Friday Flyers.

Click the pics to make 1994 sized!

I've only seen one of these arcade games pictured above, Eagle Shot Golf (The golf game where you can hit a ball so hard that an eagle shoots out of it!), but I cannot decide which game I would have wanted to play more...Fighter's History Dynamite/Karnov's Revenge or the China exclusive arcade title Deadly Sport.

What to know about Fighter's History? Well, Data East had itself a chart topper in Japan when it was released and became so popular that another company known as Capcom realized the fighting system was a little too familiar to their own Street Fighter series. A lawsuit gauntlet was thrown down but the Judge determined that the 'copied' elements were scenes a faire and Capcom lost, Data East also cited that their classic Karate Champ was responsible for the fighting game genre to begin with.

Now doing a little more research tells me that Fighter's History Dynamite/Karnov's Revenge was the second offering for the franchise and for some reason Karnov is the bad guy of the game...how could my beloved Karnov from the NES have gone to the dark side? I just do not know the answers to that, my friends.

Deadly Sport was released only in China and by the looks of it was a digitized fighting game in the vein of Mortal Kombat. But it sure looks awesome! Just how could you pick one person as favorite from that flyer...you have a viking...a guy in a shirt and tie with a shoulder holster that appears to be a robot...a vampire as the main bad guy possibly...and is that woman really a woman? I can find nothing on this title beyond a mention on a message board for a MAME request.

Eagle Shot Golf was a staple in at least three gas stations in my neck of the woods. I just included it in today's post because I loved that picture of a very, very angry Eagle. We here at the Victory Pellet Vault are easily amused.

Exploration - Bruno Coulais (Coraline Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Box Art Wednesday Interrupted for...

...Super Mario Bros. Crossover! A big thanks to the awesome Retroist, more than usual that is, for finding this absolutely killer game. The creator of this title, Jay Pavlina, apparently worked for over a year on creating this beautiful flash game and the love he has for the NES is quite apparent from spending a few minutes playing his first ever offered title.

Beside the mustachioed plumber you can also choose the vampire slaying Simon Belmont, the intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran, the jungle fighter turned alien slayer Bill R., the mega-awesome Mega Man, and the Hero of Hyrule, Link. These brave companions have sworn to set out and rescue Princess Peach from the villainous clutches of Bowser.

This isn't a simple mash-up, the music for the game changes for each character, the music from their own titles. Each character brings with them some of their special abilities, like Simon's axe throwing, or Samus's bomb drop.

I can only hope that Nintendo, Konami, and Capcom see what a wonderful piece of work has been given to the masses this day. Take a moment to play and I think you'll agree this is worth its weight in Koopa shells.

Thanks to Wired for the picture above.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/534416

Jessica needs your help!

I don't know very much about this crazy world but when a buffed up ex-wrestler turned Mayor of Metro City requests my aid to rescue his beautiful daughter...friends, I'll be standing shoulder to shoulder with that guy and bringing the pain to the thugs of the Mad Gear gang!

At least I answered that call when I played Final Fight: Double Impact this morning on the Xbox 360. Capcom has released a double package of classic 90's arcade fare, it went online last week I believe, and it is worth its 800 points. Just think about it as spending 400 points for Final Fight and 400 points for Magic Sword with some nice bonus material thrown in to boot.

I'll get to Magic Sword tomorrow or perhaps Friday because we need to spend time chatting up Haggar, Guy, and Cody.

I had a ton of fun playing Final Fight to completion today, it helps now that you don't have to keep shoving quarters into the hungry coin box every minute and a half. I spent all of time playing as Cody but back in the day I used Haggar as my digital avatar. The gameplay is as remembered, move left to right, one button for jump and one for attack, press both to unleash a devastating attack at the expense of losing a portion of health.

The basic gist of the game is that you need to beat down an army of generic street trash...well, maybe not so generic...there are acrobatic ladies in high heels, Andre the Giant clones, large Asian men who head butt you and lots and lots of guys in leotards who throw Molotov cocktails and knives. All this is done to rescue Jessica from the clutches of the Mad Gear Gang's evil boss, Belger, whom happens to be in a wheelchair and uses a crossbow against you in the final round.

Cody is the all around go-to character, nice movement speed, okay damage. Guy is incredibly fast with his attacks but lacks the stamina of Cody. Haggar is pretty slow...cut him some slack, he's a Mayor now...but his attack are very strong and its always fun to lariat someone with your big old arms.

Each level has a specific challenge you need to complete to unlock various bits in the vault where you can look at original artwork, fan art, a Street Fighter/Final Fight cross-over comic...which I've only been able to read a few pages and I'm already trying to find the collection at my local comic shop, and a full episode of the Street Fighter cartoon which focuses on Metro City and Guile coming to help out Cody and Guy, kind of neat even if the animation is just atrocious.

Ahem, the challenges can range from beating a specific stage in under a certain amount of time, obtaining a specific score, to only losing 3 lives on a certain boss. Some of them are obviously very, very hard to accomplish. Beat the entire game with only 18 lives lost...a second player might be the only way for me to see that goal done.

By the way, check out that Final Fight arcade flyer up above...Cody is standing there over Andre's bloody body...only in the 90's could that have been your artwork to get arcades to buy your game.

Below I've included the trailer for Final Fight:Double Impact which shows you a few of features available to you. As usual click the window to be taken straight to the source. Enjoy.



Mega Man 2 - Minibosses

Ryu VS Iron Man...FIGHT!

Undoubtedly one of the most popular fighting franchises to hit arcades in the last 15 years has been from Capcom, especially the Marvel VS. Capcom series which is about to get a third outing in the spring of next year.

Entitled Marvel VS. Capcom: Fate of Two Worlds the company debuted the trailer today which is provided below. I recommend clicking the video window to go directly to Youtube as the pictures looks to be cut off to me.




So once more my gaming brethren and I can strike down Mega Man, Strider, and Ryu with the combined might and fury of Doctor Doom, Juggernaut, and Shuma Gorath ("Waste of Flesh!"). Well, at the very least that is the team I end up using most of the time...once in a while I'll slip Magneto in Doom's place.

The producer of this upcoming title, Ryota Nitsuma, says they are planning on having 15 characters to choose from on each side. He also added that there is a possibility of DLC for additional characters but they are not being worked on at this moment. The above trailer has been said to be actual in-game footage from the games engine...if that is indeed true then it should be one nice looking title.

The Thing I Hate - Stabbing Westward

Friday Flyers...facehugger edition.

"There's something out there waiting for us, and it ain't no man. We're all gonna die."

I have been a huge Predator fan since the first movie and I am one of those shunned outcasts that actually enjoys the Danny Glover movie more than Schwarzenegger's offering. In the Summer of 1994, my group of friends and I discovered the Aliens Vs Predator arcade game by Capcom at one of our local Wal-Marts. Like many of the Capcom titles of that time this was a side-scrolling beat-em up offering.

Now in the long run of that year only one of my friends and I really took to the game, we must have spent easily a hundred dollars during that Summer, beating it over and over. Mind you these were Summer nights filled with disposable income, nights when you would get off work and meet your friends at the Village Inn, scarf down some greasy hash browns and bacon and then head over to Wal-Mart to grab some Star Wars Micro Machines or other prize.

If I remember correctly a few years later you could buy action figures of the Predators and Aliens not only from the game but the comic series as well.

Good times, good memories.

Empty Garden (hey, hey johnny) - Elton John