TheGamer is not at Tokyo Game Show this year, sadly, but Capcom was gracious enough to invite yours truly to the US office earlier this week to get hands-on with its slate of upcoming games. I got pretty much the full convention experience, except it only took two hours, I didn’t have to wait in any lines, and no one brought any pins to trade. Basically, I did a simulation of TGS, and now you’re reading an interpretation of what we both would have seen if we were in Tokyo right now. This is the exciting technological future Steve Jobs promised us. Let’s talk about some video games.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is getting another big content update later this month that includes what else but three new monsters to hunt. At not-TGS, I got to jump into the arena with Flaming Espinas. He’s a real son of a bitch to fight, if I do say so myself. My group made four attempts to take him down, and while we got very close on the last try, we were unable to seal the deal. Before you start calling me the J word (journalist) keep in mind these demo loadouts are pretty lousy, and there was nary a Demondrug nor Armorskin to split between us. I was using the glaive with a full gunlance deco build, I never had a chance.
But I digress. Flaming Espinas, as the name suggests, is a souped-up version of Espinas with even more fire abilities. The one you really have to watch out for is his AoE burst. It’s similar to Teostra’s, but instead of hunkering down to charge up, Flaming Espinas will rear back on his hind legs and make little scooting motions towards you. It’s very difficult to get away from this one-hit KO even when using wirebugs to gain extra distance. Usually when he stands up he just slams back down, but I wouldn’t take any chances with this one. If you see him rear back, just run for your life. Flaming Espinas is another great addition to an already packed roster of beasties, and though I didn’t get to see them, I’m sure the others will be just as good.
After Monster Hunter I got to play a little Street Fighter 6, which has changed a lot since I last played it in June during Summer Game Fest. The playable roster now includes eight fighters: Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, Kimberly, Juri, Luke, Jamie and, just announced, Ken. I’m not a Street Fighter guy, but even I know how big of a deal Ken is. This is a much older, grisled, some might say sadder version of Ken. His sad dad energy reminded me a bit of Joel from The Last of Us. Sorry that’s all I can really say about him. Like I said, I don’t go here.
The streets just aren’t for me, I prefer to be totally jacked-in with my NetNavi. I don’t even feel alive unless I’m hacking into the mainframe and busting some viruses with my buddy MegaMan.EXE, you feel me? I was obsessed with the Mega Man Battle Network series as a kid. I watched the show, I collected the cards, I even had the Advanced PET machine you could slam the chips into. Huge Networkhead, huge.
The Legacy Collection includes all six of the original GBA games (if you don’t count the Pokemon-style dual releases), but only the first three were available to demo. From what I’ve seen, it’s exactly the game as I remember it, for better or worse. He only change is that it gives you Switch button prompts in the tutorials and menus instead of GBA buttons. It maintains the original aspect ratio on your TV, which is better than stretching the frame, but It’s hard to ignore the fact that these games were only ever meant to be played on a three-inch screen. I think I’ll stick to handheld when I inevitably play through all of these games again when the collection comes out early next year. No word yet on whether or not it will support online PvP, although I did ask. I’m excited to play Battle Network on a modern device, but I’m still hoping to see a few more bells and whistles before launch.
That’s all for now on the Capcom side, but we’ll have plenty more Tokyo Game Show coverage throughout the weekend. Follow, like, share, donate, DM me, and don’t forget to call your mom.