Hi, I'm Dranzerstorm
Welcome to the Video Game & Music Lounge
This world is dedicated to Video Games and Music as I'll be showcasing the following.
Video Game Reviews set to the same tones as Retro Retrospective's Anime Reviews
Music reviews of Anime Openings & Closings
Western Cartoon music
Vocaloid Classics.
We may even have some Top Tens
I hope this World entertains you.
To survive the Video Game market, you need to be the likes of Mario, Sonic, Halo and so on but not everyone can make it, however through sheer tenacity despite not really being mainstream, some still survive against all odds, these ten franchises prove it.
Some ground rules first, the franchise must have a game released on a current generation console or plan to release a game on one in the next year.
Has to have been released in the west.
Also no reboots or compilation packs or spiritual successors.
This list is in order of franchise age.
10. Shantae-2002
The youngest entry on this list, Shantae started on the Gameboy Colour but shot to better acclaim on future consoles in Nintendo evolving perfectly from it's early 2000 era to it's spunky anime design now.
9. Dynasty Warriors-1997
You could argue that Romance of the Three Kingdoms game is older and they'd be right but I've no proof that any of that franchise made it to the west meanwhile Dynasty Warriors hack n slash effort shows no sign of stopping, still bringing the camp.
8. Sakura Wars-1996
Assumed lost among Sega's growing pile of ended franchises only to make a surprise comeback this year with a new instalment headed by Bleach artist Tite Kubo. Honourable mentions to Shenmue and Streets of Rage building a mini Sega comeback.
7. Harvest Moon-1996
Assumed dead after Stardew Valley appeared, it's still going along with it's expansions now dubbed the Story of Seasons franchise but still very much Harvest Moon.
6. Soul Calibur-1995
Another series assumed dead especially after number 5's poor showing and for many years falling out of favour in competitive fighting games but comes back with a sixth instalment back to normal and back among it's peers, honourable mention to SNKs fighting franchises.
5. Jikkyo Powerful Pro Baseball-1994
Despite being a Konami title and largely unknown in the west (did get some release in the west) it's actually one of the best selling sports games of all time sitting short of 21 Million sold.
4. Puyo Pop-1991
With Tetris still hanging around as top puzzler and under pressure from mobile games making big cash off a similar style of colour matching puzzles, it comes as a shock when Puyo Pop returned as an Esports ready title.
3. Leisure Suit Larry-1987
I am shocked this franchise is still going, it's the biggest load of trash you'll ever play with each game being rated abysmally low and is about as out of touch with Modern Values as a senile grandparent. Guess sex still sells.
2. Dragon Quest-1986
Quietly keeps going while Final Fantasy gets all the applause and will likely keep going as long as Akira Toriyama is still going.
1. Kunio Kun-1986
I bet you are wondering what Kunio Kun is?
Well to list a few titles in Western form include Renegade, River City Ransom, plenty of old Nintendo sports titles including Super Dodgeball. Kunio Kun can be credited with popularizing the good hearted delinquent type, he already looks like Kuwabara from Yu Yu Hakusho. But more recently the River City Girls game has appeared along with a planned Kunio game for next year. I only knew about this franchise this year and it's the same age as me.
Post 27 takes my favorite genre of games and showcases the bizarre that comes from it sometimes. This is the Top 10 most bizarre Vehicles in Racing Games.
Try bringing this to Silverstone
10. Construction Equipment from Extreme Rally
A relatively small time racing game from the folks at Neo Geo but out of all the offroad cars you can play as there is an option to play as Construction Vehicles such as cranes.
9. Dreamcast Controller from Sonic & Sega Allstars Racing Transformed
Quite low on the list as it's in a Kart Racing Game but considering the wide range of Sega Characters having an actual Controller to play as is bizarre even by Kart Racing standards, it's other modes include the Afterburner Jet and the Daytona USA Car.
8. Kloona from PS2's MotoGP
MotoGP is the premier class of Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing so racing against Klonoa in an otherwise serious simulation bike racing game leaves a number of racing fans baffled.
7. Javelin Rocket Car from Daytona USA
Daytona USA's Dreamcast release gave us a ton of interesting bonus cars including a Messerschmitt Micro car, a 30s F1 car and the Pace Car but nothing tops Javelin, a land speed record breaking Rocket Car.
6. Pacman and his UFO from Ridge Racer
Because Klonoa in Moto GP wasn't weird enough for Namco, they had to place Pacman into Ridge Racer riding in a UFO of all things.
5. Fishing Boat from Hydro Thunder
Between the Fishing Boat and a miniture Titanic, the Fishing Boat won only because the little dog onboard constantly barks at the other racers and it's the fastest boat in the game.
4. Cows from Super Skidmarks
Codemasters used to have a sense of humor and in the 90s, top down multiplayer game Super Skidmarks allowed you to race as Cows on wheels complete with sunglasses and fluffy dice, it even made the box art.
3. Tank from TOCA Touring Cars
Did I mention Codemasters used to have a sense of humor? TOCA Touring Cars is a relatively serious simulation racer but open the cheat book and you can drive a Tank and shoot the other racers for one of the funniest racing experiences you'll ever see; that along with pinball collisions and watching the AI fail at racing on the stupidly awesome Lavaland Race Circuit.
2. Unicorn Riding Cat from Trials Fusion
This one is so stupidly awesome that it reminds me of the days when Racing games were fun, Trials Fusion definitely didn't disappoint with this one even if it is DLC.
1. Shopping Trolley from Re-Volt
In this racing game you can also race as a UFO, a Clockwork Racing Toy and a Panda on wheels among normal racing cars but it takes a special kind of derp to play as a shopping trolley, keep in mind that this is an RC Racing game where everything is to scale so it's actually physically impossible to do a race with just Shopping Trolleys even on the Supermarket track because the physics on it fail so hard.
When it comes to video game characters and romance you think of the one sided love affairs like Amy and Sonic or the princess chasing Mario trying to find Peach in various castles, but were not looking at sunken ships were looking at canon relationships between two characters and to expand on it properly characters that have their own games.
Namco were the first ones to really do this creating Ms Pac-Man as a female counterpart to Pac-Man, however if were going on narrative the only time these two were even confirmed to be a couple is in the poorly made cartoon in the 80s, while marketed as the wife of Pac-Man the lack of innovation in the day provided very little to work with and Ms Pac-Man is all but written out of the franchise at this point but Namco being a clever gaming company made a proper couple from two of their early games, namely Dig Dug and Baraduke, the protagonists being Taizo Hori and Masuyo Toby respectively.
If your not familiar with Baraduke then here's a quick explanation, in 1985 it was a simple shooter where you fly around on a jetpack and shoot lasers in the hunt for aliens, what you may not know is that the ending showcased protagonist Masuyo Toby as a female when it wasn't clear which gender you were playing to begin with, if this sounds familiar then you've probably played the original Metroid where the same thing happens at the end only Baraduke actually predates Metroid by one year but Metroid argubly is the better remembered of the two games.
Taizo Hori and Masuyo Toby became an official couple as of the game Mr Driller in 1999, considering the ages of their three children we can assume the couple married not long after the events of Baraduke but not only were they gamings first official family, first official married couple they were also gamings first divorce.
That's very surprising; this has been backed up in the Mr Driller franchise that serves as a sequel to Dig Dug and further cemented in Namco X Capcom as the two characters have on screen fights between cut scenes, but both parents are supportive of their three children and are always featured in the Mr Driller continuity.
So that's gamings first canon family and since then other than marriages within single games and endings that feature families as an epilogue, no other video game couple has ever existed since where two different video game protagonists have married and produced a child that had his/her own video game as well.
You know I just realized that Wreck-It Ralph's Calhoun and Fix-It Felix Jr might actually be a homage to Taizo and Masuyo, just hope they don't end up divorced in the sequel and if they do, I called it first.
Sometimes copying popular games can be endearing and these titles definitely had the right idea at the time even if none of them could beat their top rival, to qualify for this list you must have power ups in the game, must have memorable characters and with a couple of exceptions must at least take some elements from Mario Kart.
Honorable Mentions
Nicktoons and Cartoon Network Racers: Both competed for the same crown but largely unmemorable
F1 Race Stars: Worthy attempt from Codemasters using super deformed F1 Drivers but the game physics are severely annoying.
Toy Racer: Spin off game to Toy Commander, too small to be anything significant.
Snowboard Kids: It's snowboarding but it at least it's worthy of mention.
Sonic Drift: Doomed by being a Game Gear exclusive but not bad for a first try.
Bomberman Kart: Forgettable but at least well designed.
Re-Volt: Other than power ups it uses physics too close to actual RC Racing and being sentient cars rather than characters means it can't go on this list but it's worthy of mention.
Vigilante 8 and Twisted Metal: Disqualified by virtue of being a battle game with cars rather than a racing game.
10. South Park Rally
The cast of South Park racing around town trying to reach checkpoints as opposed to following a simple track, the physics were solid for an N64 era racer but frustrating difficulty hindered the experience. South Park is a lot more sophisticated these days so something like this feels dated.
9. Pac Man World Rally
Pac Man has always had a go at every genre and with a few friends managed a decent outing as a racer but not nearly as solid as Ridge Racer.
8. Dreamworks Superstar Kartz
With challenging circuits and a colorful cast of characters, Dreamworks pulled off a surprisingly good kart title only let down by poorly designed AI.
7. Crash Team Racing
Crash had a few attempts at this and all of them played surprisingly well but largely forgettable characters these days doesn't give it much of a legacy.
6. ModNation Racers
The idea was to create your own experience and they nailed it, but very much a short lived trend riding on the success of Little BigPlanet.
5. Cars II
A surprisingly well built attempt from Pixar, and pretty much a no brainer, just a little let down by track choice but the cast of characters more than make up for it not to mention some interesting weapons to boot.
4. Konami Krazy Racers
The only one on this list that feels closest to the Mario Kart experience in terms of aesthetics and overall design, even the cast of characters are built on the same design of weight classes but stops itself from being an outright clone by some clever track designs.
3. Blur
This is the gritty Mario Kart, the one sold as a solid adult experience making it the exception to the rule, it's Mario Kart with real licensed cars and it was awesome, even now long after the companies that published this game abandoned it, the online community keep it going.
2. Sonic and Sega Allstars Racing
While the first game was good, the sequel was incredible, it didn't settle for imitation it took it to a professional level by challenging the most fierce of Kart Racers where perfection is the key to victory, I would put this number one, accept.
1. Diddy Kong Racing
This game is the only kart racer in history to compete against Mario Kart and fight it on a level playing field, the plane and boat functions that inspired Sega Allstars Racing's sequel started here and even Mario Kart these days has never managed to create the same experience Diddy Kong Racing did.
I'm old enough to have been through nearly the entirety of the gaming industry and back in my day, we learned our skills through the arcades.
Weston Grand Pier, nearest arcade to my location in the UK
To bring Arcades into the 21st Century, I have compiled an Achievement List, equaling to 1000G in the same style as X-Box. I'll also list my score at the end, so lets take a look. Bold are ones I've achieved.
50G - Complete an Arcade Game on one coin
50G - Tilt a Pinball Machine by Overclocking the Score
20G - Top an Arcade Leaderboard
40G - Complete the Hard Race Course on a Driving Game
15G - Play an Arcade Cabinet Older than you
20G - Win a Claw Game
20G - Win a Multiplayer Game
10G - Earn £10/$10 on a Coin Pusher
15G - Earn £15/$15 on Slots
30G - Win a Pinball Tournament
40G - Complete an Arcade Shooter
10G - Complete a song on Dance Dance Revolution
40G - Complete a song on Dance Dance Revolution on the Hardest Difficulty
25G - Play a Hundred different Arcade Titles
15G - Win at Air Hockey
10G - Play a Shooting Gallery
10G - Play a Punching Machine
10G - Play Basketball Hoops
10G - Play Skee Ball
30G - Play Pachinko
10G - Won enough tickets for a decent Prize
20G - Play Kentucky Derby
5G - Spent £100/$100 on Arcade Games
15G - Play five Namco Games
15G - Play five Taito Games
15G - Play five Midway Games
15G - Play five Sega Games
15G - Play five Atari Games
20G - Played an Arcade Game using a Trackball
15G - Played a Gottlieb Pinball Machine
15G - Played a Williams Pinball Machine
20G - Played Joust
20G - Played Asteroids
20G - Played Centipede
20G - Played Tetris
20G - Played Defender
20G - Played Donkey Kong
20G - Played Pacman
20G - Played Galaga
20G - Played Space Invaders
20G - Played Pole Position
10G - Played Virtua Fighter
10G - Played Outrun (Classic)
10G - Played Space Harrier
10G - Played Super Hang-On
10G - Played Tumble Pop
10G - Played Puzzle Bobble
10G - Played Afterburner
10G - Played Sega Rally
10G - Played Daytona USA
10G - Played Time Crisis
10G - Played House of the Dead
10G - Played Final Fight
10G - Played Street Fighter II
10G - Played Simpsons Arcade
10G - Played X-Men Arcade
10G - Played Alpine Ski
10G - Played Table Stick Hockey
Update: 1st Expansion Pack Achievements
10G - Played Gauntlet
20G - Played a TriForce Arcade Game (Namco - Sega - Nintendo)
10G - Played a Free-to-Play Game
30G - Completed a Co-op Shooter
10G - Played Whack-A-Mole
20G - Won a Race using a Photo of Yourself on any Photo Arcade Feature
50G - Scored a 1000 Points on Pac-Man Multi Puck Air Hockey
Update: 2nd Expansion Pack Achievements
20G - Played Hatsune Miku Arcade
20G - Played a Taiko Drum Game
20G - Played a Pogo Stick Game
20G - Played any Idol Game using Cards
50G - Played a Table Flipping Game
20G - Played Sonic the Hedgehog Arcade
30G - Won a Sega UFO Catcher
20G - Beat a Fist of the North Star Punching Game
Update: 3rd Expansion Pack Achievements European Edition
10G - Played a Sega, Midway and Namco Game in the Same Arcade
20G - Played 10 Games in a Traditional American Style Arcade
30G - Placed on the Leaderboard of any Arcade Game
40G - Defeated a Local at an Arcade Game
50G - Leave the Arcade with a Prize
My Score: 1150G
Take the Arcade challenge and see how you match up.
