combining them would cause changes in Sonic & Knuckles and it would also give you the ability to play as Knuckles in Sonic 3, something that was always intended, but impossible before. And that's not all! If you plugged in Sonic 2, that caused changes in that game, too!

Well, you might be thinking what's that got to do with Mega Collection? This is a gamecube, disc-based game. There are no cartridges to stack. Well, there kind of is! They built in Knuckles compatibility into the ports of the games! You have to launch specific games in the collection something like 20 times each and it creates the links so you can unlock Knuckles in the other games. I was wondering if that sort of thing would be possible, and I was pleaseantly surprised... Well, google told me. I didn't actually do any of that myself. I'm keeping this game. I don't know, maybe one day I'll care. Right now, I have other fish of more substance that require dumping into hot oil. People love these games. Too bad that most Sonic games after Sonic 3 were mostly terrible. Even still, lots of people keep buying Sonic games like they're expecting the return of the One True Sonic game, like a Sonic Messiah. I think this is as good as it got.

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

I just played Sin and Punishment all the way to the credits.

This is not the kind of game you just finish and put it down, but I will.

This is a tough game, and it's fun. You do some outlandish shit with your little character as you run, jump, and fly while firing, shooting charged shots, dodging millions of bullets, and doing melee attacks at a billion things on screen. 

I had fun. I will come back later.

End Shadow of the Colossus

Well, that was pretty emotionally draining. Shadow of the Colossus is a beautiful and deep game.

Yes, you are on some quest, but is that in itself a worthy endeavor? We don't know everything. We don't even know what consequences there will be for the hero's actions.

I am incredibly satisfied with this game. It is simply amazing.

Safe

The deed is done.

She is saved.

I am damned.

I made the choice.

It is a choice I am comfortable with.

End Shadow of the Colossus. 

Triad

A cave dwelling bull, a lake dwelling kraken, a winged sand snake.

Each has fallen. Each has meant another statue crumbles. Each has brought more darkness into me. 

I look at her lying on that altar. The wind blows in her hair. She does not stir. Not yet.

Three more to go.

The shadows of the colossi stand over me. They want answers. I cannot understand their questions.

The Tenth Falls

I journeyed to a sand filled cave where dwelt a beast that swam through sand like fish through water.

I used myself as bait, my horse lending me his speed.

Instead of becoming the beast's food, I pierced its eye with an arrow true, giving me a chance to climb its furry back and strike at its weak spot.

The tenth beast has fallen.

As they usually do, the dark tendrils come over me.

As I wake, now ten shadows look over me questioning. 

The quest nears its end.