The Simpsons Arcade Game HD Coming to PSN

Obviously not the HD remake but just as awesome.

Sony revealed today on their Playstation Blog that Konami's classic Simpsons Arcade game is coming to the PSN on February 7th and will feature updated HD graphics and online multiplayer for up to 4 players. Rumors circulated that this game was being released awhile back after an ESRB rating for it showed up and an achievements list appeared on the X-Box Achievements websites but Sony confirmed today that it was in fact being released and would feature HD graphics, though I personally hope it also includes the sprite based original. We love the Simpsons here at Adamant Ditto and this is a great classic beat-em-up that has been released very sparingly in the past, in fact, it's only ever been released on the Commodore 64 and PC Dos. There was also a remake released on iOS in 2009 but it featured new levels, music, graphics and bosses to avoid conflict with Konami so don't even bother. It's very exciting to finally get this classic on console. With online multiplayer at that!

And if you happen to be a Playstation Plus subscriber, you can actually pick up the game for free that same day. Yes, Sony is just giving the game away if you're signed up to their expensive online service. Pretty nice of them. Now, it's only been announced for Playstation Plus but I'd imagine it's being released on the regular PSN the same day. After all, money is money. A wealth of other PSN games, including Far Cry 2, Final Fantasy V and Sonic the Hedgehog are also going to be made free to PS+ users throughout February. Hit the jump to see the full ad.

Update 2/1: Konami confirmed today that the game is indeed seeing release on the X-Box Live Arcade, four days earlier in fact! The Simpsons Arcade HD hits the X-Box Live Arcade this Friday, February 3rd.

New Pokémon Sheet: Weezing

Weezing is one of my favorite Poison Type Pokémon...I mean, he's this weird amalgamation of a bigger Koffing with a second smaller one attached, and a weird...mine...tail...thing!


I don't know what it is about this guy, but I think it's ugliness is part of it's charm...It looks kind of depressed...Kind of like he was hanging out with that Wobbuffet from Silver Version...Hey, this is also my first non-symmetrical Pokémon Sheet on the Blog!Next up is a Pokémon who can learn Fire Spin, despite not being a Fire Type Pokémon

Top Picks - 5 Favorite 2nd Gen Pokémon

Because I apparently love posting over my own lists, here's our latest video in our quest to countdown our five favorite Pokémon from each generation. It is, of course, second gen, the Gold and Silver gen. That means we're almost at the most important one. YAY!

The Five Worst Super Smash Bros. Stages

Last time we met, I made a list of my ten favorite stages in the Super Smash Bros. series. As I’ve mentioned previously, the stages are just as big of a part of the series as the characters. Every stage has a different personality, a different familiar location from the world of Nintendo and often times, different gimmicks. 

Consider Venom number 6.

However, unfortunately, those gimmicks can sometimes be annoying. Some stages use gimmicks in very minimal ways such as the walls in Shadow Moses Island or the Banzai Bills in Peach’s Castle. But sometimes they can get a little annoying and over the top such as the Pokémon from Spear Pillar or the entirety of the WarioWare, Inc. stage. Some stages have great concepts behind them but ultimately fail to impress like Venom, 75m or New Pork City. However, many of these stages aren’t “awful” just not very good. I’m looking at the five stages I absolutely hate, nay, refuse to play on. This is my list of the five worst stages in Super Smash Bros.

VGM of the Week #13

Matt's probably freaking out about how late in the day I'm posting this, but work was crazy tonight.
Anyhow, this week I wanted to share some of my favorite atmospheric music from the Pokemon series. Actually, Colosseum had a ton of great music in that regard, and no matter what you thought of the game itself (I'm a fan, fyi) you can't really debate that. Anyways, The Under was a whole 'nother city that was, well, underground. The population here is shady and seedy and otherwise off and this music made it all tense and classy at the same time. Oh man, I loved this game.

Top Picks - 5 Favorite 3rd Gen Pokémon

Continuing where we left off, here's our picks for our five favorite Pokémon from generation 3, the worst generation.

LTTA - Sonic 3 & Knuckles

So hey, because apparently January is Sonic month, we decided to do Sonic 3 & Knuckles! Yes, Ricky relives one of his favorite games of all time as we all watch on in awe, including our special guest David from our Mega Man 3 Let's Play. It's sure to be a good time!

You can check out the first video a below and a link to the playlist below that.

New Pokémon Sheet: Slakoth

Not much to say about this guy. I don't love him, but I don't hate him...He's just kind of there...


The same goes for it's evolutions, I don't like them, but I don't hate them. Not to mention the Awful ability it, and Slaking have, Traunt...Where literally every move is like Hyper Beam


Next up is a Pokémon who has the highest Defense Stat of all Poison type Pokémon

VGM of the Week #12

It is 3:18 AM on Monday and I just remembered I forgot to put up my selection for VGM of the Week this week. OOPS! Sorry to break the tradition of doing it every Sunday but well, it was my birthday and I was busy pretty much all day with my girlfriend, family and friends so it just slipped my mind. Terribly sorry but I hope you can all forgive me.

Now, as for my pick this week, I've had it decided pretty much since my last pick and if you watch any of our videos or streams, you probably know what it is. It is, of course, Rooftop Run - Act 2 from Sonic Generations. Sonic Generations has such a great soundtrack. It takes all the classic songs from each of the stages and remixes them for both acts and just turns into something completely different. So many tunes in that game are great like City Escape - Act 1, both Sky Sanctuary Zone Acts, Chemical Plant Zone - Act 2 but my absolute favorite is Rooftop Run - Act 2. They took what was already a great track and turned it up to 11 by adding some truly killer violin and guitar. I love it, it takes my breath away every time I hear it and I'd like to share it with all of you.

Retro Review - Shadow the Hedgehog

So I made it to the Shadow the Hedgehog review. This game made me physically ill and I never wish to play it ever again. ENJOY!

Top Picks - 5 Favorite 4th Gen Pokémon

It just occured to me that we forgot to put this up here. WHOOPS! Anyway, here's out individual lists of our five favorite 4th Gen Pokémon. Enjoy!

Resident Evil 6 Announced, Trailer Included!

And holy shit does it look pretty damn good aside from the whole Chris Redfield and random guy thing.

Resident Evil: Revelations Demo out on Nintendo eShop

The Resident Evil: Revelations demo was made available today and you can download it from the Nintendo eShop right now!

More demos will become available in the coming weeks so be on the look out for those!

Edit: It has come to my attention that, like their Japanese counterparts, these demos do have a limit on how many times you can play it. After 30 uses, the demo will cease to work. That shit don't fly with me.

New Pokémon Sheet: Trapinch

I love Trapinch. It's a cute little Antlion, which is kind of a strange thing to say, considering that I hate bugs in real life...The same could be said for most Bug Types (Yes, I know Trapinch isn't part Bug Type)...Except for a Select Few (Just watch our Least Favorite Pokémon Lists)


There's really not much to say about this guy (As usual) I really like Flygon, and it's Middle form is kind of forgettable (Here's Lookin' at you, Vibrava!)



It's said that just seeing this next Pokémon will make you Drowsy.

Villain Analysis: Zant vs. Ghirahim

Okay, so I guess I slacked off doing that Project Runway blog, and by "slacked off" I mean "Never put in the time or energy into doing it at all." So instead of that (or my looking at game shows which I'll get back to in time) I'm going to look at the villains of some Legend of Zelda games. Why? Well because I certainly can't look at the two different protagonists, for one, but also because in any work, it's the villain that makes or breaks it. Don't think that's an original observation or anything; Roger Ebert said something similar when he reviewed Wrath of Khan. Also, I just want to emphasize how much Nintendo learned how to properly write for an antagonist after forgetting halfway through Twilight Princess.

Matt's Top Ten Favorite Super Smash Bros. Stages

The Super Smash Bros. series is one of the most popular of Nintendo’s franchises and for good reason, it’s a great series. But beyond the gameplay and how much fun the games are, they’re so popular because it brings together all of Nintendo’s other franchises. What other game can you see Mario duke it out with Kirby? Or pit Ness against Captain Olimar? Gamers everywhere hype themselves up so hardcore about the next Smash Bros. that discussions of what characters should and will be included in the next begin the same day the last game was released. People love that stuff.

Seriously, this is the worst stage.

But what about the stages? Nintendo has a lot of memorable and iconic locations from their games too. Stages often go overlooked in favor of the characters but they are just as much an important part of the series. So far, Nintendo has put together some real winners with the line-up of stages and locations. Sure, not all of them are great, some of them are pretty boring (Peach’s Castle, Yoshi’s Island), some of them are great in concept but not in design (75m, New Pork City) and some of them are just plain bad (Brinstar Depths, Rumble Falls). But today, I’m taking a look at the best of the best. Which stages from the past three Smash Bros.’s games stand out the most in my eyes? What are my favorites? Well, let’s find out.

LTTA: Sonic Generations (Blind)

After finally getting Sonic Generations this past Christmas, I decided to do a blind Let's Play of it in honor of my Sonic reviews I've been doing. It was a lot of fun and a great game. There are a few technical problems because hey, what LTTA is complete without them? But we made it through and it was a lot of fun.

The first video is below and a link to the playlist is below that.

VGM of the Week #11

This one is my personal favorite from the legendary indie classic, Cave Story. I just love how emotional this piece is. Pixel really did an amazing job with every aspect of this game.

Top Picks - 5 Favorite 5th Gen Pokémon

So we've received constant requests to do our top 5 best Pokémon from each generation ever since we did the worst. Well, you wanted it so you got it. Each of us are counting down our 5 favorite Pokémon from each gen. Starting with the newest generation.

New Pokémon Sheet: Nosepass

Sorry to keep you waiting! I've been busy playing Skyward Sword, and I have to say, I love it!

Speaking of things I love, I finished Nosepass (In case the Title didn't give it away)

I really like this Pokémon, but I LOVE it's Evolution! There's not much to say about this guy...There will probably be more to say when he evolves though!...I hope you all noticed that I added his Original Colors as an Alternate Color
Next up is a Pokémon who can learn Gust, but doesn't have Wings. This Pokémon is also the only one of it's line to have a Hidden Ability, which it loses when it evolves

Abobo's Big Adventure is Now Up!

 

Awhile ago, back when we first started this blog, I posted a video about an amazing fan-game being made called Abobo's Big Adventure. It's a giant love letter to everything NES with tons of different playstyles, enemies and locations from classic NES games as well the main playable character being Abobo from Double Dragon.

Well, the wait is over, Abobo's Big Adventure went live today and let me tell you, it is great. I've only played the first level, which is the beat-em-up portion based on Double Dragon but in that level alone I ran into Goombas, Donkey Kong, Kid Nikki, the Spies from Spy vs. Spy, A T&C Skater, Alex from River City Ransom, a handful of enemies from Double Dragon, as well as a few sprites I didn't even recognize. It's also pretty dang hard, I lost almost all of my lives on the first level but you can tell a lot of love and care went into the game because of the original sprites, the gameplay and even it's achievement system. Definitely check it out here.

Retro Review - Sonic Advance 3

Yep, time for my next Retro Review! This time, I'm taking a look at the final entry in the Advance series, Sonic Advance 3. This game did a lot of unique stuff that the other two did not. But does it work? Well, you'll have to watch to find out.

The Top Ten Kart Racers (That Aren't Mario Kart)

Ever since Super Mario Kart hit the market 20 years ago, the racing genre has had a smaller sub-genre; the mascot-driven kart racer. Taking the arcade style racing game, throw in some crazy locations and power-ups and of course, some sort of licensed character seemed like instant cash for developers. It seems like every property out there has been involved in a Kart racing game at least one time or another, from Sonic to Pac-Man to South Park, the Smurfs and even Homies.

9.8/10

 However, it doesn’t always work out. Very few Kart racing games ever even come close to capturing half the magic of Mario Kart and even more of them are just flat out bad. Now, I love Kart racing games, especially Mario Kart, so I’ve played a lot over the years and I’d be lying if I didn’t say there have been quite a few that have stood out as more than just rip-offs. So, I’m counting down the top ten best Kart racing games, that are not Mario Kart. 

VGM of the Week #10

It's Sunday, so it's time for some good VGM.

This week, I decided to go with a Track from a game I've been playing a lot of lately, Kirby Mass Attack:



The game has a wonderful soundtrack, as most Kirby games do, but this one just stuck out the most to me, in a good way. I think it also has something to do with the Kirby's dancing along the bottom of the Menu Screen, but I really like this Track, and I hope you do too!

I would also like to mention that sometimes when I start the game up, I'll just sit there and listen to this for a good minute or two before playing the game.

LTTA: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Here's a Let's Play that was never planned. Actually, I was trying to stream my own Let's Play but due to some technical difficulties, Ricky had to take over and play something. He landed on Sonic the Hedgehog 2. What we got was a pretty funny LTTA out of it. Though if you expect us to get all the Emeralds and not use Cheats and Saves, you're in the wrong place.

The first video is below and a link to the playlist below that.

And now for something completely unrelated to video games in any way: Project Runway

Alrighty, so I'm going to come clean with this: I watch Project Runway. Yes, that competitive reality show with fashion designers. You can try to take away my man-card all you want with this, but honestly it's a well-delivered, well-presented show that keeps you tuning in week after week to see what the designers have to offer. Also, drama, because it is after all a reality show. I know you're going to take my word for it, but you would see what I mean if you started, especially if you wind up on one of their "unconventional challenges."

Anyhow, I've decided to join the plethora of Project Runway blogs now since, well, I'm on a blog. During the last season, while discussing it with the family, the only people who know I've been watching it up until now, they said I had some good insight on what was happening. Afterwards, when they were reading other blogs, points I brought up before were there, which gave my thoughts some credibility. So here we are with another season upon us (already) and I've decided to fully defile they other guys' otherwise beautiful web page with talk of fashion. While I'm at it, my favorite episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic does happen to be Suited for Success, so there.
This season actually snuck up on me, and I meant to do a pre-season blog about my expectations about a week in advance, but that won't happen since the season began tonight and I'm actually writing this as the episode is ending. Don't worry, I recored it and can watch it later. So I'll start that blog right about now and do the one for tonight's episode a bit later. The guys are gonna hate me for this.

Here we are in what is Season 10 of Project Runway, dubbed: Project Runway All-Stars since, instead of having a fresh batch of designers, we have a collection of returning designers back for another chance at winning the big prize. I'm expecting big things right out of the gate since everyone here has experience in the grueling life of a reality competition, also fashion. Right away I'll call out my frontrunners as Mondo Guerra and Michael Costello from Season 8 (Both of whose aesthetic {and personality] I liked more so than the actual winner of that season) and Anthony Williams of Season 7 (who was not the best designer that year, but had some great win when it counted). I'm totally expecting to be surprised, though, since we have contestants from Seasons 1 and 2 which I know hardly anything about.

Truly, my expectations are set for the producers. Ever since the series shifted to Lifetime, there has been a noticeable difference in what happens behind the scenes. I am not the first to accuse the previous two winners of an undeserved title. Season 8's Gretchen had talent, I'm not denying it, but Mondo's final collection was miles ahead of hers. As for Season 9, well, if I see the producers' putting in as much effort to affect the outcome as I did in Season 9, this first season will also be the last season I blog about, since I'll drop it like I dropped every other good show that rotted away. Project Runway Season 9 was a travesty unto the the show's integrity. There was just so much that happened that clearly guided Anya to her victory that it is difficult to enjoy anything about that season. It's hard to enjoy my chocolate chip cookies if I know someone else has been grabbing all around in the cookie jar with their grubby little hands.

So that's just my two bits. I look forward to this season; and I hope that if you made it this paragraph, you'll spread my blog around to people that actually do watch the show. Maybe they'll like it. Maybe they'll like Matt's or Rick's blogs more. We welcome new viewers all the time. No, I'm not adding this because I'm pandering to Matt. I hate concluding paragraphs.

Let's Podcast - 2011 Year in Review

Just like last year, this year we decided to do a Podcast about all the games we played in 2011. Everything from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword to the 3DS to Portal 2 to the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The five us plus our good pal Phil share our opinions and thoughts about 2011 in Video games all while I play The Legend of Zelda quite poorly in honor of Zelda's 25th anniversary.

The first part is below, follow the annotation at the end to get to the next part.

Retro Review - Sonic Battle

Sonic Heroes took a lot out of me. I played it for forever, it was awful, got a lot of flack for thinking it was awful, it really put me off these reviews. But, after playing through Sonic Generations and just feeling like I need to finish this, I finally started back up. So without delay, here is my review of Sonic Battle for the Gameboy Advance.

New Pokémon Sheet: Chimecho

Yes, I know, the Hint had nothing to do with this sheet, but I figured this was a better way to ring in the New Year (Get it?)...That, and I sometimes do 'Surprise' Sheets, so here it is, the first sheet of 2012, Chimecho!:


For what it is, Chimecho's a cool Pokémon...I mean, he's a bell! Or, if you go by it's Species name, a Wind Chime...I actually really like this Pokémon, and I wish it was better...Maybe it should evolve? Of course, if it did, it would have to have the same charm as Chimecho, but I'm getting off Point, I really hope you guys had a Happy New Year!


The same hint from last time still applies:
Next up is the only Pokémon who has the Ability Magnet Pull, yet is not affected by it when encountered.

The Twelve Stages I'd Pick for Sonic Generations 2

After months and months of eager anticipation, I finally got my hands on Sonic Generations this Christmas. Last night I even managed to finish the game and boy was it a treat. Sega certainly knew how to appeal to the fans, the whole game is one big love letter to everything Sonic. Each level is loaded with love for the source material, references to other Sonic stages and characters and the expert level design from Sonic games past.

This is what dreams are made of. Also nightmares.

Although the game is almost perfect in every way, especially stage design, I can’t help but wish there were more stages. I personally wouldn’t have chosen Seaside Hill to represent Heroes nor would I have likely picked Speed Highway from Adventure. Not that either of those are poor choices, they just aren’t what I would have picked. 

So I got to thinking about what stages I’d put if I could develop Sonic Generations 2. Now, this is all completely hypothetical. Obviously, it’s unlikely we’ll get a Generations 2 as this was a celebration of Sonic’s 20^th anniversary not to mention Sega has expressed no interest in it. But, I have so I’m going to list off 12 stages I’d like to see in a sequel. That’s one from each game represented in Generations as well as a stage from Sonic 3, Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 4. The only rule is that it has to be a stage that was no included in any version of Generations, console or 3DS, so no Casino Night Zone as much as I’d like it. Also, this list is just in chronological order so when I get to number 1, don’t take it as that’s the one stage I want more than anything ever.

VGM of the Week #9

Let's ring in the new year with a song that makes me feel like celebrating - from a game you've never played!

The Ape Escape series, though very obscure, is one of my favorite game franchises, and spin-off title Pumped & Primed was just as fun an challenging as any of the main numbered entries. Soichi Terada, who composed most of the series, is one of my favorite video game composers for his Ape Escape work alone, so I hope you'll give this little ditty a listen and appreciate it as much as I do.

Happy New Year!