Today No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle comes out in the US for the Nintendo Wii. I'm really looking forward to playing it. Suda 51 created an amazing universe in the first game and I am very happy that we'll have another opportunity to play in it one more time. From a stylistic standpoint, there are very few games as cool as NO MORE HEROES. It's got a great sense of humor, beautiful character designs, and a very refreshing take of the West Coast. As with what our artists do on Lucha Libre, it often takes an outsider's eyes to effectively distill the beautiful qualities of an environment. Even though Suda 51 and Grasshopper Studios are in Japan, they really got the tone of the West Coast with its mix of Surf, Punk, and Urban style. And, unlike some of the wackier fashionable choices you often find in Japan videogames (*cough* Squaresoft *cough*)... Grasshoppers Studios found a nice mix between the bolder design choices of Japan, geek culture, and general fashion. To me, the No More Heroes cast of characters are some of the coolest and most refreshing designs since Kojima's Metal Gear Solid. The characters are eclectic, beautiful, and yet somehow feel like they organically belong to the same universe. It's a delicate balance that is rarely found. As a showcase of the strong design found in the first No More Heroes Game, I've chosen some of my favorite character designs from the amazing Creative Uncut resource library. I've also included a trailer to No More Heroes 2 below.

With the release of Suda 51's NO MORE HEROES 2 on the Wii a day from release, I can't help but feel the tinge of nostalgia for the good ol' Beat 'Em Up Arcade games. For you little kids out there, there was once a time when arcade games reigned supreme. Yeah, you had your NES or Sega Master System, but the capabilities of those system paled in comparison to the stuff you'd find in the arcade. I clearly recall the first time I saw my first 'Beat 'Em Up' game. I couldn't BELIEVE what they were able to get away with!

I was in some bowling league at the Panorama Bowl... but I could care less about bowling. I sucked (and so did the majority of my bowling team), so I'd frolic through my 10 frames of bowling quickly enough to play a few arcade games before my mom came to pick me up. As with most bowling alleys at the time, Panorama Bowl had many of the latest and greatest arcade games. But there was a whole new level of buzz the day that DOUBLE DRAGON showed up. At the time, that game was all kinds of nasty! Your girlfriend (that you see the bad guys PUNCH) was dressed pretty raunchy. You could SMASH dudes with your knee. You could even pick up a baseball bat (a FREAKIN' bat!) and start wacking guys in the stomach. It was 9-year-old heaven. I couldn't watch a single Rated R film... but I could get away with beating the digital crap out of pixel thugs at the Bowling Alley arcade!

Let's ignore the fact that I was so intimidated by DOUBLE DRAGON that I'd end up watching OTHER people play more then play it myself.  I found the confidence to play an occasional game during a rare instance when nobody was around. And during those times I played, my adrenaline was going so hard that I could barely play. DOUBLE DRAGON was the start of a series of Beat 'Em Ups.

I remember BAD DUDES came out right after Michael Jackson's BAD album. It was super lame, but somehow we were all suckered into it because it had ninjas and your character screamed, "I'M BAD!!!" after beating level bosses.

FINAL FIGHT was the game that took Beat 'Em Ups to a whole new level. The graphics were INCREDIBLE. And every character was beyond cool. I had a huge man-crush on Guy (kind of still do). Guy was freakin' awesome. The way he moved screamed bad-ass. Then you find out he's some sort of ninja... and anything 'Ninja' in the 80s was automatically placed in the 'Cool' Department. For me, there's few arcade Beat 'Em Ups that rival FINAL FIGHT in terms of utter-bad-assery. I remember really digging things like the first Ninja Turtles Arcade game and getting blown away by the epic 3-4 screened X-men arcade cabinet... but, as a game, none of those really felt as awesome as FINAL FIGHT.

The Beat 'Em Up successfully made gaming a communal experience. It was fun playing alongside a friend or stranger. And there was so much going on that it was really fun to watch other people play as well.

The genre found quite a following on the 8-bit consoles with various incarnations of Double Dragon. While they weren't bad, they didn't really stand up to the arcade experience (although I LOVE the cover art to Double Dragon II... shown below). RIVER CITY RANSOM was the first game to expand the conventions of the beat 'em up game into something richer and deeper for the home console gaming experience. But it's graphics (although stylistically PERFECT for the limitations of the 8-bit NES) couldn't really compete with what was being offered in the Arcade.

It's nice to see that the Beat 'Em Up genre lives on in games like NO MORE HEROES, MADWORLD, and GOD HAND. Brings the old gamer in me back to my time as a 9-year-old at the Panorama Bowl!

DOUBLE DRAGON

BAD DUDES

FINAL FIGHT

As they say: you are what you eat. I'd argue that the saying holds true beyond the realm of nutrition and into gaming. You want to see what my gaming taste is like? Well then, take a look at my Playstation game collection. I don't have a Playstation 3, but a quick glimpse at my library of Playstation 1 & 2 games makes a clear indication at my 'sophisticated' palette! In case you have a hard time reading the game spines in the photo, games are as follows:

PLAYSTATION 1 GAMES: One Piece Mansion, Parappa The Rapper (this one's actually my buddy's... I regretfully sold my old copy), Um Jammer Lammy, Heart of Darkness, Metal Gear Solid, Strider 1 & 2

PLAYSTATION 2 GAMES: GrimGrimoire, Odin Sphere, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Katamari Damacy, We <heart> Katamari, Gitarooman, Rez, Space Channel 5 Special Edition, Frequency, Amplitude, Guitar Hero 1 & 2, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology, Street Fighter 2 & 3, Okami, God Hand, God of War 1 & 2, Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 (the original Special Editon versions), Zone of Enders: The 2nd Runner, Gradius V, and that black case is a used copy of Contra: Shattered Soldier (super bummed I couldn't find a copy with that awesome Ashley Wood cover :-(  ).

I'm fully aware that this games been out for a while but I FINALLY got around to playing WORLD OF GOO on the Nintendo Wii. Verdict? Why oh why did it take me so long to give this game a chance!? It's freakin' awesome. The concept is simple and straight forward (build things with goo droplets to get from point A to point B). The puzzles are a clever balance of inventiveness, challenge, and fun. And (at least thus far) it's got the a wonderful sense of pacing that keeps you coming back for more. For some reason, I kept delaying the purchase of WORLD OF GOO because it was a little higher than other Wii Ware purchases (it's $15 when most games are around $5-$8). But after playing the free demo for a few minutes I realized the error of my ways. It works seamlessly with the Wii Remote (it works much like a mouse does on a computer) and, once again, shows me how exciting the world of downloadable games have become. So, if you're bored and happen to own a Wii, download the FREE World of Goo demo. At worst, it'll be 5 minutes of a new gaming experience that's not really your thing. At best (or maybe worst) you'll become addicted and immediately purchase the full game (as I did). So far I've just completed the 1st of 4 worlds. There's plenty more to do... but I had so much fun that I just HAD to share my love...

I am a portable gaming accessory FIEND! From the age of 13 (when I bought the original Game Boy on my 1st trip to Japan)... every portable gaming console I have bought was followed up with the OCD purchase of the best possible case I could find. Back then, it was a humungous black plastic case with snazzy gold "NINTENDO GAME BOY" logo lettering across the front that included space for my Game Boy, rechargeable battery (remember that external gray brick?!), 4 games and random wires. At the end of the day you'd have something resembling a thin lunch pail that wasn't very portable. Then again, as a whole the original Game Boy wasn't portable.

These days, every portable system I own has a carrying case I meticulously purchased for it. I'd go to great lengths to find the perfect case. If I couldn't find it in the US, no problem, I'd import one from Japan (gotta love those affordable Hori cases!). I even bought a special case for my Game Boy Micro despite it already coming with a carrying case (sorry Nintendo, that silly black bag won't cut it!).

So, you've seen Gobi's take on a classic Capcom Street Fighter battle (a heated duel between Street Fighter 3's Q and Oro AS SEEN HERE). Fabien M, being the fierce competitor of EVERYTHING, stepped up to the plate and delivered a meticulously choreographed battle royale between Balrog (the Mike Tyson clone known outside the USA as M.Bison), Oro, Evil Ryu, and Q. Considering Gobi's unabashed love for all 3 characters, I'm pretty sure this is Fabien's passionate attempt at proving that Balrog is the King of Fighters (hold up, is that an inappropriate title for a Capcom character?). Fabien made a fight so big, it couldn't be contained in just one post. With a 6 illustration limit, I had to stretch out the fight between 2 posts. Think of it as a big thank you from Team Muttpop in time for Turkey Day. Happy Thanksgiving!

(below are the 1st 4 images. The last 6 images can be seen in the second post.)