I love a good crossover as much as the next man, but things have been getting way, way, way out of hand lately. Come on now, Solid Snake in Smash Brothers Brawl? Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe? Yoda, Darth Vader, and that guy from The Force Unleashed in SoulCalibur 4? Capcom vs Tatsunoko? X-men and, well, any character from the Top Cow universe? As exciting as many of these either are or could be, this is border lining on ridiculous. Of course zany crossovers are nothing new, especially in gaming. One of them was this beat-em-up classic, which paired together Rare’s Battletoads with Technos Japan’s Lee brothers. Besides the fact that both franchises had home games which were at one time published by Tradewest (who published this game), there was no real connection between the two. Beside a few key flaws here and these, this is mindless beat-em-up fun.

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Today is the 4th of July, where America celebrates its independence. There are few things that symbolize America more than the defenders of the old west, the cowboy. Okay, there is apple pie, but to my knowledge, there haven’t been many video games made about apple pie. Anyway, in honor of America’s birthday, this week’s $20 GOTW and Lost Classics will take a special look at some classic 8 and 16-bit games taking place in the wild wild west. So saddle on up, and mosey on down to your favorite game shop and seek out these games pardner!
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With Metal Gear Solid 4 having hit stores earlier this month, we took a look at Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel, which was a Metal Gear game set outside of series continuity. This week’s lost classic will take a look back at another non-canon Metal Gear game. Snake’s Revenge, developed for the NES by Konami under its Ultra Games label, can be considered the red-haired stepchild of the Metal Gear franchise. It was developed without the involvement of series creator Hideo Kojima. After the original Metal Gear was successful in the U.S., Konami commissioned its developers to create a sequel. After meeting one of the developers and being told that Snake’s Revenge wasn’t meant to be a true Metal Gear game, Kojima was inspired to create the true sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Surprisingly, despite hating the NES Metal Gear game, Kojima has stated that he likes Snake’s Revenge, saying that it’s in the spirit of the Metal Gear series. If one gives this game a shot, then it’s easy to see why.

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Good News: Nintendo Power has confirmed that Mega Man 9 is not only a reality, but coming to WiiWare as a retro-awesome throwback to the NES days. The BBPS has scans straight out of the magazine showing the series has abandoned all Zs and Xs and visual upgrades.
But lets dial back a bit: The original leak from the Austrailian ratings board a month or so ago said Mega Man 9 had been rated as a “multiplatform” title. Capcom’s comment? “NP only has part of the story. More to be learned later.” Capcom’s hearty support of Microsoft and Sony’s download services with Street Fight HD Remix, Wold Of The Battlefield, and Bionic Commando suggest they’re not above sharing this with all consoles.
I suppose you want to know who the new robot masters are and I’ll tell you: Magma Man, Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Concrete Man, Hornet Man, Plug Man, Tornado Man, and Splash Woman.
I just hope the music is up to par.

A few months ago, I did a special on the first half of the Final Fantasy series, where I briefly touched upon this iteration of the series. With Final Fantasy IV hitting the Nintendo DS shortly (as evidenced by aDam’s video review of it below), hardcore FF fans will want to check out its predecessor as soon as possible. This remake is the first and only international release of Final Fantasy 3. It blends together what made the original version of the game unique with some new innovations that help keep it fresh for today’s gaming audience.
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Tecmo’s Team Ninja is bringing the highly anticipated Ninja Gaiden 2 to Xbox 360 very soon. What better way to celebrate than to take a look back to the very beginning, when Ninja Gaiden was at the peak of its popularity on the 8-bit Nintendo? Even back then, Ninja Gaiden was known for its cutting-edge action gameplay, catchy music, and punishing difficulty. After three well-received games on the NES, a game boy spin off , various Sega-developed games featuring the title, and a Super Nintendo compilation pack of the three NES games, the most we would ever see of the series would be Ryu Hayabusa’s appearance among the cast of the Dead or Alive series. When the Xbox was nearing its release, one of the games announced for it was Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden, an all new game unrelated to any previous game in the series. It would finally see a release in 2004, and became as much of a favorite among Xbox players as the originals had been among Nintendo players. The Xbox game took what was awesome about the NES games and bought it into 3-d. As a nod back to it’s past, it even included the three NES games as unlockables. Lets take a look now at this franchise’s 8-bit roots.

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This is the sequel to Capcom’s Rival Schools: United by Fate, one of the most underrated 3-d fighting games ever. Before Bully, Rival Schools and Project Justice made use of a high school setting, risking post some serious post-Columbine controversy. Thankfully, there was no big uproar, as the game was off-beat and hilarious instead of simply being violent. It made use of the same unique gameplay as its predecessor, and its presentation made served to make it one of the most unique fighting games available.
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Read more at The Daily Page: Going old school at the 2008 Midwest Gaming Classic

See also
midwestgamingclassic.com
www.twingalaxies.com