Today, we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, a man who has dedicated his life to equality between people of all races. In the 1960s, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-men, a comic book about a team of superheroes dedicated to equality between human and mutant. Even though the cast was all Caucasian at the time, the book explored race relations in a profoundly brilliant manner without the material being heavy handed. Over time, the team’s roster would expand to include heroes from many different backgrounds, from the Jewish Kitty Pryde and the African Storm to the Native American Mirage. Throughout their 40+ year history, the X-men have seen many ups and downs, both in and out of comics, and video gaming is no different. What better way is there to celebrate Dr King’s dream than to have a look back at the interactive adventures of Xavier’s finest? In the first part of this two part special, we’ll take a look at some of the earliest games starring the children of the atom. The second part, coming later this week, will feature the Marvel vs Capcom games as well as Activision’s X-men titles.
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Shortly after SNK’s Metal Slug proved that simple side-scrolling ‘run-and-gun’ games still rule, Saurus released this Neo Geo/arcade game that proved that simple top-down run-and-gun games still rule too. This game is best described as a top-down Metal Slug, as it’s wildly absurd and light hearted. You take control of one of 8 commandos, each with their own special abilities and weapons, as they rescue a kidnapped scientist and his granddaughter from a terrorist organization known as the Black Scorpions. You can either choose to play as in either lone wolf or team battle mode. Lone wolf mode is self explanatory while team battle allows you to pick from three of the eight heroes and switch between them at will. There is a dodge button allowing you to avoid enemy fire, and you can move and shoot in 8 ways. You can even strafe by holding down the fire button. You have your usual weapon upgrades and bombs, and the fire button becomes a melee attack when in close range of an enemy. You traverse through six levels. A semi-sequel, Shock Troopers:2nd Squad was released a short time later. While it only featured 4 characters, it still contained the fun shooting action as in the original. It’s a shame that this didn’t take off as well as the Metal Slug series, as fans of MS will love this game. This game needs to show up on an SNK compilation pack, Wii Virtual Console, or Xbox Live Arcade.

Before Madden, ESPN/All-Pro 2k, NFL Gameday, NFL Blitz, or any other football game, there was Tecmo Bowl. Tecmo’s 1989 NES port of its arcade game was way ahead of its time. It had rosters and playbooks for each of its twelve fictional teams. Although there were no real teams in the game, (as Tecmo couldn’t get the NFL’s permission to use actual team names) an NFL Player’s Association license allowed the game to feature real life players such as Bo Jackson and Joe Montana. The game was surprisingly deep even with the small amount of plays available. Even though the gameplay was a bit unbalanced at times, the game was still downright fun. A sequel, Tecmo Super Bowl was released a year later, this time featuring actual NFL team names. In fact, TSB was the first home football video game to use actual NFL teams. The series continued on Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis before a final entry on Playstation. It didn’t do so well in its final years, but it was still loved by its fans. In fact, many rom patches exist on the internet that update the rosters for Tecmo Super Bowl on the NES. Thankfully Tecmo will be bringing back the series later this year to unspecified gaming platforms. Until then, football fans owe it to themselves to play one of the classics of the genre. It may not have a franchise mode, superstar mode, color commentary, or fancy graphics, but it has a certain charm that can’t be found in today’s games.

By the way, the virtual console version of Tecmo Bowl has obviously been edited, due to the fact that EA has exclusive licensing rights to the NFL and the NFLPA.

As promised, I’m back with part 2 of our special wrestling edition of the $20 Game of the week. In this edition, we’ll take a look at WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008, as well as three other wrestling games that you can find on the cheap. So say your prayers and take your vitamins, because it’s time to walk down the aisle and go one on one with the great one. Remember, to be the man, you gotta beat the man! WOOOOOOO!
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Hope everyone’s had a merry Christmas. Hopefully you digested all that Christmas dinner, because it’s time to hit the squared circle. That’s right, Powet is gonna take you ringside for a look at wrestling gaming. In the first part of our special, we’ll take a look back at some of the best (and worst) that wrestling gaming had to offer up to and including the Playstation and Nintendo 64 years. Part 2, coming this weekend, will feature a look at some of the more recent wrestling games, including WWE Raw vs Smackdown 2008 and Fire Pro Wrestling Returns. So grab a folded-up chair (or whatever other weapon that strikes your fancy), a 6-pack of your favorite alcoholic beverage, a luchador mask, and a homemade cardboard sign, and (in the voice of Michael Buffer) LETS GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEE!

Oh, and watch out for thumbtacks, florescent lights, and exploding barbwire.
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Weather you wish to admit it or not, the Playstation installments of the Final Fantasy series, particularly VII and VIII, marked a major turning point in console role playing games. Up until then, role playing games were only enjoyed by a niche but dedicated audience. What they lacked in graphics, their epic stories made up for a thousandfold. Final Fantasy VII introduced 3-d polygon models, fully rendered cinematics, and graphics that were as epic in scale as the game’s storyline itself. Squaresoft had clearly outdone itself, and in 1999, it was tasked with having to following it up. Released in America on the same day as the Sega Dreamcast, Final Fantasy VIII managed to not only surpass the scale of FFVII, but it managed to set a new standard for role playing games. Despite its critical acclaim amongst gaming media outlets and fans alike, many purists don’t think too highly of this entry in the series. For the life of me I don’t see why, because next to Final Fantasy Tactics, this is arguably the best PS1 Final Fantasy game. In fact, it stands alongside Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 2 as one of the greatest PS1 games of all time, and it’s also one of the finest console role playing games ever.

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During the mid-90s, Michael Crichton’s novel about the perils of genetic manipulation and dinosaurs was rising in popularity. A movie had just been released, and the obligatory marketing blitz soon followed. There were action figures, comic books, lunch boxes, and of course video games. Games based on the original movie have been released on various Nintendo and Sega platforms, including Sega’s Genesis side-scroller (in which players can choose to play as either Dr. Alan Grant or a raptor) and Ocean’s SNES top-down/FPS hybrid. With the success of these video games and the popularity of the source material, there were bound to be sequels. However, with no movie sequel at the time, developers took liberties with the franchise when creating new projects.
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This past week was Thanksgiving, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Friends and family for being in your corner, Butterball and a bunch of dead turkeys for supplying dinner, and the staff at Powet for giving you the latest news, insights, and info. Castlevania fans have Konami to thank for finally releasing Dracula X over here, and they also have Sindra to thank for letting us know how awesome it was as seen below. Gamers on a budget have me to thank for giving them the lowdown on cheap games. Most importantly, the citizens of Metro City have Mike Haggar and his friends to thank for keeping the peace, and beat-em-up fans have Capcom to thank for allowing them to witness his adventures first hand, by way of the Final Fight series.
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