Summer of Arcade 2009! Are you ready to party?

[Tanukitsune]

It has begun!

And boy... did it start with a bang!

'Splosion Man is awesome! It has a very retro feel since all you can do is explode and it's so challenging, about as challenging as Mega Man 9?

Some of the levels ever reminds me a bit of Mega Man actually...

But I'm here about the multiplayer ones!

Is anybody thinking of picking up Marvel VS Capcom? I already have it on Dreamcast, and I don't have a decent pad to play it on the 360, so I don't know if I should bother getting it...

And then there is the HD version of Turtles in Time... It's the SAME game as the arcade only prettier.... And possibly a bit too expensive for a game you can beat in an hour?

I'm more likely to get the Turtles game if people are willing to get it and play online... It's no Castle Crashers, but it should be fun!

Edited July 22, 2009 by Tanukitsune

[Horticulture Tycoon]

Summer, or Arcade 2009? Hmmm, I choose summer.

Actually aside from the Turtles in Time remake, there's nothing coming this summer that really excites me, and even that is kind of a meh. Last year there was Braid, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Street Fighter 2 Super Duper Mega Turbo Hyper Quantum HD Remix, and Mega Man 9. This summer doesn't even come close to competing.

[Tanukitsune]

Ooops, fixed it! XP

Try 'Splosion Man! It's a blast!

[zomboid]

Good to hear!

I'll download the demo fer sure, but I'm saving my $pacebucks for Shadow Complex & Mothership Zeta.

[Razor]

Sam&Max season 1 + BF'43 were already great arcade games

also there is a new Bubble Bobble coming (called BB Neo IIRC), I hope they put a 4 player mode in.

And don't forget about Serious Sam HD.

[Patters]

Ooops, fixed it! XP

Try 'Splosion Man! It's a blast!

It's absolutely fantastic. I realised a few minutes ago I only have 14 levels left. The co-op is great, when it doesn't lag.

[Psych]

I like playing 'Splosion Man, but I do not like either hearing it or having to look at it to do so. The music and aesthetics would have been passable, but they're both SOO repetitive as to become sickening.

To top it off I find the actual 'Splosion Man more irritating than Gex.

It's a great game, but I have to overlook a lot to appreciate that fact.

[Garple]

It's great that the devs of 'Splosion Man actually took the time to design levels specifically for co-op instead of what most games nowadays do (just let you play the regular levels with more players). I think the countdown button is absolutely brilliant (IGN.com)!

[Psych]

Considering the mechanics of 'Splosion Man I don't think it'd be possible to play most of the single player levels with more than one player. That is unless all players were masters of synchronized playing.

[Garple]

Considering the mechanics of 'Splosion Man I don't think it'd be possible to play most of the single player levels with more than one player. That is unless all players were masters of synchronized playing.

Ok. Well what I mean is that they made specific singleplayer levels and specific multiplayer levels, instead of taking a one-size fits all approach.

Also...I don't know if you played the multiplayer or not, but they actually made the left trigger a button that counts down (3, 2, 1) and then shows a little graphic of two splosion men sploding to help you synchronize your jumps.

[Razor]

playing coop is hilarious, and sometimes extremely hard.

but it's so awesome when you are the last one alive and barely make it to the next checkpoint. has a similar feel to it as being that last guy in CS IMO

[Patters]

I picked up Marvel vs capcom 2 which is pretty good, despite my dislike of street fighter (read inability) which translates into lack of ability in this. However I played with a couple of other people (street fighter players) and managed to put a few things together. It's pretty fun when I'm not getting my arse handed to me by randoms in matchmaking.

[Tanukitsune]

Turtles in Time is out for 800MS instead of 1200! Who wants to play? :3

[ThunderPeel2001]

Hmmm. So the whole "Summer of Arcade" thing is just actually five games...?

• July 22: Splosion Man - 800 Microsoft Points
  
• July 29: Marvel vs. Capcom 2 - 1200 Microsoft Points
  
• Aug 5: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-shelled - 1200 Microsoft Points
  
• August 12: Trials HD - 1200 Microsoft Points
  
• August 19: Shadow Complex - 1200 Microsoft Points
  

I don't get it... What's so special about them?

[Psych]

Well they're not magic or anything.

It's just like the last Summer of Arcade a handful of high profile XBLA games released in quick succession.

What more were you expecting?

[ThunderPeel2001]

I don't know... but "Summer of Arcade" just sounds a bit jumped for something that actually should be known as just "Five new games!". Still, I don't know anything about these titles (other than I hate the crappy Marvel vs Capcom series, that Trials has been available on the PC for ages and only so so, and that the idea of a new TMNT arcade game is not all that exciting to me ).

(Am I turning into Toblix?)

[Nevsky]

I don't know...

I agree, in retrospect it's underwhelming, I suppose. I like MVC2, but I'm only properly interested in Shadow Complex. And even then, I'm not sure I want to part with the points.

[vimes]

So, I've bought Splosion Man this afternoon, playing it in between watching the other thread approaching fission point.

So far, after 15 levels (and 14 cakes collected,), my impressions are mixed : the game is fun, no doubt, the controls are perfect, the animations are pretty cool and the soundtrack is bebopy as I like but I wish they'd introduce some of the late gameplay mechanisms earlier to densify the experience (which Braid did wonderfullu). As is, there a few redundant sequences(nitro shot under spikes, raising water) and some 'I just don't know what I did, but it worked on the first go' sequences.

I like the core gameplay though, and the challenges are just the right difficulty except ... for that fucking damn boss battle, at a point of which you need to be on an exact pixel to avoid laser beams anot not be instantly killed:frusty:.

Very frustrating and a complete 180 from the rest of the game. Plus, I don't have subtitle and I keep hearing strange french sentences from the boss like " J'ai sommeil" "Chérie , je suis là!" which sounds like weird, round about taunts to my hear.

Anyway, thank god for the coward option I may definitely use.

I'm considering buying Trials, the demo was fun but it felt a bit 'empty' and seems to be a targeted at manic gamers and mad completionists. Am I wrong ?

[Chris]

Trials has been available on the PC for ages

This one hasn't

[brkl]

Man, Trials HD has so much stuff. SO MUCH. It's certainly aimed at completionists but has a ton of modes and easier levels for regular sane people. At that price, I'm certain anyone will get their money's worth.

Or if you're cheap, play this by the same people:

http://www.redlynx.com/phobiaIII/download.html

[ThunderPeel2001]

This one hasn't

So what's different? You make it sound like it's a whole new game, instead of essentially a sequel to a PC game...?

[Chris]

So what's different? You make it sound like it's a whole new game, instead of essentially a sequel to a PC game...?

It is a sequel. It's not the game "Trials" that has already been released on PC. It's a new one.

[ThunderPeel2001]

It is a sequel. It's not the game "Trials" that has already been released on PC. It's a new one.

Well my flippant point was that it's essentially a game that I already own... (Trials 2: Special Edition), and which anyone (with a PC) can own for $9.99, so what's the big deal.

[Psych]

I like the core gameplay though, and the challenges are just the right difficulty except ... for that fucking damn boss battle, at a point of which you need to be on an exact pixel to avoid laser beams anot not be instantly killed:frusty:.

Very frustrating and a complete 180 from the rest of the game. Plus, I don't have subtitle and I keep hearing strange french sentences from the boss like " J'ai sommeil" "Chérie , je suis là!" which sounds like weird, round about taunts to my hear.

Anyway, thank god for the coward option I may definitely use.

Before I got a chance to play 'Splosion Man, I saw my brother play through much of the single player campaign, he got stuck on that boss too, and eventually used the way of the coward to get past him.

Later when I got to that boss I thought I'd be screwed until I had died enough times to choose the way of the coward myself. However then I found that I could wall jump on top of those moving platforms, thus making the laser dodging not all that difficult at all.

The bosses in this game are difficult but mostly because they fail to clearly communicate essential information.

Also the camera is pulled too far out, which happens to be a problem throughout the game.

Also that boss is speaking in english, he just has a ton of filters on his speech that makes him difficult to understand.

[Garple]

I want to make sure the weird little dissonance in regard to Trials HD that exists in this thread doesn't discourage people from checking it out (not that I really think it would). Mostly I just want to say that game is FUCKFUCKINGING RADDDD, for serious. I downloaded the demo because it got a very high metacritic score, but I didn't expect much. I was like, "What? A dirt-biking game? I don't know about that. Well...since there's a free demo..." And then BAM!!! It grabbed me and still hasn't let go. It's the most addictive game I've encountered since Geometry Wars. Even if the PC version is the same (which I doubt) there's still a large enough contingent of us who (for whatever reason) don't ever game on a PC, so good on ya, Red Lynx (and thanks).