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Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga Review

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It’s time for the return of Blue Exorcist. This series has always been a bit of a mystery to me. On one hand, it’s a big Shonen title where the main character has to fight off his demonic urges and slay demons. It’s very much a classic king of plot but the execution is just so different. Sometimes in a good way but sometimes in a bad way. I’ve never really connected with the series as well as most other big Shonen titles and that doesn’t really change here either. It’s a good season but not great by any means. It’s not quite as interesting as it should be and the action always gets cut off way too quickly. Well, lets dive into this.

Yukio is still jealous of Rin’s abilities and now that he is getting a glimpse of his own demonic potential, he wants power. He continues to try and repress his desires but the facade is starting to crack and he doesn’t want to talk to anyone about it. There’s not much time to think about this though as the Illuminati attacks and kidnaps Kamiki. She is taken by Shima, a double agent working for this group. Naturally the Illuminati is led by Lucifer himself. Note that Lucifer is another son of Satan and brother to Mephisto. This group will be difficult to defeat especially Mephisto sandbagging as always and the Exorcist Order being generally useless. Rin and Yukio will have to take point in rescuing her but can they move on from this big betrayal?

Naturally this is a really huge deal if you have been following the series for a long time although the anime took so long to get up to this point that I wouldn’t be surprised if most people have already heard about this whole thing. It’s not exactly the biggest secret in the series, you know what I mean? The reactions to it are very odd though. The characters get over the betrayal way too easily which is a personal pet peeve of mine. This guy literally broke all of their trust and kidnapped Kamiki so she could be tortured over and over again like in the past by a group that is clearly evil.

I think this is more than a “Do better next time” kind of speech. He should be absolutely demolished, I’d expect him to be destroyed on sight the next time that he is seen. Is that harsh? Yeah maybe but I would also argue that it is absolutely deserved. The characters are constantly using kid gloves on Shima and it doesn’t really make sense. The show goes into the specifics here and throws some more twists into the mix but none of it overrides the fact that Kamiki was very close to being dead. She had her summons get destroyed and while they managed to come back later, she was consistently put in a rough spot.

It’s why undercover operations are often not a good idea. Even if it’s part of a mission, you can’t be putting your allies in danger or sitting back while others are attacked. If you let one person get murdered to save 100, then you are starting to make dangerous decisions that are in villain territory. So I never ended up liking Shima and still blame him for everything. I’m also a little upset at the other characters allowing him back in because that makes no sense to me. Definitely a massive L right there.

Rin also doesn’t look his best here. He’s going through the classic hero issue of not wanting to murder anyone so he holds back a lot but you can always knock someone out without murdering them. It also gets to be a little much when he is also nervous even when fighting mindless monsters. Just take the super slow zombies down, there’s nothing you can really do to save them at this point. It’s also an annoying part of Blue Exorcist because every time we’re primed for a big right with Rin, it either doesn’t happen or he holds back so hard that it’s not a real fight.

Realistically he should be mopping the floor with most of the characters but it just doesn’t happen. He’s also scared of his powers enough where he doesn’t train the way that he’s supposed to. How is he supposed to protect his friends when he’s holding back like this? The whole power system of the series isn’t great either. The prayer chants never seem to work and are incredibly impractical. Unless you have someone like Rin or Kamiki backing you up to buy you time, the villains are going to slam you. It just makes over half of the cast feel rather useless most of the time. Everyone should have some close quarter combat skills or at least a big summon you know?

Okay back to the characters, Yukio is super annoying here as well. Part of this isn’t his fault because the guy’s had to go through the same character arc multiple times since the anime only arc was retconned and of course I remember this from the manga. So it just gets old quick where he is messing up his priorities and becoming a liability. If he would just talk to Rin about what’s going on things would work out better. So I put all of the blame on Yukio since he’s taking himself down the wrong path. It’s not even like the villains are encouraging this, Yukio is really leading himself downhill all on his own.

As for the main heroine Shiemi, right now there’s a lot of drama going on with her. She seems to like Yukio but is starting to like Rin. Possible triangle forming there, we’ll have to see how it goes. For now Shiemi is still way too timid and I would like her to acknowledge her own strength more. Her grass summon is really not that bad and can at least buy her some time. She has no real offensive spells but at least she can play a support role.

In that way she is more balanced than Kamiki. Kamiki has her dual spirits but they don’t even listen to her half the time because they’re tremendously awful characters who refuse to honor any kind of loyalty to her despite having high respect for Kamiki’s mom and put her in big danger. Kamiki has basic spells beyond that but as I pointed out before, this never works anyway so it may as well be a pointless addition. I like Kamiki’s fiery spirit but hopefully she will work with the other heroes more next time and not try to be a loner. Being a loner only works when you have the power to back it up.

Suguro is the only one who actually gives Shima a hard time so I give him massive credit for that. He sticks up for the traitor so that he’s not executed or anything like that but still doesn’t trust him. That’s how it should be, I still don’t get how you could possibly trust him in any context after what happened. That just makes no sense to me. Suguro is really held back by the fact that he can’t fight at all without the talismans so I hope he gets something soon.

Miwa tends to be a bit of an annoying character. Kind of wishy washy and never too sure of himself. Unlike Shiemi he has no great powers to help him out so right now he’s on the lower side from the cast members. Shura doesn’t do much beyond her obligatory teasing of Yukio. She is mainly injured for most of the season and when she is conscious she is being threatened by Mephisto. Honestly she is in such a terrible spot half the time. She needs to find a way to get stronger so she can actually have some freedom.

As the big villain in the Illuminati you’d figure that Lucifer would get a lot of hype but he’s very underwhelming for now. He’s super sickly and constantly coughing up blood and running out of energy. I feel like Mephisto could wipe him out of existence with ease and is just messing around because he can. It looks like the heroes are going to wait until Lucifer finds a cure and can fight at full power before they make their move so the Exorcists are as inept as always. I’ll need to see more of Lucifer to take him seriously.

His main general was one of those fat psycho doctors which doesn’t do his group any justice. That guy was super annoying so I was glad when he was taken out. Definitely one of the worst villains in the series. The backstory for Kamiki’s family was definitely a sad one. This season sure had more of an emotional feel than the last one. No offense to Suguro but his family drama wasn’t nearly as impactful. This one hits a bit harder because of how so much of it felt inevitable with no real escape.

Finally with Mephisto, he is still a solid villain but the kind of figure who could go way down depending on how his plan goes. Right now we don’t really know what he even wants to do. He clearly has enough power to bring the world to its knees so why doesn’t he? He has deals with the shady council of Exorcists but why would he even need such weaklings? We’ll find out in time but if he ends up getting one shotted or the plan doesn’t go well then retroactively it will make him such a terrible villain. Usually the more convoluted and far out your plan is, the more things that can go wrong. So he will really have to convince me here.

In general a lot of the story is still shrouded in secrecy. In part I would say that’s because we’re seeing things from the point of view of the main characters who are out of the loop on everything. We don’t really have any characters who are on the inside to give us full coverage into what’s going on. You like to think that the Exorcists have a bunch of trump cards at their disposal but I have my doubts on this. Right now it just feels like the demons have all of the advantages and the heroes’ only chance is to trust one which is rough. Rin is their only chance.

In terms of animation, the show can look good but it can also be rough at times. It’s clear that this didn’t exactly get a massive budget. It’s a shame because none of the fights look all that amazing. The best battle in the series is probably Rin vs Shima and part of that is probably more for narrative reasons than animation. I’m glad we at least get some action but it again feels like the show could be doing so much more. In the last season the big boss was a giant monster and of course we get more of that here too.

I want the show to just embrace its Shonen roots and give us some massive action scenes. Lets get some really cool feats in here and some awesome stuff you know? At least the soundtrack is really good as always. This is one area where the show has always excelled. I thought the theme song was really catchy and I also like a lot of the individual tracks. My favorite theme from season 1 only shows up like once but the new themes are good too. There’s a solid amount of variety and I felt like this got the biggest budget in the show.

While the show may not always deliver on the action front, I do think it does pretty well on the slice of life and comedy aspects. It’s a show where we actually get to see the heroes in school quite a lot. We see them learning and everything as there tends to be a lot of downtime. The gag of Rin dressing up like Shima was absolutely top tier as well. That gag actually works really well and made for a lot of fun moments. The obligatory beach type episode was also not as fanservicey as it could have been.

In general the show doesn’t go too far into that but some of the outfits are definitely geared in that direction. The romance is on the weaker side though as it all tends to feel a bit melodramatic. I feel like it’s going in a similar direction to Seraph of the End with the characters trying to hold in their emotions and everything but Seraph of the End pulls it off so much better because of how direct it is. This one’s trying to sort of be half in and half out so the romance is more annoying than anything.

Overall, Blue Exorcist had some good fights and plot twists but it’s just hard to get into the series the way the author wants you to. It feels like its just taking too much time to move forward in the plot. The fact that all of the heroes have to work with the villains because they are too weak to oppose him is also annoying. I mean it’s interesting in a sense but there doesn’t seem to be a way for them to surpass Mephisto. The power system of this world just makes that impossible for all of them except Rin who needs to get his head straight. It’s almost like a horror film where the heroes don’t stand a chance. The only other title I can think of like this is Seraph of the End where the heroes are always super doomed but at least the power system is much more supernatural so you could easily write in massive power boosts. We’ll see where the series goes from here though, hopefully Rin can finally start fighting more. There is already an exhausting amount of world building so lets move on to the big plot developments now. Either way the show does go fast though and the characters are entertaining so that will have to do for now.

Overall 6/10

Cleaner Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Cleaner is one of those films that definitely has a unique premise. You’re not usually watching a film about the clean-up crew after murders. Usually you follow the hero or have to stop the murderer but the cleaner himself? Not really so that made for an interesting change of pace.

The story follows a cleaner named Tom. He’s known as the best in the business. He has his own unique set of cleaning materials and formulas which can make the crime scene perfect right away. He employs others who really need a job like his employee Miguel who is doing his best but sometimes the stress gets to him. Well, one day Tom cleans up a place after a murder as normal and heads home, but the next day when he’s dropping off a key, the lady of the house, Ann does not recognize him or know that a cleaning took place. It would appear that the murder isn’t even public knowledge yet. Tom has possibly been set up here and he needs to find the truth right away!

The main mystery plot is pretty solid but the subplots and drama around that are not so good. First up, you have his daughter Rose who wants to learn more about her mother. Tom’s wife was murdered many years back and he’s still holding a lot of trauma over it so he refuses to tell her anything. It just feels like very forced drama here. They get it right by the end but it just takes too long. I don’t think this plot really needed to be in the film.

Since this is a mystery you do have to have suspects of course. That said, there aren’t a lot of options here and I think in a way that’s because the film is fairly short. The first suspect will be Ann. Mainly the reason she would be a suspect is for the plot twist and shock value of it because otherwise it wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. Still, you have to consider everyone and she is pressing Tom really hard about what happened. Is she worried about her husband’s disappearance or is she trying to get Tom to admit he was at the scene of the crime and get him taken down?

Suspect number 2 is good ole Eddie. He’s Tom’s friend from a long time ago. The guy has made detective now and is still involved in cases occasionally although he doesn’t get along with the main police homicide unit. This guy’s super helpful all the time and always there to support Tom so of course that is something that puts him on the suspect list. When someone’s too nice you just can’t trust them like that.

Finally you have Vargas. That guy doesn’t really trust anybody and is a rather aggressive person so he tends to put people on edge. He seems to be ready to snap at any moment so naturally this guy appears to be a suspect, but is it all too obvious? That’s always the question you have to ask yourself about this. I will say he is one of the more enjoyable characters to have around though. I always like when a character just rushes in to cause damage and do his job. He’s not trying to make friends, he’s just here to complete his mission.

There is also a big criminal conspiracy going on led by a guy named Vaughn. This ties into Tom’s backstory. The guy has paid off tons of people and seems to own the city from the shadows. It’s certainly possible that they are doing something to mess with Tom here. Or perhaps nothing here concerns Tom at all and the husband really was the target. There’s no guarantee that Tom is even a target in this at all. He may have just been a useful pawn.

Now as the film deals with cleaning up a crime scene there are definitely lots of shots of blood and remains throughout the film. I wouldn’t say it’s too brutal or anything but there are quite a lot of scenes of this so definitely something to keep in mind. It’s not all that violent in terms of active moments but the crime scenes are intense and of course you have to have the obligatory origin story for Tom.

The ending does make you feel bad for the daughter though because you know there’s going to be some extra trauma for her now. And she was already dealing with quite a bit of that. The final fight in general is definitely not super impressive though so I should say if you’re watching this for the fights…it’s not the best idea. The film does have some good music and makes things sound epic but there are no fights here. You get a slow motion shove which I thought was funny but for the most part this is mystery and drama first.

Overall, Cleaner is a reasonably solid mystery thriller. I was engaged with gathering the clues and seeing how it would all pan out. There are definitely a lot of twists and turns as the film goes on. Not a whole lot of innocent characters by the end of this since everyone gets bogged down by past crimes, corruption, or what’s going on currently. I have a feeling most people haven’t even heard of this film so definitely a fun little title if you’re looking for something new. It’s just not going to stick out in your memory by the end because there are many better thrillers out there.

Overall 6/10

Delicious in Dungeon Review

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It’s time to look at the anime version for Delicious in Dungeon. I reviewed the manga recently and I wouldn’t exactly say it got the highest score. The problem this title runs into is really backed into the premise itself. The characters are eating anything that moves as they continue to sample what the dungeon has to offer. The stakes are high so you understand why they are doing this but it doesn’t help them rise up as characters at all. The show has some fun moments and action scenes but on the whole this one definitely ends up being more of a skip. It’s unable to hold its own with the big shots.

The show starts off with Laios and his party fighting some monsters. In this world there exists a dungeon that is absolutely massive. It continues to grow every day and so people travel inside for different reasons. For some they are just looking to make a quick buck and get out of there. Others enjoy the thrill of it and finally you have some who want to defeat the monster at the end of the dungeon and see what happens. Legends say that you would then become the King of the dungeon and will be able to manipulate it at will. Well, during their adventure, Falin is eaten by the red dragon and taken away. The party splits but Laios wants to rescue his sister so even without any food or provisions he heads in there with the rest of the characters. Can they win?

The animation is fairly solid here. I don’t love the art style at times but it is trying to emulate the manga so I understand the direction. The character designs are on point though and the movement is good. For some of the big fights they really go all out like with the Red Dragon. It’s just not a battle series first and foremost so I would say the animation tends to take a backseat there. In terms of soundtrack there weren’t any themes that really wow’d me. It sounds okay but is definitely below the curve for anime.

How much you enjoy the show will probably come down to how interesting you find the meals. For most cooking anime part of the fun is in replicating the recipes and having fun with that. You obviously can’t do that with most of these dishes since they’re made up of monsters that don’t exist. I suppose you could probably just substitute chicken in the recipes and see how it goes. That could be fun to try at some point but either way I feel like a big part of the appeal goes down there. It also feels like a series with a lot of corrupting going on. For example Marcille isn’t big on eating monsters and resists for as long as she can but by the end she is forced to go along with them. Otherwise she would just starve.

It would have been nice to have had one of the characters stay strong on this the whole time as a contrast or someone to tell Laios to back it up and stop being weird about everything. Instead he just gets more and more intense about everything and really just wants to eat everything. If you redid the series but it was about them eating every plant around instead then that would work a lot better. Not all monsters count as animal violence here but a lot of times they do go after some fairly realistic ones. Also, in general things like eating the dragon after beating it feel a bit off. It’s good not to let anything go to waste if you end up taking out a monster but of course the real trick would be to not destroy the monster in the first place if you could help it.

At least make the dishes look more appealing. A lot of them just don’t look good to eat in general. As for the humor, it can be more on the hit or miss side. Any of the jokes about how insane and shady Laios is tend to be more on the fail side. I’m just not all that interested in the guy and I think he takes things a step too far. Likewise the jokes about how gross the food is don’t really work…because the food does look gross. So it’s barely even a joke at that point so much as just pointing out observations.

What this really comes down to though is characters. Often times I would say a joke isn’t funny in a vaccuum so much as it’s funny because you like the characters. Like a 2/10 joke could become a 6/10 joke if you have the right character saying it. Since I’m not generally a big fan of the characters, it means that the jokes don’t reach their full potential. It’s not necessarily a writing issue although on a macro issue I suppose you could say it is the writer’s job to make the characters better.

It’s pretty interesting writing about the characters here after finishing the manga but of course the anime only covers some of the events so the characters are a bit different since their character arcs haven’t finished yet. I already went over Laios before so I won’t go further into his character. He’s just not very responsible and has terrible priorities the whole time.

Marcille has always been one of the more likable characters. I feel like she is the only one super serious about recuing Falin. Laios may be her brother but he constantly gets distracted by monsters and his hobby of eating. Look, I love eating too but it’s important to have some priorities and not just be flaky where you go after anything right? That’s my biggest problem with Laios but again let me not drill on this guy for too long. So Marcille is completely out of her comfort zone with this. She doesn’t particularly love the dungeon and she certainly doesn’t want to eat any strange monsters.

However, she puts up with everything in order to rescue Falin. This is the sign of a true friend. Marcille bails them out of a lot of difficult situations with her magic and really comes in clutch. Without her the rest of the characters would have been doomed in a big way. She is definitely the most powerful member of the group and she has the revive spell. So without her if you died in the dungeon then you would be stuck for a while. You don’t technically die permanently due to a spell within the dungeon that keeps your soul from leaving but either way it’s fair to say that you probably don’t want to die at all or be stuck there for 3 months waiting for another adventurer to find you.

In a way that has to be the scariest part of dying in the dungeon. Depending on how you die, it’s possible that nobody would ever find you. For sure that’s why you want to go in a group at the very least because being by yourself feels like it would be borderline a death wish at that point. I guess you’d really be banking on your skills to get immediately rich and run away but it’s not worth it.

Shuro is one of the most annoying characters. He claims to be in love with Falin but then the guy is going to rat her out for being a monster right away? My biggest problem with the guy is that his devotion is just not strong enough. Simply put, I don’t feel that he would have my back in a confrontation and that’s a big issue. How can I trust a guy like that? So he just ends up being extremely unlikable and you know you’re bad when you make Laios look like the reasonable one in a conversation.

I’m not a big fan of Namari leaving the party either but at least she handled things well. It was clearly a “Nothing personal” kind of vibe with her. She’s still on good terms with everyone and isn’t making threats or getting in the way. So I can definitely respect her and she is really handy in the fights. It would be nice for her to appear more but she’s just living her own life at this point and I won’t knock her for that.

Back to the main cast, Chilchuck is next on the list here and he’s also reasonable. He’s not so much in it for Falin as he is for the money and he keeps his contracts. The guy is also a nicer person than he lets on so you have to recognize that a lot of this is just the mask that he puts on. When the going gets tough, you can actually count on him which is important because you can’t say that for some of the other characters. He may not be a fighter but his locksmith skills are certainly useful when you’re in a dungeon like this.

Senshi is the resident cook running around the dungeon and he seems to have a mysterious past. Still, the heroes need to trust whoever they can at this point so right now that means rolling with him. He is useful in a fight as well and keeps the group united so he was a superb addition to the team. Without him it’s very possible that the rest of the group would have been taken out by now. He just has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. I don’t quite like him as much as Marcille but he’s a fairly reasonable guy at the end of the day who does his best.

Then we have Izutsumi who joins up later. She got hit with a curse that made her part cat which is pretty rough to work with. She is trying to find a way around that but the spell was made very carefully so there haven’t been any real leads thus far. Her best bet is sticking with the main crew though so that’s really what she does. She’s the best hand to hand fighter of the group so it’s nice to finally have a close quarters specialist.

As Falin is the main goal in the show she doesn’t appear a ton but when she does show up, she’s fun enough. I don’t care for her too much in the flashbacks as she can be a little too timid. She’s not quite as weird as Laios is but seems to have kept in some of his traits. She’s at her best when she’s more confident and crushing anyone in her way. Falin is a prodigy of magic after all who might even be able to hold her own against Marcille. She just needs to embrace her own abilities.

Finally there is Kabru who is a tactical genius. He’s always creating plans and trying to think things through. I feel like he definitely helps to keep the characters guessing. This guy is a lot of fun and after he got his own episode, I wish he could have gotten more. He’s just way more charismatic as the leader and feels like a more fleshed out character. This is somebody you could absolutely roll with as the main character. Just keep him in there and he would definitely elevate the whole cast without question. There is just no question about it. He is playing a bigger role as the season ends so I look forward to seeing more of him.

By the time season 1 ends there have definitely been quite a few reveals and a big plot shift. The series is preparing to get serious with the big storyline and I can definitely appreciate that. The new Elf characters that showed up also have a lot of potential so I look forward to seeing what they do here. They’ll certainly shake things up which I can really appreciate. For all of these reasons, season 2 seems primed to be the best and surpass season 1 but after reading the manga I can tell you that the opposite is more likely to be true. We’ll see though, the anime can always mix things up.

Overall, Delicious in Dungeon is a show with a very unique premise. It definitely takes the whole cycle of life and eating to survive themes to the max. A show like that just ultimately won’t be for me though. I tend to feel bad for the monsters here who really didn’t ask for this and the character cast is more on the weak side. So that does tend to hurt the humor a bit as well. You should be reasonably entertained for the most part but if you want a show with more intense dungeon exploring then it’s time to check out the show about the reincarnated slime instead. Although there hasn’t been much exploring in a long time there so it might not be the top option.

Overall 4/10

X-Men Legends Review

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I remember playing X-Men Legends 2 a long time ago. It was a really fun game and definitely one of the titles that I spent a lot of time on with the PSP. I never got around to getting the first game though so it’s nice to finally get to experience it. For sure you can tell that it is a bit dated in some ways compared to the second but the gameplay holds up well. It’s a really solid all around title with a good amount of content.

The game starts with a girl being attacked by the Brotherhood of evil mutants. We put a stop to that real quick and try to get to the bottom of this. It turn out that she is a mutant with top tier potential. We convince her to join our group and now she is in for a real exciting time as we deal with threats like Magneto, the Juggernaut, and even the government itself. If we don’t watch out, it will be game over for everyone involved. Does she have what it takes to really assist us against these fighters?

It does seem a bit iffy to have her on the missions so quickly but there is some down time between missions so maybe we can say the game takes place over a year or so. In that case at least she would have had more training. We do get to play a few missions in the danger room to be sure so it’s not like she’s going in completely fresh. It’s just a big difference between fighting out there and in the real world. I’d also note that as always the Danger Room seems incredibly impractical. The X-Men lose control of it as always and she almost dies. I’m shocked that more people haven’t died in there but Prof X. doesn’t seem to care as he just tells her to get back in there and try again later. Not the most sympathetic character around that’s for sure.

The gameplay is an overhead style similar to Ultimate Alliance or Warcraft. You control teams of 4 characters as you go through a level and defeat all enemies/activate consoles. The objectives a level will differ so you won’t always have to do a whole lot of fighting. Keep a close eye on the objectives so you don’t just waste time. You can access them from the start menu at any point in case you forget what’s going on. Each character has 4 special moves and then of course you have the standard and power blows. There is almost never any reason to use power blows though so that part of the moveset ends up becoming unnecessary.

Your characters level up as you go through the game so it’s important to keep in mind their stats and abilities. I tended to focus on a glass cannon build so I put all of the stats into pure attack power. This makes all of my fighters hit like a truck and I found it to be useful with the sheer amount of enemies that the game throws at you. You’ll be there for a long time even with heavy attack power but I felt like a battle of attrition would be more in their favor. You also get points that you can use for your abilities.

What I would do is max out the main power X3 for all characters and with any extra points I would put that into more health and energy. It’s fun just how many options there are in the game and it’s something that Legends does very well. It’s a super customizable experience. When playing through the game, I could have a completely different experience than someone else playing at least from a gameplay perspective. Whether the game is more of a hit and run or full aggressive style will depend on your earlier choices.

It’s part of what I love about RPGs. Being able to make your own choices in terms of how you want to proceed is just great. That’s not even getting into the equipment. Then you also have danger room missions back at base to increase your exp further and you can find collectibles which boost your base stats permanently. So the more you explore the game, the more you are rewarded here. There are even a few bonus missions outside of the main events you could tackle. I accidentally knocked one of those out and it was cool seeing the original costumes since in the present they’re based more on the Ultimate X-Men looks. Still good, but not nearly as solid as classic.

The graphics are definitely really good. I would say the faces may not have aged super well but in gameplay the character designs and everything look really good. I like the special effects used for the super powers as well. So definitely no complaints from me here. The soundtrack is forgettable though which is unfortunate. I think you really could have come up with some great tunes for a game like this right? Comic book games can be a little hit or miss in this department though so it really does depend.

There isn’t really a post game here so make sure you have all of your fun while you are playing through the campaign. Like I said it’s fairly long and there are some stuff you can do on the side so I would say you are really getting a lot of bang for your buck. I’d like to see something like this for each of the comic book teams. In general Marvel has had quite a few of these so I need DC to step it up and get us a Justice League title or something like that. Now that would be awesome!

Overall, X-Men Legends is a pretty fun game. It has a well rounded cast and switching between all of the characters is fun. The game’s actual length is rather solid and there is a good amount of replay value to be had here. There’s really everything to like about this title so you definitely want to pick it up. If you haven’t played the sequel yet then I would definitely advise playing that one afterwards so you continue on with the adventures.

Overall 7/10

Rurouni Kenshin (2023) Review

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It’s time for another great anime. The Kenshin manga was always top tier so it makes sense that the anime would follow suit. I thought everything about it was real solid. The fight scenes looked good, the sound track is on point, and of course the core story is really good. At the end of the day when you have all of that in your favor then you’re really in for a good time. There’s just nothing to hold it back.

The show starts by introducing us to Kenshin who used to be a powerful warrior that terrorized the land. There was a huge war back in the day with both sides fighting for their own justice. Kenshin’s side won and now they are the government but Kenshin has distanced himself from the group. He chooses to be a Rurouni instead now and no longer fights unless it is to protect someone. He wanders into a nice town where he meets Kaoru. She has a dojo and he decides to relax there and help her out for a while. Unfortunately, his days of being a pacifist are about to run into some turbulence. A bunch of villains are running around who all want to test their might against the legendary fighter. If Kenshin doesn’t fight back, they will end up hurting his new friends. What can he do?

At its core the series is really about Kenshin trying to hold onto his ideals through thick and thin. It’s a good message and the show handles it well. At times Kenshin may hold back a little too much and some villains make a good point that his morals are all well and good but if he lets his friends get hurt because of them then that’s not a worthy tradeoff. Kenshin does have to work on balancing these things which will likely continue to be a theme in the next season.

Right now Kenshin is still a top tier main character though. He’s easy to root for and he has a lot of serious skills. So he’s definitely one of those guys who is able to back up his own tough words far better than most of the others would be able to. When the going gets tough, Kenshin does revert into his violent mode which definitely tends to do the trick in situations like this. I like his overall confidence and good natured spirit. He’s always been one of the higher tier Jump protagonists.

Kaoru is a fairly good heroine although she doesn’t always get a lot to do. Relative to other heroines I would even say that her role is super small. She will usually be around to try and help get Kenshin back into his senses but that’s about it. She is otherwise not really able to fight with any of the big characters so she stays to watch but all in all she’s a nice person. Then there is Yahiko who actually does get some fights to himself. He’s only a kid so it’s not like he can fight all that well but I’ll give him some points for effort. He really does try hard. At times he can be on the annoying side though, especially when he tries to do something without telling Kenshin and then puts himself in a dangerous position for no reason.

As the first rival Sanosuke is a fun character. He very quickly gets power creeped by other characters who show up later but definitely works well as the opening boss. His punches can really land a lot of damage and he has some good battle instincts as well. I generally like him as a character. I feel like he does need a weapon though and not that super heavy one he used in the introduction arc. That thing’s just way too slow to be usable in real life situations. At least to me that seems to be the case. He helps to provide some balance to the team though because he’s much more aggressive and in your face compared to Kenshin.

I want to give a shoutout to Kenshin’s first real opponent. No, not the fake Battosai but Jin-E, a legendary assassin. What I like about this guy is that he was legitimately very skilled. He actually gave Kenshin a good fight and his ability to choke his opponents was really intense. That’s a super good ability to have in combat since your opponent could lose focus for a second and then you win. If not, you at least disrupt his movements which is also a really big deal This guy is mainly forgotten nowadays but to me he will always be the point where the series found its stride and became great.

Then we have Aoshi’s group which was a lot of fun. They all had a lot of loyalty and fairly good backgrounds. What makes them sympathetic is you can easily see how someone would turn out like that. When you’re trained to murder in combat and never learned any other skills then it makes sense that integrating back into society would not be so easy. In particular from the minions I would say Han’nya stood out the most. He really gave Kenshin a tough fight for a while there and even won in their first clash. Yes, it was a quick clash and he had a gimmick but I still remember thinking that was super impressive. Definitely a really solid way to kick off the arc as well.

Of course Aoshi was the main star here and he’s still one of my favorite characters in the series. His sword skills are second to none and he has a solid honor code. He has his objectives and completes them but always does things his way. He’s always willing to talk back to any other villain who is trying to boss him around. Nobody is going to try and exert influence over him. That’s just not how Aoshi operates and I definitely find that to be really admirable. He’s the kind of guy that you really want to be on your team.

Megumi joins the group after this arc as a main supporting character and she fits in really well. I dare say that she adds more to the dynamic than the main heroine at this point. She is always ready for banter and being a healer is really helpful since nobody else has those skills at the moment. It means that she is really irreplaceable within the team. She definitely has a rough background and wasn’t always a hero but considering the circumstances, it’s easy to trust her as a reliable hero now.

Finally as the show began to close we were introduced to Saito who is another all star character. This guy’s abilities are really solid to the point where he really had Kenshin backpedaling. He’s another villain with a good honor code who is willing to do whatever he needs to in order to keep his honor on good ground. I like this kind of character without a doubt. His fight is one of the best ones in the series as well so you aren’t likely to forget him. I’m definitely looking forward to him getting more fights in the upcoming seasons.

There are several other villains and supporting characters at the ready but these were the main ones. The show really covers a lot of ground in these 24 episodes. It always feels good to crack 20 right off the gate so even if you didn’t get a formal season 2, it feels like you had both. That being said, the next season is already confirmed so there are no worries there. In the manga the next segment was the best part of the series so most likely that will be the case here as well but we’ll see.

One thing I really like about the show is how most of the characters actually sound like they’re from the olden days. It reminds me of the old Hollywood kind of dialogue but the Japanese version. There are a lot of terms thrown around and everything relating back to the Bakumatsu period and then you also have all of the characters generally being polite to each other. Even if they naturally don’t mean it, it’s pretty nice to hear. It adds a very refined flavor to the show and it makes the whole experience feel that much more authentic.

Meanwhile the animation is really solid like I said. The fights are really flashy with a good amount of choreography in them. The fighters move fast and each battle feels very epic. I definitely have no complaints here so far and that’s a good thing since it’s a pretty action packed show. If the fights were not up to snuff then that would be a problem. I also give major thumbs up to the soundtrack. There are a number of really good battle themes spread throughout the anime. I had quite a few that I liked and again they fit the very dramatic style of the duels.

In Kenshin, there is a lot of explaining what each attack does in between the techniques which I like as it adds to the analytical part of the show. Both fighters are working on countering each attack as soon as they see it. The cat and mouse mind games are a ton of fun all around. Naturally the season ends with a big cliffhanger as well so you have a lot to look forward to for the next season. There are definitely going to be plenty of battles there and Kenshin will really have to steel his resolve.

Way I see it, since the show takes place in the days of a lot of rampant corruption, you do need to finish off your opponents sometimes. Kenshin has a tendency to spare his foes and hope they go over a new leaf but what’s more likely is they will wait until he is not around and then go take out his friends. That is the big issue for me. For example if Saito didn’t axe off his partners afterwards, they definitely might have tried getting some retaliation and since Kenshin would be out of town, things would have gotten very bad very quickly. In a nutshell, that tends to be my main problem here. Kenshin’s mentality only works when he’s alone but once he chose to make friends and hang out, that starts to put them all in lethal danger.

One last thing I’d add is I do appreciate the quick mini arcs about weak villains because these are chances for Kenshin to show just how crazy strong he is. Like the arc with Sanosuke’s friend who wanted to bomb the capital. We get to see Kenshin from the point of view of the average fighter and naturally he’s a monster. Kenshin doesn’t need to do much in order to stop that guy. I think it’s important to have these minibosses because since Kenshin tends to only fight the strongest warriors around, you can possibly forget just how far above most fighters he is. So seeing him dominate these guys is a good idea. When he takes too long or sandbags, then it also helps make the point of guys like Saito who say that Kenshin is being too soft. One of these mini arcs had a character effectively lose the use of his wrist, possibly for good because Kenshin didn’t go all out. I thought that was a very good callback that the show made use of later on. So you end up feeling like each episode is really important.

Overall, Rurouni Kenshin is a great story that has withstood the test of time. Each episode is a lot of fun and the quality of the episodes is always at a high level. I had a lot of fun going through the show and I’m definitely hyped for the next season. There are already a ton of great villains running around and that number is about to rise even further as we are introduced to the new group. So I’m definitely ready for all that. If you enjoy a good action title then I definitely recommend watching this one. It’s really got all of the fights and quality writing you could ask for.

Overall 8/10

Godzilla Library Collection Volume 2 Review

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It’s time for a big Godzilla comic collection. Let me tell you something, this one brings a whole lot of issues. I would expect nothing less since it is a whole library collection though. It brings the full 12 issue Kingdom of Monsters series. In this one, the world is attacked by Kaiju and quickly begins to fold. We have several plots ongoing in this one. There’s a soldier who befriends a child whose parents were eaten by Kaiju. He vows to get her to safety. Then you have the President of the USA who is worried about his poll numbers and doesn’t know how this situation should play out. Of course there are a lot of different Kaiju attacking the planet as well. Godzilla may end up saving the planet or perhaps he is just going to murder everyone. At the moment it sure feels like it could go either way for a bunch of the characters.

Right off the bat you can tell that this series is having a bit of fun with everything. Almost every character is sarcastic and there is a lot of witty banter going on. Every character has something to say and they aren’t about to wait until the right time to say it. They’re just going to go and say their piece. Right away you can see how you are rooting for the Kaiju to end humanity. There’s no reason for the humans’ continued existence. It would be better to be reset through history and perhaps some day humanity will deserve the planet again.

I should let you know right now that there is a cliffhanger here so the series doesn’t end as completely as you might expect. It’s a pretty hype way to end the comic though so I was on board with that. Throughout the comic you see how everything is being completely destroyed and you might be wondering how the humans will rebuild and come back from this. Well, now you’ve got something to wonder about for afterwards. I’m guessing for the writers it was less interesting to think about the fallout and recovery so they wanted to keep every reader focused on the battles.

I get it, that is the most fun part. Also, it’s not like there’s a whole lot of humanity left by the end of the comic. So many people die left and right on every Kaiju battlefield. There’s no shortage of casualties to be found. The best of the subplots was probably with the soldier. This is where we see just how villainous all of the desperate people are. Now that food and water are scarce, they’ve all devolved into picking fights and trying to murder any other human they come across. Fortunately the soldier is strong and he does a terrific job of protecting the kid the whole time. He deserves a ton of credit for that since it’s not an easy task by any means. When you are surrounded by monsters and evil humans at every turn, it would be real tempting to run off on your own to survive.

Instead the soldier takes the hero call and helps her out. Along the way he even figures out how to pilot Mecha Godzilla and holds his own really well in a big Kaiju fight that starts. So that was a pretty fun subplot and I always looked forward to seeing it. I really liked the President stuff as well but those scenes were a lot more rare. In general the dialogue should have you laughing a lot at just how petty all of the characters are. They’re all rather unlikable to be sure to the point where the comics almost feel like a parody after a while but it’s a parody that works really well. As long as you are funny then you are good.

Of course, we all know why we’re really here. We’re here for Godzilla! Godzilla and all of the big Kaiju fights that naturally appear when you have this many Kaiju running around. The fights are definitely as good as you would expect. I had a lot of fun with them and you definitely see how Godzilla is known as the strongest here. He has a tough time with some of the Kaiju, usually because they land a cheap shot or gang up on him. One on one though? Always bet on the King of the Monsters without a doubt.

One thing that keeps the series from going further up though is that it doesn’t really do anything you haven’t seen before. The comic is a take on what would happen to the real world if Kaiju suddenly appeared and started terrorizing everyone. I get it, everyone wants to take a crack at that because the initial confrontation is always a lot of fun. People like seeing the origin but after a while I would argue that it is time to try a few different directions. While I didn’t care much for the pirate or Greek stories about Godzilla time travelling, it was a different direction. Lets have a story where Godzilla warps to the future and has to deal with a more advanced army. Maybe a story where he is stranded on an island filled with tons of monsters and has to get out. May sound a bit like Godzilla in Hell but you could do some things to differentiate it without a doubt.

I guess some credit I should give it here though is some of the human reactions. A lot of times in a story like this you typically have all of the humans panicking about these crazy giant monsters running around and all that. I get it but I think in real life you’ll have a lot of people who think its a hoax, others who think the Kaiju is friendly, and others who go about life as normal. This comic did a good job of getting a bunch of varied reactions from everyone. Even if some of these were used for comedic purposes, I actually think it was pretty realistic and more likely how people would react. Nowadays people are jaded enough where the craziest things ever could be happening and you’ll still have some people memeing and having fun. It’s just how it is.

Overall, Godzilla Library Collection Volume 2 is a lot of fun. I’m always up for more Godzilla comics and right now there are technically still a ton of issues I have not read from a bunch of different titles. At least now I can scratch this one off the list. It was not really doing much out of the ordinary so I don’t think it will rise up as one of the top ones but it was still good. For the next Godzilla comic I will hope for slightly stronger art and maybe a more unique plot. How have we not had some kind of big Kaiju tournament yet? That would be a lot of fun and is an example of a classic scenario that you could do well with.

Overall 7/10

Mashle: Magic and Muscles – The Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc Review

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It’s time for the return of Mashle. The first season was definitely great with a solid balance of action and comedy. This one follows it up pretty well with more of the same. We finally meet the big villains in this batch so you know that things are getting real. No problem though, the story still makes time for the humor and everything so the balance isn’t lost. In a lot of ways Mashle feels like a retro Shonen Jump title that could have stood in there with the classics like Naruto. It embraces the common Jump scenarios while also having a lot of fun with them.

After the events of the last season, everyone now knows that Mash has no magical abilities. This means that there are a lot of people who resent him and think he should not be allowed to take the Divine Visionary test. An appeal is made to the principal but fortunately Mash is allowed to stay on. The one catch is that the stakes have now been raised. If Mash doesn’t become the Divine Visionary then he will be murdered. There will be no escape for the guy. It’s a pretty tough situation to be in but then again, this only matters if he loses and Mash is confident in himself. We begin the next round of the tournament but of course the villains are also waiting around the corner.

The 12 episodes really go by very quickly here. It feels like the season ended as soon as it had began but I suppose that just talks to the quality of the show. As always Mash is a fun main character. I would say he is even better in this season because he has more tough dialogue with the villains. At one point he declares himself to be the strongest and in general he doesn’t shy away from any fight. It’s great to be strong but it’s even better to know that you’re strong and so I really liked the confidence there.

Innocent Zero is a pretty great villain right from the jump. The guy has big plans, big connections, and he is generally in control the whole time. That’s the kind of thing that you look for in a villain without a doubt. He also has the power to back his tough talk up as he is probably the strongest fighter in the series right now. His time abilities are super intense and then he gets another power up during the season. I was also glad to see him defend Mash during the early court hearing. It may not be for the right reasons but I’ll still take it. Innocent Zero is also a rare villain who may specialize in long distance attacks but can still hold his own against anyone in close quarters. Now that’s a perfect balance.

While we meet all of the visionaries, most of them haven’t had a chance to do anything yet. Ryoh leaves a great impression because he actually seems reasonable and defends Mash the whole time. Why would you possibly want to murder the kid who is you best hope against the villains? They’re all so brainwashed about the whole magic society part that they even go against their own best interests. Now that is a bad look if I’ve ever seen one. So some of the visionaries definitely get docked a bunch of point for this either for being against Mash or just being on the fence about this.

Wahlberg looks good in the fight but I still have to take points away for how he handled the Mash situation. Put it this way, he’s the principal and yet he is letting this whole debate go on. He should have rushed in there real quick and shut the whole thing down. All he has to say is that Mash will continue to be a student here and ask them what they want to do about that. He could likely beat most of them although if it’s a team battle it would probably be tricky. I just think he should have flexed his power a little more and actually tried to make a difference. Otherwise he’s really not using his position to his advantage. The guy’s way too passive which is my problem with him.

Orter is the biggest prosecutor in terms of trying to get Mash murdered. He wants that guy to be absolutely executed right away but fortunately there aren’t any other members who are quite as deranged as he is. This guy actively hires other villains to go and get Mash. You’re looking forward to someone taking him down at some point. Fortunately Rayne is one of the characters who is actually trying to defend Mash and he does a pretty good job of that. His abilities are really good and while I’m a bit surprised that he didn’t crush Margarette harder, I’d say it’s implied that Rayne is still stronger. He’s a divine visionary for a reason after all.

In some ways Kaldo likely seems to be the most impressive. He did really well when testing Mash to see just how good he was. The guy was holding his own with speed and apparently he was even holding back? Yeah that’s not an opponent to take lightly and his sword looks really cool. I definitely look forward to seeing more of him. Of course Mash’s usual friends are still around as well. Lemon actually has her big moment where she makes a big speech and defends Mash’s honor. Finn still does his best and he has a good durability moment where he stays conscious long enough for Mash to show up and save the day.

Lance and Dot take a more active role in helping out as they fight a bit. Dot doesn’t look super impressive but what else is new right? Lance does well at least and even manages to defeat an opponent while reverted to the body of a child. Now that’s a pretty good feat and definitely nothing that Dot could have matched. I still like Lance a lot as a rival even if Mash already left him in the dust big time. He’s never going to catch him at this rate.

For the villains, there were 4 main ones in this season. First up is Margarette who gets a lot of hype early on. In the first encounter with Mash, Mash actually does a big seismic toss throw to take Margarette down for the count but it doesn’t work. When you see Margarette get up without any injuries, that’s the exact moment where you realize that this is no ordinary opponent. It’s a fantastic way to generate some hype right out of the gate. The hype doesn’t stop from there and it’s a really good fight for the two episodes. I may not love Margarette as a character but you can’t deny this level of power.

Carpaccio is more of the twisted villain type. He likes inflicting pain and his ability is perfect for it since he automatically reflects all pain. Super handy, after all who wouldn’t want to be effectively invincible right? His match against Mash is definitely fun and you have to say that it’s probably the worst matchup for the guy. Mash is probably the only character who is crazy strong enough to take the damage each time and then return blows even harder. That would really be pretty much impossible for the rest of the character. I wonder if murdering Carpaccio would just get reversed before he dies or if that’s a way around the power. Either way it would be really risky to try that.

In general the villains have some rather broken abilities here. Sitter Baby is another one of them. He can turn his opponents into babies which dramatically reduces their stats. it’s a real intense power to be sure and all the guy needs to do is quickly smash his opponent or always have a partner. Either way I’d say the heroes basically got lucky here. It easily could have gone sideways very quickly for them here.

Finally you have Cell War who is a really fun villain. His ability itself isn’t quite as broken as the others but he makes up for this with very impressive physical abilities. You feel like anyone other than Mash would have a super hard time trying to block all of the rapid blows. This guy can shoot tons of spikes at you and also use them to make other kinds of weapons. It’s really an endless barrage that just keeps on coming. I thought he was a very impressive villain even if he couldn’t ultimately keep up. Few can keep up with Mash.

As always the soundtrack is super good for Mashle. I think this is one of those things that really helps the anime to keep on elevating things. It’s really cool to know you are always going to have a great track accompanying a great scene. It’s the way to go. The opening also gets real catchy this time and is a big step up over the season 1 theme song which never really caught on for me. The animation is also really solid here. They have fun with the chibi gags which hold up really well and then for the fights there is a whole lot to enjoy. The fights move quickly and have a lot of action to them. The movement is on point and it never slows down.

The technical elements do not betray the series by any means. So now you’ve got great characters, a great story, and the whole thing is completed with the solid humor all throughout the show. I’m definitely hyped for the next season to keep up this momentum. A lot of the upcoming villains already look cool from the brief look we got at them. Also due in part to how the show still lets us have a lot of slice of life moments and comedic scenes, you’re already use to all of the characters. So you want to see them continue to show up and really get some more fights in there. I really enjoyed the climax in the manga and so I bet it’s going to be extremely awesome in the anime as well.

I mentioned that the show goes very quickly and part of that is due to the really fast pacing. There’s always a fight going on or some kind of gag. You aren’t given much time to catch your breath with the fast paced nature of the show. It makes a lot of sense with how chaotic the school is in general. I do think this is a show where bad animation could have hurt it a lot since you do want the spectacle to show off what Mash can do since that is part of the fun. If he didn’t look impressive then it hurts the entire gimmick/concept.

Also, as strong as Mash is, he isn’t quite the strongest in the verse. So that’s another difference from One Punch Man, there are actually enemies who can take this guy down. Mash is given quite a bit of trouble in his fights in this season and can’t do anything against Innocent Zero. So no worries, there is still a lot of danger in this one. There is a bit of plot armor in regards to why the villains don’t just crush everybody right now though. It would have been a simple enough task and then there would have been nobody around to fight them off later on. Zero definitely fumbled the bag right there.

Overall, Mashle continues to ride all of the momentum from the first season to great effect here. It goes even farther than the first season did and I expect we will see similar success with the next season. At first glance you may figure this is just some kind of One Punch knock-off but I can assure you that it definitely has its own identity. As long as you like good action and humor then you should have a really good time here. Mash choking someone with a creampuff is probably the best gag in the series but in general the series is super funny and the jokes tend to really land. It’s a great all around title that does not really have any weaknesses. I’s all positive here.

Overall 8/10

Bass: Time of Reunion Review

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It’s time for a oneshot about the best character in all of media. Bass has returned and he’s ready to really dominate as always. Many people forget this but Bass is the strongest character of all time. Who can possibly challenge the guy? Well, in this chapter some tough fighters like Megaman try but they are definitely found lacking. It’s nothing to be ashamed about though, it was…inevitable.

The special starts off with Searchman and the army trying to take down Bass but they are quickly routed. Surprisingly he spares their lives. They then go over to Lan and Chaud to ask for their help. Basically Dr. Cossack is dying and he wants a chance to say his final goodbyes to Bass. They all figure Bass won’t come quietly so they’ll have to try and defeat him. Lan agrees to help since he’s ready for a fight and Chaud’s not one to be left out. Do they really have a chance though or is this a suicide mission? One wrong move and they may end up being confined to oblivion!

Trying to mess with Bass definitely doesn’t sound like a good idea under any circumstances. Serenade makes a quick appearance and also confirms that this may be ill advised. For starters, trying to kidnap Bass to make him meet up with Cossack seems a little iffy right? That’s not a great reason to kidnap someone in general. It’s certainly not as if the planet is at stake or anything like that. So that’s the first problem here. Then of course there is also the matter of his power. Serenade crushes Megaman and Protoman while admitting that Bass is even fiercer. Still, they are eager to try.

It was fun to see Serenade for sure. Then in terms of the actual fight, the art is top tier as always. It’s great to see Bass taking everyone on again like in the good ole days. People forget but Bass was the original powerhouse. He speed blitzes Megaman and Protoman while dealing massive damage the whole time. It’s great to see that he has not lost a step. Even with Hubstyle and Double Souls combined, it’s clear that Megaman wasn’t quite strong enough to be of any real danger to Bass. Bass wasn’t afraid of anything the whole time, nor should he have been. He doesn’t even have to resort to Beast Out or his own Hubstyle at this point. He’s just at a completely different level.

One thing you will notice is that Bass is quite a bit nicer here. He seems to have mellowed out a whole lot since the events of the manga to the point where he actually spares people at times and doesn’t mind talking things out. The old Bass would never have humored the heroes the way that he did here. He’s definitely had a whole lot of character development over the years. So it all works out okay here but I do agree with Serenade that Megaman and Protoman were in the wrong the whole time. So if Bass had wanted to murder them then he would have been fully in his rights to do so. You can’t just go trying to take someone down like this.

I wouldn’t say that the oneshot opens the door to future sequels I’m afraid. So don’t get your hopes up for that but even just getting another look into the world was fun. Megaman NT Warrior is still my favorite manga of all time and everything is exactly as it was. The art still looks super intense and the writing is on point. It just goes to show that there are still a ton of different stories you could do within the series. There is a lot of ground left to uncover. It may be tough to come up with enemies who can be a real threat at this point but then you could do some prequels or something. Lets just get more Megaman content around.

Overall, This is a really fun one shot. I’m also impressed at how long it was. It’s almost like a full volume with around 100 pages at the ready. The author really knows how to craft a good story. Outside of the battles the humor was also pretty fun. I liked the banter between Lan and Chaud. They definitely haven’t missed a beat there. The series always had top tier action but would take a break for some comedy every once in a while. It’s a good mix I would say. You should definitely check this out. It’ll really be very nostalgic as well.

Overall 8/10

Mega Man V Review

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It’s time to end my Mega Man game marathon. This one definitely ends things on a real high note. For starters, it is the most plot based Mega Man game that I’ve played in the classic series. You actually have a sense of danger here and it’s not the usual story of Wily trying to cause some trouble. I appreciated the difference here and then the game actually gets rather long for a classic title. You definitely won’t be running out of content here, I can tell you that much.

The game starts off with a mysterious robot appearing and defeating Mega Man effortlessly. After that, other robots from space show up and conquer the planet with ease. Mega Man must now gain some upgrades and find a way to take these guys down. If he doesn’t, then the world itself will be doomed to destruction. It will be his hardest fight yet but Mega Man is ready for this. He’s never fallen short when it counted before after all.

There are actual cutscenes and automated fights here which really feels ahead of its time. In a lot of ways you could say this game is light years ahead of the first 4. It’s just in a completely different league and this goes back to the length as well. In addition to the usual 8 robot masters, you fight a bunch of bosses from previous games. There are so many bosses in the climax that I wonder how people did it back in the day without the rewind feature. Particularly for the older game bosses since it always takes time to get used to a moveset and I doubt you would have had the previous games memorized. The difficulty climb is really crazy by the end.

Still, it is ambitious and I like that. One of the main critiques for the Mega Man games is generally that they are a little too short. You blast through them and then that’s it. So at least with this one you do have all of this extra content which does make the actual campaign longer. It’s also worth noting that while the collectibles have been removed, you still do have the Dr. Light shop where you can buy items and collectibles as needed. It’s definitely a big help since you can actually work on grinding out E tanks if you need them for the climax. They are super handy so of course you will need them.

The graphics still have that sad green tint that makes everything a bit hard to look at. You eventually get a little used to it but yeah that part’s a bit rough so you will definitely want to avert your gaze. The soundtrack isn’t bad although I wouldn’t say that any of the tunes were super memorable. The game stands strong mainly on the story and gameplay in this case. The rest of the title isn’t quite able to keep up.

The gameplay is what you’re used to with the series so I don’t need to go into it very much. I still mainly stuck with the mega buster for all bosses except when they force you to change. The Mega Buster is just such a great all around weapon that they almost went too far and ended up making it the best weapon. Why use anything else right? The firing speed and amount of damage per shot is just handled exceptionally well. It may not be broken but it’s extremely steady and will take out any opponent before long. It also works seamlessly with your movement since there is no delay so you can really do your best on dodging enemies and this won’t slow you down one bit. This is exactly the right way to handle things but if you want a challenge you can try to figure out which weapon is good against each boss and win that way. It’s technically how the developers likely envisioned you beating the game at least.

Overall, The story is really good here. I appreciated that the game took itself rather seriously the whole time. The final boss is also a very interesting figure. Certainly not someone that Wily could ever hope to control. There was definitely a lot of potential here if the game had decided to continue down this path for future installments. Of course the color situation would be fixed for the next console. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check this one out. It may even change how you look at classic Mega Man in general.

Overall 7/10

The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga Review

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It’s time for my last King of Fighters review for a bit and it’s going to end with the game that started it all. The fact that this collection brings 5 whole games is really impressive. Collections like this are a really handy way to really play through each of the games especially the ones that are really old. Since the games are older the casts tended to be a bit smaller so the arcade modes go by pretty fast.

The first game is KOF 94 which has the toughest final boss to date. I could not find any way to actually take Rugal down. That guy is absolutely crazy. When you get close to him you get absolutely demolished. If you stay far away then you get blasted to smithereens. I read online that you gotta try and cheese him but that doesn’t work either with how much he’s always moving. I’m convinced you need exceptional video game reflexes to really keep up here. Without that then it is the end of the road for you. Still, it’s a fun way to kick things off and Rugal is still my favorite King of Fighters villain. The guy just has a whole lot of style. I ended up playing as Terry for quite a few of these games and he always made for a solid MC.

Then the next game was KOF 95. I wouldn’t say you can tell very many differences here compared to the first game. The final boss is also super OP but slightly more manageable than the first one. You just have to move fast because it’s another boss that can basically take out your whole health bar if you get too close. So you want to try and keep some distance at all times. Getting close to the enemy is something to only be done at your own risk and personally I would not recommend it. Again, you can throw this advice out if you have super good reflexes though.

After that was KOF 96. You start to feel the series getting ever so slightly more modern with this one. The sprites look sharp and in general the game looks very solid. You’ll be going back to Arcade Mode here and rolling with Terry’s crew again. The final boss is still super difficult but now the games allow you some help once you have lost and gotten a game over. You can revive and make your boss’ health go down to 1/3. You’d be surprised at how difficult the fight is even at this point. I can’t imagine pulling this off if I had to go up against the full deal. At 1/3 health the boss gains extra durability though to make up for it.

KOF 97 is pretty climactic and keeps up all of the momentum from the previous game. The gameplay is on point, there is a good cast running around here and there’s a lot to do. The story is mainly told through the cutscenes at the end so you can really feel free to pick just about any team and you’ll get the bulk of the story there. The final boss is another really tough one so definitely bring your A game. You may be here a while even with the bonus. So expect to lose a lot but you should pend that time trying to learn as many of his tricks and attacks as you can.

KOF 98 is interesting because it was there at the end but it actually feels a bit older than some of the previous ones. I think perhaps that was done on purpose to further support the whole nostalgia angle that the game was going for. I don’t think that’s a stretch, I think it even makes a lot of sense. Still, I can’t be sure, maybe it’s just a slight art tyle that didn’t age well. Part of what makes it look older to me is the font. It’s very zoomed in and so it gets a lot blurrier than the other games. Maybe they just wanted the game to stick out though.

The games are very old so naturally the graphics aren’t exactly top tier. Still, they work pretty well I would say. Sprites never truly go out of fashion. The combo attacks look really good and all of the backgrounds have good detail to them. I don’t feel like they phoned in any part of the game. Lots of effort and dedication went into the title. The various soundtracks aren’t bad either. I would like some more hard rock type themes to be included into the actual stages but at least the openings tend to go rather hard in that direction.

When it comes to replay value, there is naturally a whole lot here. You can keep on playing through all of the games to look at the changes between each one. It’s nice to play them all back to back to really see how things have updated and evolved over the years. Realistically there’s probably not much reason to keep playing vs mode for a super long time when the sequels are around but you can’t count out the nostalgia effect. To an extent you may just want to have fun seeing how retro the whole thing is and you can’t do that with a newer game.

Combat gameplay is also something that’s fairly timeless. Yes, there may be less special effects but the actual fighting itself will be relatively unchanged even as many years go by. So that part won’t feel dated at all and you can just have a fun time trying to land your favorite combos. Like Terry seems to be mainly unchanged across all of the games but granted, It’s not like I know any of the advanced ones so just going by the bread and butter combos isn’t the most accurate way to go about things.

Overall, You can’t really go wrong with a collection that brings 5 games. You’re getting a ton of bang for your buck here. I got the Wii version since it uses the Gamecube controller but note that you have to play it on the Wii in order to use this function. The Wii U adaptor doesn’t support the Gamecube controller although that’s to be expected as it doesn’t for most titles. The game’s controls don’t bother with motion though so it’s really not that bad though. When used traditionally, the Wii remote tends to be downright decent. Either way, no matter what console you get the game for, you should pick it up at some point. The games do have actual stories with cutscenes explored during the fights so you don’t want to miss out on the first arc.

Overall 7/10