'What an awesome crotch'

A few days ago, I happened across the following illustration thanks to Tumblr user dizzybone (proprietor of the tumblog known as the laboratory).

The drawing caught my attention for two reasons: 1) it features the flame-haired protagonist of a rather awesome Mega CD/PC Engine/Super Famicom action-adventure game called Popful Mail, and 2) when the aforementioned tumblogger re-blogged it, he/she added the comment, "What an awesome crotch."

Which, of course, made me chuckle.

As for who is responsible for creating this lovely drawing: I don't know his/her exact name, sadly, but I can direct you to his/her Tumblr, SssHannah-Man.

Acquisition #124: Corpse Party

I've been meaning to pick up Corpse Party, the "horror adventure" title developed by 5pb and Team GrisGris and published by Xseed Games, since its North American PSN release was announced last fall.

For some reason, though, I dragged my feet until just before my husband and I flew home to take care of my mom and dad. (Actually, I shouldn't say "for some reason," as I'm fairly certain my feet dragged because of Corpse Party's $19.99 price tag, which I still consider a bit high for a download-only title.)

Unfortunately, I can't even share with you a few early thoughts on this supposedly well-worth-the-price-of-admission game (according to numerous reviews, including this one by Anne Lee, aka the Chic Pixel blog's--and this blog's--apricotsushi) because, well, I've been taking care of my mom and dad for the past three weeks.

Things are ever-so-slightly returning to normal in my life, though, so I'm going to do my best to give Corpse Party a go during our flight back to Seattle in a few days. Should I fail to do so, don't fret. I'll make sure I play at least a bit of it at some point in the following week--and afterward I'll publish some early impressions here.

Have any of you played Corpse Party? If so, what did you think of it?

See also: 'Acquisition #123: Patchwork Heroes'

I'm going to get with Isami Kondou if it's the last thing I do (or, I'm currently making my way through Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom)

Those of you who have been paying attention to the little "Now Playing" list that resides on the right-side on this blog should be aware that I recently acquired a review copy of Aksys Games' PSP-based otome title, Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom. (And those of you who tend to ignore said list? Well, I guess you're in the loop now.)

I believe I've played it for about four or five hours, give or take an hour, which according to the proprietress of the Chic Pixel blog (aka apricotsushi, who you've likely come across if you've ever posted a comment here) means I should encounter one of the game's many endings sooner rather than later.

I don't want to give away too much in this post, as I'd rather save the important details for the "somewhat gay" review that will be published shortly, but I will say this: Hakuoki, while not exactly everything I had hoped for, is interesting and engaging enough that I'd recommend it to those who don't mind controlling a female protagonist and those who enjoy a good page-turner.

The second point above is especially important, as reading is pretty much all you do while "playing" Hakuoki. Every once in a while you're allowed to steer the story in one direction or another, a la those Choose Your Own Adventure books you plowed through as a kid (if you were anything like me), but other than that the main thing you'll be doing during this "visual novel" is hitting the X button on your PSP to advance the story.

As for the content of said story: It's a bit too detailed to go into here, but the long and short of it is that you have to search for the missing father of the aforementioned protagonist, Chizuru Yukimura, alongside the Shinsengumi, a tight-knit group of samurai who protect the citizens of Kyoto.

Although the bulk of your time is spent digging up clues as to the whereabouts of Chizuru's dad, a small bit of it (too small, in my opinion) is spent getting to know the studly members of the Shinsengumi better, if you catch my drift.

Personally, I only consider three of the many men in this game to be anything close to studly--which would be all well and good if it were possible to hook up with all of them. Instead, only one of them--the least appealing of the bunch, of course--is at all open to Chizuru's rather stilted advances. (Just in case anyone is curious as to which characters I'm talking about: Isami Kondou and Shinpachi Nagakura are my top two picks, while Saito Hajime comes in a somewhat-distant third.)

If any of what I've said here has piqued your interest in Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom, I'd highly recommend heading over to the game's official site, hakuoki.com, as well as this NeoGAF thread. (If you're really curious about it, you may want to check out this recent interview with Ben Batemen, a senior editor at Aksys Games, too.)

Buy: Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (Standard Edition) or Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (Limited Edition)

Additional proof that Kimimi (of Kimimi's Blog) is an awesome chick

Everybody who has been to Kimimi's Blog--and that's all of you, right?--knows that said blog's proprietress is an awesome chick.

(I apologize if the word "chick" offends any of you, by the way. I'm only using it here because I called Darwin Yamamoto a "dude" in this similarly-themed post. As such, I thought it would be only fitting to describe Kimimi as a "chick" in this one.)

Well, I recently discovered that Kimimi is even more awesome than I originally imagined. You see, after chatting with her--in the comments section of this blog post--about Sega's Sakura Taisen (aka Sakura Wars) series, Kimimi offered to send me her spare copy of the Saturn version of the series' first title.

Sakura Taisen's beautiful box art.

After hemming and hawing for a bit, I took her up on her generous offer--despite the fact that I don't currently own a Saturn. (Full disclosure: I've owned two in my lifetime, the first of which was bought and sold while I was a teen and the second of which was bought and sold about five years ago.)

I know I could play the game using an emulator like SSF, but I'd prefer to play it on the real thing. So, I'm going to do my best to keep from playing it until I pick up another Saturn (and a copy of the awesome-tacular Saturn Bomberman).

In the meantime, I'd also like to extend a hearty "thank you" to the folks at Aksys Games and Dudedle Studio, who recently sent me review copies of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom and Sugar Shooter 2, respectively. Expect to see "somewhat gay" reviews of both titles shortly.

The Great Gaymathon Review #39: Endless Ocean (Wii)

Game: Endless Ocean

Genre: Adventure/Simulation

Developer: Arika

Publisher: Nintendo

System: Wii

Release date: 2009

Would it shock you if I said that this "scuba simulator" is one of my favorite Wii games thus far? Well, it is. I know what some of you are thinking in response to that admission: Isn't this the title that was derided as a "non-game" upon release? Why, yes, it was. And you know what? All of the folks who declared Endless Ocean unworthy of attention (because of its supposed non-game status) were wrong. To me, it's a piece of software (a "game," if you will) that could and should be enjoyed by everyone from so-called hardcore gamers to those oft-criticized "casuals" thanks to its one-handed (in terms of controls) and open-world--or maybe I should say open-ocean--approach. Admittedly, there aren't any enemies in this game, although there are plenty of scary-looking (and not-so-scary-looking) creatures to touch, photograph and examine in it. And that, really, is the point of Endless Ocean--to explore the depths of the make-believe "Manoa Lai" sea and interact with its many inhabitants. Thankfully, said sea is made up of a number of disparate areas, including caves and trenches, and also features additional points of interest like ship wrecks and sunken treasure--all of which are wonderfully realized despite the Wii's underpowered hardware. Also wonderfully realized: Endless Ocean's ethereal soundtrack, the majority of which is made up of songs performed by "operatic pop" singer Hayley Westenra.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts

Catherine comes out on July 26

Unfortunately, I'm not talking about this Shigenori Soejima-designed character coming out of the proverbial closet; rather, I'm talking about the game of which she's the focus finally coming out (aka being released) in the US.

Surprisingly, Atlus is reusing, on Catherine's North American packaging, the rather sexy box art (right) that appeared on the Japanese PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of this action-adventure platformer-puzzler.

The question is, will the North American versions of Catherine also retain the (reportedly) confounding difficulty of their Japanese counterparts, or will the folks at Atlus include a "baby mode" for all of us wusses?

I guess I shouldn't say "us," as I've yet to buy a PS3 or an Xbox 360. Sigh. Hopefully some of you who own one or both of said systems will pick up a copy of Catherine and let me know what I'm missing.

Pre-order: Catherine (PS3) and Catherine (Xbox 360)