Virtua Fighter 5: The Sarah Bryant Quest Mode Chronicles!

I wrote this on the eve of when Final Showdown was coming and I used Ver. C to prepare for that. What I saw was what I learned didn't 1:1 translate like I thought it would. Final Showdown showed me quickly that I needed to adjust my play for what's changed from Ver. C to what I was presented with. The basics of what's always been there didn't budge but everything else around it did. So with that I had to relearn my approach to Sarah within the confines given. Even with the game being out for all this time I'm not quite where I want to be but getting there isn't impossible either.

The other information this article provides is still relevant to anyone who decides they want to dive into VF5's Quest Mode and get the most out of your play there. It was quite a shame that Final Showdown didn't have Quest Mode but it offers plenty for the price point. That much is a given. So read on into a relic of the past and learn something new. Enjoy.

After we got that release date for Final Showdown I wanted to see what my VF aptitude was so I put the game in and proceed to play. And what I discovered was no mystery to me. I sucked. Very badly. The reason being is because I do what I always do, go on autopilot. This happens in every fighter I play unless 1 of 2 things are possibly happening. Either I'm trying to experiment with something new and I'm just focused on taking mental notes about my current research or I'm so engrossed into what or who I'm playing I'm a lot more focused on the task at hand and I'm a lot more careful in my approach to that given situation. Other than that I'm just going with the flow because I know it isn't that really important if I win or lose . When it comes to Virtua Fighter and Sarah my autopilot flows like this. I know some basic BnB's and I'm always finishing PPP strings with a K on block. Anybody who even remotely plays VF knows that doing this results in Sarah dying afterward because 100% of the choices she has when a K comes out in that string that the opponent has enough block advantage to make dinner, eat it and still have time to punish that mistake. Also I'm not taking advantage of O or D-Stepping which leaves me vulnerable to a whole bunch of stuff I have no business getting hit by or not punishing my opponent's linearity. And let me not forget if I knock you down I always have to either Jumping Knee Stomp or Soccer Ball Kick you for no apparent reason. A stomp or swift kick to the downstairs area when Sarah does it is really, really, really sexy. Just saying. All of the above are horrible habits for a Sarah player or any player period. However, since I took on Quest Mode I'm starting to break myself of those nasty habits and play a better Sarah because of it. I see these mistakes and I know I'm making them and that's the first step to breaking them. When I make those mistakes now I get a little peeved at myself because I know I shouldn't be making them. But Rome wasn't built in a day and neither can I think I'll erase all of that away in just a few days of dedicated play. Quest Mode has been a great tool for me to learn about the rest of the roster and the many different ways a character can be approached. Even though every single player has access to the same weapons doesn't mean that 2 people will use those weapons exactly the same. This goes for any fighter and has proven to be pretty much fact.

At this juncture you might be wondering how has Quest Mode changed my approach to VF5. It has in many ways mainly the fact that the AI quickly showed me that autopilot is a HUGE NO NO! How I described my Sarah play when I'm not focused can be summed up in one word...linear. In VF, linear has your life bar empty in no time. This statement of fact is why a lot of people shy away from the game. The reason being is that the wall for playing the game at some competency happens a whole lot earlier than in other fighters because VF expects you to understand it and has no qualms showing & telling you how horrible your play is. When Final Showdown drops this wall is going to smack the uninitiated in the face and I'm just giving fair warning to those who fall into this bracket because that point will make you consider giving up. So take heed to the words I speak now. VF isn't like any other fighter out there because of how you have to approach the game to get good at it. VF rewards those who find something and stick with it. That reason is why I only play Sarah because I know that putting all my efforts into being a better Sarah player will pay off in the long run. This is what got me past that wall when I wanted to play VF at some competency and because it worked for me I can at least suggest that if you run into this issue that giving it a shot may work for you.

Now maybe after reading all of that you might want to take up Quest Mode to up your Virtua Fighter aptitude. So I'll bless you with some stuff you may want to know before stepping in.

1. Pick one character and stick to it. The game doesn't reward you for going through it with more than one character at a time. Fully completing it with one character affords all the characters in the game with a special bonus when you start that mode with them after that. And the reward in the grand scheme of it all could've been better but at least you get one.

2. Know your arcade hierarchy. For the most part you can hop into any arcade you want but you may just want to go from easiest to hardest. Sega Arena Coast, Club Sega Downtown, Club Sega Bay Area, Sega Arena East, Sega Route 101, Sega World North and Sega World South.

When you finally decide on an arcade there are 3 stations available. The 1st one is for the lower ranked players of the arcade. The 2nd one is the mid-ranked players. And the 3rd is for the high ranked players and where you'll find the traveling players that frequent multiple arcades. So that you know, rivals that sit on the 2nd machine can sometime show up on the 1st machine as well. Some rivals who sit at the 3rd machine also show up on the 2nd machine as well. Knowing this information is key when trying to find that elusive rival to complete that list. And once you defeat someone a star will appear next to their name in the arcade screen and on their player card as well. A lot more on this later.

3. Quest Mode has a variety of AI patterns for all the characters but they do fall into some distinct categories.

You have the low ranked scrubs who are just there to fill up the rival list.

You have the medium ranked fighters while still just fodder for your destruction tend to pretend they can fight back.

And you have the high ranked fighters who have the best defense I've ever seen. EVER!! I tend to compare these fighters to WW Guile because you look in amazement in what these AI fighters can do, guard against and punish. (The WW Guile reference for those who don't know is that an AI Guile in WW can do Sonic Booms and Flash Kicks at will. THAT SHIT CRAY!!) And let me not forget the about the blatant abuse of O and D-Steps. Learning to guard and punish O-Steps and watching when the AI D-Steps is key to have any chance of winning the farther you get into Quest Mode.

4. Burst in Tournaments and You. While you happen to be "Laying The Smacketh Down" on all those who dare oppose you is the game will let you know that a tournament is starting. Tournaments come in 2 flavors. Official VF Tournaments and those that are run by the Arcades within Quest Mode. Official VF Tournaments happen every so often when you reach a certain rank/win quota. When these come up it's best to deny the invite initially because they'll be available when you're ready. However, these tournaments don't stack so you have to clear it first before another one is presented to you. Tournaments that are run by the arcades come within 3 flavors of their own. Gold, Item and Emblem for a 1st Place Victory. Gold tournaments should be ignored for the most part because as I'll put you up on later that there are better ways to get money in Quest Mode. Item and Emblem Tourneys should be taken when available because they come up less often than the ones that offer a Gold prize for 1st place. Item tournaments give you Mid/High priced item for winning and Emblem tournaments gives you an exclusive emblem for winning. From what I know if you happen to lose an Emblem tournament that you can claim that emblem from the rival who won it by finding them and winning the fight when challenging them again.

5. Leveling up happens normally except for one extreme case. When you attain the Master Rank the only way to level up from it is to beat 5 10th Dan opponents in a row without losing. These don't have to be 5 back to back matches. Just as long as you win 5 matches against 10th Dan opponents. Losing does come with the consequence that you are dropped back to 10th Dan and then have to reattain that Master rank and start all over again. After that leveling up goes back to normal for the most part. Ranks from there on in are is determined by your winning percentage. Below 70%, Between 70-80% and 80% or higher. You'll know that you're at the end of ranking tree when your rank is Liberator, Destroyer or Conqueror.

6. Item Matches. Every so often when a match starts you'll be given the extra incentive to win a random item upon your victory in that Item Match. Now what you get from the item match is determined with color the Dragon and Tiger are while the match is starting. Silver is common, Gold is uncommon and Gold & Green are rare.

The Silver ones can be anything from some money, a common item or an Orb.

Orbs are for your Orb Plate. You'll notice it on the bottom left hand side of your player card. It takes 7 orbs to fill up a single Orb Plate and when you do you're given a special item. The first one is on the house and the other 7 you'll have to buy from the Item Shop. There's a very quick way to get this done in a hurry and it's very important for gathering additional items. More on that later too.

Uncommon and Rare Item Matches always give you a customization item upon winning. And depending on which Item Match you're involved in will grant you an item equal to it.

Now that you know all of this information let me let you in on how to break Quest Mode so you can be done with it faster. Because as my father told me "It's better to work smarter not harder." This statement is one I live by. I always find a way to do something quicker because I just have knack for doing so. So let's get started.

1. Go to the Options Mode and turn off Autosave. This is important. While you're there adjust the Arcade & Versus settings for quick fights for Step 2.

2. Go to Arcade/Versus Mode and Create new data for who you're taking through Quest mode.

3. Lose 7 times. Now go to Quest Mode and Win 6 times.

4. Now after that 6th win exit all the way to the map screen and save.

5. Go back into the arcade and win once more and back out to the map screen. At this point you should notice that the last number in your wins and losses are 7.

6. If luck was with you you should see a SEGA Hot Air Balloon on the right side of your screen.

WELCOME TO THE BALLOON TRICK!!!!

What the Balloon Trick does is activate 10 straight Item Matches in the first arcade you enter after the balloon shows up. If you completely leave the arcade back to the map menu then it deactivates and you'll have to wait until the numbers match up to see if you can trigger it again. This is great for getting Orbs to fill your orb plate. Free items for customization and what this will ultimately break down into is 10 matches of free cash to spend at the Item Shop.

They say you can do this with any number and you can but 7 triggers more for people than anything so it's best to stick to it because it's a proven winner.

7. Here's the thing. Because you were smart and listened to me and turned off autosave, you can now control this trick like this. Fight 9 Item Matches and then quit back out to the Map Screen and save. Go and fight one more and exit back out to the map screen. If you see the balloon then go back into the arcade and rack up more, more and even more. If it didn't trigger then fully exit the game and start it over and see if it'll trigger for you. Early on it's so worth it to abuse this trick so you can quickly fill your 8 orb plates so you have a better chance of snagging an customization item from a common Item Match later on.

Now remember that the Balloon Trick lasts for 10 fights but in looping it we're only using 9 of them though. So what can you do with that other fight. Plenty. Now I want to introduce to you...THE POWER OF QUITTING FOR YOUR OWN BENEFIT!!!!

You can combine Item and Rival Hunting by using your one extra fight to quit back to the arcade if you've already fought that rival to see if the other 2 stations has someone you haven't defeated yet. If someone happens to be available to get their ass beat then do it. If not then pick somebody and go for it. This is a great habit to get used to when your rival hunting later on because you don't want to waste time fighting somebody you've already beat. Because winning umpteen times in a row does nothing as far as I know. The other thing you can use your extra fight for early on is to get back to the arcade menu to purchase another Orb Plate. This is important because if you don't have an orb plate then you can't win orbs for it. The one event that supersedes all of the above is if the match you're quitting on is a Uncommon or Rare Item Match. These are worth the fight even if you can't reset the Balloon Trick because they don't come up too often.

8. Priorities, Priorities, Priorities! This is very important in the early part of Quest Mode because as I see it the faster you get certain things out the way the faster you get to concentrating on the one thing that makes Quest Mode such a chore...fighting rivals. When it comes to the Balloon Trick is the only choice you might be faced with is when a arcade ran tournament appears. Remember that Gold tournaments are very common are very worthless to you at all times because you know how to beat the system in regards to getting money. An Item or Emblem tournament are less common but worth to stop the Balloon Trick for to make a play to with that Item or Emblem. Because every Item tournament you win becomes one less item you have to buy. Emblem Tournaments are more in my view just a way to get them to stop popping up as 1st prizes so Item ones become more common.

When it comes to Rival Hunting priorities take center stage because backing in an out of an arcade to find that one rival you missed is tedious as hell. The simple way is to remember the arcade hierarchy. Rivals you have to defeat that sit at machine 1 over time become harder to find because more rivals occupy that machine. And machine 3 is the reverse of this. So if you're nearing the end of completing an arcade and more than one new rival is available then take the rival on machine 1. You will thank me and so will the thought of ending your own life because of the tedium of entering and exiting an arcade to find that one.

Also keep in mind that there are some rivals that won't even appear before you to get beat until you reach Liberator, Destroyer or Conqueror Rank so don't fret if you've been looking for a bit and the one isn't showing up.

9. Remember you learned earlier about the power of saves and quitting, right? Now it's time to see the Super Form of it which I dub, LOCKING! Locking comes in 2 forms. Tournament Locking and Rival Locking.

Tournament locking works like this. When you've decided to accept a arcade ran tournament you can save before starting the tournament. So on the off chance you don't win, you can restart the tournament and keep at it until you win.

Rival Locking works like this. Because there's no penalty for quitting mid match regardless of where the battle stands you can lock that rival in place until you win. This works hand in hand with keeping 7's in your wins and losses. Because losing results in the same lock but you'd have to lose 9 more times to get a 7 back in your losses column. That's a humongous waste of time and the most important part is by keeping that rival locked until you win means one less you have to hunt down later on.

With all of that out of the way I'm done for now. But before I go I will leave you with some tools that will assist you further in Quest Mode.

Shout Outs to Ash_Kaiser on VFDC for making this awesome Rival List for the 360 Version of the game. It still applies to the PS3 version too but the 360 has additional rivals. I still don't know if that's good or bad.

You can find it HERE!

If you need a movelist for either the PS3 or 360 versions then I got you as well. Remember that Ver. B =PS3 and Ver. C =360.

You can find the Version C Movelist HERE!

The default link is Akira for the same version. So I linked Sarah's instead. I HOLDS MY BOO DOWN, YOU DIG!!!!! Thanks to VFDC for that link as well. I hope the command list gets an update for Final Showdown. I have a feeling I won't be let down on that.

The game itself has an awesome movelist in Training Mode that shows you how to do the move with button presses and joystick movement. Super awesome. A great way to watch and learn the execution of those moves that may give you trouble. This feature will be available in Final Showdown as well so be sure to take advantage of it.

I know this information will be moot for most in 2 weeks but that wasn't going to stop my sharing of all it however. I wrote this to remind myself that my Sarah play could be a lot better and what better way than to put that fact on show for the world to see.

The Quest Mode stuff is for whoever sees a use for it. Better to write these things down versus letting the thoughts rot into my head.

So with that I hope you learned something new and I'm going to continue to use Quest Mode as my tool to become both a better Virtua Fighter player and the best Sarah Bryant player I can.

And of course to earn enough money to play dress up. I'm going to find a way to share my customizations of Sarah. They're pretty cool if I say so myself.

Don't forget to save those dates for Final Showdown. June 5th for PSN and June 6th for XBL!

And remember to always Play, Learn, Adapt and Evolve. You'll have more fun that way.

-Triple Da God AKA #GAMINGZNUMBA1DOPEMAN

Cool Shit Presents The Onslaught of News That Was

And here I thought I'd actually be able to drop this on time. Thank all that onslaught of TGS news and my need to condense everything for this late entry. Enough of that. Let us journey.

The less I say about this the better and trust anything I could say about this has already been covered. This does bear repeating though. Megaman deserves way better than he's been given as of late. Let us hope things get better for the Blue Bomber as a whole.

I guess the Capcom's fucking up sync is perfect for the announcement of Bayonetta 2 XXXCLISVELY 4 WII U!!! All we know it's coming and for now that'll do. Let's see if I actually can finish the first one before this drops.

Well from one 2nd chance to another we arrive at Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. Blood, Ayane and a promise to make it more like NG2. Let's see if Team Ninja can deliver on the promises made to those scorned by the original.

From one promised remix to another we have Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMIX which includes Final Mix 1, Re:Chain of Memories and HD versions of all the cutscenes from 358/2 Days because who really wants to play that again. No word of a release date or if even a 2.5 is in the works. We can only hope.

No snappy segue here. Kamen Rider Super Climax Heroes is looking to stand out from previous iterations by adding a free run mechanic and retooling the characters. I stand by my promise like I do every year to find broken ass shit Day 1 which I will of course. I'll have everything you need to know when the game drops.

Groups of heroes from an anime with a special story for the game? We got it. Saint Seiya Ω Ultimate Cosmo is just that. The game's backdrop is a fighter which does make sense for the subject matter. I'll take a look at it when it drops and see what I find.

We finally get some more information on Ken's Rage 2. Not only does the first series get a big expansion but Part 2 is included as well. If you haven't played the first one at this point you might want to wait on this one even though the first one was crack. The trailer shall bless you with more info on what's new here.

There's always time to take out to talk about Injustice. All you need to know storywise is that Bats and Supes be beefin dawg. Expect high levels of prep-time. HIGH LEVELS OF PREP-TIME!!!

Here's more Okami HD. Buy it. That's it. This game speaks for itself and doesn't need me for a cosign of it's PURE FUCKING AWESOME!!

Invisible segue. We learn a lot here about DmC and the reasoning for what's happening. I'm intrigued by it but I gotta get this in my hands because that's what really matters. January 15th the world will do just that.

All we know about this is that it's a BlazBlue spinoff. Any other questions you might have I don't have answers for. Those come soon from the ones who have the answers we all seek.

E.X Troopers. I'll be getting this but I gotta add this to my import list because "it's too much like Lost Planet." Whatever. Your loss, my gain.

Layton vs Ace Attorney and AA5. The crossover and the return of Naruhodo. OK. But I still don't get AAI2. Bullshit. That's another conversation for another day.

I gotta say I'm very intrigued by the possibilities that Nilin has for offense in Remember Me. If you weren't hype for this game this may get you on board.

Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. Hype for the simple reason that we'll be able to play out all the awesome that the manga has been pushing out lately. If it can live up to this is the question we now look to answer.

Same as the above but I'll be able to reenact crack from the years and years of reading this manga. This has the potential to surprise a lot of people. And it'll do just that. Trust me.

Wing Diver. No more needs to be said. Admitted Pale Wing Stan. Real Fucking Talk. Earth Defense Force 4...COMING FUCKING SOON BITCHES!!!!!

What was once Project P-100 is now The Wonderful 101. This is work of Kamiya-san. This will be crack. No more needs to be said.

Robot ninja hunts down zombies and Ryu Hayabusa. These are words I never think I'd utter in a complete statement. Yet here we are. Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z is the collaboration between Keiji Inafune & Team Ninja. Don't really know much outside of that. However, we will soon.

The above games of Double Dragon Neon and Hell Yeah!!!: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit only beg one question. DO YOU HAVE BOTH OF THESE YET? IF THE ANSWER IS NO THEN YOU FUCKING DID IT WRONG AND SHOULD TRY AGAIN!! FOR YOUR SAKE AND NOT MINE.

Under Night In-Birth dropped last week and the game is nothing short of crack. To check out some matches feel free to drop by #DoaGHThaDOJO and take a peek at how the game is evolving after a week out. And with that out of the way let us get to our TV wrap up portion of our broadcast.

Kamen Rider Wizard. This shit is so fucking awesome. Haruto is just a beast and we're only 4 episodes in. This is going to get better. How much is up to chance however. Maybe if I ask nicely...PLEASE!!!

I never thought I'd be hype for something on Mondays that isn't RAW after that one show just disappeared off the air. Cue some years later and here's this Revolution show. The lights have gone out. People go on journey to turn lights on. Asses get kicked. You don't need to know anything more than that. Just watch.

And that ends that. Dexter will be joining the review portion as it premieres on Sunday. I can't wait for that. And when I get 5 seconds to watch Go-Busters I'll put a review up.

P.S: Victor Newman, God to the Game. Congrats to The Young & The Restless for 10,000 Episodes. Now that's a feat.

With no music or Pony to add why not pimp myself a bit and just remind you that yeah I beat Super Mario Brothers with the same Fire Flower I received in 1-1. I'M AWESOME BUT YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT!! I'm planning a video to talk about the run and what I learned from it and how it'll affect how I approach #RunDatReXXX in the future. I'm ready to take on the next game but that'll be once I gather some tech to do so. Hopefully that run doesn't take 3 months to do like this one did.

In the next couple of weeks expect the return of #2NiggasSpeakOn, #2NiggasGameDat and some Vlogs for me as well. Be prepared.

And with all things covered I now take my leave. As usual thanks for reading and I'll be back next time with the you know.

-Triple Da God

Cool Shit From The Catch Up That Was From A Long Time Ago Which Is Now

Cool Shit went on a bit of hiatus but with me getting everything else current then why not this "weekly" article. Hopefully after this we'll be back on the weekly schedule that this was supposed to be. So without no further ado let us get right in.

I guess we should start with the little La-Mulana miracle that could. The game has been and is available for PC in multiple ways and on the WiiShop in Japan. But thanks to EnjoyUp games taking over where Nicalis couldn't, we'll be getting the Wii version in US & EU on September 20th. So now you have one extra way to enjoy this awesome gem. Have fun.

In our Metal Gear Double Feature we have the new Ground Zeroes. That game will put you back in sneaking suit of Big Boss as he does what Snakes do...SNEAKING DAT SHIT!!!! We also have an extended feature of Rising with Raiden cutting things into many pieces. So where's the place I stick my money to give it all to Kojima-san & Platinum Games?

Double Dragon Neon. Looking good. Looking good. This game has its fair share of detractors but the game looks pretty good. We'll find out the answers to if it plays good in a couple of days. Games that are related to DD that are straight crack are as follows. Double Dragon (iOS/Android/Zeebo), Double Dragon Advance (GBA), Return of Double Dragon (Super Famicom), Double Dragon 2 (NES/PC/TG-16). Plenty to feast on if your fiending for a fix of some Lee Brothers kicking ass, taking names and they back bitch. And  the review for Double Dragon Neon can be found HERE!!!!!!

Super TIME Force...I will dare not speak a thing about it. Watch this trailer and prepare to have your mind super mega blown. I will be on this day one because that's what has to happen. Prepare to do the same.

Yatagarasu. Once a doujin PC game now coming to a...THREE DEE ESS?!?!? This makes no sense. Why not XBLA/PSN where a game awesome as this needs to be so more people can play it. At least you'll be able to in English soon so there's your upside. But if you want a taste then just Google the name. Yatagarasu.

The SEGA Hipster collection coming soon. With Jet Set (Grind) Radio, Sonic Adventure 2 & NiGHTS into Dreams. JSR is more intact than ever and the other 2 not so sure about. Does SA2 have Battle DLC? What version of Christmas NiGHTS is included in the package. We'll find out soon.

Welcome to Remember Me. Let me introduce Nilin. She's a Memory Hunter. They have the ability to remix memories for their own benefit or just extract the information needed from a person's memory. We don't know a lot about her yet but the pieces are slowly coming together and sometime in 2013 we'll be privy to the whole story of Nilin and what Memory Hunters do.

We'll take this time to say a bit about Senran Kagura Burst. This is not a review as much as a reminder as how this game currently sits on my shelf unopened as will Project X Zone when it comes for the hope that one day that I'll be able to actually play it. Boobs, boobs and more boobs. That's that. Anime coming soon. Fapping before that.

At least when I imported this I got to play it. And the long and short of it is that other than the HD Sexover nothing's changed as far as I know. So if you were looking at this then wait for a price drop and cop it. It's still 3 great games in one package so you can't beat that.

We now leave gaming behind with my TV & Toku synopsis as of late. Most of the shows I kept up with are off for the season so this wrap up will be a bit different than normal.

Burn Notice is at the Season 6 halfway mark and from the last time I talked about it the show was transitioning to what I thought was normalcy but it just all just got jacked up to holy hell and back. Important people died and Michael is one step closer to ending the hunt for those who burned him. But the predicament that Team Westen is in at the moment is something they'll need to band together to get out of. We'll see in November if they can.

I can wrap up the rest of True Blood in 2 sentences. Season 5 didn't fail to disappoint in any way and Season 6 is going to start right at that point. DIS GON BE GUD!!!

Season 1 of Dallas was a roller coaster of events and then some. The Ewing's came together to fight the good fight against the bad guys. And you'd think after all that beef squashing that they'd live together in peace right? HELL TO THE NAW!!! We learned a lot of truths and the how and where we go from here is going to be interesting journey to say the least.

The wrap-up of Fourze if you can even call it that was a mixed bag for me. I was expecting something way different from the end game than what we ended up getting but it didn't sour me on the experience the show provided and suffice to say it was one hell of an experience. So with Fourze in the books we move from space to magic with who may unseat Shotarou & Philip as my favorite Heisei Rider with Haruto coming in as Kamen Rider Wizard. But Wizard will get his full shine as we get back to Cool Shit as it resumes its normal weekly frequency next time.

The little kick-ass Sentai that could is undergoing a major retooling which I'm not all in agreement with but I understand I'm an end user in all of this. Toei doesn't care that I think Go-Busters is awesome as it was however they need to sell the show to kiddies so kiddies buy the toys. So how does Toei go bout dat derrty? Change the kick ass opening theme to some hot ass garbage. Speed up the endgame 20 episodes early and prepare for a random team-up with Gavan. I'm going to keep watching because I'm way too invested into the show to quit now but all this for toy sales and ratings is just crazy. Let's hope Go-Busters can still be a great Sentai after all of this madness.

This moment in Pony Awesome brought to you by Turnabout Storm Part 3: Twilight. If you haven't watched the series up to this point make sure when you get to Part 3 to watch this episode first before Phoenix's side of it all. Meshes better that way.  And now we have our JOTKING Moment of Clarity with actual original music featuring Raisi K.

I just enjoy listening to his beats and I'd think you will to. So make sure to hit him up Youtube listen to some beats and download that The Throwaways Mixtape.  And I think that about puts us at where we would be a week ago. So Cool Shit From The Week That Was will be back on Monday and I'll have that what you need.

And to leave you is some Exclusive 2nd Impact High Level Gameplay provided by #DoaGHThaDOJO. Why. 2nd Impact > 3rd Strike and 3S is The Shend's Turf. Shouts out to all the work he does giving 3rd Strike a home on YouTube to thrive. On that, I'll see you when I see you.

-Triple Da God AKA #GAMINGZNUMBA1DOPEMAN

Double Dragon Neon Presents...Billy & Jimmy's Most Seriously Excellent 80's Adventure

This is going to be different from my normal way of reviewing because this is one of those times where I don't want to rob you of all the great things this has to offer. That alone should say a lot of this game's quality not only withstanding but to the franchise of Double Dragon as a whole. WayForward did a job way beyond excellent with this game. But having played and enjoyed Batman: Brave & The Bold on Wii previously I had no doubts this would something to behold. And WayForward has one hell of a track record making wonderful games. Very rarely do they slip up and if they do their slip up at the end is a lot better than most full efforts.

The question you may have now is how does this stack up to the rest of the series? At this juncture this game as part of the lexicon of the series sits with games like Return of Double Dragon, Double Dragon II (NES/PC/TG-16), Double Dragon Advance & Double Dragon (iOS/Android) as a great representation of what the series is all about. DDN is not as much of a remake as it is a love letter not only to Double Dragon but to the 80's as well and it's all there.

The game takes a second to get used to less so if your familiar with recent incarnations like Advance or the iOS/Android version. Once you get going however things start to become second nature really quick. The game does an excellent job early on teaching you how to deal with your foes and learning to adapt to their quirks as they adapt to the current scenario is a real fun draw to the fun of the experience. Another part of that experience is the visuals by Genzoman. Which honestly a lot of people disagreed with. Very, very, vocally so but within the experience of DDN fits perfectly with the game's overall tone and was a wise choice to get him on visual support. The 3rd part of the mixture which may be the game's standout feature is the music by Jake Kaufman aka virt. The music he created for this game completes the trinity of awesome this game has to offer and needs to be heard regardless you play this game or not. It's just that damn good.

All I can really do now is say this gets a COP DAT ASAP!!! and you need to do it however you need because I needs DAT SEQUAL LIKE YESTARDAY SON!!! Game is 800 MS Points/$9.99 on PSN or free until January if you're a PS+ member. So there's no excuse in why this isn't in your digital library. And if Yoshihisa Kishimoto the creator of not only this series but the Kunio-kun series as well is giving the yeas and nays about the final product then you should take that to the bank as a you should be on this and that the game is in more than capable hands.

Playing Double Dragon Neon is the most fun I've had gaming all year and this is just me on the solo tip. Haven't even done Bro-Op yet so I know that's going to enhance the fun even more so. So at this point what are you waiting for? A signed invitation. Go kick some ass now!! And have some fun too. That's the point of it all.

-Triple Da G.O.D! AKA #GAMINGZNUMBA1DOPEMAN

P.S: Just as a friendly gesture I'll leave this here.



Listen! Get Hype! Say Thanks! Enjoy!

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale Presents...Live from the Expo for Arcade Pennies

This has been a hell of a week for the game with reveals and news out the culo. But now that the dust has settled and what we have is a lot of confirmations of what was leaked. So let's get to the breakdown.

Evile Cole MacGrath. Other than the constant bitching about a wasted character spot according to J that he's point for point from inFamous2. Regardless of what your opinion is I think this was a wonderful pick and no combining them together is stupid idea because it doesn't make sense. There's 2 Cole's now. Live with it.

Wanna call him Jack the Ripper. Do so. Call him Raiden. Do that too. Is he a representative of what we seen so far from Revengance? Hell to the yes. Blades everywhere. If this is any indication of what he'll be like in Revengance then it's time for Bayonetta 2. I'm keeping an eye on him. He's gonna be an early top tier. Bet it.

Hi, Nariko. I missed you. Heavenly Sword was awesome and needs a trophy update. However, Nariko is looking so beast. But this Nariko I speak of so I didn't have a doubt for a second she'd be overly sick. She's another one to watch out for. That L3 looks all kinds of super dirty. I'll be abusing that. Trust.

My ninja Danny 4Tesk. Where you been? Aint seen you since the PS1 my dude. Glad to see that you're here because I almost thought they forgot about you. You seem to packing tech from your games from what I can recall. That L3 of yours is something I'll be keeping an eye on. So grimy. But again, welcome back. Now go back and bring OG Lara, Spyro and Crash with you. Please and Thank You.

-Triple Da G.O.D! AKA #GAMINGZNUMBA1DOPEMAN

Under Night In-Birth Presents...From Dusk Till Battle Dawn

With the game less than a month away today we finally get a real look at the cast outside Hilda and I have that breakdown you know you need.

So let's start with Yuzuriha, who I'll be playing because she qualifies under my 2 rules I try to follow when selecting a character. Hot chick & cool character design. Usually never fails. And if those fail then find a character with a rekka game until I can make a decision. However, Yuzuriha as far as her abilities have the gamut covered. Nice keep away and excellent rushdown abilities. What I did notice is that she has under her life bar A, B, & C. From the footage I think they are some kind of combo limiter in which each letter corresponds to a move she's allowed to do once in any given situation. This does make for strategic decisions in both her keep away and rushdown options. Once players know their situations and gain matchup knowledge then I really see Yuzuriha becoming a major threat.

Next up is Seth who I honestly have to say reminds me a lot Nanaya from Melty Blood at least from the perspective of how his moves looks and his rushdown plays out. He does also come standard with a Aoko-like fireball that isn't made for zoning wars but more for accentuating his rushdown options. Seth's only thing is staying in. He has no reason to dangle because he has all the tools needed to get in and stay in on his foe. I'll definitely have to keep him in mind seeing as I main Nanaya in MB.

Everybody say hi to Cie--Orie. To make a long story short, Orie has all tools to play whatever game your comfortable with. She has every possible offensive pressure option available to her. The reason this is because she has some help from her extension of self and a giant ass rapier. Her rushdown game is more about hit confirms before she can mount her nastier options. Her mid range and zone game are helped by her extension of self to either start a rushdown offense from distance, zone out or continue combos from anywhere on the screen. All in all, Orie has myriad of offensive options. Up to you to put it together.

If you were looking for that character that's all about that close up game then Linne is your girl. Her whole game is centered around the rushdown. She has a fireball that's more for mid range use to get back into her comfort zone. Her whole game is being right next to her foe. And there's no reason to do anything else with her because she's built around the rushdown. You could mid range zone if you want but with her fireballs being her only legit poking tool I can guarantee you won't make much headway with it. Moral of the story: Get in, Stay in!!<

Don't confuse Hyde as a character with a long range game even with 2 tools for that warfare. I think we call that a red herring. Hyde's game is using mid range pokes to start his rushdown offense. And what I think I'm seeing is that his moves work in conjunction with each other for some sweet looking combos. So your only job is to find safe ways to approach and start hurting people. You can try to go against what Hyde's built for but I wouldn't suggest it.

Kind of ironic that we come to Carmine after speaking about Hyde because they have similar game plans for offensive pressure. However, the reason for Carmine's way of the mid range is because all of his normals double as mid range pokes. He does have a couple of fireballs but 2 of them are for just mixup pressure from close and far away. And they should be used for just that purpose so you're not giving up ground while you're rushing down. So your choices for pressure is either the mid range poke or using a fireball to mixup and get in that way. Which considering aren't really bad choices.

I'm not going to make the he's overcompensating for something with a giant ass scythe joke but I will talk about it so you understand the proper use of it. Luckily for Gordeau his weapon of choice isn't a detriment to him frame wise because he can chain from it on hit or block to try to get a better deal for mixup possibilities. As far as combo use goes, his specials with it only begin and end offense but rarely extends pressure and combos as you think it should be able to. It can be used as a long range poke it you want but from what's seen it doesn't do his game any good. So using it to bring the opponent to you seems to be the best course of action to aid in his rushdown.

Waldstein is the most interesting grappler I've seen in quite a while. He's similar to Hyde in the fact that his throws work in conjunction with each other. He has a couple of setup into his chain throws which give him ways to vary his approach to drive you into the ground and some of those options have a hit of super armor as well. He also has a nice poke game as well with those giant arms of his. Beware of the fact they are pretty slow and he'll have to Chain Shift to keep the offensive pressure when he's using those up close.

Merkava is a straight threat if for no other reason than that he can be anywhere on screen at anytime due to his long range pokes, flight mode mixups and many options that lead to hard knockdowns that facilitate all of his offensive needs. It would seem your job with Merkava is figure out when you need to get in and when to back away to bait a way in to do your worst to your foe.

What I like about Vatista is that her mid range and zone game compliment her ways to get in and rushdown are so great. She has the tools to switch her pressure at will and it'll be a major part of your gameplan to be effective with her. So as long as you vary your approach and keep your foe guessing you'll have much success I'd bet.

And that covers everybody that had a featured video. Just know that this game comes out September 20th and DoaGHThaDOJO will be following the evolution of this game very closely. Now time to pray for a console release.

-Triple Da G.O.D! AKA #GAMINGZNUMBA1DOPEMAN

PlayStation® All-Stars Battle Royale™ Presents...Live from Somewhere in Europe

Welcome back to the new age of heroes. Or not. Another major gaming event means another drop on the characters of PlayStation® All-Stars Battle Royale™. Gamescom has brought us Dante from DmC: Devil May Cry. Ratchet & Clank from the eponymous named series. Sackboy from Little Big Planet. And Spike from the Ape Escape series.

First up for analysis is Dante. From what we've seen from DmC he looks to borrow his complete playbook and should be a nice demo for what he'll be doing in January.

Next up is Ratchet & Clank. Now unlike Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank work very well as a force as this trailer demonstrates. Rumor is the good Captain Quark will be assisting them as well. Can't wait for that.

Time for the spotlight on Sackboy. Now Sackboy seems to be sticking to the script from Little Big Planet and using objects from the games to fuel his offense. I really like the choice to have him really stick to his roots.

Enter Spike from Ape Escape. He has the best of the best from Professor and he uses all of it very well. He even gets some assistance from his ape friends as well. This was one of my picks that I wanted to make it and here he is. I can't wait to tear it up with him.

The other pieces of news are the game has been pushed back to November 20th to get a bit more development time in. It's a better thing that will make for a better game. And if you buy the PSTriple version then you get the PSLifeAfterDeath version free. Sweet deal. I await the arrival of the Battle Royale.

-Triple Da G.O.D! AKA #GAMINGZNUMBA1DOPEMAN

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Presents...This Is How We Do 3rd Strike

Episode 3 of the epic that is BlazBlue is here and it seems we only have a small wait before we know what's really good. This trailer awaits my expert analysis so let me do what I do best and analyze it.

Let's start with the 3 new characters!

This is Amane Nishiki or BlazBlue's Bridget. That's a dude. That's a dude. Just so you know. It would seem that his drive revolves around the use of his ribbon to aid in his rushdown.

This is Azarael who looks a lot like Roa from Melty Blood and plays with rocks like Mukai. It seems his drive is all about summoning rock walls.

This is Bullet! Who's a sexy combination of Nagi from Bloody Roar and Zenia from Arcana Heart. Her drive are those pile bunkers she's packing.

And everybody save for Lambada-11 is back as far as I know at the moment. The what, how and why from Continuum Shift is something we'll soon find out.

The super duper awesome upgrade bonus is Noel trading the hat and pants for a short skirt which in my opinion is just too hot for words!

The Loke Test is currently in progress. Be sure to stay tuned to DoaGHThaDOJO for all that footage and here for all the latest updates

-Triple Da G.O.D! AKA #GAMINGZNUMBA1DOPEMAN

UPDATE: Looks like ASW released some information for the Loke test. Mainly the movesets of every character available. When a complete change log is released I'll update that here as well.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure HD Presents...Time Stops, Petshops & Steamrollers in HD

This trailer doesn't confirm much we didn't already know. But it looks really pretty though. A similar effect could be had if you had the Matching Service version and a VGA cable. You have your HD, your online, those bad alternate names so Capcom doesn't get sued and semen for blood. It would seem at this time even the JP version is edited at least in the violence category. The JP version of the trailer confirms this much to be true. So unless there's some option to turn it on which there should be then I'll be forced to play the game as it was meant to be by other means.

Remember, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure HD Version is due for release on 8/21 for PSN and 8/22 for XBLA. WRRRYYYYYY!!!

-Triple Da G.O.D! AKA #GAMINGZNUMBA1DOPEMAN