| PS2
Battle Gear 2 |
Scans
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Taito's Y2K arcade racer dashes
home, enhanced with a host of PS2 options including online
support (whenever Online Station makes it to market), GT-Force
feedback compatibility (ditto), and tricked out cars like the
Nissan Skyline GT-R or the Toyota Supra RZ Twin Turbo.
Seven lengthy tracks wait to be conquered,
spanning different times of the day and even the year. A dusky
prelude to sunset during a summer day would, for example,
display a setting sun glaring behind thick clouds as trees in
full bloom rush past your speeding vehicle. Autumn skies look
down upon russet trees and night time is the right time for
streets ringed with overhead lights and a sleeping cityscape
in the background. Japanese heavy industry all participate in
this game with cars from Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Mazda, and
others. A mind numbing range of difficulty levels go from
Super Beginner (pansy class) to Super Arbalest (power elite)
and test the mettle of any audience.
Arcade conversions to the home were once an
unpredictable exercise. 1:1 was not assured back in the day
but with the advent of muscular gaming consoles, home
conversions often exceed their JAMMA brethren. Battle Gear 2
is one such animal.
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Battle
Gear 2 US$68
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| PS2
Biohazard Code Veronica Perfect Version |
Scans
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Chris
and Claire Redfield seek to put an end to the evil
machinations of Umbrella Corporation for the last time. The
siblings use brains and guns to delve deep into the mystery of
Umbrella and combat the horrors of the T-virus which mutates
humans into monsters. Anyone
looking for the complete and definitive edition of last year's DC
Code
Veronica game need look no further than this. Capcom includes
several new scenes featuring the Umbrella double agent Wesker
and tidies up the storyline. Plot resolutions hatched herein
should also explain many of the loose ends found in the DC
version of Code Veronica. In the original Biohazard, Wesker
was impaled by one of his own mutagenic creations and
seemingly shuffled off this mortal coil. His role as an
Umbrella associate and conspirator is explored in detail and
rendered out in the storyline.
A playable preview of Shinji Mikami's Devil May Cry accompanies
Veronica. Blood-thirsty ones will find solace in this crimson
drenched action game where brute weaponry assault demonic
flesh with horrific effect.
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BHCV
Perfect US$68
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| PS2
Klonoa 2 |
Scans
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Klonoa, he of wind, champions the Disney-esque hero cause with beautifully drawn features and
moxie.
He'd be perfect in an animated feature and Namco supplies both
action and cinematic drama in this dazzling platformer.
Similar to his first outing, Klonoa wields a
magic ring which spits out a short blast of blue light. The
ray grabs enemies and billows them up to triple size. Once
captured, Klonoa hefts these hapless foes and renders them
mere projectiles. In one sequence, a captured creature
launches when caught, zooming into the heavens with Klonoa in
tow. It's energy eventually peters out and it subsequently
drops Klonoa on top of a moving train. Klonoa launches himself
throughout the game and his moments of aerial aerobics are
boosted by flapping his prodigious ears - Dumbo league.
The original Klonoa received a lukewarm response
in Japan and the USA. NCS remembers holding stock months and
months after the Japanese release and wondering if we would
ever sell out of them. Alas, everything eventually sells as
new customers discover old classics and we're stuck
wishing we had more Klonoa stock. It'll probably be deja vu
all over again with this gem of a game.
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Klonoa 2 US$68
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| PS2
Monster Farm 3 |
Scans
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Spin up a music CD and create a
monster from Marilyn Manson's Mechanical Animals or
Snake River Conspiracy's Sonic Jihad. This
new version of Monster Farm also accepts game CDs and movie DVDs as
procreation material for monsters. Throw in Gladiator and
check if you get a wimpy "Caesar" beast or a snarling seeker of blood. Once your beast
gets generated, you raise it, nurture it and force it into battle like
the domineering whip master you aspire to be. Some beasts are
better suited for arid environments such as desert locales and
others take to tropical scenery better. It's up to you to
decide the destiny of over 200 possible monsters as you ranch,
raise and act the doting death merchant. Monster battles
eventually erupt and the action is shown in fluid animated
detail and brilliant effect.
New to the PS2 version of MF is the beautifully
drawn artwork which represents each battling beast and
training screen. Previous versions utilized polygonal
monsters. Many of the monster designs seem derivative of a
certain Nintendo game but there's a host of original beasts as
well.
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Monster
Farm US$68
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| Genso
Suikogaiden Vol. 2 ~ Battle at Crystal Valley |
Scans
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The
warrior known as Nash returns, sword in hand, in the second Genso Suikoden
side story which tells the tale of intriguing characters and their
dramas against a war weary backdrop. Many of the original
players, folk, and warriors from the first two Genso Suikoden games return to take
part in this interactive simulation. The action is made up of
flick screens which relay conversations and interaction with
members of the Genso world. Konami's mini-series splits up
into four chapters with two more chapters to follow this one.
The first chapter saw release a couple of months ago in Genso
Suikogaiden Vol. 1 ~ The Swordsman of Harmonia. Pricing is set
at US$65.
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| Retrospect |
Updates
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NCS staff often wondered what would happen if a new console or
handheld launch was not cut back in quantity or
"allocated" due to short supplies. The Gameboy
Advance, unlike other launches of new platforms in recent
memory, debuted in Japan with no snags or major snafus. Our
pre-order was filled entirely and NCS was able to stock
over-allocation of the handheld. The only stock problem
apparent this week was the lack of some software titles but
this issue should be resolved by next week. Perhaps this bodes
well for Gamecube supplies when that is ready for sale
this summer.
With great stock came great transit delays
through the import process but we managed to take delivery of
nearly everything within 2-3 days of each other. The split
shipments hampered our ability to process orders efficiently
but most were dispatched within 1-2 days of each other.
Late shipments and straggler cartons arrived this
morning and new stock is expected by next week. We don't
anticipate any supply problems for the GBA and stock should be
readily available from this point forth. The only issue may be
certain software titles but we'll update the availability of
games such as Dracula and Dodgeball Fighters by early next
week. All available GBA games will also be added to the online
store for individual ordering over the
weekend.
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Due to the harried and furious pace of business this week,
website postings were lacking. NCS will retroactively update
Wednesday's page for all of the products that arrived and
today's page over the weekend. Photos and scans for all
products will also be updated accordingly.
Sakura Taisen 3 Limited Edition (both versions)
is now sold out and no additional stock is available in the
market. Quantities were cut by roughly 25% across the board.
The Bio-Hazard Suitcase will arrive on Monday.
NCS will only stock a very small quantity of this item due to
rabid buyers in Japan who elbowed out our own buyers in what
was described as "fierce competition".
We're not sure how many we'll get but we'll post an update on
Monday.
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E-mail
NCS
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