Boy, time sure does fly! July came and went, and now August is almost over too. I've fallen behind on uploading the July covers for Weekly Famitsu, but here they are.

This month's first two issues finishes off the 5-issue 20th Anniversary celebration. These last two covers features some memorable characters, and there's some nice humor to found on the final issue. For instance, Necky dressed as Leon from Biohazard 4 (Resident Evil 4) escorts Kasumi from Dead or Alive fame while an irritated Ashley tries to get Leon's attention. A Katamari Necky rolls up Animal Crossing characters as well. Putting all five Anniversary covers together to form one big picture will be quite a task, so I hope someone else has done it already...if not, I'll give it a go. Anyway, read on for the issue by issue breakdown!

Continue reading "Weekly Famitsu July, 2006 Cover Collection" »

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The month of June brought us five issues of Weekly Famitsu, and with it came the landmark 20th anniversary of the magazine. To celebrate, Famitsu devoted five issues of Weekly Famitsu to cover the past 20 years of gaming and how Weekly Famitsu involved itself in the gaming world. The first three of those five anniversary issues are presented here.

The covers for the anniversary issues are also special. The artwork shows the Famitsu mascot (Necky) dressed up as notable game characters such as Mario, Ness, Link, Ryu, etc. All five covers sort of connect to create a long parade of game characters from 1986 to 2006. I say "sort of connect" because when you lay the issues side by side, they don't really line up correctly. Anyway, there are tons of great features in these issues, so if you have a Japanese bookstore in your area you might want to see if they still have some issues in stock.

Continue reading "Weekly Famitsu June, 2006 Cover Collection" »

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The August issue of Famitsu Wave DVD features Lei Fang from Dead or Alive Extreme 2. If you've got a region 2 or region-free DVD player, then you can enjoy watching game videos, interviews, and Famitsu antics on your TV. For Dead or Alive fans, the trailer shown at E3 is presented in DVD quality, not to mention the lovely DVD's themselves, which have some nice images of Lei Fang and Hitomi printed on their surface.

So take a gander at the images by accessing this dandy flash-driven gallery HERE.

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May has come and gone and so has three issues of Weekly Famitsu. What's that? Three issues? Shouldn't there be four? Technically yes, there should be four issues in the month of May since there are four Friday's. But in reality, the month of May has one of Japan's longest holidays--Golden Week. Many companies shut down completely for one week, and I'm assuming that's what happens over at Famitsu. So because of Golden Week, Issue No.909 covers the weeks of the 12th and the 19th. Interestingly, they skip an issue number from 907 to 909.

Continue reading "Weekly Famitsu May 2006 Cover Collection" »

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Japanese magazines are great because they usually come with some pretty cool stuff. Take the latest issue of Dengeki DS (formerly Dengeki Game Cube) for example. It comes with an Oide yo Doubutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing) neckstrap, a double-sided poster, an Animal Crossing Schedule Book, and Animal Crossing stickers! That's a lot of extras! It's possible that they're trying to better Famitsu DS by putting out more extras, and if that's the case then I'm all for some friendly competition.

But before we take a look at the extras, let's take a look at the actual magazine. It's always interesting to see how different the Nintendo magazines are made as opposed to the Famitsu Xbox or Dengeki Playstation magazines. The Japanese Nintendo mags look almost like the thick manga magazines with their overly complex covers. You can tell that this magazine is aimed at children. The inside of the magazine is no different from the cover, and it's very colorful and busy. Magazines like this are perfect for hyperactive kids.

Continue reading "Dengeki Nintendo DS Magazine June, 2006" »

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Another month has passed and that means more Weekly Famitsu covers to archive. Interestingly, all four covers this month features a human. Final Fantasy XII is still getting major coverage, as is Monster Hunter 2.

Continue reading "Weekly Famitsu April, 2006 Cover Collection" »

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One of the features of this site will be to archive magazine covers, and to start things off I present the Weekly Famitsu covers for March, 2006. Weekly Famitsu is released every Friday I believe, and March had five Fridays. The big games for the month were Final Fantasy XII and Monster Hunter 2 (dos), garnering a mention on almost every cover.

But March also held a special anniversary for Weekly Famitsu: the 900th issue! The week of the 17th marked the 900th issue of Famitsu and Famitsu made sure that this issue would be special. Physically, the issue isn't stapled like the usual issue of Weekly Famitsu; this time, it's got the flat spine that other Famitsu magazines usually have. The cover also has a silvery sheen to it--almost like foil but not quite. A DVD is also included featuring previews of upcoming games. The issue also has special articles, like one that takes a brief look at the history of games and game systems from 1983 to 2006.

Continue reading "Weekly Famitsu March, 2006 Cover Collection" »

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The Nintendo DS is taking over the Japanese video game market, and in reflection of that, Famitsu redubs its Nintendo-centric magazine as Famitsu DS + Cube & Advance. Oide yo Doubutsu no Mori is also big in Japan (that's Animal Crossing: Wild World to you and me) and this issue comes with a cool 3 piece pencil set that features artwork from the game. You get a pencil (the kind with multiple pencil tips housed inside), an eraser, and a pencil bag. Check out the photos below!

The actual issue features some great info on the game as well (as long as you can read Japanese), such as a guide to every character in the game, a calendar of in-game events for April, and other interesting things that I don't understand.

The top reviewed games this issue? Children of Mana for the DS gets a 35/40 (9,8,9,9), Pokemon Ranger gets a 32/40 (8,8,8,8), Contact gets 32/40 (7,9,8,8), Garak Tale gets a 32/40 (9,8,8,7), and Far East of Eden II Manji Maru gets a 31/40 (8,7,8,8).

The top game for the month is the second Brain Age game for the DS, followed by Animal Crossing Wild World, #3 is an English training game, #4 is the first Brain Age game, and #5 is Children of Mana. The most wanted Nintendo game is Hoshi no Kirby for the Gamecube, followed by New Super Mario Bros. for the DS.

Oh yeah, the issue also comes with stickers of various characters from games such as New Super Mario Bros, Rockman, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon. A manga-sized comic book is also included featuring stories based on Mario Kart, Kirby, Animal Crossing, and Super Princess Peach.

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I've been cleaning my room (or at least trying to), and I came across this old issue of TV Guide that I had bought only for the fact that it featured Shenmue on the cover. You see, I was (and still am) a huge Shenmue fan, so I bought nearly everything that had Shenmue on it...which actually isn't much if you live in America. But how often do you see video game characters on the cover of TV Guide? Pretty much never. And how much more awesome is it that they chose Shenmue as one of the six variant covers for that week? I'll tell you: it's super-awesome!

But, what exactly does TV Guide know about video games? Surprisingly the articles, while brief, take a balanced and fair look at all the video game consoles and upcoming games. At the time, the Playstation 2 had just been released, and the Dreamcast was getting into the swing of things with some of its greatest games. The main article, "For the Love of the Game" by Robbie Frasier, looks at how more and more Americans are becoming gamers and segues into how better technology makes games more accessible to the general public. At the end of the article, a handy chart shows the pros and cons of the available and soon to be available systems at that time: the Sega Dreamcast, the Sony Playstation 2, the Nintendo Gamecube, the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, and Microsoft's Xbox.

TV Guide ends their video game special by giving us a 4-page "User's Guide" which is basically their top game picks for various genres. Props to TV Guide for listing some great games--even ones that aren't as mainstream as say, Madden. Examples? Jet Grind Radio, Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5, MTV Music Generator, and even Seaman make the list!

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Rumble Roses, Konami's all-girl wrestling game, has finally made its debut on the Xbox 360 as Rumble Roses XX. It's gotten pretty bad reviews from American websites, getting a 6.6 from Gamespot and a 6.5 from IGN. Compare that to Famitsu Xbox360, who gave it a 34/40 (9,9,8,8) which is not a bad score at all.

Personally, I'd rate the game somewhere in between. Granted, I've never played Rumble Roses before, but I found the game to be pretty fun. My biggest gripe is that the game kind of just throws you in the middle of all these options, without really telling you where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do. There isn't really a story mode as I was expecting, it's more like you just keep fighting until you become popular enough to take out the champion. There might be more to it than that, but I've just started playing the game yesterday and have only become champ with one character so far.

Continue reading "Rumble Roses XX Extravaganza!" »

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Yes, it's another magazine cover featuring a character from Tecmo's Dead or Alive series. This time it's Kasumi in her Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (DOAX) bikini costume in Dead or Alive Ultimate(DOAU). Confused? Dead or Alive Ultimate is basically an updated Dead or Alive 2 (DOA2) for the Xbox. Even though the events of DOA2 occured before the events of DOAX, Tecmo threw in some costumes from DOAX just for the fun of it. DOAU also includes an Xbox version of the Sega Saturn version of Dead or Alive 1, although I tend to forget that since I never play it. I've also wondered why they just didn't port the arcade version for the Xbox. Sure, Saturn conversion is great, but the arcade looks so much better. Perhaps they didn't want to have to recreate all the extra goodies that were present in the Saturn version for a new arcade port, and simply chose the easier path. I think I would have played it though, had they gone through all that trouble. Plus, I never saw the arcade version all too much, so it would have been nice to have a totally accurate home version of it.

Continue reading "Famitsu Xbox August, 2004" »

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I'll admit it. I'm a Dead or Alive fan. Maybe even a bit fanatical. In fact, my fanatisicm has led to me buying any magazine that features Dead or Alive characters on the cover, this being the first of many covers that I will be posting here on this website o' mine.

This cover of Famitsu features the runaway shinobi, Kasumi, along with the American wrestler/model/rockstar Tina Armstrong both cuddling up to the Famitsu mascot on a large Xbox 360. I've always liked the art that often adorns the covers of Famitsu Weekly and this issue is no exception.

The issue itself covers plenty of Xbox 360 stuff, along with games like Kingdom Hearts II, Tales of the Abyss, Mario Kart DS, Biohazard 4, and Metal Gear Acid 2 among others. This issue also comes with a Rogue Galaxy booklet that contains walkthroughs, character data, and more.

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Capcom fans may want to check out Volume 2 of Famitsu Capcom, a special all-Capcom issue of Japanese game magazine, Famitsu. Volume 1 of Famitsu Capcom was published back in 2004 and was focused around the release of Biohazard 4 (Resident Evil 4 in the US). That issue came with two discs: a playable demo of Biohazard 4 for the Nintendo Gamecube and a DVD with footage from upcoming games. Volume 2 also has 2 DVD's which include playable demos of not one, but two games: Okami and Shin Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams for the Sony Playstation 2. Videos of upcoming games are also included.

The magazine itself has coverage of upcoming Capcom titles such as Biohazard 5 and Devil May Cry 3 for the Sony Playstation 3, and Dead Rising and Lost Planet for Microsoft's Xbox 360. For Sony's Playstation 2, you can find features on the aforementioned Shin Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams and Okami, Monster Hunter 2, Devil May Cry 2 Special Edition, Black Cat, and the Capcom Classics Collection. On the Sony PSP front, there's the new Gokumakaimura (Ghouls n' Ghosts in the US), Monster Hunter Portable, and Street Fighter Alpha 3 Double Upper. For the Nintendo DS, notables include Biohazard: Deadly Silence and Rockman ZX.

It's a great little book for Capcom fans and if you have the ablility to play Japanese games, then you'll no doubt enjoy the included demos. The price for this special issue is a bit hefty at 1490yen, but you may consider it worth it as a collectible, and besides, Famitsu and Capcom don't come out with these special issues on a regular basis. If you don't have a Japanese bookstore in your area you can buy it from Play-Asia.com for $19.90.

Additional link: Capcom's official website

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