Ever get that urge to go replay a particular game in your collection, only to lost interest because of the amount of time it takes to just get started to actual gameplay? I know I've experienced it quite frequently as of late. Recently, I've had very little urge to pick up and play the latest big titles that litters this intriguing Q1 2010. Instead, I've had more of an urge to go back and replay some other titles. I pick out a few titles from my shelf, sit down, and start up a console, and get ready to play. Unfortunately, there's been a few moments where I just lose interest in playing when it's taking (seemingly) forever to get to where I actually have some sort of control.

This is something I've been interested in looking into for some time, but just never had a chance (or motivation) to get started... until now. There are several aspects that could be looked at like interfaces, load times, etc. However for the sake of simplicity for a starting point, I'm spending this blog looking at the amount of time it takes from the initial powering on of a console to when the player has control navigating the main menus of a game. It's something we all have to sit through ever single time we want to start up a game.

To this end, I've spent a good portion of the past day checking around half a dozen games from nearly every console in my collection, loading them up, and timing them. I've also recorded most of what I've seen so that you can also view the approximate times I'm measuring. For the games that allow me to, I'm hitting buttons to skip intro stuff whereever possible. Before moving on, I should set a bit of a disclaimer: in no way is this "study" I'm doing scientific. Since the only games I've used are ones I own and how few the number I look at, the results and conclusions here are not wholely representative of each respective console. Also, times are approximate and are subject to at least 1-2 seconds error. That said, let's begin.

Nintendo Entertainment System

Oh, the good old NES; a console that comes from an era where cartridges were still the main format for games. Going back 20 or so years, how long did we have to wait before reaching a menu?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPn0fZ7czQ

The following were checked:
Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt - 2 seconds
Mega Man 2 - 7 seconds
Bionic Commando - 2 seconds
Super C - 2 seconds
R.C. Pro-AM - 1 second
Dr. Mario - nearly instant
Double Dragon 2 - 5 seconds

Times are from the initial powering on of the console (noted by the flash/distorted video) to the first navgatiable menu. Notable is the fact that in most of the games, the player is in the main menu and in full control within seconds of turning the NES on; the average time being 3.7 seconds. Of course, this presumes a working NES with good contacts (such as mine that loads perfectly 95% of the time). I was amazed at how Dr. Mario just cuts the foreplay and puts you in control pretty much right away.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

A console beloved by many gamers that produced a number of games that many consider c-lassics. How does this 16-bit console stand up in times?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2PHAJS1lXc

Super Mario World - 5 seconds
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - 17 seconds
Chrono Trigger - 6 seconds
Super castlevania IV - 7 seconds
Mega Man X - 11 seconds
Killer Instinct - 9 seconds
Super Metroid - 8 seconds

Times again are from initial power-on to menu control. Very much like games on it's predecessor, SNES games are fairly quick to put the player in full control. On average, it takes 9 seconds until full control is given. Surprisingly, the biggest offender of time is Zelda with nearly twice the average; this is due to how the game does not let you skip past the intro until after the full title/logo is on screen.

Genesis

Unfortunately, I don't have a video to pair with this section because I don't have RCA cables for the Genesis, and my capture device doesn't have a coaxial input. So you'll just need to have some faith in my numbers. Times again from power-on to menu control.

Aladdin - 6 seconds
Sonic 2 - 10 seconds
Sonic 3 - 6 seconds
Sonic & Knuckles - 8 seconds
Street Fighter II Championship Edition - 11 seconds
The Jungle Book - 18 seconds

Considering how the Genesis was constantly compared to the SNES in terms of power, it's not surprising the start up times for it's games are comparable with an average of 9.8 seconds. What's surprising is of all the games to take a (comparatively) long time to start, The Jungle Book? Really?

Playstation 1

Ahh, the beginning of the popularity of disc-based media. One of the primary complaints against disc-based media vs cartridges was the addition of loading times. Did disc-based loading affect start up times by that much?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1DD5z72Kmc

With the PS1, there's a new factor adding to the start up times! There's now a start up time for the console itself. From power-on, to the Sony Computer Entertainment logo, and finally the Playstation logo, this new sequence adds 20 seconds on top of the time for the games themselves to load. This is a trend that carries on to future generations to varying degrees.

As for the games, timing from when the PS logo fades out to menu control:
Crash Team Racing - 42 seconds
Mega Man X4 - 21 seconds
chrono Cross - 25 seconds
Final Fantasy Tactics - 19
Strider 2 - 24 seconds
Tekken 3 - 9 seconds (!)

With the average time being 23.3 seconds combined with the console start up time, a gamer is usually waiting around 3/4 of a minute before he/she has actual control. That's a considerable jump when compared to the previous generation's 9-10 second times. Crash Team Racing has the player waiting just over a whole minute thanks to not letting you skip ahead until the Naughty Dog logo/crate is engraved into your vision. On the other hand, I am surprised about the brevity of Tekken 3.

Playstation 2

The best-selling console of all time, the PS2 is quite the workhorse with it's huge, varied library of games. But with it's change to DVDs for games (except for early ones), does the PS2 keep the player waiting like it's older brother did?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXYNhGypOf8

From power-on to the fade of the "Playstation 2" text, the PS2 adds approximately 15 seconds to however much time it takes the games to load. It's certainly quicker than the PS1, but how about the games themselves?

Devil May Cry 3 - 27 seconds
God of War - 15 seconds
Ico - 25 seconds
Metal Gear Solid 3 - 33 seconds
Resident Evil 4 - 32 seconds
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness - 21 seconds
Persona 4 - 41 seconds

On average, the games take 27.7 seconds; combined with the starting time of the console, the player is still waiting close to 3/4 of a minute. When compared to it's older brother, the PS2 has a slightly quicker frontend, but seems to add back that time in the games' loading.

Playstation 3

The latest sibling of the Playstation console family, the PS3 made a change to Blu-ray for it's media and a built in hard drive. How does it fair in time to start up?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTC_aXxa-Fg

From initial power to the XMB has pickable folders/icons, it takes about 15 seconds to start up just like the PS2 did. What of the games though? Timed from when it begins to fade out of the XMB:

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger - 35 seconds
Call of Duty 4 - 20 seconds
Killzone 2 - 46 seconds
LittleBigPlanet - 46 seconds
Metal Gear Solid 4 - 57 seconds
Ninja Gaiden Sigma - 33 seconds
Uncharted 2 - 63 seconds

Note: this presumes the games have the latest patches and is already installed if mandatory. Holy @#$% at MGS4 and Uncharted 2... both taking pretty much a whole minute to start. Including them, the average time is 42.9 seconds; without them, the average would only be 36 seconds which is comparable to the previous generations. Also, Killzone 2's time is actually longer with the latest patches. Back when the game first released, the intro movie was skippable much earlier. However after a certain patch, it was changed to only let you skip after Guerilla Games' logo shows, which added close to 20 seconds to it's start up time.

Xbox 360

Another one of the big three consoles on the market now, the 360 was the first to land on store shelves. Is it's starting times just as speedy as it's arrival?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q46V-NbgTaQ

The initial loading of the dashboard takes up about 15 seconds; seems to be the norm now with interfaces. As for it's games...

Bioshock - 25 seconds
Crackdown - 72 seconds
Gears of War - 17 seconds
Rainbow Six Vegas - 37 seconds
Halo 3 ODST - 30 seconds
Ninja Gaiden 2 - 26 seconds
Halo 3 - 28 seconds

Fairly consistent all around at around 33 seconds. Gears of War is surprisingly quick totaling around half a minute. Then there's the big screw you by Crackdown, which makes the player sit through all of the logo screens and STILL waits to load the profile and save game after the title screen. Actually, Vegas also makes you sit through all of the logos, but still weighs in at a respectable 37 seconds +dashboard loading.

Wii

The ever-popular motion controlled console of Nintendo. I never had a Gamecube, so I never witnessed how Nintendo's first disc-based console handled the change in medium. However, taking a look at the Wii's numbers makes me bat an eye...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaEtMHbwNkM

For one, the Wii's frontend interface loads up in a mere 10 seconds; the quickest I've seen in disc based consoles thus far. The games' start up times are also interesting to look at:
Madworld - 42 seconds
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess - 18 seconds
Metroid Prime Trilogy - 27 seconds
Muramasa The Demon Blade - 15 seconds
New Super Mario Bros Wii - 18 seconds
Super Mario Galaxy - 23 seconds
Super Smash Bros Brawl - 40 seconds

The average time is about 26 seconds, while the average time for Nintendo's own games falls somehwhere closer to the 20 second mark. Though it's notable how the Wii seems to take it's time in just recognizing the disc, it is certainly quick to get the player in control once it does.

So what does it all mean?

Now that we've got all of the numbers down, is any of it useful? Does it tell us anything? It certainly does tell us a few things. For one, there was a largely noticable transition at the PS1; we jumped from a 10 second average all the way to 40+ seconds. The change to disc media was significant to the point in quadrupling our waiting time for a game to start.

Despite the increase in time, another important point to note is how ever since that change, the general amount of time waiting for a game to start has stayed pretty consistent at around 40-60 seconds. Kudos to the developers and console manufacturers for not making the start ups worse. Double Kudos to Nintendo on their Wii games that frequently hit below that mark.

In addition, I noticed another slight trend in the data. When it comes to the worst, longest to start up games, in most cases the main reason their times are so bad is that the game forces the player to view the logos, technology, and company names that went into the development of the game. I get that they want players to know what went into the development, but to force it every single time the game is loaded just inhibits the players from getting back into the game quickly in the future.

"We want you to remember our name... FOREVER"

I've got a suggestion for getting around this issue: implement these sorts of things into an opening scene. Considering how most games nowadays feature at least something that could be a plot, there's almost always an opening cutscene kicking off the story or setting. If implemented well, it gives everyone their credit as players aren't likely to skip the opening scene on a first playthrough; and players can skip the unnecessary fluff on future replays and quickly get back to playing.

Finally, there's one thing to note about this: even if a game is quick to start up and load, it does not mean it will get you to gameplay the quickest. Remember that this here is only looking at the time from the power is turned on to when the player first hits the main menus of a game. There could be trade-offs in another area instead. For example, both Halo 3 and ODST have fair initial loads to the main menu, but the trade off is in how there's lengthy loads in the lobby screen waiting for the levels to load into memory. Another example is Uncharted 2; it has some lengthy loads in the beginning, but once the players gets to the actual gameplay he/she will never see another load screen during that play session.

This about wraps up what I've got here for now. While there's more to explore in terms of time before reaching actual gameplay, that's something to tackle another time. Next time you go back and play a game, think about how much time you're spending sitting there waiting to get to gameplay. Any other games stick out in your mind? What's slowing you down from getting to the gameplay?

--JT

If you're reading this, I'm already destroying your bandwidth, and you may as well stick around and enjoy the show.

Another day, another blog full of new stuff. Today's a special case as I got in three things of awesomeness. Expect a picture overload here as I try to portray the greatness of the following items:

Oboro Muramasa Original Soundtrack

I really can't say enough about the beauty of Muramasa: The Demon Blade (known as Oboro Muramasa in Japan). It's amazing visually and also features a phenominal soundtrack that I had to pick up. Nearly everything about this OST's packaging displays the beautiful artwork of George Kamitani: the slipcase, the jewel case, the faces of all three discs, and even the insert booklet is full of the background art from the game. Oh, did I mention the music is great?

Recommended Tracks:
Powerful Looking
Turbulence
Dusky A

Master Art Works Metal Gear Solid 4

This 192-page artbook features the art of the excellent PS3 game Metal Gear Solid 4, including a lot of stuff from famed MGS series character artist Yoji Shinkawa. As with any artbook, there's a gamut of concept art, promotional images, sketches, etc. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...

As you can see, there's a lot of really cool stuff here. Any serious fan of Metal Gear Solid 4 really needs to have this book. I know it's going to make a great companion with my copy of The Art of Metal Gear Solid Ver 1.5 that's already in my collection. The only real downside of the MGS4 artworks when compared to the MGS1 artbook is that it doesn't include english text along side of the japanese comments. Then again, that's the case for all of my other artbooks.

Valkyria Chronicles Development Artworks

Now here is an artbook that I've been waiting on for a long while. You see, this book was originally announced about a year ago and was originally slated for release in April 2009. Fast forward to January 2010 and it's finally out. Is it worth the wait? @#$% yes!

The Valkyria Chronicles Development Artworks is a 400-page monster of an artbook; easily the largest one in my collection surpassing the 336-page R20 Rockman & Rockman X Complete Works and the 320-page SF20: The Art of Street Fighter. Flipping through the pages, you can easily tell a lot of love went into this book; also, a lot of love went into the design and development of what is an incredible PS3 game.

First off, the book begins with a 50-page summary of the entirety of Valkyria Chronicles. Not just any old summary, it includes screenshots depicting the events, and it's all laid out in the same s-tyle as it appears in the game. Everything including the side missions is presented in chronological order.

Following that is about 140 pages worth of character profiles, concepts, and sketches. The amount of detail provided here is astounding; they even show multiple little variants of designs throughout the character's conception and refinement. Even the secondary characters like each member of squad 7 is given some space.

There's also pages upon pages of art and images showing the design and details of every piece of technology within the world of VC. Every tank, weapon, piece of equipment, etc. that's seen in the game is shown here.

Of course, there's the typical environmental concepts and sketches, a bunch of early concept art from the pre-production phases of Valkyria Chronicles' development, and also various promotional images that were created and used.

This isn't even all of the pictures that I took. There's no amount of shots I can take that can show how damn incredible this book is. In the interest of saving space on here, I'm going to link you to the album if your interested in seeing more:

http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm236/jt4mtb/Artbooks/VC/

Any fan (and I mean ANY fan) of Valkyria Chronicles needs this book. It far surpasses just about every book in my collection as far as the amount of detail of every aspect of the game's art design. I think I'll end this section, and the blog with a piece of fanservice:

--JT

I was actually going to originally write this a week ago. However, I hesitated on it until I could log some more playtime and dive deeper into the game. I'll say this right off the bat: there's a lot to love and have fun with Bayonetta. However, there's a few issues (not related to the porting of the PS3 version) that mar the experience a bit and keep it from being one of the best action games that I've ever played.

To begin, there's the core of the experience: the combat systems. There's certainly not too much to fault with the combat. It's got a fair amount of customization with over half a dozen weapons that are acquired through the game, and are switchable on-the-fly between two weapon sets (you chose two weapons for each set, one for hands and one for the legs). The weapons themselves have a nice variety in design, from the default Scarborough Fair pistols, to the fire/lightning Durga gauntlet/greaves, and the popular Lt. Kilgore bazooka tonfas.

If there's anything I could levy against the combat, it's how each of the weapons have very few unique attacks. You see in Bayonetta, there's just one list of button combinations for combo attacks that every weapon works with. Actually aside from their speed and range differences, the only real difference between using the difference weapons is their final attack of a combo string varies and a unique attack when either punch or kick is held down during an attack string. Now this is good thing in that it makes it simpler to transition between using different weapons; however, this simplification can make the fights feel monotonous in extended play since regardless of weapon, you're still using the same button combinations repeatedly.

Along with the fighting, Bayonetta has a huge emphasis on evasion in battle. The witch time mechanic actually emplores the player to make an evasive dodge at the last moment, and upon doing so activates a temporary slow motion phase where you can lay waste to foes. It's certainly gives the player a great risk/reward incentive. There's even some enemies that are on fire and require you to use witch time to put out their flames to actually hit them (unless you're using the aforementioned Durgas in fire mode). Though I will say for being a mechanic that the game focuses on a considerable amount and wants you to use, it's an annoyance when the game throws in enemies that you can't use witch time against (except when countering attacks using the Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa accessory), and how the highest difficulty, Non-stop Infinite Climax, is only tough due to witch time being completely removed.

The bosses of Bayonetta are largely impressive affairs. The majority of them are gigantic beasts with a variety of attacks for you to evade and counter. Each one is typically grandiose in scale, and generally provide fun and enjoyable epic battles. However, just about every single boss is reused multiple times later in the game as sub-bosses (but with less attacks than before), which diminishes the epic feeling of each one (especially when there's one that you fight no less than four times with little difference in the fight after the second time).

Then there's the fights against Bayonetta's rival Jeanne. Now these's are great boss fights (for the most part) as Jeanne is very much your equal, and each successive fight she improves like the player does in skill. It's very much like the progression of Devil May Cry 3's fights with Vergil and Ninja Gaiden's fights against the Fiend Ryu's (on hard and above), though Jeanne's changes during each progressing fight isn't as different as those examples. Now I say these fights are great "for the most part" because during some of them, the camera is absolutely atrocious. It's mainly during segments where you fight her on some object or structure that's flying/rotating through the environment; during these parts the camera is just constantly moving and very often rotates itself to a position where you can't see a damn thing. If you can't see what's going on, then you can't properly defend yourself when Jeanne goes on the offensive, and it makes these parts of the fight painful to get through until you reach the next sequence of the fight where the camera isn't complete ass.

While I'm talking about the camera, I need to bring up another part where it's an annoyance. Throughout the game, there are a couple of sequences where you have someone with you that needs to be protected. During combat, if this person is attacked the camera shifts to showing the person being hit and stay there for several seconds. The issue is the game is still running normally in the meantime; so if you're not nearby the person during this moment, you're basically offscreen and fighting completely blind. Even worse is that the camera shifts every single time the person is attacked. I've died a few cheap deaths thanks to the shifting camera.

Moving on, Bayonetta tries to break up the pace with a motorcycle chase sequence and a shooting sequence while riding a missile. These levels are homages to the c-lassic Sega games Outrun and Space Harrier/Afterburner respectively and even have remixed music from those games. Now these parts are fun to play... for the first few minutes. After that they just wear out their welcome and become monotonous to play. In the case of the motorcycle, it doesn't help that it doesn't control all that well, and the camera is set so low to the ground behind the character, you can barely see what's coming up ahead of you.

One more thing I'd like to comment on is quicktime events (QTEs). Know first off that I have a huge hatred for them; there are very few games that have pulled off using them well. Bayonetta is close, but not quite one of the lucky ones to do so. The button mashing ones that come up mid battle like during finishing moves and counters (akin to God of War's QTEs) are fine as they're engaging the player in button presses they're most likely doing at the time anyway. It's the QTEs outside of this are the issue. They're used so infrequently that when they do pop up, the player is caught off guard and most likely won't hit the prompt in time and fail. Even sillier is how two of these QTEs early in the game are timing sensitive; if you press the button too early, it counts it as a fail and you die. There's only two like this, and all the rest you can mash early to your heart's content. Why bother with timing sensitive ones if you're only going to do it for so few times?

Finally, on to the "issues" surrounding the PS3 port of Bayonetta. Honestly, most of the moaning about the inferior version is just silly. Yes, the PS3 version does not perform as well as the Xbox 360 version. However, the performance difference is not so much as to make it unplayable, nor even unenjoyable. The framerate does dip on occassion (particularly during the game's busier battles), but there's only a couple places where it drops to a point that it noticably affects gameplay (mainly in attack timing/response). It never drops to Odin Sphere levels (if you've played OS, you know what I'm talking about).

When it's all said and done, Bayonetta is an action game that's enjoyable to play. The combat is fun to mess around with, the enemies are tricky and enjoyable to fight, and the bosses are great. It does have some issues with the camera in places, and becomes boring anytime it strays from being an action game. Regardless, it's worth playing. One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that Bayonetta features what is one of the most awesome final levels I've played in an action game. It really needs to be experienced.

As of this writing, I've spent just under 30 hours with Bayonetta. Completed the game four times (twice on normal, once on hard, and once on non-stop infinite climax), and acquired the platinum trophy. I don't expect to ever touch Infinite Climax difficulty ever again as removing the one feature that makes it stand out among other action games (witch time) makes it not quite as enjoyable for me compared to my other favorite action games.

--JT

First new arrival of the new year; so let's kick it off with some music. Here are my latest additions to my video game soundtrack collection that I showed off about a month ago.

BlazBlue Song Accord #1 with Continuum Shift

This cd contains the new music created for BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, the followup release of 2008's BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. There's only 12 tracks here since Continuum Shift is reusing most of the music from CT. There's themes for the two new characters, some new rival themes, and even some vocal versions of previous themes. Hearing a vocal version of Bang Shishigami's theme Gale is just... epic.

Recommended tracks:
Gale - Bang Shishigami Character Song(vocal version)
Condemnation Wings ~Cry Camellia~- Tsubaki Yayoi's Character Song(vocal version)
Nightmare Fiction - Ragna vs Hazama Theme

Capcom Music Generation Family Computer Soundtracks Rockman 1-6

What a collection this is. Three whole discs filled with the entire OSTs for the first six Mega Man (known as Rock Man in Japan) games. I can't really comment much about the actual music since nearly everyone has heard this stuff by now. I really like the packaging for this. The slipcase showing an outline of the blue bomber while the image on the actual jewel case is the full color version. Each disc is decorated with the sprite art of not only Mega Man, but also each of the robot masters of the series on their respective discs.

Recommended tracks:
@#$%, it's c-lassic Mega Man. Listen to any of it.

Capcom Music Generation Rockman X1-6

Very much like the previous collection, this is a collection of the entire OSTs of the first six Mega Man X games. It even includes the arranged soundtrack that was made for the Saturn, PS1, and PC versions of X3. Again, this collection has some neat packaging. The slipcase features X on one side, and Zero on the other. Each of the discs is relatively plain in design, but shows a image of X's helmet upgrade(s) from the game that's on each disc.

Recommended Tracks:
Storm Eagle's Theme(MMX1)
Bubble Crab's Theme (MMX2)
Counter Hunter Stage 1 (MMX2)

The Mega Man collections are getting kind of rare to find. Don't ask me how much I paid for them as I'm not telling.I'd rather not think about it... though thankfully it didn't hit triple digits for either one separately.

In other quick news, I finished my first playthrough of Bayonetta last night. There's good fun to be had with it, but there's a number of little things that annoy me. Some are personal to me, some involve some general design choices. I'll save the details for another time, once I let the experience soak in my head a bit. Note: PS3 owners of the game, you may not notice much framerate slowdown during the early parts of the game; however, it's much much more noticable during the later half of the game. Gut feeling at the moment: Bayonetta is most certainly not climbing the upper eschelon of my favorite action games.

Also, I cut my thumb while preparing dinner last night, so no extensive gaming for me for at least a few days.Damn cut kept opening up while finishing Bayonetta last night. At least I know my knifes don't need a sharpening anytime soon.

--JT

P.S. Oh, I guess I hit level 60 on here a few days ago. Umm, cool... I think...

Well, it's been quite awhile since I've gotten a new figure. Last one I had picked up was Nel from Bleach back in June. Well, half a year later and I've finally gotten a new one in. Actually, I've been waiting for this one for a moderate amount of time now; I think I've had it pre-ordered since sometime in the spring.

Well folks, I present to you today from Persona 4 (which you should know from my last blog is my current #10 favorite game)... Rise Kujikawa

This lovely figure of the red-haired idol of Inaba stands at about 8.5 inches tall. Standing on a circular base adorned with the Persona 4 logo, this figure sports a pose that seems slightly awkward, but still captures the character well. Aside from that, this Rise figure full of nice little details and touches. Whether it's the each individual pleat of her skirt, the stitching of her school uniform, or the details around the face, it stays faithful and fairly accurate look to the character. The figure even comes with her fog glasses from the game:

Though, I think the figure looks better with them off; they're also miniscule and a pain to put into a good position. I should mention that her head pivots too, but that's all that is adjustable on this figure.

All in all, this Rise figure is a great replica of one of Persona 4's awesome cast. I wish I could get my hands on this awesome Yukiko Amagi figure, but I can't find it anywhere for a decent price. Oh well, Rise can keep me company at my desk.

--JT

P.S. inb4Hazel&HNNNGGGG

Recently, I've done nothing but replay a @#$%load of my games. All in the name of making a large revision of my list of favorite games ever. Compiling a favorites list like this is no simple task, especially when you've got a 20+ year history of games under your belt to sort through. Considering the long history, there's no way I can contain this within a typical top 10. Now let's just cut the foreplay and get right down to it:

Number 15: Half-Life 2

Aside from being one of the most anticipated sequels in PC gaming, Half-Life 2 just blew everyone's mind when it released in 2004. The dystopian world of City 17 was full of detail and life; it set a mood/atmosphere that had no equal for several years since it's original release. Aside from a modest stable of weaponry, HL2 introduced the incredible zero-point engergy field manipulator; better known as the gravity gun. If it could be picked up, it could be used as a weapon. You could toss back enemy grenades, chuck sawblades, propane tanks, crates, etc. Throw in a lengthy adventure, stellar pacing and gunfights, and you've got a recipie for one of the greatest FPS ever.

Number 14: Bionic Commando

I'll say it now: I prefer the original game over last year's remake BC: Rearmed. Why? The original allows you to physically push enemies around with the bionic arm. Being able to herd together a group of enemies and force them off a ledge to their death is a hell of a lot more fun than just being able to pick up a single enemy and throw him. The bionic arm was an incrediblely unique mechanic that expanded on plaforming capabilities and allowed for a number of other fun uses. Also, being a young kid seeing Hit... er, Master D's head explode into bits was just incredible. I will concede that Rearmed actually made this infamous scene even better.

Number 13: Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

There's not much to say about this game. It's got a slick film noir presentation, an intriguing plot, and the mixture of it's gunplay with it's (then) innovative bullet time mechanics gave the action the feel of a great John Woo film. Who doesn't like to dive through a doorway and shooting down all nearby thugs mid-dive?

Number 12: Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice

What is one of the tougher choices of this list was between Disgaea 1 and Disgaea 3. While Disgaea 1 has a slightly stronger cast,Disgaea 3 just edges it out with it's gameplay tweaks that makes it a more balanced experience. Being a Nippon Ichi strategy RPG, it's got an insane amount of gameplay depth that can occupy a player for years. Yet, it's still a fantastic game without having to dive so deep into it. Like the whole series, Disgaea 3's writing is incredibly humorous, with a cast of characters that's quite memorable.

Number 11: Super Metroid

Step into the world of Samus Aran and explore the depths of planet Zebes. Super Metroid is still one of the greatest games for the SNES with it's large and expansive world that's littered with numerous secrets. Stepping foot onto Zebes proved to be an adventure that culminated with the epic fight with Mother Brain, and the (short lived) reunion with the baby metroid that thinks of you as it's mother. Seeing Samus tear a new one into Mother Brain with the hyper beam brings a tear to my eye.

Number 10: Persona 4

What started in Persona 3 to refresh the JRPG genre, Persona 4 just made even better. With it's social link system that actually implements *gasp* actual role-playing, Persona 4 is truly a gem. I've spent hours maintaining my friendships in the game, trying to woo the female cast (and succeeding), and grinding away in the unique themed dungeons. The real stars of Persona 4 is it's incredible cast; each person feels realistic to the point that you feel like you know someone just like them in real life. It also helps that P4's plot is a murder mystery rather than a cliche save the world plot that keeps it fresh. It's OST is also filled with catchy tunes that I'm always finding myself listening to.

Number 9: Okami

Honestly, what's not to love about Okami? The entire game is oozing with creativity. It's visual s-tyle is incredible with a cohesive Japanese painting aestetic. The celestial brush mechanic is creative and unique, and lends itself for setting up some great puzzles. The bosses, whether fighting the fox Ninetails, the firey Crimson Helm, or the eight-headed serpent Orochi, are fun to fight and take down. It's musical score is just superb. Aside from being a wonderful game in itself, Okami is also a work of art. No other game can I say that I own the OST and THREE copies of the official artbook: one Japanese version, and two US versions (one has a heavily worn spine at this point). I supported this game when it originally came out in 2006 (I've still got my buddha board preorder bonus), and was a sad wolf seeing people completely overlook it.

Number 8: Mega Man X2

The Mega Man X series took the c-lassic series' formula, and fed it a handful of speed with enhanced mobility and levels filled with secrets to find. X2 took what MMX had that was great, and made it even better. It's got an ensemble of boss weapons that were still actually useful, creative level design with some good platforming, and some of the more unique bosses in the series. There was even a series of extra bosses that would affect a key event in the final level of the game. Mega Man X2 is still one of the best Mega Man X games along with one of the best Mega Man games in general.

Number 7: Xenogears

To think that Xenogears almost never made it to US shores thanks to it's heavy use of religious references. Thank you Squaresoft for releasing one of my favorite RPGs ever here. Xenogears has such an intricate and complex plot, it honestly went over my head the first time I played it. Replaying it later when I could actually understand what was happening, it just completely blew my mind. Thankfully, the battles are fun with selectable strength attacks, with certain attack strings that would link into powerful "Deathblows". Also throw in some mech combat regulated by a similar combat system, and you've got a wonderful RPG from a great RPG era.

Number 6: Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Ninja Gaiden (regardless of which version you're playing) has been listed on many lists as a hard game. It's enemy AI is ruthless with dodging/blocking your attacks, working with other enemies, creating openings for other enemies to throttle you into the ground. However, Ryu Hayabusa is just as capable as his foes in slaying as efficient as possible. Therein lies the beauty of the game; it has nearly as depth of combat as a fighting game, and in the right hands Killing hordes of enemies is a beautiful thing. I personally displayed this in one of my first game videos that I did. Not even either version of it's sequel has surpassed the benchmark set by Ninja Gaiden.

Number 5: Mega Man 2

The game that converted me (and millions of others) into longtime fans of the Blue Bomber. If you don't know why Mega Man is popular, simply play this game and experience it yourself. Who ever knew taking a weapon from one boss, and using it to kick another bosses ass could be such fun? Notably in MM2, if a boss was weak to a weapon it didn't just do more damage to him. It outright kicked his ass! Three shots to kill Flash Man... two shots to take down Crash Man... ONE shot to defeat Metal Man (with his own weapon!). Oh yea, Mega Man 2 also has some great 8-bit music that's since been remixed numerous times by many people.

Number 4: Garou: Mark of the Wolves

Garou: Mark of the Wolves is SNK's greatest fighting game they've ever made, though many people have overlooked it by staying on the Capcom side of the fence in the arcade era. This game was made in response to Capcom's Street Fighter III, and what a response it was. In my view, it rivals SF3 in just about every way from the depth of it's gameplay, the slick animations, great music, and the colorful visuals. Like any great fighting game, Mark of the Wolves was simple to jump into, but tough to master. I also featured some game videos of this game earlier this year.

Number 3: Chrono Trigger

Referred by many (including myself) as one of the best JRPGs of all time, Chrono Trigger is a game that has stood the test of time. It's got a fantastic musical score, detailed and colorful visuals, and quick-paced combat. Chrono Trigger set standards within the genre with a complete lack of random battles, importance of positioning for attacks(line of sight, area of effect), multiple endings, new game+, and an incredible attention to detail based around it's time travel plot and setting. Chrono Trigger is probably the only game in my collection that I own three copies of (SNES cart, PS1 FF Chronicles disc, and DS cart). It's still just as fun to play as it was 14 years ago.

Number 2: Sonic 3 & Knuckles

The combination of Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, this was Sonic Team's original vision for Sonic 3. Unfortunately due to time constraints and manufacturing costs, the game had to be split in half. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is most certainly Sonic at his best. This game sports large worlds with multiple twisting paths, fun bosses, and some clever platforming. Also, I can't forget that this is the only Sonic game that features the Super Emeralds and the Hyper versions of Sonic and Knuckles.While Sonic 1 and 2 were what got me hooked on Sonic, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is THE reason I still have my Genesis.

Number 1: Devil May Cry 3

Seriously, I don't think there's another action game that I've spent more time with than DMC3. With two save files that have their timers maxed at 99:99:99, I've spent well over 200 hours playing this single game. With the depth of the combat granted by the on-the-fly weapon switching (Dante being able to carry two melee and two ranged weapons at a time) augmented with the s-tyle system that alters your available moveset, there's so many ways this game can be played and numerous combo possibilites. I also featured this game in one of my earliest game videos. While I'm not really in my prime anymore playing this game, the fact that I can pop this in, screw around, and still enjoy myself puts this at the top of the list. How many other games lets you kick ass with an electric guitar that summons electric bats? Talk about a killer solo...

Well, that about wraps this trip through memory lane. Some of you who have been reading my stuff for the past year or so may notice a number of games that I have praised to hell and back on not show up here (Valkyria Chronicles, BlazBlue, and Dead Space for examples). Honestly, I still praise them for all their worth and more, but breeching this list is no easy feat for any game.

--JT

Snowy because it's been snowing all day here. There's already been about 12 inches so far, and it's still coming down. So the better part of my day has been spent either shoveling up said snow, or trying to iron out my list of top picks for the year. Thus, we come to the main point of this blog. One thing I need to mention, I slightly edited my one list in the last blog as there was one big game that slipped my mind when recapping my previous picks. Anyways, onto my top choices for 2009.

Honorable Mention: Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Beauty in motion. Muramasa is one of the few games this year that made the Wii still worth owning.It's beautiful artwork, tight controls, flowing 2D combat, numerous bosses that stem from Japanese mythology,and serene musical score create a great gaming experience.

Number 5: Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

The latest addition to Insomniac Games' long running franchise is certainly one of it's best. It's a shining example of the large colorful worlds, witty dialogue, and tight balance of action/platforming that the series is known for.

Number 4: Killzone 2

Killzone 2 may have been in development for four+ years, but the wait has certainly been worth it. It's got visuals that are almost comparable to the original 2005 trailer that had everyone soiling themselves, excellent sound design, and some impressive enemy AI with the Helgast flanking you and communicating with each other. Killzone 2 also has one of my favorite weapons in a game this year: the VC5 Electricity Gun. Shocking!

Number 3: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

2009 was a big year for fighting games; Street Fighter IV, BlazBlue, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Tekken 6, and a number of others. Within this single genre was tough competition, but BlazBlue comes out on top of all of them this year for a number of reasons. It's smooth online play, tight cast of uniquely playing characters, beautiful 2D art, and tight gameplay engine help it stand out among the rest.

Number 2: Metroid Prime Trilogy

The original Metroid Prime alone makes this package worth it, let alone have all three Metroid Prime games playable. Even better is that the first two games have been retrofitted with the great Wii controls of MP3. There's a reason Prime 1 is still one of the highest rated games ever and Prime 3 one of the highest rated Wii games.

Number 1: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

In all honesty, I wasn't originally going to get this game. Unlike the majority of the PS3 forum, I didn't fall in love with the original game. Fortunately, I had changed my mind about picking it up, and was greeted with a phenominal experience. Uncharted 2 epitomizes a game that ispolished to a shine. From it's superb visuals, tight pacing, likeable characters, and improved gameplay, there's not much to hate on the game. Uncharted 2 trumps it's predecessor in just about every way, and it certainly the shining gem of 2009's games.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got more shoveling to do...

--JT

P.S. Revised favorite games list... Coming soon...

So it's Friday night... well, actually Saturday morning here right now. I don't have anything particularly new that arrived recently to show off. In lieu of that, I've got something else that I've got but haven't shown here yet.

I enjoy a good original sound track to any game as much as most people. However, there are a few rare exceptions of OSTs that I really like enough to import the actual CDs for. Now for the few of you who are actually interested, you may be wondering which games did I import OSTs for? Not including OSTs that I got as pack-ins with games or such, here's what I've got:

Top Row: BlazBlue, Chrono Trigger, Devil May Cry 3
Middle Row: King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match, King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, Okami
Bottom Row: Persona 4, Shadow Hearts II, Xenogears

One thing I'll mention now is that BlazBlue, KOF98UM, KOF02UM, and Persona 4's OSTs I imported when they were released in Japan, which is well before the actual game being released in NA (note: KOF02UM actually hasn't been released in NA yet). The rest I pickedup after playing through their respective games and loving them. All of them are 2 discs except for DMC3 (3 discs)and Okami (5 discs). Actually, I want to highlight the Okami one as it's got some awesome packaging:

Each of the five discs is decorated with images of the various characters you meet throughout the game. The slipcase that holds the discs is decorated with images of Amaterasu and the various brush gods.

So yea, this is my small collection of video game OSTs that I personally felt were worth actually purchasing. Say what you will.

Games-wise, I'm done with new games for the year. I've played basically every game I wanted to play this year, and played a few I wasn't planning on playing anyway. It's about time to actually go back and replay some of my favorite ones, but before that I need to consider my top 5 picks for the year. I'll leave you guessing for now on what those choices are, but as a frame of reference here are my lists for the last two years (both amazing years):

Top 5 of 2007*(edited, I forgot one exceptional game that came out this year):
1. Bioshock
2. Super Mario Galaxy
3. The Orange Box
4. Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare
5. Rock Band

Top 5 of 2008:
1. Metal Gear Solid 4
2. Valkyria Chronicles
3. Dead Space
4. Persona 4
5. Rock Band 2

What will be this year's picks? Who knows. Overall, it's been a pretty solid year in games. In my opinion, not quite as incredible as 2007 or 2008, but overall good.

Along with the year's end stuff, I figure it's about time to revise my list of favorite games of all time. I'm not sure how many of you have actually seen my original list. Either way, there's a lot for me to consider now. The list may see some significant changes, or might just stay the same. It can go either way at this point.

Moving on, as some of you know I've been on a bit of an old school gaming kick lately. In the past week, I've played and beaten Super Metroid (time: 5:25 with 78% items), Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (every item except for one heart piece), and Super Castlevania IV. I mentioned last time I never played Castlevania IV; man that game was fun. So fun in fact upon landing the killing blow on Dracula, the first thing I did was teabag him. C-lassy? Not at all. Satisfying? @#$% yes. He deserved it for being an ass. :P

On a final note, is anyone else excited as I am about the announcement of Mega Man 10?

--JT

Ever since grabbing my old consoles from my parents' house last week and bringing them to my own home, I've been on a huge old school kick. I'd forgotten just how fun pre-3D games can be and still are. Sure, some of it is nostagia, but there's a large handful of games that I've yet to play, and getting around to playing them now makes me remember the basic simple enjoyment a "simple" game can provide on a fundamental level.

Along with playing a bunch of older stuff, I also realized that my personal collection of games prior to the PS1 & PS2 was somewhat lacking. This was mostly because I was just a kid back then, and had to rely on family to buy games (typically only for the b-day and Christmas). I figured it's about time to round out my library a bit. Unfortunately, I only know of one games store around here that still sells anything from before the PS2/Xbox/GC generation (and even then the available selection is lacking), so my search for certain games had to resort to a mixture of that one store and online spending. Thus brings me to the main topic at hand for today, my latest acquisitions (some of which you may have know already if you see my GS feed):

Top row purchased online: Double Dragon II: The Revenge (NES), Super C (NES), Super Castlevania IV (SNES), and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES).
Bottom row purchased locally: Dr. Mario (NES), R.C. Pro-AM (NES), a Super Game Boy (plays original Game Boy games on the SNES), and Aladdin (Genesis).

Besides the Super Game Boy which isn't a game in itself, I played through all of these when I was younger except for Castlevania. I've actually beaten half of then back then (Double Dragon, Super C, and Zelda). Upon getting them this week, I briefly played each one to make sure they still work (they do), and despite being over a decade old are still as fun to play as ever. Now this certainly isn't everything I want to add to my collection, but it's certainly a good start. I'll definitely be busy for awhile replaying some things.

I didn't just pick up games this week either. In addition to the above, I also picked up a couple small things:

What you see here is a ten-pack of NES dust covers, a five-pack of SNES dust covers, and a spare 72-pin connector for the NES. The dust covers are pretty much self-explainatory; most used old games typically don't come with them, but I got them to help protect my games that are missing them. That and they allow my collection to look somewhat more uniform and nice on my shelf.

As for the spare 72-pin connector, that's the actual piece that lets the NES cartridges interface with the console's motherboard. Due to Nintendo's terrible design choice for the US version of the console (you can read the details here), the connection pins bend and wear out which leads to the infamous blinking screens/power light and distorted pictures. I just did some personal surgery on mine the other day to adjust my existing pins. Now, I don't have to either A) repeatedly do silly tricks to get a game to just run properly, or B) press the cart downward into place before it'll play (which will help prolong the pins' life). Most games I can get running in 1-2 tries now. However, I know that eventually those pins will wear down completely eventually; this is why I picked up the spare.

Moving on, I also finally received my copy of the latest GameInformer. What the hell is so special about the latest GI? Well, it's their 200th issue, and in celebration it includes their top 200 games of all time list. However, that's not my point for bringing it up. In addition to the list, there's 8 different covers: one for each of the top 8 games in the list. Thankfully, I happened to get one of my preferred covers:

Yay, Metroid. Such an amazing c-lassic. Other covers that I wouldn't have mind getting were the Half-Life 2 cover and the Final Fantasy VI/III cover. You can check out all 8 of the available covers here.

Capping off what's already getting to be a lengthy piece of blog, a short update on what I've been playing lately (aside from legacy stuff). I finished Modern Warfare 2's campaign on Hardened, able to reach Chapter 3 of Ikaruga, and have barely made progress in New Mario Bros Wii. Aside from Ikaruga (which is an amazing shoot-em-up that I can't get enough of), I'm not going to comment else onthe other gamesyet since right now I don't really have many "kind" things to say about them to say the least. Don't want to sour what's already a generally positive blog.

So what's on the playlist for the weekend? Basically replaying most of the games above. Curse my love of most genres of games preventing me from maintaining my skill in higher maintenance games (notably Garou and BlazBlue). So what are you guys playing this weekend?

--JT

Well, I'm back from a long Thanksgiving weekend at the parents'. Well, actually I got back late last night, but was too tired to blog or do anything for that matter. I also didn't blog earlier today due to having to do yard work all day. Note to self: don't wait for all of the leaves to fall before raking/blowing them together. My tree is much larger than I thought...

Games-wise, I picked up New Super Mario Bros Wii last week, and I found two gems in the used aisle over the weekend. What games happen to be these gems? One is Ikaruga for the Gamecube. I haven't seen a hardcopy of this game in years, and like hell if I'm going to pass this one up. Even though I'm not that great at shoot-em-ups, Ikaruga is still a lot of fun and addicting.

As for the other used "gem", some of you may not believe me. That other game in the used aisle was Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. I wasn't originally going to pick the game up, but since I happened to find this used copy hiding on the bottom shelf, I figured what the hell.

Aside from that, I also finallygrabbedall of my older consoles from my parents house and now have them here. So now, I've got my entire games collection in one place. If only I could decide on where to set them all up...

The current playlist (in no particular order):

-Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
-Ikaruga
-New Super Mario Bros Wii
-Blazblue (whenever I get a chance)
-Tekken 6
-Every other old game that I'm itching to replay

Well, time to kick back and get cracking.

--JT