Monster Hunter is a phenomenon in Japan and has been for some time. Despite a slow start in the US, released in 2004 after all, it seems that gamers in the west are finally getting behind the title. Appearing on multiple consoles, including the PSP for which the titles have sold over 3.5 million units, Monster Hunter is a game that succeeds because it crosses genres. It is an RPG that engages players like an action title. An adventure game whose world is more dynamic and spontaneous than most MMO's. Monster Hunter is the type of adventure game that taps many of the great gaming devices touched upon by fan-favorite titles (not necessarily popular titles) on consoles and the arcade. The strength of these titles plays upon the ultimate fight for survival, one against many and one against giants.

There is something very rewarding about taking on gigantic monsters by yourself. The feeling is tremendously visceral as a player has to do battle with opponents multiple stories high, who could kill a player with a single strike. This is a contrary type of game play mechanic to popular titles like Devil May Cry, God of War or the classic Dynasty Warriors. Instead of wave after wave if few-hit opponents and combo juggling, players have to concentrate on a single massive enemy that is far more dangerous. The larger the opponent the more strategy is involved. The best way to appreciate and understand the evolution of the MH franchise it by seeing how other games contributed to the "David vs Goliath" experience.

Panzer Dragoon is one of those titles that also crosses genres. It is one of the first 3D SHUMPS, a rail shooter where the dragon is often dwarfed by opposing monsters and machines. Players get to experience the awesome power of riding a dragon with magical weapons, while at the same time seeing that even in this fictional world there are terrors even more imposing than the dragon. Giant bugs and snakes threatened the player from below while floating battleships bombarded them from above.

Monster Hunter has yet to provide massive creatures to ride into battles like Panzer Dragoon. Instead the focus is on a group of heroes taking down beasts in armed combat. Some of these monsters can be taken down in epic solo battles. If there were one title that succeeded in making the experience more powerful than any of the MH games it would be Shadow of the Colossus. This was not the result of random chance but instead inspired design.

Wander, the main character in SotC, has only two weapons (not counting the ones players can unlock). Defeating the colossi is the result of using the environment successfully and navigating the giants as moving puzzles. The colossi themselves are as epic and memorable as any "boss" character ever designed. The earth shakes at their approach, some even blotting out the sun. Even the "small" colossi are twice as big as the protagonist's horse. The music, level design and artistic direction continuously remind the player of the terrible isolation Wander suffers on top of his quest. These things adding multiple layers for dramatic effect and help make the struggle much more powerful.

Unlike SotC, Monster Hunter allows gamers to choose between several hunting classes and get all sorts of weapon upgrades along the way. The diversity of close and long range weapons as well as the strategy of lures and traps broadens the entire concept of hunting and makes the game unlike SotC. Players are forced to heal wounds and regain stamina by eating on the fly. There are no right-click shortcuts or macros to help out gamers. The world of MH is constantly moving and players must be willing to react and adapt with it. This level of engagement immerses the players further into the experience than the single-click commands and detached animations offered in most MMO's. The use of giant monsters as antagonists is icing on the cake. Because of their size these monster are omnipresent, from a distance they can still be made out clearly. If the player runs away during an engagement the creatures turn the tables and stalk them instead.

Few titles manage to make that sense of scale and urgency in battles work well. Rarely do they capture it in a science fiction setting. Capcom is becoming adept at providing a great experience in both the fantasy and sci-fi worlds. Lost Planet is not quite a MH experience but several alien battles will remind players that humans are not always at the top of the food chain. To hammer the point home Capcom made certain that in a battle against "Sir Om Nom Nom" in Lost Planet 2 the giant alien lizard can eat players and run them through its digestive tract.

Lost Planet was not the first science fiction shooter to capture the menace of giant monsters on a rampage. The budget publisher D3 is continuing a series called Earth Defense Force (EDF) for modern consoles. The pace of EDF 2017 and its challenges are far more frenetic than any other game I've mentioned. The challenge in the game is instantaneous. Players have little time to stare slack-jawed at the behemoths they face as swarms of monsters ravage cities and countryside in wave after wave. If anything EDF is a step into the combo territory of games like DMC than the strategy and combat of MH.

The scale of many aliens in this game rival if not surpass the largest monsters from any Capcom, Sony or Sega game. They are truly a sight to behold. For those that are unfamiliar with daikaiju (giant monster) films the scale of the aliens in EDF are gaming equivalents to Godzilla or Cloverfield. They are imposing, inescapable monsters that tear through cities and armies with absolute ease, all the while menacing the hero from a distance. The game allows us to perform the impossible and take on the creatures with hand weapons and the occasional vehicles. The arcade pace of EDF is completely unlike the more grounded-in-reality Lost Planet. However for those that are fond of frenetic shooting it more than makes up for the depth with tons of eye candy.

Battles with giant creatures are often the highlights of of modern titles. Take the Leviathan battle from Resistance 2 or the battle with Stay Puft in Ghostbusters for example. Very rarely do they make up the entire experience. Monster Hunter, EDF and now Kaiju Busters being the notable exceptions. Of those titles Monster Hunter is the only one to stick with a fantasy rather than science fiction setting. The primitive weapons and their demanding tactics help make the experience much more visceral to gamers.

If there were one failing with Monster Hunter it would be in the way that Capcom is evolving the series. Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) adds new water levels and aquatic monsters to the mix. I will concede that the sea, lakes and rivers are prime places to take the hunt. The addition of these environments and new tactics were partly the reason that Famitsu have the game a "perfect" score of 40 out of 40 points. I think the rating might a be a little short-sighted. Monster Hunter 3 could have been a lot stronger in the water-based mechanics.

On land the hunters and the monsters had some common ground, namely gravity. They all suffered from the limitations of real big game hunters, the hunt took place on a plane, with few changes in elevation. Water adds the third dimension to the mix, or rather it should have added it. Creatures of the ocean do not swim along a set path, they can move freely in all three dimensions, much faster than humans, especially hunters in heavy armor. The combat system, navigation and enemies seem to have been poorly adapted to the water levels in Tri. The cumbersome heavy weapons which (already pulled at our suspension of disbelief) retained their mass and animations underwater. It was very questionable that characters in armor could catch up to sea creatures let alone fight them with their heavy weapons. Or while fighting a massive sea dragon how we expected to believe that the small hunters could catch up to it, fight it, or even be able to swim away if in trouble?

There seemed to be no concessions made while taking the hunters into the water-levels. No attempts to try and make the gameplay elements compliment the new environments. No attempt at optimizing the armor, weapons and hunters to take advantage of the water and add a whole new dimension to the game. For example, almost all the animations for underwater combat seemed recycled from ground animations. Larger sea monsters, who could move much faster than players underwater, kept looping on a path so that hunters could reach them with close range weapons. How could Famitsu have rewarded Tri a perfect score when the gameplay elements were redundant and relied on the similar land tactics?

Water-based titles have been a favorite genre of mine. I mean simply more than talking about my love of Hydro Thunder, I have always been fascinated by the sea. I wrote a multi-part series on ocean-based titles at 1UP. Covering titles with submarines as well as those using personal water-craft and other underwater games. 

The title that I consider the perfect underwater adventure game, and one of my favorite games of all-time, is Sega's the Ocean Hunter. In fact four years ago I compared the Ocean Hunter to Monster Hunter. Saying how the style, world and play mechanics complimented their respective worlds. Little did I think that Capcom might someday move their franchise to the sea as well. I was excited to learn about these developments but after seeing how Capcom added them to the game have become disappointed instead.

The ocean is a unique environment, not unlike space, gravity seems to be suspended in the big blue. Not to mention that both environments cannot easily be survived by humans. Planning an underwater portion of a game requires all sorts of preparation and visualization. Are characters expected to swim everywhere or can they take a boat? How do characters get to the furthest depths, what about air, how will their weapons and armor function underwater? How will the water change the fighting engine? How will the enemies be balanced against the hunters? All of these things have to be sorted out before the first line of code is written.

Sega answered those things in the Ocean Hunter. Granted no two studios would have found the same workarounds but their template was still solid. The hunters in Sega's game, Torel and Chris, wore deep sea diving suits and had breathing apparatus to survive the elements. They moved underwater via a personal underwater craft. This allowed them to track the faster moving sea creatures and giant bosses. This craft had machine-gun-like harpoons as the primary weapon. Swinging a hand weapon underwater would have been slow and cumbersome. A bathysphere suspended from a giant balloon moved the players between levels. They reached the deepest parts of the ocean through a descending anchor. At no point did they have to swim to reach the next destination.

Gamewise the Ocean Hunter was a shooter on rails, akin to Panzer Dragoon. It really isn't fair to compare it to Monster Hunter Tri which is a 3rd person adventure. However the important elements remain, Sega did not apply the physics or level designs from previous shooting games into the Ocean Hunter. The environment could be clouded or clear depending on where and how deep the divers were. Characters floated, dove and rose as the level demanded. No land-based shooter could have created a similar experience because of the differences in atmosphere.

If I had to name an upcoming console title, rather than an older arcade game, that should be emulated for 3rd person underwater adventure games it would be Biart Studios U-Wars. The title is a modern 3rd person shooter where a portion of the levels take place underwater. Even then it is more like Lost Planet underwater than MH. The design of U-Wars shows more forethought than Tri. The choice or weapons, movement and cover are more consistent with gameplay designed around underwater, as opposed to adapted for water levels. The only thing lacking from U-Wars are gigantic bosses to battle. We'll see if that changes by the time it is released.

I wish that Capcom had worked a little harder in incorporating water environments into Tri. The game could have legitimately earned a "perfect" score with some more work and forethought. What do you think?

Hello friends, sorry for the lateness of this blog, usually I have some event coverage right after the event but I've had a busy weekend. Visiting a friend that I haven't seen a while and trying to tie things up at home. I went on Friday with my brother and friend and managed to get some footage for my pals on Capcom-Unity and 1UP. I'm sorting things out now and have broken down the San Diego Comic Con for those that couldn't make it. Armed with a brand new custom made El Fuerte mask (good eye Baberific), a camera and a small camcorder I filmed until the batteries went out.

Each of these videos captures an aspect of the convention that you might or might not find interesting. So feel free to skip any that don't strike your interests. We'll begin with a look at the packed booths and what Capcom was up to that Friday. They were keeping the convention momentum with favorable showings at the E3 and Anime Expo, however I think the crowds at the Comic Con exceeded those by a wide margin. Capcom had a lineup that included Dark Void, Lost Planet 2, Ace Attorney, Spyborgs, MvC and Tatsunoko vs Capcom. Each day saw a different event and goodies for atendees. When I went there was a free comic book giveaway featuring an autograph session with Dark Void producer Morgan Gray and soundtrack composer Bear McCreary. Below is the entire video including the Tatsunoko vs Capcom tournament. Keep an eye out for staffers and Capcom Unity members.

Capcom at the SDCC 2009 from Noe V. on Vimeo.

The SDCC really exploded into popularity when the other entertainment industries (movies, TV and videogames) began attending. One of the more popular showings are from the toy and collectable industries. Some of the items debut at the show or are made in such small numbers that the general population will never see them. Serious collectors wait hours (if not days) for many of these toys. Some of the items featured in the next video are like that but most will hit the masses by this holiday season.

Toys and Figures at the SDCC 2009 from Noe V. on Vimeo.

For those that don't want to look like kooks for buying toys there are always "collectables." Statues, clothing, replicas and various (decidedly) non-toys to sit on a shelf of coffee table as a conversation piece. Some single items, like those made by WETA workshop going for over $1300. Below is a video featuring some of the best items from the con, including an extensive look at Sideshow Collectables.

The comic con has always revolved around art and artists. Many of these artists are veterans, working for various publishers and amassing a lifetime of work. The majority meeting their biggest supporters. However there are also young artists looking for some exposure, trying to get their work, stories and characters noticed and build a following. These artists are working the traditional medium of graphic arts as well as pushing the boundaries in the new mediums like sculpture and urban vinyl. Here is a quick look at some of the artists. Fans of fighting games, and action in general should check out Ryan Benjamin and his Pancratia book. Hopefully we'll see his work turn up in figure form, as the statues at the SDCC suggested. Mr. Benjamin's friend Sean "Cheeks" Galloway and his wicked Kuta vinyl shared a booth.

Other artists to keep an eye on, especially those working in urban vinyl, include Bard Sculpture Studio (Coraline / Monsters vs Aliens), whom also test sculpted some of the mice from the Oswald Chronicles. The pricey but awesome Thor by Plastic Booty. The Nemoids by Front Line Studios, the Vinyl Assassin by Imaginism Studios, Patrick Morgan's Whaleboy, Sculpster.com the site of Vin Teng and some amazing paintings by Tae Young Choi.

Of course there are also the people that go to the SDCC to have some fun, make some friends and earn great memories. To see those looking for costumes the last video is for you. Hope you've enjoyed this look at the Comic Con 2009 and hello to all the friends I saw there!

Props go to AerialGroove of FightingStreet.com for finding this video of pro wrestler Victor Zangief.

Heya friends, the genesis of this blog goes back to 1UPper Omegarulerz, who asked for the origins of the poses and inspiration behind Gouki and Mr. Karate. He remembers reading that they were based on deities or gods of some sort but couldn't find the article. I sent him a link a couple of weeks back but thought I should share that with you. This would be considered a supplement to the supernatural and religious themes brought up in the latter Based on a True Story series.

The purpose of writing about this is twofold. Primarily as something to get fans of the canon and designs something to consider. But also to counter the argument that these designs lack any depth or real meaning, that they are simply characters in a game and serve no further purpose. This second reason for this blog was actually brought about after posting the mask entry. Writing about masks in Street Fighter really riled a Unity member. I'm not quite certain what set them off, as I never intended a blog about the character designs to greatly piss anybody off. But I must have struck a nerve.

Perhaps the audacity of a Mexican-American taking apart Japanese designs was a bit much?

In order to understand great character design we have to be willing to understand the foundation that the characters are built upon. Only then can we truly understand their purpose and emulate the artist's influence. I've said it before and it bears repeating, no character is truly original, none are pulled out from thin air, at least not the memorable ones. For the case of Gouki and Mr. Karate, both are inspired by mystical elements, the spiritual influences of Asian religions. These fighting game characters and their poses are based on the Nio, the guardians of Buddha. These are fearsome statues that are found in temples. Referred to as the the Benevolent Kings in other writings. The two most recognizable, the ones highlighted in manga and anime, being Agyo and Ungyo; the beginning and end, or "alpha" and "omega."

Upon studying the statues, their origins and aesthetics we can see how the Nio could be incorporated into a fighting game. Given their importance in Buddhism and symbolically strong gestures they could not have been meant for anything less than "boss" status in their respective titles. The scowls, raw power and menacing poses were universally understood even if their divine origin was not. All it took was for some artists to come along and update their designs, bring them into a contemporary setting.

Mr. Karate combines the Nio influence with a Tengu mask. Masks are very powerful symbols of culture, every culture has a mask tradition, when used carefully they can make an ordinary character extraordinary. In Japan, and in some regions, masks have a storied tradition. Originally carved from wood for religious ceremonies and later turned into a paper-maché craft, Iwami Kagura are used in a historical and folk context, and for theater the Noh masks are great storytelling devices. Even those without an understanding of Japanese culture can still find time to appreciate the colors, design and craftsmanship that goes into these amazing masks.

Imagine then what a spectacle the mythical fighters would have created when they chose to protect their identity with a mask or create a new persona through that mask? What would have happened if Mas Oyama or Bruce Lee had shunned the cameras and had only randomly shown up at fighting tournaments to defeat the best in an anonymous fashion? The legendary stories and conspiracy theories would be even stronger today.

The most unique designs in the King of Fighters and Street Fighter worlds have revolved around a distinct Japanese aesthetic. The Nio figures, the tengu masks and kabuki theater even have inspired these designs. To ignore the origins of these characters or to pass them off as a random design is to deny the reason why audiences are so attracted to them. Even Western fans of the titles that lack an understanding behind the Eastern religions, customs and traditions would still appreciate these unique characters.

These are the things that experienced designers can create through the careful selection and use of mythical (and mystical!) elements. These are the details that budding designers should learn and be mindful of when creating new characters. These are the features that new designers have to understand when trying to interpret the universe that has already been laid out before them. Or when they are trying to properly frame an existing character within the universe.

The purpose of my longer blogs has not been so much to gripe about the inconsistencies of the SF universe, nor has it been just about posting pics and pointing out similarities between characters and the real world, but rather to show fans of the series where the themes were pulled from and why after 22 years the franchise is still immensely popular.

The fighting game characters may have been inspired by real life but a healthy dose of the fantastic has also been their origin story. Pop culture more than religion explains why certain characters can do the impossible. For the case of Street Fighter it was equal parts Hong Kong cinema and manga that shaped the characters and their abilities. Fans could begin with the Master of the Flying Guillotine (One Armed Boxer II) and go from there.

These imaginative characters were synthesized by a large team of artists and designers working at Capcom and SNK. Their own influences in manga and anime helping shape their choice of style, proportion, coloring and even clothing. The same approach would actually yield different results in America.

Mortal Kombat was created as an answer to Street Fighter. Something to capture the momentum of the fighting craze, however with larger characters and more over-the-top moves. Since it made its debut a year and a few months after SF II, and five years after the original SF, it was influenced by a different crop of movies. The Master of the Flying Guillotine feel was there, but also American-made martial arts adventures like Big Trouble in Little China. The American aesthetic combined with little to no knowledge of the real Asian fighters, myths and religions that influenced the SF series meant that the MK characters did not carry over the timeless qualities.

There were memorable characters in MK, and they are often looked back upon with some fondness. Some of the characters were strikingly well done while others fell in the cracks of poor design. The entire series was a terrible mashup of wannabe Asian themes and American comic book characters. Midway saturated the games with gimmicky designs, usually two at a time with a pallet swap and an different move separating the characters. Midway got lost in their own cannon and when the shock factor of fatalities wore off they also lost fans.

Fighting game designers in the US have learned a lot since the early 90's. It should never be enough to emulate the Asian culture when creating Asian characters. Going on a surface knowledge is no way to approach the aesthetic. Designers have to completely immerse themselves in the traditions, media and influences that inspired the best designers in Japan, China, India and Korea. They have to understand the symbolism featured in a character like Gouki and Mr. Karate. They have to understand why and how some stereotypes are favorable to certain characters. An actual karateka is not expected to walk around in a gi all the time, yet for Ryu this makes sense. Why? The biases and ignorance of Western art will shine through any weak attempts at an Asian-themed piece. Be it a pseudo-font or figure, at best they can be an homage to the orient, at worst they can be a shameful mockery of several cultures.

I bring these things up as a warning to character artists and designers looking to help with future Capcom fighting games, like the talented Capcom-Unity member Anjin. I post these entries to make sure the next generation of Western character artists has as many angles and insight onto the classic SF design as they can. In this way they can approach the canon and characters as closely, if not more so, than most Capcom USA employees. These blogs are in no way a complete dissection and discussion of the Asian influences, but I hope they inspire my fellow community members to do some homework. Check out some art books, hit up various web sites and form your own connections. There are plenty of people writing some amazing things about Street Fighter, the games, comics and fan stories are out there. Let those voices inspire you as much as they inspire me.

Until the next topic I wish you all the best!