Review Round-Up - February

Sonic didn't quite lead the pack this month, but he was close!

Another month has come and gone, and I find myself once again compiling a list of reviews for the month. A short month equals a short list of reviews, but what we had was of good to excellent quality. We started strong with Tatsunoko VS Capcom and God of War Collection and ended strong with Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, a surprise hit. In the middle we took flight with The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, wiped out the Chimeran menace in Resistance: Retribution, played some 8-bit mini-games in No More Heroes 2, had several SEGA quickies, and went to Camelot with Sonic in Sonic and the Black Knight. Stay tuned for March as I have many reviews in store including White Knight Chronicles, Darksiders, and Endless Ocean: Blue World!

All scores are out of 10.
5 = Average

Tatsunoko VS. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii) - 9.0
God of War Collection (PS3) - 9.5
The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces (Wii) - 8.0
Resistance: Retribution (PSP) - 9.25
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii) - 8.5
SPC Quickies - Volume Six - SEGA All-Stars
Sonic and the Black Knight (Wii) - 6.75
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (PS3, 360, Wii, DS, PC) - 9.0

Tatsunoko and Capcom raged war in the month of February.

Central City Census - March

Welcome to the wonderful month of March here at SuperPhillip Central. Before we look at this month's Central City Census, let's check out last month's results.

Of SuperPhillip's picks for Game of the Year, which was your favorite?

New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)	22 (44%)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)	14 (28%)
Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes of Liberty City (360)	1 (2%)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Multi)	8 (16%)
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)	3 (6%)
LocoRoco 2 (PSP)	1 (2%)

Total votes: 49

So it seems most of you agreed with my pick of New Super Mario Bros. Wii as Game of the Year. That's awfully reassuring-- no sarcasm intended. Meanwhile, Uncharted 2 hit second place with 28 percent of the vote with Batman: Arkham Asylum obtaining the bronze medal with 16 percent of the vote. Now let's look at March's census, shall we?

Consoles are a big investment, and it can grow infuriating when they break down. This generation seems to be full of faulty hardware problems. The Central City Census asks this month whether or not one of your current generation platforms has died on you. This is a special census as you can vote for multiple choices.

SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs - Dragon Ball Edition

Ka-me-ha-me-ha! This week on the good old VGMs we're exploring the mythical and mystical world of the Dragon Ball series. We have music from Dragon Ball Origins, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, and Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout. You better have your power level over 9,000 because things are about to get serious!

V501. Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo - The Siege of Muscle Tower

The Siege of Muscle Tower is the second stage in Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for the Nintendo Wii. You can catch it for budget-price now if you're interested. Regardless, the game was developed by Media Vision who earlier developed the first Wild Arms game. From Wild Arms to Dragon Ball. A company's gotta make money somehow.



v502. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 - Move Forward Fearlessly

Let's continue our quest for the mythical and mystical dragon balls with some music from Budokai 2. The composer is Kenji Yamamoto. That isn't to be confused with the Kenji Yamamoto who composes music for the Metroid series among other exploits like Excite Truck. They're two completely different composers with the same name.



v503. Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout - Yamasuri Iro no Sen Tsuchi

Dragon Ball: The Final Bout is a Playstation One game that was the first Dragon Ball game I ever played. At one time the game was worth $100 before the game was reprinted after the Dragon Ball Z craze really took off. What an awful game, but the soundtrack is very good. It's once again composed by Kenji Yamamoto.



v504. Dragon Ball Origins - Boss Theme

This is the boss battle music of Dragon Ball: Origins, a very underrated gem in the DS' library. The game plays a lot like an action-oriented, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks, that is, there's hardly any puzzles to speak of. The boss theme features an electric keyboard-sounding accompaniment and catchy melody.



v505. Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo - The Fall of Red Ribbon

The Fall of the Red Ribbon is the fifth chapter of the Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo video game. It starts off with a memorable guitar riff, and then kicks in with some bass and the main melody. While Revenge of King Piccolo was overall a slightly above average game, it did have its wonderful moments.



Hope you enjoyed this week-- even if you're not a fan of Dragon Ball or the games. Next week we're going back to regular business with the Sky Crawlers, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Starfox Adventures! See you then!

New Affiliate: Coffee With Games

Ah, nothing beats waking up to a fresh pot of warm brew-- especially these winter mornings. Coffee With Games is a gaming blog dedicated to fresh takes on gaming stories. One of his most popular features is when he takes data from the Nintendo Channel on how many hours people are putting into various video games from first-person shooters to Wii series titles.

Welcome to the SPC Affiliate family, Coffee With Games!

Visit the site here!

Hot Shots Tennis Portable (PSP) - Story Trailer

The original Hot Shots Tennis on the PlayStation 2 was a fun if not short take on tennis with the Hot Shots gang. Hot Shots Tennis Portable, which I hope gets a release date for North America soon, takes the fun of the PS2 original, minimizes it to a handheld screen, and throws in a story mode to keep the enjoyment going for much longer. Watch the trailer and see the adventure aspect of the game in action.