SPC Showdown - 5/10/2011

It's time for a special SPC Showdown. This time around we're combating the lineups of the Nintendo DS and PSP to see which will reign supreme in battle. We'll take a look at all the genres: platformers, RPGs, action/adventure, sports, racing, and puzzle in this installment.

[Platformers]

The Nintendo systems have always had a strong lineup of run and jump games whether they were Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, or Yoshi. This traditional definitely didn't stop with the Nintendo DS. On the DS you had such blockbusters and lower-tier titles like New Super Mario Bros., Yoshi's Island DS, Kirby's Canvas Curse, DK: Jungle Climber, The Legendary Starfy, Super Princess Peach, the trio of Castlevania games, Monster Tale, Henry Hatsworth, Sonic Rush, Mega Man ZX, among others.


With the PSP 3D platformers were more of the aim, but that isn't to say there weren't some phenomenal 2D ones to be had such as LittleBigPlanet, LocoRoco 2, Mega Man: Powered Up (where one could create their own levels), Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, Ultimate Ghost 'N Goblins, and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. On the 3D side of things, there were Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, a new Jak & Daxter, a spin-off featuring Daxter, separate of the new J&D game, and many more.


While it's true that the PSP had some wonderful platformers, the 3D ones felt like watered-down versions of the "real" meaty experiences that one could find on Sony's home consoles. The winner here goes to the DS where the platformers were crafted by Nintendo's A-teams or capable third parties.

Winner: Nintendo DS

[RPGs (whether traditional or tactical)]

RPGs this generation jumped from consoles to handhelds for the most part, and portable fans couldn't be in for more of a delight. The Nintendo DS grabbed a huge chunk of these games through the Dragon Quest trilogy of remakes, Dragon Quest IX, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Radiant Historia, the remakes of Final Fantasy III and IV, Pokemon and all of its versions, The World Ends With You, Mario & Luigi's duo of excellent games, and many more.


Meanwhile on the PSP, such titles as the two remakes of the original pair of Final Fantasy games, Jeanne D'Arc, Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, Star Ocean: First Departure and Star Ocean: Second Evolution, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, both Phantasy Star Portable games, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, Wild Arms XF, plus a whole heaping of other titles.


Although the DS has a high amount of RPGs, I feel that the PSP's RPGs eclipses it in quality. You have all your bases covered: traditional RPGs, tactical and strategy RPGs, action RPGs, and many more.

Winner: PSP

[Action/Adventure]

How to define this genre is a bit complex. Do you allow shooters as they represent an action portion? Well, in this case I'm willing to make an exception and allow them. Does this mean the DS is at an unfair disadvantage? Let's find out.

With the DS you always have your high quality Zelda games (Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks) that introduced an innovative new stylus-driven control scheme. Throw in Okamiden, the Mega Man series, the Resident Evil port, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia, Metroid Prime Hunters, and you got a series of games to be reckoned with.


Conversely, the PSP seems to be made for these types of games with Resistance: Retribution, Killzone: Liberation, the Syphon Filter games, God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, Hammerin' Hero, both Mega Man games, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Portable Ops, the Grand Theft Auto series, and many more.


If you're looking for a platform with potentially great action/adventure games, look no further than the PSP.

Winner: PSP

[Sports]

Nothing to do with the Huey Lewis and the News album of the same name-- we're talking about the game genre. The Nintendo DS does not have a lot of these types of games. There's your yearly Maddens which the PSP also gets, very capable Tony Hawk games such as American Sk8land and Proving Ground, but there's also Inazuma Eleven, a popular soccer/RPG hybrid that is exclusive to the system.


On the other side of things, the PSP is bursting with sports titles from the popular Hot Shots Golf and Tennis games to the WWE lineup of wrestling experiences. Don't forget Sony's annual exclusive baseball game with MLB: The Show. There's also PANGYA: Fantasy Golf which chipped away many hours in my life.


There's no contest here. PSP wins.

Winner: PSP

[Racing]

Put the pedal to the metal, and let's rev it up to 88 mph! The DS is home to two of my favorite racing games, one of which being my top pick of all time in Mario Kart DS. Then you have the botched remake of a classic in Diddy Kong Racing DS. While there's still something salvageable from the game, a lot of the charm was lost from new Rare touching a Nintendo 64 classic.


The PSP had games like MotorStorm: Arctic Edge, Ridge Racer, Split/Second, plus the less-than-stellar Sonic Rivals.


I prefer quality over quantity this time 'round, so the win goes to the DS via Mario Kart DS' help.

Winner: Nintendo DS

[Puzzle]

Ever since the days of Tetris, man has been craving for some stimulating brain activity. With the portables, he's gotten that and more. The Nintendo DS is king when it comes to puzzle games with titles like Professor Layton, Picross, Tetris DS, Brain Age, Meteos, Planet Puzzle League (the newest version of Tetris Attack), Clubhouse Games, plus several others I'm leaving out.


The PSP has titles like Lumines, Exit, and Crush to whet the appetites of puzzle-loving portable gamers. That's not enough though to compare with the DS' wonderful library of puzzling games.

Winner: Nintendo DS

[Winner Overall: Tie]

Aw, shucks. There is no clear winner here. That's all right though as both systems feature enough games that either handheld is a remarkable choice to buy. I'm sure in five years we'll be doing the same thing with the Nintendo 3DS and the Sony PSP NGP. Until then, we'll see you next time on the SPC Showdown!

SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs - Trojan Beauty Edition

A new week is upon us, so it's time for SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs to hit the streets once again. Up on deck this week is music from Tales of Symphonia, F-Zero GX, and Skies of Arcadia. We have a great mix of music for you today.

v716. Tales of Symphonia - Fatalize

Fatalize is one of the boss themes composed by Motoi Sakuraba for the Gamecube (and PlayStation 2 Japan-only) hit, Tales of Symphonia. The game featured exquisite visuals, an intriguing story, decent voice acting, and a stirring score. Hearing Robin from Teen Titans as the main hero took some getting used to, but regardless of that, Namco put on a good show with Symphonia.



v717. F-Zero GX - Shotgun Kiss (Vegas Palace)

F-Zero GX was a balls-to-the-wall difficult game in the later stages and story mode. In the story mode, it featured nine unique challenges such as beating a track while keeping your speed above a certain km/hr or narrowly escaping a multitude of doors closing in on you at various angles. Shotgun Kiss is the theme for Vegas Palace (aka Casino Palace in the West), a casino-inspired set of tracks where you put the pedal to the metal and wish for the best.



v718. Final Fantasy IV - Trojan Beauty

Trojan Beauty plays in the Western kingdom of Troia, a whimsical place housing one of the four elemental crystals. This is a two-fer edition of the favorite VGMs. First we have the original version as heard in the Super Nintendo classic followed by the DS remake rendition. Final Fantasy IV is my second favorite Final Fantasy next to Final Fantasy VI. I've recently purchased the Complete Collection on the PSP. This marks the third or fourth version I've bought. What can I say-- I'm a whore for the game.



v719. Skies of Arcadia - Epilogue

Skies of Arcadia is more than a decade old now. Can you believe that? Time flies when you're having fun! The Dreamcast original is one of the system's best RPGs-- dare I say one of the best games on the system period. The Gamecube port did away with the massive amount of random encounters and added a whole heaping of brand-new boss encounters. Which ever version you choose, you're going to be entitled to a great game with memorable music, fun characters, and a swashbuckling story. This song, Epilogue, plays near the end of the game. A perfect end to a near-perfect game.



v720. Banjo-Tooie - Jolly Roger's Lagoon

Jolly Roger's Lagoon was split into two parts. One was your town setting while the other was an expansive underwater world known as Atlantis. Exploring the town could net you a bunch of valuable doubloons while exploring the dark deep of Atlantis could earn you a battle with a nearly-blind Lord Woo Fak Fak. Banjo-Tooie was a more adventure-styled game than its mostly platformer predecessor.



The VGMs have concluded once more with that awesome track from Banjo-Tooie. We'll see you next week when the VGMs return!

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) GamePro Footage

Here's some new footage of the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D which slashes its way onto the Nintendo 3DS on June 19th. Dig those retextured areas and view inside the Deku Tree with this complied footage.

Direct Link Here

Best Levels in Gaming History - Volume One

We conclude the week here at SuperPhillip Central with a new segment to the site. It's entitled "Best Levels in Gaming History", and as you may guess it celebrates my favorite levels in video games past, present, and future. Tonight we have five levels from five games that I personally enjoy whether they give me great nostalgia, are fun to play, or are simply aesthetically pleasing. A special thanks to GameTrailers.com for the idea for this new series.

Gusty Garden Galaxy: The Dirty Tricks of Major Burrows - Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)


Mario leads us off with our journey through excellent level design. This colorful and whimsical galaxy is home to Goombas and moles alike. We start off with a waggle of the Wii remote to ride on a dandelion, flying us to the next planetoid. On the underside of the second planetoid is a hidden warp pipe. That takes Mario into a secret area where grabbing the giant coin reveals a rainbow star power-up. Use this to take out all of the spiky plants to collect globs of star bits. The second set of dandelion puffs will send you to the dot of a question mark-shaped planet. To proceed all Mario needs to do is take out the moles by pounding the ground near the mole to have him surface. Using the warp star, you're taken to a set of apple planets where ground pounding the stump on them will reveal caterpillars to get across. The final stomp will uncover the warp star to the penultimate planetoid which houses a super mushroom. One last warp star shines the way to the battle with Major Burrows. A fairy tale-like galaxy, Gusty Garden's Major Burrow mission is one to cherish when playing the excellence that is Super Mario Galaxy.

Storm Eagle's Stage - Mega Man X/Mega Man Maverick Hunter X (SNES, PSP)


Storm Eagle's level took place on an airport, starting with a vertical climb over a bottomless pit. Scrolling platforms took Mega Man X to new heights while he avoided Mavericks that wanted nothing more than to grab him and drop him into the pit below. From the very top of these platforms, X could leap off from the left and reach a heart tank that hangs over the starting point of the level. A sub-tank (one of four in the game that refills X's health) could be found by hopping on a handful of platforms, shooting out the glass from inside a control tower, and taking out a Maverick gunner from behind. After this players set out to carefully jump across rising and lowering platforms, some of which were occupied by an enemy flamethrower. One false jump would mean death for X as there was no safety net for Mega Man to fall down to. There was but a bottomless pit. More enemies that grabbed and pulled X would follow, but not before a hidden alcove where one of Dr. Light's secret capsules containing the headbutt ability would be housed. A dash off the wall would make reaching this special item a breeze. Once the headbutt attack was learned, X could proceed through the level, eventually reaching platforms that would fall a second after X stood on them. This led him to the final portion of the level, the enemy ship and Storm Eagle himself. An entertaining and exhilarating level, Storm Eagle's stage is one of the X series' best.

Area 6 - Star Fox 64 (N64)

Direct Link Here

There were two paths to the planet Venom. The first was through taking the easy route through Bolse while the other had you staring down the massive armada of Andross' ships in Area 6, one of the most difficult levels in the game. You begin by taking down some stray enemy ships before immediately entering a minefield. These mines can be eliminated through competent use of smart bombs. After a bunch of spinning ships and fighters, you come across some larger-scale ships that shoot out homing missiles at Fox and his crew. Once a couple of these ships are shot down or evaded, Fox and team are marked by five separate enemy missiles. If these aren't removed from airspace, the whole Star Fox team will take substantial damage which is not good for the upcoming battles. After this task is completed, a bunch of homing torpedoes will have a lock on Peppy. Carefully shooting these away while avoiding hitting Peppy will allow the heralded hare to give thanks for your slick shooting. Fast-moving enemies then pop in with the goal of wiping out Fox with their swift movements and fast-firing. Butterfly-like enemies will follow, shooting out circular laser beams at Fox McCloud's ship. These will continue to spawn until after Fox crosses the checkpoint. More enemies and large ships with the intent of stalling Team Star Fox impede on their progress, but it's all for naught. They can be shot down for huge points. "They're through the second line!" followed by "Dang it! Deploy it now!" are then heard all culminating with an intense boss battle against a giant disc with tentacles. Area 6 is a high-octane ride perfect for this list. It features plenty of epic space shootouts, enemies to take out, and multiple points to rack up kills.

Chicago: Stealth - Perfect Dark (N64, XBLA)


Welcome to the future of Chicago. The aim of the game here is to enter the G5 building. Much like GoldenEye, the beauty of the design of missions is that depending on the difficulty you choose, you'll have more objectives assigned to you. Agents merely have three objectives to take care of whereas Perfect Agents need to complete all five objectives. From the beginning Joanna Dark will have nothing but her fists to assist her. This changes when an unbeknownst guard has his back turned to Ms. Dark. Joanna has a myriad of missions to take care of in Perfect Agent from attaching a tracer to a limousine while avoiding the blasts of a patrolling robot to setting up an escape route by tossing a remote mine on a wall of a fire escape. The contained area of the level of Chicago is full of goodies to discover. The optional nightclub may have guards inside it, but it's the only place you'll find one of the hidden pieces of cheese left smoldering inside a restroom toilet. With the awesome ambiance and variety of objectives to pull off, Chicago is my kind of town.

Bowser's Castle - Mario Kart 64 (N64)


Also used as a retro-revived track in Mario Kart Wii, Bowser's Castle was rated the number Mario Kart track on a top ten posted many moons ago on this very blog. What's not to love about this themed track? It begins with a straightaway across a rail-less bridge where light characters can easily be knocked off. What follows is one ninety-degree curve leading into a hall full of Thowmps randomly smashing into the ground. A left turn and a semi-swift right turn reveals even more Thwomps, this time with the intent of zeroing in on your position and stomping you flat. Timing is everything to get through the end of this hall as three Thwomps stomp at different times and durations. A right turn gives way to a hallway filled with item boxes followed by another right into, you guessed it, more Thwomps. This time they are sliding horizontally across the floor in an attempt to impede your progress. Another sharp ninety-degree turn leads to a narrow bridge where getting bumped off into the lava costs precious time. Going right from here leads the player down a stairway into the courtyard where a U-turn shows off some greenery in Bowser's otherwise barren castle. After passing through the courtyard, you go across the final of three bridges, up a spiral tower, making two jumps over lava, and winding up back to the beginning of the track in glorious and heated style. No race is constructed as brilliantly as Bowser's Castle, and they always seem to be my favorite courses in a Mario Kart game.

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That's not the last you'll hear from Best Levels in Gaming History. I've more volumes in store for you. For now I hope your appetite for this new segment has been whetted. What are some of your favorite levels in games? Give me a heads up in the comments section.

Localizations, Please! Cinco de Mayo Edition

The original Localizations, Please! article was a resounding success, and it was wonderful to have a few games on that list later get announced for the West. Here's hoping my luck with this continues with the Cinco de Mayo edition of this ongoing series. We have games from the Tales, Kirby, and Professor Layton franchises to name a few. Only time will tell if these get localized.

Tales of Xillia (PS3)


A new Tales game, the thirteenth in the mothership franchise, from Namco-Bandai features two main characters. The one you choose to play as determines which characters' point of view you'll experience. With an all-new rapid-fire battle system and cutscenes made in-house by Team Symphonia rather than the usual Production I.G. who is best known for their work on anime like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Localizations for Tales games have been sketchy, so here's hoping this thirteenth installment reaches our side of the Pacific.

Atsumete! Kirby (DS)


Not much is known about this game other than the player will be controlling multiple Kirby characters with the stylus through colorful worlds and lands alike. The short blurb on Wikipedia compares the gameplay of this fourth DS Kirby game to Lemmings. Just give me something akin to Kirby Canvas Curse, and I'll be happy to fork my cash over once more, Nintendo. Here's hoping the DS isn't truly dead in Nintendo of America's collective eyes.

Valkyria Chronicles III: Unrecorded Chronicles (PSP)


The third game in the Valkyria Chronicles franchise (the second on the PlayStation Portable), Unrecorded Chronicles takes place during the Imperial invasion of 1935. The game is a side story, so players can pick this title up if SEGA ever decides to send it across the Pacific and jump right in without knowledge of previous games. You can be rest assured that this title will be full of the tactical RPG action you've grown to love of the series. Perhaps E3 is when we'll get a release date for the West...

Final Fantasy Type-0 (PSP)


For those not in the know of the development cycle of Final Fantasy Type-0, this game was originally called Final Fantasy Agito XIII. The director of the game promises a battle system similar to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The game will pack all the Final Fantasy mythos that you can handle from summons to spells-- so much so that this will be one of the only PSP games that is necessary to be put on two UMDs. A North American release is all but certain seeing as Square-Enix is one of the few third parties in the West gaining bank on their PSP software.

Professor Layton and the Specter's Flute (DS)


After publishing the first trilogy of Layton games for developer Level 5, Nintendo no longer has the series to distribute to North America. Instead it's up to Level 5 or another company to take the publishing reins and localize the game for North American audiences. The game is the start of the second trilogy of Layton games, and with the fifth installment already released in Japan on the Nintendo 3DS, the rest of the world has some catching up to do with the professor.

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Those are but five games that may never escape the land of the rising sun. What games that are trapped in the purgatory that is Japan that you want to see come out to the West? Give me a heads up in the comments section.