Cosmic Gate special stages EE through 00. I never messed around with this fixed shooter too much, as I was rushing to get to the rest of Retro Game Challenge and I completely forgot about this simple title after unlocking Star Prince.

To access these special stages, input the “Hard Mode” code (down, down, B, B, A, Start at the title screen), activate the warp gate in Level 64, then shoot the portal.

Buy: Retro Game Challenge

See also: Secret ending of Haggleman

[Thanks, Zach Robinson]

tags / retro game challenge / cheat / game center cx / cosmic gate / indies zero / xseed / ec

/ permalink / / 3 weeks ago / Comments (View)
HG101 examines Game Center CX →

Hardcore Gaming 101, a collection of informative and in-depth video game reviews, posted an excellent article on Retro Game Challenge (a.k.a. Game Center CX) and its Japan-only sequel today. If you read our “favorite tiny cartridges of ‘09” list last week, you’ll remember we ranked RGC as last year’s most cherished release (though with all the praise we’ve given the game, you likely knew we did that even if you didn’t read the piece).

HG101’s Kurt Kalata isn’t as fanboyish about the series as we are, and he brings up more than a few flaws he found with it. I don’t agree with all his complaints — I really enjoyed Rally King, and I actually like that Xseed localized Haguru-man’s title as Haggleman instead of Gear Man. Still, the two-page article has neat breakdowns and screenshots for each of the faux-retro games, and it shares this funny “Game Computer Floppy Drive System” loading screen from the Detective Kacho titles:

Buy: Retro Game Challenge

Import: Game Center CX 2

See also: Lots of Game Center CX media

tags / game center cx / game center cx 2 / retro game challenge / indies zero / imports / hardcore gaming 101 / namco bandai / xseed / ec

/ permalink / / 2 months ago / Comments (View)
Arino the Wanderer Part 2 →

One last set of videos for today, though you’ll need to travel to an external site to watch them, as I’m having a difficult time embedding these Dailymotion clips.

In this second-half of Game Center CX’s latest two-part challenge, show host Shinya Arino continues his quest to complete the original Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer for Super Famicom. Even if you don’t understand Japanese, so long as you’ve played a little Shiren and have a grasp of the game’s basic mechanics, you should have no trouble following the episode.

Now that your belly’s full of turkey and other fixins, why not close your Thanksgiving by watching Arino learn (the hard way, naturally) why you should kill Skull Wraiths as quickly as possible? Or by enjoying his reaction when he realizes a monster levelled up just a few spaces away from him? Will he manage to complete this notoriously difficult roguelike? Watch and find out!

As with the last episode, Arino takes a break and plays several Game Boy titles, one of which is Meldac’s curious shoot’em up Mercenary Force. I’d never heard of the game  before, but this shit looks banoodles.

Import: Game Center CX 2

Buy: Retro Game Challenge ($19.49), Shiren the Wanderer DS ($13.39!!!)

See also: Shiren DS Ending (With Oryu and Kechi)

[Thanks, Teasel!]

tags / game center cx / retro game challenge / chunsoft / mystery dungeon / shiren the wanderer / super famicom / imports / sega / ec

/ permalink / / 3 months ago / Comments (View)

Arino the Wanderer (and Panty Winner)

Oh, joy! Two of our favorite things, Game Center CX and Shiren the Wanderer, combined! This is even better than the time I discovered that leftover, heated up cornbread makes for a delicious breakfast with cream cheese.

In this latest episode from the Japanese program that inspired Retro Game Challenge, show host Shinya Arino plays through Mystery Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer for Super Famicom. As fans of the roguelike series should know by now, this is the release Shiren the Wanderer DS was based on, so if you played that handheld remake, you’ll have a good idea of what’s going here.

Arino dies during his attempt to complete the main adventure, which is expected considering the game’s infamous difficulty. He makes a lot of rookie mistakes even late into the dungeon, like chasing after Mini Tanks in a straight line (you should approach them by walking in diagonals to avoid getting hit). Also, it’s amusing to see Oryu get the best of him when they first meet.

The GCCX host eventually takes a break to visit a local arcade where he bowls, plays Gals Panic S2, and wins a pair of girl’s underwear from a crane game. Scandalous!

Read More →

tags / shiren the wanderer / super famicom / imports / chunsoft / mystery dungeon / retro game challenge / game center cx / television / sega / ec

/ permalink / / 3 months ago / Comments (View)

Haggleman 8-bit plush crafted by Michael Wootton and his girlfriend Jenna Cook. If we lived in a just world, we would have dozens of toys, pillows, and other merchandise devoted to the Retro Game Challenge hero.

Haggleman 3 figures with 20+ points of articulation! Little Zenmai and Cyborg K9 fruit snacks! Koume deodarent! Haggleman Lady pantyhose! Skies the limit!

Yum!

Buy: Retro Game Challenge ($17.99 —cheaper than ever!)

See also: More Haggleman fanart

[Via Michael Wootton]

tags / haggleman / retro game challenge / game center cx / michael wootton / jenna cook / crafts / fanart / indies zero / xseed / namco bandai / ec

/ permalink / / 4 months ago / Comments (View)

Five awesome games that don’t exist

Someone at Rare, Ltd. must love Retro Game ChallengeSmart Bomb, a new comic anthology created by several artists from the British studio, includes a page that looks ripped right out of RGC’s Game Fan Magazine.

The comic collection trumpets five currently popular games that don’t actually exist. Smart Bomb’s first issue highlights these fake but brilliant titles:

  1. Diesel Kiss [RAC/DAT] - Romance! Racing! Riot! The No. 1 game again this week still has fans revelling in its gutsy (yet sensitive) mix of post apocalyptic steampunk rallying and dating simulation mechanics. Fill’er up, love!
  2. Packet Pass (for Mother) [PUZ] - Impenetrable Japanese puzzler involving packets of badgers.
  3. Nya! Nya! Ghost Gear [A-RPG] - Anthropomorphic cats pilot supernatural robot suits.
  4. The Department Sword [S-RPG] - Teenage angst as trainee traders have to fight monsters to buy and sell stocks.
  5. Whistle Wolf [ETC] - Cute animal rhythm action with the tiny Polish wolf and his woodland friends.

I really want to play Diesel Kiss! Real talk, someone needs to produce a Rock N’ Roll Racing ROM hack (or a Racing Gears Advance reskin) with dating sim elements.

Buy: Retro Game Challenge ($17.99—cheaper than ever!)

tags / rare / smart bomb / retro game challenge / game center cx / game fan magazine / diesel kiss / comic / magazine / ec

/ permalink / / 5 months ago / Comments (View)

Game Center CX merchandise booth at last week’s TGS.

This little shop had all sorts of GCCX-branded junk: cell phone straps, Arino/King pins with blinking lights, folders, train pass holders, noodle bowls and spoons (no Inokichi instant chicken noodles, though), mousepads, portable fans, books, shirts, and more.

The Tokyo Game Show booth also advertised retractable stylus pens with dangling Arino/King sprites for what seemed like a reasonable price (¥630, $7), but apparently the peddlers only sold them in bundles with a towel for more than double that. :o/

Also on display: a GameCenter CX Company uniform (much like Arino’s); and the Duo Rest Chair (GCCX Exclusive Color), the same chair model Arino sits on while playing games in his office.

I actually considered buying the chair a few months ago while furnishing my own office in our recently purchased house, but it didn’t match anything in the room. Also, ¥49,800 ($559) plus overseas shipping is a bit much.

Buy: Retro Game Challenge ($17.99—cheaper than ever!)

Import: Game Center CX 2 ($29.90also super cheap!)

See also: Game Center CX Strategy Guide

[Via Joystiq]

tags / game center cx / retro game challenge / shinya arino / tokyo game show / tgs 2009 / accessories / imports / ec

/ permalink / / 5 months ago / Comments (View)

Robot Ninja Haggleman fanart by Mike Westfall.

We’ll leave no stone unturned and no door unflipped until we corral every piece of Haggleman fanart scattered across this Earth — as well as art hidden on alternate dimension Earths, or even on distant replicas of Earth copied by advanced alien races who’ve pirated our resources and cultures because they were too cheap to purchase and enslave/mine the real thing.

That is how serious we are about our Robot Ninja Haggleman fanart. Don’t get it twisted.

Buy: Retro Game Challenge ($17.99 —cheaper than ever!)

See also: More Haggleman fanart, mostly from Earth 1-B

[Via Mike Westfall]

tags / haggleman / game center cx / retro game challenge / indies zero / mike westfall / namco bandai / xseed

/ permalink / / 5 months ago / Comments (View)

“Koume-chan” by Kobayashikei. This fanart of Haggleman’s sister is going to inspire me to get out Retro Game Challenge once again — a prospect which sounds perfectly wonderful to me.

I feel like this is closely imitating the style of something familiar, but at the moment I don’t know what. Won’t somebody point it out and make me feel like an idiot?

Buy: Retro Game Challenge ($18.49)

See also: Stuff that made me feel like playing RGC previously

tags / haggleman / game center cx / retro game challenge / jc

/ permalink / / 5 months ago / Comments (View)

Guadia Quest button. Benjamin White, the Retro Game Challenge evangelist who has bravely offered free Haggleman buttons to people who purchase new copies of the game, made this cross-stitched button of the Guadia Quest hero for a RGC buyer, “because he asked so nicely—and because truth be told I’m a little tired of stitching one Haggle Man after the other”.

If you prefer this to the Haggleman design(s), Benjamin is happy (“Hell, I’d appreciate the chance to look at another color for a while”) to make you one of these in appreciation of your RGC purchase. Or in appreciation of your direct $5 payment!

That reminds me, I still need to buy a Haggleman button!

[Thanks for pointing this out, Kobold!]

tags / haggleman / benjamin white / retro game challenge / cross stitch / jc

/ permalink / / 6 months ago / Comments (View)
Retro Game Challenge for $18.49 →

Amazon currently has my Game of the Year — and soon to be yours if you haven’t played it yet — on sale for $18.49. It’s a wicked deal if you grab a free Haggle Man button and consider that your purchase could help bring RGC’s sequel Game Center CX 2 to the states.

Import: Game Center CX 2

See also: Tiny Review: Retro Game Challenge

[Via Ferricide, Nino]

tags / retro game challenge / game center cx / indies zero / bandai namco / xseed / ec

/ permalink / / 6 months ago / Comments (View)
Retro Game Challenge now $19.99 →

Retro Game Challenge, my favorite game this year so far, is seeing a $10 discount at most retailers thanks to a universal price drop. Why not buy one and help convince XSEED to release its sequel Game Center CX 2 in the U.S.?

If you do pick up the game — and you’d be a saint if you did — don’t forget to save your receipt and jump on this deal for a free Haggle Man (or Dark Haggle Man) button:

Import: Game Center CX 2

tags / retro game challenge / xseed / game center cx / indies zero / amazon / deals / ec / button / crafts

/ permalink / / 7 months ago / Comments (View)

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