Savior Gaming

Irem Collection Volume 1

Some of the greatest and most requested action arcade games will be available to modern gaming platforms. With iconic action titles such as R-TYPE, Air Duel or Hammerin‘ Harry, irem shaped the games industry since the 1980‘s and was one of the leaders in the arcade era. With very few exceptions many of these titles have never been brought to modern console platforms or remained Japan-exclusive. Most of them even have never seen a release on physical media up until now. So ININ, Tozai Games and irem are finally joining forces to bring them to modern console gamers. Tozai Games and ININ will be responsible for Japanese as well as worldwide digital releases on Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox.

ARCADE MILESTONE FOR COLLECTORS

The outstanding quality of these games often even used as a benchmark for others in the genre make the upcoming releases an exciting experience for both (modern) retro enthusiasts and casual players looking for new -or so far unknown- gaming adventures around the globe. With the outstanding history of irem as a studio and their iconic games shaping an entire industry, the collection is particularly interesting to collectors of video games and players interested in video game history and culture. To process the rich story of irem games, Strictly Limited Games will publish several Limited and Collector’s Editions for the upcoming volumes of the irem Collection.

READY VOLUME 1

The first volume of the irem Collection is an updated homage to the Japanese-exclusive ‘Arcade Gears‘ series (released in the 1990s on Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation) and comprises three legendary shoot ‘em up games Image Fight, Image Fight II and X-Multiply.

Image Fight first appeared in 1988 as a vertical scrolling Shoot ‘em Up. It became one of the most successful table arcade games at that time in Japan and is still being regarded by many fans as one of the best shmups ever made. In addition to this arcade version, the upcoming volume will also include the PC Engine/TurboGrafx version as well as the NES version from 1990. The game is set in the year 20XX, the moon collapses after an explosion caused by aliens which proceed their offensive against mankind. To settle the situation, the player must go through an eponymous training process called “Image Fight”, before they are allowed to join the combat to fend off the invaders and earn everlasting glory.

Image Fight II was released in Japan in 1992, after the success of the first part. Unfortunately, the game never made it to the west (except for a Wii Virtual Console release, that is). It is set in the year 2051, the alien forces try once again to exterminate humanity. The player must take over the role of pilot Sho, the main character in the story, switching to a new generation of ships. The story is really outstanding in this game, the introduction of visual scenes reminiscent of animes especially intended for the PC-Engine SUPER CD-ROM version strengthen the story and add depth and a second dimension to this game, shaping Sho as a real hero in this unequaled approach to building a SHMUP storyline.

X-Multiply is a side-scrolling shooter originally released in 1989 for arcade (M72). The combination of science fiction and biological elements makes X-Multiply extraordinary even though it flew under the radar of many gamers: The player is controlling a miniaturized ship getting ‘injected’ in an evidently humanoid body and is using tentacles attached to his ship to fight alien parasites killing humans in detailed as sinister designed stages located inside that corpse.

LIMITED PHYSICAL EDITIONS OF irem GAMES

The hardly rivaled quality of these games will be cumulated in outstanding Limited and Collector‘s Editions exclusively published by Strictly Limited Games.

The Limited Editions of the irem Collection Vol.1 include Image Fight, Image Fight II and X-Multiply, an exclusive titlesheet design and an English manual and are limited to 4,000 individually numbered copies for Nintendo Switch and 1,500 each for PS4 and PS5, at a price of 34.99€ / $34.99.

The Collector‘s Edition will frame the games and complete them with their matchless Original Soundtracks as well as physical collectibles to deep dive even further:

The premium Collector Box will be realized in format 4:3 as an homage to the screen ratio at that time. The print quality and the magnetic closure collect all the items in a suitably exclusive way.
The Original Soundtracks will be realized on 3 CDs sitting in a Digifile. The format gives room to every game and its unparalleled music.
A Visual Compendium will include backgrounds on the games, their history, feature unique insights and lay out level and character designs, from pixel sprites to context art.
A Collector Coin in a separate box will make another nice link between the different volumes of the irem collection. The design is inspired by classic arcade coins and includes not just both logos and key elements from the games‘ visuals.
A package of Retro Print material will complete the collection. Next to reprints of flyers from back then which are now getting localized the first time into English, there will be mini-DIY reproductions in the style of the NES game box, a marquee sticker, a foil catching the vibe of arcade light panel designs and posters showing the key visual in impressive size.

They will be limited to 2,000 individually numbered copies for Nintendo Switch and 999 each for PS4 and PS5, at a price of 89.99€ / $89.99.

In time with Volume 1, Strictly Limited Games will offer bundles of both Limited and Collector‘s Editions including the upcoming volumes 1 to 5 of the irem Collection in an exclusively designed slip case. The Limited Edition bundle will be limited to 3,000 individually numbered copies for Nintendo Switch and 1,000 each for PS4 and PS5, at a price of 159.99€ / $159.99 and the Collector’s Edition bundle to 1,000 individually for Nintendo Switch and 500 each for PS4 and PS5, at a price of 429.99€ / $429.99.

The limited physical editions of irem Collection‘s Volume 1 will be available for Pre Order from 30th of April 2023 exclusively on StrictlyLimitedGames.com.

About Strictly Limited Games
Strictly Limited Games is a German publisher based near Stuttgart, specializing in releasing a curated selection of digital download-only games in exclusive collectible physical editions for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Switch. The company was founded in 2017 by Dennis Mendel, a former scholar for game studies and advisor at Fraunhofer Institute, and Benedict Braitsch. Both passionate collectors with a combined collection of over 7.000 digital and physical games for all console generations, their intention is to form an opposite pole to the current trend of digital-only releases. All collectors’ editions are available exclusively at Strictly Limited Games online store www.strictlylimitedgames.com.

About Tozai

From the classics of yesterday to the original IP of tomorrow, Tozai Games delivers lasting gaming experiences to passionate gamers around the globe. Based in Bellevue, Washington, and Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan, Tozai Games is an experienced team of professionals dedicated to building successful licensing and publishing relationships around the world.

Keep up-to-date on Tozai Games’ upcoming projects on the Tozai Games Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Tozai, on Twitter @TozaiGames and at http://www.tozaigames.com/ and http://www.tozaigames.co.jp/.

Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Character Trailer

The Netherworlds of Hinomoto are home to a myriad of diverse characters.
Meet the protagonists of Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless and see how a chance encounter will result in an intertwining of destinies!

Traverse the wastelands of Hinotomoto in this epic SRPG adventure bursting at the seams with with over 40 character classes, and loads of new features including Jumbification, Hell Mode, Item Reincarnation, new and improved auto-battle, and online ranked battles.

To hell, with honor!

Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless, coming to
Nintendo Switch™, PS4™, PS5™ and PC in fall 2023

Dungeon Drafters Review (PC)

Japanese developer Dangen Entertainment was nice enough to toss me a copy of Dungeon Drafters to check out,and I am both glad they did and appreciate it.

For those that are unfamiliar with this title you play the part of an adventurous hero that is about to explore one of several locations,one of the first being a sort of forest. The first boss will just absolutely destroy you.

This first area will introduce you to the card system. See in this world cards are magical, and they are essential to the world as a whole. You will make your way to this boss on a grid based system with your 3 action points per turn that you can either move or use cards with. Even in rooms without enemies you move across the grid.

The rooms never feel big and I love that

At first the game will feel a bit out of place with it’s rogue-like system and it’s Hub town,but it doesn’t take long before you will feel right at home here talking to everyone, finding new cards gathering info and just all around getting to know the world.

The graphics are beautiful,and really one of the highlights of the game for me. The colorful world is just vibrant and full of life,I never felt like I was just staring at something for the sake of its existence.

Battles themselves are pretty intuitive and simple to figure out, even with the games very well done explanation. Simply use your AP to move around the grid and attack enemies using your cards. Each enemy reacts differently,many of which you can see what types of attacks they have. One early enemy has a single hit point and he explodes when he dies causing damage to everyone around him. Smart players however will simply push him away preferably closer to enemy units.

The game is full of small details like this that make the game amazing. Fans of these types of games will love it,and I can happily give it an 8/10. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters PS4 Review

The Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster on PlayStation 4 is a simple remaster. The graphics are greatly improved from the NES original but is far from the best looking remaster,even of this game.

It has several quality of life improvements however including the ability to turn off random encounters and to be able to turn off experience and gil gain and multiply them by up to 4. This makes the game as easy or as hard as you want, and if you put them to times 3 or 4 you can basically play the game normally without ever having to grind. However any grinding with those settings will turn the game into a breeze. Even the final boss becomes a joke as you can easily hit level 99.

This is why the game is a Trophy Hunters dream. There are a million guides for this game considering its age and you can beat the game and get through it’s story in probably 8 hours for the platinum with only maybe 1 or 2 enemies to complete the enemy list trophy posing any challenge.

The game play itself is a simple turn based RPG and there isn’t exactly a lot to say on this game. For about $12 it was a fun game to play. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Cocaine Bear (2023)

Cocaine Bear is a 2023 movie that is yes, legitimately based on a true story, with quite a few liberties taken. For example the part about someone tossing massive amounts of coke out of a plane and a bear getting into it is absolutely true, there is even a museum in Lexington Kentucky where you can go see the bear they found in the woods that ate about 15 million dollars in that beautiful white stuff.

Now on to the movie, which quite honestly is a big old pile of what the fuck did Elizabeth Banks just make. I mean that in the best way possible. This movie is gory, it is funny it has some great acting for a movie that does absolutely nothing to take itself seriously. The bear also looks pretty good for a pretty low budget movie.

The story itself is actually very simple, a plane is going down so a man tosses duffle bags of coke off the plane. He dies when his parachute doesn’t open so a cop that knows what is going on rushed to find the drugs. The cartel that owns the drugs also wants to find the millions in drugs. Unfortunately a young girl and her male friend also skip school to go paint a waterfall after the mother breaks a promise to go paint the before mentioned waterfall.

As the name of the movie implies,a bear eats bags of coke and becomes all coked up and decides to kill everyone in his way of, you guessed it, eating more coke that it is now addicted too.

Small things you get to enjoy is a bear doing a line of coke off a severed leg if you pay attention. A drug dealer constantly complaining about his favorite jersey getting messed up (but not his missing fingers) and possibly the last movie appearance of the late great Ray Liotta. (He did finish filming numerous projects before his death but not all were movies)

The movie is a ton of fun,I won’t say it is a good movie, but God damn it was one of the most fun movies I have seen in years.

Announcing Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten!

Embark on an adventure in the newest installment of the Utawarerumono series, Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten!

The quiet life of Oshtor, a young man living in the frontier province of Ennakamuy, is abruptly shattered when he encounters a mysterious young girl named Shunya. She informs Oshtor that his father, whom he had thought was deceased, is actually alive and currently in the land of Arva Shulan–a mystifying country that doesn’t appear on any maps. Guided by his morals, Oshtor joins Shunya and embarks on a journey to discover the truth behind his father’s strange circumstances.

Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten is coming
to PS4™ and PS5™ in fall 2023!

Steel Defier (PS4/5 Review)

Steel Defier is another game tossed my way by the fine folks over at Ratalaika Games, and we all know how much I love those guys. They always toss me such fun little gems to check out. Last week they hooked me up with Ultra Pixel Survive and over the weekend I spent some time playing Steel Defier.

Steel Defier is a simple game, you are trapped in a malfunctioning space ship and as the sole survivor your mission is to escape. Each room is a slightly more difficult wave of sliding boxes, lasers and other assorted defenses to stop you as you collect 15 key cards to unlock the doors.

There is no real guesswork involved,it has a map that is easy to follow to the exit and the game isn’t overly difficult. Not to say the game is easy, I was able to complete it in less than an hour and get the platinum in not much longer and all through normal gameplay. Simply collect all the power ups and complete the rooms on the ship and escape. Hop on over to the survival mode and collect 50 key cards in one run and boom, easy platinum.

The game cost about $5 (US) and was honestly a good looking game with a nice a nice sound track, and I was able to get both the PS4 and PS5 platinum. I played a few runs even after I got the platinum to see how long I could last in survival mode (72 for those that are curious) Definitely pick this one up, especially if you are a trophy hunter. For what this game is definitely a 9/10 must buy for anyone looking for something to just pick up and play or that is looking for some easy platinum trophies.

Ultra Pixel Survive PS5 Review

Ultra Pixel Survive is another indie title Ratalaika games was nice enough to send me to check out, and I always appreciate that.

This title is a bit different from what they normally send my way, it is a simple side scrolling survival game. At least it seems that way at a glance.

The Bunny girl is one of many fun characters

The game features many characters,from simple swords men and lumberjacks to dragon knights (don’t get excited it’s a guy with a spear not a real dragon) and even a plague doctor. The premise is simple, you can chop down trees, but up rocks and various other things to create spike traps, walls or food to protect your house and survive as long as possible. These materials can also be used to build anvils and such so you can upgrade your equipment.

At the start you will notice you only get one character and you will need to unlock the rest with these red gems that are rare to come across during game play. You do have to buy these,but the coins you earn in game is the money you use to buy them, no real money is used to do this. Simply kill monsters, save your money and use that money to either unlock new characters or power up your favorite characters so they start each run stronger and stronger.

This woman offers advice and occasionally scolds you for hiding out

I have in essence explained the entire game to you,and truthfully it’s not exactly much harder to master. But damn if this game isn’t addictive. I tossed this title and told hey check it out and toss us a small review. Instead this game quickly sucked up around 30 hours of my life over the course of my daughters spring break and shows no sign of slowing down. I definitely recommend picking this one up when it launches April 14th. It is an easy 9/10, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

new Announcment Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom ChroniclesRhapsody II Spotlight Trailer

Experience Rhapsody II & III for the first time in the West! Following the events of Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, join young Kururu, the daughter of Cornet and Ferdinand, on her quest to find true love in Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess! Then, gear up for another dose of musical adventures as the songs and stories continue in Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom!

New Monster Friday: The Loch Ness Monster

Once again we are back with Monster Friday, and this time we are going to talk about The Loch Ness Monster, Nessie. Now before we go any further, I should acknowledge scientist have many times debunked Nessie’s very existence in a variety of ways. In fact aside from the Vox article above here is a clip from the Today Show. This isn’t to say I believe these articles simply they exist and can be used to start your debunking search.

The modern Loch Ness Monster story goes back over 80 years to what is known as “the surgeons photo.” It was published on 1934 when a doctor by the name of R. Kenneth Wilson sold a photo to the Daily Mail that became the face of Nessie for decades to come. It is 100% fake, and you can read an excellent article from PBS for all the small details, but essentially a man named Ian Wetherell convinced Dr. Wilson to help take the photograph and sell it as his own, and since he as a respected doctor nobody would really question it.

One fake photo doesn’t prove the creature doesn’t exist however, even Alastair Boyd the man that managed to find everything that proved this photo was a hoax firmly believes in Nessie.

As for what Nessie is, many think of her as a plesiosaur, others as a giant eel or snake. In 2018 scientist conducted DNA surveys of Loch Ness and didn’t find any sign dinosaurs or giant sea creatures. Eels however are still a possibility as several species do live in the loch.

Seriously why did anyone think this wase real

If you enjoyed this weeks monster, please feel free to check out Friday Monster- Kraken or Monster Friday -Trotterhead/Trotterkopf for more of our Friday monster fun, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.