QCF: Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown

t one point in the medium of Video Games, Fighting games were on top of the world, overtaking screens across Living rooms and Arcades across the world. It didn’t take long for everyone to come for that piece of pugilistic pie, and while there were many who tried, a few found success, and even fewer redefined what the genre was—one of those releases was SEGA’s Virtua Fighter.

Aside from pioneering the concept of three-dimensional fighting, the series has steadily earned the reputation for being one of the most technical-minded brawlers on the market and has remained a staple where competitors measure their skill of the genre within the fighting game community. Admittedly, the series has struggled to find mainstream success outside of the dedicated niche of players that have kept up with each new installment, but the series has recently found new life in another popular SEGA franchise—Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza.

The inclusion of SEGA’s historic fighting series may have been a fun Easter Egg at first, but players quickly took notice of the excellent handling of emulation and coding of the series by RGGS, gradually drawing in new interest for the property once more. Striking while the iron is hot, the wild minds at SEGA have paired the talented folks of AM2 and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio together for a new iteration of Virtua Fighter 5, VF5 Ultimate Showdown

Even though Viruta Fighter 5 has waned on for 14 years in its “Street Fighter II” rut of incremental additions and improvement, the super-group effort from RGGS and AM2 goes on to prove that not only is there still plenty of mileage left in the Polygonal Puncher, but they also deliver the definitive version of the game in the process.

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QCF: Oddworld: SoulStorm

egardless of how obscure it may be in the milieu of video gaming, Oddworld has always been a name that’s commanded a dedicated following, with titles that strive to deliver a unique gameplay experience under a presentation that’s teeming with a special kind of cinematic spectacle that plays out like a Steven Spielberg meets Jim Henson passion project.

Where Oddworld Inhabitants have remained consistent with this goal, their last remake, Oddworld: New ‘n Tasty, managed to improve everything good about the original it remakes while introducing a slew of other upgrades to the overall experience, and proved that there was plenty of potential left for Abe’s adventure in the modern era of gaming.

Stepping a few feet away from the familiar absurdity of its fart-fueled roots this time around, Oddworld: SoulStorm leans a little heavier into the real themes the series had previously broached like capitalism, civil rights, racism, gentrification, and predestination.

The end-result makes for one of the most memorable titles this generation has seen in recent memory.

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Reading between the lines: A look at Instructional Booklets

he written word: society lives by it, people relax with it and students learn to grow from it. As the saying goes, the pen truly is mightier than the sword.

Many of us will never forget some of the first words that taught us the beauty (and flaws) of all that language has to offer. For me, it all started with three fondly remembered words that spark joy for many classic JRPG fans:

"You Spoony Bard!" 

This blatant mistranslation made for a hilarious conversation starter that's still worthy of many Final Fantasy IV references to this day.

Books, novels, and magazines serve as a gateway to learning how to read and write over the years. And hell, we had some great reads in the classroom over the years compared to several other generations. I have fond memories of getting into titles such as Bunnicula, the Goosebumps series, and, eventually, George Orwell's 1984 (even if it's a bit real at times now). Not to mention that it would be criminal to forget anything by Beverly Cleary, who recently passed on at the age of 104.

Still, there's another outlet that I don't credit often enough for leading to my own expanded interests in the academic world: video games.

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PPR Presents Limelight: Knuckles' Chaotix-26th Anniversary

wenty-six years ago this week in Japan, the Edgy Echidna in red who won the hearts of SEGA fans across the world decided to push his luck with the crowd even further with a brand new solo outing, Knuckles’ Chaotix, the flagship title for the new SEGA Genesis add-on console, the SEGA 32X.

As ambitious as it was, the 32-bit spinoff was a commercial flop, a flop that hasn’t seen a re-release since the ill-fated GameTap subscription service. Anyone who’s listened to the show the last twelve years knows just how much I love this damn game. For as obscure as it is, it’s legacy has carried on through the years with its colorful cast, and influences across a number of games, including the recent masterpiece that is Sonic Mania Plus. While the odds of getting an HD Re-release are as likely as SEGA announcing the Dreamcast 2,  I thought it would be nice to show this quirky little game some High-Definition love with an impromptu stream later tonight! Join me Saturday night, 04/24/2021, 5:45 PM Pacific Standard Time on our Twitch as I try to play through ith the best ending, and open that faithful door into Summer.

PPR 131

ell this is embarrassing, but honestly, we couldn’t be happier about the news. This episode of PPR is focused on what ending PSN support for legacy PlayStation hardware would mean for owners who still have their old Sony machines on deck. We shared our thoughts on the event, and what selection of games we recommended for download before the plug would be pulled, but then something happened only a day after recording…

Maybe there was enough serendipity from developers and players alike to reach Sony’s senses because it would seem that cooler heads have prevailed and the slated PSN Sunset for the PS3, PSP, and PS Vita has been shifted squarely on to the PSP for now.

Even if the concern is currently moot, we felt there were a lot of good points raised on the show like what the limited life of the CMOS Battery for the PS3 and PS4 means, along with some resources and tactics that can be used to get the most of these old PSN access points before they’re eventually closed down. Even then, the gang also took the time to talk about all the games they had been playing like Metal Slug XX, Hades, Final Fantasy X/X-2, the Atari VCS, Oddworld: SoulStorm, the Amiga CD32, Outriders, Fantasian, Blaster Master Zero Collection, and so much more.

Kick up a seat and boot up PSN on your screens as we present you episode 131 of Press Pause Radio!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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House Show: Spring Cleaning / First Blood

e are right back at it with another episode of House Show, this time around Toast and George discuss the aftermath of Wrestlemania week and the talent that was released by the WWE. We also go into some of the highlights of NXT and The Collective, as well as why we are AEW marks. Hope you all enjoyed the last few weeks of wrestling, and we especially hope the talent that was let go bounce back and find better opportunities. Thanks for listening and let us know if there are any topics you would like for us to discuss!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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QCF: Balan WonderWorld

here are developers out there who hold some of the highest prestige in the industry from their work on a few, or even just iconic game—some of these developers have gone on to do great things in the current day scene, and then there are some who are just stuck in the past.

Yuji Naka’s Balan WonderWorld is an indictment of the latter because the new release from Arzest and the Balan Company is seemingly engineered to compete with platformer games released back in 2003 more than anything else. At its core, Balan Wonderworld plays like a pale imitation of the Super Mario Odyssey formula dressed up in a bad NiGHTs into Dreams aesthetic…

I know I started marching my steps strong and heavy with the Poo Poo Parade real early into this review but I honestly can’t help it; for every neat idea the game seems to have, it comes back with three more flaws or design choices that put a big sour on any fun to be found.

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QCF: Turrican Flashback

he Western and Eastern history video games have always had their place in the main zeitgeist of video game culture, but what about the other, other West? The one that ran their television displays at 50HZ PAL output had a crap-load of gradient color schemes, and an obsession with hurting players with falling water drops—yeah, I’m talking about the European slice of gaming.

While the folks “across the pond” were able to get their own localizations of household brands like Nintendo and SEGA, there was one other name synonymous with the European gaming scene & that was Commodore Amiga.

Even though there isn’t a lot of love for the Amiga legacy outside of those who group on it, there’s been one common denominator that has seamlessly harmonized across all three regions—Turrican.

Factor 5’s Sci-Fi Run ‘n Gun has been hosted across numerous platforms, but none more celebrated than the titles that have graced the Amiga 1200, Super NES, and even the Sega Genesis, and now with the help of Ratalaika Games, Factor 5 has released an upgraded collection of the four best titles in the franchise with Turrican Flashback. Looking beyond the appeal of collecting these overlooked classics into one convenient collection, the labor of love that went into optimizing these games, and fleshing out every little quality of life enhancement and nuance imaginable is what really sets this title apart from nostalgia packages. Turrican Flashback may be one of the finest curations of a retro game set ever to be programmed.

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