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Arc System Works and WayForward have released the Double Dragon DLC pack for River City Girls 2. The earlier reveals in April and August 2024 noted that the DLC would be out in 2024. With the pack released today, the companies have kept their promise of releasing it within the year.

The company is basing the Lee brothers' appearances on their debuts in the inaugural 1987 arcade release. However, the characters will have voiceovers by the more recent voice actors. Billy and Jimmy are voiced in Japanese by Kazuyuki Okitsu and Takehito Koyasu—the same voice actors are also providing lines for the characters in the 2025 game Double Dragon Revive. Meanwhile, Starbomb's Dan Avidan and Arin Hanson are the English voice actors for the respective characters.

After purchasing and installing this DLC pack, players can have the Lee brothers as not only new playable characters but also their inclusion in the game's storyline. The set also adds a new dojo master named Boro. A vocal song performed by Starbomb completes the DLC pack's content lineup.

River City Girls 2 is readily playable worldwide on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. The Double Dragon DLC for River City Girls 2 is now available on all the above platforms.

The post River City Girls 2 Double Dragon DLC Available appeared first on Siliconera.

If you are a fan of the survival horror genre, then you owe a big, hearty "thank you" to Human Entertainment and its 1995 classic, Clock Tower. Clock Tower: Rewind is the enhanced international remaster, marking the first time that the game appeared in regions like North America. Since it's a remaster rather than a remake, you get to experience the first fear in all of its wonderful, old-timey glory.

Despite its dated graphics, B-horror campiness, and the fact I never actually played Clock Tower myself, the Clock Tower series holds a very special place in my heart. When I was a wee lass, I saw my friend play through the second game. (Not Ghost Head, I'm talking about the actual sequel.) However, I didn’t understand what was going on. He got Ending C, in which Jennifer dies, and when the paramedics are retrieving the sole survivor of the whole incident, we see that the survivor is the second Scissorman. The camera dramatically pans down on him and his eyes snap open, implying that he will go on to continue his reign of terror.

Somehow, I must’ve confused this scene with a nightmare I had and was under the impression that he was in an air vent. Strange how your mind can play tricks like this on you, especially when you were in the unlucky half of kids who suffered from chronic nightmares and night terrors. But the point is that because of this misunderstanding, I grew up with an irrational fear of looking into air vents, worried I’d see some crazy murderer staring out at me. So playing Clock Tower: Rewind wasn’t just a way to enjoy a piece of horror game history. It was a way for me to reclaim my ability to look into vents without fear.

The story of Clock Tower: The First Fear is fairly simple, since it’s not a very long game. It starts with Jennifer Simpson and three other girls from Granite Orphanage going to visit the Barrows mansion after the patriarch of the family adopts them all. Their teacher, Mary, tells them to wait in the foyer, as she’s going to go fetch Mister Barrows, but when Jennifer tries to check up on Mary, she hears an ear-piercing scream sound out through the night. And thus begins Jennifer’s jaunt through the Barrows house of horrors as she has to elude and survive the implacable Scissorman. Throughout her journey, Jennifer may come across the gruesome corpses of her friends and canonically, she is the only one who survives the night.

While the idea of a helpless horror protagonist isn’t so rare these days, Clock Tower: The First Fear pioneered it. In fact, during development, some people actually thought that a horror game in which you can’t shoot or fight your way out of trouble wouldn’t work. Time certainly vindicated director Kono though. Whether you enjoy the Clock Tower series or not, it’s hard to deny its overarching influence on the horror genre as a whole, considering it’s basically the first survival horror game.

Jennifer cannot fight off the Scissorman. She can only hide from him using set evasion points throughout the manor. For example, you can hide in one of the storage rooms behind the armoire. Throughout my playthroughs, Scissorman never caught onto my hiding spots, meaning that you could potentially use the same place over and over again. This must be a limitation of the AI. Future instalments like Haunting Ground (even if it’s more a spiritual successor rather than a direct sequel) had stalkers like Daniella start to wise up to your hiding locations and they’d drag you out if you tried to re-use them too much. Even disregarding the limited technology of the 1990s, I can understand why Human didn't want to make Scissorman too smart. The manor’s not that big. So on the off chance that you’re unlucky enough to trigger Scissorman too many times, it might lock you out of progressing the game if Scissorman could start catching onto your hiding points.

I will note that Clock Tower: Rewind features a rewind function in which you can turn back a short amount of time. Because all of my runs were perfect, I never had to use it. Okay, that was a joke. The reason that I didn’t really rewind time a lot is because early on, I was testing it to see precisely how much time I could undo. However, I must’ve bugged it out because the game became unresponsive. I could still open up the main menu, but Jennifer wouldn’t move or investigate anything. So, stuck in a random bathroom, I had no choice but to restart the game. Thanks to that incident scaring me off from the mechanic, I only rewound once to test Scissorman spawn logic. It was still possible to clear the game though, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

As you can imagine, the goal of the game is to escape the Barrows house. You can collect various items throughout the house to help you with this endeavor. There are some items you desperately need to pick up or else risk a dead end. For example, if you hadn’t found the Ham in the house and you triggered the scene in which Jennifer is in a cage, you’ll have no choice but to restart the game or load up a previous save file. The game also randomizes where certain rooms are or what items you’ll need, so there’s quite a bit of trial and erroring you’ll need to get through. Once you know what you need and where things generally are, it's a lot smoother sailing.

As a game from 1995, it’s not very long. Barring random Scissorman encounters throwing you off, it only took me give or take an hour or two for a good ending. It also lacks a lot of modern conveniences like maps, meaning that you’ll need to rely either on your memory or your own mapping ability. Thanks to the changing layout of the Barrows mansion, existing maps online aren’t that precise, meaning you will need to pay attention every time you start up a game. Thankfully, while rooms shuffle around, they only shuffle around within their respective hallways. So for example, you won’t need to backtrack all the way to the foyer if you want to look for the taxidermy room because the taxidermy room will always be somewhere in the west wing.

I highly doubt Human intended this, but the 1990s aesthetic was really charming. There are some random scares in rooms, which remind me a lot of how old educational DOS games and Fisher-Price: Dream Dollhouse would have random stuff move and make noises. Something else about the age of the game is that it uses a really interesting control scheme that you don’t really see anymore these days. When you move Jennifer around, she goes in the direction you input until you tell her to stop. If you want to interact with items, use stairs, or open doors, you would need to use the cursor (via analog stick) to point and click. It can make for some tense moments when you only have a limited amount of time to do something, but you’re fumbling through your inventory or trying to click on the right thing.

Old games aren’t all charming though and Clock Tower: Rewind has its fair share of annoyances. Actually, the main annoyance is the big man himself: the Scissorman. As much as he terrified me as a kid (granted, I was scared of the second one), he is a mere nuisance in this one. Since the only sounds you really hear in the game are Jennifer’s footsteps, the scare chord marking his arrival can be a bit of a jump scare. He’s relentless too, pursuing Jennifer no matter how many turns she takes or doors she runs through. However, the game is surprisingly generous to you. That’s fantastic, of course, but it kind of sucks away a lot of tension from the encounters and makes them a lot more annoying than scary.

The Scissorman is really slow compared to how Jennifer can sprint around the Barrows mansion. She gets tired though, and if the Scissorman catches up to her when she's not at max stamina, he can overpower her and kill her. However, because of how slow the Scissorman is, it’s very easy for Jennifer to literally stop, sit down, take a breather, and keep going. It kind of sounds like a Hanna-Barbera skit when I describe it in that way, but I guarantee that it’s not supposed to be funny. This is a very serious game. 

As mentioned above, in order to make the Scissorman leave you alone, you’ll need to hide from him using certain spots in the mansion. Then you can continue your exploration. Sometimes you might need to tackle your way past Scissorman depending on how lost or turned around you get. Again, you want to be at maximum stamina to push past him or else you won’t survive. But this is yet another reason that he's not as big a threat as you may think, as Jennifer at max strength can literally fight off his shears. A funny thing is that the Scissorman is invincible when he’s entering a room, meaning that if you try to leave while he’s in the process of entering, he’ll just kill you.

One of the extras in the game is an old instruction pamphlet in which Human warned against saving while the game is changing between screens. I’m guessing that something about Jennifer knocking down Scissorman while he’s between screens would destabilize the code, hence his invincibility. In any case, it's not hard to avoid deaths. So it’s not that Scissorman’s scary, per se, and more that he can drive you out of areas and rooms you want to explore. This then forces you to have to backtrack through the manor, which is small in of scale but still large enough that it can be a slog. It makes the Scissorman more of a tedious obstacle to shake off than a legitimate threat. Not that this is a major complaint though, as that's kind of what eventually happens in most horror games.

Something else I like about Clock Tower: Rewind specifically is that it’s basically a collector’s item. It contains motion comics (complete with voice acting), as well as little documents from the original release and such of the game. It’s really cool! I think that someone who’s really into Clock Tower would get a kick out of seeing all of that. The one thing that I don’t like is how distracting the alert is when you unlock a new scene in the motion comic. This is really annoying because you usually unlock more stuff when a scene is occurring or when you trigger Scissorman, so you have the giant notification pop up and block your screen while you’re trying to see or do something. An alert popping up after a run or when you return to the main menu, or even just a little blip in the corner, would’ve been much nicer.

I do genuinely want Clock Tower: Rewind to do well in hopes that we can see more ports or remasters of the other Clock Tower games. Honestly, I just want to see Haunting Ground, its spiritual successor. As for the main series itself though, it’s a little sad that Clock Tower 3 in 2002 was the last time Capcom really did anything with the property. As far as horror games go, Clock Tower isn’t exactly in my personal top five favorites, but it’s still such a highly influential and important work that I’m surprised it took this long for it to make its way out of Japan with an official English localization. While its dated graphics and gameplay may turn away some people, it’s definitely something to experience for yourself if you’re interested in this kind of history.

And no, I don’t believe that clearing this game cured my irrational phobia of vents. I suppose we’ll just have to wait until a Clock Tower 2: Rewind for that.

Clock Tower: Rewind will come out on October 29, 2024 for the PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.

The post Review: Clock Tower: Rewind Is a Chilling Piece of Video Game History appeared first on Siliconera.

The release date for the English version of Clock Tower Rewind has been revealed, and it will appear in North America and Europe on October 29, 2024. Publisher WayForward announced that the classic survival horror title will appear in English just shy of Halloween. This will be the first time the game has received an official English translation and released outside of Japan.

Clock Tower Rewind is more than just a simple port, it will also include the "Rewind" feature will add several quality of life improvements, such as save states, into this new version of the game. Alongside this, the Rewind will have a new, animated intro and motion comics with voice acting.

While the game will be available to purchase digitally on the Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X, a physical collector's edition was announced in May 2024. Limited Run Games will handle distribution of this collector's edition, and it will include a miniature clocktower statuette, a double-sided poster, acrylic standees and other collector's items.

Clock Tower Rewind was announced in July 2023. Development and further information on the title remained relatively sparse until May 2024. This included the reveal of a teaser, and a brief look at the animated intro that will accompany this new version of the game.

The Clock Tower Rewind release date is on October 29, 2024. It will release for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X. The Japanese release of the game will fall on Halloween.

The post Clock Tower Rewind English Release Date Falls Ahead of Halloween appeared first on Siliconera.

It certainly feels like WayForward is being picked as the developer for series revivals and tributes, doesn’t it? Between its work on games like Advance Wars: Re-Boot Camp and River City Girls 2, it seems to specialize in bright, poppy takes on classics. Yars Rising feels perfectly at home among its siblings, with the same bright color schemes and character designs. However, while it is entertaining and the integration of the source material is clever, I sometimes felt like it didn’t stand out enough to be truly memorable. 

Emi “Yars” Kimura is a hacker. She’s working with a group of her friends to infiltrate an obviously evil organization called QoTech. That means pretending to work as an employee until she gets a chance to sneak into the server room, attach a USB dongle and get out. She manages that! But immediately after she does, she’s caught and thrown into a “holding” center in the building. After sneaking through some vents and hacking into an unusual terminal, she finds herself with new biohacks that augment her abilities, giving her the ability to shoot or generate energy wings to dash or jump. Armed with these new talents she aims to get out and deal with the ruthless execs and their minions.

The “Yars” element comes up in multiple ways. Some of it relates to the story. Yar is Emi’s hacker moniker. She has a tattoo of the character. Not to mention Emi’s last name — Kimura — is a reference to Atari artist Hiro Kimura. The evil corporation is QoTech, not unlike the enemy Qotile in the original game. But the most evident is the actual inclusion of Yars’ Revenge sorts of gameplay when hacking. In order to open new paths, gain abilities, or generally accomplish goals, Emi will need to hack terminals at the company. When she does, a hacking minigame ensues that is actually standard Yars series gameplay. So maybe you’ll be firing a cannon to get through Qotile shields. Though also, there will be times when it is more like Space Invaders and you’re shooting enemies advancing toward you. 

While I do applaud the way in which WayForward successfully blended Yars’ Revenge with the Metroidvania elements in Yars Rising and think it is clever to include the original gameplay as a hacking minigame, I also found it slightly frustrating. This is primarily due to how often hacking does come up as Emi makes her way through QoTech’s building. Yars’ Revenge can get to be quite a challenging game, and when those situations keep coming up and penalize you by zapping Emi’s health for failure, it can start feeling less than novel. On the plus side, WayForward seems to even acknowledge this, as there’s an option to make yourself invincible for these hacking segments to more quickly get through them.

Especially since the core gameplay in Yars Rising is an accessible Metroidvania. Emi is going through Qotech, acquiring biohacks that allow her to further escape the company’s clutches after being caught hacking. It’s fairly straightforward and I didn’t find it as complicated or challenging as a title like Metroid Dread. However, the clear influences are there. Especially since early on, before you acquire a weapon, there’s a high reliance on stealth to proceed. The gameplay here is quite solid. It’s easy to maneuver Emi around her environment, and the upgrades we eventually acquire only serves to make that even more fluid. It’s a genuinely good time. I really enjoyed running and gunning my way through it.

However, while I did enjoy myself, Yars Rising’s art direction, enemy design, and environments didn’t really excite me. The human character designs are great, but the enemies ended up looking a bit generic. Ones that leaned more into insect motifs fared a bit better, but areas around QoTech and most foes felt cookie cutter. I will say that it did make me appreciate the designs that did lean more into classic Yars or even other Atari properties when they’d come up. Especially since the concept — hackers against a big bad corporation — also is incredibly commonly treaded ground. Since most of the more unusual twists only come up in the second half, it takes a while for those elements to feel unique.

I appreciate what WayForward did with Yars Rising, as it incorporates the source material in some cool ways while doing something entirely new. It’s a solid Metroidvania, and bringing in Yars’ Revenge gameplay for hacking can be entertaining. I just feel that even with the unusual approach to hacking, some design elements and decisions feel a bit bland. It’s enjoyable, but I’m not entirely sure it’s very memorable. 

Yars Rising is available on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. 

The post Review: Yars Rising Mixes Yars’ Revenge With Metroidvania Style appeared first on Siliconera.

Back in April 2024, WayForward announced Double Dragon River City Girls 2 DLC that would make Billy and Jimmy Lee playable. Now there’s a new gameplay trailer that shows how the two characters will work in the title and highlights some of the free content everyone will get alongside their debut. [Thanks, IGN!]

The River City Girls 2 trailer begins with the character select screen. It gives us a chance to see some stats, which are identical. Both have 15 ST, 7 SP, 5 AT, 4 AG, 3 Wp, and 3 LK. From there, we get to see the two actually get into fights. These are interspersed with black and white comic segments of the brothers. (As a reminder, everyone will get a free Double Dragon motion comic as part of the free update released alongside the add-on.) Some of the ensuing footage shows them fighting Marion and shopping at the Seasons Beatings store. 

Here’s the full River City Girls 2 Billy and Jimmy DLC gameplay trailer.

We already had one playable Double Dragon character in River City Girls 2 ahead of this DLC announcement. Marian Kelly showed up in the game at launch. She first debuted as a cameo character in the first installment, as she was a shop clerk you could buy accessories if you stopped by Swaggage. Of course, Billy and Jimmy are also already there as heads of in-game Dojos if you go to Crosstown or Ocean Heights.

River City Girls 2 is available on the PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and its Double Dragon Jimmy and Billy DLC will drop in 2024.

The post River City Girls 2 Double Dragon Billy and Jimmy DLC Showcased appeared first on Siliconera.

Publisher Superdeluxe Games confirmed that the Japanese release date for the Clock Tower: Rewind falls on October 31, 2024. Furthermore, developer Wayforward announced that a livestream showcasing the game will appear on June 27, 2024 at 1:00pm PT/4:00pm ET.

It is possible that the overseas release date for the game will be shared during the aforementioned livestream. Wayforward and Limited Run Games previously confirmed that the Clock Tower remaster will appear worldwide during Fall 2024. Because of this, it is possible that Japanese Halloween release date for the game will also apply to everyone worldwide, but we will have to wait a bit longer for confirmation.

Superdeluxe Games also shared the contents of the Japanese deluxe edition of Clock Tower: Rewind, which differs slightly from the bonuses included with the Collector’s Edition available at Limited Run Games. The Deluxe Edition contents include a special case, a Deluxe+ mini magazine, a trading card, a sticker set, two postcards featuring newly drawn artwork, one of which was created by Shintaro Kago, the original soundtrack, and the game itself featuring a reversible cover.

You can check out the Clock Tower: Rewind Japanese Deluxe Edition below. This edition will only be available for PS5 and Nintendo Switch.

The Clock Tower: Rewind Japanese release date falls on October 31, 2024, and it will appear on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. The original Clock Tower: The First Fear first appeared on the Super Famicom in Japan.

The post Clock Tower: Rewind Japan Release Date Falls on Halloween appeared first on Siliconera.

While there’s still no release date for WayForward and Limited Run Games’ Clock Tower: Rewind remaster, pre-orders for standard and collector’s editions are about to open. People will be able to commit to a copy through LRG starting on May 31, 2024, and orders will close on June 30, 2024.

Editor’s Note: The Clock Tower: Rewind Collector’s Edition items include some spoilers for the game. 6s5n3f

Both the standard and collector’s edition versions of Clock Tower: Rewind feature the same box art. It shows Jennifer Simpson in the center, with Scissorman’s scissors open behind her. The LE features a number of additional items, some of them spoilers. People get the game’s soundtrack and a sticker with pictures of major and minor characters. There is a 12” by 16” poster with art from Shintaro Kago. As for the other item, people get acrylic standees of Jennifer and Scissorman, a keychain featuring the Demon Idol, a pin that looks like a hunk of ham, a statue of the Clock Tower, and a stress ball shaped like Dan Barrows.

Here’s a closer look at both the Clock Tower: Rewind Collector’s Edition items and the standard edition box art:

This comes ahead of a recent look at two Clock Tower: Rewind characters. WayForward shared images from the animated opening. One highlighted heroine Jennifer. The other showed her teacher and adopted mother, Mary Barrows. 

Clock Tower: Rewind will appear worldwide on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in 2024. The original Clock Tower: The First Fear first appeared on the Super Famicom in Japan.

The post Clock Tower: Rewind Collector’s Edition Includes Actual Clock Tower appeared first on Siliconera.

Following quite a period of silence since the Clock Tower remaster July 2023 reveal, WayForward shared art of two characters from Clock Tower: Rewind on social media. It also confirmed it is still on track for a 2024 release and confirmed some of its features.

The two women depicted in the Clock Tower: Rewind animated introduction teaser show new art for Jennifer Simpson and Mary Barrows in the remaster. Jennifer is the game’s heroine, who finds herself attempting to evade Scissorman and survive after being brought to the Barrows “Clock Tower” mansion. Meanwhile, Mary is a teacher at Granite Orphanage who adopted Jennifer and three other girls living there. The announcement noted that the new animated introduction is one of the new features added for the remaster before confirming it will appear in 2024.

Here’s the new peek at the Clock Tower remaster.

There’s still no updated release window for the game, however. When it was first announced at the Limited Run Games 2023 Showcase, the announcement noted it would debut in “early 2024.”

In case you missed it, here is that reveal:

Clock Tower: Rewind will appear worldwide on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in 2024. The original Clock Tower: The First Fear first appeared on the Super Famicom in Japan in 1995, before eventually appearing on other platforms. This will mark its first official localization.

The post Clock Tower: Rewind Remaster Teaser Shows 2 Characters appeared first on Siliconera.

The final Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night update will come to consoles and PCs in May 2024, adding Chaos and VS modes and both paid and free cosmetic costumes for Miriam. While the Switch gets it on May 16, 2024, every other platform gets the update on May 9, 2024. 

The free additions to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night involve the Chaos and VS modes and a free cosmetic pack. The two modes were originally the last Kickstarter stretch goals. Chaos is a randomized multiplayer mode where people work together locally or online to survive as long as possible. Versus is a competitive online or local mode that involves a split screen and defeating waves of monsters to buy upgrades, mess with your opponent, and make it easier for you to be the last one standing. As for the free Miriam costume in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, that cosmetic pack is based on Shantae. It’s a nod to WayForward’s involvement with the game.

There will be three paid cosmetics launched alongside 1.5. Their names weren’t revealed in the update, but official art offered a peek at them. Each Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Cosmetic Pack includes a costume and equipment for Miriam. There is also a stat bar for each one if you put it all on at once. 

While this is the final Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night update, there will be one last piece of DLC. Classic Mode II: Dominique’s Curse is in development. That features an original story and map. 

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available for the PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and PC, and the final update. comes to most platforms on May 9, 2024 and the Switch on May 16, 2024. The physical PC release will follow the release of this final update.

The post Final Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Update Adds Chaos and VS Modes appeared first on Siliconera.

Years and years ago, when you could still play Flash games on the internet, the Rose & Camellia series ended up becoming an icon. Nigoro turned Victorian-era slapping into a very serious and dramatic sport. Now, with help from WayForward and Limited Run Games, this series is further saved from extinction via the Rose & Camellia Collection for the Switch. It’s exactly what a fan might want, though the control options might not always be ideal.

Rose & Camellia Collection features five games. The four Rose & Camellia collections are power struggles among women within or tied to the Tsubakikoji family. Players’ protagonists attempt to prove themselves by taking down the other . So Reiko is fighting to become the matriarch in the first game. Saori, her sister in law, strikes back in the sequel and attempts to dethrone Reiko. Rose & Camellia vs. La-Mulana features Mulbruk slapping other female characters from the series to become the heroine. Note that the Rose & Camellia vs The House in Fata Morgana isn’t present here, though. 

Basically, Rose & Camellia Collection is a compilation of boxing-style, gimmick games that actually had a lot of care and effort put into them. In each entry, your avatar will be pitted against an opponent. Your viewpoint is from behind them, with an over-the-shoulder look at the person in desperate need of a good slap. Each character has a certain number of health points, indicated by flowers. Attacks whittle them down, though there are also on-screen visual indicators of how well your enemy is doing. (They also have tells that let you know if they are about to actually hit you.) You take turns slapping each other, until one person’s health runs out.

So, as for those controls. Basically, the input options pay tribute to the fact that the original Flash game involved swiping with your mouse across the screen to slap or dodge. So, you have two options here. If your system isn’t docked or you are going through one of the campaigns, it defaults to the touch screen controls. You either swipe left or right in order to slap an opponent or dodge an attack. If you are docked or choose versus, I’ve found it defaults to motion controls. In that case, you hold the A button and flick your wrist to slap or hold the L or R trigger and flick to dodge. 

The issue is, the five games eventually end up demanding perfection. You only start with Rose & Camellia, the versus mode with characters like Reiko and Saori available, and Rose & Camellia vs La-Mulana if you tick the box in options. Gaining access to more games and characters means you actually need to slap everybody and live to tell the tale. Foes that appear later in campaigns are more difficult! If you aren’t precise and exactly dodging or hitting them, you’ll lose! Which means you don’t unlock more characters and games! 

So honestly, I feel like the lack of a more conventional control scheme as a third option does Rose & Camellia Collection a disservice on the Switch. Especially since there isn’t also a calibration options in the settings so you can better adjust inputs to ensure improved accuracy. It left me concerned that some people might not take a chance on it or make the most of the games. I do appreciate the “equal HP” option in the settings, however. Also, though it doesn’t tell you it is saving, once you unlock an opponent in one of the campaigns, you can then resume that story from that fight. 

Especially since this is such a gorgeous package. Nigoro really did a lovely job with the Rose & Camellia games originally, and this new edition with WayForward’s assistance really helps. The voice acting is great. The translations for all of the games, including the new-to-the-west Rose & Camellia 3 and 4, are so well done and often hilarious. The details for character designs, especially as you get further into the fights, are great. The music is lovely. It’s a complete package.

Rose & Camellia Collection is one of those collections of gimmick games that are way better than they have any right to be. There are some downsides to it, such as only offering touch or motion control scheme options and locking games behind the completion of other titles. It is incredibly silly though, and quite a fun title to play alone or with friends. 

Rose & Camellia Collection is available on the Nintendo Switch. 

The post Review: Rose & Camellia Collection Earnestly Approaches a Silly Premise appeared first on Siliconera.

Contra: Operation Galuga is the first pure, 2D Contra game in a long time. After the widely panned Contra: Rogue Corps in 2019, Konami seems to have realized a true retro revival is what the series needs.

It’s off to a good start immediately with its developer. WayForward not only has a pedigree for retro styled games, it also has experience with the series thanks to Contra 4. Contra: Operation Galuga also deliberately returns to the franchise’s roots, as it’s a reimagining of the original Contra.

That said, this is not a remake. While the premise is effectively the same as the 1987 original, it takes ideas from the rest of the series and tosses it all into a blender to make an entirely new experience. For instance, multiple levels feature the Jet Motorcycle from Contra III and Lucia from Contra: Shattered Soldier is a playable character unlocked later in the game. They even included Probotector in the Arcade Mode as a nod for us Europeans, which is nice.

The story of Contra: Operation Galuga is a simple one. Two operatives from the Contra unit, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, have been sent to the island of Galuga to take down the Red Falcon terrorist organization. In addition, scientists discovered that the island is exhibiting anomalous gravity readings, and they are concerned the terrorists may have access to a deadly weapon.

A surprising amount of work went into the story, including fully voiced cutscenes. It’s not particularly deep, of course, but it’s unashamedly gung-ho in the way a Contra story should be. The tone is set early on, when Bill and Lance jump out of a helicopter while grunting “hell yeah brother” at each other. I feel that they could have leaned harder into the goofy 80s excess a little more, in the way Doom did in 2016, but this is good enough.

Of course, no one’s coming to Contra for its story. We’re here for big guns and waves of enemies to kill them with. This is where Contra: Operation Galuga has a lot to live up to. On one hand, it needs to be faithful to the original games, allowing veteran players to hop in and get exactly what they want. However, with the huge time gap since the last “true” Contra game, it needs to make concessions to a modern audience to bring in new players.

Happily, WayForward managed to get the balance right. This is pure Contra gameplay. You have a gun that fires a stream of bullets across the screen, enemies rush at you from all directions and powerups drop from pods that float across the screen. It’s a challenging and often maddening time, as the game increasingly throws more deadly projectiles at you. It’s exactly what you’d want from the series, presenting plenty of challenge while still being fun enough to come back and try again when you inevitably get killed by a stray grenade.

What Operation Galuga adds to this is a bunch of modern quality of life adjustments. There are difficulty options at the start of the game, which mostly reduce the intensity of enemy encounters. The game features checkpoints and saves progress during a playthrough, so you don’t have to restart from the beginning on a Game Over like the NES original. There’s also a perk shop that allows you to buy upgrades with in-game credits, such as extra health or the ability to retain special weapons on death. However, these upgrades are applied at the start of a level and there are only two slots available, so it’s impossible to completely break the game with everything on at once.

These are all great additions that don’t dilute the essence of Contra while also making the experience much less frustrating. Plus, if you're a purist, Arcade Mode strips it all out for anyone who wants that challenge. It’s a good compromise.

The gameplay is solid throughout Contra: Operation Galuga. It’s incredibly satisfying to rush through a level, taking out bad guys en masse. It’s even more satisfying to pick up powerups, with the spread and homing missiles adding so much screen-clearing power to your arsenal you’re unlikely to want to use anything else. Picking up a second powerup of the same kind will also upgrade that weapon, allowing a larger spread, faster homing missiles, lasers that bounce across enemies and wider flamethrower arcs, to name just a few. What’s more, you can have two of these weapons equipped at any time, allowing for some strategic use.

There’s also the overload feature, where special weapons can be sacrificed for a special ability. Laser weapons will give you extra speed, machine guns will provide a shield and homing missiles can be turned into drones. Most of these abilities are useful but sadly don’t last long enough to be truly essential.

However, there are some gameplay issues that arise thanks to the visual style. While the characters and locations generally look fine, there are some problems with the game’s general visual language. In a few levels, the developers were keen to experiment with the 2.5D aspect by featuring elements on different planes to the characters. The problem is, on multiple occasions this was less of a cool detail and more an obstruction. For instance, the boss fight at the end of the Village level features a tentacle that moves along the front of the screen. As the fight gets more hectic, this tentacle is a serious hindrance, often covering up a good chunk of what you’re trying to avoid.

This wasn’t the only time either. Another level features projectiles that emerge from both the foreground and background, adding unnecessary visual noise to a screen already full of bullets. Another level features crystals that block the screen, so you have to squint at the reflections to figure out where you’re going. This often led to me falling into pits that became invisible due to the warping of the glass. These elements always caused frustration, getting in the way of what was otherwise a perfectly fair challenge.

Contra: Operation Galuga is a solid retro revival. It’s got satisfying gunplay, a good balance of old school mechanics with modern tweaks and offers a good challenge. Fans of the series will have a blast, even if its visuals sometimes get in the way.

Contra: Operation Galuga is out now for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

The post Review: Contra: Operation Galuga Is a Welcome Blast from the Past appeared first on Siliconera.

Artplay and 505 Games announced Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night online Chaos and VS multiplayer, and paid DLC that adds Classic Mode 2 and costumes. Chaos and VS seem to be free, while you need to pay for the other add-ons. Those two elements will be discussed on September 14, 2023. This comes as the game ed two million in sales.

Here’s the announcement video with Producer Koji “IGA” Igarashi and Director Shutaro Iida. First, IGA confirmed the update ended up delayed due to COVID and technical difficulties. After apologizing and thanking people, Iida discussed that progress had been made on the Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Chaos and VS online multiplayer modes. Wayforward is involved with the online modes' development. It’s then that video footage of both appeared showing how they work.

At the 1:30 mark, IGA and Iida discussed the Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night DLC. It’s then that a video clip showed the new costumes in actions and teased the Classic Mode 2 retro version of the game with Retro UI elements.

Here’s the new trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X_54wp1xiU&ab_channel=Bloodstained%3ARitualoftheNight

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available on the PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC, and mobile devices. More word on the VS and Chaos modes will arrive on September 14, 2023.

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Now that the free River City Girls 2 online multiplayer update is live, up to four players can go through the beat'em up at once. The patch is now available on all platforms. In addition, there is also a new $74.99 bundle that packs it in with River City Girls and River City Girls Zero. There's a new trailer accompanying its debut to offer an overview of the series as a whole.

Prior to the patch, we could only have up to two players online with River City Girls 2 multiplayer. However, the offline local option let four people play together. As a reminder, the game also features cross-play.

Here’s the new River City Girls trailer, which covers all three games, It generally explains the characters and experiences. It doesn’t cite what’s specifically going on in each game or what to expect. But River City Girls Zero is a localization of the Super Famicom game Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka, only with one option being a themed localization that makes it part of this timeline. River City Girls is the original adventure of Misako and Kyoko trying to save Kunio and Riki. River City Girls 2 is the follow-up where the four of them, Double Dragon’s Marian, and River City Underground’s Provie face a whole new threat to the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyQyKdKIPrA&ab_channel=WayForward

River City Girls 2 is available on the PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, and its multiplayer patch for four players is live now.

The post River City Girls 2 Online Multiplayer Player Count Expanded appeared first on Siliconera.

During the Limited Run Games 2023 showcase, WayForward announced Rose & Camellia Collection. This is a compilation of the five games in Nigoro's series about of high society fighting by slapping each other. There's no exact release window for the compilation yet. At the showcase, it was noted we could see it come out in either late 2023 or early 2024.

Here's the first trailer for Rose & Camellia Collection. WayForward noted it will include all four games in the main series, as well as Rose & Camellia vs La-Mulana. People can use Joy-Con motion controls or swipe on the touch screen to slap opponents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGrKUi11ZHg&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=WayForward

Prior to the loss of flash games, Nigoro discussed preserving this series with Siliconera. Part of this effort involved the games showing up on mobile devices in 2020.

Rose & Camellia Collection will come to the Nintendo Switch in either late 2023 or early 2024.

The post Rose & Camellia Collection Heading to Switch appeared first on Siliconera.

WayForward announced that it will release a remaster of Clock Tower, which never appeared worldwide, at the Limited Run Games 2023 showcase. It will come to the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Digital and physical copies will be available. It will launch sometime in early 2024.

During the announcement. the WayForward brought up how this remaster will work. It is using Limited Run Games’ Carbon Engine to bring the game to platforms worldwide. In addition to remastering the base game, there will be some new additions. Mary McGlynn will create a new theme song for it, for example. There will also be an animated opening and new cutscenes. There's also some gameplay footage in the trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMzM9J20MOU&ab_channel=WayForward

WayForward announced multiple projects at the event. For example, it will finally finish a Shantae GBA game. It originally only appeared as a demo. A fully playable, complete game is now in development now called Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution. That will show up sometimes in 2024 on a GBA cartridge.

The Clock Tower remaster will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in early 2024. The original game appeared on the Super Famicom, PlayStation, WonderSwan, and PC in Japan.

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