(This time around, we're splitting the July-September 2003 “other games” update into two parts. Part 1, covering the Ultra Nintendo, Wave, Katana, and Xbox games, will be today, and Part 2, covering the Game Boy Nova and multiplatform releases, along with top 5 selling games for each month, will be in the next update, hopefully tomorrow.)
Ultra Nintendo:
Soldier Of Misfortune 2
The sequel to 2000's 3-D platform title, Soldier Of Misfortune 2 sees the trickster Hexx making his return, along with his partner Nightshade who can transform back and forth between a cat and a human. Nightshade is a fully playable character this time around, and while Hexx can use a variety of tricks and spells, Nightshade is the more agile of the two, utilizing her catlike reflexes and mobility to reach places that Hexx can't. This is a fairly run of the mill platformer, reviews are pretty good but sales are only mediocre. Still, it's one of the better platformers in the waning days of the Ultra Nintendo.
Eye Of Indra
An adventure/puzzle game reminiscent of Quintet's games or possibly Dark Cloud, Eye Of Indra is developed by Sony. It features a young adventurer who must journey between a series of temples, battling enemies and solving puzzles in search of the legendary Eye of Indra, which has the power to summon a mighty god to defend the world from evil. It doesn't get as much hype as most of Sony's other games, since it's worked on by a small segment of the company, but reviews are favorable. It's a one-off game, meaning no sequels, but the game itself does get a fair bit of nostalgia in the years ahead.
Kirby: Gourmet Grand Prix!
The final Kirby game for the Ultra Nintendo, Gourmet Grand Prix isn't a full-fledged Kirby adventure. Instead, it's a sort of spinoff of Kirby Super Deluxe's Gourmet Race minigame. It features improved, 3-D graphics and a stage selection of more than a dozen stages, with characters from all over the series, both heroic and villainous. For those who liked the Gourmet Race game, this is a dream come true. For most Kirby fans though, it's one to skip, and sales are fairly low in North America.
Mega Man Zero 3
Mega Man Zero 3 is the third game in Capcom's Mega Man Zero series, and the series' final installment for the Ultra Nintendo. Though the game features mostly the same Metroidvania-style gameplay of the first two, Capcom mixed things up a bit for this game, sending Zero to an artificial planet hovering high over the world, in order to destroy an evil artificial intelligence that's taken up residence there. The world features a lot more environmental variation than that of the previous game, and the game is somewhat harder as well, though longtime fans of the series are used to the challenge. Sclera doesn't appear in this game, in fact there are very few other sentient hero characters for Zero to interact with, giving the game a bit more of a solitary hero feel. Ultimately, Mega Man Zero 3 is considered a major improvement over the last game and generally the best of the trilogy, enjoying a small sales bump over the previous title.
Puzzle Pals
A Chu-Chu Rocket-esque game where players must clear screens of various obstacles using a variety of different little creatures that they can switch between. Despite the uninspired title, the game itself is really fun. It's a game that becomes another cult hit, a somewhat nostalgic title that is recalled fondly by those who played it later on.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
The third game in the Shin Megami Tensei series ditches the III in the North American localized version, as OTL's did. While featuring similar gameplay to OTL's title, including the capturing of demons and the Press Turn system, the presentation is significantly more primitive, due to the game releasing on the Ultra Nintendo and not OTL's Playstation 2. Also, the plot has received numerous butterfly-induced changes, as the Protagonist does not bear witness to the world's transformation, but the game instead starts on a somewhat more docile note, with the Protagonist being an ordinary high school student who, after meeting two new friends, inadvertently infiltrates a cult that one of his friends is a member of, while his other new friend wishes to avoid the cult. Whatever friend the Protagonist sides with influences the game's Chaos vs. Law dilemma, in which the player will ultimately choose whether to sacrifice the world to the demons (in order to create a world where strong humans can choose their own destiny) or to save the world from the demons (but in order to do this, the Protagonist must become the Sword of God and must ultimately take away humanity's free will). There's also a Neutral option in which the world is saved but in which people still have free will (and in which both the Protagonist's friends are saved), but this ending is notoriously difficult to obtain and requires defeating an extraordinarily difficult boss, and only after completing a number of easily missable storyline events. Nocturne receives excellent reviews, the best for any Ultra Nintendo RPG in 2003, but because of the game's release on a “dying” system, North American sales are very low, and the game doesn't do as well as it does IOTL. Japanese sales, fortunately, are still quite good.
Windborn III
The third game in Namco's acclaimed RPG series is released for the Ultra Nintendo, after the first two were Sega Saturn exclusives. Windborn III takes place in a different continuity than the previous two games, making it very accessible to newcomers to the series. The game's battle system is largely the same as the first two games but has some upgrades to make battles run quicker and more smoothly (and also features much improved battle animation). The game features a female protagonist, Elayna, who has the power of the winds bestowed upon her after her friend, an eccentric old man, dies of a mysterious disease. Elayna, being somewhat of a trickster and a rather lazy person, is reluctant to accept the powers granted to her, especially after she's pursued by soldiers who want to take her to their king. Eventually, Elayna is captured and brought before the king, an arrogant young man named Falron, who wants to extract Elayna's power for himself. However, after an escape attempt destroys much of Falron's castle, the young king finds himself strangely attracted to Elayna despite all the trouble she's caused him. After Elayna's second escape attempt is successful (and after she completely humiliates Falron), he ends up pursuing her. At the same time, a powerful sorceress seeks to destroy Elayna to complete an ancient evil prophecy.
Windborn III is even more lighthearted than Windborn II, and a far, FAR cry more lighthearted than the original game. Though reviews are still decent, the game's decidedly old-school RPG feel turns off some critics, and reviews aren't as stellar as the first two games. Still, sales exceed those of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne in North America, making the game a moderate success in the West.
Nintendo Wave:
Castlevania: Belmont's Lament
Created exclusively for the Nintendo Wave, Castlevania: Belmont's Lament is a 3-D hack and slash adventure title, quite similar to OTL's Lament of Innocence in terms of gameplay, but featuring a different plot. It focuses on the vampire hunter Eli Belmont, as he explores a vast castle on a quest for revenge against the vampire lord who killed his wife on their wedding day. The game is set much later in the series than OTL Lament Of Innocence, and the primary antagonist, the vampire lord Duke Arton, is implied to have killed Eli's wife out of revenge for the death of his own beloved. The game thus heavily explores the blood feud between the vampires and the Belmont clan and the cycle of violence that has occurred between them. In the end, despite Eli learning the truth, he kills Duke Arton anyway, and vows to completely eradicate the vampire race, as all Belmonts have sworn to do, thus perpetuating the continuing war. Being a Castlevania game, Belmont's Lament received quite a good deal of hype in the leadup to the game's release, and sold decently, about as well as The Occulted Circle did in 2000.
Awesome Blossom
Another platformer game focused on a flower-themed heroine named Blossom who shoots flower petals out of her hands and head, it has a really cute stylistic theme even if the gameplay isn't terribly innovative. A nice showcase for the power of the Wave, with gorgeous rendered backgrounds and excellent character animation, it gets very solid reviews, but compared to games like Paradventure, it's not too popular and sales are somewhat disappointing.
F-Zero GX
F-Zero GX is the latest game in the high-speed racing series that's appeared on every Nintendo system since the SNES. IOTL, Sega had a heavy hand in the development of the game, so the gameplay is a bit tweaked from OTL's. While not quite as refined, it's still extremely fast and extremely tough, though like Mario Kart: Double Dash!, it isn't quite as good a game as its OTL counterpart (the difference in quality between OTL and TTL is less for this game). Also, the story mode is absent from OTL's game, since the story is explored somewhat more in spinoff titles (like the G-Force series). The game simply features pure racing action, with a Grand Prix mode, a Time Trial mode, a Vs. mode, and a track editor. While the game supports up to four player local play, it doesn't feature online multiplayer (the racing is just too fast for online to be supported at the time). Still, for those who can handle the game's extreme difficulty, it's still very fun and very well received, with decent sales in North America, Europe, and Japan.
Aeroboy Returns
The sequel to Satoru Iwata's Aeroboy, this game improves upon the previous game's fairly simple formula. Once again, you play as Aeroboy, a boy who uses balloons, wings, and even a jetpack to hover in the air and shoot at creatures menacing villages. However, Aeroboy flies much faster in this game, and you can get into aerial dogfights with enemies. There's more of a plot as well, with actual character voices rather than just funny sounds for talking characters. Aeroboy isn't just flying around outside either, he can fly into dungeons to battle the enemies within and rescue prisoners. Aeroboy Returns utilizes the technology of the Nintendo Wave to add a number of new elements to the gameplay. The graphics are fairly average for a first party title, but there's so much more to do that the game is reviewed about a full point better on average than its predecessor. Sales are moderate, as the game doesn't have a great deal of hype compared to other first party games, but it's still enough to be considered a success, and isn't considered a disappointment like the original game.
Crossblade
Developed by Retro Studios as their first non-sports game for Nintendo, Crossblade is a third-person hack and slash about a rebellious samurai who turns against his sadistic shogun. The game features twelve levels as the samurai cuts a path through feudal Japan to liberate the people under the shogun's rule. It's Nintendo's take on Onimusha, and while it's not as acclaimed as that game, it's still a fun hack and slash that features excellent graphics and some unique features for the genre, such as the ability to recruit certain enemies to your cause in mid-level and have them fight alongside you. Sales are unfortunately low, as the game was released at a fairly crowded time and didn't really build up enough hype to be a majorly anticipated game. Retro Studios would revisit the hack-and-slash genre down the road, though not with this storyline.
Sega Katana:
Creme-Filled
A platformer about an anthropomorphic donut who explores a number of food based stages. The donut must defeat the evil Pastry Chef, who wants to cook all the delicious food in the world into his masterpiece dish. This was supposed to be one of the Katana's most high profile platformers of the year, but ends up being a major disappointment. It's too kiddy and the levels are too repetitive, and the gameplay is really basic compared to other platform titles released at the time. It has the misfortune to come out a few weeks before Commander Keen: A Stitch In Time, and gets utterly blown out of the water in both reviews and sales.
Klonoa 4
The last of the Sega exclusive console Klonoa games, Klonoa 4 (no subtitle) would be released on the Sega Katana in summer of 2003, to a fairly low-profile release. Despite the lack of hype, this is still a very good game: it retains the 2-D gameplay of its predecessors despite the Katana's 3-D graphics, and goes for a cartoony look (not quite cel-shaded, but something resembling animation) and teaches Klonoa a number of new tricks by giving him a bevy of weapons to do battle with. He'll need them in order to fend off an invasion of the rock people known as the Earthmovers, who seek to steal pieces of the planet in order to take back to their deity, a gigantic monster who rises from the earth itself to consume all that he sees. Klonoa must visit a number of places, protecting the locals from these rock people while also preventing them from stealing the magical Glowrocks that keep the world from coming apart. It's classic Klonoa fun, with enough things changed that the game feels like a proper new installment. Reviews are quite good, and sales, while not matching Commander Keen levels, are still very healthy.
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way, is released for the Sega Katana about nine months after the game's PC release. It would be the last game in the series to be released for consoles last, as future releases would be simultaneously released for both Mac and the Sega home console. It continues the story of Cate Archer and features the same spy-spoofing FPS gameplay of the original, with gunplay and gadgets galore. The game also features the spinoff Contract J.A.C.K., which is included with the game and can be accessed from the main menu, it features missions conducted by H.A.R.M. mercenary John Jack, and ties into the events of this game, though it takes place before it. Like the OTL title, No One Lives Forever 2 sees Cate Archer once again attempting to stop the evil organization H.A.R.M., which in this game is attempting to provoke a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The plot has many similarities with OTL's game, including Cate's mission to Japan and her run-in with the ninja villainess Isako. Like OTL's game, Cate Archer's voice actor changed between the original and the sequel, though ITTL a different voice actor is used. Instead of Jen Taylor, like IOTL's game, Kath Soucie plays Cate Archer. Like OTL's game, A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way leaves numerous plot threads open, but this time, there is certain to be a sequel: at the end of the credits there is a message: “Cate Archer will return in No One Lives Forever 3: She Lives For Danger.” The excellent reviews and sales for the game ensure that sequel's existence: only Stage 8: Three Mile Island outsells this game among Katana exclusives in July 2003.
Super Monkey Ball 2
The classic action/puzzle title returns with a sequel. Super Monkey Ball was one of the Katana's best reviewed and top selling early games, and the sequel features more tracks and more challenges, including a story mode which tells the tale of AiAi and his friends. The gameplay hasn't been updated significantly but it's just as addictive as ever and reviews and sales are excellent as Super Monkey Ball continues to be one of the Katana's best franchises. The series is a favorite of Steve Jobs'.
King Crab 3
The King Crab platformer series made the leap to the Katana with this title, but whereas the second game was a big improvement over the original, this game was largely a flop, featuring a lack of innovation in stages and enemies and some bizarre and frustrating stealth mechanics that often took players completely out of the action. In King Crab 3, Crust must wander into a resort city to rescue his friends from some very mean tourists who want to take them home as pets. Princess Elisha makes an appearance only as a helper who occasionally provides items and advice, and the game is also quite a bit shorter than the previous two games, with the stealth mechanic accused of being used to pad the game's playtime. While King Crab 3 was a critical dud, it still scored good enough sales among fans to justify a sequel, however, the game would need to be retooled before the next installment. It would see a couple of spinoffs in 2004 and 2005: Princess Elisha's Party Palace and Jocko The Shark. Elisha's Party Palace was a flop, while Jocko the Shark, starring one of the series' more surprising side characters, was a successful game that laid the groundwork for the next main title.
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Orta is the fifth game in the Panzer Dragoon series and the first for the Katana. It returns the series to its rail-shooting roots, with gameplay in many ways similar to OTL's Xbox game. However, the storyline is somewhat different, due to the storyline of OTL's Orta being largely adapted for TTL's Panzer Dragoon Saga II. It features a female protagonist named Orta, but the similarities between OTL and TTL's protagonists largely stop there. Orta is a caretaker of a young dragon. The dragon is the descendent of a dying race, of whom many were killed in the ancient Dragoon Wars, and many of the remaining dragons were slaughtered afterwards due to all the destruction. After soldiers from a neighboring empire come to kill her dragon, Orta flees, but is soon after captured by a gang of rebels who have dragons of their own. Orta and her dragon escape the rebels, taking out an imperial encampment soon afterward, and from there, Orta knows there's no turning back: she must launch a rebellion against the empire to save her people. Her bravery is an example to the rebel dragonriders, and though she distrusts them at first, they become valuable allies who fight at her side, especially their leader, Veyron, with whom Orta falls deeply in love. The game features 18 levels in all, with cinematic cutscenes inbetween, and is considered a graphical showcase for the Katana, quite possibly the system's best looking game to date. By the final level, Orta and Veyron are the last two surviving rebels, and they launch one final epic suicide mission to try and take down the empire once and for all. In the end, Veyron falls, and Orta flies straight into the heart of the imperial war machine. Though she too meets her end (along with the dragon species as a whole), she ends the empire's ability to make war, inspiring the people of the world to rise up against the empire, and forever etching the dragons in fate not as sowers of destruction, but as beautiful creatures who fought for humanity's freedom.
Panzer Dragoon Orta's exciting rail-shooter gameplay, bittersweet story, and outstanding graphics make it one of the best received Katana games of the year, and sales are the strongest of any game in the series to date since the original Panzer Dragoon.
Sneakers
A game about a horde of tiny beings that steal objects. When a young man has one of his prized possessions stolen and tries to get it back, he is shrunk down to the creatures' size and has to team up with them. The game draws noticeable inspiration from the classic novel The Borrowers, though it has enough differences that it's not considered to be a ripoff. It's a fun and wild platformer, but not as financially successful as some of Sega's other platformer franchises.
Microsoft Xbox:
Dropzone
A mecha combat game where the player is a member of an elite squadron of soldiers who pilot agile mechs. The game has many similarities with Iron Combatant, though it features a very simplistic control scheme and is ultimately better known for its multiplayer than for its campaign. It can best be compared to a very, VERY primitive Titanfall-esque game, though it's not nearly as hyped as that game was IOTL, and sales are only marginally good.
Project Gotham Racing 2
The sequel to Microsoft's successful launch title, Project Gotham Racing 2 features better graphics, more cars, and more tracks, and largely continues the success of the original game, with excellent reviews (though not quite as good as the reviews of the OTL game, which had a bit more development time) and sales. Numerous comparisons to the slightly superior Gran Turismo 3 somewhat hurt this game's reputation, though that hurt is largely undeserved, this is still a very, VERY good racing game.
Age Of Mythology
Another PC port, Age Of Mythology is an RTS based on the ancient Greek titans and gods. It's somewhat less successful than the system's other PC ports and is considered to be a mild commercial failure, though the PC sales more than make up for the game's disappointing Xbox sales.
Vitalogy
(This game comes from an idea sent to us by Goldwind2, though we altered a number of aspects of his original idea.)
An Ion Storm-developed RPG which shares some similarities with the OTL game Anachronox, Vitalogy (which shares a title with a Pearl Jam album and features a theme song written by the band, though not specifically for this game) was born out of a somewhat strange set of circumstances during a time in which Tom Hall and Ion Storm sought to create games for both the Sega Katana and the Microsoft Xbox, just before the Commander Keen series took off and became majorly successful. Ion Storm inked a deal to develop an original FPS for the Xbox, but as development on that was starting, and as development slowly lurched forward on the game that would have become Anachronox IOTL, Hall focused most of his energies on the Keen series, and the Xbox shooter took a back seat. With Ion Storm still inked to a development deal, Microsoft insisted the company develop a game for them, and Hall decided to turn Anachronox into that game. Hall and a number of other Ion Storm employees put together their ideas for both Anachronox and the would-be FPS, at the same time that Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder was set to record voice lines for a major character in the FPS. During a creative meeting, Vedder and Hall discussed ideas for the game, and ultimately, Vitalogy (the game) was born. Being a western-developed JRPG styled game, Vitalogy is compared by numerous critics to The Darkest Ritual series, though the humor is somewhat more rough and the graphics are obviously significantly better. Battles play out largely like they do in OTL Anachronox, with the Battle Skill system from the OTL game playing a heavy role in combat.
Vitalogy centers around an explorer and his two partners, who have been sent on missions from their dying planet in a desperate search for technology to save their world. The explorer meets up with a female scientist who has unlocked the secret of interstellar portal travel, a technology she refers to as “spaceways”, which can connect one part of the universe to another. This could allow the explorers' dying planet to gain access to resources from an untapped world. However, the technology is also being pursued by a gang of fascistic warlords known as the Thane, who have genetically modified themselves to be physically superior to most other sentient beings in the universe. These warlords seek the spaceways technology in order to control interplanetary travel and starve out noncompliant planets. They abduct the scientist, forcing the explorers to enlist the help of a down-on-his luck detective named Marshall Krum (the TTL equivalent of OTL's Sly Boots). Krum is extremely vulgar and impulsive, but he has one of the most brilliant minds in the galaxy, and may be the explorers' only hope to save the scientist and their world. They eventually rescue the scientist by leaping through the galaxy utilizing the wormholes she left behind (which, due to the experimental nature of the technology, not only zips them between numerous strange worlds but also back and forth in time), but they are forced to leave the spaceways technology with the Thane, who begin to use it to carry out their evil plans, forcing the explorers, the scientist, and Krum to launch one final desperate mission to save the universe from tyranny.
Vitalogy is received quite well by critics, and it's one of the better sellers for the Xbox during the month of September. While Xbox fans aren't normally keen on JRPGs, the game has some thematic and gameplay similarities to shooter titles, and its humorous tone and excellent graphics strike a chord with skeptical fans.
Ultra Nintendo:
Soldier Of Misfortune 2
The sequel to 2000's 3-D platform title, Soldier Of Misfortune 2 sees the trickster Hexx making his return, along with his partner Nightshade who can transform back and forth between a cat and a human. Nightshade is a fully playable character this time around, and while Hexx can use a variety of tricks and spells, Nightshade is the more agile of the two, utilizing her catlike reflexes and mobility to reach places that Hexx can't. This is a fairly run of the mill platformer, reviews are pretty good but sales are only mediocre. Still, it's one of the better platformers in the waning days of the Ultra Nintendo.
Eye Of Indra
An adventure/puzzle game reminiscent of Quintet's games or possibly Dark Cloud, Eye Of Indra is developed by Sony. It features a young adventurer who must journey between a series of temples, battling enemies and solving puzzles in search of the legendary Eye of Indra, which has the power to summon a mighty god to defend the world from evil. It doesn't get as much hype as most of Sony's other games, since it's worked on by a small segment of the company, but reviews are favorable. It's a one-off game, meaning no sequels, but the game itself does get a fair bit of nostalgia in the years ahead.
Kirby: Gourmet Grand Prix!
The final Kirby game for the Ultra Nintendo, Gourmet Grand Prix isn't a full-fledged Kirby adventure. Instead, it's a sort of spinoff of Kirby Super Deluxe's Gourmet Race minigame. It features improved, 3-D graphics and a stage selection of more than a dozen stages, with characters from all over the series, both heroic and villainous. For those who liked the Gourmet Race game, this is a dream come true. For most Kirby fans though, it's one to skip, and sales are fairly low in North America.
Mega Man Zero 3
Mega Man Zero 3 is the third game in Capcom's Mega Man Zero series, and the series' final installment for the Ultra Nintendo. Though the game features mostly the same Metroidvania-style gameplay of the first two, Capcom mixed things up a bit for this game, sending Zero to an artificial planet hovering high over the world, in order to destroy an evil artificial intelligence that's taken up residence there. The world features a lot more environmental variation than that of the previous game, and the game is somewhat harder as well, though longtime fans of the series are used to the challenge. Sclera doesn't appear in this game, in fact there are very few other sentient hero characters for Zero to interact with, giving the game a bit more of a solitary hero feel. Ultimately, Mega Man Zero 3 is considered a major improvement over the last game and generally the best of the trilogy, enjoying a small sales bump over the previous title.
Puzzle Pals
A Chu-Chu Rocket-esque game where players must clear screens of various obstacles using a variety of different little creatures that they can switch between. Despite the uninspired title, the game itself is really fun. It's a game that becomes another cult hit, a somewhat nostalgic title that is recalled fondly by those who played it later on.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
The third game in the Shin Megami Tensei series ditches the III in the North American localized version, as OTL's did. While featuring similar gameplay to OTL's title, including the capturing of demons and the Press Turn system, the presentation is significantly more primitive, due to the game releasing on the Ultra Nintendo and not OTL's Playstation 2. Also, the plot has received numerous butterfly-induced changes, as the Protagonist does not bear witness to the world's transformation, but the game instead starts on a somewhat more docile note, with the Protagonist being an ordinary high school student who, after meeting two new friends, inadvertently infiltrates a cult that one of his friends is a member of, while his other new friend wishes to avoid the cult. Whatever friend the Protagonist sides with influences the game's Chaos vs. Law dilemma, in which the player will ultimately choose whether to sacrifice the world to the demons (in order to create a world where strong humans can choose their own destiny) or to save the world from the demons (but in order to do this, the Protagonist must become the Sword of God and must ultimately take away humanity's free will). There's also a Neutral option in which the world is saved but in which people still have free will (and in which both the Protagonist's friends are saved), but this ending is notoriously difficult to obtain and requires defeating an extraordinarily difficult boss, and only after completing a number of easily missable storyline events. Nocturne receives excellent reviews, the best for any Ultra Nintendo RPG in 2003, but because of the game's release on a “dying” system, North American sales are very low, and the game doesn't do as well as it does IOTL. Japanese sales, fortunately, are still quite good.
Windborn III
The third game in Namco's acclaimed RPG series is released for the Ultra Nintendo, after the first two were Sega Saturn exclusives. Windborn III takes place in a different continuity than the previous two games, making it very accessible to newcomers to the series. The game's battle system is largely the same as the first two games but has some upgrades to make battles run quicker and more smoothly (and also features much improved battle animation). The game features a female protagonist, Elayna, who has the power of the winds bestowed upon her after her friend, an eccentric old man, dies of a mysterious disease. Elayna, being somewhat of a trickster and a rather lazy person, is reluctant to accept the powers granted to her, especially after she's pursued by soldiers who want to take her to their king. Eventually, Elayna is captured and brought before the king, an arrogant young man named Falron, who wants to extract Elayna's power for himself. However, after an escape attempt destroys much of Falron's castle, the young king finds himself strangely attracted to Elayna despite all the trouble she's caused him. After Elayna's second escape attempt is successful (and after she completely humiliates Falron), he ends up pursuing her. At the same time, a powerful sorceress seeks to destroy Elayna to complete an ancient evil prophecy.
Windborn III is even more lighthearted than Windborn II, and a far, FAR cry more lighthearted than the original game. Though reviews are still decent, the game's decidedly old-school RPG feel turns off some critics, and reviews aren't as stellar as the first two games. Still, sales exceed those of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne in North America, making the game a moderate success in the West.
Nintendo Wave:
Castlevania: Belmont's Lament
Created exclusively for the Nintendo Wave, Castlevania: Belmont's Lament is a 3-D hack and slash adventure title, quite similar to OTL's Lament of Innocence in terms of gameplay, but featuring a different plot. It focuses on the vampire hunter Eli Belmont, as he explores a vast castle on a quest for revenge against the vampire lord who killed his wife on their wedding day. The game is set much later in the series than OTL Lament Of Innocence, and the primary antagonist, the vampire lord Duke Arton, is implied to have killed Eli's wife out of revenge for the death of his own beloved. The game thus heavily explores the blood feud between the vampires and the Belmont clan and the cycle of violence that has occurred between them. In the end, despite Eli learning the truth, he kills Duke Arton anyway, and vows to completely eradicate the vampire race, as all Belmonts have sworn to do, thus perpetuating the continuing war. Being a Castlevania game, Belmont's Lament received quite a good deal of hype in the leadup to the game's release, and sold decently, about as well as The Occulted Circle did in 2000.
Awesome Blossom
Another platformer game focused on a flower-themed heroine named Blossom who shoots flower petals out of her hands and head, it has a really cute stylistic theme even if the gameplay isn't terribly innovative. A nice showcase for the power of the Wave, with gorgeous rendered backgrounds and excellent character animation, it gets very solid reviews, but compared to games like Paradventure, it's not too popular and sales are somewhat disappointing.
F-Zero GX
F-Zero GX is the latest game in the high-speed racing series that's appeared on every Nintendo system since the SNES. IOTL, Sega had a heavy hand in the development of the game, so the gameplay is a bit tweaked from OTL's. While not quite as refined, it's still extremely fast and extremely tough, though like Mario Kart: Double Dash!, it isn't quite as good a game as its OTL counterpart (the difference in quality between OTL and TTL is less for this game). Also, the story mode is absent from OTL's game, since the story is explored somewhat more in spinoff titles (like the G-Force series). The game simply features pure racing action, with a Grand Prix mode, a Time Trial mode, a Vs. mode, and a track editor. While the game supports up to four player local play, it doesn't feature online multiplayer (the racing is just too fast for online to be supported at the time). Still, for those who can handle the game's extreme difficulty, it's still very fun and very well received, with decent sales in North America, Europe, and Japan.
Aeroboy Returns
The sequel to Satoru Iwata's Aeroboy, this game improves upon the previous game's fairly simple formula. Once again, you play as Aeroboy, a boy who uses balloons, wings, and even a jetpack to hover in the air and shoot at creatures menacing villages. However, Aeroboy flies much faster in this game, and you can get into aerial dogfights with enemies. There's more of a plot as well, with actual character voices rather than just funny sounds for talking characters. Aeroboy isn't just flying around outside either, he can fly into dungeons to battle the enemies within and rescue prisoners. Aeroboy Returns utilizes the technology of the Nintendo Wave to add a number of new elements to the gameplay. The graphics are fairly average for a first party title, but there's so much more to do that the game is reviewed about a full point better on average than its predecessor. Sales are moderate, as the game doesn't have a great deal of hype compared to other first party games, but it's still enough to be considered a success, and isn't considered a disappointment like the original game.
Crossblade
Developed by Retro Studios as their first non-sports game for Nintendo, Crossblade is a third-person hack and slash about a rebellious samurai who turns against his sadistic shogun. The game features twelve levels as the samurai cuts a path through feudal Japan to liberate the people under the shogun's rule. It's Nintendo's take on Onimusha, and while it's not as acclaimed as that game, it's still a fun hack and slash that features excellent graphics and some unique features for the genre, such as the ability to recruit certain enemies to your cause in mid-level and have them fight alongside you. Sales are unfortunately low, as the game was released at a fairly crowded time and didn't really build up enough hype to be a majorly anticipated game. Retro Studios would revisit the hack-and-slash genre down the road, though not with this storyline.
Sega Katana:
Creme-Filled
A platformer about an anthropomorphic donut who explores a number of food based stages. The donut must defeat the evil Pastry Chef, who wants to cook all the delicious food in the world into his masterpiece dish. This was supposed to be one of the Katana's most high profile platformers of the year, but ends up being a major disappointment. It's too kiddy and the levels are too repetitive, and the gameplay is really basic compared to other platform titles released at the time. It has the misfortune to come out a few weeks before Commander Keen: A Stitch In Time, and gets utterly blown out of the water in both reviews and sales.
Klonoa 4
The last of the Sega exclusive console Klonoa games, Klonoa 4 (no subtitle) would be released on the Sega Katana in summer of 2003, to a fairly low-profile release. Despite the lack of hype, this is still a very good game: it retains the 2-D gameplay of its predecessors despite the Katana's 3-D graphics, and goes for a cartoony look (not quite cel-shaded, but something resembling animation) and teaches Klonoa a number of new tricks by giving him a bevy of weapons to do battle with. He'll need them in order to fend off an invasion of the rock people known as the Earthmovers, who seek to steal pieces of the planet in order to take back to their deity, a gigantic monster who rises from the earth itself to consume all that he sees. Klonoa must visit a number of places, protecting the locals from these rock people while also preventing them from stealing the magical Glowrocks that keep the world from coming apart. It's classic Klonoa fun, with enough things changed that the game feels like a proper new installment. Reviews are quite good, and sales, while not matching Commander Keen levels, are still very healthy.
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way, is released for the Sega Katana about nine months after the game's PC release. It would be the last game in the series to be released for consoles last, as future releases would be simultaneously released for both Mac and the Sega home console. It continues the story of Cate Archer and features the same spy-spoofing FPS gameplay of the original, with gunplay and gadgets galore. The game also features the spinoff Contract J.A.C.K., which is included with the game and can be accessed from the main menu, it features missions conducted by H.A.R.M. mercenary John Jack, and ties into the events of this game, though it takes place before it. Like the OTL title, No One Lives Forever 2 sees Cate Archer once again attempting to stop the evil organization H.A.R.M., which in this game is attempting to provoke a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The plot has many similarities with OTL's game, including Cate's mission to Japan and her run-in with the ninja villainess Isako. Like OTL's game, Cate Archer's voice actor changed between the original and the sequel, though ITTL a different voice actor is used. Instead of Jen Taylor, like IOTL's game, Kath Soucie plays Cate Archer. Like OTL's game, A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way leaves numerous plot threads open, but this time, there is certain to be a sequel: at the end of the credits there is a message: “Cate Archer will return in No One Lives Forever 3: She Lives For Danger.” The excellent reviews and sales for the game ensure that sequel's existence: only Stage 8: Three Mile Island outsells this game among Katana exclusives in July 2003.
Super Monkey Ball 2
The classic action/puzzle title returns with a sequel. Super Monkey Ball was one of the Katana's best reviewed and top selling early games, and the sequel features more tracks and more challenges, including a story mode which tells the tale of AiAi and his friends. The gameplay hasn't been updated significantly but it's just as addictive as ever and reviews and sales are excellent as Super Monkey Ball continues to be one of the Katana's best franchises. The series is a favorite of Steve Jobs'.
King Crab 3
The King Crab platformer series made the leap to the Katana with this title, but whereas the second game was a big improvement over the original, this game was largely a flop, featuring a lack of innovation in stages and enemies and some bizarre and frustrating stealth mechanics that often took players completely out of the action. In King Crab 3, Crust must wander into a resort city to rescue his friends from some very mean tourists who want to take them home as pets. Princess Elisha makes an appearance only as a helper who occasionally provides items and advice, and the game is also quite a bit shorter than the previous two games, with the stealth mechanic accused of being used to pad the game's playtime. While King Crab 3 was a critical dud, it still scored good enough sales among fans to justify a sequel, however, the game would need to be retooled before the next installment. It would see a couple of spinoffs in 2004 and 2005: Princess Elisha's Party Palace and Jocko The Shark. Elisha's Party Palace was a flop, while Jocko the Shark, starring one of the series' more surprising side characters, was a successful game that laid the groundwork for the next main title.
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Orta is the fifth game in the Panzer Dragoon series and the first for the Katana. It returns the series to its rail-shooting roots, with gameplay in many ways similar to OTL's Xbox game. However, the storyline is somewhat different, due to the storyline of OTL's Orta being largely adapted for TTL's Panzer Dragoon Saga II. It features a female protagonist named Orta, but the similarities between OTL and TTL's protagonists largely stop there. Orta is a caretaker of a young dragon. The dragon is the descendent of a dying race, of whom many were killed in the ancient Dragoon Wars, and many of the remaining dragons were slaughtered afterwards due to all the destruction. After soldiers from a neighboring empire come to kill her dragon, Orta flees, but is soon after captured by a gang of rebels who have dragons of their own. Orta and her dragon escape the rebels, taking out an imperial encampment soon afterward, and from there, Orta knows there's no turning back: she must launch a rebellion against the empire to save her people. Her bravery is an example to the rebel dragonriders, and though she distrusts them at first, they become valuable allies who fight at her side, especially their leader, Veyron, with whom Orta falls deeply in love. The game features 18 levels in all, with cinematic cutscenes inbetween, and is considered a graphical showcase for the Katana, quite possibly the system's best looking game to date. By the final level, Orta and Veyron are the last two surviving rebels, and they launch one final epic suicide mission to try and take down the empire once and for all. In the end, Veyron falls, and Orta flies straight into the heart of the imperial war machine. Though she too meets her end (along with the dragon species as a whole), she ends the empire's ability to make war, inspiring the people of the world to rise up against the empire, and forever etching the dragons in fate not as sowers of destruction, but as beautiful creatures who fought for humanity's freedom.
Panzer Dragoon Orta's exciting rail-shooter gameplay, bittersweet story, and outstanding graphics make it one of the best received Katana games of the year, and sales are the strongest of any game in the series to date since the original Panzer Dragoon.
Sneakers
A game about a horde of tiny beings that steal objects. When a young man has one of his prized possessions stolen and tries to get it back, he is shrunk down to the creatures' size and has to team up with them. The game draws noticeable inspiration from the classic novel The Borrowers, though it has enough differences that it's not considered to be a ripoff. It's a fun and wild platformer, but not as financially successful as some of Sega's other platformer franchises.
Microsoft Xbox:
Dropzone
A mecha combat game where the player is a member of an elite squadron of soldiers who pilot agile mechs. The game has many similarities with Iron Combatant, though it features a very simplistic control scheme and is ultimately better known for its multiplayer than for its campaign. It can best be compared to a very, VERY primitive Titanfall-esque game, though it's not nearly as hyped as that game was IOTL, and sales are only marginally good.
Project Gotham Racing 2
The sequel to Microsoft's successful launch title, Project Gotham Racing 2 features better graphics, more cars, and more tracks, and largely continues the success of the original game, with excellent reviews (though not quite as good as the reviews of the OTL game, which had a bit more development time) and sales. Numerous comparisons to the slightly superior Gran Turismo 3 somewhat hurt this game's reputation, though that hurt is largely undeserved, this is still a very, VERY good racing game.
Age Of Mythology
Another PC port, Age Of Mythology is an RTS based on the ancient Greek titans and gods. It's somewhat less successful than the system's other PC ports and is considered to be a mild commercial failure, though the PC sales more than make up for the game's disappointing Xbox sales.
Vitalogy
(This game comes from an idea sent to us by Goldwind2, though we altered a number of aspects of his original idea.)
An Ion Storm-developed RPG which shares some similarities with the OTL game Anachronox, Vitalogy (which shares a title with a Pearl Jam album and features a theme song written by the band, though not specifically for this game) was born out of a somewhat strange set of circumstances during a time in which Tom Hall and Ion Storm sought to create games for both the Sega Katana and the Microsoft Xbox, just before the Commander Keen series took off and became majorly successful. Ion Storm inked a deal to develop an original FPS for the Xbox, but as development on that was starting, and as development slowly lurched forward on the game that would have become Anachronox IOTL, Hall focused most of his energies on the Keen series, and the Xbox shooter took a back seat. With Ion Storm still inked to a development deal, Microsoft insisted the company develop a game for them, and Hall decided to turn Anachronox into that game. Hall and a number of other Ion Storm employees put together their ideas for both Anachronox and the would-be FPS, at the same time that Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder was set to record voice lines for a major character in the FPS. During a creative meeting, Vedder and Hall discussed ideas for the game, and ultimately, Vitalogy (the game) was born. Being a western-developed JRPG styled game, Vitalogy is compared by numerous critics to The Darkest Ritual series, though the humor is somewhat more rough and the graphics are obviously significantly better. Battles play out largely like they do in OTL Anachronox, with the Battle Skill system from the OTL game playing a heavy role in combat.
Vitalogy centers around an explorer and his two partners, who have been sent on missions from their dying planet in a desperate search for technology to save their world. The explorer meets up with a female scientist who has unlocked the secret of interstellar portal travel, a technology she refers to as “spaceways”, which can connect one part of the universe to another. This could allow the explorers' dying planet to gain access to resources from an untapped world. However, the technology is also being pursued by a gang of fascistic warlords known as the Thane, who have genetically modified themselves to be physically superior to most other sentient beings in the universe. These warlords seek the spaceways technology in order to control interplanetary travel and starve out noncompliant planets. They abduct the scientist, forcing the explorers to enlist the help of a down-on-his luck detective named Marshall Krum (the TTL equivalent of OTL's Sly Boots). Krum is extremely vulgar and impulsive, but he has one of the most brilliant minds in the galaxy, and may be the explorers' only hope to save the scientist and their world. They eventually rescue the scientist by leaping through the galaxy utilizing the wormholes she left behind (which, due to the experimental nature of the technology, not only zips them between numerous strange worlds but also back and forth in time), but they are forced to leave the spaceways technology with the Thane, who begin to use it to carry out their evil plans, forcing the explorers, the scientist, and Krum to launch one final desperate mission to save the universe from tyranny.
Vitalogy is received quite well by critics, and it's one of the better sellers for the Xbox during the month of September. While Xbox fans aren't normally keen on JRPGs, the game has some thematic and gameplay similarities to shooter titles, and its humorous tone and excellent graphics strike a chord with skeptical fans.