Capcom Vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 (Arcade, 2001)

 

In Japan, this game is called "Millionaire Battle 2001". Weird, most of these characters don't seem like millionaires. I'd be surprised if Terry Bogard is a thousand-aire, guy seems like he's barely scraping by. Released a year after the other one, this is a huge improvement much like Marvel vs Capcom 2 was over the previous game.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Playstation 2, 2001)

 

With an MGS3 remake coming up and me having done posts for MGS1/4/5 in the past, it seemed like an appopriate time to fill in the other missing one. This game was pretty divisive in its day, but it holds a lot of nostalgia for folks who grew up with it. I always liked this one, and thought it was WAY ahead of its time.

As for why it was divisive... having Raiden take over as the main character was a terrible idea, like selling drugs in the hood without the CIA's permission.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit (Game Boy Advance, 2001)

Next up is the series' jump to portables. This is basically Super Mario Kart 2 in every respect, from the visuals to the track-list. The usual suspects return, and everyone's ready for another round of kart mayhem. Except for Koopa Troopa, who is still out of a job. Thanks, Wario. Thanks a lot.

Originally Posted July 2016

Castlevania - Circle of the Moon (Game Boy Advance, 2001)

 

Four years after Symphony of the Night, we got a sequel of sorts. This is the next "Metroidvania" in the series. It doesn't measure up to its predecessor very well at all, but it's still a pretty good game. This also kicked off the series' second golden era (the first being their 16-bit triumphs). It's the first of a Game Boy Advance trilogy of Metroidvanias that was immediately followed by a DS trilogy. They're all good (though some much more than others). A few bullet points first off:

-This was a Game Boy Advance launch game. I totally missed out on that era myself, but it's pretty awesome that people got this as a launch game.

-The European version was just called "Castlevania" which is kind of funny. Made it look like (yet another) remake of the first one.

-Koji Igarashi didn't work on this at all, and later kind of disavowed it as not being canon. He was back for the next one, Harmony of Dissonance, to "fix" things. IMO that game is the weakest of the six GBA/DS Metroidvanias, though, so not much fixing went on. This game is easily the second-weakest, with the other four being well above the first two.

-Playing this on the PS4 Castlevania Advance Collection which is a pretty nice value (and again, means I'm not forced to emulate, so I'm glad they're making an effort to re-release these things). That said, the GBA trilogy found on said collection is much easier TO emulate or even buy than the now-rare DS trilogy that followed it, so I was really hoping they would do a second collection with the DS trilogy. No such luck. Where's the DS trilogy, Konami?

Castlevania Chronicles (Sharp ZX68000, 1993 / Playstation 1, 2001)

 

This is the 4th out of the five 'Vanias that I wanted to play for Halloween. I got to two of them at the time, Kid Dracula was the 3rd.

I'm playing the PS1 version (which is $6 to download on PS3 and well worth that). That said, technically this game actually came out in 1993 on the Sharp ZX68000, a system I've never heard of and chances are you've never heard of either outside of when people are talking about this game. The ZX was more of a computer than a console, and got a few revisions/updates between 1987 and 1993. 

The system also only got released in Japan, so most people didn't get to play this game until it got a PS1 port in 2001. That's right, this series got four different huge games on four different systems in the early-mid 90's. It was everywhere! Though this is probably the least by a good margin of the Rondo / Castlevania IV / Bloodlines grouping, I still had to check it out.

Before anything else I'd like to pour one out for the Electronic Entertainment Expo. RIP E3. It now joins its fallen brothers E1 and E2. That's right, Expo and Entertainment Expo.

Portable Mortal Kombats, Part Two

 

More forgotten ports: Mortal Kombat 3 for Game Boy (!), Mortal Kombat 4 for Game Boy Color (!!), Deadly Alliance + Tournament Edition for GBA, and the only game I remember EGM ever giving a zero to: Mortal Kombat Advance. Why am I doing this to myself?

Judgement Silversword (Wonderswan Color, 2001)

 

Wonderswan Color gets on the board with this shockingly good space shooter. Shockingly good for a portable system from the Game Boy Color era, that is. I don't know how they were able to get this game to play as well as it does with zero slowdown considering the massive number of moving objects onscreen at any given time. It's safe to say the Wonderswan Color was a really impressive portable and it's too bad we never got it in the states. In any case, this game will float you a few hundred dollars on eBay, or you could just download the ROM and actually have a shot at beating the game due to save states. Because this game is ludicrously hard. There's also a Steam version for like $20, but no states so good luck. It sure does play well, despite its near-impossibility.

Mega Man Xtreme 2 (Game Boy Color, 2001)

 

Xtreme 2: It's 2-xtreme, like The Hardy Boyz. This one seems way harder than the first, which was already pretty hard. Also, this one doesn't work on an original Game Boy like the first did.

Mega Man X6 Playthrough

More Mega Man videos as I replay one of the worst games. Why do this to myself a second time? I don't know.

Rez (Playstation 2, 2001)

Rez is an amazing and little-known PS2 game. It's the predecessor to Child of Eden on the PS3/360. Unfortunately, the series ends there, though it did get a PS4 remaster later on. This is a very unique music-based psychedelic shooter, for lack of a better term. It doesn't really seem to fit into any established genres.

Unfortunately, it's also fairly impossible to play in the original PS2 form. It's somewhat rare as is, and even if you buy a copy, it's one of those purple-disc PS2 games that barely runs right on any of the systems. That was a really common thing in 2001, unfortunately.... but I wonder what RPG Maker 2's excuse was in 2004.

In any case, emulation of this game is surprisingly easy for a PS2 game, barely an inconvenience. This is likely because it came early in the life of the system and isn't graphically advanced as a result. Enough of this extended intro, onward with the game!

Mega Man X6 (Playstation, 2001)

 Hoo boy. Finally got to this one.

Mega Man X5 (Playstation, 2001)

Mega Man X5 is a game that I once considered to be the best game of the X series. ...it isn't. It's far from it. It's also far from the worst, but a number of bone-headed mistakes keep it out of the top tier. Join me as I play the final game in this vaunted seri... what's that? Capcom went behind the series creator's back and made three more after this? Huh. Well, at least they finally wrapped up the storyline with Wily and all that. What? They didn't, and the last two games completely drop the storyline in question? FUUUUUU-
 

Super Smash Bros Melee (Game Cube, 2001)

Fast-forward a mere two years and the series now has Gamecube Intensity. The N64 original was a pretty cool concept, but this is where that concept truly gets realized: The best way to sum up Super Smash Bros Melee is to run up to someone and flying punch them.

Wario Land 4 (Game Boy Advance, 2001)

That's right, it's time for the final game in the esteemed Wario Land series. Aside from the first game - which is a gem from my youth - I didn't enjoy any of these games. Why did I even play them? Because if we don't, the terrorists win.

Pokemon Crystal (Generation II) (Game Boy Color, 2001), Part 1 - Falkner

Now I begin the first of the two generations that I missed entirely. I was so close to getting this (well, the Gold or Silver version) back in 2000, but I simply didn't have room among all the amazing PSX RPGs we were getting at the time.

2000 was a time of wonderment: The economy was good...  the future was actually bright... "The Real Slim Shady" was playing nonstop on MTV... MTV played music...

Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (Game Boy Color, 2001)

Here we go, the other half of the Oracle equation. Ages had to do with the flow of time, while this one has to do with the passing of seasons. Which is also time. Er...

Well, point is, while Ages had you bouncing between past and present, this one has you bouncing between the four seasons (in the present, I guess) to affect your surroundings. So basically, Link can control the weather. Which would be really cool in real life, especially when we just had the hottest month in Earth's history.

While Ages is very difficult and puzzle-heavy, this one is on the easier side and combat-centric. I vastly prefer this game. Seriously, Ages was hard to enjoy. Onward and upward though.

Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (Game Boy Color, 2001)

This game is really something else. It actually surpasses Link's Awakening in a lot of ways and never ceases to be thrilling. That said, it's extremely difficult. I'd go so far as to call it the hardest game in the entire Zelda series. It's difficult and puzzle-centric, while the twin game, Oracle of Seasons, is easier and action-centric. That right there might tell you all you need to know about which of these games is for you. ProTip: Finishing one of the two gives you a password that you can use to start the other game at like a third of max health. If you're planning to play both, I highly advise playing Seasons first so you can take the power boost into the more difficult Ages.

Lufia: The Legend Returns (Game Boy Color, 2001)

Five years after Lufia 2, we finally got the third installment in this series. Originally, this was supposed to be a Playstation 1 game. One can only imagine the possibilities there. It would have likely been much more like the previous games, and perhaps we would have found out what the deal was with Arek. Instead, for various reasons we got a portable Lufia 3 for the Game Boy Color, and... it isn't very good. It certainly isn't at the level of the previous games, though it gets decent enough to be considered passable for a portable RPG.

The system downgrade may have had a negative effect on the design team's inspiration, as the design of this game seems like it was meant for a series gaiden rather than the next numbered installment; the developers even avoided putting a "3" in the official title.

This game takes place a hundred years after Lufia 1, and two hundred years after Lufia 2. Let's get to it.

Gradius Galaxies (Game Boy Advance, 2001)

I've come to the conclusion that Konami shooters are the Final Fantasy of shooters, while Compile shooters like Zanac, Gun Nac, and Aleste are the Dragon Quest of shooters.

Time for a portable (and late-era) entry in the Final Fantasy of shooter serieses. Spoiler Alert: There will be shooting.

Love Hina Games

Love Hina is a Japanese TV show best known for having a male lead who gets victimized regularly for no apparent reason by the women on the show. In other words, Love Hina is atrociously bad. At least, we can presume that much. I don't watch the damn thing. The problem is, they made games based on this infernal show. Women don't play video games, so I'm not sure how the publishers expected to sell any copies. I sat down and spent a few minutes with a pair of these non-gems, which were never released outside of Japan. The results are... unpleasant.