The Great Gaymathon Review #45: Street Fighter II' Champion Edition (PC Engine)

Game: Street Fighter II' Champion Edition

Genre: Fighting

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: NEC Home Electronics

System: PC Engine

Release date: 1993

Nowadays, this port is the definition of "meh-worthy," thanks in large part to Capcom's milking of the Street Fighter franchise. Back in the day, though, it was a marvel, as it proved, once and for all, that NEC's pint-sized--and basically 8-bit--PC Engine could compete graphically with its 16-bit competitors (those being Nintendo's Super Famicom and Sega's Mega Drive, of course). Admittedly, the music and sound effects took a pretty big hit in the transition from arcade to (20-Megabit) HuCard, but everything else in this port is pretty much spot-on--it even includes the barrel-breaking bonus stage that was cut from the Super Famicom version of the game. All that said, I rarely play Street Fighter II' Champion Edition. In part, that's because I'm not the world's biggest fan of one-on-one fighting games, but it's also because I have yet to pick up the six-button controller that was released alongside this title and is a required purchase if you want to get any enjoyment out of it at all.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts

China Warrior + Takahashi Meijin + toy turtles = one awesome PC Engine commercial

True story: I've never played Hudson's oft-criticized, PC Engine-based fighter, China Warrior (known as The Kung Fu in Japan).

I'm actually planning to right that wrong soon, but until that day arrives I'll content myself by watching and re-watching the following commercial, which features, at one point, Takahashi Meijin and a quartet of toy turtles.



Hopefully it's made clear to folks who understand Japanese why the "16 shots per second" star is shown, in a commercial that was supposed to prompt gamers to run out and buy a side-scrolling brawler, sitting atop a pile of said reptiles?

Note: This post originally appeared on my other gaming blog, iwasateenagepcenginefan.wordpress.com.

Yoshinori Ono on Final Fight's Poison: She's supposed to be mysterious

Attention Poison fans: EGM just (well, yesterday) posted an extremely interesting interview between its own Eric Patterson--you may remember him as Shidoshi from the old Diehard GameFan magazine--and Capcom's Yoshinori Ono.

"Poison" by Speeh

Rather than pick Ono's brain about his upcoming 360, PS3 and Vita brawler, Street Fighter X Tekken, Patterson picks the producer's brain about one of that title's key cast members: Poison, the lovable female thug who first appeared in Final Fight.

The highlight of this fascinating tête-à-tête, in my opinion: Ono seemingly backtracks on his earlier assertion that the fuchsia-coifed character is trans- gender. (In late 2007 he told EGM that "in North America, Poison is officially a post-op transsexual. But in Japan, she simply tucks her business away to look female.")

While chatting with Patterson, however, Ono said, "Capcom’s official stance has and will continue to be that we don’t have a stance technically. It’s supposed to be mysterious; if people want to talk about it on forums or what not they’re welcome to, but we’re not going to give you a straight answer because, well, there isn’t one. We deliberately want to make it a mysterious thing—that question of what’s at the core of this character. At the end of the day, we don’t have an actual canonical answer to that."

That's not the only eyebrow-raising comment included in this Poison-focused Q&A. Read the rest of them by checking out the full interview here. You may also want to check out this NeoGAF thread, which was started by Patterson and features a number of interesting insights.

This tumblog isn't exactly gay, but it's well worth a look anyway

I've published a few posts about tumblogs that feature gaming guys thus far (here's one and here's another), but I'm pretty sure this is the first one I've published about a girl-focused tumblog.

Don't worry, the tumblog in question isn't full of scantily-clad ladies with huge, er, accessories. Rather, it's full of women who are wearing "reasonable armor." (Hence the tumblog's name: Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor.)

Interestingly, the tumblog is maintained by a guy. I don't know if he's gay, straight or bi, but who really cares as long as keeps posting awesome images like the one above?

The Great Gaymathon Review #10: Rakugaki Showtime (PlayStation)

Game: Rakugaki Showtime

Genre: Fighting

System: PlayStation

Developer: Treasure

Publisher: Enix

Release date: 1999

On the one hand, I find this Treasure-developed (and Enix-published) title's graphics and premise delicious. On the other, I don't find its Poy Poy-esque gameplay nearly as appetizing. That's not to suggest that this extremely pricey game is bad, but it can be a bit boring--especially if it's played solo. (I've heard the multiplayer experience is much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I've yet to play it that way.) Still, I can't help but boot it up now and then just so I can gaze at its charmingly rendered graphics--which resemble doodles that have been torn, rather haphazardly, from a child's scrapbook. That's hardly enough to earn it a hearty recommendation, though, is it--especially when you consider that used copies of this game commonly carry price tags of over $100? Given that, I'd only recommend picking it up if you're a total Treasure nut or if you're one of those freaks--or should I say lucky ducks--who regularly throws stacks of $100 bills into your fireplace to keep warm at night.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts

Twinkle Queen

I have to be honest: I'm only writing about this upcoming Wii brawler because it sports the gayest name since Gay Gayerson.

So, why is it called Twinkle Queen? I don't know, to tell you the truth, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that it features characters pulled from four Japanese H games.

According to andriasang.com, the title--which will hit Japanese store shelves on June 24--will focus on four-player battles, though someone over on NeoGAF suggests it will include party-based mini-games, too.