Ask 411 Games 01.02.12: Mike Haggar, Wanting Ipads, Star Wars Demolition, More!

Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 01.02.2012

How many games has Final Fight's Mike Haggar been in? Which band has been in the most video games, and which was the first? Where's the 3rd Vigilante 8? All this and more covered this week in Ask 411 Games!

Hello, welcome to Ask 411 Games, I am your host Mathew Sforcina, and I hope that 2012 is much better/more of the same/nothing at all like 2011 for you, depending on how 2011 was for you. Mine was pretty sweet, given that I got some really good games and played them a lot. Saint's Row Third, Batman: Arkham City, Assassins' Creed: Revelations, Skyrim, Marvel V Capcom 3, L.A. Noire, Rage, and Duke Nukem Forever, which still blows my mind. Oh, and all the games that came out that YOU liked. Those were good too.

Oh, yeah, and I got a girlfriend. I probably should have said that first huh? Sorry hun.

Anyway, before we get down to business, one quick comment: My last name is pronounced with a silent S. So it's just "4-Cena" if you follow wrestling. "4-C-Na" if you don't.

Don't worry, the Anglo-Saxon brain can't comprehend ‘Sf'. It's cool.

So is banner.



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Remember, questions can go in the comment section, or, better yet, to [e-mail].

Jerry C ruins what little joy I had at the whole world with one of those questions I'll probably never get to answer.

I have an interesting question. With how bands have their music used in games all the time, what band has had their music appear in the most games?

Well, I'm going to give you two answers here. The ‘true' answer is probably someone like Alph Lyla, who was Capcom's "house band" of developers who then provided music for Capcom games. Given that one of the series they provided work for was Street Fighter 2, and that's had about a billion sequels, variations and adaptations, their numbers have probably skyrocketed.



Or, it's going to be a Jim Johnston type answer, as there's a lot of people who work in video games making music. So someone like Michael Pummell a.k.a. Muzzi Kalmyth will probably hold the record, technically.

But the tone of the question seems to indicate so called ‘mainstream' or ‘legit' bands. Unless having a C for a last initial is Hipster code. But either way, which band has appeared in the most games? That… I can't tell you. There's just far, far too many games out there with proper music tracks, most of which are generic sounding rock bands. Avenged Sevenfold, to pick a band I know the name of that is heavy rock (and please don't write in to complain I'm calling them generic. I'm sure that they are excellent musicians, but I just know that name off the top of my head, so they get to be the poster child.)

Anyway, A7X (as they abbreviate themselves) have appeared in 23 games, if include DLC... Of Rock Band and Guitar Hero. And those two game series open up a whole can of worms. After all, does the Rock Band Network count as a separate game? Or two since you can get it for both? Or not? And what if it's just a cover, does that count? And what about SingStar and it's download options? And do arcade games count?

Video games feautering licensed music has, after all, been around since 1982, when Journey Escape was released for the Atari 2600.





So it's been going on for nearly 30 years. Yes, it's picked up steam recently, but it's still far too huge ground to cover. So if you want a ‘proper' band, I can't help you. And if you don't mind normal bands… I still can't help you.

Sorry.

JesseDT had questions answered before, apparently…

I have 3 questions if you don't mind.

Was there every any talk of a 3rd Vigilante 8, or at least a new one coming out soon? I loved the series, and had the first two on my Nintendo 64. I know there's on on X-Box Live, but didn't like it.

Thanks if you answer my questions!

Ah, Vigilante 8. The little game that could try and show up Twisted Metal.



The game was spun off the Interstate '76 series, which basically the same thing except on Windows rather than consoles, which Vigilante 8 was released on. So it was the console version of the PC games.

Remarkable for the fact that the game had a mere 5 people working on it, the company that made it, Luxoflux, ended up making the sequel, Vigilante 8: 2nd Offence in 1999…



And the fairly unknown Star Wars: Demolition game in 2000.



Before moving onto the True Crime series, and other non-Demo Derby games, before Activision shut them down in 2010. Isopod Labs was a company formed by 3 members of Luxoflux, and they made the Xbox Live remake/update/redo in 2008, Vigilante 8 Arcade.



Anyway, is/was a Vigilante 8 game around? There was one announced for the PS2 very early in the PS2's life cycle. But apart from being announced, it never went anywhere. However, could there be a newer one any time soon? It's basically up to Activision, which means it's up to Activision Blizzard, which means it's basically down to Vivendi. Technically.

Activision own the rights to the series, so it's up to them to decide what to do with it. They decided not to have a PSN release for the Arcade, and it's up to them to decide if we get a "Vigilante 8 Arcade 2: Manchester United 3" or even a full arcade release. But given it's been over 3 years since the game was released… I wouldn't count on it. But hey, as always, 2011 saw Duke Nukem Forever released. Anything's possible.

Seriously, some people are douchebags. Totally NSFW.



DeimosMasque asks about a style of gaming that is on the outs.

As a follow up to the Syndicate and X-Com going F/TPS why are RTS and TBS(Turn Based Strategy) games on the outs? It seems that consoles could do TBS perfectly.

Especially considering releases of Point n Click Adventure games like Sam and Max, Wallace and Grommet, the remakes of Monkey Island and then the turn based games of Risk, Settlers of Catan and even a Magic the Gathering game on the XBL and PSN. Why aren't we seeing a return of RTS and TBS like we are seeing of PCA?

Well, I'll agree that a console has a better chance at pulling off Turn Based Strategy rather than Real Time. Unless you dumb it down a lot (like Halo Wars) the problem with RTS is that you often have several things going on at once, all of which have different orders and ways to do things, so you need a keyboard, both for variation and, often, flexibility in that you can often adjust hotkeys and create shortcuts on a keyboard that you can't on a console. There's a finite number of button combinations, most of which are similar (‘So up on the pad and X is disband, but down and Y is fortify, but then up and RB is select all and down and RT brings up the espionage screen…').

But Turn Based? That can be much more manageable and doable, and there is a small but significant list of games for the consoles in this genre.



However, these all tend to be more fast paced than traditional PC ones, again, in part because of the issues of console controls. Whereas a PnC game can be easily converted to a controller, as has been proven by the rash of games coming out for it, the TBS game controls can be a little… iffy, in terms of converting them. While you don't need quite as many options at once for a TBS as you do for a RTS, you still need several, and that adds up to complications, having nested button presses and such.

Of course, there is also a issue with preconceived notions about console gamers. There is, in some sectors, still a belief that console gamers are fast paced headshot wanting bros. And the PC Master Race slow paced PC slugs people who play TBS are the ones who like PCs and will play on PCs instead. The truth of this may be… questionable, but it still does limit the chances of someone getting a brand new TBS for consoles off the ground.

So overall, the problem is that in comparison to PnC games, TBS and RTS don't have the luxury of being easy to convert to console, which also means they can't get classic games remade, which further reinforces the notion that console players don't like the genres, so no-one makes them, and the whole thing just cycles over. At least, that's how it appears down here. You may disagree. Say so below.

Not my final fight has two related questions.

How Many games has Mike Hagger been in and how come Saurday Night Slamasters is not on psn/xbox live/Virtual Console?

Mike Haggar: Mayor, Pro Wrestler, Bad Ass.



Playable appearances (in some form or another):

Final Fight (1989)



Final Fight 2 (1993)



Mighty Final Fight (1993)



Saturday Night Slam Masters (1993)



Muscle Bomber Duo - Ultimate Team Battle (1993)



Ring of Destruction - Slam Masters II (1994)



Final Fight 3 (1995)



Final Fight Revenge (1999)



SVC: Card Fighter's Clash (1999)



SVC: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition (2001)



Namco × Capcom (2005)



Final Fight Streetwise (2006)



SVC: Card Fighters DS (2006)



Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011)



Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011)



Cameos: Capcom Fighting Evolution, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Super Street Fighter IV, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter X Tekken.

As for where Saturday Night Slam Masters is, and why it's not on the various download formats, there has been no official reason. There may be an issue with Tetsuo Hara, who was the artist that did the artwork for the game, and thus there may be a licence issue. But Capcom have never said anything one way or the other. So who knows?

Remember, questions can go in the comment section, or, better yet, to [e-mail]. I'll see you all next week, if I don't get kidnapped by a gang between now and then and Mike Haggar's not around to save me…