Cyber Gadget, a Japanese company that designs video game console paraphernalia, has recently announced a new retro game system called Retrofreak. The details translate as follows:
Retrofreak will allow you to play video game software from no less than 11 different types of cartridges via an adapter that is compatible with retro games, all with a single machine. Note: games may not play properly in some cases. The 11 types of cartridges include:
Mega Drive (NTSC/PAL) (Note: the Mega Adapter can be used to play Sega Mark III games)
Genesis (Note: The North American Mega Drive)
PC Engine
TurboGrafx-16 (Note: the overseas version of the PC Engine)
PC Engine SuperGrafx
Translator notes: the Family Computer, or Famicom, is the original name for what is known in the west as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES. The Sega Mark III was released two years prior to the Sega Master System, and the two are almost identical in terms of hardware.
A release date for the Retrofreak has not yet been revealed.
The complete collection will be released in North America on June 2, 2015. The set will feature English audio and Japanese audio with English subtitles. On-disc extras will include the textless opening and closing animation, the promotional videos, commercials, music clips, the preview for the OVA episode “Secret Couple”, the OVA itself and ‘Maria Love Theater’.
The set is now available for pre-order here. The suggested retail price is $39.99 USD, however Right Stuf are currently accepting pre-orders for only $25.99 USD. A trailer, synopsis and screenshots of Please Teacher! can be found at the official website here.
Fifteen years on from Banjo Tooie and it’s safe to say that Rare isn’t the revered studio they once were. Six ex Rare developers have now come together to create a studio called Playtonic Games and their first title will be what they themselves are calling a spiritual successor to the much loved Banjo Kazooie franchise. At EGX the team held a press conference showcasing the very first details of this new game currently titled Project Ukelele as well as releasing a couple of background screens to show us the tone of the game.
The full video is available below but for your benefit I’m going to sum up all the most important and meaningful bits below for those who don’t have over half an hour to hear from some of these game developer legends.
– The game will most likely feature two main playable characters just like Banjo Kazooie.
– Multiple characters are being created for this game that will appear in the world somehow. All these characters are envisioned in the future to be receiving their own game where they are the star and the other characters can then appear in their games. Think The Avengers but cuter.
– While Project Ukelele will indeed be a giant love letter to the 3D platformer, the other games with the other characters could be of any genre which will be decided by both the fans and the developers.
– Don’t worry about free to play, micro-transactions, whale hunting or in game-ads. Playtonic are looking to deliver an old school full game experience.
– Playtonic are aiming to give people exactly what they want and expect. The tone and style will be similar to Banjo, the humour, challenges, eyes on inanimate objects, a wealth of NPCs and the classic mumble like speaking will all be in this title. Don’t expect a Nuts N’ Bolts revolution from this title (serisouly don’t, the developers even made a joke about it).
– They are looking to take advantage of the technology leap and bring the 3D platforming genre up to date. New mechanics as well as bringing the classic mechanics back.
– Expect lots of collectibles. One type of collectibles detailed today were called ‘pagies’ which unlock more worlds as well as expand current worlds.
– The characters will have lots of special moves they can learn thanks to their unique characteristics.
– Expect big, beautiful themed worlds that can be explored in a less linear fashion than in previous Rare games.
– The game will be single player.
– Music composers from past games will be coming back! One of them is Grant Kirkhope who has composed a few songs from his home in California. The music will change as you go throughout the level.
– The game will be coming to Kickstarter in May 2015! Regardless if the Kickstarter fails (don’t bet on it) or not the game will be released at least on PC, however it is all but guaranteed additional platforms will be in the Kickstarter tiers.
– Playtonic want to hear from the fans about what they want as Kickstarter rewards. There was even mention of replica Nintendo 64 cartridges and Amiibo! You can get in contact with the team through the forums on the website or their Facebook page.
This is a dream come true for any gamer who grew up in the 90’s and I am sure this Kickstarter will see a lot of support. We will keep you update on the latest news from Playtonic and Project Ukelele as it is released. Be sure to let us know what you think about this newly formed studio and Project Ukelele in the comments below.
Viz Media has just announced that they will be releasing a box set of six original Hello Kitty graphic novels in North America under their Perfect Square imprint.
The six original graphic novels to be included are: Hello Kitty: Here We Go!, Hello Kitty: Delicious!, Hello Kitty: Surprise!, Hello Kitty: Just Imagine…, Hello Kitty: Work of Art and Hello Kitty: It’s About Time. All of these books will come packaged in an illustrated slip case. The box set has a suggested retail price of $39.99 USD.
Artists Jacob Chabot, Ian McGinty, Jorge Monlongo and Giovanni Castro created these full-colour graphic novels, along with guest artists in each volume. The box set will be available in September 2015.
Edge of Eternity’s Kickstarter hit the $130k mark, unlocking possibly the most exciting stretch goal for the campaign, orchestral music composed by famed Japanese composer Yasunori Mitsuda. Mitsuda has composed some of the most memorable JRPG soundtracks, such as Chrono Trigger and Xenogears.
Edge of Eternity is a JRPG developed by French indie developers Midgar Studio. The game’s plot focuses on the siege that has crippled the three realms of Astrya, Junor, and Dehostra for the last 30 years.
The game has already been Greenlit on Steam and has only seven days remaining in its Kickstarter campaign. There are still two tiers of stretch goals left to accomplish that will bring extra playable characters and more summons. Copies of the game start at $15 USD and beta access is available for a minimum pledge of $30.
Edge of Eternity features an ATB battle system that will be familiar to JRPG players. There are three main progression systems in the game: traditional character levelling; a crystal-based system that unlocks bonuses, powers, and skills; and an original weapon customization system that will allow weapons to grow with players.
A pre-alpha demo is available for Linux, Mac and Windows. The full game is expected to launch in December 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Linux, Mac, and Windows.
Right Stuf, Inc, and animation studio Sunrise Inc. recently announced the first title to be released as a part of their distribution deal: Turn A Gundam Part 1. The first half of the 1999-2000 series will be available for the first time in North America on June 30, 2015.
The first 25 episodes of the series were created, directed and written by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the original creator of the Gundam franchise. They will be released with Japanese audio and English subtitles. The on-disc extras will include the textless opening and ending animation.
Bandai Entertainment USA originally licensed Turn A Gundam, but did not release it due to their decision to leave the North American anime market. The upcoming release is available for pre-order from Right Stuf here.
Siren Visual announced in early March that they had a ‘wonderful’ announcement to make, and they have recently revealed what it is that they were so excited about. They ended up making three announcements about upcoming anime releases in Australia.
The first one is something that people have been anticipating for a while: a complete box set of the Monster anime series. It will be available exclusively on their website at some point “over the coming months”. Siren Visual were planning to include a booklet with a brand-new, exclusive translation of the articles from the Japanese booklets, but they were unable to get permission to do so from the authors. They did say that there is a possibility of the booklet being released in Australia at a later date, but they are not hopeful about this occurring.
Next up is Siren Visual’s announcement of Nagi no Asukara: A Lull in the Sea, which will be released in the next few months. They are working with NIS America for this release, and stated that while it will be different from the U.S. deluxe version, the Australian release will “be very cool”.
Their final announcement is that a Blu-ray release of Gainax’s anime series Nadia: Secret of Blue Water is coming in July 2015. Siren Visual did not state whether their release would reflect the U.S. or the UK Blu-ray release.
This volume takes us past the halfway point of the series. The action, the sheer insanity and every other aspect of it have all remained consistent so far, for better or worse. Some episodes have been better than others, but the creative team always manages to find some way to make every episode entertaining. This volume promises more violent action that the previous volumes, so do these five episodes maintain the same level of quality of the previous nine episodes, or is the action unnecessarily violent and over-the-top?
Story
After defeating Ira Gamagoori in the first battle of the final round of the First Naturals Election, Ryuko is now up against Houka Inumuta. Using his skills of data collection and analysis, he is able to dodge many of Ryuko’s attacks. Comparatively, this battle seems to be over far quicker than all the other matches, but it becomes clear that this fight did not take place so Inumuta could defeat Ryuko, but rather so he could gather more data about her fighting abilities for future reference. She then immediately faces Nonon Jakuzure, who uses the power of sound to overpower Ryuko and leave her and Senketsu unable to focus on formulating a plan to defeat Jakuzure. Ryuko then gains the power of flight and takes off like a rocket, eventually winning by using Jakuzure’s own power against her. Uzu Sanageyama is the last member standing of the Elite Four; the other three members are now sitting rather intimidatingly next to the hyper-energetic Mako Mankanshoku.
As the final battle is about to begin, a new character who had previously only been shown during a few brief shots is introduced. This person turns out to not only be an enemy to Ryuko, but an annoyance to Lady Satsuki as well. Her name is Nui Harime, and she possesses the ability to de-thread a Goku uniform without even breaking a sweat. Although Ryuko does not realise who she is at first glance, Harime wields the other half of the scissor blade and reveals to Ryuko that she was the person who murdered her father. Unable to control her rage, Ryuko continues to fight to such an extreme level that she loses almost all of her blood, essentially becoming a zombie as a result. She continues fighting, but is unable to formulate a strategy to defeat her father’s murderer. The best points in the series are not where there is relentless action and violence, but where the other side of Ryuko appears, the side that views Mako as a friend and part of her will to fight. This can be observed in the scene in which Mako brings her back to her senses. Following the conclusion of the battle, Satsuki reveals her ulterior motive for holding the First Naturals Election, and we then see Honnouji Academy’s finest soldiers taking over the Kansai region, all while Ryuko faces a serious dilemma of her own.
Visuals
The visuals are still consistent, and the animation is fluid even during the most fast-paced action scenes these episodes have to offer. There is an slightly increased reliance on still frames, though, suggesting that there may have been production issues caused by a low budget or time constraints. However, given the insanity of the show, it could just as easily be an intentional stylistic choice.
Female sexualisation is still prominent and frequently thrust right into the viewer’s face. There is some ‘equal opportunity’ ‘fan-service’ with the male transformation sequences, which still continue to be censored by the sourceless ray of light that fans of ecchi anime will be familiar with, but this does not make the objectification of the female characters acceptable. The male nudity raises questions about what is and is not morally acceptable at Honnouji Academy and the surrounding district; Ryuko’s teacher Aikuro Mikisugi again displays his nipples, which inexplicably produce a bright purple light. Also, Ira Gamagoori is almost completely naked next to Mako following his defeat in the First Naturals Election. Houka Inumuta, a fellow member of the Elite Four, gets told off by Gamagoori for wearing a tracksuit, because this show does not often like making any sense.
The violence in these five episodes is ramped up to a new level; copious amounts of blood spurt out of Ryuko’s body in what would realistically be a long enough period of time to render her dead. The choice to depict Ryuko as a zombie during this period of time is interesting, and may be an accurate representation of her mental state at the time. Fans of the slapstick violence seen so far in the series will likely find Mako’s method of bringing Ryuko back to her senses quite hilarious, if not completely over-the-top.
Audio
The audio remains as excellent as ever in these five episodes. The high-quality background music by Hiroyuki Sawano continues to be put to good use, although some pieces of music are used far more than others. Certain pieces are only used once throughout this entire volume. Any fans who have been having trouble deciding whether or not to pick up the CD soundtrack may want to get it while it is still available after watching this volume.
The voice-acting is also consistently good; minor characters and main characters alike are cast perfectly. There are, however, two negative things to note about the English dub. The names of character names and Japanese locations are horribly mispronounced, especially Mako Mankanshoku’s name, and many characters use more coarse language than they have previously.
Extras
The textless opening and ending animation sequences are included on this disc.
Overall
The episodes featured in this volume of Kill la Kill continue to entertain with the same level of action, bad-mouthing, drama, comedy and sheer craziness that has been the norm thus far. The insane and impossible amounts of blood shown in one episode in particular may put off some people from deciding to watch this series, as might the increased amount of swearing. For those of you who have been watching since episode 1, however, this volume will provide you with two hours of enjoyable entertainment.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Author’s note: The initial score given for this review was inaccurate and has been updated by the author to reflect Capsule Computers’ ongoing commitment to providing reliable reviews for its readers.
Recently Invertmouse, the group known for titles such as Without Within, Unhack, and Bermuda, launched a KickStarter project for their new visual novel Cursed Sight for the PC, Mac, and Linux. The KickStarter is seeking $2,000 and is already over halfway to their goal at the time of this writing and you can check out the KickStarter here.
Cursed Sight is described as a visual novel about struggling with fate and follows the story of Gai, who is sold by his family into Miyon’s temple while Miyon herself suffers from a great curse and it seems that her curse may be the most valuable weapon in the upcoming conflict between East and West Taria.
Invertmouse has also placed Cursed Sight onto Steam Greenlight where you can read a bit more about it and vote for it here while an early demo for the title can be found on the official website.
Legendary game designer Sid Meier’s latest game has launched. Sid Meier’s Starships is a turn based space combat game set in the Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earthuniverse.
Players will build their fleet and explore a dynamically generated universe filled with citizens needing help, rogue AIs, and pirates. Like the Civilization series, there are many paths to victory, both peaceful and aggressive.
Sid Meier’s Starships is available on Steam for Mac and Windows and on the iTunes App Store for iPad. Buyers who also own Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth will be able to access special bonuses in both games, such as extra planet types and missions.
“Civilization: Beyond Earth encouraged players to explore humanity’s next chapter on an alien planet,” said Sid Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis Games. “Starships takes players on a new adventure to find the other worlds settled by humanity, engage in a series of tactical missions, and ultimately bring peace and unity to the galaxy.”
