AndrewTS

There's an adapter on the way for folks who are just hardwired. However, I suck at the game at this point. The mix of new and old tracks is killer. You've got tracks from SMK, MKSC, MK64 and MKDD available in the retro courses; mission mode is darn fun; roster is cool even though I wish there were more (no Koopa Troopa, and sadly still no Link). I need to figure out what to put in for my emblem. The graphics are really crisp and clean, and totally blow away the N64 game even if they aren't quite up to Double Dash's. And yeah, if you're the lead car for any period of time, you might end up totally being PUMMELED with weapons. In one race I got blasted by lightning, my screen got inked up, and I was knocked out by a seeking turtle shell. The little touches I really appreciate--the status/map screen shows you when you've lapped someone, what items each kart is carrying at a given time, etc. My only complaint is that I wish you could put the map/status screen on top. It's a natch to look up to see the screen because you've gotta keep your gaze upwards anyway when you're racing, but looking down on the bottom screen? Seems very awkward. My interest in purchasing a psPod is in the negatives at this point.

Shadow the Hedgehog reviews seem to be all over the place (at least out of the ones trickling in). Gamespy, IGN, Eurogamer have all reviewed, with some negative/mediocre scores. GameTrailers gave it a positive review. However, general impression is that it still feels a lot like the Sonic Adventure games, but is better than Heroes. If you didn't like the other 3D Sonics, this one won't really change your mind much.

Accessory one.

Not initially. Must be unlocked. Also R.O.B. is an unlockable!

Ditto. I'm not online yet with it, I need the adapter still.

He's Japanese, though. They love their lolis, especially in fukus. Hell, Sakura and Lilith popping up at the same time cannot be coincidence. Capcom knew what they were doing. Although Ryu is all about the fight--doesn't seem to care about anything else. Take a look at the 3rd Strike storyline--no such thing ever mentioned. A Japanese guy hooking up with a Chinese woman isn't very likely, either. They hate each other. Wrong. Street Fighter 1 is supposedly taking place in '88. Roughly the next year has the events of Final Fight 1 taking place. Alpha follows both SF1 and FF1, and must for Sodom to wish to rebuild Mad Gear, Sagat to have his scar, etc. However, it's hard to make SFA2 fit in storyline-wise, and Alpha 3 almost has to follow SF2 to make much sense. That is, if the SFAs are canon at all.

It really depends on the game. For a platformer that needs to just keep track of which missions were completed it might take 90 KB. The recent SD games, which could be holding a dozen or more CAWs, edits made to existing characters movesets, custom this and that, career mode progree--those may take 1/3 to nearly 1/2 of a memory card.

Chuck Norris does not bleed red, because red is the color of communism. Chuck Norris has had only one failure in his entire life: trying to teach Bizarre of D-12 how to rap. "Roundhouse Kick" is the currency Chuck Norris uses when he needs to buy shit. Chuck Norris once shaved his beard with a rusty butterknife just to prove how much of a man he is. Nobody has seen him beardless however because it immediately grew back in. From the beard hairs spawned wolverines. G.I. Joe was originally titled: G.I. Chuck Norris, but Hasbro thought that the doll was too manly and would scare small children. They kept the Kung-fu grip.

That is a "cheap" one. I'd go for a used one on Half.com, myself.

Since nearly everything else has been mentioned, I'll throw in: Pikmin 1 & 2 Ultimate Muscle (the one on PS2 sucks)--I had way more fun with UM than either Def Jam. Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (decent 1P, fabulous if you have more) Billy Hatcher was definitely worth the 8 bucks I paid for it.

Depends on the brand and the cartridge, but I've used a couple for my Compaq and they worked well if you're careful.

Ape Escape 3 is coming to the US at last! ... I think so, at least. Gamestop has some dummy boxes for AE3, listed with SCEA as an apparent publisher and 2006 apparent for release, but none of the GS clerks I asked in any stores have found a release date in the computer, and I haven't seen an official announcement for its release. However, dummy box still listed PS2 for the system to be released and only PS2, so doesn't seem to be a port to PSP.

http://www.classicgaming.com/castlevania/storyline.html That's about as good as you'll get. Iga has struck Circle of the Moon, Legends, and both N64 games from canon, contributing to the opinion among many of his detractors that he's an arrogant ass. I have a couple friends that really liked Lament, despite its flaws, and they say it's no contest--this one is way better. The only thing I feel may be inferior is the camera due to occasional bugs with using the lock on (Z-targeting it ain't). Hector's way more versatile than Leon was. You also get to play as Trevor after beating the game (and he has unique cutscenes too!). However, its up against some stiff competition in the genre already, like God of War.

Cliffs I wasn't as annoyed with because I'd seem those before (the GG Sonics had its share of areas like that), but the impossible-to-avoid enemies and spikes was the bigger gripe with the previous Advance titles.

Oh, wanted to bring special attention to this part: Anybody who has ever played one of the Advance games knows *exactly* what they mean--as those levels seemed riddled with areas like that which were annoying as heck.

My first CV was Bloodlines, so that probably has something to do with my liking it so much, but it's still a great game. SCV4 is very cool as well, though. It added a lot to the series, with the multi-direction whipping, great graphics, special effects like the mode 7, swinging from platform to platform with the whip, and it wasn't as crazy hard as CV1 or as tedious as 2. I bought Curse of Darkness and it's really growing on me. Its flaws are many and are well documented, but so far I've been building up a nice little arsenal of weapons, have a few Innocent Devil companies that are fun to use, hacked a bunch of enemies up (and robbed them, stocking up for gold), and fought...Wyvern... Only one chance to steal from it (to get a relatively worthless item, but hey, I got it!)--when its head gets stuck on the ground, you get a chanch to jump on its back...when you do it, flies hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh up into the air, and have to wait for the proper chance to strike. Lots of hacking, skillful dodging of tail swipes and flame spews, and help from my molten rock ID (who I named Metlar) later, and I managed to cut him down permanently. I still haven't fought Trevor, either, so looking forward to that as well. It's a step in the right direction, but the decision to replace a well-placed fixed camera (a la DMC) with a problematic 3rd person camera is a bit annoying. Main gripe is that its still very weak on platforming at this point. If you're a total CV geek--buy it, you'll love it. If not, rent first. I got a sampler CD too with it! Oh, have I adequately pounded it into people's heads that LEGACY OF DARKNESS ON N64 IS ACTUALLY A GOOD GAME?! GIVE IT A CHANCE!!

Silly, Donkey Kong Country 2 (GBA I'm assuming) is out already.

I was joking, since, you know, it's a bad port of a decent game and is two buttons shy. However, it would be funny to see a Capcom 2D fighter win it--but not as funny if they nominated CFE and it won.

Show over. This piece of Garbage is worthless. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Everybody vote for Darkstalkers Chronicles!

What was worse than that was announcing it at the top of the show. It's very possible casuals who own a PS2 for Madden and GTA would vote it over everything else. However, you don't announce GotY at the beginning of the show. You don't watch the Oscars and then, 2 seconds into the show, see some moronic guest speaker yell "BEST PICTURE IS RAAAAAAAY!!! JAMIE FOXX YOU MAH NIGGAH!" I still don't know what "most addictive game fueled by Dew" is supposed to mean.

Thanks Matt Barron <{POST_SNAPBACK}> What's with pop stars and spelling their names wrong?

I have a friend who owns Crimson Sea 1 and 2. Never really recommended them to me, but know he likes them. I'll probably pick up Otogi and put them away in my cabinet for when I actually get an X-Box (which will either be the 1st one if the price drops a little more, or a 360 if/when they making it 100% backward compatible). I think you may find Prime more exceptional, however.

Otogi looks like one of those games people should have been recommending to me when I asked for good X-Box games, instead of overrated junk that everyone mentions. The flow is pretty good in the Primes, but for obvious reasons, when facing multiple enemies you often need to face them in a larger/round battleground.

Well, how do you mean "flow?"

Extremely well. I generally hate FPSers. Aiming is usually a pain, and I rarely find it intriguing to view the world through the eyes of some poor stiff who is going to get jumped by 5+ guys and gunned down like a pig. In the Primes, it's not really a FPSer at all. It's a bonafide Metroid--a platformer where you happen to shoot stuff. There are plenty of baddies and bosses, but exploration and platform jumping are focused heavily upon. You have an excellent targeting system (featuring an auto-aiming reticle that's easy to switch to other enemies), a variety of beams/missiles, visors, the double-jump for navigating rougher terrain, and a well-designed map system that lets you easily tell what areas need explored and which areas need visited (you get hints at the next area you need to check out, usually by alerting you of a boss waiting for you). The pacing and level design are very well done, so that even if you never played a FPS before, you should pick everything up with ease. In fact, one criticism is that it's so user-friendly that people accustomed to traditional FPSers may not like the controls, but I've not met anyone who felt that way. Graphics are steller, the music is a fantastic mix of new and old, controls are intuitive and responsive, and Prime 1 (which is like 5 bucks these days) has one of the greatest end boss fights ever. I can't really recommend it highly enough. Prime 2 is a great game although some people aren't as thrilled with it since it isn't such a big jump over Prime 1, but it's still a great game. It directly follows up Prime 1, though, so maybe you want to pick up Prime first, then decide from there. However, just to be fair--the gripes: Backtracking can sometimes be tedious (but it is a Metroid--and you travel pretty quickly for a 3D game, though. Plus there's elevators and such). Getting the better secrets requires you to scan darn near everything. If you love exploring and taking your time, it's not such a big deal, but it hurts anyone who wants to try to rush through the game with a good time, and can get a little tedious.