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Collection essentials #487 & #488: Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (PS2 & Xbox)

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And now for what I consider one of the greatest video games ever made. Metal Gear Solid on the original PlayStation had recently set a new bar for cinematic-style storytelling in games, with a gripping plot, interesting characters, and fully-voiced dialogue. But it was still limited in some aspects by the PlayStation’s hardware limitations, which is incredibly evident if you so much as look at the faces of the characters. With the new and much-more-powerful PS2, there was so much more potential. And Konami wasn’t going to waste time making their big new Metal Gear Solid sequel (which everyone knew was coming due to a hint at the very end of the previous game). The game first released on PS2 only in November of 2001 under the title “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty”. A year later, an updated version called “Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance” came out for the Xbox, which added new content, most notably dozens of “VR missions” for people who enjoy gameplay which contribute many hours of pl...
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Collection essentials #485 & #486: Mega Man Anniversary Collection (Xbox) and Mega Man X Collection (PS2)

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In this console generation it started to become much more common for companies to release compilations of their older games. And boy, what a great opportunity this was for Capcom who had made so many Mega Man titles in the previous few console generations!  The Mega Man Anniversary Collection first came out in 2004 (though this Xbox version didn’t until the following year) and contains the six NES Mega Man titles, Mega Man 7 which was originally on SNES, and Mega Man 8 ported from the PlayStation 1 version. They could have done a simple bare-bones release, but thankfully there are all kinds of things to sweeten the package. There are two bonus arcade games included, and special features (sorta like stuff you’d get on a DVD) which vary depending on which version of the game you have. And of course, you can save the game normally instead of relying on passwords, which is always great. If that weren’t enough, the NES Mega Man games have optional features from the PlayStation 1 ports t...
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Collection essentials #483 & #484: Katamari Damacy (PS2) and We Love Katamari (PS2)

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Debuting in 2004, here’s the start of a very unique series from longtime developer Namco. The Kamatari series is the perfect example of that special flair for the bizarre that only seems to exist in Japan. You’ll know right off the bat when you turn on the game from the quirky music and strange imagery that you’re in for something extremely whimsical and wacky.  The main character of the story is an odd-looking man called the “King of All Cosmos”. The story, told by him, is that he has destroyed the Moon and most of the stars in the sky. He tasks his son the Prince (who does not speak) to go to earth and roll up objects into large balls to send back into space and replace these objects. The King refers to himself as “we”, his speech is audibly represented by what seems to be a scratching record, and he just seems to have a very weird personality and way of talking, which sets the vibe that the game is going for. You play as the Prince and carry out this task bestowed upon you by yo...
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Collection essentials #482: Grandia III (PS2)

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And here we have what is, to date, the last mainline entry into the Grandia series. And it’s a very interesting beast indeed. Why is that? Well, JRPGs are games that are played and enjoyed for their story and characters just as much as their gameplay, if not more. Grandia III is a game that seems at first to maybe offer a reasonable, if not very original, story and characters. But the further you play the game, the more you realize that the story is as uninspired as it gets, and is utterly forgettable. However, Grandia has always had fundamentally good gameplay, and with this iteration, the game is so goshdarn fun to play that it still manages to be, in my opinion, very good. The battle system in this series involves an “action meter” where you can see whose turns are coming up as they slowly slide across it. And if you time your attacks just right considering where enemies are both on the meter and on the battlefield, you often have an opportunity to delay or even cancel their attacks...
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Collection essentials #481: Grandia Xtreme (PS2)

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Grandia Xtreme is sort of unusual in that it is an entry in a console JRPG series and definitely belongs to the same genre, yet it is classified as a “spinoff” game rather than a true numbered entry. Normally you’d see such a spinoff on a handheld system like the Game Boy while the main numbered entries are on home consoles, but not in this case. The excellent Grandia turn-based battle system is here again, complete with the ability to cancel enemy attacks if the timing is right. A lot of other elements you’d expect to see in Grandia are here, too. What makes this game different is that it’s much more focused on dungeon crawling. Most RPGs involve a story that unfolds as a hero embarks on an epic quest across the world, visiting many towns and dungeons along the way. Grandia Xtreme does have a story, but there’s no real world-exploring here as there’s only real home base area from which you travel to various dungeons. All your party members join quite early in the game. It seems gamepl...
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Collection essentials #480: Gradius V (PS2)

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I’ve talked about Gradius a few times in the past. Created by the great Konami, it’s one of the most notable classic shoot ‘em up series. Gradius games had traditionally come out first in arcades and then would later be ported to home consoles. They bucked this trend with Gradius Gaiden on the original PlayStation which was a console exclusive. Similarly, Gradius V would be made specifically for the PlayStation 2. Something unusual about it was that Konami actually teamed up with a separate company to make it. That company was Treasure, which about a decade prior had been founded by former Konami employees. Treasure was a great choice, as they had previously made impressive shoot ‘em ups such as Radiant Silvergun. This game does a good job at being faithful to the Gradius formula, incorporating the proper gameplay basics as well as certain signature enemy and boss designs. The familiar Gradius power-up system is here, where there are a variety of upgrades available to the player and co...
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Collection essentials #479: Gitaroo-Man (PS2)

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In the early 2000s, rhythm games were growing in popularity. A fairly new company called iNiS was about to take a stab at making their own original rhythm game, which would be their first of many. And instead of originating in arcades and/or having some kind of peripheral resembling a musical instrument, this game would be developed strictly for the PlayStation 2 and would be played only with a standard controller. The result is this game, “Gitaroo-Man”, which hit shelves in 2001 in Japan and then 2002 in other regions.  Gitaroo-Man is an unusual rhythm game in a lot of ways. For one thing, it is a story-based game. Normally in a rhythm game, you simply pick whatever song you like and play it trying to get the best score, and there’s no story or dialogue to be found. But you can’t do that in Gitaroo-Man. Instead, you have to progress through the game’s 10 levels in order, and only after clearing a level can you freely choose it. There are cutscenes before and after each one, and th...
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