Bay Area games journo and kusoge* expert Heidi Kemps is our guide this week as we explore a slate of wonderfully bizarre and baffling music and rhythm games, a couple of which never made it to the States. Then we tear into Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 and Persona 4: Dancing All Night, discuss news about Kickstarter campaigns and Pokemon butts, and look at your favorite Konami games of all time.
*Japanese for “shitty game”
Question of the Week
Which video game character would be your ideal dance partner?
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Theme song by Matthew Joseph Payne. Break song is Natural Playboy from Bust-A-Groove. Raccoon break music is Laser Time Theme 8-Bit by Matthew Tucciarone and dotflist. Haunting and beautiful New Releases Theme by David B. Cooper.
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As soon as I saw a topic about music and rhythm games I thought that I better hear about Gitaroo-Man. Clearly, I was not disappointed.
It’s going to be weird going back to a Top 5 without some Metal Gear Solid talk
QOTW I would love to dance with my Destiny Warlock she’s like my daughter that I can lust after. And if that doesn’t count I would say Carmelita Fox, and suddenly I regret answering this question of the week.
I was so busy trying to make a Venture Bros. reference and a joke about my hot animal women fetish I forgot to add why I’d dance with them. Well the Destiny dance emote is simply the finest way to show joy in the game and I can imagine being part of that dance would bring such levels of joy that could not be measured. And Carmelita’s dance minigame in Sly 4 was just the right amount of fun and frustration due to 6 axis elements.
QOTW: Brave Fencer Musashi because he doesn’t die when it’s time to dance or die.
Yay! Heidi is back, she does a really great job of covering the japanese games that the rest of the crew usually just gloss over
Ape Escape 2 had a minigame called Dance Monkey Dance, that had you moving the sticks to make a monkey wave his arms in a bon dance. I played this as much as the main game, and I caught all the apes in that. I loved seeing the monkeys smacking their asses to mock your dancing. I wouldn’t mind having a piposaru for my dancing partner, though the shrieking might be a bit too much.
Nanako is not moe, Henry.
I’m willing to donate my copy of Gitaroo-Man to Laser Time under the condition that you guys stream it. You could probably even finish the game in a single sitting – unfortunately, there are only ten stages (with one song each). If you want the game, just let me know on twitter: @aetteternity
QOTW – I would dance with the Silent Hill 2 Dog, to his adorable theme song, whilst trying to forget he’s actually somehow an inherently evil overlord of some fucked up hellish fog dimension full of scary ass shit
Heidi’s quickly becoming a favorite guest. I’d have never expected to hear of the Cowboys of Moo Mesa game on this show, but she made it possible! It’s an alright game too, basically like a cartoonier Sunset Riders.
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Thanks for giving my response a read too, and the Japanese soundtrack to Castlevania III (or Akumajo Densetsu) is indeed superior to the American release. Though it’s ironic since the Famicom Disk System version of Castlevania II is considered to have poorer music quality than the cartridge version. I’d geek out more on Castlevania music, but that Rocktober already passed, unfortunately.
QOTW;
As much as I want to say a joke answer, I’ll go with my heart and say Bayonetta. Okay she’s about twice my height and a much better dancer but with a little bit magic maybe she improve my skills. The guns on the shoes may make it a little difficult to get into clubs though.
I choose bayanetta as my dance partner
I used to live in Chicago right after RoboModo got formed. My friend and I were interested in making video games, so we were excited to go to an IGDA meeting that featured a talk titled “How to Start a Game Studio (or, Holy Crap, I just lost my job… now what?)” that was given by the heads of RoboModo.
What the talk really was was “Holy Crap, I already have a ton of money and industry contacts and the Tony Hawk franchise landed in our laps, now I will start a game studio and hire all my friends in the game industry who just got laid off from Midway.”
And apparently, make the two worst Tony Hawk games ever.
Yeah, I’m honestly not sure how Robomodo’s still around at this point. Good on them for picking up Midway talent (especially since the Chicago dev scene was struggling for a while), but I really wonder how many former Robomodo guys have already bailed for Netherrealm and Iron Galaxy.
QOTW: My FemShep, so she would never show me up on the dance floor.