Author Archives: Steven

About Steven

Editor-In-Chief of The Wired Fish since 2010. Suggestions, praise, and hate mail can be sent to steven@thewiredfishnetwork.com

Retro Weekends – Super Soakers

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Editor’s Note: Retro Gaming Weekends has not been discontinued. Instead, it is now being merged into Retro Weekends, which covers anything from toys, cartoons, anime, commercials, live-action shows, and of course games, that I grew up on in the 90s and early 2000s.

Ah the Super Soaker. It was somewhat of a status symbol of your wealth when you were a kid. Of course by wealth I mean how much you begged and pleaded with your parents to lose money on getting a Super Soaker. While your typical discount store had those cheap little water guns that shot streams resembling piss, no one messed with you the moment you came out with this beast of a water gun. Of course, once you had one, the other kids wanted one too and eventually got one. And then the real war began as you’d try to last as long as you could without having to reload. No one really knew when exactly you won a watergun fight, but I’m assuming whoever got the heavier clothes lost. Regardless, I enjoyed a short run of having not one, but two Super Soakers! After the break, my story and why I stopped playing with Super Soakers. Continue reading →

Grand Knights History Coming to the US (And You Too Europe!)

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Grand Knights History, the somewhat ambitious PSP RPG with online play in mind, has been picked up by XSEED and is slated for release in the US. Released not too long ago in Japan (and to good sales no less), this is one of two games being made by Vanillaware (the other one being Dragon’s Crown for PSV/PS3). Grand Knights History is a turn based RPG where you choose one of three kingdoms to represent (Avalon, Logres, or Union) and create a squad of knights to take into battle. You can also go online with your squad of four and battle other players (representing one of the other kingdom). For European gamers out there, Rising Star Games will be handling the publishing duties. Grand Knights History is slated for release sometime around Winter on PSP.

Xseed publishing Vanillaware’s online RPG ‘Grand Knights History [Joystiq]

Ace Combat Assault Horizon Preview

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I finally got a chance to play the demo of Ace Combat Assault Horizon on Wednesday. Long story short, regardless of my reservations of how I feel about where the series is going (it’s really just the story that concerns me), I came away satisfied with what I played that day. The demo offered two missions to play: one fighter jet, one helicopter. One played a bit differently from the previous entries, and the other is an all-new experience for the Ace Combat series. After the break, I’ll start with the tried-and-true fighter jet gameplay.

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Art of the Week: Feature 7 – amsart81

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For this week, it’s round two with deviantART group Fighting Games Elite as we feature another artist from the group. Hailing from South Jakarta, Indonesia, amsart81 (real name Amos Rachman) has an artstyle that is both varied and detailed. His main base of operations is both on deviantART and Blogspot. His most recent works focuses on fighting games and comics. While we can’t show here due to the theme of the blog, his piece “Guardian Ninja” shows his amazing prowess with detail as you can see in the armor. amsart81 also has a background in doing caricatures, which are very entertaining to look at (and bring back memories of old TV Guide). amsart81, like blackorb00, is also a winner of another one of the contest held by Fighting Games Elite. His fanart for Street Fighter X Tekken was one of the winning entries. Right now FGE is holding another contest, this time to draw characters from fighting games in a pirate theme. So if you have the chops and can draw, head over the and get competin’!

Do remember to visit amsart81’s gallery over at deviantART and Blogspot. Catch a small sample of amsart81’s work after the break.

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First Gameplay Footage of Persona 4 The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena Surfaces

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Spotted at NicoNico Douga, we now have the first real gameplay footage of the new Persona 4 fighting game. As expected, the action is fast paced, and somewhat BlazBlue like (given this is being made by Arc System Works). And to answer fears of gamers thinking all the characters play like Carl Clover in BlazBlue: No, they do not play like him. Instead they simply come out to perform special attacks and super attacks. For those wondering how the button layout and configuration will be for this fighting game, it’s hard to tell. But from the little bit we can see on the lable below the screen, it seems to use a 4-button layout. The super meter seems split into three parts and counts from 0 to 200, so maybe some supers probably consume different amounts of bar.

Big thanks to Lewis, aka l-slick, for the tip!

［AMショー2011］「ペルソナ4 ジ・アルティメットインマヨナカアリーナ」直撮りプレイムービー [NicoNico Douga]

Cry Manly Tears At This Super Mario Music Compilation

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Here’s another compilation of Mario music. But this is no orchestral arrangement or some half-assed compilation that only covers the core Mario games. Oh no. This gets almost alllll of them. We’re talking from Donkey Kong, to Super Mario World, Super Mario Land, Paper Mario, Mario Golf (you know, that game I didn’t get to play in my youth). Even Luigi gets in on the action! Just as amazing is the effects on display in the video and how creatively the sprites, footage, and text is used. Just watch. And cry…

Top 10 N64 Games I Wished I Played In My Youth (And Still Haven’t!)

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I’m not sure how many gamers there are like me, but I’ll come out and say it: I never owned an N64. Never had one, and not really planning to go out and own one. I grew up as a Playstation kid as the PS1 was the cheaper system when my mom went out and got me one. I think many gamers probably had the same predicament as me: we grew up poor or had parents that didn’t want to spend a lot of money on games (and instead give us lame Christmas socks and notebooks). But I don’t fault my family. I grew up on a console that was getting the RPGs and all the third party games. But still, there were quite a few things on the N64 that revolutionized the way we played videogames (like the joystick and Rumble Pak). I was able to play the N64 in my cousins’ house. But personally, as you already know, I never owned an N64. The only way I can “legally” play the games are on the Wii. But in hindsight, it’s still kinda sad knowing that I missed out on the happenings surrounding the system –in particular, the games. Before we begin, I have to set a criteria.

1) These are games that I have not touched, at all. To this day. As I type this. Never played, at all. Dead. Serious.

2) The “not owning” part is a given. But, if I did play them at all, they don’t count. And also, for other games games I mention “playing”, they don’t necessarily mean “owning.”

3) If I own the original games or enhanced port on the Virtual Console or any other system, they don’t count.

So without further ado, hit the jump button down there to see what games I missed out on.

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Sakaguchi: “It Will Come Out”

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This is in regards to his latest game The Last Story. IGN user “topsekret” posted a thread on the message boards talking about him having a backstage pass to the Distant Worlds concert in UCLA. Upon the shows conclusion, he met up with Nobuo Uematsu and Hironobu Sakaguchi, the composer and producer (respectively) of Final Fantasy and The Last Story. In his second paragraph, topsekret explains how he may have gotten the supposed answer we’ve been waiting to hear.

“During the signing I told Sakaguchi that I was really looking forward to The Last Story, but that unfortunately, it hasn’t yet been announced for a release in America. Sakaguchi hesitated for a second as if thinking to himself and turned to Uematsu and they said a few things in Japanese (I did hear him say “Last Story”). He then turned back to me and said ‘it will come out.'”

Normally, I would discredit something like this since this is coming from a message board. But then again, how do you think Operation Rainfall started? Still, take this news with a grain of salt. Even topsekret thought that Sakaguchi probably misunderstood him. But we shall see.

Persona 4: The Golden Screenshots

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While we at TWF have been going nuckin’ futs over the news of Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena (or P4U… god that sounds dirty), screens of the other Persona 4 gameing coming out, Persona 4: The Golden, has surfaced. Slated for release on the Playstation Vita, this will be an enhanced port of the PS2 entry and will retain everything from that version (unlike P3P, which made some dramatic changes), and add on some more features. The features include new cutscenes, more voices than the original, a new character by the name of Marie, and the still-mysterious ability to call your friends for help in a dungeon when the shit hits the fan. From a graphical standpoint, it looks like they’ve toned down the heavy yellow hue that seemed to dominate the town of Inaba like god farted down there (and we’re talking about non-fog days). Well, I guess this means I have to hurry up and finish P4 on the PS2 then. I feel so behind…

Screens after the break.

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Art of the Week: Feature 6 – blackorb00

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For this week’s feature, we’re going to take a break from talking about fighting games (sort of) to show you some Final Fantasy art. This week’s feature is blackorb00. With his gallery residing in deviantART, his main focus is on Final Fantasy fanart. Looking art his style, he designs characters with very detailed and intricate lines and shapes. The coloring creates a great contrast in the dark mood of some of his artwork. One work of his that really stands out is his his interpretation of Chaos. Now some of you are probably wondering what that image up there of Ihudulka from Evil Zone (yes, that Evil Zone) has to do with Final Fantasy. Well, the work up there netted him a victory in the Fighting Game Villians contest held by deviantART group Fighting Games Elite (the same group where I found vancamelot and Dave Wilkins). So if you like seeing some awesome art and love beating the hell out of your rivals, check out the galleries there. Contest are also held regularly there too for any artists out there reading.

Hit the jump for a sample of blackorb00’s work. And do check out his deviantART gallery.

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PSP Persona 1 Does Not Count Play Time Correctly

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While we’re talking about Persona, I thought I’d share something that I haven’t noticed until recently. This is regarding the enhanced port of Revelations: Persona for the PSP (under the name Shin Megami Tensei: Persona). I looked around to see if anyone else has reported on this, but it seems to have gone over everyone’s head. If you look at the image above, you’ll see that my play time so far is 276 hrs, 37 mins. To some, this may look par for the course for a Persona game, let alone a MegaTen game. Except I don’t think that’s the case. I’m up to Deva Yuga, and so far it didn’t feel like I invested over 200 hours into the game. Then it hit me: The game counts the time you put the PSP system into Sleep Mode!

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[Update] More P4: The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena Screenshots + Trailer

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And just when I thought Atlus and Arc System Works would remain hush for a while after revealing Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena, here they come with more screens. From the looks of it, this game is going have more flash than MvC3 on acid. One thing I never noticed was Rise next to the portraits of the fighters cheering you on. Though, given the context that she’s friends with everyone revealed so far (except for Aigis), she might serve more of a purpose than being a cheerleader. Also, the debate over the P4 antagonist’s name has been settled, as he’ll go by his anime name, Yu Narukami (as o opposed to the fan favorite manga name, Souji Seta). We also see more of the characters’ Personas dishing out some attacks. My assumption is that either you have to build up that super meter at the bottom to call them out for a super, or they’ll just come out for a quick moment for special attacks. We’ll know more as time goes. In the mean time, hit the jump to see some screens [UPDATE] and the trailer!

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Art of the Week: Feature 5 – Dave Wilkins

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Recognize that picture up there? Of course ya do! It was used in magazine ads when Marvel vs Capcom 3 was still in full hype mode. This artwork was made by an artist named Dave Wilkins. He currently works as a comic artist for Marvel Comics, along with doing concept art for other mediums including films and videogames. One thing you’ll notice right away is his excellent use of color and lighting. Another neat visual aspect of Mr. Wilkin’s artwork is the visible brush strokes on parts with maximum lighting and shadows. I’m a big fan of techniques like this as it shows the processes that the artist takes in coloring and gives a picture a sense of movement. This is especially prevalent in his concept art for Splatterhouse, as every punch, kick, and blood splatter delivered by Rick looks like someone was there and took a picture of Rick mid-asskicking. Speaking of which, you should check out the Fangoria cover he made featuring Splatterhouse. The story behind it is freaking awesome and inspirational for anyone that wants to get into the field he’s in. His main base of operations is his website, davewilkinsart.com. You can also catch his gallery over at deviantART as well.

Hit the jump for a taste of his artwork.

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Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena Screenshots

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Ahem… I will hold back my inner fanboy squee in an effort to deliver quality journalistic coverage of Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena. If you didn’t see the news yesterday, Atlus announced that Persona was getting a fighting game. Today, they delivered some screenshots through Famitsu. We can see Arc System Works’ style shine through with crazy-flashy moves and colors. The visual elements of P3 and P4 lend themselves well in the transition from RPG to fighting game. So far, confirmed characters are Yu Narukami (or Hero on the Famitsu page), Chie Satonaka, and Yosuke Hanamura representing Persona 4, and Aigis representing Persona 3. In the screenshot above, we can also see that the protagonist from Persona 3 is in as well (it says Fool under his name), and Kanji is in as well (next to Chie). Still no word on characters from Persona and Persona 2 joining the fray. The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena is expected to be released on arcades on Spring 2012, with PS3 and 360 versions arriving that Summer. Screenshots after the break.

ペルソナ4 ジ・アルティメットインマヨナカアリーナ』アトラス×アークシステムワークスの挑戦 [Famitsu]

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Atlus to make P4 for Vita and a Persona Fighting Gam–WAIT A PERSONA FIGHTING GAME!?

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First, the smaller news. Atlus has announced that Persona 4 will be ported over to the Playstation Vita, following in its predecessor’s, footsteps (it being Persona 3 Portable). Under the name Persona 4: The Golden, it looks like it’ll retain everything the original PS2 version had (and not losing things like P3P). It will be gaining new features, including new animations, new opening, more voices, and a new character.

Now about that fighting game. Called Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena, the game takes place two years after the events of Persona 4. It will have characters from Persona 3 and 4 (no word on 1 and 2). So far we’re not sure if it’s canon or not, but this sounds awesome. Even better is that Arc System Works (the makers of BlazBlue) will be making the game. Now P3‘s MC can finally kick Mituru’s ass for gravely undermining her healing duties. It’s slated for release in arcades, then 360 and PS3 in 2012.

Finally, the staff has been assembled for Persona 5 and are ready to go.

Atlus Announces Persona 4 Vita, Persona 4 Fighter, and Teases Persona 5 [andriasang]