Awesome news! I didn't expect this... Metal Slug 6 just was released for PS2 in Japan this month. Since SCEA would never approve single 2d SNK games on the US PS2, I wasn't sure if we'd ever see this (or King of Fighters XI or Samurai Shodown Tenka, but of those we still have no news), so this is awesome news... plus, according to the press release it's still on for a November release. Here's hoping... though since it's SNK, I can't help but expect delays...
Quote:Wall, New Jersey Sep 22, 2006 SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION, the US publishing arm of the SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION, announced today that they will add the latest game in the series, METAL SLUG 6, to METAL SLUG ANTHOLOGY for the Wii™ and the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system.
METAL SLUG ANTHOLOGY will now feature seven great METAL SLUG titles. Included in the collection will be METAL SLUG, METAL SLUG 2, METAL SLUG X, METAL SLUG 3, METAL SLUG 4, METAL SLUG 5, and METAL SLUG 6.
METAL SLUG 6 was released in the arcades earlier this year and expands the cast of playable characters by two. In addition to the METAL SLUG regulars – Marco Rossi, Tarma Roving, Eri Kasamoto, and Fio Germi, METAL SLUG 6 includes Ralf Jones and Clark Steel of IKARI WARRIORS. The METAL SLUG 6 storyline returns to the Rebel-Martian alliance featured in Metal Slugs 2, X, and 3, but now players have to team up with the Rebels and Martians to defeat an even greater threat.
METAL SLUG ANTHOLOGY will ship in November 2006.
I was already planning to get the Wii version when it comes out, but this is still really good news.
Quite! :)
I thought that since SNK said that Metal Slug was their most successful franchise in the US (or at least it is these days, I think) that they wouldn't include all of the major ones in one collection, but I guess not... I was hoping at best for a Wii port of Metal Slug 6, but including it in with the rest of them? Awesome!
In other SNK news...
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6158355.htm...ws;title;1
Quote:TGS 06: King of Fighters to get facelift
After more than a decade, SNK is throwing away its old graphics and giving a new look to its familiar fighting franchise.
By Hirohiko Niizumi, GameSpot
Posted Sep 22, 2006 2:30 pm PT
TOKYO--SNK Playmore's King of Fighters series is one of the longest-running fighting game franchises, but the game's graphics have remained relatively the same since it was introduced more than a decade ago. According to the publisher, that's going to change.
During the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, SNK Playmore arcade project art director Nona appeared on stage and revealed that King of Fighters XII will feature a complete visual overhaul. Only a logo for the game was shown, and Nona explained that the game is still in the middle of development.
"We're throwing out the [character] pixels that we have been using for the past 10 years, and we are going with new graphics," Nona said. "We are hoping to make the ultimate 2D game."
Last week at the Amusement Machine show, SNK Playmore announced that KOF XII will be one of three debut titles on Taito's new Type X2 arcade platform. The publisher is also bringing its KoF: Maximum Impact series to Type X2, as well as a new 3D version of Samurai Showdown titled Samurai Spirits Sen, which is under development by K2 Ltd., the company behind the PlayStation 2 Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven and Tenchu: Fatal Shadows games, as well as Tenchu: Return from Darkness on the Xbox.
SNK Playmore hasn't announced a release period for KOFXII yet. GameSpot will bring updates on the title as they become available.
I had heard about the move to the X2 arcade platform and that KOF XII and a 3d Samurai Shodown would be on it, but not that KOF XII has all new sprites (or about Maximum Impact 3, but that's 3d, and 2d fighting games are better... :))... nice. :)
Yeah, except arcades here are still kickin' it old school with Killer Instinct 2.
Arcades in Japan still do well. In America? No. Not a single arcade I've seen has decided to buy a new arcade machine in years, except Dance Dance, and generally they are content to buy one and never update it.
The Dave and Busters in Frisco has quite a few new arcades.
Our Dave and Busters is pretty well updated too, but arcades are definitely in a slump.
Great news about MS6. I've wanted a solid 2-player shooter for a long time and now i'm getting a comp of 6 of the best ones in existence. Not bad at all. I wonder how the wiimote functionality will work though.
Seven! It was six before, now it's seven -- don't forget Metal Slug X, made between 2 and 3... it sort of remixed Metal Slug 2, but it's a new game. And great, like all of them. :) Brutally difficult, but great...
Nice.
Yunno I think we may see a return of the brutally difficult game this gen, they've been MIA for quite some time. When devs tried to make it more difficlut (Majora's Mask, Metroid Prime 2) the people complained... but no one wants an easy game.
MIA? I don't know about that... while average game difficulty certainly has gone down, the hard games are still there... Viewtiful Joe or Alien Hominid for example, or Metal Slug 3 on Xbox or Metal Slug 3 and 4 on Xbox and PS2... and that's just side-scrollers... Prime 2 is another good example. Ninja Gaiden perhaps? Plenty more. There are hard games out there still...
MP2 isn't that hard, actually it's probably a bit easier than the first aside from a few difficult bosses.
Prime 2 is more difficult, just ask the people who complained to Retro and forced them to make Prime 3 "Not as difficult".
Alien Hominid and Viewtiful Joe I wouldn't call hard. Not Megaman 3 hard. But i'm talking specifically about the grading curve, how most games are just not that difficult. Sonic Riders is hard, but again people complained of its difficulty. Even reviews of the game gave it lower scores because of its difficulty. How insane is that? You're telling the devs 'Please make it so that when I play the game I never die and always win".
It should never be cheap though, ie unresponsive controls and animation, frame rate issues, unbalanced weapons or enemies, etc. Those are issues easily overcome by a dev worth their salt.
Ultimately as long as a game contains a harder difficulty setting i'm happy. REmake on hard is awesome, Prime 1 and 2 on hard is good but still easy compared to Super Metroid. PN03 in the butterfly suit is extremely insane, one of my favorites.
But i'm starving for more and it's just not there. I think when people start to d/l games on the VC they're going to realize how easy games are now, and just maybe, that's going to spark interest in difficult games again.
Quote:Alien Hominid and Viewtiful Joe I wouldn't call hard. Not Megaman 3 hard.
I've beaten Mega Man 3 and not either of those games, so I'd say that they are harder than MM3...
Quote:But i'm talking specifically about the grading curve, how most games are just not that difficult. Sonic Riders is hard, but again people complained of its difficulty. Even reviews of the game gave it lower scores because of its difficulty. How insane is that? You're telling the devs 'Please make it so that when I play the game I never die and always win".
You are right that whenever a game is hard people complain, though. It happens every time, and it sends a message to developers that people want easy games... developers don't always listen, but it certainly isn't the best message to send. Some games SHOULD be hard! Yeah, hard can be really frusterating, but games that are too easy are even less worth playing than ones that are too hard...
Quote:MP2 isn't that hard, actually it's probably a bit easier than the first aside from a few difficult bosses.
I, of course, found MP1 quite hard...
Quote:It should never be cheap though, ie unresponsive controls and animation, frame rate issues, unbalanced weapons or enemies, etc. Those are issues easily overcome by a dev worth their salt.
Well yes, that goes without saying. Hard/frusterating because of poor design is not a good kind of hard.
Quote:But i'm starving for more and it's just not there. I think when people start to d/l games on the VC they're going to realize how easy games are now, and just maybe, that's going to spark interest in difficult games again.
I just want some way of not having to start games that didn't have saving over every time we start them again, that's not fun anymore... I know quicksaving is cheap, and it makes those old games a lot easier, but no-saving games are so, so frusterating by modern standards... and darnit, I don't have the patience to play through 100 levels of Gauntlet in one sitting!
Quote:I, of course, found MP1 quite hard...
The first game wasn't all that hard either, aside from the final boss.