---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ S E G A F A N S W E E K L Y ~ ~ ISSUE 06 - Mar 19 2006 ~ copyright 2006 segafans.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A Message from benstylus ~ Page 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to yet another edition of SegaFans Weekly, and what a week it's been! We're kicking off this week with a writeup on Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll for the Nintendo DS, but as always, we're never content to stop there. People who have met me in real life have also probably played Twinkle Star Sprites against me (and lost). Well, I'm looking for a challenge, so we're going to have a 3 part strategy writeup on the game - the first part starts this week! And yes, we've got another movie-licensed game for the Game of the Week. Quit complainin' - We'll get back to the good games soon enough. But if I have to suffer through playing the bad ones, you have to suffer through reading about 'em. In the meantime, I've purchased a Macintosh. Does this mean the end of the .WMV format for the Game of the Week videos? Most likely. I have a bit of an aversion to the .MOV format, so I'll see what my other options are - hopefully we can settle on a format everyone can play, such as AVI or MPG. We'll figure it out after the Mac arrives. That's it from me, time to read what you really came for! - benstylus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to the free SegaFans Weekly newsletter and have it delivered to you via email before it shows up on the SegaFans website, send an email to sfw.subscribe@segafans.com & follow the instructions! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents ~ Page 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - A Message from benstylus 2 - Table of Contents 3 - Top Story - Monkey Butts 4 - Weekly News Roundup 5 - SegaFans Forum Digest 6 - Strategy Corner - Twinkle Star Sprites: Part 1 7 - New and Upcoming 8 - Game of the Week - Batman Forever (Genesis) 9 - Links 10- Credits / Legal / Contact / Subscription Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Top Story - Monkey Butts ~ Page 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ai Ai sure can shake his heiney. Upon powering up the Nintendo DS and loading up Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll, you're, um, "treated" to Ai Ai shaking his primate patootie in your face, and imploring you to touch him. I was certainly not expecting to see a flittering fanny in front of my face, and was certainly hesitant about poking it with my namesake. But I had an article to write, and I certainly couldn't very well write if if the title screen scared me off. But I'm going to try anyway. The title screen scared me off. The end. -benstylus What's that? You say I'm not fooling anyone? You're right. I pressed every button on the DS in the hopes that one would work so I didn't have to prod Ai Ai's bouncing buttocks. The start button, as it turns out, serves that purpose nicely. I'm hoping that by now, everyone has played at least one Monkey Ball game. They're available for pretty much every major system now except the PSP. Those familiar with the series will know that the games have two separate and distinct parts - the main game of rolling your monkey across treacherous terrain to cross the goal, and the minigames which vary widely from title to title. As you may have surmised from the system on which Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll appears, much of the game's control is via the stylus, though for the most part you are given the option to use the D-pad as well if you so desire. The main game is mostly the same as it used to be, but the difficulty has been seriously toned down, but not necessarily in a bad way. In the main game, you'll progress through various worlds of ten stages each. You need to complete each world on one credit. In previous Monkey Ball games, you would earn an extra life for every hundred bananas collected. Touch & Roll has lowered the threshold to only ten, so you'll get quite a few chances to pass those tough later stages if you stock up during the earlier ones. This change does lower the difficulty, but not because they dumbed down the levels. The new cartoon-style monkeys are definitely meant to appeal more to the younger crowd (as if the monkeys from the original didn't already...), so it makes sense that Sega would want to make the game a bit more forgiving than before. Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll takes 50 of the courses from previous games, and adds 50 new ones. I can't really argue with their decision to re-use some of the courses - many of them are perfect already, so why ruin a good thing? If there is a big disappointment this time, it is the banana collecting minigame during the credits. The credits appear on the top screen and you have to juggle the monkeys on the bottom screen to go up and hit the credits to score bananas. It's pretty weak, but especially so when compared to the ones we've seen previously. One of the main draws of the Monkey Ball games has always been the minigames, and they are of course, in full force on the DS. Super Monkey Ball: Touch and Roll sports fully six different minigames, and while most have been in previous Monkey Ball games there are two brand new ones. Even those that were previously in other games benefit somewhat from the stylus control. The minigames are Monkey Race, Monkey Fight, Monkey Bowling, Monkey Mini Golf, Monkey Wars, and Monkey Hockey. Monkey Race is vary similar to the console counterpart - race around various tracks getting boosts and collecting items. A new twist is now you can hold up to four items, and you use them by pressing the corresponding direction on the D pad. Monkey Fight is pretty much the same as it's always been. Everyone gets on a platform and tries to punch each other off. Monkey Bowling also hasn't changed much from its progenitors. It's got the standard bowling and the challenge mode where you need to knock down each pin setup in a single roll. Monkey Minigolf is a bit of a disappointment. With the exception of a couple of holes, it's quite easy. Unfortunately there really wasn't a whole lot of thought that went into the design of the course. It must have all been spent working on the two new minigames. Monkey Wars brings back memories of Faceball 2000 - everyone is thrown together in an arena, and you roam around looking for victims. Fans of first person shooters will get a kick out of this one. It's pretty fun. And finally, we get the game the DS must have originally been designed for. Monkey Hockey. The stylus is the perfect control method for a game of air hockey, and it performs wonderfully in Touch & Roll. There are actually two different types of Air Hockey in the game - there's the standard air hockey (which now has powerups) and then there's the "draw your own paddle" method which is also pretty fun. For those interested, DS Download & Play is available for 3 of the 6minigames - Monkey Racing, Monkey Wars and Monkey Hockey. If everyone has their own copy of the game, all 6 games are playable. Thankfully, Touch & Roll gives you all the minigames from the very beginning instead of forcing you to play through the main game to unlock them. It's a pretty sweet package for Monkey Ball on the go - runs nice and smooth and is miles beyond the Game Boy Advance & Nokia N-Gage attempts. If only I could get Ai Ai to stop shaking his booty... -benstylus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly News Roundup ~ Page 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Courtesy of das - Good Deal Games has officially announced they will be publishing Burning Fists: Force Striker for the Sega CD. It's a fighting game, and looks to be pretty hip from the screenshots. It will be premiering at the upcoming Cinciclassic on April 8. Preorders will be shipped BEFORE the show! - http://www.gooddealgames.com/Publishing_SegaCD_BurningFists.html Thanks to trace_the_hedgehog for pointing this one out - Next Generation has reported that Yuji Naka, star attraction of Sonic Team, might be leaving Sega to form his own company. This is still officially a rumor, but it's too big to just ignore. - http://www.next-gen.biz/ If you've got news in the world of Sega, let us know about it and we'll include it in the next newsletter! See the contact section on Page 10 for info on how to reach us! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SegaFans Forum Digest ~ Page 5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Last week's SegaFans Weekly causes some stir in the SegaFans forums! There was some talk about Spartan: Total Warrior... - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1771 Some interest in Space Jam... - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1777 Even some chat about the SegaFuns trivia challenge! - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1776 On another front, in the forum restructure, we saw the birth of the Strategy forum. Not much action going on there yet, but there's currently two topics awaiting responses. Are you an expert at using Amy in Sonic R? Share your tactics on how to win with her! - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1790 How about Daytona USA 2001 for Dreamcast? Icepak needs some help, and someonefs gotta do it! - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1791 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Strategy Corner - Twinkle Star Sprites: Part 1 ~ Page 6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the first of a three part strategy feature on Twinkle Star Sprites. This is a guide to survive and defeat your opponents in as efficient a way as possible. It is NOT a guide for high scoring tactics. In this first part, you'll be familiarized with the basic game system. We'll discuss specific character strategies in the next two issues Some of you are likely already familiar with the game, but for the first timers, I'll give a brief overview. Twinkle Star Sprites is a vertical scrolling shooter that combines traditional shooter action with puzzle and versus gameplay. The screen is split down the middle with a player on either side. The object of the game is to cause your opponent to get hit and lose. You do this by sending as much crap as you can to the opposite side of the screen in the hopes that your opponent makes an error. Sounds pretty simple, right? And it is. But behind the simple mechanics is an incredible rich and rewarding multiplayer gameplay experience. Twinkle Star Sprites was released on the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast (as well as some non-Sega systems). Before you can have strategy, you've gotta learn how to play first, right? The controls in Twinkle Star Sprites are quite easy, and will be immediately familiar to anyone who has ever played a shooter before. D-PAD ----- The d-pad controls your movement. Just press the direction you wish your character to move and you will go that way. SHOT ---- If you tap the fire button, you will fire your character's regular shot. This is the basic weapon of the game and is essential for chaining. CHARGE SHOT ----------- If you hold down the fire button, you will start to charge a little meter on the bottom of the screen. The charge meter has three levels. You can charge to level 1 right away, but the amount of charge available will increase as you chain and earn points. A level 1 charge is always available, and will fire your character's charge shot which can wipe out multiple enemies at once. A level 2 charge will send an "Extra Attack" to your opponent, and deplete your available charge by one level. A level 3 charge will send a "Boss Attack" to your opponent, and deplete your available charge by two levels. BOMB ---- Also referred to as the 'panic button' - a bomb is a sure fire way to get out of a tight spot. It destroys all golems on the screen, severely damages bosses, and you're invincible during its duration. Just make sure to let it loose before you get hit. Throughout the course of the game, you'll come face to face with all sorts of different creatures intent on destroying you. Here's a brief breakdown of each of them. GOLEMS ------ The normal stage enemies. They fly down in patterns and each takes a certain number of hits depending on the color. When they explode, they cause a certain amount of damage to other nearby enemies depending on the size of the golem. Chaining Golems to send fireballs to your opponent is the most basic level of attack. Golems fly in pre-set patterns, of which there are about 30 total in the game. Once you learn each pattern, you will know which golems to shoot and when to shoot them in order to get a perfect chain. Sometimes Golems will be encased in bubbles. In that case, you must first destroy the bubble before the golem will be able to take any damage, and thus explode and chain. When a golem hits you, you will take one full heart of damage and be stunned for a moment, leaving you completely vulnerable to another hit. You can only be hit by up to two golems in a row, though you can still be hit by something else while recovering. When a golem hits you, your opponent will recover half a heart of damage up to their maximum. A golem cannot directly kill you. Your life will remain at half a heart until something else hits you. DEATH ----- Death appears if you sit idly by, or if a match has gone on too long. He starts out slow and weak, floating towards you. You can kill him, but he will come back a few seconds later. When he does, he will be a bit stronger and a bit faster each time. Eventually he will be extremely difficult to kill, but by that time, either you or your opponent will probably have been hit by something else. If you see him on your screen, avoid him at all costs. As his name would imply, one touch from death will automatically kill you. NORMAL FIREBALL --------------- When you chain a few golems together, you'll start to send fireballs to your opponent's half of the screen. The bigger the chain the more fireballs you'll send over. Fireballs take a few hits, but they can be shot and reversed, sending them back over to where they came from. Fireballs do 3 full hearts of damage. REVERSE FIREBALL ---------------- When a fireball is reversed, it starts flashing green to differentiate itself from a normal fireball. A reverse fireball works the same way as a normal fireball with a couple exceptions. If you shoot a reverse fireball, it will not be sent again back to your opponent. Instead, it will convert into an "Extra Attack" which is specific to each character. Each reverse fireball you shoot down will become another extra attack. Additionally, if you cause an explosion that catches 3 or more reverse fireballs at once, you'll trigger a free Boss Attack on your opponent. Reverse fireballs also cause 3 hearts of damage. EXTRA ATTACK ------------ Every character has their own specific extra and boss attacks. They are all sorts of things ranging from exploding rabbits to space ships to snack foods. The most important thing to know about extra attacks is that YOU CANNOT HURT THEM. They do not take any damage, but they do often manage to get in the way of the things you can shoot. Extra Attacks cause 3 full hearts of damage. BOSS ATTACK ----------- Possibly the most psychologically effective type of attack - when your opponent sees a boss appear on screen, trouble's about to start. Bosses can take an awful lot of hits before they go down, and can cause all sorts of havoc in the meantime. Just like the Extra Attacks, each character has their own specific Boss attack. If a boss hits you with any of its attacks, you will take 3 full hearts of damage. Now with the enemies out of the way, let's discuss the items you're likely to come across as you play the game. STAR COIN --------- If you see a star coin, chances are there is a group of golems encased in bubbles coming up. Getting a coin with the star side facing up will automatically pop all the bubbles from the current group of golems, making them much easier to chain. P COIN ------ Getting a coin with the P side facing up will add one level of available power to your charge meter, up to the maximum. BOMB COIN --------- Getting a coin with the bomb side facing up will add one bomb to your reserve, up to the maximum. $ COIN ------ Getting a coin while it shows the $ side will result in you receiving between 10 and 1000 points. That's it. MOON CRYSTAL ------------ The moon crystal is a very powerful item that multiplies the number of fireballs created by a chain. To activate it, you need to chain the crystal with an explosion. You cannot shoot it directly (except with a bomb). If both players have the Moon Crystal power, expect huge chain combos and lots of flying fireballs. So that's essentially Twinkle Star Sprites. You can play around and try and figure out some good strategies, or you can try some of these. Each technique has a difficulty level associated with mastering it. BOSS COUNTER (BASIC) -------------------- One of the interesting quirks of Twinkle Star Sprites is that only one boss is allowed to exist at a single moment. If you are under attack by a boss and manage to unleash your own boss, the boss attacking you is immediately destroyed. Use this to your advantage. If you and your opponent both have a full charge meter available, and you see your opponent charging for a boss attack, be prepared to do the same and turn the tables. Remember, the last boss to be activated takes precedence. IGNORING FIREBALLS (BASIC) -------------------------- Often, when playing to defeat an opponent, it is to your advantage NOT to return every fireball sent to your side of the screen. The more fireballs you send back as reverse fireballs, the better odds that you will be paltered with Extra attacks or possibly even a Boss attack. So just try to dodge the normal fireballs if at all possible. The exact opposite is true of reverse fireballs. You want to shoot down as many of those as you can - they lead to invincible extra attacks which can cause huge problems for your opponent. "CATCHING" A FIREBALL (INTERMEDIATE) ------------------------------------ Normally, when shooting down a fireball, you'd want to keep a safe distance just in case you didn't get it in time, so it wouldn't hit you. The concept of "catching" a fireball is to be close to it and "lead" it as you're shooting. The closer you are, the faster you'll be able to fire. If a fair sized group of fireballs is coming your way, you may not be able to destroy them all from the bottom of the screen. But if you get closer and "lead" them, you will be able to shoot down more, if not all of them. P COIN FULL BENEFIT (INTERMEDIATE) ---------------------------------- If you see a P coin on your screen, take a quick glance at your charge bar. If you available charge meter is full or almost full, charge and release a level 2 attack before collecting the P coin. Since the P coin increases your available charge by one full meter, it would be a waste to grab it without getting as much benefit from it as possible. STAR COIN SUBSTITUTE (INTERMEDIATE) ----------------------------------- When a star coin is coming, you know a group of bubbled golems is not far behind. If you can't easily and safely get to the star, you may want to try a level one charge attack. You'll have to act fast though to get the charge up in time. This will wipe out the bubbles on the enemies it hits, but will leave them alive for chaining. BOMBING CHAIN (ADVANCED) ------------------------ Usually, you'll want to save bombs for narrow escapes. However, there are occasions when the havoc you'll definitely cause to your opponent now may outweigh the damage from a hit a bomb might have saved you from later. A bombing chain is when you set off a bomb to explode a golem that fireballs are headed towards. This takes a bit of practice to get the timing right, and a lot of foresight to know when it's appropriate, but with a well planned bomb, you can turn a minor chain into a major event (even a boss attack). The Bombing Chain is often very effectively utilized when the moon crystal has been activated on your opponent's side (especially if it has been activated for you as well). A lot of times, in the downpour that occurs from those crystals, people would use a bomb anyway just to survive, so if you can time it right, you can have it serve three purposes - keeping your screen clear of those fireballs, racking up an impressive chain count, and giving your opponent the what for. Just remember to use this one sparingly, as a wasted bomb can often be the difference between winning and losing the match. BOSS RUSH (ADVANCED) -------------------- Similar in concept to "catching" a fireball, if you've got a boss attacking you, this can be a life saver. This technique is to get as close to the boss as you can, and fire as quickly as you can. Since you can only have two shots on screen at once, getting right up close to the boss will let you fire more rapidly, as there's less time between when you fire and when the shot hits. If you have particularly fast fingers and do this right as a boss appears, you can often take it out before it has a chance to attack. INTENTIONAL DAMAGE (EXPERT) --------------------------- Do not try this except in desperation. If you're out of bombs, and you're surrounded, it may be to your benefit to take an intentional hit from a golem or direct attack. If you've got more than 3 hearts left, an attack won't kill you - but if you get hit by a golem and knocked into a fireball or something it could cost you the round. If you have no other option, try intentionally running into a fireball. Now, if you've got 3 hearts or less in the same situation, you may want to consider running into the golem. It can't kill you directly, and may actually throw you clear of the fireball. An advantage to intentionally hitting a golem is that you'll be able to recover faster because you'll know to start waggling the d-pad right away. There's a brief bit of invincibility after you recover, and even if you're not knocked clear, you may be able to use that invincibility to survive. That's it for this time! Tune in next week when we go over strategies on how to effectively use each character! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New and Upcoming ~ Page 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a list of Sega's upcoming releases (within 2 weeks of this newsletter) as well as recent games in case you accidentally missed any of them. This list covers games developed by Sega, published by Sega, or on Sega systems. These dates are direct from Sega, but sometimes they change em. So this should be considered a "rough estimate" rather than hard facts. Some of the games are starting to get really long names so I've gone to the two line format (at least until they're off the list). RECENTLY RELEASED - USA ----------------------- The Tower SP GBA 03/14/06 UPCOMING GAMES - USA -------------------- None :( RECENTLY RELEASED - EUROPE -------------------------- Sonic Riders GC PS2 XB 03/17/06 UPCOMING GAMES - EUROPE ----------------------- OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast PC PS2 PSP XB 03/31/06 RECENTLY RELEASED - JAPAN ------------------------- Sakura Taisen 1 & 2 PSP 03/09/06 Jissen Pachislot Hishhouhou! Ultraman Club ST PS2 03/16/06 UPCOMING GAMES - JAPAN ---------------------- Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! Europe Championship PS2 03/29/06 Jissen Pachislot Hishhouhou! Ore no Sora PS2 03/30/06 Jissen Pachislot Hishhouhou! Aladdin 2 Evolution DS DS 03/30/06 Jissen Pachislot Hishhouhou! Aladdin 2 Evolution Portable PSP 03/30/06 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game of the Week - Batman Forever (Genesis) ~ Page 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Batman Forever is one of those rare treats in video gaming. It's an example of everything gone right and coming together perfectly into a game that transcends itself and will be fondly remembered and played for years to come. Or at least it should have been that way. Instead we got a misshapen beatemup platformer that feels a bit like a Mortal Kombat abortion. Part of the feel is due to the digitized characters, which do look pretty cool on the Genesis. Visually, Batman Forever is quite an impressive game. It's just that everything else falls apart. The fighting system isn't too bad either, although it's heavily influenced by (i.e. a total rip off of) Mortal Kombat. Many of the moves look identical to the ones you'd see in the first MK game. Now that I think of it, Batman would be a cool character to have in a Mortal Kombat game. Sure would be better than Stryker. But I digress. One of the things about Batman in the movies is that he's extremely good at what he does. He knows how to use all his gadgets effectively. When I was playing as batman, I couldn't get his bat grapple to work effectively if my life depended on it, nor could I really use any of his other gadgets with much success. As you may have surmised, the publisher is the notorious Acclaim, known for their two-bit treatment of big name licenses, and Batman Forever is no exception. Yes, I've got a video for you... Normally I edit them down to around two minutes, but this time I think I needed to leave it intact to give you the full effect of just how awkward the game is. I had about seven and a half minutes left of tape on my camera when I started filming, so this movie is about seven and a half minutes long. Note that from 2 minutes and 20 seconds into the video to about 5 minutes and 35 seconds (that's a total of 3 minutes and 15 seconds for those of you keeping track), I struggle trying to ascend one floor - a feat that should be as easy as punching someone. Frustration turned to laughter as I continued to struggle. it was just hilarious that I couldnft use the grappling hook to do something as simple as going up one floor. I'm know I was doing something wrong, but I still can't figure out how I eventually did get up. I think this Batman game is going back on the shelf... Forever. - http://www.segafans.com/gotw/gen_batman_forever.wmv -benstylus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Links ~ Page 9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SegaFans: Covering the past present and future of everything Sega - http://www.segafans.com Sega of America - http://www.sega.com Sega Europe - http://www.sega-europe.com Sega of Japan - http://www.sega.jp Cuddly Gamers: A forum where gamers are nice to each other - http://www.cuddlygamers.com Game Trading Zone: Buy, sell, or trade your games online for free - http://www.gametz.com Game Tribute: Provides ad free hosting to quality game fan sites - http://www.gametribute.com Whip Ass Gaming: A very hip gaming site run by BelPowerslave - http://www.whipassgaming.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits / Legal / Contact / Subscription Information ~ Page 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue was created in its entirety by benstylus. 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