KOF02UM - Endless Mode - A Boring Saturday

Pretty much had no plans for today, since i couldn't play 02UM online and i was working my way through some of the offline achievements i thought i'd play a bit of Endless Mode so i could get the '65 wins in Endless Mode' achievement.

Once i got to 65 wins i thought i'd might as well see how long i could go on for, especially since it's so easy to win with Igniz versus CPU. After almost 2 hours of playing i got bored and hungry so thought i'd just end it after i got through the 3rd loop of characters.

In the end i got 195 wins before i stopped.

Might try to do it again when they get the online servers connected to the game to see if i'm able to get a high score. Next time i'll probably have to do it earlier in the day though, and pray that my Xbox doesn't overheat.

Would be interested to know whether anyone else is bored enough to get higher than this, since it's not difficult just very time consuming, i'm sure there must be someone crazy enough out there to do 999+ wins.

Edit: It was pointed out to me by Jericho MPM on Neoempire's forums that the highest score on KOF98UM for Endless Mode currently was over 5000 wins, crazy stuff. May have to pass on trying to get a high score if people can manage to play for that long lol... :(

King of Fighters 2002 UM hits XBLA early! A Quick Look.

I was informed by Gunsmith (Orochinagi admin) earlier on today that KOF02UM has been released early for XBLA. Although you cannot currently connect to XBL with this game, it is available now for purchase as well as being able to play a trial version.

Have only been able to play it a couple of hours, but thought i'd share my initial thoughts on it.

Firstly compared to NGBC there doesn't seem to be as much spit and polish as that game, which had all new backgrounds, extended screen size, as well as extras like a colour edit mode.
Not really a big deal since this is still a relatively new game in comparison, though it does make you wonder why it took them so long to port it (along with the delays).

From what i can remember, the backgrounds in this game look like the ones from the Arcade version rather than the ones from the original 02um on the ps2. I'm actually not sure whether the Tougeki Version for ps2 had these backgrounds also however. (My copy of the tougeki version is still sealed)

Omega Rugal's stage definitely looks alot better than it does in the original ps2 version.

It seems as though Gallery Mode has been removed from this version, though Endless and Challenge Modes are still in there for those who enjoy the one player experience. In place of Gallery mode though this does add online versus play, which as i mentioned is currently unavailable. Speculation is that XBLA titles which are released earlier than expected are not yet added to the online game servers.

This also does not have the original 2002 packaged into it like the ps2 version does.

As well as the online versus mode, there is also a leaderboards menu (see image below) where you can (not yet) view various rankings as well as some kind of True Skill Ranking. A quick google brings up this information about True Skill ranking.

I'm not sure whether this is actually the Tougeki version (though i would imagine it is) or the original 02um, i haven't actually spent enough time with the Tougeki version to know many of the differences aside from the really obvious glitches which were removed for that version.

It remains to be seen whether this is worth the upgrade from the ps2 version, as we still cannot test the online mode which i'd imagine most players would be looking forward to in this version.
Once i'm able to test out the online i'll post up some reports on that.

For players who may not own any version of 02UM i would recommend this game, i would consider this as one of the best games released by SNKP in the past few years and quite possibly one of the better KOF games overall. Also at a budget price of 800MS (as compared to the £20ish cost of the import ps2 version) it is quite a bargain.

Until they sort out the servers i'll be spending my time trying to get the offline achievements :D

KOFXIII - Heading to Consoles in Q1 2011 ?

Website Snk-Capcom.com reports that SNKPlaymore will be sponsoring the American event Oni-Con 2010, which will be held this weekend.

Within this article it also mentions that KOFXIII may currently be slated for a Q1 2011 console release. Whilst this is still a while off, it does however at least give SNKP the chance to work out any glitches or bugs (and hopefully sort out some balance issues), as well as possibly adding more characters.

For more details check out the original article here and details on Oni Con here.

KOFXIII - Mini Tourney, La Mythik

Hokuto-Youseff has posted up a few videos of the mini tournament they ran over the past weekend whilst the UK players were visting La Mythik. So far there's three videos featuring each one of the UK players versus the French players.

Tahar [FR] vs RORY [UK]


Gunsmith[UK] vs Salim [FR]


MichelS [UK] vs ??? [FR]


Check out the rest of the vids on VSFClub's Youtube Channel, all of the tournament vids start with KOFXIII First Contact/ title.

Enjoy!

UK visit to La Mythik, Paris

Gunsmith has been updating his blog over on Orochinagi regarding the UK visit to the arcade La Mythik in Paris, which took place this past weekend. Unfortunately was unable to make it myself due to my passport running out, and lack of spare funds to renew passport. :(

Read his write ups, with photos over on Orochinagi.

KOF XIII Weekend: Notes and Trip Photos
Kof XIII weekend 2nd report
KOF XIII Weekend – Gunsmith’s First Impressions

Videos also up on his Youtube channel, Karlsimposter.

Trouble Witches NEO! [XBLA]

Bit of a suprise this one, i'm pretty sure that this started out as a homebrew/PC title as i've got a version of it from a few years back on my PC somewhere, so i think this is only published by SNKP. In any case it's nice to see they are branching out and securing other titles rather than just the usual Metal Slug or KOF games.

I remember this title being fairly decent as well, so hopefully it sells well enough for them to warrant securing more IPs and expanding the SNKP library. Let's hope that this is a sign of things picking up for SNKP, as they haven't been too impressive in the past years.


Information from the SNKP on XBLA Facebook Page:

Microsoft Points:800

Genre:Shooter

Date Released:This Winter

GAME OVERVIEWS

Bullet waves are a chance for high scores!? “TROUBLE WITCHES NEO!” is a game for shooting maniacs featuring young witches, alchemy, and a Magic Barrier game system you can master in order to turn enemy bullets into gold! 8 cute maid-witches are ready to challenge this frantic “Bullet Hell” horizontal shooter for the highest scores! In addition to the local 2P CO-OP play in offline mode, you can also play ONLINE in cooperation with players worldwide via Xbox LIVE! Despite its cute and magical environment, “TROUBLE WITCHES NEO!” is truly meant for hardcore players!

SPECIAL GAME FEATURES

Enjoy the exciting feeling of threading through waves of bullets and change enemies’ bullets into gold via the Magic Barrier System!!

Use the MP Gauge to deploy the Magic Barrier and slow down the incoming waves of bullets! Shoot down all enemies on screen to convert the bullets they have fired into gold coins and collect them! The exhilarating feeling of avoiding enemies’ bullets until the Magic Barrier disappears, and the pleasure of using alchemy to change bullets into money can also be experimented in CO-OP PLAY! Concentrate on your enemies’ bullets as much as possible with the Magic Barrier in order to get a lot of money!

Use your gold to purchase items at the Pumpkin Shops! Magic Cards enable Special Attacks!

If a Pumpkin Shop appears during the game, enter in without hesitation and buy some “Magic Cards”! Special Attacks which are enabled by the “Magic Cards” are really powerful, and they will give you Star Coins if you use them to shoot down the enemies. Be sure to use the “Magic Cards” when you are in a pinch!

8 cute maid-witches are available! Choose your favorite character and play-style!

The player can choose from 8 cute maid-witches (including two unlockable characters available under certain conditions)! Each witch fires a slightly different type of shot and moves at a different speed: choose your favorite character and play style!

Exclusive to Xbox LIVE Arcade! ARRANGE 360 MODE features a lot of options for hours of fun!

The Xbox LIVE Arcade exclusive “ARRANGE 360 MODE” of “TROUBLE　WITCHES　NEO!” features numerous additional options: as well as “SINGLE PLAY” (in which a second player can join the game at any time), “MULTI PLAY (OFFLINE)” in which two witches can play in cooperation, and “STORY MODE” where you can enjoy the story of each character in full voiced dialogue. A “CHALLENGE MODE”, made up of “SCORE ATTACK” and “BOSS ATTACK” modes for the hardcore players, is also available!

Let’s play in co-op mode with witches from around the world via Xbox LIVE!!

ONLINE CO-OP PLAY is possible with players worldwide via the Xbox LIVE network! Furthermore, “TROUBLE WITCHES NEO!” features LEADERBOARDS to check the world rankings and a REPLAY function in order to watch maniac players’ gameplay!!

A quick look at Retro Gamer Magazine - Collector's Corner

Whilst browsing through some of my older magazines i came across a pile of Retro Gamer magazines, which i haven't read for a while.

As you may or may not know Retro Gamer is a British magazine, which focuses (unsuprisingly) on retro games, and occasionally has features on the Neo Geo/SNKP.

So i thought it'd be worth sharing bits and pieces of the Neo Geo/SNKP related articles from the various issues i have.

For the first write up i thought i'd show a small piece they run in the magazine called Collector's Corner, which is from the Pac Man issue (issue 61 i believe), where people can send in images of their various retro games collections. For this particular issue a reader has sent in some images of his Neo Geo AES collection, i think there is a bit of an error though as one of the blurbs is a mismatch to the image (it should be attached to the image below instead).

The magazine is still ongoing, you can check out the official website here where you can subscribe or buy some of the back issues. Alternatively there is also an app for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad where you can buy issues for reading on your iDevice (about £2.99 an issue, as opposed to £5 an issue from the shops).

I'll try to get up some images of other issues when i get the chance, at some point i'll post up images of my personal SNK collection on here too.