A is for Arly

Sorry about the late update- first time I’ve missed one so far (excluding Feature articles, which are really quite intensive and require research). Anyways, we’ve got two treats so far, one from NCSX and the other from Play Asia.

First are these cute little funyu-funyu keychains from Super Mario Galaxy- It’s the full set, and you can squeeze them and they pop back to their original shape. That Ghost Mushroom kinda creeps me out, though.

Next, -holy crap, it’s Mitsuru. I seem to recall a Mitsuru figurine whose skirt you could remove (like Sion Eltnam Atlasia’s skirt), so this one probably does not feature the same level of perversity fanservice. But if you’re a Persona 3 fan, you won’t really care either which way. Now, apparently there are plans to take this figure set to the domestic (American) market as well, and if that’s the case, well, things are looking good for the Persona series, aren’t they?

Links: Super Mario Galaxy funyu-funyu (NCSX) , Persona 3 Mitsuru Kirijo (Play-Asia, Affiliate)

Edit: I changed the link for Mitsuru from NCSX to Play-Asia because it’s actually 10 bucks cheaper to order from the latter. Sorry for any confusion!

Popularity: 74% [?]

Slightly off-schedule: The player “Ken” is actually a friend of mine who I met at Family Fun Arcade a while back. Tall, black and handsome, he’s originally from Boston, and now resides in Japan… where he ended up winning a fricking Street Fighter Zero(Alpha) 2 tournament at Mi-Ka-Do.  This tournament apparently occured in October.

In other news, irrefutable evidence that Justin Wong was trained by the French surfaced yesterday… and a Boeing 747 Flight at LAX is delayed due to abnormal weather patterns resembling airborne pigs.

Popularity: 84% [?]

This is a tournament video from A-Cho Game Center, one of the top competitive fighting game arenas in Western Japan. It’s from a Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core tournament featuring a ridiculously insane performance by “Osaka B”, a Faust player who manages to score an OCV… TWICE. This video features one of them.

boingboingboingboing
*pogo*

Popularity: 80% [?]

This is a Japanese Twinkle Star Sprites match between 503(Sprites) and Kattachiyo(Really Till). For those unawares, Twinkle Star Sprites is one of the first versus shooter games ever made. It might even be the first. And if nothing else, it’s sickeningly cute.

A quick primer on the rules: You get two bombs, chargeable attacks, special attacks that can’t be killed like a typical enemy, and a Boss attack. You can either send the latter two by charging your super meter, or you can get a successful Reversal combo against the flashing fireball attacks.

A flashing fireball typically occurs like this: You fire off a 12 hit combo, sending three normal fireballs to your opponent. Your opponent manages to get a combo at the same time, and the area-effect explosions not only send three normal fireballs your way, but bounces back YOUR three fireballs at you. However, because they were yours in the first place, they now come back in a flashing state, which means if you bounce them back again, they reincarnate as un-counterable Special attacks, or as a Boss attack (depending on how many you hit in a combo).

Also, if a match takes too long, a cutesy version of Death appears, and his touch is an instant kill. The longer a match goes on, the harder he is to defeat, and the faster and more persistent he becomes.

Really Till, by the way, is a fairly low-tier character; her Charge attack has sucky range, sucky damage and no directional ability. It’s also fairly easy to dodge her Special attacks (those pudgy dragons) since they only travel in one direction and tend to appear ahead of you, not on top of you. However, she has a three-star(Max) agility rating, so she’s able to dodge just about anything.

Sprites, the transformed-with-bubz version of Ran, is a fairly basic character, if balanced. You can try the game out on GameTap (download their free client first), but for a true arcade experience, you’ll have to find a Neo Geo machine with the MVS cart installed.

And yes, this game is typically 2/3 rounds. However, most players aren’t good enough to survive for this long.

Links: Hardcore Gaming 101: Twinkle Star Sprites , GameTap (Play Twinkle for Free)

Popularity: 86% [?]

Today we’ve got a little treat from NCSX: Chocobo Rubber Duckies. I really, really don’t need to say anything more about this, except that if you don’t get one of these, you have no soul.

As an aside, it appears that NCSX now has two storefronts with completely separate databases. You may need to register with the new store (no frills, not seemingly accessible from the main page). Also, this item ships in April.

Links: Uki Uki Chocobo (NCSX.com)

Popularity: 75% [?]

YouTube legend TheShend has made a reputation for himself of posting the best in 3rd Strike videos on the internet. (He would normally put up our Denjin RanBat vids too but we had an in-house YouTube plan that ended up falling flat on its face. >_<) Today is a feature on last year’s Super Bowl/World Cup/Olympics of arcade fighting games, Super Battle Opera.

The teams are:

This video is in multiple parts, so to watch the entire thing, you’ll have to check out the “Related Videos” on the right. The highlight of the video is the comeback that Momochi makes against Shiro Itachi near the end.

Popularity: 91% [?]

So there’s this indie game out there, a hardcore mashup of Megaman, Metroid, Castlevania and aRgH that’s known as I Wanna Be The Guy. The rules: You die in one hit, but you get unlimited lives, save points, and the freedom to explore the entire labyrinth. It breaks more copyright laws than Napster, but it’s an amusing source of speed runs, provided that you lack the intestinal fortitude to beat this game.Thanks to Nicholas Eckert aka Vidstudent for the link.

The other game video I’d like to highlight today is Bionic Commando: Rearmed.

… Just watch the movie, okay? *_*

Popularity: 100% [?]

Those crazy plush Pac-Man heads worn by employees of Namco at E3 have been available on the net for people savvy enough to find them, but it’s not common knowledge that Namco has a store dedicated to this stuff. I’ve got a whole set of Ghost plushies (among other things) myself.

This Vic Viper figure has also been available for a while, but it’s cool enough that it deserves some coverage. Featured in the Skygirls anime, there’s also a Red (P2) and Green version of the model that goes on sale in February.

Note: I’ll be keeping an eye out for the newest batch of Mario bop-activated sound plushies. When they do come out for preorder, it’ll be an emergency post and not part of the normal Toy Tuesday update. Also, as a disclosure notice, the links to the Vic Viper models are Affiliate links, meaning I receive commission from them (something like $3.80 for each one sold), but I receive nothing for the Pac-Man heads. Standard practice will involve an (Affiliate) tag next to any links for products at the bottom.

Links: Pac-Man Head, Vic Viper Model (Affiliate Link)

Popularity: 36% [?]

This is a video from a recent Melty Blood: Act Cadenza ver.B tournament at Family Fun Arcade in Granada Hills, CA.

Matchup:

For the record, this match is heavily against Nero’s favor. Red Arc’s full-screen punishing abilities, zero-startup aerial fireballs and high attack priority are all capable of shutting down Nero’s ranged attacks, summon setups and corner traps. Fortunately, Red Arc isn’t capable of dealing massive amounts of damage at a time like other top-tier characters, but her upgraded air fireballs between ver.A and ver.B gave her a pressure game so effective that few characters have an adequate method of stopping it. Also, Nero is a low-damage character, averaging between 2300-2800 damage per combo, but has the highest defense in the game. More often than not, he’ll have to rely on a strategy of attrition, especially against more agile characters who can do 4500+ damage per opening.

Melty Mechanics

One feature unique to Melty Blood is the Damage Reduction system. Players must press a button right before an attack hits them to reduce the damage inflicted. Good players can soak up to 10-12% of a combo’s damage through successful reductions.

Melty Blood also has something akin to a Parry from SF3:3rd Strike, which is the Ex-Shield. However, unlike Parries, an Ex-Shield carries a 60% damage reduction for the subsequent combo. For someone who relies on Ex-Shields to compensate for difficult matchups, this can be a pretty severe handicap. Here’s to hoping that the system is adjusted for the next game in the series, Actress Again.

Popularity: 59% [?]

Hey everyone, and welcome to my blog. I’m Arlieth Tralare, a gaming journalist for Hardcore Gamer Magazine with a colorful background in fighting games. Sometimes, I may actually sound like I know what I’m talking about. Do not be fooled. :V

Here’s the planned update schedule for Arlieth.com:

Sunday: Fighting Game Videos
Tuesday: Toy Tuesday
Wednesday: Miscellaneous Game Videos
Friday: Feature Article

Occasionally under Feature Articles, I will review a game-related product. This will usually be in the realm of high-performance gaming. If you’d like to contact me about a product review, contact me at arlieth@arlieth.com.

Popularity: 33% [?]