Mortal Kombat caused a huge shakeup in the fighting game genre. MK stood in direct opposition to Capcom and SNK with its button tap friendly, yet accessible special moves and combos in contrast to the complicated joystick motions of Fatal Fury and Street Fighter. Although the character designs were simple, they had well developed backgrounds, making the game’s backstory more fleshed out than the usual “some guy wants to know who the world’s strongest fighter is so he holds a tournament” story we see in 90% of fighting games at the time. The game also featured digitized actors with motion capturing. While it looks incredibly cheesy by today’s standards, it gave the game an unprecedented level of realism for its time. Oh, and there was one other big thing about it…oh yeah, that’s right, the blood. Punches and kicks drew blood, bodies were decapitated, hearts were pulled from chests as they were still beating, spines were ripped out, parents everywhere had fits, and politicians sensed opportunity.

Like many big gaming movements before and after MK, many games sought to imitate what made it special. Rather than presenting gamers with an equally accessible play control scheme or fully fleshed out characters, the companies decided to concentrate on the gore. As a result, we got games such as Incredible Technologies/Strata’s (keep these names in mind as they will come up again later on in the article) Time Killers and the 3DO ‘classic’, Way of the Warrior. While the latter game at least went the extra mile to use digitized actors, the play control and character designs of both games were so bad, that they actually rank among the greatest games of all time (albeit for all the wrong reasons). There were good games that used blood as a selling point as well. Eternal Champions, or rather its Sega CD iteration contained lots of hidden secrets, as well as a fighting game based on real-life styles that was more akin to Street Fighter than Mortal Kombat. Primal Rage set itself apart by not only featuring Dinosaurs and prehistoric apes as its characters, but by having a unique style of control motions that had players holding down the attack buttons while entering the motions. One game that stands in the middle is Strata/IT/Chun Soft’s Bloodstorm. While the play control and character designs leave a bit to be desired, it featured some unique gameplay mechanics which would have made it a classic had they been developed further.

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Remember to add PowetTV to your Xbox Live Friends List to find us December 28 Game Night! Look for me (FakeTrout) online and either take me down or save me from an execution, and I’ll reward you with the unlock code for a Gold Hammerburst!

Although this game was a flop in terms of sales, its clever gameplay, awesome musical score, bright atmosphere, zany characters, and deep storyline have seen this game earn itself cult status amongst fans, as well as high praise amongst reviewers and gaming critics. It was created by Michael Ancel, who also created the Rayman series. It was because of this game that movie director Peter Jackson handpicked him to develop the video game tie-in to his remake of King Kong. Players take the role of Jade, a female photojournalist. Using her camera, she and her pig-uncle Pey’j earn a living anyway they can until one day, when they get caught in a conspiracy involving mysterious alien creatures, government manipulation, and a resistance group.

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So we have another teaser trailer for the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum game due out next summer. This one shows a bit more of the graphics and characters that will be featured in the game, including some nice shots of Killer Croc. If you haven’t heard already, both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are voicing Batman and Joker respectively, which is a huge shout-out to fans of the animated series.

Keep checking Powet for more info and trailers of Arkham Asylum as they are released.

Game looks GREAT, but the editing of the trailer is a little annoying. Bill Murray’s subtle delivery is kinda drowned out by the louder music and effects.

Atari grabbed Ghostbusters after Activision dropped it. Here’s hoping the new publisher and the delay will make for a better game.

It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving, a.k.a. “Cyber Monday”. As if we didn’t get enough shopping done on “Black Friday”, now there is an online holiday shopping rush. Now it seems we have another opportunity for some early X-mas shopping. Well be that as it may, now that your turkey is digested, I got this week’s $20 Game of The Week for you. You don’t have to wake up early for this one. Also, I got two lost classics this week, so there is no shortage of leftovers either. This week, you’ll get a remake of a classic, a classic remake, and a game that should have been a classic. So click after the jump and be thankful for Powet.tv.
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Remember when Nintendo released Zelda II: The Adventure of Link? Its side scrolling gameplay was and still is a radical departure from the series. The most we would see of another 2-d Zelda are the crapfest CD-I entries, but the less said about them, the better. However, Y’s III, Wanderers from Y’s is pretty close to what another 2-D Zelda would be like. Ironically, Y’s III itself is a departure from its norm, as all prior and subsequent entries are from the top-down perspective (in fact, a 2005 Windows remake of the game is done with an over the top view with a 3-d graphics engine).

The game once again puts players in the role of series hero Adol Christin, as he and his friend Dogi visit Dogi’s hometown of Redmont. Seems some strange things are happening there, and Adol takes it upon himself to investigate. Before long, he gets mixed up in something involving monsters, demons, and such. Unlike the previous entries, this is a platformer with RPG elements. You now have to press a button to swing your sword (as opposed to just running into enemies like in the first two entries), and there is some typical platform jumping. Along with gaining levels, you can equip several rings which grant special powers. Cool boss battles, catchy music, large areas, and an interesting storyline round out the package. Y’s III was ported to several systems at the time of its release, but its most well known port in the United States is the Super Nintendo version, which was released shortly after the system’s launch. Hopefully this should show up on the virtual console in the near future, as Y’s Book I & II, (the Turbografx-16 port of the first two games) is already available on the service.

In another kick-back to the beauty of retro gaming, I was called to the attention of a interesting little pocket of nostalgic gold not too long ago – a quaint little album of independently-created fan covers of Sega Genesis music.

LOSER: A Sega Genesis Tribute Album is a collection of fan-made tracks from several of the popular games from the 16-bit era that graced the Genesis console. A wide range of classic and not-so-classic game music from several Genesis games are covered on the album, from the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Ecco The Dolphin, Golden Axe, and even John Madden Football. Arrangements come in all sorts of flavors, from totally remastered melodies to those barely above chiptune-level.

Granted, while I may not agree that the Genesis was a “loser” in the 16-bit war of the 1990’s, I do appreciate the fact that a few brave souls managed to gather together to give the console its proper due – even if their choice of titling sucks.

Check out the album – LOSER Website