Usually Alex will send me some crappy and beaten up games to review for this column. Other times, rarely, the games are only one or the other. It’s why I’ve tried selling a few of the junky titles (they’re complete, and maybe someone out there WANTS to be the manager of a Japanese “boy” band made up of thirty-somethings), and it’s also why I have some pretty cool games in my collection that aren’t in a condition I’d normally accept them in if I were buying them. Today we’re going to do something different here at Head Off. Instead of reviewing junk in the poor-game-design sense, we’ll be looking at some junk in the beaten-up-and-missing-parts sense. All the games talked about today will be good ones.

Vampire Savior (The Lord of Vampire - yes the cover says this like it’s the subtitle) - Sega Saturn - Darkstalkers, as Capcom saw fit to rename this series in the West, is one of my favorite fighting games. In fact, I only really like two fighting game series: Darkstalkers and Tekken. That’s mostly because I suck at fighting games. While Darkstalkers isn’t the button-masher that Tekken is, I still find it much easier to pull off (and stumble across) combos and special moves. The thing that really endears me to the series, though, is the cast of characters. In what other game can you play as a homicidal, machine-gun-toting LIttle Red Riding Hood? Or an ancient Egyptian mummy complete with sarcophagus? Or a bee girl that shoots… bees… out of her… beehive? Okay that one is just plain weird. But that’s really the charm of the game. You have no idea what you’re going to experience. The backgrounds, art direction, character design… pretty much every gameplay element contributes to making this amazing fighting game come to life. The level and attention to detail that Capcom invested in this game is pretty staggering (they tend to be known for that, particularly with their fighters, but this is the only one I’ve ever been able to get into). So why did Alex give this one away? The copy he sent me was disc and manual only. This wouldn’t be too bad except that Vampire Savior requires a RAM cart. I actually had to trade for another game just to be able to play this one. (I traded for X-Men vs Street Fighter, another Capcom fighting game, and one which I played for all of ten minutes before turning off in frustration and boredom. See? I’m just not a fan of fighting games.)

Pocket Fighter - Sony Playstation - So I kind of lied about only liking Darkstalkers and Tekken. Actually, I had never played this game until Alex included it in an order. This one didn’t have a manual. I was pretty surprised by how good of a fighting game it is. I suppose I can fake an excuse for liking it because it features characters from Darkstalkers, but I’m sure other Capcom titles do the same thing (like all of the Capcom vs “Other Companies” games, as if regurgitating Street Fighter over and over again wasn’t redundant enough of them). Surprisingly, this game could almost be said to be a Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers game, except that the characters are all chibi and there’s a ton of changes to the gameplay to make it fast, fun and hilarious in ways that none of the other Capcom crossovers have ever been. In Pocket Figher you can bash your opponent over the head like in other fighting games, but when you do so, gems burst out of them. Collect enough of them and you can power up your special moves to be even stronger (and to do stranger things). It’s basically the wackiness of this game that draws me into it. Ever wanted to see Chun Li in a bunny suit (I know I’m not the only one) or dressed up as Jill Valentine? Oh yeah, it’s in here. Felicia also gets some cosplaying on as Mega Man (of all things) and various Darkstalkers characters like Sasquatch. Morrigan can turn into (among other things) a maid and a nurse, which goes to show that Capcom really understands its fans. Basically, all of the characters can do this transformation (even Zangrief, who turns into a construction worker… you know… for the ladies *cough*). It’s got to be the funniest thing I’ve seen in a non-Choaniki fighting game (I know, there’s only one Choaniki fighting game). The controls are great, the graphics are superb and the gameplay is just downright fun.

Shining Force III Episode I - Sega Saturn - Considering the fact that the North American version of this game sells for around $100, this is the only way I’ll get to play this game and keep it in my collection for now. I’ve played and beaten it in the past, and it’s a great addition to the Shining Force series (you know, unlike Exa and Neo, for instance). Alex sent this one along because it was missing the manual, I guess, and it’s a fairly cheap game even when the manual is included. I didn’t have any trouble playing it, though the story was even more confusing than normal, with strange people popping in and out of the picture for a reason I couldn’t discern. It’s, of course, better if you’ve played it in English or can read Japanese, but whenever I got stuck, I just consulted Gamefaqs. Considering it’s a turn-based tactical-RPG, the menu items all do what you expect them to do, and as a nice bonus, the items are graphically represented, so once you’ve figured out the difference between a healing herb and an antidote, you can choose the correct one just by looking at it. I remember being blown away by the graphics (particularly the FMVs) way back when I first got the game (back when stores stocked Saturn titles), but these days they’re not that impressive. The music is decent and I never felt the urge to turn the volume off. What really makes the game, though, is the variety of battlefields and battle “conditions.” Fights take place everywhere in this game, not just out in a field or on a ship, and there are occasionally other things to do in battle besides just “kill the commander” or “get to the next town.” In one battle you have to protect some innocent people from being slaughtered AND watch out for incoming trains. It can be very frustrating at times, but they really tried hard to include strategy, an element that many so-called strategy-RPGs lack.

For my Christmas order, Alex tossed in a bunch of free, beat up games. I might be reviewing those in the next installment of Head Off… or I might be back to reviewing junk, I haven’t decided yet. However, the next column from me will be about the new addition to my family (his name is Daniel), and will consist of a paragraph or two and then links to Youtube videos. After that, I’ll probably have a full review up instead of a Head Off column (I’m playing Ys V like crazy and it is damn good).