Rebooting the Series: Will Armstrong's The Last Strider
GameCareerGuide.com is having a "reboot the series" contest and naturally, one of the proposed entries is on Strider. Professional game designer Will Armstrong submitted a 507-word proposal for resurrecting and continuing the series, which you can read here. He does a pretty good job, even bringing back the Options.
Winning entries will be posted August 11. I hope he makes the cut.
Posted by Scion on August 6, 2009 08:32 CDT
MvC2 Out on XBLA!
So I go over to CBR and what do I see? My boy Hiryu, in the upper right, advertising the XBLA release for Marvel vs Capcom 2. Top billing, right across from Spidey. YEAH, BABY!
Of course, the downside is that the PS3 version has once again been pushed back. And no, it's not because we're getting the extras. So I'll see you XBLA people in August.
Posted by Scion on July 30, 2009 08:26 CDT
LSCM Mentioned in Digital Press!
Rob Strangman, owner and dictator-for-life of The Third Moon Forum @ Invisionfree, also has a gig over at Digital Press writing the "Matters of Import" column. He tossed the LSCM a shout-out in issue 66, which you can read here. Thanks, Rob!
Sweet, no? Just one step closer to my eventual overthrow of the dictator-for-life co-ownership of the coming global government.
Posted by Scion on July 21, 2009 18:34 CDT
Creative Minds Are The Devil's Workshop.
The LSCM is proud to announce a new featured article series: "Creative Minds Behind the Strider Series". The series will eventually include Tatsumi Wada, Junko Tamiya, Bengus, and others; but for now, the only one available is about the lead programmer for the CPS-1 game, Isuke.
Like everything else here on the LSCM, expect this one to be in a state of flux, updated as necessary when new information becomes available.
Posted by Scion on July 20, 2009 21:34 CDT
Games Section Reworked, New Feature.
Whew. I've spent a lot of time recently, updating the Games Section. At Rodrigo's behest, I condensed all the ports down into the reviews for their respective games. So all the info on the CPS-1 Strider ports, for example, are now in one section. This streamlines that section considerably. I've also written new reviews for Strider and Strider 2 to accomodate all that info.
I've also opened up a new Feature, one that's been a long time coming to the LSCM: Secret File #26. Enjoy.
Posted by Scion on July 18, 2009 16:47 CDT
GameStop's MvC2 Preorder Bonus... DENIED.
I've got bad news, good news, and surprising news. The bad news is that GameStop has canceled their preorder bonus for reserving the PSN version of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. No more DVD with archival-quality Capcom artwork. Now we just get the game, like the Xbox 360 fanboys do.
Since they dropped the bonuses, however, it looks like the release date's been pushed up from mid-August to the end of July. That's the good news. Which means we get it the same time the 360 fanboys do. So we're all the same, really. Until we get the game, and see who's kept up their skills... and who's a poseur.
The surprising news is... apparently Akira Yasuda, better known as Capcom's Akiman, has a blog. Who knew?
Posted by Scion on July 14, 2009 21:19 CDT
LSCM Updates
I've updated the Moto Kikaku page and the links page. I'm working on more content, which you should see fairly soon.
Posted by Scion on July 13, 2009 20:29 CDT
Isuke Breaks His Silence?
After seeing Rodrigo and Brick McBurly do such a bang-up job on the Grandmaster Meio search, I decided I was going to do an extensive search through the Internets for anything to do with Strider's creators: Moto Kikaku (モト企画 or 本宮企画), Tatsumi Wada (和田たつみ), or Isuke (四井浩一). Rodrigo and I stumbled across a recent interview Isuke gave to Gameside magazine, wherein he talks about the influence he had on the industry, Strider, and... his music career. Or something. Take a look:
ゲーム業界を“爆発”させた“ストライダー”の父
「四井浩一」 ディスコグラフィー
『ノスタルジア1907』幻のシナリオ 第１回
････････････････････････････････････････････････････････････
ゲーム音 EGG MUSIC 竹ノ内裕治インタビュー
We were a bit confused, but a post to the Gameside blog and an independent blog post confirm it's definitely about Isuke and Strider Hiryu. Not to mention the magazine's cover at right.
Complicating matters is the fact that the actual article ain't online. You've got to buy the magazine. Mercifully, it's still up on Amazon Japan. I'm trying to figure out how to get a copy of the ish. Guy's been invisible and nonexistent for ages, and now this. Maybe FINALLY we'll get some answers.
In the meantime, you can talk about it over on the Third Moon.
EDIT 07/13/09 08:03 CDT: Added the Japanese text. Also, I found a review of the article that actually quotes from it:
『四井浩一 ディスコグラフィー』
初代『ストライダー飛竜』を始めとする通好みのゲームで濃い目のゲーヲタに知られるクリエイターへのロングインタビューを中心にした特集記事ですが、自身のゲームすらスパスパと切って捨てる四井氏が面白すぎて、異様に読み応えのある内容となっています。
――そこで『チャタンヤラクーシャンク』を作られたわけですが、エッジな作風の人気が根強いですよね。
四井 あれは完全に市場併合ですよ。『ストリートファイターⅡ』がはやっていた頃なので。
――いや、みんな全然そうは思っていません（笑）。
四井 だって、「ゲームとはいろんなジャンルを作り出すものだ」という空気の中にいたわけですよ。その中で、ありもののジャンルの中で作るのは抵抗がある。そこで譲ったんですよ（笑）。
（ゲームサイド2009年2月号 59ページより）
こうした「普通」で収まらない感性があってこそ、怪作『鈴木爆発』などの作品が生まれたのでしょうね。ここ最近の国内メーカーは技術力に勝る欧米メーカーに競争力が劣るという意見も聞かれますが、四井氏のような古参クリエイターが現場で個性を発揮できるうちは、まだ国内メーカーも捨てたもんじゃないですね。
そしてインタビューに加えて四井氏の筆になる『［ノスタルジア1907］幻の没シナリオ A HAPPY NEW YEAR』が掲載されていますが、ゲーム本編を未プレイの私が読んでも楽しめる出来ですね。WEB上で掲載されるという続きが実に楽しみです。
And this review also talks about the article:
奇才・四井浩一のインタビューが読める雑誌
ストライダー飛竜を生み、ノスタルジア１９０７という鮮烈な記憶を残し、チャタンヤラクーシャンクという怪作を生んだプロデューサ、四井浩一氏の最新インタビューが読める雑誌です。
誰それ？ と思われた方は読み飛ばし上等。
インタビュー（チャタンヤラクーシャンクがメイン）と共に、没シナリオとされるイリュがノスタルジア号に乗るまでの経緯が収録されています。
しかしこれは没シナリオというよりも、設定資料なのだという解釈の方が良さそうです。
ただ残念な事に、この没シナリオは以前、某掲示板に書き込まれていた内容（この対談により四井氏本人の投稿であると判明しましたが）を再録したものとなっております。
何か新ネタが載っているのだろう！と期待して購入したのですが、ちょっと残念な結果に…よって星一個だけ減点です。
ノスタルジア１９０７が三度の飯より好きで好きで、未だにX68kが捨てられない御仁！！にだけお薦めの一冊です。
あれだけ世界観に酔えるＡＤＶに未だに巡り会えていない男の戯言でした。失礼。
Google Translate does a half-decent job of butchering these. Anyone else want to try their hand?
Posted by Scion on July 12, 2009 17:12 CDT
Grandmaster Meio = Hades, Lord of the (Land of the) Dead?
Over on the Third Moon forum there's an interesting discussion going on about Grandmaster Meio, helmed by none other than Rodrigo Shin:
[O]ut of a sheer coincidence while looking for further Strider info I actually stumbled on the kanji for "MeiOu" when talking about the Grandmaster. The way the sentences are worded, it's obviously more of a title than an actual name, but localization rendered it as a name, no less.
But the thing is - it does mean something alright. It's "Lord of the Dark" / "Lord of Darkness", pick your fave. The other times I were in contact with this term, they were referring to Hades - the greek god alright - and so they did an embellished translation for the looks of it, to call him "Lord of the Dead" instead of "Lord of Darkness".
The kanji is as follows:
冥王
冥 - dark
王 - king; ruler; sovereign; monarch
Apparently, "Grandmaster" also means exactly the same thing as "Meio", making the double name more than a little redundant.
EDIT 07/12/09: Brick McBurly over at the Moon weighed in with his expert opinion:
I happen to have the Japanese version of the original Tenchu (well, there were two-'Dimensional Ninja Action Movie' and 'Shinobi Gaisen', but I have both) with me. I'll check out the final level and see what kanji they use for Mei-oh (I can almost guarantee it's the same as the Strider character). If it does, it certainly would mean 'Lord Of Hell' in his case.
Yep, Mei-oh in Tenchu does use the exact same kanji as the Grandmaster in Strider.
'[M]ei' is almost always associated with the land of the dead-but still, given the nature of the Strider character, I'd still lean towards it being 'Lord Of Darkness'.
Mei-oh is a pretty generic name for a powerful supernatural being that practices some form of necromancy-it would be more along the lines of a demon or sorcerer than the Chief Of Demons as seen in the Western world's mythology. You'll also see 'Maoh/Maou' used that way-like in the Musou Orochi Maou Sarin PS2/PS3/PSP game. Sometimes a very evil man will get the terms-for example, Oda Nobunaga was sometimes called 'Tenma Maou' (in this case, meaning the Great Demon King). Usually 'Mei' when used to describe a being has a negative/evil connotation, but there's no reason it couldn't be used to describe a being that brings death as an agent of change (like the above described Emma-oh).
I'd also stress that 'Grandmaster' [グランドマスター] would be the title and 'Meio' [冥王] the name, not vice-versa. The 'o/ou/oh' kanji for lord is quite common in being used as an ending for the proper name of Buddhist and Shinto deities and other godlike beings.
Thanks, Rodrigo and Brick, for the research into all of this. You've both shed a lot of light on the matter.
Posted by Scion on July 10, 2009 08:32 CDT
MvsC2 Release Date
From the Capcom-Unity Twitter:
Alright already! Marvel VS Capcom 2 offically goes live on XBLA on July 29. PSN date to be announced soon.
GameStop still has the PSN release listed for an August 13 street date. PS3 owners are the only ones who get the special edition package (but only if they preordered it). That's why the date's further back than it is for XBLA. However, I will be more than happy and wouldn't protest if they move the release up.
Posted by Scion on July 10, 2009 08:15 CDT