MK2 TOURNAMENT BEAT.TRIP.GAME Gaming Insurrection begins its Editor Lyndsey Mosley examines first tournament in one of the the soundtracks of the TMNT most popular (and gory!) universe of games. Listen up for fighting games ever made. recommendations. PAGE 14 PAGE 3 First Quarter 2011 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Maps, reviews and more of our favorite green foursome contents Columns Features Usual Suspects The Cry of War…....…......….3 TMNT blowout …………..4-10 Ready, set, begin …….… 11-13 From the Dungeon…..........3 MK II tournament ….....14-18 Retrograde ….…………... 19-23 Beat.Trip.Game. .. .. .3 The Strip ………….…....….24-27 Strip Talk ……………...........24 Animal Crossing Chronicles ……………………….…...…30-32 Otaku ………………...........26 Retro Game Corner…….33-35 staff this issue Lyndsey Mosley Lyndsey Mosley , an avid video gamer and editor ––inin --chiefchief journalist, is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insur- rection. 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 watching a few TV shows such as Mad Men, The Guild and Simply Ming. Mosley is a copy editor and page designer in the news- paper industry and resides in North Carolina. CONTACTCONTACT:: [email protected] Jamie Mosley is GI’s associ- Jamie Mosley GAMING associate editor ate editor. Mosley researches INSURRECTION and writes the quarterly D&D column From the Dungeon Editor and regularly contributes to Lyndsey M. the Editor’s Weekly Podcast. Mosley Associate Jamie works on the circula- Editor tion side of the newspaper in- Jamie Mosley dustry and resides in Contributing North Carolina. Editor Brandon CONTACT: Beatty fromthedungeon@ Website gaminginsurrection.com www.gaming insurrection. com Brandon Beatty Brandon Beatty is contributing Blog editor for GI. Brandon writes re- www. contributing editor gaming views, makes random podcast insurrection. appearances and produces com/GIforum the quarterly Otaku column The Strip for The Strip. www. gaming Brandon works for the state of insurrection. com/TheStrip South Carolina and resides in his hometown of YouTube Columbia, S.C. User: Gaming Insurrection CONTACT: Twitter @Gaming brandonb@ Insurrect gaminginsurrection.com 2 STAFF editorial I love being a Turtle fan BEAT.TRIP.GAME t was 1989, and everything was right in my world when I discovered the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. was riding the bus home from school every- Iday, walking to get the house key from my older brother who worked part time at the old Pizza Hut a block from my house. It was a time of great rejoicing because as a third -grader, I had plenty of after-school privileges. One A green of those was letting myself in the house, fixing a guide to snack and watching cartoons. It was through this rite of passage as a latch-key kid that I stumbled the sound upon the TMNT. I was instantly intrigued by the lean, green fight- of TMNT ing machines. They were the “bigger kids,” despite f there's ever a being cartoons, who had responsibility and could CRY OF WAR Lyndsey Mosley soundtrack that do teenage things I couldn’t. won't go away and I realized that with the explosion in popularity of would be a good idea to gather the other reproduces quickly, TMNT (it was huge at my elementary school like neighborhood children to make a play based on it'sI the backing for Teen- most across the country) meant there would be a Leonardo falling in love with longtime friend April age Mutant Ninja Tur- correlating jump in merchandise and tie-ins. Be- O’Neil. No play was ever performed because of tles games. Seriously, cause I loved video games, I knew there would be casting and budget difficulties, but trust me, in the these game sound- something for the NES, and I was right. At the end, Leonardo saves the day and gets the girl. tracks are the kind that same time, there came the movie. And TMNTII: I thought I knew it all about the TMNT. I really did. won't die. The Arcade Game. And the action figures. And I Then I grew up. I put my love for TMNT on the The best?: TMNT IV: can’t forget the original comics. I also got a backburner and moved on to other things in life. Turtles in Time. Toe- lunchbox and a Trapper Keeper. And a movie But a moment of my childhood came roaring tapping catchy delights poster or two. back when, a few years ago, I saw my favorite make up the score for My love for the Turtle boys didn’t really fade so green foursome had their original cartoon, the the final entry before much as I matured. But it didn’t stop me from find- one that I ran home every day for years to watch, everything about the ing ways to keep the Turtles near and dear. I was 11 on DVD. I bought it, popped it in my DVD player series started falling years old and thought of myself as a genius play- and immediately remembered the theme song apart. All of the themes wright and scribe. In what I describe now as a brief word for word. Sometimes, I love being a Turtle fan. go with the game and era of sheer ludicrousness, I wrote, produced and sound TMNT-like, even cast a play entitled “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Lyndsey Mosley is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. She can the obnoxious battle be reached by e-mail at [email protected]. A Turtle in Love.” I have no idea now why I thought it theme. The worst?: Anything on the GameBoy. This is by no means an indict- ment of the beautiful Teenage Mutant Ninja Strangeness brainchild of the brilliant Gunpei Yokoi-san but was sitting on a friend's front porch get- some things were just ting a crash course in RPGs because they not meant to be port- needed a fifth man. We played games all able. A blight if you will. weekend. We played RoboTech mostly un- The rest? Serviceable tilI my friend's father came home and became at best. At its best is the Game Master for my first look at the TMNT TMNT II: The Arcade universe. It was 1987 and filled with strange Game in the 8-bit realm. creatures that just wanted to fit into the world. It has the best and most But at that time, I couldn't get into them that recognizable tracks of much. At that age, I cared more about run- all of the games. At its ning around with my imaginary ninja clan worst, are the 16-bit than trying to help four turtles stop some Genesis games. These kitchen utensil from taking over the world. make me want to cry, That's right! I didn't have just one imaginary they are so bad. Noth- friend; I had an entire ninja clan. Ninjas were ing is more frustrating huge in the '80s. FROM THE DUNGEON than hearing the game I was going to discuss how to make your own Jamie Mosley equivalent of a bad green machines for your games, but since Pal- house remix of late '80s ladium Books published The Teenage Mutant due to moral conflicts. Maybe your group met power rock. Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, I decided your world's version of the Teenage Mutant If you're going on it was better if each GM could created their Ninja Turtles and they convince you to change sheer creativity, look at own green machines. I feel like I just wouldn't your evil ways. Maybe your group is the cursed Turtles in Time. Chances do them justice by giving them scores. So I Turtles. You get the idea. It is really up to you are the zaniness of the want to focus on the elements of your game if and the group. game will provide you choose to create your own Ninja Turtle Now for ideas about your games. I would think something viable for clan. that this would most likely be the easiest for your ears. Otherwise, be Now, there are a few elements that need to hero fans of all ages to come up with. You can forewarned that if be in game settings before you introduce your watch, read and talk about your favorite plots you're not a fan of the shell-backed heroes. The game must take that the Turtles have encountered. If you green foursome's place in a huge city that strange happenings played the original TMNT RPG, I would suggest eponymous 1987 car- are the normal. A place where the people run thinking about all the games that you've toon, you will not enjoy for their lives when the giant fire-breathing played since then, and search for any plots you the majority of the moth comes out of the sky to dine on them, could use now or that you want to expand on. sound you're about to but go back to their normal lives after the dan- The thing about the Turtles universe is that any- be assaulted with. You ger has passed. thing can happen, so nothing is over the top. I can’t miss that theme You must have at least one re-occurring mean, the Turtles traveled in time and met alter- since it’s in everything nemesis that you want to stop as bad as they nate versions of themselves. It really is up to your TMNT. want to stop you. What if the Shredder men- imagination and the imagination of the group Thankfully, it’s held up tored another being — let's call him the also.