skies of arcadia Archives • The Lifecast Network

Games that Especially Deserve a Digital Re-release

August 21, 2016 Kennedy

I recently managed to finally get a game called Shadow Hearts on the PS2. I’ve been wanting to play this game for a while, but it’s been pretty difficult because it’s considered a rare game on the PS2 due to its limited release, and unlike several other games in this day and age, isn’t available on the PSN or any other digital game distributor. After years of hoping I’d find it–and if I did, that I’d find it at a decent price–it finally made its way into a favorite local game store of mine that I happened to have a gift card for. Due to its rarity and price though, I would’ve much rather have bought this game on a digital game distribution network like PSN or Steam, play it there, and then buy a physical copy if I ended up really liking it. Shadow Hearts is very much a hidden gem, and like many other underrated games, has managed to go under the radar of PSN and Steam for years. If its quality wasn’t enough to warrant putting it on a digital distribution network, then its rarity should. It’s very hard for new fans like myself to get into the franchise without emulation because the games are so hard to find–and because of their rarity, they’re usually pretty overpriced, too. Shadow Hearts is far from the only case of this happening to a game, though. There are many games right now that deserve to be put on PSN, Steam, Nintendo E-Shop, etc., especially as the modern market seems to heavily lean toward digital releases in the future. For some reason though, they simply aren’t there yet. Here are some other games such as Shadow Hearts that especially deserve to be made more accessible by being put on a digital distributor sooner rather than later.

The entire .hack franchise

thegeekclinic.wordpress.com

I will sing the praises of .hack until the end of time. The .hack franchise–particularly the .hack//G.U. trilogy–is one of my favorite game series of all-time. This is why it breaks my heart all the more because this is such a difficult franchise for people to get into. There are two main series for .hack: The Infection quadrilogy and the G.U. trilogy. All of them are on the PS2. Each series had a pretty limited release, and the short of it is, they’re very expensive games. The first 3 games in the Infection series will cost you $20-$40 each depending on the condition, and then the final game, .hack//Quarantine, is worth about $150 if its in decent condition. Each game in the G.U. trilogy is worth between $60-$80 each depending on their condition. In total, you’d be spending at least $200 on the Infection series and $180 on the G.U. trilogy–$380 if you wanted them all. These games are amazing, but that’s just ridiculous. These games have a rather vocal cult following who all vehemently ask for an HD collection or digital re-release or some legal way of making these games more accessible. If nothing else, the G.U. trilogy turns 10 this year. What better way to celebrate than by breathing new life into an amazing franchise by bringing countless amounts of new fans into it?

Rule of Rose

via neogaf.com

If you thought $150 for a single .hack game sounded insane then strap in your seat belt because this game is undoubtedly the most expensive game on the PS2. Prices for Rule of Rose tend to run between $170-$350 depending on its condition. Why is it so expensive? First of all, it’s an Atlus game. Atlus games–especially at the time this came out (2006)–were pretty notorious for having low print runs despite generally being good games. Second, and there’s no way to sugar coat this so I’ll be plain about it, this game contains violent and sexual depictions of children akin to Lord of the Flies. Thankfully the sexual depictions are never explicit, but the implications are all there. It was banned in Italy and the UK, made European politicians want a re-evaluation of the PEGI rating system, and even got mentioned at the French National Assembly because of the moral controversy it caused. It even appeared in The Times.

via hardcoregaming101.net

It’s pretty easy to see why it almost wasn’t released in the States. After almost a year of court battles, it received a very limited English release–even by Atlus standards. On top of that, despite all its controversy it didn’t sell particularly well and received only lukewarm reception. It’s pretty easy to see now why it’s so expensive, right? I completely understand why Atlus probably wants to forget about this game and not start more controversy, but it’s because it’s such a controversial game is why I wish it were more accessible. Just as Lord of the Flies received lots of controversy at its time, so has Rule of Rose–yet despite this, that’s why a lot of people read it: To see what was so controversial about it. Rule of Rose is no different. After all, it’s not every day politicians try to ban a game as hard as they did Rule of Rose. With a price tag as hefty as Rule of Rose’s, it’s out of the question for almost anyone to play it without emulation, and I’m sure there are plenty of willing players out there who would pay the standard $10-$15 on PSN to add it to their library and see what all the fuss was about.

Any Fire Emblem game before Awakening

via youtube.com

Many fans agree that Fire Emblem Awakening breathed new life into the Fire Emblem franchise once it released. A previously niche franchise with few fans in the States, the Fire Emblem games that came out prior to Awakening spiked in price once the popularity of Awakening started catching on in 2012–even more so when Super Smash Bro’s on the Wii U came out in 2014 featuring several Fire Emblem characters. Ever since, more and more fans have been clamoring for more accessible, budget-friendly ways to play the Fire Emblem games that were released before Awakening–and even ones that weren’t released in the States. This isn’t the first time Nintendo has ignored the cries of the devoted fan base of one of their beloved but outrageously expensive franchises, and it certainly won’t be the last. Nintendo seems to be adding a lot of notable games to the Virtual Console lately, so why not show some love to one of its older franchises that goes largely underappreciated by them? Between Awakening, Smash, and Fates, Fire Emblem is enjoying a well-earned streak of popularity right now: Strike the iron while it’s hot, Nintendo.

Skies of Arcadia

via heypoorplayer.com

Oftentimes called one of the best JRPGs on the Dreamcast and Gamecube, it’s hard to believe that this game isn’t more available as it is. Whether it’s the original Dreamcast version or the enhanced Gamecube port, Skies of Arcadia is definitely one of the rarer games on both systems–but it’s far from forgotten, both by fans and by Sega. In fact, Sega gave cameos to the main characters of Skies of Arcadia in Valkyria Chronicles. Moreover, this game has a very devoted fan base keeping this game still frequently talked about to this day. Yet somehow, Sega still continues to bank on the shaky odds of success in producing new Sonic games rather than re-releasing one of their other most well-loved games that’s otherwise pretty difficult–not to mention pricey–to obtain. If Shenmue can get a sequel after all these years, then surely there must be hope for another wonderful Sega franchise that’s been forcibly overshadowed by Sonic.

Obviously, these aren’t the only games out there in desperate need of a digital re-release: Feel more than free to comment with other games that you think especially deserve a digital re-release and why. The common thread in the games I think most deserve to be made more accessible are that they’re hard to obtain physical copies of: They’re all rare, expensive, and generally at least 10 years old. If you have any other major reasons you’d like to see a certain game or a group of certain games getting re-released for, be sure and let us know.

Rare Games that Don’t Suck: GameCube Edition

June 4, 2016 dan

Many things can make a game rare, but it’s usually something along the lines of limited quantities, exclusivity, a specific print of a game, or simply being so well-loved that anytime one comes on the market, there’s a few dozen people who want to own a physical copy of one of their favorite games. Despite that, reasons like limited quantities and exclusivity tend to be the bigger things that make a game rare, and because of that, a lot of rare games don’t tend to not actually be too good for their price. The Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak on NES, for instance, isn’t anything special. In fact, for the time it came out, it’s painfully average. And yet, because it was just such an exclusively released game, it’s slipped through the grasps of many collectors, and is now worth around $1000 if it’s in good enough condition. This game, though, is only one of many examples of games all across systems that are just not worth the price their rarity is asking for. This got me to thinking about which games are actually worth that rare price that people might actually enjoy as a game rather than just as a collector’s item. Today, we’re going to be talking about the games on one of my personal favorite systems of all time, the Nintendo GameCube.

The first game we’re gonna’ be talking about is the fantastic Skies of Arcadia: Legends, a remake of Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast. Chances are you’ve heard of this one, because it’s received very high critical acclaim all around the board (32/40 from Famitsu, 9.2/10 from GameSpot, 9/10 from GameInformer), and consistently mentioned when people talk about the GameCube. Skies of Arcadia: Legends is a simple story about a group of sky pirates. Yes, sky pirates, and it’s just as awesome as you think it is. Sadly, neither the original Dreamcast version nor the Gamecube version sold well, and have become very hard to find because of it. I lucked out and found mine for $15 at a Gamestop, only to find out a few years later that this game is going for $75 on average for a good copy.

Image courtesy of GameTDB

The story is fairly simple, but not in a bad way. It’s the standard “evil group of people are trying to collect magic items to rule the world and our heroes must stop them” storyline, but what it lacks in how unique its concept is, it makes up for with good, engaging writing, characters who are loveable from the moment you meet them, and just the right amount of self-awareness. It has a lot of fun with itself and it encourages the player to have just as much fun as its having, if that makes any sense. You’re going to get your standard RPG gameplay here with random encounters, shops everywhere, elemental alignments, and all of that good stuff. While none of it brings anything new to the table mechanically, it’s done incredibly well. What it does bring that’s super cool, though, are airship battles. Keep in mind when I say airship, I mean that they are literally pirate ships that are flying instead of on water. You can build up your ship’s weaponry to fight other ships in a style that has you plan out your actions before hand, and then watch them happen. It leaves the standard RPG formula for these battles and instead goes into some weird turn-based strategy game. And these breaks from regular gameplay aren’t jarring in the least; they fit very well in the game. On top of this, you have a lot of sidequests, the bounty system, and new discoveries, most of which is not found in the Dreamcast version. Couple this with great graphics for its time and a pretty good soundtrack, and you’ve got yourself a game that shows that you don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary to be impressive. It doesn’t try to be unique, it takes what it has and makes it the best it can be.

Up next, we have Gotcha Force, from none other than Capcom themselves. This game is rare for a similar reason to Skies of Arcadia: Legends, but with one thing making it even more rare and expensive. See, instead of being a critically acclaimed game that didn’t sell well, Gotcha Force is a game that got a lot of mixed reviews that sold pretty badly, but retains a devoted cult following, one of them being me (though again, I lucked out and found this for like $30 at a Gamestop). The average reviews for this game were between 5-7/10, but when asking its following, they’ll say it’s one of the best games on the GameCube. For a complete used copy of Gotcha Force, you’re looking at a staggering $150 – $170 price tag.

Image courtesy of GameTDB

Gotcha Force is an action game focused around collecting toys to do battle. You’re put into an arena, which is normally just a regular park or a kid’s room, to fight other small toys with swords and laser beams in a style somewhat similar to the Armored Core games. You can compose a team of toys, called Gotcha Borgs. The Gotcha Borgs are pretty much if the Transformers in the show were the size of their real-life toys. Gotcha Borgs are separated into different types, and each have different stats, and having good team synergy is key to beating this game, because it’s hard. Very hard. Half because of its awful camera, half because of the actual difficulty. Content wise, this game is pretty long, with a story that will last around 10 hours, probably more of you’re as bad as I am, and if you want to complete everything in this game, you’re gonna need to dump in at least twice that. There are so many Gotcha Borgs to collect that just trying to find them all is going to run you a few more hours, and you may have to look for more just to complete the story if you see yourself getting beaten by a particular enemy a lot. It’s got some of the most fun multiplayer you’ll ever play, just because of how fast-paced and crazy the screen gets with four people going all over the place trying to kill each other. This game is great for parties. You know, if you don’t mind leaving your $150 game out for people to constantly play. Graphically, it’s a pretty nice-looking game. The Gotcha Borgs are well designed, and for a game with so many, they do a really good job at making sure they look unique from one another. Musically… Ehhhh. Not good, not bad. Gotcha Force is a game that’s really good if you just want to sit down for a few hours and have some fun, fast-paced shooting action while still looking at cute things and cool robots.

Now, we’re going to talk about the rarest and most expensive game on here, and one that has a very fun story to go with it as well: Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest. Cubivore was originally released in Japan as Animal Leader, and upon receiving mixed reception and bad sales, Nintendo decided to not bring it over to the west. Then, after hearing that, Atlus came along and decided to give it a North American release. A very limited North American release. Combine that with the fact that even in comparison to the limited release, this game didn’t sell very well over here and still had mixed reception, and you’ve got a recipe for a rarity. A complete used copy of Cubivore will run you between $175 – $220 depending on the condition. Yes, you read that right. $175 – $220. For a game about cubes eating each other.

Image courtesy of GameTDB

Funny story about how I got my copy of Cubivore. Back when I was in middle school, my friend needed to sell some games for some money, and just didn’t know what he had. Granted, I didn’t either because I was like 12, but point is, I bought this $175 game for $10 because neither of us knew about it.

Either way, Cubivore is… Weird. Is it an adventure game? Survival? RPG? You can’t really tell. You’re a cube who eats other cubes to evolve into a bigger and stronger cube in order to eventually become the biggest, baddest cube in all the land. You’re trying to become this better cube not just live better and longer, but to overthrow the Killer Cubivore, who reigns over the top of the food chain and who has eaten the essence of the land along with his allies, causing the land to dry up. If you can overthrow the Killer Cubivore and become king, you can restore the land to what it once was. You evolve by literally eating other cubes and absorbing their forms. But not in a cute Kirby kind of way where he sucks ’em up and then poof, new form. No, this is actually quite violent. You bite into the other cube, shake them around, and then literally rip their limbs off with your teeth. You then get a new limb, or a different limb. Each set of bodies/limbs functions differently, which means you have to change your approach when hunting. You progress by eating enemies and bugs, which bring color back to the land. And, well, yeah. That’s it. The main story takes about 12 hours to complete, but the game takes a lot of getting used to, since it’s so weird. So it’ll probably take you a bit longer. Cubivore is slow, but pretty fun. And it’s definitely one of the most unique experiences on the gamecube. All for the low, low price of $175. Oh, and one more thing. This game was developed by Intelligent Systems. You know, the team behind every Fire Emblem game.

SPEAKING OF FIRE EMBLEM!

Image courtesy of GameTDB

I’m not going to go into too much detail on this one, because so many people already know how great it is and how rare it is, but it’s something that has to be talked about. Path of Radiance is the other fan-favorite Fire Emblem game after Awakening, and it goes for around $100 used. Its incredible story (that is continued in Radiant Dawn which is an equally rare and expensive game on the Wii) and loveable characters make its more-dialogue-than-gameplay style very enjoyable, and the gameplay itself is very good. Path of Radiance is one of the harder Fire Emblem games, and it shows. It forces you to be very tactful in your decisions, and is not a game that you can brute force your way through. Great looks, great soundtrack, great everything, really. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is a strategy game that you’re gonna want to pay the money to play.

Just remember, if you have some extra cash, don’t do the smart thing and buy something that will help you in the long run, spend it on a stupidly expensive video game, because that’s what money is for.