Rhythm Game Review: Space Channel 5: Part 2

Space Channel 5: Part 2 was the sequel to the Seminal musical rhythm game starring Ulala, a reporter of the titular Space Channel 5. It had a lot live up to, as the original game served up a near-perfect blend of button-timing, pop rock dancing, alien shooting, psychedelic 1960's fun.

In the second part, the wonderful wackiness is kicked up a notch. A group of pirate broadcasters known as the Rhythm Rogues are led by a pirate news anchor named Purge. They kidnapped the Space President and inflicted innocent people with dancing madness. Ulala once again has to match the up, down, right, and left motions as well as the chu and hey motions that once again are performed by pressing the A and B buttons.

This time around, however, portions of the broadcast don't just have those dance moves, adding in instrument riffs into the mix. These are still performed with the same buttons, but it becomes a play-off alongside the usual rival station dance-offs.

The package is enhanced beyond the usual game this time around with the addition of the Ulala's Dance mode. This is a difficult one-hundred stage dance battle that becomes progressively harder as it goes on. It is made even more difficult by the fact that Ulala only has a single heart on her life meter. So, one mistake wrecks the whole run. If you do win progressive stages, you will be rewarded with unlocked costumes and accessories for Ulala. Some of the unlocks can also be found by finding hidden moves in the story stages.

As this is a Space Channel 5 game, the swinging sixties is in full force, with Ulala's signature miniskirt and high-heeled thigh-high boot outfit, psychedelic backdrops, and fun 60's pop-flavored music. The signature song, Ken Woodman's 1966 song Mexican Flyer returns. So too, thankfully do Naofumi Hataya and Kenichi Tokoi return, joined by erstwhile composers Tomoya Ohtani and Mariko Nanba. The music is just as groovy as the original, and make you want to get up and dance with Ulala in full Austin Powers mode, saying "Yeah, Baby!" as you chu and hey your way through enemy hordes.

The game presentation is made even more joyful by the return of Ulala actresses Mineko Okamura in the Japanese version and the effervescent Apollo Smile in English. Plus, the game is made even more pop-tastic by the reappearance of Michael Jackson as Space Michael.

Space Channel 5: Part Two outdoes the original in every way possible. Plus, the fact that it was released as a high-definition remaster fourteen years ago means it's available on more than just the original Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 releases. The story is funkier this time, in a good way, the music is just as 60's-flavored as the original with musical instrument sections that give it a new flavor, the voices are once again fantastic and the return of Michael Jackson is goofy fun. The original game was already a treat, but the additions this game provides makes this one a must play for rhythm game fans.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

Space Channel 5 Review

Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funky News Flash Review coming soon

Rhythm Game Review: Space Channel 5

Space Channel 5 is a unique rhythm game that came out in 1999, during the period where Sega was arguably the most experimental. The game was created by Sega Software R&D 9, the team which would become United Game Artists. The same team brought the world the wonderfully psychedelic musical rail shooter Rez, so the team definitely knew what it was doing when it came to music-based gameplay.

Space Channel 5 follows a space reporter for the titular Space Channel 5 news station. The reporter in question is Ulala, pronounced Ooh-La-La or You-La-La if you are Michael Jackson. The latter is actually part of the game, as the King of Pop was a fan of Sega and voiced himself in this game. Ulala's aesthetic is very 1960s, as she dons miniskirts and high heeled thigh-high platform boots in a sheen akin to rubber and latex. 

The music is also decidedly psychedelic 60's, with songs that sound like they came straight out of Mike Myer's then-recently released spy spoof film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. This is especially true of Ken Woodman's 1966 song Mexican Flyer, which serves as the game's theme tune. The other songs in the game, composed by Naofumi Hataya and Kenichi Tokoi, fit right in with the 60s theme the game is espousing.

The plot is suitably silly for such an outlandish presentation. Ulala reports all across space fighting aliens known as Morolians, which attack her and kidnap humans should she fail to stop them. Fittingly for a game such as this, she fights by dancing. She has to match the movements of the aliens and other enemies which shout commands such as "up, down, left, right", which have to be pressed accordingly with the corresponding controller buttons. Occasionally, Ulala has to match the "chu" or "hey" shouted by the enemies, which correspond to the A and B buttons on the controller.

The characters are in the early 3D of the era, but with the plastic aesthetic of the clothing, the limitations actually worked in their favor, much like the plastic 3D of the time worked well for Pixar's Toy Story a mere four years earlier. Most of the game uses the same polygonal look for the backgrounds, which worked well with retro TV-inspired backdrops. However, when the backgrounds moved, they used pre-rendered 3D in compressed videos. This looked nice on the CRT TVs of the Dreamcast era, but has unfortunately kept the game from being remade in high definition like its sequel.

The game can be upscaled on emulators of course, and the game looks fantastic when done so, but the pre-rendered videos still look a bit muddled as there isn't much to be done with those, at least until AI video upscaling improves to a point where the videos can be converted convincingly. This obviously wasn't even an option when Space Channel 5: Part 2 was released as part of the Dreamcast Collection for consoles fourteen years ago.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

Space Channel 5: Part 2 Review

Racing Game Review: Excitebike

Excitebike was an influential early motocross racing game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. There have been many more realistic games released after this, including Nintendo's own Excitebike 64, but the original game still has retro charm.

The game takes place on a two-dimensional stage with various obstacles in the way such as jumps and hills. If there is a small obstacle on the ground, pressing up at the right time lets the motorbike go over it without crashing, and pressing up at the right level to the ground on a jump will prevent a crash as well. 

Pressing the B button will activate a turbo boost, but if it is held for too long, the bike will overheat. A loud warning sound will play when the overheat meter gets too high. There are arrows on the ground that will immediately reset the turbo meter when you hit it. 

This was an early NES game, predating the NES itself when it was released on the Japanese version of the NES, the Family Computer, in 1984. As such, it is very arcade-like with a simple selection of two modes when the game starts. Game A is the time trial or practice mode and Game B lets you play against the patterns that make up the enemy movements in versus CPU mode.  There are ten stages, which increase in difficulty as they go on. The racers become faster and the obstacles become tougher. If you fail to qualify by finishing in third place or better, you will be returned back to the select stage screen.

As it is such an early game, there wasn't much in the way of music here. For most of the game, you will just here the engine running sound or the engine overheat warning sound. There are musical jingles at the start of the game and between stages. The title screen and winning screen have a happy tune, the start of each race is also pleasant, leading into three beeps signaling the start of a race. Failing to qualify will lead to a fail screen with suitably melancholy music.

The thing that really elevates this game past average status and into the hearts of people who played it in the 1980s or 1990s is the track creation system. This is actually surprisingly quite robust, allowing you to choose from any of the obstacles from any of the stages to be used in your creations. The biggest drawback of this was that early carts didn't come with battery saving so the tracks could only be played on the console where they were created, which at release led to hoping that the game didn't become corrupt while waiting for your friends to come to your house to show off your creations.

The expanded version on the Famicom Disk System fixed this issue when it was released in Japan. International players got the ability to save with the emulation-based services like Virtual Console on Wii, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and New Nintendo 3DS as well as Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Classics for Nintendo Switch.

Excitebike is an interesting little game. It isn't much by today's standards, but there's no doubting its impact on the video game industry. It comes from the age when video games were brutally hard, so there's a lot of challenge in there for people who want to complete all ten courses. Today's emulation-based re-releases of the game definitely help with that. Emulation also helps with those who want to play around with the track maker, but it's a shame that the modern re-releases never came with the option to share your creations with friends over the internet.

Final Verdict:

3 out of 5

Action-Adventure Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

The Guardians of the Galaxy, long a niche comic team, gained a large following after being adapted into films. Because of this, it is only fitting that it would get video game adaptations. The Eidos-Montréal version of Guardians of the Galaxy was a high-budget game that is based on the same crew made famous by the James Gunn Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy. 

It was released after Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series. The Telltale game also followed the characters from the films, with elements mixed in from the surprisingly even weirder Marvel Comics version of the characters. That meant that the game had a tough act to follow, especially following the promotional material that made this take on the Guardians highly anticipated.

This action-adventure adaptation has a lot going for it. Unsurprisingly, it features the characters from the film trilogy, which have become the most loved version of this group of anti-heroes. However, it also pulls from the comics, giving the team's leader, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, his half-Spartax background and featuring the genetically-engineered Adam Warlock two years before he was featured in the third Guardians of the Galaxy film.

The characters all have abilities that are gained and expanded upon as the game progresses. Star-Lord uses a laser gun and jet boots, Gamora, a stoic green female uses her skills of fighting with a knife and scaling rocky surfaces, Rocket, a sarcastic genetically-engineered racoon, uses his expertise in explosives and demolitions, Groot, a living tree who can only talk using his name with various inflections, uses his roots to lift the team upwards and make wooden bridges for the team to cross, and Drax the Destroyer uses his vast strength to fight and to pick up and throw objects.

The characters are all well portrayed, and it is a treat to watch them go from misfits thrown together to a fully-developed team that truly care for each other. It also features a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy that has yet to appear in the films, Nikki Gold. She has been reimagined as the daughter of Peter's former love interest, a Kree Nova Corps member named Ko-Rel.

However, this game falls into the same traps that befell countless Marvel Comics video game adaptations in the past. The gameplay is decent enough, featuring the shooting mechanics expected by a character such as Star-Lord mixed with a time-limited command system to allow the powers of the rest of the team a chance to shine as artificial intelligence-controlled backup characters. However, the stage layouts aren't varied enough to mitigate the simplistic gameplay, making going through the game feel like a chore after a while.

The story was interesting enough to get me to continue the game, however, and the fact that the voice acting was fantastic helped as well. There are a lot of 20th century hit songs in the game as well, which can be played on the Guardians ship, the Milano, or as a boost to morale while in battle. I enjoyed the use of pop hits in the first two films, so it was a lot of fun to see that atmosphere continue here.

Guardians of the Galaxy isn't a perfect game. It has gameplay that can get repetitive after a while, but the story, voice acting, and music makes up for it. It isn't a must play by any means, but if you are willing to go through stages, especially in the middle of the game, that can feel a bit generic, it could be worth playing through once just to experience the story.

Final Verdict:
3 out of 5

Stealth Action Game Review: Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid was not only the first Metal Gear game after an eight year hiatus, it was also the first fully three-dimensional game in the series. Released for the PlayStation in 1998, it propelled the series and its creator into worldwide fame.

Hideo Kojima was always a fan of Western action media, as evidenced by the use of stars from American action movies as the basis of the character portraits in the original Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake on the MSX2. Heck, even the name Snake comes from the main protagonist in Escape from New York.  

Thus, it made sense that once gaming moved into the true third dimension with the release of the 32-bit and 64-bit consoles, Kojima would attempt to emulate his favorite films cinematically as well. Kojima has become infamous for the use of long cutscenes in his games, but in the original Metal Gear Solid, they are undoubtedly a benefit to the game, making the game feel more engrossing while not feeling like a slog. Heck, even the remade cinematics in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes for GameCube, goofy as they are, still manage to come in at a runtime that doesn't infringe upon the enjoyment of the gameplay.

Solid Snake is sent to Alaska, where he needs to do what he does best. He must infiltrate an enemy base and stop a Metal Gear, this time the model known as REX. He is first sent to rescue the DARPA chief and discovers a conspiracy to which he was clearly not previously privy. At this point, he also meets a fan-favorite character known as Meryl Silverburgh, the biological daughter of Snake's mission leader Colonel Campbell.

Snake also has help from people on his codec, as usual for this series. Snake simply has to communicate because the codec is implanted in him. Along with Campbell, Snake communicates with Mei Long who saves his mission data and offers philosophical quotes, Master Miller who offers non-sequiturs and occasional advice, and eventually series regular Dr. Emmerich aka Otacon who offers information about the base and Metal Gear REX itself.

The story is one of the best, if not the best, of the Hideo Kojima stories. There are so many twists and turns in the story, and the characters are really interesting. It leaves a lasting impression. The voice work of the actors is fantastic, both in the English and Japanese language. If you have played through Metal Gear Solid in English, you could find it fun to play it again with the Japanese voice actors in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection, assuming you don't mind reading the English subtitles if you don't mind Japanese.

The music is fantastic too. Unless you play at the easiest level, or are fantastic at playing action stealth games, you'll likely see the game over screen at least once. This has become iconic for a reason. The voice over that accompanies it is fantastic and the game over music is extremely memorable. Of course, the rest of the music is fantastic as well, but that was epic enough it deserved a write-up on its own. The sound effects are also great, giving the game its polished feel.

The stealth gameplay was influential on the genre, and even though a lot has changed in the nearly twenty years since its 1998 release, it is still great to play today. The Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes remake adds some then-modern touches. It does make the game feel different because the first person mode makes some parts easier than the original. If the PlayStation version of Metal Gear Solid feels stiff to you, and you don't mind some goofy cutscene changes, that might be an option. The earlier Metal Gear Solid: Integral also includes first person mode, which might be a better option since its gaming and presentation comes from the North American release of the original Metal Gear Solid PlayStation release.

For those really willing to dig deep into the history of video gaming and emulation, there is bleemcast! for Metal Gear Solid for the Dreamcast. Playing the game using this will make the game smoother. It's true that most PlayStation emulators will have an option for smoothing, but the bleemcast! experience is surprisingly smooth, and it's amazing to experience considering the PlayStation and Dreamcast were direct competitors that were only one console generation apart.

Metal Gear Solid is well worth playing, in any form, from the original PlayStation version on the PlayStation console or on emulators to the GameCube Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes remake. I recommend the PlayStation version on console or emulator, since the cutscenes are 2000s action film level goofy in the remake. Some of the original cutscenes can be goofy too, but it is worth it to play it in its original form. If you have played the original, and especially if you have played it many times, it could be worth it to play the PlayStation version with Japanese voice actors and English subtitles to experience the Japanese voice actors. The actors in the Japanese version are just as high-quality as those in the English version. It could also be worth it to play Metal Gear Solid: Integral, if you want to experience the game with first person mode. If you don't mind cutscene changes that make the game feel like a goofy late 1990s to early 2000s American action film, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes might also be worth experiencing. No matter which version you play, the stealth gameplay, excellent voice acting, plus fantastic music and sound effects make this one a classic that every video gamer should experience at least once.

Final Verdict:
5 out of 5

Metal Gear (Ultra Games) Mega Review

Metal Gear Solid 2 Review coming soon

Animation Software Review: Disney Presents The Animation Studio

In the 1980s and 1990s, the animation department of The Walt Disney Company worked with video game developers to bring its animated films to the interactive industry. This led to video games with sprites, backgrounds, and cutscenes that impressively mimicked the art style of the big screen versions. When combined with satisfying game play, this brought about well-regarded video games such as the classic Virgin Games platformer, Aladdin, and the woefully forgotten Blue Sky Software puzzle game, Hare Raisin' Havoc.

In 1990, Disney partnered with Silent Software to bring things one step further with the release of The Animation Studio for Amiga and DOS.

This art and animation tool brought the techniques of hand-drawn animation that were employed by The Disney Animation Studio into the hands of consumers on standard home computer systems.

Disney animators worked hand-in-hand with the developers at Silent Software, even going as far as converting animations of classic Disney productions into TAS format, displaying pencil-style outlines of cartoons utilizing such techniques as squash-and-stretch with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum from Alice in Wonderland, a fluid walking animation of Mickey Mouse's faithful pup Pluto, and even an animation of Mickey himself walking towards the camera.

My favorite of the bunch is a super-short cartoon that demonstrates a finished, fully colored animation of Donald Duck. The famous duck looks at a CRT screen of a computer displaying the face of Mickey Mouse, which leads Donald into one of his common temper tantrums.

As for the tools themselves, there is still a lot to like, even thirty-five years later. A black-and-white pencil test is created using frames, with a digital version of semi-transparent "onion paper" providing the means to see the difference between the current frame and the last. After the frames of the pencil test are adequately cleaned up, the frames are colorized using a 1990s art Interface that should be familiar to anyone who has ever used Microsoft Paint.

For computers with sound cards, or for versions of the game bundled with the Disney Sound Source branded version of the Covox Speech Thing, there is a library containing dozens of sound effects straight from the Disney sound archive.

There are many more sophisticated programs available today to create animations, and each one is capable of creating animations well above the 640x480 maximum resolution available in The Animation Studio. There is something to be said about using tools modeled after Disney's own process to create animations that use sound effects from Disney's own sound library. Like watching Disney's hand animated films today, it is like stepping back to a simpler time before three-dimensional presentations using millions of polygons in ultra high definition resolutions. Sometimes, simple can be satisfying.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Platform Game Review: Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Sonic CD was the Sonic the Hedgehog game that was released for the Sega CD and Mega CD. It was a very different game from any of the others, making it a bit of the black sheep in the 16-bit Sonic canon. It doesn’t deserve that reputation as it is one of the best, if not the best, games for Sega’s ill-fated CD attachment for the Genesis and Mega Drive. Even outside of the Sega CD and Mega CD ecosystem, it is a very enjoyable game. 

In Sonic CD, Sonic needs to save the past to save the future. This is what gives the game its uniqueness. Sonic still has his speed and quills when he rolls in a ball to take out enemies and break open item boxes. However, this game also has past and future signs which change the setting of the game when Sonic gains enough speed. This is shown with sparkles emanating from Sonic when he runs followed by a sequence showing the passage of time. 

Once Sonic has changed years, the scenery reflects the change. In the past, the game is like a regular Sonic the Hedgehog game, with levels ranging from lush green to metallic. However, in the future things have become more dystopian as the scenery shows the destruction of the game world with ruined structures. This change also applies to the game world, as passages that are not available in the past become available in the future, and vice-versa. 

The game was in development between Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, so the spin dash works differently than other games. Sonic can be hit while spinning before he blasts off. The jump button also must be held down for a good amount of time or Sonic will just stand up. This is rectified in the mobile remake by Christian Whitehead. The remake also includes Tails as a playable character, which changes things up a bit with his hovering ability. The remake also is included in the Sonic Origins compilation. Sonic Origins Plus goes further, completing the trio of Sonic’s 16-bit friends by adding Knuckles and Amy Rose as playable characters as well. Speaking of Amy Rose, she makes her first appearance in this game along with the villain metal doppelganger Metal Sonic.

The presentation is where Sonic CD shines, as it uses the increased storage capacity of the Sega CD and Mega CD by including incredibly well animated story sequences at the beginning and ending of the game. Sonic doesn’t talk, but his expressions do the work of conveying the danger and surprise of the situations into which Sonic finds himself. The soundtrack behind this is excellent in all regions, but I’m partial to the North American version. The Japanese version and most of the international versions include an instrumental to the action in the videos, but a new song was composed for the North American release. This is Sonic Boom, a catchy pop song with lyrics that are precisely Sonic in a nutshell. The Sonic CD remakes by Christian Whitehead include the video with much less compression than the original release. They also have the option to play either the Japanese or North American soundtrack over the videos regardless of the region in which the game is being played. 

Sonic CD is an underappreciated gem that made the Sega CD and Mega CD a worthwhile purchase and continues to be a worthwhile experience to this day. It changes up the formula by adding in time travel, which makes it remain a unique entry in the Sonic series. It has the fantastic score and sound design of the other Sonic games, but the addition of animation to the beginning and ending of the game make it an extremely memorable experience. The weirdness of the spin dash brings it down a little compared to Sonic 2 and the later games in the series, but this is negated in recent releases as it is optionally rectified in Christian Whitehead’s remakes. 

Final Verdict: 

4½ out of 5