Yeah still reading the Shifty Look strips. The Dig Dug one is annoying since it keeps changing hands like you say. The main character Dig Dug had a great design in Namco x Capcom too.
I too enjoyed Namco x Capcom’s script, it’s the best part of the game. I liked how they merged things like Mega Man Legends with the world of Dig Dug. Also making Ken’s boat in his Street Fighter II background the same one where Bruce’s Resident Evil Dead Aim took place. And they also got the weirdness of Strider down pat lol!
It was strange for me seeing Mack the Knife talk in the Captain Commando manga since he is speechless in Namco x Capcom. Of course the manga predates the game but still.
BTW I have played Bravoman on the Wii since I last spoke about Shifty Look here. I can only get up to the evil Bravoman part so far but I only play a little bit here and there. That game is sooo WTF Japan.
Sorry for going OT. Not often I can have a conversation with people who have read and played through the NxC script.
Well, at least the writer/artist pair that did acknowledge his name did more than one strip, and included not only Taizo’s ex-wife from Baraduke but also sneaked in a bunch of other Namco references in there: http://shiftylook.com/comics/digdug/agent-dig-dug-space-miner/
Considering DigDug was officially included in Namco’s UGSF (United Galatic Space Force) series (http://ugsf-series.com/), even if retroactively, there’s kind of a big setting in which to make those characters work.
I’m still going through the CS videos, but it’s been great - best thing so far have been the Sylphy scenes, even when she’s absent, like when Xenosaga’s MOMO uses the Rare Hunter skill from her own game granted by to get something from Devil Kazuya. Capcom could totally get away with making their own take on Reccettear starring Sylphie spanning the Capcom universe after that, I really got some respect for the Monolith Soft guys for doing doing such interesting stuff with an NPC from an old game like that. Or bothering to include nameless characters like the Forgotten Worlds protagonists, and having them asked their names in their very first scene. Or using the Rival Schools license, and focusing on the teachers instead of the students, and giving Hideo a combined attack with Ryu and Ken. Funny how their styles are identical, but neithere Ryu, Gouken, Gouki or Goutetsu have family names, but Hideo Shimazu does. Or making the Soul Edge a dimensional transportation artifact, which ties in nicely with the crazy guest characters in its own series.
I really really hope Project X Zone gets an english release…
I don’t envy the manga’s writer, making that crazy cast work isn’t easy - then again, they can always argue Hoover (the way I see it, Baby Head might as well be the name of his mech, the name’s stupid for an actual character…) made him some translation device to speak, but Mack/Jennety is teamed up with Hoover in NxC, so only Hoover needs to do the talking there.
Udon’s involved with some of ShiftyLook, it’s not that off-topic, especially with the crossovers outside the comics - I’ve tried to get some discussions on it going elsewhere but it didn’t really work out, and I don’t see their own site working well for that - I’m inclined toward criticism (not fancying the direction of some of the comics and things like Jim Zub’s handling of the Ibuki comic don’t make me optimistic) while the whole project seems based on promoting IPs and artists, it doesn’t sound like a good mix.
A Legends series based on Gouki just seems ill-advised, that’s a character that bases his appeal on being distant but briefly overwhelming when he does appear, and after his known killing his plot arc is basically trying to “raise” Ryu into a worthy opponent as the closest thing to a legacy he can leave to the world. Might be a decent canvas on which to have more scenes with grandmasters like Gen, Oro or whomever happens to be leading Guy’s clan though - there aren’t that many more people with whom Gouki could interact with on equal footing to keep the story interesting, he tends to just steamroll everyone else. There’s also Gill, but I don’t see Udon introducing him outside of a specific SF3 series with more of a focus on Alex.
Ibuki didn’t have a lot to work with either, but they did miss a perfectly usable contrast between Ibuki trying to get away from traditions imposed by her family and Makoto’s drive to continue the work the men in her family couldn’t or wouldn’t - instead it went for a supposed duality of being a ninja and a teenager (seriously Jim Zub?..), although at least it made an interesting use of SF1’s Geki… gotta wait and see…
I was searching for Udon stuff on amazon and saw this baby was recently added.
Street Fighter returns to comics in an all-new, original, hardcover graphic novel series! Fan-favorites like Ryu, Sakura, Ken, and Guile are joined by newcomers Alex, Juri, Dudley, Hakan, and more for all-out excitement and pulse-pounding battles! Super Street Fighter Volume 1 starts the World Warriors on the path to their greatest challenges yet!
Gotta love amazon listing the goods early, I’m sure Udon will oficially announce it at SDCC. Theres other good stuff on amazon that hasnt been announced such as the Shining Hearts artbook(fuck yes) and the art of Darksiders II.
Lol I don’t see how that would’ve been possible in 1993 since I’m pretty sure Mega Man did not even appear on a Sega console until Mega Man The Wily Wars in 1994. The best you could’ve hoped for back then was Sonic meets Strider. Oh and not Strider Hiryu because Moto Kikaku doesn’t play that. Strider Hinjo.
Am I the only one worried about all the artist names assigned to the continuation of the main SF story comics? I get the impression that it might feel like a patchwork of short stories, while the charm of most of the comics has been how mostly seamlessly they’ve weaced several plotlines together while staying true to the source. I’m mostly curious to see how/if they handle Juri’s integration in shadaloo, considering her backstory with Bison - they’re both characters I don’t care that much about, but that’s an interest moment of the canon I want to see…
Can anyone make out all the figures in that Gouki special illustration? I can make out Gouken and Goutetsu, the kid in the middle is probably a younger Gouki, Retsu seems to be to the right, the one behind him might be a younger Gen, but the identity of the others to the left isn’t too clear.
Speaking of Udon, anyone got the ComicCon MvC book? I’d like to know if that covers things like Anita’s playable self in home versions of MSH and Versus series “original” characters like Shadow and to what extent - stuff on just about every other character you can find elsewhere, so I’m curious how they handled the “original generation” (and while at it, the rumored Darkstalkers roots of Ruby Heart and Amingo).
As an aside, I’m getting more and more worried about the ShiftyLook stuff… recent “grievances”:
the classic Valkyrie stories are about a warrior sent from the heavens and a guy called K(u)rino (who’s a part of a tribe of green humanoids known as sandras) who even has a wife and a kid (both of which were a major plot point in his own game, known in the west as Whirlo) - the comic version seems to ignore the former so far (which is less of an issue if the comic ends up being about her earning her divine warrior status or something); there’s a “prince Krino” in the comic, and I get the feeling that the green character with that name in the games will be treated like some cursed form; also, a new original villain for the comic - at least none that’s mentioned in the best source I’ve seen on that series: http://www.devimension.com/dvp_doc_database/dev_docu000.html It’s just mildly annoying to see major changes like these when the authors claim to be fans of the source material - they might as well be honest mention what they do know about the games, little as it may be;
Wonder Momo has one human antagonist in her entire game that fight her directly, Amazona, who looks fairly distinct and was actually pictured in a screenshot of the game’s manual in a blog post - in the comic she’s blonde and her suit looks even more different. Is the artist that unsure of being able to draw both characters differently?.. Truth be told, it’s a bit unnerving that all the blog posts with info are written by Erik Ko, who in the process gets to gush about tokusatsu and how it inspired the Wonder Momo game and should affect the comic, but the actual script is by Jim Zub who seems to ignore a lot of source info that’s there;
Jim Zub will be scripting a Klonoa comic - what he wrote about it so far reads like something from someone who skimmed the Wikipedia article on the series - which wouldn’t be an issue if he didn’t claim to be a fan. I’m not familiar with the series myself, but you’d figure a writer would be familar with the concept of “show, don’t tell”, to back up the claim with something resembling a memory or impression of the games. As I said above, might as well at least mention some game he feels may work as a good focal piont to the story, that would at least show signs of research.
Issues with series like these just annoy me since some get referenced often in Namco games that barely reach these shores, so this isn’t really helping, when ShiftyLook’s stated intent is to promote these Namco IPs - stuff like Project X Zone getting localized just feels more distant as these tendencies keep getting reinforced…
There’s a chart at the end of the book that has mini profiles showing each character and what games they’re playable in. Some of the “secret characters” are left with only a list of names instead of actual pictures and sprites. I think we only get as far as a sprite pic for shadow and anita. It’s kinda sad, I was hoping for more pics from secret characters like Mecha Zangief (http://images.wikia.com/streetfighter/images/8/80/Zangief2_mvc.jpg) or Norimoro in there too (http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/2986/488122-norimaro_large.gif, since i’m a fiend for anything bengus related) but I guess it stems from the fact that this was an UDON exclusive and japan had nothing to do with it (from what they said at the UDON panel anyway).
For amingo you do get some early concept art which is interesting, along with some sprite work, but nothing too detailed. The same goes for ruby heart, you get early concept sketches of her and the henchman though its really small to make out.
There’s still alot missing from the book, but they do manage to get some other surprises in there as well. Some things you may have forgotten about, like the full MSH cover by Joe Mad (though black and white. It was a funny story in the panel, it was actually a xerox from an inker they had to search out for since the original couldn’t be found.), some early Punisher videogame artwork, Some Akiman x-men/msh artwork, bengus Onslaught pics that i’ve never seen and some unreleased Udon pieces as well.
Would’ve been nice to see some more interviews from Bengus, but you do get to see some of it in the process of concepts. Also would’ve been cool to see shinkiro process in doing those MVC 3 covers, but at least we get the covers. Overall, I still think it was still a good idea to have a book like this (i’ve been wanting this book longer than I have for the games themselves). All pictures are similar in size to what we got in SF 20. We don’t get alot of single games like MSH, or X-Men Children of the atom but only the VS series which starts from XVSF and so on. Though not as complete as SF 20, its still a great companion piece. I got the hardcover for reasons that I just had to have it, but if you’re looking for something to just add to your collection then waiting for the softcover is still worth the wait.
Mega Man #16 comes out next week! Also Miles Edgeworth takes the spotlight from Phoenix with his own Ace Attorney Investigations manga! Pick it up before Wendy Oldbag snags all the copies!
Don’t know if it’s been mentioned already, but Udon is putting the Street Fighter comic online. No idea when it updates, but looks like it’s just one page at a time.
