Two Classic Super Famicom Games Are Set For A Special Reprint In Japan
There’s been a spate of retro re-releases as of late in Japan, with publishers reissuing classic titles (and a few obscure gems) on their original platform. Japanese firm Tommo is the latest publisher to leap aboard the bandwagon, with two Super Famicom titles getting a reprint.
It’s been confirmed that Shodai Nekketsu Kpuha Kunio-kun will be re-issued on 28th June, while Return of Double Dragon (known as Super Double Dragon in the West) will drop some authentic retro goodness on 12th July. Both reprints are, unsurprisingly, Japan only at the moment, with a respective price tag of 6,458 yen attached.
Are you a retro enthusiast? Would you fork out for some reissue Super Famicom/SNES games in 2018? Share your thoughts with us below…
Join over 10 million players in the award-winning online multiplayer RPG and experience limitless adventure in a persistent Elder Scrolls world. Be part of an ever-expanding story across Tamriel and travel to the stunning home of the High Elves in the latest Chapter of ESO to save the world from destruction.
First, do no harm. From the award-winning team behind Thomas Was Alone and Subsurface Circular comes another experimental short, the next mutation in text-based adventure. In the middle of a world-ending pandemic, a group of scientists discover the galaxy has been watching.
Ancestors Legacy is a squad-based real time strategy with a strong focus on tactics. Inspired by medieval European history, it brings to life four different nations and their conflicts, usually solved by war.
Inspired by the short called ?Kara?, Detroit is a neo-noir thriller set in the near-future city of Detroit. Androids, who look exactly like human beings, have replaced humans in most tasks: they are workers, babysitters, gardeners, nurses, teachers, clerks. The story of Detroit starts with an unexplained incident that begins to affect the Androids. Some disappear without any explanation, others have unexpected behaviors and strangely show signs of emotions. The rumors of ?deviant? androids start spreading, but no one seems to know what?s really happening... [Quantic Dream]
We Happy Few refused classification by Australian ratings board
The regulatory board that doles out ratings for games seeking release in Australia has refused classification to Compulsion Games’ We Happy Few, effectively banning the sale of the game in the country.
The game is one of just many to be slapped with ‘RC’ label through the years, alongside games like Saints Row IV and a host of mobile titles, as a result of the country’s infamously strict rating process.
Though Australia’s rating board has loosened up in some ways by adding an 18+ classification to its system, it’s still fairly common to hear of games being refused release based on violence, sexual content, or in-game drug use.
When refused classification, developers have the option of cutting offending content from their game and resubmitting to the board in hopes of receiving a rating the second time around, but, that isn’t always feasible for every developer.
In the case of We Happy Few, the Australian Classification Board explains that the game falls under section 1(a) of the National Classification Code’s computer games table covers games that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified.”
Electronic Arts announced its acquisition of the cloud gaming technology assets and personnel of GameFly today.
This will likely open up more possibilities for the company to expand its reach of games through streaming to more players on more devices.
The acquisition makes sense for EA, considering GameFly launched a game streaming service back in 2015 through Amazon’s Fire TV streaming box which featured a console-like controller with gamepad.
The service consisted of packages of games organized by genre, and offered unlimited access to seven titles for a monthly fee.
Before that however, GameFly acquired the Israel-based streaming startup Playcast Media in 2009, where the company launched a pilot program with Israeli cable networks to stream games directly to users’ television sets.
According to a press release announcing the deal, GameFly will join EA’s functional teams, including the central technology organization that is responsible for developing and operating the platform that powers EA’s games and services.
Build Your Streaming Library with These Indie Favorites
We’re living in the era of the live streamer and it’s never been easier to start broadcasting your gameplay to millions of viewers around the world through Mixer. Which is why ID@Xbox Game Fest Week 3 will feature some of our favorite games to stream, making this week a wonderful time to pick up that game for your favorite streamer (or yourself) who won’t stop talking about:
Descenders(Xbox Game Preview)– Launching into ID@Xbox Game Fest with stunning visuals and Mixer interaction. Descenders is extreme downhill free-riding for the modern era with procedurally generated worlds, and where mistakes have real consequences. In Descenders, your team is your life. When you pick a side — Enemy, Arboreal, or Kinetic — you’ll be bound together with other players who choose the same side as you. Grab your bike, pick your team, and attempt to live up to the legend of your Descender.
Darwin Project(Xbox Game Preview)–Darwin Project is an outdoor, futuristic, 10-player battle royale style deathmatch game with a strong emphasis on hunting, trapping, and survival. Not only will you be pitted against fierce rivals, but you’ll compete for the favor of an all-seeing Show Director. Featuring arcade-style third-person combat, the fighting system is at once primal, with the main weapons being an ax and bow, and futuristic with powers such as teleportation and energy shields. The twist is the addition of a Show Director, a player character that runs the show, spicing things up or balancing as need be.
Cuphead– Winner of nearly every video game design award under the sun, Cuphead is a classic run-and-gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era, i.e. traditional hand-drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings. Play as Cuphead or Mugman (in single-player or local co-op) as you traverse strange worlds, acquire new weapons, learn powerful super moves, and discover hidden secrets while you try to pay your debt back to the devil!
Friday the 13th: The Game – Now you can play as Jason Voorhees, one of the most infamous characters in horror films. Stalk your prey, ambush them whenever you see fit and strike fear in the hearts of so many hapless victims as you become the legend himself! Friday the 13th: The Game will include a variety of kills, new and familiar, that will help you set the tone for the Jason Voorhees that you want to be. You’ll even get to unlock various Jason incarnations from the movies! Jason will be equipped with a terrifying array of abilities, giving you the control of a hunter at the height of his game. These are his woods, and he knows them all too well. Jason will not only feed off the fear of his victims but will become stronger as the night progresses. The darker the night, the more terrifying Jason becomes!
Hello Neighbor – Hello Neighbor has generated over 1 billion video views. See what the sensation is all about in this stealth horror game about sneaking into your neighbor’s house to figure out what horrible secrets he’s hiding in the basement. You play against an advanced AI that learns from your every move. Really enjoying climbing through that backyard window? Expect a bear trap there. Sneaking through the front door? There’ll be cameras there soon. Trying to escape? The Neighbor will find a shortcut and catch you.
Subnautic (Xbox Game Preview) – Explore the beautiful and sometimes terrifying world of Subnautica, an underwater open world adventure game. Craft equipment, pilot submarines, and out-smart alien wildlife to explore lush coral reefs, volcanoes, and cave systems. Descend into the depths of an underwater world filled with resources, creatures, wonder, and threats all while trying to survive.
This is just a small sample of all the great games included in ID@Xbox Game Fest. The stream theme will run from May 15 through May 21, so pick up these great games now before it’s too late.
To see all titles included in the third week of ID@Xbox Game Fest visit Xbox.com and check back every week to see what’s new.
‘Oops’ is a word you’ll often see in N++, but it never quite epitomises the correct feeling of watching your tiny ninja avatar splatter into a thousand pieces from a landmine. Nor will it truly capture the frustration of watching them mulch into a pile of limbs because you missed landing a jump by a fraction. It does, however, give you a sense of the game you’re playing; one where you’re taxed by nimble movement, often unfair circumstances and rooms of death. Seeing the word ‘Oops’ on the death screen feels like the developer is giving you a mocking nudge in the ribs as it goads you into trying one more time, because after all, the concept of the game is very simple: run and jump.
There is no plot for N++ and there doesn’t need to be. The game spells this out clearly in the ‘story’ section of the main menu – you’re a ninja, you like gold, you’re incredibly fast, but this means your natural lifetime is only 1.5 minutes. You like exploring rooms and they come in sets of five. It’s obvious that the developer made a great game based around precision platforming, then stuck its tongue firmly in its cheek to add on a story. N++ doesn’t need a narrative, it needs good mechanics and interesting level design. And it has these in spades.
The aim of each episode is to reach a button which opens the exit to the level, thus ending the episode before your lifespan of 90 seconds runs out. This can be topped up by collecting gold pick-ups strewn around the room, each adding a small increment of time and giving you a little longer to reach the end. Not that there’s really an end in sight as the game features hundreds of levels and the ability to download more from creators across the world.
This is pure bitesize gaming. A level can take just a few seconds to complete, even with numerous deaths a room will be reset repeatedly until you finally land the movement you need, but it will take mere minutes. Rarely does a set of rooms require a marathon session, unless you want to play the ‘hardcore’ mode, which changes up the rules and puts more emphasis on balance. In ‘hardcore’, time restraints become stricter and deaths don’t reset the clock, it keeps ticking away piling on pressure and forcing you to decide between taking a chance to score more gold or just dash for the exit.
Of course, our tiny ninja has many obstacles in their way. There are turrets that blast lasers, others that launch homing missiles. Robots dash towards you intent on killing if you step into their line of sight, there are landmines everywhere and lots of glowing orbs that cause you to explode upon touching them. And all you’re armed with is a jump button.
Admittedly, that jump button is pretty special. A brief tap and you’ll effectively hop over gaps; hold it longer and the ninja will soar through the air. Get a bit of a run-up and momentum will launch you across the rooms with carefree abandon. Momentum is key to N++, without it your ninja will fall to their death or simply miss jumps resulting in a loss of time. Sprinting up ramps and hitting jump at just the right point is all there is to it, but it’s not that easy. If only it were.
Our ninja is a floaty little swine. He can be hard to control at points and often feels like a helium balloon on the loose. It’s easy for him to drift off course, especially if you prefer the stick to the D-pad and this isn’t ideal when running through tight corridors of bombs or landing on minuscule platforms. Considering this, N++ is still precision platforming at its best and its unforgiving angle is part of the charm.
Some rooms feel structured to drive you insane, leaving gold pieces in places that seem impossible to reach and you’ll want to try getting them all if your goal is to hit that lofty 100% mark in the stats screen. This screen, it must be said, is incredibly detailed. So if you like analysing where you go wrong or which levels you can better, the devs have you covered.
More gold and more levels means customisation. Change the colour of the ninja, give them a jaunty scarf that flutters through the air and you can even change up the music or colour palettes of the levels. These are purely cosmetic changes, the base controls never change, but it is nice to put your own spin on how things look. And while the game is very minimalist, it achieves a beauty in its simplicity. The animation of the ninja is just lovely and everything feels butter smooth. Some may find it hard to constantly watch such a small sprite move around, however. It can be a strain on the eyes.
That’s a small quibble because N++ is a joy to play. The difficulty ramps up slowly and steadily and even when the rooms become harder, you know that you just have to adapt your skillset. You can always rope in a friend or three for some co-op play or race through the obstacles. This spices up the playstyle greatly and brings a competitive edge to proceedings. As mentioned previously, there’s a lot of content here and while the servers weren’t online for community creations, there’s bound to be a wealth of new levels vetted by the developer itself every day.
Conclusion
Bags of levels and increasing difficulty will keep N++ refreshing for hours and days on end. The mechanics are simple and yet incredibly deep, which opens up a wonderful game brimming with customisation options and new modes to try out. Floaty controls sometimes hamper progress, but the deaths are always spectacular.
