The Misadventures of José Faxner

To round off my list of anticipated titles in 2008, here’s a couple of DS games coming out this year that I’m pretty excited about.

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New International Track & Field

Developer: SUMO Digital/Konami
Platform: Nintendo DS
Release date: Q1 2008
Official website: Link
Why I’m looking forward to it: New International Track & Field was somewhat of an unlikely announcement. Granted, reviving old game franchises has been pretty popular for many years now, but Track & Field seemed like an unusual choice to me; T&F’s trademark mindless button-mashing gameplay doesn’t seem very relevant in today’s gaming climate, and I wouldn’t think it’s a franchise that has very much of a fan following. Further, development is being outsourced to British SUMO Digital, with character designs and art created by Omar Dogan of Canadian UDON Comics (perhaps most known for their Street Fighter comic adaptation). Between this and Contra 4, which was developed by US-based WayForward, I guess this is becoming standard practice for Konami, and if NIT&F ends being anywhere near as good as Contra 4, I’m certainly not opposed to it.

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超熱血高校くにおくんドッジボール部 (Super Dodgeball Brawlers)
Chou Nekketsu Koukou Kunio-kun Dodgeball-bu

Developer: Million/Arc System Works
Platform: Nintendo DS
Release date: February 21
Official website: Link
Why I’m looking forward to it: The long-running Kunio-kun series has been loved by a legion of fans for many years, and almost everyone who played Famicom or NES games as a kid has fond memories of at least one of the classic games. Though western versions of the games - the ones that were released outside Japan, that is - were heavily localized, with changes to the setting, story, characters and not least title of the game itself, the games were still fantastic. Personally I spent countless hours playing Nintendo World Cup (Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu: Soccer-hen) and Street Gangs (Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari) as a kid, and once I learned of - and played - other games in the series with the help of the internet and emulators, my love for the series grew steadily. Sadly, after the death of Technos and its subsequent reformation in the form of Million Corp. in the late 90’s, the once-prolific series took a step back, and releases since then have largely consisted of ports, collections and remakes. This is however looking change with 2008’s Chou Nekketsu Koukou Kunio-kun Dodgeball-bu - at its core it’s same good old Nekketsu Dodgeball, but with the addition of all-out brawling, special moves and 8-player multiplayer support, it’s looking to be one of the best Kunio-kun games yet. Here’s hoping the franchise will live on, and eventually make its triumphant return to home consoles.

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影之伝説 -THE LEGEND OF KAGE 2-
Kage no Densetsu: The Legend of Kage 2

Developer: Taito
Platform: Nintendo DS
Release date: March 13
Official website: Link
Why I’m looking forward to it: Games like OutRun2, After Burner Climax and Street Fighter IV were all huge surprises when they were announced, but I still feel like the award to “most unexpected sequel announcement of the last couple of years” goes to Kage no Densetsu: The Legend of Kage 2. The original Kage no Densetsu came out in arcades in 1985, but is perhaps better known from the 1986 Famicom/NES conversion. The game was only released in Japan and North America, but it is well known by people around the world, as it shows up in just about every pirate Famicom collection cartridge under the sun. The game’s a pretty typical mid-80’s arcade game, but the design and not least music set it apart from many of its contemporaries.　This is one of those games that really came completely out of the blue, but I’m very happy it did. I have many fond memories of playing the original game on my friend’s 700-in-1 pirate cart, and I’m excited to relive them through the sequel. It doesn’t hurt that the new character designs look really cool either!

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Metal Slug 7

Developer: SNK Playmore
Platform: Nintendo DS
Release date: TBA
Official website: None yet
Why I’m looking forward to it: I’ll be the first to admit that the Metal Slug series has lost a lot of its magic with the last couple of installments. The original Metal Slug was revolutionary, Metal Slug X was even better, and Metal Slug 3 took the series to new heights I couldn’t even have dreamed of. But after that, something happened. In 2001 SNK went bankrupt, and development of MS4 was handled by Korean company MEGA Enterprises. MS4 kept the core gameplay the same, but between the short length of the game (about half that of 3), uninspired levels, and general lack of innovation, it ended up feeling like a big step backwards and was ultimately a big disappointment. The then-newly (re)established Playmore (later SNK Playmore) made Metal Slug 5, and while it was better than 4, it was nowhere near the greatness of 3, or even X. The series just seemed to have taken some permanent damage, and while MS6 had a fair amount of new features, including different stats for each character, on the fly weapon-switching and a new scoring system, the fun just didn’t seem to be there, and it barely managed to keep me entertained for the duration of one playthrough. Even the GBA title Metal Slug Advance didn’t seem as fun as the two entries for SNK’s own Neo Geo Pocket platform. At the end of the day though, the MS games are still very much competent, and outside Contra 4 I really doubt there is a lot like it on the DS. I can’t imagine MS7 being bad, really: as long as it keeps the usual high quality I definitely think it’s going to be worth playing, if not owning.

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Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

Developer: Team NINJA
Platform: Nintendo DS
Release date: March
Official website: Link
Why I’m looking forward to it: I really don’t know a whole lot about Ninja Gaiden DS, but from what I have heard and seen, I think it seems really interesting. It’s a spin-off of sorts to the main Ninja Gaiden series on the Xbox consoles, but what makes it unique isn’t so much that it’s a portable game, but rather the fact that it is entirely stylus-controlled. It’s also played with the DS on its side, opened like a book, further setting it apart from other action games on the console. Obviously the sleek design and visuals, Team NINJA’s trademark of sorts, won’t exactly be present in NGDS in the same way as their console games, but for a DS game I think it looks pretty good. Either way though, any game stands - or falls - on its gameplay, and I think that rings even truer for an experimental game like this. Like I’ve said before though, Team NINJA are competent people, so I expect this game to be good, just like NG2.

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Sonic the Hedgehog RPG

Developer: Bioware
Platform: Nintendo DS
Release date: TBA
Official website: None yet
Why I’m looking forward to it: In what was possibly the shocking announcement to end shocking announcements, last year SEGA announced that famed RPG developer Bioware would be developing a Sonic the Hedgehog RPG, exclusively for the DS. Bioware making a game for SEGA, Sonic starring in an RPG, the whole thing being on the DS - it’s uncertain what part of the announcement was the most unbelieveable really, but needless to say it caught everyone by surprise, and people still don’t quite know what to make of it. Nothing whatsoever has been announced about it, other than the fact that it’s in development, so there’s really not a whole lot to be said. I’m very very curious to see where this project will end up though, and considering the rather questionable quality of most Sonic games in the last 10 years or so, it could well be the best Sonic game in years.

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So that’s it for games I’m looking forward to this year. Of course there’s stuff I haven’t heard of, stuff that hasn’t been announced, and games I haven’t realised I should be excited about yet, but all in due time, I guess. Also, if by some miracle something like Street Fighter IV or Duke Nukem forever manages to come out this year, needless to say I’ll be plenty stoked for that. As it stands though, I’ve got plenty to look forward to already, and disregarding the fact that I likely won’t have the money to buy a lot of the games on this list, I think 2008 is going to be a cool year for gaming.

… And now that this is done, let’s hope I can think of something else to write about to keep updates frequent.