MKII TOURNAMENT ANIMAL CROSSING We continue our Mortal Kombat II CHRONICLES throwdown with the second round of analysis, video and more. Join us as we walk through the days with Samus as she lives her life in the town of Tokyo. PAGE 20 PAGE 37 YEAR 04, NO. 14 Second Quarter 2011 WWW.GAMINGINSURRECTION.COM DREAMCAST FIGHTING GAMES GI SPOTLIGHTS SEGA’S FALLEN VERSUS COMBAT MACHINE contents Columns Features Usual Suspects The Cry of War…....….......….3 Dreamcast fighting games …….4-15 Ready, set, begin ……... 16-19 From the Dungeon…...........3 Mortal Kombat II tournament ..20-24 Retrograde ….………….. 25-28 Beat.Trip.Game. .. .. .. .3 The Strip …....…….…..….29-31 Strip Talk ……………...........29 Online this quarter ….……..32 Otaku ………..…….............30 Retro Game Corner …...34-36 Torture of the Quarter …...36 Animal Crossing Chronicles …………………….….....…37-39 staff this issue Lyndsey Mosley Lyndsey Mosley, an avid video gamer and editor–in-chief journalist, is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. Mosley wears quite a few hats in the production process of GI: Copy editor, writer, designer, Web designer and photographer. In her spare time, she can be found blogging and watch- ing a few TV shows such as Mad Men, The Guild and Sim- ply Ming. Lyndsey is a copy editor and page designer in the newspaper industry and resides in North Carolina. Editor’s note: As we went to press this quarter, tragedy struck in Japan. Please con- sider donating to the Red Cross to help earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. Thank you from all of the Gaming Insurrection staff. CONTACTCONTACTCONTACT:CONTACT: [email protected] Jamie Mosley is GI’s associate Jamie Mosley GAMING editor. Mosley researches and INSURRECTION associate editor writes the quarterly D&D column From the Dungeon and regularly contributes to the Editor’s Weekly Editor Lyndsey M. Podcast. Mosley Jamie works on the circulation Associate side of the newspaper Editor industry and resides in Jamie Mosley North Carolina. Contributing CONTACT: Editor fromthedungeon@ Brandon Beatty gaminginsurrection.com Website www.gaming insurrection. com Brandon Beatty Brandon Beatty is contributing Blog editor for GI. Brandon writes www. contributing editor gaming reviews, makes random podcast insurrection. appearances and produces the com/GIforum quarterly Otaku column for The Strip. The Strip www. gaming Brandon works for the state of insurrection. South Carolina and resides in his com/TheStrip hometown of Columbia, S.C. YouTube RIP to my great-grandfather. Thanks for help to User: Gaming raise a new generation of champion, Champion. Insurrection Twitter CONTACT: @Gaming brandonb@ Insurrect gaminginsurrection.com 2 STAFF editorial A dying system’s last gasp BEAT.TRIP.GAME or nearly 12 years now, I've enjoyed the fighting CRY OF WAR fruits provided by the Sega Dreamcast. It's not Lyndsey Mosley just that it's my second favorite system — the F Super Nintendo holds the top spot in my heart. It's the fact that Sega obviously put some work and effort into their final system. You can practically feel the love emanating from the little machine that could … and did. Music One of the things I love the most about Sega's scion is the fighting game devotion that graces its roster. It's the makes or Capcom show alright, with at least 10 titles from the home of Ryu and Ken. But what's impressive is the fact breaks that Sega and Capcom's obviously tight relationship at fights the time produced some of the most arcade-perfect titles ever released. This is the example of arcade perfection around with the cessation of production for the Dream- f you've ever noticed the that you pull out to make the case for the old days of cast, and Sony went on to win the console wars at that environment of a fight- cabinet standups and token lines. I do feel with all of my point with the PS2. ing game, you might fighting game loving heart that this is a large part of the But you know what? It's our gain. And by our, I mean I have noticed that the reason why arcades fell off in the '90s. Why go out when fighting game lovers, specifically. Where else can you find music plays an important part you can achieve the same level of quality at home on a the original pristine versions of quality fighting titles that of the experience. Music can system that is literally powering cabinets? remember their arcade roots such as Marvel vs. Capcom 1 make or break a fight, and It's also obvious at the time of most of the releases that and 2, Project Justice, Guilty Gear X, Fatal Fury: Mark of sometimes it's the difference we're covering in this issue that Sony was and should the Wolves and SoulCalibur? between a victory or defeat. have been pea-green with envy. A quick history lesson: Sure, you can play some of those on the PlayStation The stage music of fighting Right around the time that Marvel vs. Capcom was re- Network or Xbox Live Arcade, but I have a purist's streak games is worth listening to. leased in arcades, Sony made a statement to the effect coursing through my veins and I love the feeling of pick- Most music is designed to that 2D fighting games had no place on the PlayStation 2. ing up an official Dreamcast joystick, rummaging through project a particular atmos- It was Tekken and SoulCalibur or nothing. Nevermind memory cards, setting my system date and popping in a phere. However, some games that a PS2 controller is perfect for Capcom-style games. GD-rom of an arcade classic. also focus on a particular You couldn't tell Sony that they stood to make far more Call me crazy but I miss the days of Sega arcade domina- character. Some of my favor- money by riding the gravy train that was Street Fighter. tion. ites are able to accomplish So what was Sony's loss was Sega's gain, sort of. both, and these are the I say sort of because, in the end, Sega lost all the way Lyndsey Mosley is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. She can be soundtracks that I stick with reached by e-mail at [email protected] on my MP3 player. Tekken series: You abso- lutely cannot go wrong with the martial arts brawler from Gather experience from outside Namco. The music, depend- ing on whether it's the arcade or home version, is character- have always suggested to Game Masters to seek FROM THE DUNGEON focused and excellent. If I had outside elements for inspiration on stories for your to pick a favorite, I'd say start Jamie Mosley group’s adventures. I don’t mean outside sources with Tekken Tag Tournament. I as literally being outdoors. I mean it in the sense of SoulCalibur: Namco proves gathering ideas other than conventional ways. A lot of with its Soul series that it Game Masters ideas for campaigns come from reading doesn't always have to rely on other gaming materials like a campaign setting or a gam- the Tekken games to produce ing module. There's nothing wrong with this, but I feel quality music. Easily, the best you can get more original ideas from sources such as soundtrack is SoulCalibur. comic books, graphic novels, movies, anime, manga and Mortal Kombat series: If video games. you're going to listen to any Video games! I can’t tell you how many campaigns I music from the former Mid- have written and either a video game story inspired it or a way-fighter-turned Warner- video game character’s story inspired it. I even use video was a fighting genius. Bros.-franchise, it needs to be games to help with the backstory of my characters that I People didn’t want to be around him, but they wanted from the first three games. create for each game. him on their side when there was a fight going on. He Composer Dan Forden I have made a character named Ricky Flare, who couldn’t fly like the rest, but he kept up by teleporting. earned his accolades with the had the personality of the wrestler but the backstory Even if the fight was in the air, he would teleport up to his first set of games as a master similar to Bruce Lee. One of my other D&D characters opponent and try to teleport to a safe spot when possi- of atmospheric fighting game in a D&D game is based off of Tien, the Dragonball Z ble. soundtrack composition. My character. I also have a character in a Dragonball Z With outside sources, you can come up with almost personal favorite is Mortal campaign that is based off of Ryu from Street Fighter. anything. Your only limit is your imagination. Gaming Kombat II. I am not talking about Ryu from Street Fighter II modules and using character generators are helpful. Street Fighter: Of all of the Turbo; I am talking about a combination of Quick But most players get more enjoyment out creating games and series on the list, Change Ryu in Marvel vs. Capcom and the Ryu of something that is original. At least it's original for Street Fighter has the oldest Street Fighter III: Second Impact. His name was Scott them. and most memorable set of Muhamman. I created Scott Muhamman because some friends and I themes. Street Fighter is one Scott is still one of my most favorite characters I have were discussing if a Street Fighter character could survive of the few series that can in- ever created.