{"id":17997,"date":"2018-06-22T00:01:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T00:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=17997"},"modified":"2018-06-19T12:58:30","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T12:58:30","slug":"e3-2018-part-3-classics-both-mini-and-mega","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/22\/e3-2018-part-3-classics-both-mini-and-mega\/","title":{"rendered":"E3 2018 Part 3: Classics Both Mini and Mega"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When people at E3 asked what my favorite game I played at the show was, and I replied with \u201cMega Man 11,\u201d they would say (sometimes rather disappointingly), \u201cOh, you\u2019re an old-school gamer.\u201d\u00a0 Yeah, well, I may be old school, but I\u2019ve still got it (I just don\u2019t remember where I put it).\u00a0 But being old-school isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing, as classic games are coming back in big and small ways!\u00a0 I noticed it so much so at E3 that I\u2019ve dedicated my final article of the show to all the classic gaming related stuff I saw!<\/p>\n

Capcom<\/strong><\/p>\n

So since the cat\u2019s out of the bag, I guess I\u2019ll talk about Mega Man 11 first.\u00a0 It was my favorite game I played at E3, so I guess it \u2018wins\u2019 the show.\u00a0 But not only was the game cool, but how they presented it at Capcom\u2019s booth was neat as well.\u00a0 As you could tell by my previous articles, I don\u2019t usually take pictures of myself at E3, even if there is a photo opportunity to do so.\u00a0 But at Capcom\u2019s booth, they had a really cool photo opp.\u00a0 Being able to stand on Rush Jet and hold Mega Man\u2019s arm cannon?\u00a0 OH HECK YES!\u00a0 I can check that off my bucket list now!\u00a0 I will say that it was kind of hard to balance on Rush Jet, and I probably looked pretty silly trying to get off of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mega Man 11 was one of the few games I was willing to stand in line for, but I played it first thing on the second day of the show, so I only had to wait about ten minutes to play it.\u00a0 Even though it has all new graphics, it really plays like a classic Mega Man title.\u00a0 So much so that I bet they could easily make an 8-bit version of it, and I could see them doing that as later DLC or something.\u00a0 The stage you could play through in the demo was Block Man\u2019s level.\u00a0 Level design was fun, but also predicable.\u00a0 Lots of falling blocks and conveyor belt obstacles, and you\u2019d go through a set of three parts, then another set just a bit more difficult than the last.\u00a0 Like a Mega Man game should be, the level was hard in places, but not WAY TOO hard, and I managed to beat the boss without seeing a Game Over screen.\u00a0 There was one part of the level where you have to navigate little mazes of blocks while a spinning blade chases you, and I couldn\u2019t jump to one level because it looked like I kept bumping my head against something that wasn\u2019t there.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if that was a bug, but by sliding quickly I was able to bypass that falling block section on another life.<\/p>\n

The new gameplay aspect in Mega Man 11 is the gear system.\u00a0 By pressing the L button, Mega Man can activate a gear that can make his shots more powerful for a limited time, and the R button slows down everything so Mega Man can bypass quick obstacles easier.\u00a0 But you can only use these powers for a limited time.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t even HAVE to use the gears if you don\u2019t want to.\u00a0 Mega Man can also slide, fire charged shots, and activate Rush Coil by pressing the triangle button.<\/p>\n

Block Man has three different attacks.\u00a0 At first he\u2019ll drop blocks from above, like the weapon you acquire when you beat him.\u00a0 Then he\u2019ll form blocks all around him and make himself a giant robot, and you must shoot a red weak point on his chest to break him up.\u00a0 Finally he\u2019ll stand in a corner and toss blocks at you quickly.\u00a0 You can shoot them, but since they\u2019re at different intervals you\u2019ll have to jump and slide over some of them. I only wish that Capcom would\u2019ve provided headphones for the demo, as I would\u2019ve liked to have heard the music.<\/p>\n

I also played a bit of the Mega Man X Collections, as there was no line for those.\u00a0 There were two different ones: X1 to X4, and X5 to X8.\u00a0 Now, why would you even want to own the second collection?\u00a0 Well it comes with the 30 minute cartoon that was originally in the PSP Mega Man X: Maverick Hunter game, and that was a really cool cartoon.\u00a0 The galleries were the same in both versions, but included some neat stuff like pictures of Mega Man X toys and whatnot.\u00a0 Otherwise the games play like you\u2019d expect them to.\u00a0 The backdrop for this section of Capcom\u2019s booth had a timeline of every Mega Man game for his 30th<\/sup> anniversary.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Also around the Capcom booth were monitors with Mega Man trivia questions for you to answer.\u00a0 I had to take a picture of this one, though.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice to know Capcom has a sense of humor and can make fun of themselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Activision<\/strong><\/p>\n

They showed a lot of games, too, but I didn\u2019t visit their booth.\u00a0 However, outside the show floor in the hallway lobby, they did have a display where you could play the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon collections.\u00a0 Even though the Crash collection came out last year, it\u2019s coming soon on the Switch.\u00a0 The Spyro collection features the first three games in the series with improved graphics, although it was hard to see much since the display was out under the skylights and the sun made it hard to see the screen.\u00a0 On the first day they had a costumed Crash character who looked like the one from the old commercials where he\u2019d stand by Nintendo\u2019s offices and make fun of them.\u00a0 He made fun of me when I took his picture because I was using an older digital camera instead of a phone to take pictures, and he said, \u201cWhere is that camera from, 1997?\u201d\u00a0 Hey, it\u2019s easier for me to take out and use, OK?\u00a0 I told him I was bit old school and he said, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m probably a bit old school, too!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Atari<\/strong><\/p>\n

The name Atari is synonymous with classic games, and they had a few shown at E3 as well.\u00a0 Their biggest was Tempest 4000, but since I already saw that game at PAX, I decided to focus some other offerings.\u00a0 Like Night Driver.\u00a0 Originally, Night Driver was a racing game from the 70\u2019s, and was one of the first to have a first person perspective of the race.\u00a0 Now they are making an updated version for mobile devices, and it should be out in a couple of months.\u00a0 It\u2019s a simple 3-D racer where you just try to pass as many cars as you can for points to reach a checkpoint, and it has one-touch controls.\u00a0 You\u2019ll drive through nighttime landscapes like a desert at dusk and a neon-laden casino strip.\u00a0 You can level up your car and even drive the original from the arcade game!\u00a0 If you get your car up to level 2, you can even unlock a version of the original game!<\/p>\n

When I first got my PS4 a couple of years ago, one of the first titles I got for it was Atari Flashback Classics vol. 1 and 2.\u00a0 So I was happy to see they had vol. 3 at the show.\u00a0 This one even features some 5200 games, so I was happy about that.\u00a0 There\u2019s also a version of Atari Flashback Classics coming to Switch that\u2019ll have nearly, if not all, the games from vol. 1, 2, and 3.\u00a0 It\u2019ll also let you tilt the screen sideways for vertically oriented screen games like Centipede, as well as touch screen support to simulate trackballs and such.\u00a0 I can\u2019t decide which version to get!<\/p>\n

Square-Enix<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the things I\u2019ll miss about not being able to go to PAX West this year is meeting with Square-Enix in a private hotel suite to play their latest games.\u00a0 Actually they offered to let me do something like that at E3, but it was all games I didn\u2019t have much interest in, like the new Tomb Raider and Just Cause games.\u00a0 But at the show they were still nice enough to let me squeeze in to check out Dragon Quest XI.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s an RPG series that\u2019s the definition of classic.\u00a0 I wanted to check out Kingdom Hearts 3 as well, but that was a \u2018wait in line only\u2019 game and it was about as bad of a line as Smash Bros.!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Before playing the 15-minute Dragon Quest XI demo, they had you watch an 8-minute video showing you some of the things you can do in the demo, since you wouldn\u2019t have time to do everything in it.\u00a0 The game is all 3-D and you can really interact with the scenery and do things like climb on roofs in towns!\u00a0 There are no more random enemy encounters, you\u2019ll just see them on the field and fight.\u00a0 Battles are still turn-based, but you can customize how you attack and whatnot.\u00a0 Unfortunately I had to jet to another meeting so I didn\u2019t have time to play the demo, but the video gave me a good idea what the game was going to be like.<\/p>\n

Bandai Namco Games<\/strong><\/p>\n

Namco is the company responsible for Pac-Man, so they\u2019re as classic as you can get.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why they\u2019re my favorite video game company, too.\u00a0 They even had a display at E3 with toys based on their classic game characters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But the game I was interested the most at their booth was Soul Calibur VI, one of the few non-family friendly game series I like.\u00a0 Although it\u2019s not overly bloody or anything either and I\u2019d be OK with teens playing the games in this series.\u00a0 Soul Calibur VI is a 3-D fighting game and feels like more of the same from before.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not a bad thing as it looks great and plays even better.\u00a0 The guest character this time is from The Witcher, and uses magic as well as weapons to fight.\u00a0 Fans who complained about the lack of single player modes in the last game will be happy to hear that the story mode in this game is more robust than any past game in the series, and features chapters and timelines for each character!\u00a0 I asked if the game would have a character creation mode, but they said they couldn\u2019t talk about that.\u00a0 ARGH!\u00a0 That was my favorite part of the last two games!\u00a0 But there\u2019s been a character creation mode since Soul Calibur 3, so I can\u2019t imagine they\u2019d cut it out of this one.\u00a0 One really cool thing is that when I played the demo, another writer from a web site called Gaming Trend was playing with me, and he recorded footage of us playing together!\u00a0 I asked his permission to link to the footage and he said yes, so follow this link<\/strong><\/a> if you want to see me losing very badly.\u00a0 I love Soul Calibur games, but I\u2019m not very good at them.\u00a0 But it\u2019s OK to enjoy games even if you stink at them, right?\u00a0 Anyway, in the video I\u2019m the one who picked Taki and then a new character if you\u2019re wondering.\u00a0 I need to figure out how these folks are able to record game demos at E3 like that!\u00a0 Anyone know?\u00a0 Oh yeah, one last thing.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a picture of people dressed as characters from Soul Calibur.\u00a0 I thought they looked pretty cool.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One thing Bandai Namco wanted me to do was sit through a 45-minute theater presentation of some of their games.\u00a0 At first I didn\u2019t want to because I didn\u2019t think I would have enough time, but on the third day of the show I had done pretty much all I wanted to do so I decided to take them on their offer after all.\u00a0 And I\u2019m glad I did as it felt like a mini press conference in there (even if it really wasn\u2019t), as they had reps talking about the games shown.\u00a0 They talked about Soul Calibur VI, and a special version of Divinity 2 that I wasn\u2019t interested in at all.\u00a0 But they also showed a new 3-D fighter called Jump Force, featuring characters from popular Japanese manga comics battling in the real world.\u00a0 Goku from Dragon Ball, the One Piece guy, and Naruto battle villains like Freiza.\u00a0 And at the end they had an Ace Combat 7 trailer.\u00a0 And before I forget, speaking of 3-D fighters with character creation modes, they also had a cartoony fighter based on the popular anime My Hero Academia, and in it you could create your own super hero, too!<\/p>\n

One thing I\u2019ve noticed lately that\u2019s been getting popular is companies making miniature arcade cabinets with playable games inside.\u00a0 In fact, before E3 I even bought one of Galaxian at Hallmark that I may talk about later on.\u00a0 But at E3 I met with four different companies doing these things, so we\u2019ll conclude my E3 articles with those!<\/p>\n

My Arcade<\/strong><\/p>\n

This company had the most shown, so I took a lot of pictures.\u00a0 They had the license to do a bunch of Bandai Namco classics, and here\u2019s a shot of Mappy, one of my favorites.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And of course, Pac-Man.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a shot of a bunch more, including Galaxian, Galaga, and Dig Dug.\u00a0 They also had big arcade machines you could play.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a better view of the Pac-Man machine out of the box.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They also had the license to do some Data East games, so here\u2019s Burgertime and Bad Dudes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They also had handheld games that let you play a selection of Pac-Man titles, as well as more expensive cabinets that let you play a collection of games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The only bad thing about these mini-cabinets is that to keep the cost down, some of these only let you play the NES version, not the arcade originals.\u00a0 Although the collections are supposed to have the official arcade games.\u00a0 But either way, they still looked pretty cool and I wouldn\u2019t mind having a few of these in my collection.<\/p>\n

Replicade<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another company was going for a more authentic approach with their mini-arcade cabinets.\u00a0 These did play the originals and looked more like the old cabinets, but they\u2019re probably much more expensive and harder to get.\u00a0 They showed off a Centipede machine and a Tempest prototype.\u00a0 I liked the display they had with Ken dolls playing the machines!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

SNK NEO GEO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another company took a different approach with their mini arcades that could play SNK NEO GEO games.\u00a0 Not only could you play them on the mini screen, you could also hook them up to a TV and use a controller to play classics like King of the Monsters and Last Blade!\u00a0 But they looked like they\u2019d be a ways off, so we may not see them for a while.\u00a0 But here\u2019s a picture anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Arcade1Up<\/strong><\/p>\n

And finally my favorite of the bunch were these guys!\u00a0 Their mini arcades were more the high-end type.\u00a0 They are releasing five arcade cabinets by the end of the year, and each one is about four feet in height.\u00a0 Each one will have about 3 to 4 classics included, with original artwork on the outside.\u00a0 There was one with Atari classics like Asteroids, another with Atari trackball games like Centipede, and one with Rampage and other Midway titles.\u00a0 And there was a collection of Street Fighter 2 entries as well as one with other Capcom classics like Final Fight and Ghosts N Goblins.\u00a0 They will be available at retailers like Wal-Mart and Target by the holidays.\u00a0 They cost about 400 bucks, but that\u2019s not bad if you see how much these arcade machines go at auctions and how well-made these were.\u00a0 You put them together from a box, and they take about 40 minutes to build.\u00a0 The good thing is they only weigh about 60 to 70 pounds, much lighter than a full-sized arcade cabinet.\u00a0 I think they\u2019ll be perfect for game rooms, man caves, and waiting areas in doctor\u2019s offices.\u00a0 I wish I could\u2019ve taken pictures, but photos were not allowed in their private room.\u00a0 They had lots of other things shown, but I can\u2019t talk about them because they\u2019re not ready for that yet.\u00a0 But let\u2019s just say that I wanted to take everything in that room home with me, and if I could talk about them, Arcade1Up would\u2019ve \u201cwon\u201d E3 for me instead of Mega Man 11.\u00a0 Hopefully I\u2019ll be able to talk about them more in the future, and I\u2019ll definitely keep my eye on Arcade1Up!<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all I did at E3!\u00a0 In the comments section, let me know if you have any questions and tell me what your favorite games at E3 were and what you think of my picks.\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When people at E3 asked what my favorite game I played at the show was, and I replied with \u201cMega Man 11,\u201d they would say (sometimes rather disappointingly), \u201cOh, you\u2019re an old-school gamer.\u201d\u00a0 Yeah, well, I may be old school, but I\u2019ve still got it (I just don\u2019t remember where I put it).\u00a0 But being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17997"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17999,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17997\/revisions\/17999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}