Forum - View topicThis Week in Games - SNK Sinks, Resident Evil Bling, and How Lara Croft Came to Japan
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RiderMurdock
Posts: 19 |
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WDYM
Ketsu Battler is on the USA E-shop! I don't see any updates regarding the DLC you were mentioning, however. https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/ketsu-battler-switch/ Thanks for the article, as always. I appreciate the summary and differing views. |
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 925 |
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Oh my God, this changes everything  Thanks so much for pointing this out, I'm gonna have a blast with this!
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tintor2
 Posts: 2706 |
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Kenshiro in a SNK feels weird unless you compare his parallels with Ryo Sakazaki/Mr. Karate in Art of Fighting. Both are incredibly big dudes who mastered an extreme martial arts and protect a small girl with a similar appearance: Yuri and Rin. The Hokuto Hyakuretsuken is also kinda similar to the Kyokugenryu ogi where both perform lots of hits and even yell orara. Yasuyuki Oda once said that Art of Fighting was SNK's Fist of the North Star so I'm not confident about Kenshiro making it to COTW. Ignoring the AI, I wish Obari's art would avoid the androgynous and big fanserivce appeal in favor of the Production IG short about Maximum Impact where Terry and Rock didn't look that androgynous.
About Lara Croft her Japanese design reminds me a lot to Revy from Black Lagoon but with a different shirt. Street Fighter 6 sure is making history. Getting Jam Project as a character is amazing and Omega keeps making Sephiroth be referenced in multiple IPs since the Onewinged Angel is one of his moves. I was told Abel was supposed to be the protagonist of Street Fighter IV but I never understood why the game never used such type of marketing like they did with Luke and Alex. Also, Rashid was a hero too? Resident Evil reinforcing Leon as an action hero seems weird since the 4 remake tried to tone down the comedy despite Leon being able to parry chainsaws.... Is it like Evil Dead "Groovy!" |
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mdo7
 Posts: 8229 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Speaking of Lara Croft's proposed Japanese design:
This artwork almost looks like something Tetsuya Nomura would've commission or done I mean... 
And I'm not the only one that thought of the Square Enix/Tetsuya Nomura design-esque comparison. And I'm glad I mentioned that because at one time Square Enix bought out Eidos Interactive back in 2009 before it sold Eidos to Embracer Group in 2022. So it's ironic, and I wish Eidos would've made that particular abandoned artwork public back in 2009 when Square Enix bought out Eidos so people can make fun and meme it to death, and maybe some TR fans back in 2009 would've called for putting Lara as a guest character in Final Fantasy given this particular proposed art design. |
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groovysunbeam
 Posts: 82 Location: Belgium |
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Man presented with a never ending supply of cake (KoF15, COTW, Metal Slug Tactics) upset he has too much cake to eat.
I guess it didn't actually kill the momentum, then? Even going so far as securing a collab with FOTNS? They appear to be doing things right by all accounts. |
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AiddonValentine
 Posts: 2953 |
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-SNK: I swear, these guys have kept falling into pits since the turn of the millennium. I don't even know why they bothered with the AI slop when just showing gameplay would have been enough. Also awkward to do this when, by all indications, the slop machine is right where NFTs were before the market collapsed
-Resident Evil: So they're basically trying what RE6 did and offering different gameplay experiences for each story. Not a bad idea; a lot of people rag on RE6 (which felt more like people wanting to give lower scores to games like Gears of War or Call of Duty, but because those games brought in views at the time, they took it out on titles that weren't going to invoke as much retaliation. See also: how Total Recall sailed through the MPAA ratings board due to it being a huge project by Caralco but independent films like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer got and X for "disturbing moral tone" despite being less violent) but it had a lot of interesting ideas going on in like, like its surprisingly robust melee system and unfortunately just buckled under its own weight trying to please everybody instead of just focusing. As such, I'm fine with another go-around as long as the design is tightened. If anything, Leon's section was one of the pretty tedious because of how spongy zombies could be.
Man, she really does. Also, for those curious, Lara was dubbed in Japanese first by Megumi Ogata, then the late Atsuko Tanaka, and currently Yuko Kaida. About who you'd expect. Considering Lara was pretty stylized to begin with I'm not surprised people were fine with anime Lara |
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Zoltan Kakler
Posts: 96 |
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Once again, the "Thing. Thing Japan" meme rings true. Maybe we need to let Japan have a go at making Tomb Raider for a change. That design looks better than the reboot. At least she still has her shorts. It's really amazing how stark the difference in localization is between America and Japan where Japan actually tries to make something good looking or cute and the America is some unholy abomination like Bad Boxart Megaman
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1764 |
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- City of the Wolves: I'm not so sure about the game's current state, I knew the game wasn't going to be a huge hit, but even as SNK fan I wouldn't blame anyone for not supporting the game due to all of the controversies, though I'm not sure if the average consumer is aware of that, or if they care, there's been other games that are also linked to problematic people or companies that have become huge successes. Still, I think the new wave of DLC characters are great, though I'm hoping Kenshiro is not just a skin like how Yor from Spy × Family was in Street Fighter 6. As for the use of AI in the trailer, that was bad, but as said elsewhere, I found it kind of ironic that some people/FGC groups on social media complained about it, when most of them tend to share AI-generated images of female fighting game characters or memes. The issue is that, while I've never made an AI-generated image myself and I hate when developers mention its potential use, I cannot ignore the fact that tons of normal people are using AI to generate images or share them without a sceond thought, I even have close relatives that share/make AI images and I don't think I have the right to tell them not to do it.
- RE Requiem: the game looks fun, though for some reason it doesn't feel as novel as RE VII and Village were. Not so sure about having two types of gameplay, but the RE fanbase seems split between those who want a more survival horror experience and those who want something more like RE4. The collaborations with luxury brands felt really out of place, is there an overlap between RE fans and people who drive a Porsche? But I get it, game development is getting more expensive, they need commercial tie-ins to cover the development costs. - Tomb Raider: Lara's anime-style appearence kind of makes her look like a Xenogears character, I always find it interesting when certain Western media gets adapted for Japanese audiences. But in regards to Tomb Raider, is the series popular in Japan? The only reference to the series in a Japanese work that I can remember is an episode of Cowboy Bebop, where Jet has to buy a video game and in the store he went there was a cardboard stand of a character that looked a lot like Lara. Like for someone like me that was very young during Tomb Raider's heyday, while I didn't play any game, I was aware of the character, it felt like Lara was among the most famous video game charctaers of all time, alongside Mario, Sonic and Pac-Man, I don't know if she is still considered the most famous female video game character of all time. In some other news, the Switch 2 (and also Xbox Series) port of Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade just came out and it seems that it runs pretty decent on Nintendo's console. Honestly, I'm not expecting it to sell even a fraction of what it sold on the PS4, we're talking about a port of a 6-year old game (time sure does fly), but the port has received a lot of attention, maybe because some are claiming it's the return of the FF series to Nintendo consoles after 32 years (even if it that's not remotely true), the fact that it's a technical showcase for the SW2, or that it's giving the game a second life for those who haven't played it yet. |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 5148 Location: New York |
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I still remember them advertising Fatal Fury during friggin WrestleMania but I also remember a lot of rough patches. The AI doesn’t help but it seems the core game is good enough they didn’t have to bail early like WB did with MK1.
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2953 |
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Reboot Lara's design was fine; the problem with the reboot is more it doesn't actually address the fundamental problem with Lara (i.e. that's she's an incredibly wealthy hereditary heir that mucks around in other cultures like a lot of other archaeologist protagonists) which was why Shadow of the Tomb Raider was so awkward. |
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wolf10
 Posts: 992 |
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Tomb Raider coverage in TWIG was not on my bingo card. I expected some pining for Laura Cruz, though...
Anyway, it's funny to note that Lara's name was changed for the Japanese version, too! Still written as Lara in romaji, but pronounced as "Layla" in Japanese (for the first couple of games anyway). Dub name changes are not a one-way street, and the Japanese get just as confused about writing things in katakana as the rest of us.
Anyone with the remastered collections can also experience these versions on basically any platform, too! There's a language selector on the top menu (under audio) that actually switches between regional releases, logo and all, much like the MegaMan X/Zero/ZX collections. Tomb Raider 1 Lara is voiced by Megumi Ogata, and 2-6 Lara is voiced by the late, great Atsuko Tanaka. Like most Japanese PlayStation games, though, the original discs are still in circulation and can be found if you know where to look. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 5357 |
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The product placement for RE9 is weird. Not in that it exists since product placement in games isn't a new thing. It's weird in that I don't know what those companies will get from it. Sure, you can buy the watches from the game, but they cost $2,000. And even if players think it's cool that Leon drives a Porsche, they aren't going to buy one. You don't pay for advertising just to be seen, you pay to get sales, and it seems like they misjudged the demographics badly.
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Beatdigga
Posts: 5148 Location: New York |
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The Porsche thing is like most luxury vehicle ads (like having the old 911 roadster in Cyberpunk). They advertise on purpose to people who can’t afford them to make them seem like more of a luxury item. Something unobtainable for the average Joe in a pickup truck or a Civic. And that perception of luxury and value makes the average price higher. That has always been the luxury vehicle game. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2560 Location: Online Terminal |
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So I'm a Watch Guy or at least feel like I have the beginnings of a Watch Guy. I think watches satisfy my inner magpie, plus they're good when you're traveling because you can check the time without staring at your phone like a tourist and also spending battery. Also, as someone who has issues with self-image and self-confidence, wearing a watch makes me consciously think about how I look in, but in a positive way. It adds extra dopamine for times where I may have to "dress up" beyond whatever I slap on to work from home in or run errands. That being said, you can get cool-looking analog watches from big box stores for like $20-30. I can't see a reason to buy a $2,000 watch. Nakano Broadway displays high-end watches all over the complex; when I was there last spring one of the watches was nearly 31 million yen. I have no idea what would make it justify the price outside of it literally running on Cesium. |
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That Little Rapscallion
Posts: 150 |
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I've yet to see a Thing, Thing Japan that wasn't 100% true which just highlights how much of a failure the original purpose of that meme was trying to mock people who like Japan because Japan is in fact pretty cool and good at making things At least the most recent remake seems to not be horrible? I think? She has her original outfit back at least and did away with the 'strong female protagonist' outfit of tank top and pants that plagued gaming for a long time (and still does looking at Grace in Resident Evil 9 Requiem still has it)
Otherwise I'm glad to hear SNK is doing well and City of the Wolves is getting more DLC and Kenshiro for some reason. I guess it fits though. As long as Blue Mary gets in I'm happy. Terry should be happy as well. |
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