If Kenka Banchou do a banchou life sim using the cool factor (supposing so, since the only with english translation is like this), The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa uses everything more depressive about them. Sure, you have cool stuff happening but is just a small time fantasy, the reality comes crushing right after.

Everything is made to reflex Ringo and his friends and even the player too. If Shenmue suggests things and made you think something, The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa ask directly. The cast is made of teenagers that already lose in life. Ken can't go to pro boxing because he always enters in fights and always end with a broken hand, Goro can't be an artist because is like everything is against him, Masaru have a gambling addiction being only 18 years old, Shiro try to do the right thing and always gets in fight and Ringo doesn't have anything anymore. He left the opportunity of being a national champion, he doesn't have the wish to do anything anymore, he can try to be a better student but for what? Everyone wants to fight him. Is just the very relatable moment in banchou works when you see the characters knowloding how everything sucks and even if they did the right choices the system is against them.

The mix of russian literature with japanese movies and mangas sure goes hard.

In the half of the game I started having a feeling that the game is very much like Kurohyou 2 and by the end of it, man this is just Kurohyou 2.

Kurohyou 2 picks the first one and decides to make the small psp spin off have style more similar to the PS3 ones and nails it. The action in general is way more complex and even more fun with the amount of cool shit you can do going to eleven. The citys are better to explore, more side content and even the time of the campaign is more aligned to the PS3 games. Kurohyou 1 is a game that focus in his discussion and thematic for 90% of the game and the plot just exist to have a way to discuss how violence affects everyone and how someone can turn that violence in something positive. But 2? The plot is 80% of the game, they show you a lot of ex fighters, assholes and cool stuff while putting as a side line the whole point of teenagers trying to defend the place they can call home.

Infinite Wealth does the same thing. The game now is a full rpg, the gameplay had way more time to the team do cool stuff and even the action scenes now use the fact that is a rpg in a cool way (with the whole party taking part in the action half of the time). They left aside Dragon Quest but still have a lot of love for games, a whole minigame for Animal Crossing and Pokemon, and so on. And Infinite Wealth too put aside the thematic and discussion as a side line BUT only for Ichiban.

Ichiban side is very solid, plot focused to show a lot of cool villains in cool fights but only in the start and final scene talks about something. Half of the time the only thing you have to care in Ichiban side is the cast having a cool dynamic. Kiryu side is like: ONE OF THE BEST CHAPTFRS IN THE ENTIRE SERIES, THE BEST SIDE CONTENT IN GAMES AS A WHOLE WITH THE BUCKET LIST, THE MOST POWERFUL MOMENT THAT USES TURN BASED RPG AS A WAY TO TELL STORIES, A BEAUTIFUL FINAL FIGHT AND A POWERFUL HUMAN CONVERSATION ABOUT HAVING TO FACE DEATH WITH SOMETHING LIKE CANCER.

I wish Ichiban could have a game with him not having problem with presentation and things like this. Ichiban can handle a full game, Kiryu side could not be there to the game tell a tale about trying to fit society when society is against you joining them. But at the same time, the game is only strong as it is because it does have Kiryu. One of the best characters the medium ever had doing his final tale be about death and forgiveness.

Will always love how japanese devs made the most creative stuff with the bakumatsu setting. It's like is the best historical moment to make anything you want. A hack and slash? Sure, here you have one. A RPG with turn based combat? Sure, why not? A RPG where instead of battle you just talk? Why the fuck not? A Rance game? A Yakuza game? Just go dude. And it's aways incredible. Way of the Samurai 4 takes everything good in the franchise and do a good mix that is irresistible to not play over and over. Will get a couple more of runs and I am sure that once I get enough with this one it gonna be a 5 stars.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios second take in shooters is a pretty good one. The entire team are so experienced with action that they can handle turn based, hack and slash, shooting mechanics, beat up or even help with things like adventure just fine.

Binary Domain is very much like Gears of Wars but the entire concept of picking this and putting Persona 1 concepts in the game with Ninja Gaiden 2 style of action made everything feel way more unique. The entire squad is fun to dealt with, the multiple way the campaign can go on makes me want to try again some other time, the enemies are all very fun and even the story is very cool. It isn't RGGS doing masterpieces like they are used to but I can't find anything that bothers me besides knowing that the studio can be at the same level as Takeshi Kitano or Kinji Fukusaku if they want to.

My only problem with the entire game is two things that never bothered me in ANY Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios game and let me very sad because of this. The soundtrack and boss fight, both are so forgettable and generic that is the only thing that make strange RGGS making this game. But overall, very good stuff.

Cain is the coolest character ever btw

Ryu ga Gotoku Studio bringing a manga format to video games made them showcase how strong the series is.

The game was made in 6 months but it only works because there's one since 2005. It was made in 6 months but have one of the most strong final fights and segments in games because of how auto conscious RGGS is with their own unique style. It was made in 6 months with a small budget (probably the last one like that) but have the same care as any other game. It's a game about erasing the past to protect the future, about freedom, loneliness and with only 10 hours works very well with all that. It can't be compared with the most strong work of RGGS like Kurohyou, Ishin, 5 but it sure does deserve be at the same rank as them of being very very good. The only complaint I can think of is the skill three but at least is very easy to pick everything you need just a little bit boring.

One of the best games of 2023 easily

Chulip is a really interesting iyashikei, using the ideas of Moon but putting to "work" instead of just debating them (Moon is a amazing gane too but is more about making people see what makes games great in a meta way instead of showing in the pratice). The amazing hub world with the cool cast is used in a very smart way to show how capitalism kills the individual with the town having A LOT of depressive old dudes regretting the life choices and the workers losing all the meaning in ther lifes and to Chulip the way to try to resolve those things when you have the same level in action as a child, is just trying to give love for everyone. Being nice, discovering the world of people, helping others, you can't do much to the world alone but you can at least try to make those people around you happy and be happy yourself finding love or just reaching your personal objective. Is a cute message in a game really well made in everything. Is really funny, is smart, have an amazing soundtrack and the only thing I can complain about is the day/night cycle being to short even if helps sometimes in the game loop. But is just an amazing game all the way through

No More Heroes 2 is a strange beast.

It doesn't understand the first one. The power fantasy that the original makes a joke with becomes the fantasy the sequel sells for the player. Henry who was a Vergil parody for a hack and slash parody now becomes Vergil but the version of DmC, Shinobu becomes a fetishized character and Sylvia who was the way of the game literally says to the player that the game is a joke now becomes a kinda of femme fatale and a fetishized character too. And Travis even if the game start with him being a anime hero for the sake of the power fantasy, by the end becomes a character more aline with the way of Suda's writing. I could go on and on about this because it's all you see for the first half of the game, the minigames were turned into a way of grinding instead of a nice way to make the game flow better, the way the game deals with sexual content is way worse and so on. But at the same time, No More Heroes 2 does a lot of cool stuff.

The combat is amazing, as good as the first one. Melee being a full playstyle makes all Fire Pro Wrestling references cooler, the scenery being a big part of the fights makes everything so more dynamic and cool, the juggle combos. Is just very good, even more so with the multiple swords. Is just not as smart as Travis Strikes Again and No More Heroes 3 with the enemies and bosses. But the boss battles in No More Heroes 2 are usually in between mid and very good, for some reason when you got the Ryuji fight the game decides to make every boss just as good as the first one and is in the final half that the game becomes great.

The power fantasy left, Travis becomes more like Travis, the text and cutscenes becomes good. Is like the devs suddenly remembered what makes No More Heroes 1 great and they decided to try that but with a vengeance story while dealing with the way those characters interacts with violence. And even the final boss is interesting, he is like Iwami from Yakuza 6, a shit guy trying to play the cool guy with a shit fight because he couldn't do anything.

Nobutaka Ichiki did a cool work, sure I would love to see Suda51 version (even more after discovering that the game was supposed to be inspired by Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2) but I liked his take and I hope someday he get a chance to make a big project of his own.

This is like if Dead or Alive was made by someone who never touched the franchise and thought it was a porn game with a fighting mode.

Dead or Alice always knew how to use the sexual elements in their fighting games, it was a perfect mix in 5. You want sexy skins? You can have as much as you want. You want to play more normally? You can too. You want just to enjoy how good of a fighting game 5 is? Sure, just go play some rounds in the arcade mode. The story mode was like playing an anime game, the direction was amazing and had so many cool stuff in the chapters and the sexual side never felt as the only selling point. But for some reason, since the beach games are popular people never took Dead or Alive seriously. So how you deal with this? Remove all the personality from the series, try to hide the sexy side (is still crazy how they were thinking Kasumi and Ayane normal outfits were way to much horny), make the simple but complex mechanics of 5 way to much more simple, make a story mode based on Persona Arena Ultimax for some reason and put a lot of bad monetization and try to appeal do EVO folks.

Dead or Alive 6 was a failure because the majors decisions were made with disrespect. Dead or Alive 5 could be easily in EVO alongside Tekken, there's nothing that could make a big problem but they just decided to make 5 without most of the things that makes the series great. Is just sad to see as a fan of the series but at the same time the game being just 5 but weaker is enough to me to like playing for a bit of time. I just hope the reboot don't try to do the same shit.

I never liked the option that smalls things makes something worse but in the case of this game I must say I understand this feeling now. The general combat is great, Mugen with the freestyle break dance have some really cool ideas and with him the game feels like a beta HI Fi Rush and Jin with the more quick and precise stuff is amazing too. The movesets based on rhythm, the town, the presentation, story is all cool stuff. But man some decisions are just shit.

The game having the tracks only being based on the movelist you have make them boring really quick, the enemies being way more dumb that what is needed, Mugen having no game desing within his levels, not making enemy encounter limited, the bosses being mostly bad. Is a great game, but with a lot of mistakes that don't let this one be on the top of Grasshoper Manufacture action catalog alongside Travis Strikes Again and No More Heroes 3.

IS INSANE WHAT GRASSHOPER DID WITH SO LITTLE TIME AND THINGS TO WORK WITH

In all Grasshopper anime games so far they had a lot of material to work with and a bit more of time. Evangelion they had a lot of movies, an entire series, a lot of games and all they had to do was find a way to work their unique style with the style of the original work. Samurai Champloo they managed to capture the anime feel, writing style and just played an what if Suda and the boys from 25th Ward worked in some episodes from Samurai Champloo? But Blood +? They only had 7 episodes, and with that 7 the anime only introduced what the sinopse is. How the world works, how Saya fights, what the characters are and who is Saya was not even a thing they started to development in the anime. Is mostly a 100% original game and in only 4 months they did an entire game with it. AND SOMEHOW, IT'S WORKS! The core loop is very simple but fun, is what they are thinking to do with No More Heroes but not polish enough but hey its get the job done. Aoyama is a bit messy to play with but not enough to be a problem. The adventure segments are simple but work, the hub world works, like a genius once said: it's just works. The entire presentation is great, they manage to give a lot of personality to Blood + working with the same art style as Killer7, the story is a cool episode and the writing somehow mix well with anime, is Suda not doing much of his stuff but feeling like his work at the same time. The whole experience of playing this game is crazy