BlackKnight

Speaking of forsaken, I live in the heaven-forsaken PAL territory of Australia and ... just.. damn... its been hell finding some games- most arent even released here. Luckily, in the last two years Ive been old enough to apply for credit cards and go internet hunting, but back in the day these were the ones I searched for. FOUND... Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars (Master System) - Used to rent this a lot back in the day- was only recently able to come into possession of a cartridge of it. good times. Monster World IV (Mega Drive) - Japan release only. I love the Wonder Boy / Monster World series and was sad it never got released overseas. Until i managed to get my hands on an old cart of it (very recently ), I had been using emulators :/. Armored Core Series (PlayStation 1/2) - 2 of the PS1 installments were NTSC-only, and the last of the PS2 series only saw release last October- more than 2 and 3 years late in some cases. SEARCHING FOR... Warzard (arcade I guess?) - Well this game doesnt exist for any home systems as most people know... Id settle for an arcade somewhere that I could sink coins into but the chances of seeing it anywhere are pretty much 0%. Ive never even seen a GGXX machine in Sydney. Fingers crossed for Capcom Classics 3 eh? Sonic 2 (Master System) - Another one like Alex I played to death... havnt caught up with a copy of this yet though. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Mega Drive) - I didnt like puzzle games when I was young. Now the Puyo Puyo series is one of my favourites- funny story about Dr. R's machine though. I spent more time playing this on Gens with my classmates during my Software Design & Development course in high school than studying or anything. For that reason i feel like I owe it to myself to get a real copy of it someday. Golden Axe 3 (Mega Drive) - Another one of those Japan-only games. I doubt Ill ever see a cartridge of it but Im not fussed. Was a sh!t game anyway. Mortal Kombat II (PS1) - Anyone have a copy of this? Ive always just wanted one for the sake of having it. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1) - I am currently without a cd of this. A biatch friend stole mine- whats worse is that it was a first edition PAL print that I got as a gift. Currently in search but the prices on eBay and elsewhere are insane.. let alone for PAL versions. Street Fighter III: Double Impact (Dreamcast) - Would be nice to have an original GD of this. Played it to death already... having it would just be for the collection. Not technically games but... Street Fighter Anniversary Edition Strategy Guide by Bradygames. Its apparently a really good guide. Never read it though seeing as aforemented game it was based on never saw release here DTL-T10000 PS2 Devkit. $25k? Who cares.. I want a giant PS2.

Bomberman Online Crazy Taxi 1 & 2 Ecco - Defender of the Future Ikaruga Power Stone 1 & 2 Puyo Puyo Fever Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 Space Channel 5 Part 2 TechRomancer Under Defeat Zero Gunner 2

Is it that inconceivable that there could be emulation involved? Not even with parts of the data preprocessed? Some things I noticed- If it is just a port, why does it retain the two 'press start' splash screens, or the 'free play' sign when the PS2 port didn't? That much is aesthetic but there is also slowdown in this version is more severe in places than the PS2's, which would likely be something you'd iron when doing a port, right? Additionally, the 'accept' button in-game is mapped to whatever button you assigned to shoot- not the traditional X or O (as in the PS2 version and the other games). Finally, when you have a title consisting of easily-emulated games, why add the extra headache of adding another title that you'd actually have to port all at the last minute?

That is some professional looking pixel art... just looking at it makes me wish it were going to be higher res. Just gorgeous. Well done to Thaddeus- Ill look forward to trying this out.

Yeh all the NeoGeo Online Collection releases are basically just good old NeoGeo emulation. The interesting thing with this though, and with the Samurai Spirits Collection they are releasing this year, is that both have Atomiswave games. The way Sony's official PS1 emulator was so quickly unpacked and reverse engineered makes me hope that MS6 and SST will eventually pave the way to real Atomiswave emulation.

It is very disappointing... As it turns out the game is actually composed of one archive containing standard NeoGeo roms for MS1-5, and presumably an Atomiswave dump for 6. How cheap is that? Also something I forgot to note in the review- there isn't even the option to save states for MS6. Its almost laughable.

[2/4/06] Metal Slug Anthology for PlayStation Portable Game: Metal Slug Anthology System: PlayStation Portable (also PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii) Emulators: None (Metal Slug 1-5 arcade versions can be played on MAME, FinalBurn Alpha, Kawaks & Nebula) The original Metal Slug (MS) was a side-scrolling shooter released by SNK in 1996 for its NeoGeo platform, already well known primarily for the fighting games Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters. While one of the later franchises established for the system, the Metal Slug series has as great a following as the aforementioned titles due to its fast-paced, chaotic gameplay, its charming art-direction and the fact that each installment (at least until Metal Slug 4) pushed the hardware of the NeoGeo to its limits. Metal Slug Anthology (MSA) assembles the 6 NeoGeo Metal Slug games (1,2,X,3,4&5) for the first time on one disc to mark the series 10th anniversary in 2006. Although numerous (10, no joke) delays caused the game to overshoot this milestone, it makes up for it with an extra draw. It contains the first version to be released outside Japan of Metal Slug 6, the series' latest entry, originally developed for the more powerful Atomiswave platform. When the collection was released last December for the Nintendo Wii, however, the ports were compromised by everything for graphical errors to downsampled or nonexistent sound effects. So how does this title, only just released in Europe and yet to hit US and Australasian shores, fare? Well, if you are worried that the PSP version maybe plagued by the same errors as its Wii counterpart, or because Metal Slug, a 2D game, may not have aged gracefully over the last 10 years, don't be. I wish I could leave it at that, but unfortunately this collection is marred by issues all its own and, overall, is ultimately a disappointment. In the beginning, the series was something of a quircky shooter set in a World War II-esque scenario. MS1 saw Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving battle the evil army of General Morden- the links between whom and a certain German authoritarian could be drawn by any grade school flunkee. While Morden was set to remain an antagonist in most of the games, they gradually branched out in more bizarre directions. MS3, for example, often cited as the high point of the series, featured zombies, mutant crabs and ultimately battle inside an alien mothership. The titular 'Metal Slug' is in fact a strangely agile vehicle that takes many forms- originally a standard tank, 'Slugs' that fly, venture underwater, and walk are all available to ride. If those aren't odd enough, you can also ride camels, ostriches and donkeys and wield weapons as banal as the 'Heavy Machine Gun' or as laughable as the 'Iron Lizard'- a tiny anthropomorphic rocket with wheels that falls to the ground and smiles as it rushes toward enemies. Crazy huh? Despite all this, the ridiculousness of Metal Slug conceals a deviously addictive and insanely difficult game. Human enemies take one shot to drop. Considering a Heavy Machine Gun fires off 3-5 shots with each button press and you get 200 ammo per pick-up, you'll be taking down a considerable amount of chaff during your missions. The flipside is that you only take one shot to kill aswell. After playing through Mission 1 of Metal Slug 1 this might not seem that intimidating but do not be fooled. There are many situations where you are swarmed by enemy gunfire and you'll get the feeling more than once that there was nothing you could have done to avoid dying. This makes a Metal Slug session a symphony of adrenaline and frustration. Don't worry though- you'll never end up throwing the controller (in this case the $400 PSP). It is no secret that the game requires planning as well as cat-like reflexes to get through, but it is certainly not impossible. The difficulty is stymied somewhat by the fact that you have infinite credits to finish the games with. Considering it will likely take you at least 20 to a game the first time, the fact that dying so many times would have translated to a heavy monetary penalty at the arcade will be largely lost on most players of MSA. To be clear, these are HARD games. However the gameplay is ultimately addictive and a profound feeling of satisfacition will overtake you when you manage to finally manage to finish one of them on your first credit. Luckily the PSP version's controls are fit to the task. Unlike the Wii which strangely prohibits use of a d-pad and buttons for all actions (why, oh why?), the PlayStation Portable's sensitive buttons mean taking down that boss fast enough will never be a problem because you weren't as good at flicking a Wiimote like a retard as the game would like you to be. All three main actions (shoot, jump and throw grenade) will map easily to the face buttons of your PSP. In the main menu, the responsiveness to the controls is surprisingly laggy, but this is a minor gripe. The only real irritation might be having to use the shoulders to pull off Ralf and Clark's special attacks in Metal Slug 6. You need to map one button for the special move, and one for switching weapons in addition to the core 3 (I always use the triangle button for switching, which leaves the special to L or R). Speaking of Metal Slug 6, it will definately stand out amongst the others. Unless you managed to get a hold of the Japanese import for the PlayStation 2, this will likely be your first outing with the new game. The previous NeoGeo games were all built around the same engine, slightly tweaked each time. While the art may have varied between games, the overall look did not. With the exception of new weapons and slugs along the way as well as the poorly-recieved slide move in MS5, the games felt the same as well. Even though Fio, Eri, Trevor and Nadia join Marco and Tarma at various points across the first 6 games, they all play effectively the same way. As mentioned, MS6 was the last of a brief 5-game stint SNK had on the Atomiswave hardware in 2005-2006. As such, while keeping many of the same sprites from previous entries, MS6 sees them all upscaled and accompanied by new higher resolution and more varied mission backgrounds and landscapes. It also makes core gameplay changes for the first time in the series' history. First off, you can now store up to 2 weapons and switch between them mid-battle. Secondly, Ralf and Clark from Ikari Warriors and The King of Fighters join the cast, to total 5 playable characters for the first time in a Metal Slug. More importantly, each character for the first time is given unique characteristics. Marco's default weapons do more damage. Tarma does more damage when in Slugs and is able to lock the Vulcan Cannon on them in place while moving. Fio packs a Heavy Machine Gun by default and gets more ammo from pick-ups. Eri can aim grenades and stocks twice as many. The Ikari Warriors will force you to play the game most differently though. Ralf only picks up half as much ammo as others. However, he has a special attack that can heavily damage enemy troops, and even vehicles, up close. His melee attack style is supplemented by the fact that he takes 2 hits to kill- that's right. This can make the game a lot easier, in theory. Clark also packs his Argentine Spinebreaker, which is basically a throw executed against one enemy during which you are invincible. I mention the changes in MS6 at length because, as I said, this game will be new to most people and is a major draw for the Anthology. I consider, however, the changes to be mostly for the worse and make the game feel slower and more boring than its predecessors. The weapon change feature, while novel has 2 important consequences. Switching between weapons causes you to stop and think more often, robbing the game of its frantic 'run n' gun' feeling. This is compounded by the fact that weapon pick-ups are far less plentiful in 6 and that there is a focus on conservation of ammo right from Mission 1. More often then not you will find yourself against a bunch of enemies or even a boss and, unless you picked Fio or Ralf, you'll be plugging away at them with your handgun. While it may be argued that these changes encourage thinking what you are about to do beforehand, I reckon the system is ust plain not fun the way it is. A little tweaking, and maybe things will change. My 2 cents. Graphics- and sound-wise MS6 floors every other game. It does not have the variety of MS3 but it almost has the length. The music is also composed mostly of remixes from the series and are for the most part memorable- they do get stuck in your head. Which brings me to the presentation of Metal Slug Anthology. I've spent half this review talking up the franchise because honestly the strength of the original titles is the only redeeming quality of this collection. It fails in almost every other area. Firstly graphics and sound- I immediately set the video to take up the full screen (480x272) as soon as I got to the main menu. Big mistake. When playing in the full 16:9 ratio, the Metal Slug games 1 to 5 look terrible. Where Street Fighter Alpha3 Max's 2D sprites really came to life on the PSP's LCD, Metal Slug's look horrid- far more blurry than you would expect. Also, unlike SNK's other recent ports, MSA lacks any graphics-tweaking options whatsoever. There is no 'filter' and no soft focus. Not that those things would necessarily have made a huge improvement, but they would have been a show of good faith at least. To its credit, MS6's higher resolution is definately noticable when playing full-screen. Still, when playing in 4:3 or even in the NeoGeo native resolution (304x224), the unseemly black border around the image is very prominent. Wallpapers to help conceal this have to be unlocked. Sound is pretty much perfect emulation. However the music has undeniably aged poorly- it too sounds just plain 'blurry'. MSA would definately would have benefitted from an arranged soundtrack which is, again, a mainstay of SNK home ports but curiously missing here. Sound effects are mostly intact with the exception of MS6. That game's sound, having played the PS2 version, is definately downsampled, like the Wii version's. No effects were missing but some were obviously different sounds altogether- gunfire and the sound of tanks being hit sound nothing like the originals. I am sad to reiterate that it still has the best AV out of all the games presented. There is more to presentation though. Since it is billed as a celebration of Metal Slug's 10th anniversary, the Anthology should by rights have a few, if not a host of, cheesy extras. Again, MSA fails to deliver. The only really new thing here is a (IMHO) boring interview. Did I mention it was a text transcript and not a video? A pathetic effort. Most of the unlockable art and music are copied straight from the PS2 port of MS6. Not a bad thing, to be sure, but consider that all the extras from each other game's home ports has been discarded. Even worse than that- the menus from each game have been chucked as well. What you are left with is a bunch of white text on black background options after you leave the first game selection screen. 'New Game' and 'Load Game' are all that after firing up Metal Slug X. Underwhelming? Very. The icing on the cake, I have to say, is the fact that there is no level select, even once you've finished the games. Not only that, but you can only save one state. If you were hoping to be able to replay MS3's Mission 4 or 5 at your leisure, think again. At this point I feel I should be honest with you all. I love Metal Slug to death. I think hearing 'Rocket Lawncherr' being yelled is one of the highlights of gaming. I also think that Metal Slug is exactly the kind of game for the PSP- fun frantic stuff that looks nice, is hard as all hell and can be played and fully enjoyed in short bursts. So here's the thing- Metal Slug Anthology really isn't any of those things. As much as it pains me to deliver such a scathing review, as a compilation, this is just poor. It doesn't look particularly nice on screen. The sound could use a lot of work. It is a still a difficult game, true but playing each from the beginning each time you want to start will certainly drill the first Mission in each game deep into your head long before you see everything the later Missions have to offer. This design, coincidentally, is not as conducive to on-the-go gameplay either. What you have is essentially a bunch of glorified emulation- no frills and hardly any extra features. The tacky and laggy menu system seals the coffin. As a celebration of this great series' 10th anniversary, Metal Slug Anthology fails. Some months back I would have said to get it anyway since it would have been the only avenue to playing Metal Slug on the PlayStation Portable. However, since then, NJ's delightful MVS2PSP emulator has been able to offer most of the games with the additional feature of being able to save multiple states, enabling you to recreate a makeshift level select, all at fullspeed mind you. The ridiculous amount of delays brings in to question what, if anything, SNKPlaymore or distributor Ignition did with their time. As it stands this collection is only worth it if you do not have a homebrew capable PSP (but why shouldn't you?) and to play Metal Slug 6. Even then, as far as MS6 is concerned, there is a lot more to get out of the PlayStation 2 version. Controls: 8/10 Gameplay: 8/10 Graphics: 5/10 Sound: 3/10 Overall Score: 6/10 Grade: D Overall I give Metal Slug 2 thumbs up, but this particular compilation 2 thumbs down.

The kind of shady places that install mod chips or sell stuff like swap magic. Usually you can only find them by checking the local classifieds for mod chips.

Nigga what? Dumbass Texans.

Castlevania Rondo of Blood, AND Symphony of the Night AND a 3D remake??? Oath, I would have paid top dollar for each one of those by themselves. Ive always wanted a Rondo + Symphony collection though and the remake seals the deal. There is no way in hell I wont pick this up right away, and yeh it would be a reason for me to get a PSP if I didnt already have one. Wish there were more games as enticing.

Yeh Im sorry to hear about this, Mooney. There are places around here (Sydney) which will open up and reflash PSPs for $30AUD. I figure if there are places like that here there must be some in the States as well. Its a lot cheaper and less complicated than installing UP (although that is what they use to reflash). Whatever you end up doing, hope you can get it working again.

What happens when you hold down R during start up?

I have faith that it will be pretty optimised. Taking the UT2003 example I mentioned before- it was impossible to max when it came out, but at the point where I had a system that could run it smoothly, it ran a LOT more smoothly than other shooters that looked worse. Unreal Engines have been pretty good in that sense.

So it will still look awesome in 3 years. I guess. I dont like that either though. I remember how hard UT2003 raped my GeForce 2 MX back in the day... And yeh wtf is up with Necris now being monsters? Oh well.. at least repeating the intro from UT99 was a nice touch.. got me all nostalgic.

Did you get the recovery menu to load?

Mooney- if you got through writing the 1.50 subset without problems, you should be able to access the recovery console. Hold R1 while cold booting up the PSP. It should work since that 1.50 section finished. Just put the OECflasher eboot at ms0:/PSP/GAME/RECOVERY/EBOOT.PBP and you should be able to run the updater and get it back working with OEC installed from the recovery menu itself. Youll still need the proper DATA.DXAR to be in that folder- if you need it just PM me.

I tried to get into this but couldnt get past the first few missions after you meet Campbell and are rounding up random guys... it takes so long to drag people to the van... th viewing angles aint great... the scenery is just boring. It kills me, since I know its going to get better and I am honestly dieing to know what happens. Damn lack of perseverence / focus / direction / attention span On the other hand, I have been playing old King of Fighters lately as well as Metal Slug 6 and Samurai Spirits Tenka. Hopefully therell be KoF XI on shelves tomorrow. Btw, my interest in the 10-times delayed MS Anthology has all but dissipated now that I can play 6... 10 delays? No joke. SNK Playmore and Ignition really need to get their act together.

Ah 20 days on and I finally have my HD setup going. I ended up getting a pressed version of HD Advance 3.0 and a Maxtor IDE HDD. The tough part was getting hold of a Network Adaptor... I got a new / sealed one but couldnt avoid paying more than Id have liked for it. :/ But whatever now everything runs perfectly.. imports work.. load times are non-existant and I can just keep stacking the games onto the HDD. Thanks again to everyone that offered help- wouldnt have had the nerve to track down all these obscure (and expensive) components otherwise.

Not really. Most everything runs fullspeed now- Mega Drive / Genesis certainly does. Even NeoGeo and CPS2 emulators do. The only thing I consistantly cant get to work well is SNES, and even then thats only some games (Yoshi's Island, Killer Instinct) that use those special Super8 or whatever chips. Dark_AleX's custom firmwares (2.71 SE, 3.02 OE, 3.03 OE) allow you to load PSP ISOs from the XMB (the home menu of the PSP). I'd say generally PSP ISOs are around 300 to 700 MB, some are bigger, some are smaller. 2GB memory sticks aren't that expensive, either. I think you can get them for under $50 USD nowadays. All hypothetically speaking, if you were to have, say, 3.03 OE, and you happened to have a 2GB stick... You could fit Puyo Pop Fever, Street Fighter Alpha3 and Sonic Rivals for less than 300MB all up. They live on my stick all the time. As Mooney said sizes can vary but most are reasonable. It is definately not cheaper to buy the game than to get a memory stick, but remember that games come in pretty boxes and are usually always worth buying. Just a shame that there arent really that many PSP games I would say are 'worth buying'.

2007 is gonna be Final Fantasy season for the PSP, if youre into that. Crisis Core, then The Lion War then anniversary editions of FFI & II. Apart from those, there are still the rumoured Soulcalibur, Gran Turismo and Devil May Cry PSP versions. Metal Slug has been delayed for the 11th time :/ to March. Silent Hill is set for a Q3 release and Castlevania Rondo of Blood is rumoured. But hey, yeh, I agree. The PSP is going through a really long drought of releases. That is really what's killing the system.

Incredible how things go these days. Turns out 3.0 wasnt the uncrackable firmware series everyone thought it would be. However, as this is from Noobz (nothing against them) and since it says things could break if you re-upgraded to 3.03, I wouldn't use it. Maybe wait for a better one...

I was about to be a jerk and say this was really old like they always do at srk but it turns out I've never even seen the first Raiden vs Ken one myself :/

I first heard of Papoose when he joined in on Busta Rhymes' mega remix of 'Touch It' along with a bunch of other artists I'd never heard of. Didn't realise he was a serious fellow, but I liked the odd-sounding name. Curiously enough the term 'papoose' means a baby red indian. Wtf?

I like the sound of this. I have a fondness for the Unreal engines and can't wait to see Square titles join the wave of UE3 games on the horizon.

Nah, its just a visual style with Object Dock.