Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes was hyped for being that crazy game. The reason why I wanted a PlayStation 2 was for this game. The Dreamcast CRASHED and it was a shame that Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes never got a sixth-generation update . Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes was fun at first -- it contained almost every character from X-Men: Children of the Atom up to Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes . The new hype was 3 vs. 3 combat. Therefore, it was only fair that the final boss was unplayable. An EX Edition was most likely impossible and Abyss was no longer playable in home consoles. After all, those playable bosses broke the balance in 2-player modes.  As Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was the beginning of a new millennium -- it was normal to try new things. The new boss had three forms. Abyss looked intimidating as he had three forms. The first form was the Armor of Erosion -- a slow but powerful boss. The second was a slimy alien form called the Guardian ...

Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes became significant for two things -- it became responsible for naming the franchise sometime after Capcom created crossovers with Capcom games. Instead of just having Street Fighter characters -- more Capcom characters showed up during the crossover. After two games dealing with Apocalypse -- the menacing Onslaught was added. Onslaught was the result of Professor X's darker side emerging. Professor X mind-wiped Magneto after the latter sucked off Wolverine's adamantium skeleton. So yeah, ironic that Wolverine should be playable with his complete adamantium in this game. Onslaught was introduced as the final boss. I remember playing Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes at the arcade. My mains were usually Classic Megaman and Ryu. I wasn't a big fan of the Special Partner system since it was chosen at random. Onslaught had two forms. The first form was a giant towering figure of Onslaught that could summon Sentinels (which he did i...

  Before all the games from X-Men: Children of the Atom up to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite were coined under the Marvel vs. Capcom series -- we had X-Men vs. Street Fighter as the first official crossover. Apocalypse was also the sub-boss of Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (criticized for being a cash cow rather than a well-thought game) since Cyber Akuma was the final boss. In X-Men vs. Street Fighter -- he was the second to the last opponent. The final opponent was one's tag team partner. So yeah, a Cyclops vs. Ryu match was always a friendly battle! I could remember the intimidation factor Apocalypse had. Most fighting game bosses were human-sized and difficult to defeat. Apocalypse would grow giant and his life bar was found at the bottom. I remember seeing people trying to beat Apocalypse in the arcade during the late 1990s. I was always intimidated by how huge Apocalypse was. One of Apocalypse's most devastating moves is his drill attack (where one should do a super...

  I confess I hated X-Men Mutant Academy's first entry. Was it because I still think X-Men: Children of the Atom was still better? Okay, the PSX version of X-Men: Children of the Atom lacked the character endings in full for some reason. Fortunately, Marvel Super Heroes did a better job porting the game with the endings. I didn't like the first X-Men: Mutant Academy game but the second game worked wonders. I never played X-Men: The Next Dimension so I'll just review a PSX classic. Yes, that ONLY X-Men   Mutant Academy game that I got to enjoy. The first game started with six characters and unlocked the other four. The second game has no such nonsense. Instead, it's because every character has a different final opponent like in the first two Street Fighter Alpha games. Cyclops has Havok as the final opponent (and vice-versa) and Wolverine has his final battle with Sabertooth. There were also unlockables such as Spider-Man and Professor X (who had very limited gameplay). ...

Zangief's probably one of the most iconic characters from the Street Fighter franchise. It gets funny how Zangief became a bad guy in some of the Street Fighter adaptations (especially in the American adaptations) while he's really a good guy in the canon. It's probably due to some war with Russia that the American production made the decision -- especially the Street Fighter movie where Balrog (Mike Bison) was made a good guy and Zangief a bad guy who's unaware he's one. Zangief was added to the Marvel vs. Capcom series. In fact, he was a character in the first crossover namely X-Men vs. Street Fighter . Street Fighter characters got adjusted for better or for worse. Certain projectile super moves got a beam-type replacement. Ryu's Shinkuu Hadoken clearly mimics the Kamehame Wave from the Dragon Ball Z franchise. Chun Li's Kikousho formed a dome and it had bad recovery time. Zangief was added to the mix. Zangief lost his Aerial Slam Super Move and started o...

After rewatching some episodes of Batman: The Animated Series -- I feel the need to be that annoying nitpicker again. Every company has its own history of bad decisions -- even those that made a lot of beloved franchises anywhere around the world. Warner Bros. was responsible for many DC animated adaptations and owns DC Comics -- explaining why the Joker became an easy guest character in Mortal Kombat 11 . Now, I'd like to think of the RIGHTFULLY SHORT-LIVED The New Batman Adventures . Some changes were made such as Dick Grayson becoming Nightwing and a new Robin was introduced namely Tim Drake. I wonder if that decision was trying something new or what? Unlike its predecessor which had better art -- new art was used presumably to keep it consistent with Superman: The Animated Series . This drop in animation is much more than what G.I. Joe did during the DIC seasons. I may have preferred Sunbow over DiC. Sunbow got the G.I. Joe license and had Toei work on it. DiC's art was way...

In light of Shelley Duval's demise a few days ago -- I decided to do a random review of an episode of Faerie Tale Theatre. Most of the episodes were usually focused on stories dominated by white people. However, the original story was written by Hans Christian Andersen -- a white man. The cast and crew were forced to use whatever they could. Sure, the late Makoto Iwamatsu (who played the wizard Akiro in Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer ) as a gardener -- similar to how Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa played Shang Tsung (a Chinese character) in Mortal Kombat . It's not that awkward until the rest of the cast is shown.  Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones played the Chinese Emperor. I wonder why Makoto never played the emperor and the role was given to Mick. The kitchen maid was played by Barbara Hershey. The late Keye Luke (Lù Xīqí) played the Imperial Physician -- an American actor who could've played the Emperor. However, most of the cast was still played by non-Asians. I wo...

All before wokeness got worse -- I'd like to point to the episode "Ivy and Harley" in Batman: The Animated Series . I always had a thing for Joker and Harley (which I believe brought out the best development out of the Joker) or I've always had shipped Batman x Poison Ivy . I even felt that Batman: The Animated Series could've created a  love triangle between Catwoman and Poison Ivy for Batman ! As I rewatched the series on Netflix (which will be there for a limited time) --  I rewatched "Ivy and Harley". Harley has a toxic romantic relationship with the Joker. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker even hints that Harley and Joker had at least one child decades prior. I was looking at the angle of the two women. Harley had a bad breakup with the Joker. Meanwhile, I feel that Poison Ivy's toxic infatuation with Batman (pun intended) could've been brought up. The episodes "Pretty Poison "and "Eternal Youth" point to Poison Ivy'...

If The Transformers had Megatron and Starscream -- G.I. Joe had Cobra Commander and Destro. Sure, Cobra Commander was temporarily replaced by Serpentor. However, for a good amount of time, these two could easily steal the show with their non-stop argument. Probably, one of the best trademarks of cartoon villain stupidity is to have a continued working partnership with a CHRONIC BACKSTABBER. Neither Destro nor Starscream made it secret that they defied their superiors and even wanted to take over. However, neither Megatron nor Cobra Commander fired their treacherous second-in-commands. Megatron (as Galvatron) only did it in the 1986 Transformers movie. Cobra Commander still rehired Destro even after ALL THE BACKSTABBINGS after the G.I. Joe direct-to-TV movie. Like WUT? The mini-series introductions such as "The MASS Device" and "Revenge of COBRA" show how the two are toxic. However, they need each other as Destro even calls the Cobra Commander his customer. Destro is...

It's been five years and some months after Power Rangers Beast Morphers aired. If Nickelodeon's bad scheduling is one issue with its unnecessary summer break -- I'm also going to bring up the real potential killer. Yes, I'm talking about how Power Rangers is a franchise that's really stuck with the Mighty Morphin' hype. By now, a lot of fans would've grown up and the rose-tinted glasses aren't gonna work anymore.  I read through Dryed Mangoez and it was the blog that taught me to get out of my closet Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters shell, learn to like an unpopular Toku season, and appreciate Ressha Sentai ToQGer . It also wrote a scathing remark against Beast Morphers -- which should be the company's fault over the cast. This really hits the mark where Beast Morphers really went wrong: Beast Morphers as a whole does not do that. When the endgame has to do more with pandering to the older, rose-colored glasses-wearing fans by referencing a season that is ...

As a child, I remember watching four Dragon Ball Z movies, which were edited into two movies. One was called The Greatest Rivals,  which was a combination of Cooler's Revenge and Return of Cooler. Another one combined both The Return of Broly and Bio Broly . I didn't even realize that these movies aren't canon if you try to look at even the minor details. Please remember Dragon Ball Z specials like History of Trunks  and Bardock: the Father of Goku are TV specials. Dragon Ball Z Anime also later managed to retcon Dead Zone from a non-canon film by creating the Garlic Jr. Saga. I wouldn't be surprised if some editing was done in the process.  So what's the purpose of the Dragon Ball Z movies? It seems to be a series of what-if scenarios. Let's think of some interesting what-ifs that were created by these movies. Here's what I could name of what-if scenarios that were made, and here are the only ones I'm familiar with... and let's think of th...

With the  Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection game around the corner -- I was tempted to visit one of the most popular villains ever. Yes, I'm talking about Doctor Doom who was first introduced as the recurring enemy of the Fantastic Four. However, as time passed, Doctor Doom became more and more distanced from his most recurring foes. That would be a peculiar thing since Doctor Doom's backstory starts with the Fantastic Four, having met Reed Richards in COLLEGE, and had a rivalry ever since. How did Doctor Doom become more popular than the Fantastic Four? The answer may lie with the Spider-Man franchise. Spider-Man may be more popular than the Fantastic Four. I'm no avid comic book reader because of the overdoing of retroactive continuity. However, in the 1960s, Spider-Man would also clash with Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom also fought with other more popular villains like the Avengers, Hulk, She-Hulk, and the Uncanny X-Men. Having fought with several superheroes BETTER than ...