In the world of boardroom meetings, the topic of huge, sweaty men slamming into each other and grappling powerfully often comes up, but not since THQ has one company’s success so heavily depended on this practice. Nevertheless it has dogged the ascent of Capcom, swinging them aloft over its head and it will be there one day when they fall, to deliver the head-exploding final blow.

The first suplex was originally invented by paleolithic humans as a way to counter the threat of saber-tooth tigers, coinciding with the first Quick-Time Events. A caveman could deftly press the A button to deliver as many as six different wrestling moves to the tiger, shocking the beasts so much with their total sweetness that these early humans were able to survive and eventually go on to form Capcom. It was during these ancient times that the first Megaman games were carved out of rock, a tradition that is still continued today.

The first Capcom game to feature their trademark style of pounding punks also introduced one of its most iconic characters – Mike Haggar, the mayor of Metro City. The game was Final Fight, released in arcades in 1989 and still enjoying an iconic status today. This is, of course, due to the electrifying presence of Old Mike body-slamming suplexing power, allowing him to easily outshine the game’s other characters in melee and ensuring his place in the game’s sequels. Additionally, he would later appear in the rather invigorating title Muscle Bomber – The Body Explosion (it needs to be said out loud for the full effect), which was later released in America as Saturday Night Slam Masters.

This violent tradition was continued in 1991, with the release of Street Fighter II in arcades, a game that featured not one, but three suplexers, the towering Soviet fighter Zangief, the narcissistic ninja Vega and the American super stud Guile. It was this game that established Capcom as the Suplex Forerunners of the video game industry and lead to the successes of games like Power Stone, Dead Rising and Rival Schools. Suplexes also featured largely in the indy game Killer7, showing that suplexes were as artistically relevant as we’d all suspected.

The way seemed set for the suplex to enter the limelight as the most trusted and respected brand of video game wrestling move, but it was not until 2005 that the public was shown what the suplex was all about. Resident Evil 4 set a benchmark for ferocious levels of non-stop suplexing action that has yet to be matched. Not only was this brutal attack your character’s primary weapon for slaying zombies, it made their heads explode too. Dozens of zombies would all be dispatched in the same way, a much-relished joy that put this game head and shoulders above its competitors.

So, almost 600 words and one obligatory gay-joke later, what have we learned? Devil May Cry 4 and Street Fighter 4 show that this martial exercise is still alive and kicking, with the suplexes just getting bigger and better. And someday, in the not-too-distant future, you’ll probably find yourself sitting down wide-eyed before a sparkling new copy of Dead Rising 2 and unleashing meaty headsplosions, so when you do, take a moment to remember that great man Mayor Haggar and his contributions to society. His full-body slams will live on in our hearts for as long as we remember them.

Moving at the speed of the internet, a video leaked to youtube with a trailer for Dead Rising 2 has prompted Capcom to confirm that there is a second Dead Rising game in the works and that it will be on the XBox 360, PS3 and the PC! You can see the aforementioned video here

This time around it looks like the protagonist is clearly not Frank West, but some similarly strong chinned man that fancies matching his hair with his sporty bike jacket. The zombie infested mall sandbox has been given a theme swap and now puts the player in some sort of luxury resort casino called Fortune City.

Dead Rising was developed and distributed by Capcom, Dead Rising 2 will still be distributed by Capcom but developed by Blue Castle Games, a developer that until now has only made a few sports games. As with all fast breaking news, details are still scarce but when it’s considered that the first Dead Rising has established a fan base and Dead Rising 2 will be multi-platform there’s little reason, other than Blue Castle Games’ repertoire, that it won’t play or sell well.

DMC4 introduces a new protagonist, Nero, a smart mouth kid who fights using a sword with an engine built in for powered up attacks, and a bizarre, demonic arm. This arm, called the Devil Bringer, is actually a focal point of most of his gameplay, as it can be used to not only grab enemies for heavy damage, but also pull far away targets in for further punishment. Each enemy also has a specific grab animation, where some make Nero perform devastating attacks that are also very cool to watch, and mixing these grabs in with other combos can give rewarding results. Even bosses can be grabbed where appropriate. Initiate a grab on the first boss, and you’ll see him lift it off the ground with ease, then deliver a powerful punch to send it flying!

The Devil Bringer also comprises some of the platforming segments, where you need to use it to cross certain crevasses, as well as scale high places. It can also grab distant objects, such as health items and red orbs, which are used as currency to purchase items, true to DMC tradition. The game also uses “proud souls,” which you gain upon completing a stage to upgrade attacks, including the Devil Bringer itself.

Dante himself also makes an appearance, and is even playable when you get to a certain part of the story. The infamous son of Sparda plays just like his DMC3 incarnation, and he even uses the four combat styles of Trickster, Sword Master, Gunslinger, and Royal Guard, which can be switched at anytime. He also obtains unique weapons that are even more over-the-top in design, and open up more combo possibilities. Dante also has his own skill list, which helps to differentiate his play style from Nero’s, and can gain new abilities during his portion of the game.  Unfortunately, pretty much all of Dante’s segment is essentially backtracking, as you go through the same areas you did as Nero, which kind of lessens the experience a bit.

The stages themselves are wildly varied, and take you through several different settings during the course of the game. The enemies you encounter also share some interesting traits, and some require a bit more forethought to defeat instead of just wildly slashing around. The difficulty level is a common trademark of the DMC series, but the challenge level in 4 tends to vary from segment to segment, going from simple to ridiculous very quickly. A large chunk of the difficulty in the game, however, is attributed to the boss battles, and challenging they are, as they can, and will, take off huge chunks of your life with a single mistake.

Some minor inconveniences include a camera that can be annoying at times, especially when trying to work it around corners, and some load times, though they aren’t really that bad (PS3 version requires an installation of the game beforehand, which reduces the load times). There’s also a couple of holes in the story that needed to be filled, most notably Nero and his arm. The game never really fully explains his origins, which leaves most things to speculation, or until Capcom decides to do a DMC5.

All in all, 4 is a great addition to a growing series, with various playstyles, a rewarding and complex combo system, several difficulty levels, and plenty of unlockable content to keep demon hunters busy. Nero also may very well be a suitable successor to Dante, if they ever decide to flesh out his backstory more.

Graphics: 5.0
Sound: 4.5
Gameplay: 5.0
Entertainment: 4.5
Overall: 4.5
Analysis: This game is CRAAAAZYYY!!

Created in the same stylized cel-shaded 3D animation with all the inkbrush strokes and splatters as in all the trailers, this excellent piece of eye candy depicts both Akuma and Gouken in a battle so fierce and violent that the earth literally breaks up around them, sending them into a fiery abyss. And even then they continue, trading world-quaking blows as if nothing had happened. Gouken seems to get the upper hand, but then Akuma reveals just how much of a magnificent bastard he is and does that move we all know and love.

Forget the Legend of Chun Li. If the studio could have just gone with CGI, maybe got some assistance from Capcom, then we’d have an awesome movie on our hands. It may not be more ‘Hollywood’, but at least you’d be doing the series the justice it deserves.

For those of us eager to see what awaits us this new year, well, here’s the feed right from Capcom’s PR department: their 2009 lineup of videogame gems just waiting to blow our socks off. Or mildly entertain us for a bit before we point our browsers to /v/ and rage at every little thing we don’t like about said games. But it’s all  good, right? Anyway, let’s get to them vidya gaems before I just copy-paste the entire damn PR press release.

First up in the feed is FLOCK!. Yes, that exclamation point is part of the title, and in no way representative of my tremendous excitement for it. An upcoming XBLA and PSN downloadable title, FLOCK! lets you pilot a UFO tasked to herd animals to its mothership with physics-based gameplay. With over 50 levels filled with animal-herding fun, you’ll probably want this one a go if you want to see how Capcom does casual.

Then there’s Street Fighter IV for the Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360. Promising a return to the classic gameplay that got us all hooked the first time we saw Chun Li rip up shit with her kicks, Street Fighter IV will no doubt fire up the competitive spirit of gamers everywhere – including those who jab on their console’s power button moments before having their asses handed to them. You know who you are and I hate you for it.

Besides fighting games, there’s another genre that Capcom is highly lauded for, and that’s survival horror. So it’s no surprise that we’re getting two servings (well, one and a half) of the zombie pie this year: Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop for the Wii. The former will rock. The latter one not so much. But both will be good games to fuck zombies up in.

And finally there’s Bionic Commando, the next-gen remake of that difficult game where you’re a dude, you have a bionic arm, and you swing from shit. It looks great, and there’s definitely some room for some acrobatic tricks and combos once you get used to the controls – let’s just hope the swinging mechanic translates well to the new 3D gamespace.

These packs are, of course, officially licensed, and Capcom itself hasn’t shied away from making use of the tools themselves.

The animations sure are impressive at the very least, and it’s nice to see Capcom continue to delve into the community, especially the American and European communities, which most Japanese developers tend to stay away from. Hopefully more developers and publishers will make similar attempts without jumping the shark.

Either way, Capcom continues to toy with my emotions.

There’s just really so much more that could have been done with this game, as it’s just riddled with things that make it appear like the people that made the game just did a rush job.

For starters, the Story mode is about the equivalent of one of those half-assed Sunday morning cartoons that they show and hope 6 year old kids can get into, since they don’t know crap when they see it anyway. It’s basically the same scenes repeated fifty million times, and they consist of “OH NOES YOU’VE BEEN BRAINWASHED I DO CARD BATTLE TO WAKE YOU!” then follows with “ZOMG YOU SNAP OUT OF IT LETS BATTLE SOMETIMES LAWLZ!”

Okay, so it’s not exactly like that, but it’s pretty damn close. This is repeated god-knows-how-many times as you progress through the game. Hell, even the NPCs you run into are the same damn kind repeated over and over, only with different color swaps. Seriously, did they think anyone that wasn’t a chimp with down syndrome wouldn’t notice? The AI isn’t exactly the most challenging thing on the planet either, and you’ll find yourself losing more to just bad luck with drawing the right cards instead of actually being beaten by the computer. Sometimes they’ll just sit there when you’re health is in the red and let you rebuild your defenses, or allow you ample time to plow through their own. Thankfully the game has an option for online battles, which lets you go against, you know, humans that are (hopefully) smarter than a Preschooler.

To make things worse, the in-game text is a scrambled mess. It’s not bad enough that the dialog has to be a grammar Nazi’s worst nightmare, and the script the equivalent of an English report done by a 6 year old. The card descriptions, thanks in part to terrible translation work, will leave you scratching your head in confusion, as some of them are incredibly vague in telling you what the damn-hell-crap the card you’re looking at does. You’ll find yourself getting frustrated when you find that a card that you think is supposed to deal 500 damage to all character cards ends up doing 500 damage spread out.

Really, the only saving grace for this game is the card battle system itself, which actually works fairly well. It’s actually rather addicting too, you know, once you get past the horrible grammar, decide to ignore the storyline, and just try to enjoy the whole mess. It’s like finding that one Avril Lavigne song that doesn’t make you want to smash your face against a brick wall.

It’s really hard to recommend this game for any reason because of all the problems that infest it, despite the good battle system. It would be nice though that if SNK decides to do another part of this series, that they actually put some effort into making it instead of this half-assed thingy.

Graphics: 3.5
Sound: 2.5
Gameplay. 3.5
Entertainment: 2.0
Overall: 2.5
Analysis: Not exactly a Yu-Gi-Oh! killer.

Note: Earlier this year, SNK Playmore ended their recall of copies of the game that had a severe glitch that stopped progression on the second playthrough. Bug-free copies of the game should be available at stores, though whether you want to deal with it is your call.

Pretty nice. Personally, I use the Classic controller and set ‘R’ to AC to make supers a little easier without occasionally accidentally dashing. I also set ‘L’ to ABCP, for some crashin’ good times.

If you’re curious about the menus, it goes:

• Arcade
• Versus (Grayed out if you don’t have another controller on)
• Survival
• Time Attack
• Training
• Rankings
• Options
• Store
• Extras
• Minigames

Sometimes you can hear the characters say what the modes are in Engrish, so just give a listen.

Now, I’d like to talk about the boss, however this could be a major spoiler for some. If you don’t want to know, don’t read on.

- SPOILERS -

Here’s a nice video of the final boss. It’s a cakewalk until you get to the final form, then it’s all rape and grab, all the time.

It sure is nice to see Okami getting a fair nod despite the fact that Clover’s dissolved. With the inclusion of Batsu, Viewtiful Joe, and Megaman Volnutt, this will definitely breathe new life into my long-dead Nintendo Wii, if it’s ever released here.

In the end, I still can’t help but feel Capcom’s slapping me in the face with the inclusion of these Clover characters. That slap is a weighted strike emphasized by Yami’s inclusion as the boss character. They acknowledge those games were fantastic, and in spite of the poor sales, include those wonderful characters anyway, as if to say, “Look what you missed! Now it’s gone you dumb bastard!”

Excuse me for saying it, but Fuck You, Capcom. I capitalize those letters because you so boldly chose to close the studio and gripped so tightly to the franchise holdings and benefits. I bought those games–with money–and loved them, and you spat in my stricken face, twisted by your decisions. I know it’s a recession, and I know Clover seemed like it wasn’t a monetary asset, but ruination is a justified end when dignity and inventiveness is returned to our beloved medium. Where’s the honor?

I damn myself, for I enjoy TvC furtively. It is a very good game–a guilty pleasure.

I apologize.

Ever notice those games usually run full price and almost never hit the “Greatest Hits” section of your retailer?

I’m sick of it. I’m looking to tell you, fair reader, that you don’t have to be a millionare to play good games.

I’m also saying that you don’t have to delve into ebay, craigslist, or shady yard sales with questionable goods (sorry, not all yard sales are bad.) to have a good multimedia experience.

My column, starting today, will be based on the fact that not everybody has the cash to keep up with the new and shiny games of last week. You still deserve to have fun, o ye of light wallet!

Also, I don’t give number ratings, thumbs, little happy faces, or anything else superficial like that. It degrades what a game really has to offer and makes people look at it rather than the game for what they should spend their hard earned money on. It also forces people to READ A REVIEW. THE HORROR, THE HORROR.

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Today, I start with a series that has been overlooked, surpassed, and left to the ages. It’s a series with top-notch CG animation, great action, customization, and thoughtful puzzles. Heath Ledger was also set to play a role in the live action movie, which has sadly stopped production because of his unfortunate death. The entire series of PS2 games (all 4) can be picked up at Gamestop for about 40 bucks.

This series is Capcom’s Onimusha.

Onimusha: Warlords was the first game in the series, released on the PS2 in 2001 and later ported to the XBOX in 2002. It features a samurai warrior named Samanosuke Akechi vs. an army of demons (oni / ogres depending on the region…) headed by Nobunaga Oda.

I’m not going to give any more of the storyline away, as some of it does twist a bit. It’s nothing like Metal Gear Solid deep, but it’s still entertaining enough.

The art style is a very fun mix of H.R. Giger-esque art and traditional Japanese…well…everything. From the architecture to the weapons, the tapestries on the walls and the bustling streets in the second game, everything is very detailed and well thought out. The view is that like many other Capcom games, where the characters are 3D and the backgrounds are 2D and made to feel 3D, as you can move around. This makes the framerate very steady and the art crisp. The Mo-Cap done for each game is spot on, and none of the animations feel like they’re strained or unbelievable. Even the last boss in Warlords moves around like you would imagine a large, serpentine ball of teeth…to…well, I’ll shut up on that. The opening movies on each are simply amazing. I go back and watch the opening to the third game Demon Siege whenever people naysay the PS2.

Gameplay-wise, Onimusha: Warlords is rather straightforward. Stab some demons, absorb some souls, stick ‘em in your weapons for new moves and magic attacks, and find items that don’t look like keys…but they open doors a-la Resident Evil.

The way the series plays feels like a mix between RE2 and Ninja Gaiden (X-BOX). This may be because of Ninja Gaiden’s stranglehold on the demon-chopping market (and soon thereafter, it’s piddling out with that crappy sequel). I do have to admit, NG does move a lot more fluidly and faster, but the graphics look more plastic. Onimusha’s atmosphere feels heavy, drips with dread and matches Namco in terms of how good it looks. Your character feels like he can take more, dish out more serious damage, and is a good alternative for those of us that don’t want to get into a bid war over Ninja Gaiden: Black. No jumping, but your character feels a lot more sturdy than Ryu Hayabusa did.

The difficulty is a bit on the easy side if you know how to block. This makes Warlords about 12 hours long if you want to max things out.

The second in the series, Onimusha 2: Warrior’s Destiny, Focuses on a completely different protagonist, Jubei Yagyu. The gameplay is similar to the first, except there are some souls you can grab from dead baddies that allow you to become a glowing, impervious white haired demon smasher, not unlike Kratos’s Spartan form .  The game itself is more difficult, and the storyline is much more entertaining.

There’s also a “gift system,” where you can find some items that don’t nessecarilly do anything by themselves, but you can give them to one of four NPCs in game that show up to help you every now and again. One uses firearms, one is a hot kunoichi lady-ninja, one drinks a lot and smashes things, and another chucks knives around all V for Vendetta like. Very fun, and they show up when you’re getting your ass handed to you later on. Give them the right things, and you get useful items in return, such as healing items, armor upgrades, and more frequent assist in game.

The third game in the series, Onimusha 3: Demon Seige featured a guest appearance by Jean Reno (Of The Professional fame) and had you reprise your role as Samanosuke. You swtich back and forth between the two, and you also fight on the streets of Paris as well as ancient Japan. This is more of an extention off the gameplay of Warlords, but you can play as a saucy, whip-wielding Frenchman for some cultural misunderstanding of the hilarious variety. The Onimusha demon-smasher mode is also back. This was also the only Onimusha game to be co-released on the Windows platform.

The fourth installment, I haven’t played. Sorry, I work!

There were two other games as well, Onimusha: Tactics and Onimusha: Blade Warriors. Tactics was released on the GBA as a Disgaea / Final Fantasy Tactics type strat-RPG, and Blade Warriors was a 2 1/2 D fighting game. You can pass on both of these, unless you find a cloying need to complete the series, you completionist.

I’m surprised there hasn’t been another release for current consoles. The fourth game, Dawn of Dreams may or may not have caused this…like I said, I haven’t played it. Could be that Capcom has been too busy with Street Fighter II HD Remix, or Resident Evil 5 to bother, as well.

TL;DR…..If you have at least $10 to spare, pick up Warlords for PS2 or it’s X-Box half brother, Genma Onimusha. Both can be found in Gamestop’s bargain bins, and the X-Box version offers a little more in terms of difficulty and content.

Ah, back in the 90s Capcom owned the licenses to a lot of awesome things, such as Disney and Marvel Comics and created some memorable and kickass games. They also owned the license to Jojo`s Bizarre Adventure and made one of the best overlooked 2D fighting games ever. This game is based off the popular in Japan manga series Jojo`s Bizarre Adventure, specificly Part 3, ”Stardust Crusaders”. The game is also known as Jojo`s Venture in some places.

Now, what is the most important thing in fighting games? Gameplay. The series`s unique form of superpowers called ”Stands” lend them self greatly to the gameplay of the game. The game uses 5 attack buttons instead of the Capcom standard 6, and the 6th button is used to activate the character`s Stand, a ghostly spirit that stands by the character and becomes the primary offense. This can be used in many different ways such as trapping your opponent between yourself and your stand or summoning your stand to attack as your character retreats. But some characters still use the stand button as a regular attack button due to their stands being perma-on. Stands also provide a slightly different, usually stronger moveset. If you take damage when your Stand is on, the Stand bar goes down, when it`s empty, your Stand shatters and you cannot guard for a few seconds. The Stand mechanic provides an interesting twist on fighting game character types like a trap setter or a charg character.

Aside from good gameplay, the game also provides other good things. The game combines Hirohiko Araki`s unique character designs with the standard Capcom anime-style sprites to create some interesting visuals. Sure it might not seem much if you look at the screen shots, but to a fan it brings joy. The game also has a interesting story mode which is somewhat deep for a fighting game. It tells you the tale of Jotaro Kujo and his friends as they venture to Egypt to defeat the vampire Dio, thus preventing Jotaro`s mother`s stand from slowly killing her. The story mode is composed largely of fights but also includes a lot of mini-games. The minigames in this game aren`t too bad, some of them being enjoyable, my favorite being the beat `em up segment where you fight zombies. The only problem some might have is that story mode forces to use a specific character in a specific plot point instead of letting you chose your own character, but this also lets you re-create scenes from the manga, which the story mode closely follows.

This game also has some internet fame due to Dio Brando`s super combo where he stops time, drops a road roller on his opponent, throws knives at his opponent, beats the road roller to an explosion and lets time resume.

This game has been released on the PS1 and a updated version on the Dreamcast. I reviewed the PS1 version.

I love this game. It provides hours of enjoyment.

8/10