Genghis in Space

I've been revisiting Gyruss is recent days. It's a classic space shooter game made by Konami released in 1983 as an arcade game. Since then it's been on pretty much every system since. Despite it's age and the many versions on various hardware, there's never been a sequel. That's really weird in gaming, perhaps Gradius and other Konami's shooters fill that role. Still, I wouldn't mind a follow up. The only thing else is a bootleg game called Venus. You know I'm talking about an old arcade game when the subject of bootleg versions comes up.

Game play is pretty standard shooter fair. Though instead of your ship residing in the foreground, it can rotate around the entire screen similar to Tempest. This style of game is called a tube shooter, though it feels more like a hybrid of styles to me in Gyruss. Enemies come in waves as do obstacles with a boss at the end of the levels. Plot is light, you're flying through the solar system ridding the universe of evil along the way. Depending on the version you're playing, Genghis Khan is the main villain behind the forces you're fighting. Don't ask me how Genghis Khan came back as a galactic threat, or where he got all those eyeball space ships... but I dig it.

Weekly Halloween- The Cute Devil

Kid Dracula/Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun is a very fun little game where you take control of a young Kid Dracula (as the name implies) and take on Galamoth the demon. Kid Dracula uses his Dracula's (his father) cape as a weapon on his adventure. Kid Dracula is the self proclaimed Demon King, or was until Galamoth challenged him for the title. After defeating Galamoth, his title is restored and all the monsters in Transylvania want to be his friend. Despite all the monsters and demons, the game is obviously pretty cute.

It's intended to be a parody of the Castlevania series, though depending on who you ask, is part of the series. Kid Dracula being a young Alucard prior to growing up and becoming a more serious character. I prefer to take it on it's own though. It's hard not to enjoy the cute monsters and the fun platforming action. The game is available on most platforms now, but was originally a Famicom/NES game. Later the Gameboy version was released which is supposed to be both a remake and a follow up at the same time. I'm not sure how that works, but I am much better at the Gameboy version for some reason.

Castle of Devils XX

Castlevania is one of my favorite video game series. I love the mixture of fantasy and horror in addition to the platforming and action. Between the straight forward game play of the originals and the exploration of later ones, each game is usually a good time. One game though that doesn't get a lot of credit is Castlevania: Dracula X. Before you correct me, I'm not talking about the PC Engine classic Rondo of Blood. I'm talking about the Super Nintendo game.

While essentially being the same story, it's basically an alternative version of the game. Slightly different levels, difficulty, and other game play mechanics make for a new experience instead of simply being a port of the prior game. It both a substitute for Rondo of Blood to set you up for Symphony of the Night or a sequel to Super Castlevania (an alternate version of the original game). 

Basically the SNES games make for a fun little side pocket continuity that either does or does not connect with the overall series. For what it's worth, the Japanese version of Dracula X is called Dracula XX in Japan to differentiate it. Other differences between versions is the amount of gore (and there is a lot of it) is toned down for the American and European versions. It was a different time back then before games had a ratings system. Companies often tailor their products to meet regional norms. Nintendo in Japan was more open to things such as blood and religion, while in America... not so much at the time. 

Rondo of Blood is often seen as a benchmark in Castlevania games, while the SNES Dracula X is generally panned as an inferior product. Something I've never understood. Personally I've always liked the SNES game. It's a good game despite being different from the PC Engine version. Just different. There's never been a clear reason as to why the versions are different, but to me it kind of fits. Rondo of Blood is the epitome of a PC Engine game. While Dracula X is 100% full of that Super Nintendo flavor.

Recently when I bought Castlevania Advance Collection I was super pleased to discover it had the SNES game on it. That was a surprise considering the love the PC Engine gets. Getting reacquainted with it pretty much inspired me to write this post and show you all this cool game guide from Japan. Even if you can't read Japanese, it's still neat to flip through. That's actually something I plan to do periodically here when I talk about old video games is include some of the cool guides and magazines made for them. I've always loved them and willing to bet you'd appreciate them as well. The embedded reader can be adjusted to make it easier for you to flip through the pages or you can read it here.

New Week With Super AV Action

We all know that sense of fear that only a Monday can bring, but here on Planet Zone, that's a good thing! It's a new week and that means more mayhem and fun here at www.zonebase.org! There's a new episode of Not As Brightly Lit for a little of that Halloween spirit in March... MARCHOWEEN! I've been enjoying Pacific Rim: The Black on Netflix and really happy with how Power Rangers: Dino Fury has been going. Godzilla vs Kong is due out towards the end of the month and Toylanta in just two weeks! It's gonna be a great month, but first things first, a great week. Thanks everyone for reading and as always please share with your friends!

Turbografx-16 Mini And Auto-Correct Is Being Gross

It took a few days later than I had wanted for Amazon to fulfill my pre-order (auto-correct suggested pee-order) for the Turbografx-16 Mini (not counting the initial covid-19 related delays) as they lost the freaking thing. The replacement for here on Friday and man it was a breathe of pure happiness finally holding it in my hands.

Of course, like I've said here a few times already, I'm moving. Which probably sounds like I'm making a much too big deal of, but in reality, it's been a pretty hard move so far. Preparations and packing have all been affected by covid-19 and a bunch of other things popping up making everything harder than it should. We physically move next week, so here's hoping that goes smoothly after the headache of the pre-game (auto-correct suggested pee-game) has been. So I didn't get to play my new console until Sunday evening after my wife and I stopped packing for the night.

The first game I played was Splatterhouse. Despite having multiple copies and versions of the game, playing it on an actual TG-16 was pure joy. I flew threw the first stage before switching games. Since I was just spending a little time with my new console, I just wanted to give it a test (auto-correct suggested tryst.. what the crap?) run for a while. After I move and get things (it just suggested thighs, what?) set up, I'll spend some more time with individual games. I've got a plan to attempt streaming on Instagram and games is probably going to be a common subject. I plan overall to do more video work there as well. Once a million things stop running opposition to my plans. It's been a weird year.

I really love the simulation the micro provides. As the game selection features both American and Japanese releases, it has them separated (it just suggested perpetrated) between regions. Each menu has an onscreen representation of the console and games are in their jewel boxes. When you select the game, you get a great animation of the HuCard going into it's slot or the CD-ROM loading up a game. I'm sure you can skip it if you're just wanting to get to the game, but for right now it's a little extra that I'm loving.

The Goonies Famicom/MSX

King Kong 2: Ikari No Megaton Punch

Salamander Starscream

Since the new season of Transformers Cyberverse taking place on Cybertron, Starscream and the other characters are given new Cybertronian forms. In a breath of fesh air, Hasbro opted to do something new for Starscream and his seekers. Instead of the standard tetra jet Cybertronian mode, they went for a Vic Viper inspired look. This couldn't come at a better time as between various mini consoles and the Switch online service, the Gradius games have been getting some recent exposure. Even without the Konami connection, I really think this looks great.

In robot mode however, Starscream is pretty much what you'd expect. I initially thought he'd be a retool of the prior seeker warrior class mold and was glad to be wrong. This is a much better toy with more articulation. Not enough to roll in a ball or whatever articulation fans might want, but decidedly more than the first warrior had. In fact he's in a sitting position within the packaging, which was pretty funny once I noticed it.

Warrior class toys in Cyberverse have an action feature and Starscream's is the awesomely named 'Starseeker Missile' playing off the standard null ray guns/missiles you get with practically every seeker toy. Moving the Vic Viper cockpit on the backpack springs them forward as if they were firing straight forward. The missiles are mounted on the wings, so it doesn't block his arms. As far as action features go, this one's ok enough. It doesn't interfere with the toy, so I can't complain.

However I had a hard time getting one to stay in it's non-deployed position. Resulting in each time moving the cockpit back and forth to get it to lock in. That wasn't the greatest. Spring loaded features that won't stay in place is a toy pet peeve of mine, so I can't say I was happy with that. Your mileage may vary though, this could very well be a figure to figure issue depending on various situations in manufacturing.

That's the one complaint I have in a pretty good figure. I get my Cyberverse warrior toys for $11 and for that amount of money am really happy with this toy. It's a big improvement from the prior warrior class seeker mold and with the Vic Viper homage, I might be persuaded to buy other seekers based on the toy mold. Meaning I probably will.

Salamander Famicom

Between the Turbograpx 16 Mini (currently delayed thanks to the coronavirus) and the new Cyberverse Starscream toy, I've been on a Vic Viper kick lately. It's not a bad thing to be on though as it's been inspiring me to look into various Gradius related media. Such a good game series that I'm horrible at.

Nemesis Takes On A New Meaning

This is Starscream. You know who he is. This version you're looking at is from the upcoming Cyberverse season with Cybertronian based forms. Instead of doing the standard Tetra-Jet design they always do with Seekers, they did something different.

Pretty neat huh? Looks enough like the classic jet you're used to, but spacey and sci fi like. Hey, you guy's ever play a Gradius game? Somebody at Hasbro sure has.

Well howdy there Vic Viper, famed ship from the Gradius series of games, nice to see you in my Transformers. Usually I'm not a Seeker completist, but I might make an exception here. Not only does this design look great, but having a bunch of multi color Vic Vipers would be neat. I wonder if there will be any homages on the show? I've long thought Cyberverse (and RID before it) felt like they should be a game by Konami for Super Nintendo, and I guess I'm not alone on that.

Konami Makes Signs Fall Over

I'm in full excitement mode for the Turbografx-16 Mini. I don't know just why I'm excited for Salamander as I am. I've played plenty of Gradius, but not as much Life Force. I'm not even good at shoot 'em ups, but I like playing them. One thing I've noticed isn the commercials for Salamander is signs (presumably for the game) falling over not long after their placed.

They did the same thing for Gradius, part of me wonders if this was a Konami thing. Like, did they just have a serious of annoying instances as advertising for their games? They didn't do this for the Famicom version of Gradius. In fact it's a pretty cool little spot.

Are they saying the PC Engine version is annoying and will make you want to punch the nearest person who laughs at your misfortune? Sure, it's usually the most annoying twerp already doing that but... Look at the commercial for the Famicom Gradius II and see what I mean.

The Famicom games, they'rebeating you over the head with how awesome this game is. The PC Engine version is telling you it's got a case of the Mondays. I get a migraine every Monday, remind me not to hang any signs for Gradius on a Monday. Well, the PC Engine version anyway.

The Simpsons (1991) Attract Mode

Captain N-Return to Castlevania

Long before the Castlevania series on Netflix, we had to do with an episode of Captain N to bring the events of Castlevania 3 to animated form. Yea, they pretty much reinvented everything and got the characters wrong. But I do think Alucard is pretty great here and not only am a fan of Captain N, but DiC cartoons. Not to mention, it's Halloween crunch time. We've got to get our spooky shit all the way in before the next few months of singing that Snowman song.

Go whoop Dracula's ass

One thing I've always loved about the earlier Castlevania games is the emphasis on classic horror. I've made no secret my love for Universal Monsters and incorporating other monsters like Medusa into the mix made for a smorgasbord of monstery goodness. I've always loved a good platform game that utilized things like swords and such. Taking this warrior on an adventure throwing axes and snapping whips through Dracula's crazy monster castle... it was perfect.

The commercial for the Japanese version of Castlevania serves up that classic horror wonderfully. Dracula's castle highlighted by lightning before the main man himself arrives and flashes his fangs. Halloween in it's purest form.

TurboGrafx 16 Mini!

I am officially in mini retro console heaven.

Mutant Turtles: Choujin Densetsu-hen intro

I love TMNT, but admittedly I love it in my own way. I love what's refereed to as the 80's cartoon (the casual naming of this gets in my crawl a bit as it was more of a early 90's thing that started in the late 80's, but whatever). I love the older video games by Konami. I love the older movies. Love the Mirage comics, still have my copy of the old RPG book. The newer stuff, sure, it's ok. I don't hate it, just I like TMNT my way. Fair enough right? When I buy newer TMNT toys, it's usually mini fig type deals and frankly, I'm happy. Sure I bought a ton of the older toys back then, but that was back then.

One thing I've always enjoyed ever since learning about it in college was this awesome OVA for Japanese audiences where the Turtles go a sentai route. Sure, it's crazy to us Americans who are used to our more traditional TMNT, but there's no denying it's charm. Specially if you have tastes like myself. When I mentioned the older Playmates toys, I wasn't kidding. I had a ton (there still in my mom's garage). I always particularly loved the crazy variations of all the turtles. So when I learned of this, first I was amazed. Second I was jealous that I never got the toys. Third... man, I wish this would have happened here. I mean, sure, it probably wouldn't have went over so well... but honestly... I'm only considering my own enjoyment here. I would have loved that.

Castlevania Requiem trailer

Oh sure, I've already bought these two games a few times already... but what's one more time? Hitting the Playstation store just in time for Halloween is this cool bundle of two of the best Castlevania games ever. Just right for a spooky night!

Castlevania X: Rondo of Blood intro

Castlevania season 2 trailer

Honestly, I'm getting more whoa

I was already interested in Cyberverse before, looking forward to the show, intend to get a few toys here and there. Though the past few days, I admit, I'm actually getting a little excited for it. Silly as it may be, but there's a lot of joy in this silly little line for me and I'm looking forward to enjoying it when I start finding it. Sure, I still don't plan on buying everything, but I'm leaning towards getting more now than I originally planned. I like the yellow and black packaging. I like the look of the designs. There's just a lot of life and freshness in this, despite being essentially a repackaged G1. Just a lot of energy and I freaking dig that (and flipping the bird at the same old same old negative whiny butts).

Cyberverse feels like it should be a game on my Super Nintendo made by Konami or Capcom, and that's a good thing in my book.

And this is my site, so it's kinda my book.