Sunday Roundup: 3/6/16

Another random stop into GameStop after work, another sweet find! I believe the last time I was at the store someone had dropped off a boatload of quality DS games which I was more than happy to swoop in and call my own. I am pretty sure these Mega Man Star Force games were hers as well, because I remember the GameStop associate telling me they were in there. I passed then, but this time around there was a Buy 2 Get 1 Free on old DS and Wii games, so I went to town and essentially got a near-complete Star Force series!

The first game had three iterations; Leo, Pegasus, and Dragon. Not unlike the Pokemon franchise, these different version offered up exclusive stuff you could only get in that specific game, but largely offered the same gameplay otherwise. After the first game, there were only two versions released per entry.

Seen as a sort of spiritual successor to the Mega Man Battle Network series, the Star Force series is actually set way in the future and doesn’t have any direct connections to its predecessor. Apparently this was done to not alienate new players by having a backstory set in, believe it or not, six prior Battle Network games! Despite this, the gameplay is largely the same, with grid-based combat decided by chips the player can use to battle enemies. RPG elements abound!

The final chapter in the Star Force series! I haven’t played any of series but I hear this one is left off on a cliffhanger. I haven’t heard of anything else coming for this series, so if you ever find yourself looking for Star Force 4 you can probably keep hoping. Sadly, Capcom seems to have forgotten almost entirely about the Blue Bomber. Even if it is another one of these off-shoot games, at least we’d know the company still cares about him!

Back in 2001 I was pumped for the release of the Battle Network series. It was Mega Man but in RPG form, what wasn’t to like? And in most respects that original game was great… it just wasn’t the Mega Man I grew up with. Much the same here: this just doesn’t feel or look like Mega Man. It’s almost as if they attached the name just to make it sell better. Which is sad, because as its own world and series I might have been more interested.

Another series originally starting out on the Game Boy Advance, the Mega Man Zero games had their own storyline and characters (and gameplay style) separate from the core Mega Man X games. The biggest defining factor of these games (of which all four are collected on the DS cartridge) were playing as Zero instead of Mega Man exclusively (at least I think exclusively, I only played the first), and a hardcore difficulty curve. Nothing unbeatable, but it looked back to the original Mega Man games of yore. I really liked the first game, and it’s a shame there aren’t any more of these coming out, either!

Sometimes it’s the games you’ve never heard of which are the most fun to find! Pop Cutie is a fashion editor simulation game which has you creating the next big fashion line! Believe me, I wouldn’t be caught with this game if it didn’t have a great premise and a killer price tag. Usually it sells for much more than, well, FREE, online. Oh, and your clientele aren’t normal people: instead you sell to eccentric people who want all kinds of ridiculous things! It was a hit in Japan, and honestly it sounds like a pretty good time! And for free? Yeah…

Dude… Dude! When I saw this title on the bottom shelf I literally said outloud (though to myself), “Time Hollow, holy shit!” I’ve been looking for this game ever since I found out about it nearly five years ago. A visual novel in the same style as Virtue’s Last Reward or Hotel Dusk, Time Hollow lets you travel through time to solve the mysteries around you, your family, and the strange pen that’s letting you time travel in the first place. I think it’s been well received, but I feel like the real reason I’m happy to have it is because it’s been so damn long since I’ve wanted it, and this is the first and only time I’ve ever seen a copy!

The only mainstream Zelda game I’ve never played came out this week on the Wii U. Annnnd I can’t play it right now, because our TV is broken! Ugh! Well, we do have a second TV, but Laura’s been playing through Mass Effect, so it’s kind of hard without another option. But I swear, I’m going to play this one and make sure I can say I have at least played it! Also fun fact, I now have the game on the Wii U, Wii, and the GameCube! Booyah!