Tales of Phantasia, LocoRoco US and Ghosts 'n Goblins Ultimate US
News from Lik Sang
Nearing the all exciting final quarter of the year, this month heats up with loads of major releases, plus the Tokyo Game Show takes place Sep 22nd to 24th. Beyond the four hits this week, there's Mario Hoops 3 on 3 US next Monday on the 11th for the DS, then on the 14th Ridge Racers 2 US drifts onto the PSP. The following Tue on the 19th Naruto Clash of the Ninja 2 US finally hits the Cube, while on the 21st PSP owners can pick up Metal Gear Solid Bande Dessinee for only US$ 29.90! Looking to the last week there's Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 US for the DS on the 25th, then DDR SuperNova US dances it's way onto the PS2 on the 26th, and finally on the 28th the NDS gets Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl.
Tales of Phantasia - PSP
Along with a major Windows release, the craze over a techno remix of Cotton Eyed Joe, the revealing of a standard called "DVD", and the, err, Drew Carey Show, 1995 was also the year Namco's now legendary "Tales of" series began, with Tales of Phantasia being the first of 10 (and counting!) RPG's. The original impressed with a perfectly paced storyline that grew and twisted into something much bigger, innovative gameplay mechanics and wonderfully detailed graphics. The characters were born from the mind of Kosuke Fujishima, who also produced manga like Oh My Goddess!, and games such as Sakura Wars, Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss. The memorable music was put together by Motoi Sakuraba, who also composed the soundtracks to far more games than we can list here like Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Golden Sun, Shining Force III, Baten Kaitos, and titles in the Tales of series; Symphonia, Destiny 1 & 2, Eternia, Rebirth and the Abyss.
The first title was a SNES game, then the sequel came to the PlayStation. A year after that however, the original was ported to the PS1 too, later followed by a GBA edition in 2003. It wasn't until this year however that the game was translated into English, when Namco contracted Nintendo to handle it and release it in March across Europe and the US. Back to the PS1 remake however, it ran on an updated engine from the sequel, and now makes it onto the PSP. Along with improved graphics, characters received more moves and spells, plus features common today such as cooking, titles and the ability to control any party member all made their debut in the remake. There were a slew of other changes too, such as a fully animated intro, extra side quests, a new character and summon, plus a less intense random battle encounter rate. This PSP edition enhances it all further still though with a revamped battle system, newly created sprites which match last years PSP remake, Tales of Eternia, and while the SNES original was noted as the first title to include streaming voice samples, here the PSP port has full voice overs. Arriving this week, it's your chance to witness the birth of a legacy, and since the PSP is region free, the game will run on any unit worldwide.
Ghosts 'n' Goblins Ultimate - PSP (US)
In just their second year of producing arcade games Capcom gave the world its own take on the classic hero-saves-princess tale; Ghosts 'n’ Goblins. Over the next many years, Arthur, our main hero often seen running around in underwear after suffering a blow, was blessed across sequels and home console ports with upgrades like new moves, weapons, armor and magic power ups. Then he largely faded away into a classic memory, but this week the true Capcom legend comes back to life with the US edition of Ghosts 'n' Goblins Ultimate on the PSP, and at the hands of the original's creator no less! With side scrolling 3D graphics staying true to the glorious past while still packing a modern look, there's more spells and weapons than ever before here and plenty of non-linear gameplay with new branching levels. Defeating enemies with your huge weapon arsenal like a grand lance, dagger, fire bottle, spinal whip (ouch!), swallow blade and more, you'll venture through a dark forest, a frozen old castle, some seriously messed up swamp and a fiery lava-flooded environment just to name a few. Along with the trailer and TV commercial, check out this hilarious attempt at a "real-life" Arthur:
Many of Capcom titles are known to be a serious challenge, but the new checkpoint system help balance this out, plus as the game progresses you'll earn a double jump, the ability to hang off ledges and dash. Beyond that, the new inventory and magic structure lets you cycle through your shields and spells with L & R, then you can roast some demon butt with Inferno Magic or slow down the action with Time Magic (a very neat 2D bullet time feature). To not feel naked and offer increasing protection, there are four different armor items to pick up as well. Honestly where else do you get to fight godforsaken, mummified dragons with a boomerang scythe wearing nuthin' but your undies? Hell yeah. So grab your copy today, and thanks to the handheld's true region-free capability it'll play on any PSP system bought globally.
LocoRoco - PSP (US)
Coming from the creator of Ico, and with pastel-colored, crisp 2D environments and a cheerful soundtrack that matches the candy-coated atmosphere, not to mention an adorable character design to top it all off, LocoRoco truly looks as original as it plays. The intuitive gameplay uses almost only the L and R buttons, and takes place across 40 addictive platforming stages. The story goes that the evil Moja Corps have come down from outer space to capture the peaceful species of happy blobs named Loco Roco, and it's up to you to tilt, roll and bounce them out of the reach of their attackers. The circle button will also split up your smiling blob into many smaller ones, while holding it will make the tiny fragments blend together again. Each stage offers lots of natural obstacles to overcome like waterfalls, wind streams, fountains, moving parts etc. Beyond saving the poor Loco Rocos, finding all the Moja, Picktories (berries) and Mui Mui (green guys) in each stage will provide quite a challenge.
There's six types of Loco Roco, each with unique voices and actions, and their planet appears as a living, breathing entity, where plants suddenly burst into growth as you pass them by, all sorts of critters interact with each other and the environment, more often thatn not breaking into song in the process. There's three bonus games too, one of which has you trying to pick up objects/Loco Rocos for your Loco Roco House with a 'UFO Catcher' crane. Think customizable playground for the yellow beings, where you can design a place to your liking with over a hundred different pieces (picked up either through the main game or the mini efforts). If you need a break from tough-as-nails titles that involve relying on firepower constantly, Loco Roco might just be the thing for you, perfect, spirit-lifting fun on the go! The old-school feel reflected in gameplay and the visuals gel in a really splendid way with the soundtrack and overall top-notch presentation, so treat yourself to an original idea, representing one of the best titles available for PSP yet. Region-free by nature, any PSP system worldwide will play this game right out of the box! Just slap the UMD in and start your exploits in the world of Loco Roco!
