If you're not familiar with the Lupin III manga/anime franchise, you may have to stick around for a Lupin movie before you leave... If you ARE familiar with the series, you know it is one of the most celebrated and long-running in anime history for a pretty good reason: Lupin III bleeds infectious style. Not only are the stories fun and interesting, but the animation style, character dynamic, and iconic art direction transcends age demographic and time period to produce a kind of fiction we all know as CLASSIC.

                     

What a lot of people, fans or not, don't know about Lupin III is that a series of pretty shitty games came out surrounding the series. "Pandora No Isan" is probably one of the most basic, and oddly, the best of the lot. Players pick one of three characters; Master thief Lupin, expert marksman Jigen, or the katana wielding Goemon. None of the characters have a defacto advantage over the other, aside from Goemon who spins a sword (totally the worst move ever...)



The game itself plays a lot like a bad version of "Gumshoe" for the NES. Players run right through a mildly interesting but ultimately infuriating cityscape, collecting minor items and power ups, and avoiding enemies who touch you ONCE for a kill... The difference, though, between Gumshoe and Pandora No Isan (aside from the zapper), is that Gumshoe is actually fun. This game is brutal and pretty frustrating. The maps aren't very clear about what you can and can't walk on, there are no health bonuses, the controls are janky (press up AND A to jump high...rly?), and as the world progresses it just makes you more pissed when you die from some asinine reason... But its Lupin so who cares about all that!



Amidst all the faults of this game, one thing keeps me playing... The style. Those suited gunmen, the little black ninja guys, bats, cats, and items to collect! It may sound odd but the overall crappiness of this game doesn't deter me from trying again and again, falling into some hidden pit and slamming my USB controller against the couch. What this game needs is a hard core MOD/hack. The indie developer that takes this turd and polishes it up to include health, more incentives and bosses will end up with a classic.

We can only hope.

[Play it HERE]

Usnea rules.

Usnea is probably one of our favorite bands, Portland or otherwise. Their shows benefit secular/freethought organizations, their riffs melt minds, the guys involved are super nice dudes. What else do you need? How about some of their music?



[Usnea- "Empirical evidence of a deranged god"]

[CHECK OUT THEIR BANDCAMP]
If you like, please download!

Noirlac--- Some really awesome pixel art.

[Check out his merch shop HERE!]

Indie Game Extravaganza playing all the hits.

Crowds gather around a group of four, clutching their controllers, as cartoonish explosions, light-hearted chip tune, and the clinking of beer bottles fills the air. The audience lets out bellowing laughter as one after the other, players die off in an attempt at Spelunky supremacy. It's a fast paced intro to a genius night-to-come at Ground Kontrol: Indie Game Night.

The chance to play local multiplayer titles like Gravity Gods, Spelunky, Nidhogg, and Samurai Gunn in an IRL bar is an opportunity one should not miss. The trance that the players were in while playing was something out of gaming history's arcade days. Having not played the current Spelunky, I was really impressed by the speed of the individual rounds associated with winning. Competitive Spelunky is a great pick up game, given the absolute chaos that dominates the battle, but after a few rounds players develop a winning style not dependant on constantly chucking bombs into the playing field. Overall, I felt like I was waiting for the Spelunky time slot to be over, especially given the next three games and the excitement I knew was coming...



Gravity Gods is in Beta phase, but creator Arman Bohn didn't let that stop him from performing a public debut. The game itself is a modern adaptation to the older Atari war game, "Warlords", which pits 4 players against one another in a pongesque, barrier-breaking contest to the death. In Gravity Gods, rules are seemingly remixed and the projectiles used for battle are numerous. Randomized rule changes like an inverted screen or complete blackout create loud moments of pandemonium as players attempt to guard their own wall and destroy their neighbors like a twisted, bizarro "Breakout" match.
Gravity Gods became a quick favorite at GK, and who could blame us? The game itself is as classic as it gets. Aside from a few minor bugs, this game has the potential to be a really solid achievement for Bohn, who was there playing out the kinks with his fans.



Nidhogg. Wow. This game fucking BLEEDS AWESOME and I do mean bleeds in a literal sense. The object of Los Angeles based developer, Messhoff's, newest game is to stab the shit out of your enemy and run like hell to the next stage as fast as you can. Okay, that's a bit reductive. Nidhogg pits players against one another in a skill-heavy fencing match, where competitors move further along a selected stage toward his/her exit at the end. Once the exit is reached, a giant snake/worm/dragon scoops the player up and they win. Yeah, seriously. Given the psychedelic nature of Nidhogg's past games, this was no surprise.
Competitors regenerate after death further along in the stage and attempt to kill their adversary again and again. It's an intense tit-for-tat that results in a lot of screaming, cheering, and drinking bets when played in a barcade. New players' matches are quick and harsh, seasoned fencers seem to create intricate strategies with what works for their thumbs. Tactics like tackle/grapple, barrel roll, and the friendly neck snap are perfected over time as pros ascend quickly above the blood of their enemies. Nidhogg is one of those games I immediately went home and purchased without question given it's high replay value. Matches went on and on until ultimately, time was the only factor in moving on to the next game...



---And once we had moved on, no one had any complaints.
Samurai Gunn has got to be the best indie game released in 2013. As I stated in my earlier critique of this game, Samurai Gunn blends perfectly the elements of classic arcade fandom and super sleek modern mechanics to produce what many are calling an infinitely expandable local multi player. Ground Kontrol repeatedly erupted in applause as players got their bearings, developed a standard, and rose to compete with other winners. The rounds started in four-player mode matches but it seemed that for new players, the disorientation of fighting three other samurai was paralyzing. After a few spirited rounds, one-on-one play became the coliseum event of the evening. As new people poured into the gaming arena, players handed off controllers after every "first-to-ten". Showdowns determined victories for some, for others, a demon seemed to live in their katana. Through passionate slashing, nimble movement, and the perfect combination of aim and gunpowder, many Samurai bit the dust. One player, named Andrew, rose to the top ranks and was soon destroying veterans of SG on his first night playing the game. The final round included him and one of the top 3 players of the evening and this n00b took it the fuck right home. Unbelievable playing.

Samurai Gun got hoots and hollers best applied at a metal show. The involvement of each player in the making of his/her "character" through skin choice and play style made the audience really feel for each match. I couldn't help but make up ridiculous stories behind each 8-bit character's fight with one another, narrating the battle like an episode of Dragon Ball Z. This game really connects with it's players/viewers and we can only home for more from Teknopants.

As the night concluded and we all shook hands, the magic of local gaming felt alive again. Not since Smash Brothers in my cousin's basement had I experienced such a (dare I say) giddy environment of gaming challengers. I took a moment to watch everyone as GK's promoter packed up his gear and what I saw were phones being whipped out, information being exchanged, and alliances being formed between brackets. Indie Game Night was a total success.

So check out each game, and it's developer. Support GK and indie games! News on the next event will be up on our facebook, haven't you added us yet?

Nintendo goes mobile. But like...Years after it did illegally, so.... So yeah, told ya' so Nintendo?

[READ ABOUT IT HERE]

Holy Hell, Samurai Gunn kicks ass.

Every so often, a game comes along that combines the simplistic elements of yesteryear, the smooth action functions of a modern game, and a multiplayer option that wraps it all up so perfectly, you find yourself in a 5 hour game-off with everyone in your house. See all those awards surrounding Samurai Gunn's logo? Yeah, they are there for a reason: This game fucking rules.



Teknopants' Samurai Gunn doesn't really have a plot or a story behind it. The lightning-fast arena combat game is a battle royale set in mythical feudal Japan, complete with a plethora of interesting looking warriors to play over an impressive amount of interactive stages. Each player begins at a spawn point within a given stage and winning is dependant on a decided amount of kills (default being 10). Reveling in it's simplicity, Samurai Gunn pulls no punches with special abilities, power-ups etc. The game relies solely on it's player's skill using limited controls, mastering the TWO weapons which every player is given, and channeling the samurai warrior within to execute his/her enemy.



Players are given both a sword and a gun upon spawning. The sword provides infinite slashing, but the gun is only equipped with three bullets per life. This is where things get a bit interesting because after killing your opponent, they return with a loaded gun. Carefully maneuvering around this balance of power and circumstance is the soul of Samurai Gunn. The game begins with a lot of piss and vinegar, players charging after each other, shooting wildly into the air. After a few deaths, however, the game evolves into a delicate dance in blood; for every movement a consequence. Players learn that even the slightest misstep could mean a rolling head or a fatal shot to the pixelated gut. That, or impalement by the various traps which decorate some of the higher difficulty stages.



One of the coolest features of Samurai Gunn is the showdown. If players reach a tie or victory is won by a one point margin, warriors are transported to a cinemaesque scene where there are no obstacles in the way of victory. It is typically a stage-themed, flat landscape, and no guns may be used. The nail biting anticipation of this segment is palpable. When victory is met, screams of joy from both parties are belted out. The love for Samurai Gunn's gameplay is present in the winners AND the losers.

Survival mode is a bit different. This game is certainly made for local gameplay, but if players want to enhance their skills, 1p mode is an okay way to do so. My only real gripe to survival mode is that players can't team up properly with each other. A large chunk of time was spent on trying to figure out ways to avoid my fellow player, kill black ninjas effectively, and claim victory for the BOTH of us. Not really possible. It's a one winner kind of engagement. Samurai Gunn will hopefully expand in this way. After seeing a lot of the critical reception, I am counting on a sequel or upgrade coming down the pipes. A lot of people are talking online options, potentially a build-your-own stage aspect. These are fantasies now but after the on fire reception, I can't imagine Teknopants not expanding.

[DOWNLOAD SAMURAI GUNN HERE!]

The quest for the Golden Nintendo Cartridge is guaranteed to give you a case of the feels....

"One Friday afternoon in 2010, Pat Contri got the Facebook message of every video game collector's dreams. A friend who worked at the local game store started texting him cryptic photographs of something a customer had just traded in.

He stared at the blurry, gray-and-green pictures. What at first looked like a row of shelves, he eventually realized, was a close-up of several exposed DIP switches. Just then, like a Tetris block dropping neatly into place, it clicked. Contri slammed his finger on the "Call" button.

"You better not be fucking with me," he said the second his friend Ian picked up. On the other end of the line, Ian sounded like he was hyperventilating."

[Read the rest of this glorious article from Chris Kohler on WIRED]

The Portland Gaming expo and swap-meet, YEEHAW!

Holy Toledo! Is that a near-mint PowerPad? Is that an original Dragon Quest 4?? Is that a fucking Vectrix?! We must be in some alternate universe of super wicked games an memorabilia!....Or in the convention room of the DoubleTree Hotel, downtown... Yeah, it's that one.



Welcome to the Portland gaming expo and swap-meet! Where classic gaming enthusiasts, nouveau-retro designers, and crafty nintendo-swag retailers collectively clean out their basements to bring you the best of our mutual memory space. Pacman doilies litter the tables, mint condition box art is preserved behind cases, it's just about enough to make you rob the place.



Never have I seen so many dusty Mario Bros/Duck Hunt splits. Whoever paid over .0666 cents for that game, post 1988 should feel like a complete asshole. Every table had at least 30 of them. That said, the games of rarity I found at some of these booths were unbelievable. UNOPENED Gumshoe copies for NES, 1st release Japanese Goemon games in box, Donkey Kong unopened (its right there in the pic!). Totally nuts. Some of these games top out at like $140 bucks. True collectors pieces. The one game I was looking for above all though, Dragon Quest 3 was scooped up a day before. Almost every major table had one copy for just under $300 (not unfair considering the consistently rising ebay prices of over $500 new..) which was apparently purchased by a "group of old men" within the first 3 hours of business. Creepy.





There was even a mods table! I got to play Super Mario World: Return to Dinosaur Land, one of the most celebrated mods of the Mario franchise. I didn't buy it but I vowed to dl and play it later on. Glad I did. Totally fun.

[Check out my new favorite Mario World Mod HERE]

Wicked Basement

Welcome to 8 bit hell.

Going to see Weedeater at Rotture on the 26th. You know what time it is...

Sludge Time.

[Weedeater- "And Justice for Y'all" full album]

---

[Weedeater- "God Luck and Good Speed"]

Featured indie developer: Cory Martin

We here in the deep, dark basement like to get sucked into a good game or two. Luckily, the newest Ludum Dare package has 25 sweet games to choose from, a few of them worth a play. One artist and developer, Cory Martin, from Tennessee caught our eye for this Ludum Dare with his game, "You Are Disabled".

Flung into a dungeon, players experience one of a few different randomly generated disabilities from the beginning of the game. Players may be crippled and move slowly, nearly blind and only see what is immediately surrounding them, they could be spastic and have little control over their character, or illiterate and not able to read the clue signs sprinkled throughout the game. My personal preference was illiteracy, given that most of the signs in the game are creepy insults. HOWEVER, in the spirit of personal challenge, I reset after playing through with illiteracy and tried every one. Lots of fun. 

As simple as the gameplay is, this game is 100% addictive. For fans of the Mario Bros dungeon aesthetic, that super fan of Bowser's castles and the underworlds, "You Are Disabled" delivers a fun and casual gaming experience. Strangely eerie music(?) plays in the background, sounding more like a dying internet modem than anything, players star as a shy-guy look alike who's only strategy is to overcome his disability by jumping (or crawling) across stages, avoiding hot lava. It seems pretty easy at first, but as the game progresses, players must master their timing and succeed against the odds. Bridges disappear, electrodes pop into existence, fireballs burst from their pools of magma. I liked this game so much that I played all of Irock's other games and for the most part, they were good too. My favorite of the 8 available on Stencyl was "Reaching Finality"…

"Reaching Finality" is that overhead adventure game you just can't help but love (or at least we can't). Like a more basic "Seedling", players begin with a vague quest, a direction to go and soon, a weapon in hand. Enemies pop up after a while, and soon you are in a dungeon fighting flying skulls and bats (what's the deal with gamers and bats anyway?). At first, RF moves a little slow. I remember thinking to myself, "Continue?" after finding a rake as my weapon instead of a sword (nasty flashbacks to Harvest Moon time wasting) but the different angle intrigued me. I am certainly glad that I didn't venture off onto another developer's site because the adventure which took place soon after acquiring my rake was quite fun. 

In fact, my true adventure started in the most classic of settings: The underground! Everybody is thirsty for a good dungeon sesh and in "Reaching Finality", that thirst is well quenched. It's an enjoyable, "Kill the baddies, get the key, open the door, kill the boss." cycle, which in truth, ends in one of the most fun mini-boss battles we have played on a web-based indie game. The only thing missing from RF is some nasty chip tune to glue it all together. Call me a purist, but in reality garage band type music seems to cheapen the experience of an 8-16bit game. I am aware that I am playing a web game thanks to the music and in effect, the game harkens back to some of the first to build bridges for sites like AlbinoBlackSheep or NewGrounds. The early days were flash, mostly pen style animation and with a "soft piano" rave song in the background. Shudder.

 I wasn't truly able to lose myself in the 8-bit ambiance OR the feeling of transcending web/flash to console, given the casio-esque tunes playing in the background. 

That aside, I had a lot of fun finding my way through Martin's version of a Zelda dungeon. The enemies were fun to kill (aside from the cyclops slime things…WAY too defenseless, felt like a dick.), the world became joyfully intricate, and the ending made me FEEL good about the game I just played. For this, we in the Basement say hats off to Cory Martin aka Irock and hope he makes more games in the near future!

[PLAY "YOU ARE DISABLED" HERE]

Wicked Basement Rating: 6/10

[PLAY REACHING FINALITY HERE]

Wicked Basement Rating: 5.5/10

20 years. Unbelievable.

To our friends at Id Software, we thank you.

doom1_0.zip

released

Dec, 10, 1993

[PLAY IT HERE]

"Under The Moon" builds a burning bridge.

This week, the ZX spectrum-styled indie game, "Under the Moon" made it's way into the Basement and caused a bit of a stir. From indie developer MNWS (Kodachrome, The Ruins of Machi Itcza, Super Phobia), UTM picks up where his earlier game "Nondevicer" seemed to leave off. Aside from the in-out functions of Nondevicer, Under the Moon maintains the gameplay style, sprites, and overall feel of it's predecessor.

Players begin the game as an unnamed hooded figure who seems to be having some romance issues. Dead silence evokes a strangely haunting feeling as you pass a woman who refuses to look in your direction, then an overpass with a view of the crescent moon, then into the bowels of a red dungeon where some delightfully eerie chip tunes begin to play. At first the game seemed a little droll. The hooded figure walks and jumps but players aren't given an attack option so really the name of the game becomes timing and balance.

As players advance, checkpoints become available, and rooms become harder. Death is not permanent but UTM will start the hooded figure at it's last save, creating incentive to move to the next room. At first, checkpoints are frequent, then they are every so often, then they are border line divisive. The relatively short browser-game (created in only a week) boasts about 4 different types of puzzle-rooms and quite honestly becomes very addictive. That said, I wasn't sure if I was playing in hopes more would happen around the next turn, or if I was legitimately into the game. Maybe a combo of both. During the last dungeon, the hooded figure collects four pieces of a heart key, opening a door back up to the over world. Once there, the game ends abruptly in a dreamy courtyard and a complete halt at a red wall. Sort of anti climactic. I felt as if MNWS didn't expect people to put up with the game until the end, so no real ending was written. THEN I found out that I could walk on the stars in the courtyard, make it back into the castle and have myself a proper ending. Phew, that was a close one.

The whole experience was a dreamy one. Under the Moon had me peacefully smiling, putting off dinner for a while in hopes of finishing strong, and reminding me of something I couldn't quite put my finger on… Then one of our resident nerds at the Basement asked me a simple question that shattered things a bit, "Are you playing l'Abbaye des Morts?! I love that game!"

Shit. Was I?

The playing style, the hooded figure hero, the early home-computer aesthetic, the mildly threatening projectiles, and slightly off-putting 8 bit music… Even the moon in which players were supposedly under seemed to be lifted from l'Abbaye (see above img), stretching the limits of the term "homage" to near breaking point. It seemed that the reason I enjoyed Under The Moon so much is because I had played it's more complex elder, l'Abbaye des Morts, a few years earlier. 

Homage, rip-off, learning experience, etc… The message boards weren't kind to MNWS. The more I read, the more it became clear that I wasn't the only one who drew the parallels between these two indie games. The trouble is, I still LIKE Under the Moon, even if it seems a lot like a game I already played. The whole puzzle-dungeon thing speaks to us here at the Basement. Quite honestly, if the developer were to elaborate on Under the Moon ---maybe add some enemies, a few weapons, a horrific sorcerer boss at the end of each dungeon, possibly even a town with NPC's and an items list--- they would be sitting on a golden experience. MNWS has a lot of room here to grow this game and I sincerely hope they do. Not just for curiosity's sake, but because Under the Moon will live in l'Abbaye's shadow for the rest of it's existence if they don't figure out a way to mix it up a bit.

"Under the Moon" gets a 3/10 from Wicked Basement.

[PLAY IT HERE]

Fuck Cancer.

["Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel"- Behemoth]

In-browser GameBoy sesh with Tiny Dangerous Dungeons...

In all honesty, I wasn't expecting much from Tiny Dangerous Dungeons. A game developed by Finnish designer Jussi Simpanen (aka "Adventure Islands)(developer of the earlier and awesome "Tiny Guns"), TDD did a great job at softly promoting it's release this month to a few flash websites in an extraordinarily modest fashion. Even on it's info page, Simpanen doesn't dress his new game up in a pretty bow, he doesn't even offer much of an incentive to play... It's a small backstory, directions for play and that's IT. The gameboy screenshots lure potential players in like mosquitos to a buzzing lightbulb, the praising comments spark curiosity, and once you have hit "Start Game" there truly is no turning back.

Playing TDD is like playing a game somewhere in between Kirby, Zelda, and Super Mario Land for GameBoy. Players star off slowly, learning controls as they move along a frog, bat, spider, and fish filled dungeon. At first there is no attack, then you find a sword, then a few other items to get things pumping.

 I am glad TDD embraced live-action playing rather than the countless "rogue like dungeon crawls" that have littered the internet this year. Upon hearing the title of TDD, I actually scrolled passed it thinking it was just another crawl for items, gems, and power-ups. I was totally mistaken. After your first acquired item, the game begins to move pretty quickly. Keys to locked doors, health upgrades, and even a Power Glove are hiding in various rooms throughout the dungeon. TDD moves players seamlessly from one objective to the next, without having to spell it out OR abandon the player. 

Checkpoints are throughout Tiny Dangerous Dungeons and they should be used as frequently as possible. Death is frequent and when Little Timmy dies on his adventure, he loses all the great stuff he found along the way. A lot of commenters seemed to blame control issues on their frequent death, but I found that when you die in TDD, the only person to blame is yourself. When I plugged in my USB NES controller, gameplay was super smooth. 

Along the way, TDD is not always cutely retro. The darker side of nostalgia comes out in the pretty tough puzzles involved in getting to that next stage. Keeping in mind that your weapons aren't JUST for killing and not all tranquil settings are as they seem is paramount in finding your next gate. Without revealing too much, toward the end of the game I was looking for a very well hidden key amongst attacking enemies and seemingly endless dungeon stages. I must have passed this very secret hiding place in my search a million times before noticing the "watermark" that I was looking for and once I found it I actually screamed out "OH FUCK YOU! FUCK THESE DEVELOPERS!!!"

Of course everyone here in the Basement had a good laugh because in reality, it was right in front of my face the whole time. Don't be so mission focussed. Look for the easter eggs. Adventure Islands has done a stupendous job at really stretching this map's potential.

So give it a whirl. Tiny Dangerous Dungeons has quickly risen to one of our favorite under-an-hour platformer challenges yet. It's got great style, classical gameplay, and a format that turns a mini-adventure into an unforgettable one.

[Play it HERE]

Splatterhouse cabinet at Ground Kontrol!

Portland is home to many great things. Ground Kontrol, a bar-cade located in the heart of downtown, is certainly one of them and this October they added a completely CUSTOM "SplatterHouse" cabinet to their floor. Wicked Basement stopped by and played this monster of a cab and it was just as badass as we imagined…

So if you haven't read our "Wanpaku Graffiti" post, SplatterHouse is a hack n' slash platformer that made parents shit bricks back in the ol' days due to the gory/violent content of the game. Released first in Japan in 1988, players don the "Terror Mask" and play as Rick, the kill-em-all badass with a golden heart. It's a typical "find your girlfriend after killing an assload of monsters" game, so we won't spend too much time on the plot. Just kill everything, alright?

First and foremost, hats off to the designer of this custom cabinet. Just look at that femur joystick, those eyeball buttons, the broken-wood panels! The control panel itself is made of a cushy foam, painted to bloody perfection so to give you that extra gross feeling. Genius. As with most great things, some amateur hour douche bags had already picked the "M" of of the Jump button and scratched into the flesh of the panel. These pics are from the week this cab was dropped! This is why we can't have nice things, kids. Cue, "Kill Em' All".

The game itself works great. One would think playing with an actual bone would hinder movement but it was actually really nice. The groove in the top of the femur locked my middle finger into play and it was a hack-fest from then on. As I was playing, a line began to form behind me, half spectators, half players-to-be. It was a great experience all around. A game over would occur and the next person would pony up a quarter to finish where you left off. The line became one long play to the end, magical.

So hats off to Ground Kontrol for this great new addition. Word is, they have just added a Black Tiger machine, so I am sure we will be checking it out this week. 

Play the game here online and if you live in Portland, be sure to stop in and throw some quarters into this beast!

[Play it HERE]

Frog Sord! It's a jumpy-slicey-spikey-good time….Or will be anyhow.

So "Frog Sord" is a game in development from MECH6 and some of the leaked gifs look just awesome.

What can be assumed about Frog Sord thus far is that it's a game about a frog who slices through enemies, jumping from platforms and sticking to walls in a combo reminiscent of Super Meat Boy, Super House of Dead Ninjas, and Ninja Gaiden. 

Looks great. If they open a KS, Wicked Basement will undoubtably be on the donor list.

Hope to see more from these guys, check out their site and keep up with the game!

Welcome to the Basement.

-666-