So I have my copy of the game and played it tonight for about two hours. I'd played the Japanese version literally once about..well, what seems like a year ago so I am virtually starting fresh at this point.
My initial impressions on the game:
- VERY easy to just pick up and play. A lot of the fundamentals for the characters are seem pretty much the same so you can kind of pick up and play anyone once you get a feel for it. That said, each character is unique in their own way of course, so even though you can start many of the combos the same way, the applications of special and normal moves vary from character to character.
- Great speed and pace to the game, esp after playing so much SF4 it's a very nice change.
- AWESOME music. I don't remember the music being this good in the japanese version, not sure if they changed it or not but some of the best in-game music for a fighting game i've heard yet.
- Arcade mode is pretty easy for the most part. Each time you beat it you are presented with a slide show of images for the endings, and then you unlock certain items and new colors. I have yet to unlock any new characters but apparently you just play with either tatsunoko character to unlock them, or capcom character to unlock capcom characters.
PRO TIP: When facing the last boss, seems just chucking projectiles at him and running away is the best thing to do. Not sure how to beat him if your character doesnt have a fireball though. :lol
- When you beat arcade mode and other modes you obtain Zeny (money) which you can use in the store to buy shit.
- Survival mode seems to be a bit of a joke. I'm sure I could up the difficulty but it was a real snooze fest. Got to 15 wins then let the computer kill me.
- Havent tried online yet but I will tomorrow so I'll let you guys know how that goes.
- The graphics... well, it is the Wii, and I bought a Wii just for this game. So I turned it on and was underwhelmed at first but I guess you cant expect too much from a 480p system. That said, once the game is in motion and you're doing combos it looks a lot better. I think they should have opted to do more 2d backgrounds with some 3d touched like CVS2 did but what can ya do... still a lot of fun to play.
My impressions on the new TVC Fight Stick:
- MarkMan was kind enough to hook up iPlayWinner with a fight stick and to be honest I was a bit skeptical. I used the MadCatz SE when I was writing the 1up guides for Street Fighter 4 and it only lasted about 3 days under my intense wear and tear of doing combos and everything else.
... this stick on the other hand is leaps and bounds above the SE. I am REAL picky about what I play on and figured I might have some issues with it but it's smooth as butter. I talked to akuma001 about modding it but he said there is "no need due to the modified parts". I wasnt sure I could believe him but after 2 hours of playing I pretty much forgot I wasn't playing on one of my own custom sticks I used at tournaments.
- The weight of this stick is great! It has a real sturdy feel to it and and it's not as light as many of the other sticks I have tried. The one reason I like the Virtua Stick High Grade so much is because it is not light weight, and this stick feels very similar.
- Not sure how to change the art -- it's not bad but I like more minimal designs myself. Sure I could ask MarkMan about that.
We've gotten some more help on the TVC guides at iPlayWinner and they are coming together nicely. As I mentioned they will be live just as soon as the game drops.
I'm also plannign doing a Haunts vs the World Tatsunoko vs Capcom edition next week as well. Those of you who dont know how that works, I basically accept game invites and stream the gameplay via ustream. I think this will be a great way for all of us to talk about the game a bit more and maybe learn something along the way. I'll be practicing hard over the next week so hopefully I wont embarrass myself. :lol
