US Shmup Ports - Ikaruga Vs. MLF2? 25
US conversions of Japanese games can either be beautifully done or amateurishly botched. And the 2D shoot-'em-up (aka shmup) genre has seen both over the past few weeks. First, there's been Atari's conversion of Treasure's vertical 2D shmup for Gamecube, Ikaruga, which has been generally hailed as 'a great thing', with the preservation of turn-to-vertical mode (play with your TV on its side to exactly replicate the arcade version!) and even an online score ranking system. On the other hand, the budget US release of vertical shooter Mobile Light Force 2 (actually Shikigami) from XS Games has prompted howls of derision from the hardcore fans, with a bizarre Charlie's Angels-aping cover that has nothing to do with the game, and vertical mode and cut-scenes removed. But then, the game is still fundamentally intact - so how much should these import changes matter if you can snag the game cheap? Opinions, as always, welcome.
What I don't understand.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What I don't understand.... (Score:3, Insightful)
American International used to do this all the time with foreign movies. Just write a new script that sorta fit the mouth movements, rename people as needed, get a few people to read the voiceovers, profit at drive-ins.
XS Games is just cheaply getting these games over to the US market. There isn't
Re:What I don't understand.... (Score:1)
Re:What I don't understand.... (Score:1)
Re:What I don't understand.... (Score:2)
Capcom did that with Rival Schools for the PS1, they just left in all the Japanese speech and added some subtitles, and it was great. Certainly better than just omitting whole scenes.
Re:What I don't understand.... (Score:1)
Looks good (Score:2)
Re:Looks good (Score:2)
Released overseas only, it's a pretty awesome game. Even on easy, some of the levels just have massive amounts of crap flying at you...
Also, for the PS2, I picked up Gradius 3 and 4. Pretty decent games; if you're used to the SNES version of Gradius 3, get ready for a slightly more difficult challenge.
As well, later this year Konami has Gradius 5 slated for US release. I'm sure they're not making much money
Phalanx (Score:3, Funny)
It's simple... (Score:3, Funny)
All your base are belong to us, and stuff.
On a recent spending spree at Best Buy... (Score:2)
The whole polarity thing really puts an interesting twist on the game. Basically you switc
Good Morning Charlie (Score:2)
Hmmmm, I can't imagine why someone would think babes would sell video games. It was probably a toss-up between that and a Domino's coupon for free pizza.
Ikaruga. No contest (Score:1)
Why versus? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, Mobile Light Force 2 is a stripped down version of Shikigami, but the actual part of the game you PLAY is still there, and it's still fun. And cheap as hell, which is a good thing. Getting some quality shooters in at low prices might actually revive the market for the whole genre over here. As long as they don't cut out any actual gameplay, I'll keep buying XS Games' ports. Maybe it'll get more of the Metal Slugs and such localized over here, if people are shown there's a real market for a quality localization.
Definitely, if you want the better game, there's no question it's Ikaruga hands down. But if price is a concern, or you just like playing shooters, there's no reason I can think of aside from being a purist that you shouldn't go get Mobile Light Force (Gunbird 2), Mobile Light Force 2 (Shikigami), and Sol Divide right now. They're good games.
Re:Why versus? (Score:2)
Don't forget MLF1 (Score:3, Informative)
The worst part about XS Games' shitty port is that you can look at the PSX disc and see that it has all the movies and text intact, they just delete all the lines of code in the program which display text or play a movie. Whenever you get up to those crazy pirates, the game pauses for it. Then moves on. Pathetic.
There shouldn't be a vs. at all (Score:1)
Nor is Ikaruga following traditional sales charts by selling immediately and then slowly declining. Sure, we had our presells and t
Re:There shouldn't be a vs. at all (Score:1)
Re:There shouldn't be a vs. at all (Score:1)
Granted, I think it's selling well for our location because we had it in the demo unit. But that's my point. When people play it, they like it. It's a horrible lack of foresight on behalf of the industry that they haven't promoted this game more than they did. They a
Re:There shouldn't be a vs. at all (Score:2)
Re:There shouldn't be a vs. at all (Score:2)
I would recommend Strikers 1945 over MLF anyday.
It's on the PSX, it's out in America, and it's only slightly "butchered" (No Tate mode, which is the flip your tv mode for arcade perfect play.)
It's very similar to Gunbird/MLF because it's also developed by Psykio and the Gunbird and Strikers 1945 series are built with the same engine.
Much better port, much more worthy of support.
Actual name of Shikigami is Shikigami no Shiro (Score:2)
Actual name of MLF2 is Shikigami no Shiro, which means Castles of Shikigami.
I recently saw a preview movie of Shikigami no Shiro 2, which looks incredible.
Except Ikaruga has been edited as well! (Score:1)
These are minor changes compared to what occu
Re:Except Ikaruga has been edited as well! (Score:1)
Here is a translation of Ikaruga's stage titles that were removed by Atari. [incl.ne.jp]