Megaman 9 is finally here!

All the bosses in Mega Man 9

Finally, the endless waiting is over. Mega Man will be hitting North America next week and every next gen console owner should be rejoiced as it will be hitting Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on 22th September 2008. According to this, you can get the Wiiware version at 1000 wii points while both Playstation Network version and XBLA version will cost you usd9.99 and 800 points respectively. Hehe, every next gen console owner will not be left out but I have yet to own either one home console, so I cant really play this game!

And for those who are still still on the fence considering whether they should get this title which has opted to go in different and radical direction(or should I say old school?), a video review and review by IGN has popped up. These shall really clear up your mind and I know I will be getting it if I own either one of the next gen consoles.


The review could be found here. This review is actually for the XBLA version but those 3 versions dont really have any major differences and the reviewer actually pointed out that the Wiiware version is the one closest to NES version as it has the "blockiest" graphics and it succeeds in term of mimicking the whole NES feel. So if you feel like going for the version which is close to the NES games in terms of presentation, you should go for the Wiiware version and for clearer and crispier version, XBLA and PSN versions are definitely your choice.


And what more exciting is the DLC that has been confirmed for this game. Finally in the first time of series, Proto Man is a playable character. I have been itching to control him since the first time I saw him in Mega Man 3. He is always shrouded in mystery and I always feel that he is and should be a better character than Mega Man to tinker around with. Now that it has come to fruition, all Mega Man fans should wet themselves in their pants! According to this, this paid DLC will arrive the week of October 6 for for 200 Wii Points, 160 Microsoft points and usd1.99 on PSN.

Some info of Proto Man:
-He has the ability to slide and shoot charged up beams.
-He can deflect most bullets with his shield but larger bullets can still inflict damage to him and on the downside he will be pushed back twice as far as Mega Man.
-He will stop charging once he is struck by enemies.
-Rush will not be assisting him instead all the Rush adaptors have been changed to Proto adaptors.

Oh well, after this character is available, who should we look forward to become available? I hope Roll can make the cut as I am not satisfied of controlling her in Marvel VS Capcom series and it is time for the her to get some credits for saving the world instead of helping Mega Man only! And how about controlling Rush? This robotic canine has always been a great helper for Mega Man but I think it is time that he deserves to save the world on its own as it can do so many things normal dogs arent capable of like flying, providing a platform to jump higher. I have a suggestion if Rush can indeed be a playable character. Dont make him like Proto Man where he can obtain and equip weapons from bosses just like Mega Man. Instead, just make it stick to one exclusive weapon(whatever it is, I will leave it to Capcom to figure out) and this can easily be the most difficult mode in Mega Man 9. Imagine going through the whole game with just a weapon and most importantly, you are Rush. Sweet indeed!


What we can do in the mean time while waiting for the game to be available next week? I have a couple of suggestions here. First, go through the ultimate Mega Man retrospective. I have posted it here before but in case you missed it, you can catch up with it here and it really makes up as a good reading as it has tons of details of every single Mega Man that is out there currently. Secondly, go through the every single boxart available for Mega Man game here. It only has the boxart for Mega Man games and not the other series like Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero etc, but still there are already so many unseen boxarts(for me at least). Who can possibly forget the horrendous boxart above for the first Mega Man?

So guy, dont miss it. Next week is certainly the week of Mega Man 9!

Birdo? He or she?

Anyone recognizes the character above? Neither did me initially. But the story I am gonna tell below is gonna let you recognize this character immediately next time(that is if you read this post of course). Its initial appearance was at Super Mario Bros.2 usa version and has then proceeded to appear on various games and the recent one is Captain Rainbow.

Captain Rainbow is a recent Wii game that is published by Nintendo, currently available in Japan only. This quirky game features several cameo characters from Nintendo relatively old series like Nes Punch Out and Panel de Pon. I am sure Nintendo hardcore fans will interested to play this game that pays homage to several old characters and they are anticipating this to be ported to USA. Unfortunately, I think this game will have a difficulty trying to get the "For Everyone" ESRB rating and I am not sure how Nintendo is gonna tackle some issues like the one I am gonna tell you guys later.

Ok, back to Birdo again. This is by far a character which has serious confusion regarding its gender. Quoting from Wikipedia, "Birdo's gender has changed throughout various American game versions, but has always been male in Japan. In the original manual for Super Mario Bros. 2, Birdo is referred to as male that believes he is female, and would liked to be called Birdetta. Most later American-localized games, such as the Mario sports titles, which have featured Birdo with a diamond ring, have usually listed Birdo as a female.Recent localizations have avoided the use of any gender pronouns when describing Birdo. In Super Smash Bros Brawl it is said that Birdo is of "indeterminate gender" in its trophy." Really mind numbing and perplexing eh? Then in its(decide to use it since I never know its true gender) recent cameo appearance in Captain Rainbow, there is a mission related to it where you have to prove it is a "she" because it was caught intruding ladies wash room. The next thing is something really shocking. I really dont dare to reveal it here as there are some adult things involved(until now I am still unsure how it can make it into Nintendo published games where all Nintendo games are usually family friendly), so I will just post a link to the discovery here for those who are interested.

So for those who know all the things going on, I guess you will never forget Birdo. I know its name will deeply engraved in my mind from now on, haha.

Castlevania: Judgement

Rumours of the existence of Castlevania Wi have been circulating for months and Igarashi had teased us about the possibility of wii version in several interviews and we all know sooner or later there will be an announcement for Wii version of Castlevania.. Many fans are hoping that the Wii version will return to the form of 2d side scrolling action games instead of 3d versions of Castlevania that have not been successful in capturing the magic and essense of Castlevania series.

Finally, the curtain has been lifted and the recent article found in the latest issue of Nintendo Power reveals the recently registered "Judgement" trademark turns out to be the Wii version of Castlevania. But guess what, at the same time this announcement surely shatters the hearts of many fans. It turns out this latest iteration is neither 2d nor 3d action game, instead Igarashi decides to take a big risk to turn the side scrolling series into a fighting game!(yeah, you see it clearly, it is a fighting game)

Initially I was shocked too when I read this news and it made me wonder whether the risk will pay off since the change is too drastic and the stake is definitely higher than ever. The venture into the 3d realm has not been well received critically and commercially, so I dont know what makes Igarashi decide to create this game.

This news reminds me of another game on Wii which is Sould Calibur Legend. Like Castlevania Judgement, Wii version of Soul Calibur Legend is unlike the previous versions of the main series and well, it was ill received and this flop certainly serves as a reminder for those who are willing to take bold moves to try something diffferent. Ironically, Soul Calibur is a fighting game series while Soul Calibur Legend is an action game.

This game will include a roaster of protogonists from previous games like Simon, Dracula(finally we can manage to use this character. Oh please, controlling the feminine Soma is very different than controlling Dracula itself!) and shockingly, this game will feature motion controls. It is daring for the team to take another bold steo as it is certainly important to make the control spot on for a fighting game or the game will end up unplayable. For more info, kindly check here and here.

So what do you guys think of this latest Castlevania? Happy that it has taken a big step forward(backstep if it turns out to be horrible......) or upset that it does not stay to its root? Please drop your comments.