Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA

Released last year in arcades and on the USA PS2, the Japanese PS2 version of DDR SuperNOVA finally makes it to market. The game sports a 70+ song list with catchy tracks such as "Centerfold" from Captain Jack, "Golden Sky" by SMILE.dk which has a "Butterfly-esque" hook, "Modern Girl" by Sheena Easton which gets cut off too soon, and "Girl in a Day Dream" by Pandora. There's also a dance mix version of "What a Wonderful World" from Beatbox vs DJ Miko that's hot.

A new diversion in DDR SuperNOVA is the 2-Player Battle Mode where the player challenges the COM or a second player in a side by side competition. As you collect PERFECT and GREAT rankings, a laser from the top of the screen attacks your opponent by blinking out the cue arrows at the top of the screen, speeds up arrows, shuffling arrows around, and causing arrows to stutter-step in tricky ways. The Diet Mode allows players to enter their weight and track caloric expenditure when dancing to songs. For beginners who haven't the foggiest idea of how to play DDR, the Tutorial Mode patiently guides dancers through the basics of stepping, double-stepping, freezing, and step sequencing. «NCS Game Notes»

King's Field Dark Side Box

Last month, From Software collected a number of Armored Core games in a special bundle and threw in some bonuses. This month, the company collects four games from the King's Field series and includes a few bonuses to round out the King's Field love.

» King's Field I [Playstation]
» King's Field II [Playstation]
» King's Field III [Playstation]
» King's Field IV [Playstation 2]
» Memorial Disc [DVD-Video]
» Best Soundtrack [CD-Rom]
» Premium Visual Book, Operating Manual, and Verdite World Map

Tennis no Oji-Sama Doki² Survival

Targeted at girl gamers, the second Prince of Tennis Doki Doki Survival game in as many months moves from the mountain setting in the first game to the seashore. At the outset, the heroine is aboard a ship with 40 Prince of Tennis characters. The first scene takes place in the dining room where some of the boys introduce themselves but everyone eventually retires to their rooms. Sometime in the night, a massive storm causes a little bit of panic but the crew eventually guides the ship onto land and the characters regain their footing.
Although the game features 40 tennis players, only 20 of the boys are fair game for love and romance. The scenario length for each character is lengthier than in the original DokiDoki game so there's more time to enjoy special moments and view magical screenshots. Or something to that effect. To add to the atmosphere of being inside the world of Tennis no Oji-sama, the voice actors from the animation series were hired to provide the copious amounts of speech in the game. Everyone talks except for the heroine who has dialogue but her voice is silent to maintain the illusion of you being her... even though she has blue hair, gray eyes, and a lime-green smock. «NCS Game Notes»

Parodius Portable

The dead serious Gradius games were dark, somber, and stone cold. Konami realized this back in 1988 and decided to lighten things up by parodying their flagship shooter series with a little game called Parodius. Instead of powerful space ships such as the Vic Viper or the Lord British, Parodius gave players control of a pink octopus named Takosuke which flew and blasted away with blazing lasers. From there, the Parodius series gained more characters, more bizarre bosses, and enraptured fans with light-hearted visuals that were very Japanese.

Konami collects five Parodius games on a single PSP UMD and throws in screen adjustment facilities, in-game modifiers, and a convenient save/load function. The music in the Parodius games are bright, lively, and crisp so Konami included a BGM player in the software so gamers can listen to the tunes without having to play through the different games.

The five games contained in Parodius Portable are:

1) Parodius (1988, 2007) MSX Remake
2) Parodius Da! (1990) Coin-op version
3) Gokujou Parodius: Kakou no Eikou wo Momomete (1994)
4) Sexy Parodius (1996)
5) Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius - forever with me - (1996)

Salamander Portable

In our opinion, the inclusion of "Xexex" in Salamander Portable made it an automatic must-have release. We've sold and traded a total of 27 Xexex arcade pcbs over the past 10 years at prices ranging from US$300 to US$800. It's a game that been much sought after and we still keep 2 Xexex boards in our little shooter shrine for purely sentimental reasons. To see the game in a collection and made available to everyone (legitimately) is a thing of beauty. The other games in Salamander Portable are bonuses but we would have paid the price of admission for Xexex alone. We're crazy like that.

The five games collected in Salamander Portable are:

1) Salamander (1986) Coin-op version
2) Gradius 2 (1987) Coin-op version
3) Life Force (1987) Coin-op version
4) Xexex (1991) Coin-op version
5) Salamander 2 (1996) Coin-op version

The game versions used in Salamander Portable are the original coin-op releases with the "Deposit Coin" text on the title screens. The default game screen for the shooters is a square viewing area surrounded by borders but the screen ratio may be changed to fit the PSP widescreen.

Twinbee Portable

When one thinks of Twinbee, pastel images and colored bells generally come to mind. Konami's Twinbee started out as a simple vertical shooter in 1985 and eventually led to sequels and gaming adjuncts such as a Twinbee RPG and a Twinbee platform action game. The unique feature of the Twinbee ship was its gloved hands which punched outwards as a secondary weapon. Twinbee game stages featured lots of clouds which released bells when shot. The bells served as power-ups when collected but keep shooting a bell and its color and attendant power-up changes.
The games in the PSP collection hail from the arcade originals except for Twinbee Da! which is a remake of the Gameboy original. The remake is a visual feast of pastel and widescreen shooting action.

The titles included in Twinbee Portable are:

1) Twinbee (1985) Coin-op version
2) Twinbee DA! (1990) Gameboy Remake
3) Detana!! Twinbee (1991) Coin-op version
4) Pop n' Twinbee (1993) Coin-op version
5) Twinbee Yahho! Fushigi no Kuni de Ooabare (1995) Coin-op version

Special PSP features include a screen modification facility, game setting toggles, and a save/load feature.

Gradius Portable [Best]

Over two decades ago, the original Gradius introduced gamers to the concept of multiple weapon power-ups and a speed boost to confront waves of enemies. Shoot a gold-colored ship and pick up the little power-up that it releases. The first power-up option is the speed boost but a twin-shot, missile, and others may be triggered. Konami rode this formula well into the late 90s with Gradius Gaiden on the PS1 in 1997 and Gradius IV in the arcades in 1998.
To commemorate the Gradius series, Konami collects Gradius I, II, III, IV, and Gradius Gaiden on one UMD and also offers the ability to play the games in original screen aspect mode or stretched to fit the entire length of the PSP LCD. New to the PSP port is the ability to save your progress in any of the Gradius games for resumption at a later date. For example, you're on level 3 in Gradius 2 and suddenly the dinner bell rings. It's pizza night. With your favorite topping. Should you give up on the game and lose your progress or continue playing while growling sound effects echo from your stomach? The save feature removes such conundrums from your life. The PSP processor is capable of running the Gradius code at full speed but those hankering for true-to-original slowdown when many enemy ships amass on screen, there's an option to retain the original bottlenecks for authentic Gradius gaming.
A gallery mode includes movies from Gradius Deluxe Pack from the PS1 and Gradius III & IV from the PS2. A music gallery includes music from all five of the Gradius games and from the X68000 version of Gradius.

Final Fantasy X International [UHits]

Square owns a license to print money. Forget about the dismal performance of Square Pictures' debut project a few years ago. When a new Final Fantasy game goes on sale, it's a safe wager that a few million units will move from distribution channel to consumer consoles. The FF brand is a mint.

Final Fantasy X International is a re-issue of last year's Final Fantasy X game with a few extras and bonuses as follows:

1 - Japanese subtitles and text, English voice acting
2 - New Sphere Grid arrangements
3 - A new scene dubbed Eternal Peacetime which occurs 2 years after the conclusion of Final Fantasy X
4 - Previews of Kingdom Hearts, FFXI, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Square Masterpiece Series, and the FF Movie DVD.
5 - Interviews with voice talent from the Japanese and English games
6 - A recap of promotional videos for the launch of FFX last year
7 - Rikki's Suteki Da Ne, the FFX theme song, is included