An Afternoon of Beat 'em Ups

Final Fight or Streets of Rage was all I knew during the 16-bit era, as was Double Dragon to a lesser extent.

I have skipped on so many beat 'em ups that I decided to revisit the now almost extinct video game genre, where the occasional modern entry like Castle Crashers keeps it on life support.

One version I always wanted to play after playing the SNES version for forever is Final Fight Arcade, the original 1989 release. Of course I emulated this via MAME, as I have (yet) to have my own arcade cabinet located at home.

The differences between both versions are in hindsight small, as a small industrial based level is missing, and the sprite amount is higher at the arcade original. Other than that, the gameplay is intact, but the audio is obviously older.

I've also played and beaten Undercover Cops, which is a Super Famicom port of another arcade game, with similar gameplay to FF or SoR, with up to 3 characters with different movesets available.

The artstyle by Irem is striking as it indeed reminds us of other games like Metal Slug or In the Hunt. The sprites are detailed, the audio and setting are a mix of futuristic 90's, and the characters have special moves with can tear up the whole screen.

Knights of the Round is another beat 'em up on the SNES with a medieval settings this time based on the famous King Arthur story, again with up to 3 characters playable at the same time. I found this game to be quite challenging for the time being, so I will have to play it more in order to give it a proper review.

Finally, I replayed Final Fight 3 on the SNES, which is arguably the best of the trilogy, as it has 4 playable characters, the best graphics, the most attack moves, and a CPU can fill in as the second player.

Playing all of these on a sunday afternoon has been quite nostalgic, charming and exciting!

The Disaster Artist

 

It has been 6 years since I reviewed The Room, and since it's 2003 release, few other movies ever come close to it's brilliant so bad it's good quality that is so rare to find. Most below average movies are just boring, but this one is a gem!

Now, strangely, a humorous adaptation has been released based on this infamous personal story created by Tommy Wiseau, and it basically is that, but it's also more than that, as the story is more about the fictional making of it, while the most famous scenes are almost acted identically.

James Franco plays Tommy Wiseau spot on, with his trademark being essentially the same. We see how the director, producer, writer and actor of The Room is behaving rather similar in real life and his main role in the movie, while everyone is dying to know the man's age and his birth place, because of his thick accent.

The Disaster Artist is a very funny movie that is fully appreciated if you watched The Room beforehand, although it would be interesting to see the remarks and reviews made if people watched them in reverse instead. it's also not a frame by frame, scene by scene adaptation, but rather a bit of "less is more" with background behind the scenes thrown in if you get my drift.

Rating: 7.5

End of Kenpo

It's time to let go of Kenpo Karate.

For various reasons, it's time for the much less interesting fitness program, but hey, it´s 5 minutes away from my home, I can decide to visit any time, and it fits with my current life style.

Distance and having less time are probably the most important reasons, but I have also practiced it for a long time, and the motivation has gone away.

My interest in competition was done, personal assistance from my master has been absent for years and I feel as if I have experienced enough of the different seminars.

I also felt that I was missing a sport partner from my own age throughout the years, as other folks were either younger or older.

It has been a good 12 years, but all things will eventually come to an end. Who knows, I might touch martial arts in some form or another in the future again?

One Punch Man

 

Evil monsters and villains terrorize various cities and cause massive destruction and victims. Authorities, vigilantes and even authentic heroes appear to stop these out of nowhere threats.

All of them get thwarted by them, except for Saitama, a guy who plays hero for fun, and achieved this by following a strict excercise and strength routine, making his appearance a rather illusion.

One Punch Man, named after him, is a mocking parody on the super hero genre, where various tropes get joked about, especially the power levels of the antagonists, and their constant rambling.

Being a popular anime in recent memory, I can see the entertainment that fans have captured from this. The fact remains though that the premise of a guy being able to one punch even the biggest of enemies can get boring quickly.

The first episodes are humorous, but it's focus soon turned then towards how the lesser heroes are barely on the same level as the bad guys, until Saitama slowly gets the recognition he deserves.

One Punch Man will most likely get boring in the long run, but for now, it's a funny parody to witness.

Rating: 7.0

Sons of Anarchy

The criminal lives of the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy are daily depicted in the fictional town of Charming, where SAMCRO is in competition with other gangs and organizations.

Jax Teller is the heir and local playboy of the group, and he will eventually have to make countless of difficult choices, both for his club and his family.

Sons of Anarchy is a crime drama with obvious American culture being dominantly present, and it is based on real life clubs such as the Hells Angels. The writing and the acting are top notch with my favorite being Ron Perlman’s Clay character, but special appraise goes to Charlie Hunnam and Katey Sagal too.

Many characters including the majority of the main cast will find their deaths, and it is often through complex circumstances such as deals and love that people die.

Sons of Anarchy is a binge worthy series full of crime and drama in order to keep you glued to the screen. The less said about it, the better it is.

Rating: 8.0

Gravity Rush

I am pleasantly very surprised by this exclusive PlayStation IP. From a viewer’s point it looked dull, but once I got to have control over gravity, the excitement really kicked in. Gravity Rush lets you play as Kat, a cute girl with amnesia, who likes to help people and defeat Nevi with her kicks.

As my expectations were low seeming as I felt worried that the transition from Vita to PS4 would stagger, it really plays precise and it feels great to fly with great soaring speed through the air controlling gravity. 

Gravity Rush is a unique game with skydiving controls, very catchy and moody music plus cel shaded graphics. Seeming as there is a sequel coming this year, I expect the concept to get polished so that it might just become one my favorite games in recent years.

Rating: 8.2

Similar in content and presentation to the original, Gravity Rush 2 brings no true new features to the table, but it's still fun to control gravity at will. Kat and friends will have to go on a longer journey to uncover conspiracies, mysteries and villains.

The size and scale of the world feels much bigger, as you are traveling longer distances horizontally or vertically around the areas. With a pleasant soundtrack and a return to assets from the original, it has enough to please fans and newcomers.

With some new moves and clothes for Kat to wear, Gravity Rush 2 is a solid sequel that unfortunately did not sell well because it most likely got overshadowed by other good video games which got released in early 2017.

Rating: 8.2

Switch's Success

 

The Nintendo Switch is becoming tempting to me.

With recent news that the Switch is now outselling the PlayStation 2's Year One sales in Japan(http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/01) and that Kimishima has boldy announced that the console hybrid will sell over 20 million units in the next financial year, it's hard to ignore it.

Rarely, if ever, has a console be so successful in it's first year which is technically still running until March 2018, not only because of it's versitality and portability, but also because two of last year's GOTY contenders happen to be exclusive and they have re-invented the wheel of entertainment.

For the first time, I did not buy a Nintendo console at launch last year, as I decided to wait how it's future would shape up. The Wii U's poor running time and the fact that I got very busy in 2017 means that I made the right choice.

Besides, Sony's PlayStation 4 and Nintendo's SNES Mini gave me enough gaming distractions so that I would still be doing my thing elsewhere. But now that 2018 has started and I have a bit more time on my hands, I'm almost decided.

Yet, the next Nintendo Direct is very likely to broadcast this month, and to be honest, I will simply wait it out a bit more until I know what will be announced during that time. If third party support will continue to surprise us from unlikely companies such as Bethesda then that's great.

And if Nintendo can continue to deliver a constant line up of first party titles for this year too, alongside a surprise or two, then I will most likely rejoin them. If F-Zero, Advance Wars or a proper Paper Mario get announced then I will instantly be on board!

It's amazing how Nintendo has made numerous comebacks over the years and decades. Leave Luck to Heaven indeed.