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So who are these 'Tatsunoko' characters anyway?

One major issue with marketing Tatsunoko vs. Capcom in North America is that nobody but old-school otaku knows who the hell half of the characters are. It took a few months of watching matches on YouTube to realize that all the Tatsunoko characters looked really fun in gameplay, but the name recognition wasn't there for us like it is in Japan, where Tatsunoko Production anime is an institution.

Seemingly in an attempt to combat that handicap, at least among the hardcore blog-reading audience, Capcom Unity has started a series of posts introducing the characters. The first, "Dragon vs. Eagle," provides a fairly detailed bio of Gatchaman's Ken the Eagle, with background about the character and the Gatchaman show, and supplementary video clips. There's also a bio of Ryu, but everyone knows Ryu: torn sleeves, headband, likes fighting.

Tatsunoko vs Capcom gets online play, 5 new characters for North America [update]


Update: Capcom sent out a release the following day, redacting the mention of online play and five new characters. Did someone at Capcom jump the gun?

The release of Tatsunoko vs Capcom in North America will change a bit from its Japanese counterpart, Capcom has announced. The North American release eliminates one character from the Tatsunoko side of the roster and adds five new fighters not found in the original game. Not only that, but the North American version of the game will also have online play, a feature the original Japanese release cannot boast.

[Thanks, WiiNinja!]

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom roster may change for North American release

GameSpot's preview for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars contains some rather troubling news about the localized version of Eighting's cross-company fighter. According to the site, "talks are ongoing," but Capcom may not have been able to secure all the rights to the Tatsunoko characters. As a result, there "may be some minor pruning done to the Tatsunoko side of the roster."

It's not all bad, though: GameSpot said that Capcom is working to keep the roster balanced for the updated version, "so any pruning done will require some addition to keep things balanced." Maybe Capcom can grab 3D models of random Capcom characters and stick the missing Tatsunoko characters' movesets in. Or maybe whoever the last holdout is on the Tatsunoko side will realize that there's really not anything else going on in North America with these characters.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom available to importers early


Here's the animated introduction sequence to Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes, found on the official website. Right now, people are watching this mindblowing intro on their Wiis -- and not just in crummy YouTube windows. Importers are receiving their copies of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom before the ship date! In fact, it's available at Play-Asia right now!

The good news for the rest of us is that the early buyers are taking videos of the game. And after the break, you'll find several, including the training mode (with adorably narrated menus) -- in which you can hear Roll's Rockman Battle & Chase theme song "Kaze yo Tsutaete" as her background music. Also available after the break, playthrough's of Chun-Li,

Check out Dengeki for new screens of minigames, including: Rock Volnutt's "How Many Servbots?", Hakushon Daimao's math game, Batsu's "Batsu Style Street Dance," and Polymar's drilling game.

Continued →

Two Rocking Tatsunoko vs. Capcom videos


We don't have to wait until Wednesday for this week's Tatsunoko vs. Capcom video update, thanks to the intrepid fan who found the file on the Japanese website and uploaded it to YouTube. We'd say this fight, featuring Rock Volnutt and Rival Schools' Batsu vs. Hakushon Daimao and Hurricane Polymar is exceptionally wacky, but pretty much every battle is exceptionally wacky, thanks to the hyperspeed gameplay and the cartoon cast. We'll just have to wait until Wednesday for new minigame screens.

A 4Gamer interview linked in the same NeoGAF thread as the Rock video brings slightly bad news: there aren't any unlockable characters. So the roster we've seen is it -- no Dante, Gene, Captain Commando, Strider, Trojan, or Chip 'n Dale to be found.

As for the one still-secret character -- the final boss. If you don't want to be spoiled by seeing new, higher-quality footage of this character in action, do not click past the break. If you already have, don't scroll down past the gallery. But if you do decide to check out the footage, how awesome is that footage?

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Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Lost Planet's mech finds trouble


Capcom released two new Tatsunoko vs. Capcom gameplay videos today instead of the usual one per week, and around here, that's cause for celebration! Let's celebrate by watching the videos. The first, above, features Tatsunoko heroes Yatterman no. 1 and Casshern vs. the giant PTX-40A from Lost Planet. That mech is surprisingly agile! And Yatter-Wan the dog is surprisingly huge! After the break, look at some footage of the same Tatsunoko pair facing off against last week's stars, Chun Li and Morrigan.

The characters' minigames include: Yatter-Wan Chicken Race, in which you propel the jet-powered robodog towards, but not across, a line; Raging Wind Friender Intensive Training, in which button presses translate to increased speed for Casshern's own dog, Friender; and Akrid Destroy Mission, a Lost Planet-themed vertical-scrolling shooter.

We couldn't be more thrilled about the impending Japanese release of this game. Well, we could be a bit more thrilled if we didn't have to import it and use homebrew to run it.

Continued →

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Huge, awesome spoiler

"Huge." "Awesome." Hugesome. That's how we'd define the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom SPOILER that just hit the 'net, so we're taking appropriate action and filing this one after the break.

If you do intend to import the 2D fighter, you're best off NOT clicking the blue text below. If you couldn't care less about spoiling not one but potentially two games for yourself, go forth and click, young warrior, and prepare to go slightly weak at the knees as we unveil Tatsunoko vs. Capcom's final boss ...

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Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Girls vs. huge robots


The latest gameplay footage from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes features a ridiculous-looking bout between a Morrigan/Chun Li team and the enormous Gold Lightan. The outsized robot seems to have little difficulty with the pair, as he grabs Morrigan out of the air and spikes her, performs deadly belly-flops, and even reflects one of Chun Li's projectiles with his hand. We suspect, of course, that the game's balance actually keeps the giant character from having any unfair advantages -- but he sure is intimidating.

As usual, the update includes a look at each character's minigame. Keeping Gold Lightan looking his best, and most intimidating, is the focus of his minigame, in which you polish his golden exterior. Morrigan's game involves grabbing a hero (Ryu in the screenshots), lifting him miles into the air, and then piledriving him into the ground. Chun-Li, in her minigame, chisels a statue from stone with her Lightning Kicks.

Tatsunoko vs. Calendar: Store Promotion of Heroes


To promote the release of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes, Capcom is offering an exclusive Tatsunoko vs. Capcom 2009 calendar to retailers. The calendar will feature original artwork on each two-month page, as well as a Shinkiro cover that varies by store. The limited-edition calendars will be handed out with purchased copies of the game starting on the December 11 release date.

The Bic Camera/Sofmap version of the calendar features a group portrait, the Geo version features Ryu and Ken the Eagle, and the Imagine version's cover features Doronjo and Morrigan. And the exclusive "JC" edition features these preview images printed out and stapled together with some calendar pages from Word.


[Via Famitsu]

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom vs. eight of your minutes


This promotional video for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has a little of everything. There are introductions of many of the characters, with voice clips and brief gameplay footage; demonstrations of the gameplay, including the various kinds of combos that can be executed, like the Hyper Combo special attacks; and even footage of many of the minigames, including Ryu's fireball game, Ken the Eagle's shooting gallery, and Hakushon Daimao's math quizzes!

We'd expect a nice overview from an eight-minute-long promo, and this footage does not disappoint. We were especially glad to see the two giant robot characters, Gold Lightan and PTX-40A, singled out, because hey, that's a pretty weird thing to have in a fighting game.


[Via NeoGAF]

New Viewtiful Joe (mini) game (in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom)

First off, there is a new video of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes at Famitsu, featuring Saki from Quiz Nanairo DREAMS and Viewtiful Joe vs. Ippatsuman and Doronjo. Joe's Mach Speed super combo is expected, but delightful.

In addition, screens reveal another set of character-specific minigames. For free extras included in our cool fighting game, they all look pretty excellent -- and there are now more minigames in Tatsunoko than in many dedicated minigame collections.

Saki has an enjoyable-looking asteroid shooting gallery game, Ippatsuman has a baseball pitching game, and Doronjo has some kind of bomb-throwing platformer in which her and her goons Boyacky and Tonzler ride through a valley on unicycles.

Viewtiful Joe's minigame is the standout of the group: a sort of "shooting" game in which you attempt to snap photographs of a running Joe, with the ability to take three photos in rapid succession.

Wii Warm Up: Vs. Capcom


For a long time, we mostly saw the Tatsunoko Productions characters in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as a necessity: there because Vs. fighting games needed to be vs. somebody. Basically, they were there to give the Capcom characters some new people to fight, and it didn't really matter who.

But as we've followed the game, we've started to pay attention to the Tatsunoko characters and realize that they seem like they're going to be fun to play. They look cool and/or hilarious, and all those superheroes seem perfectly suited for high-speed aerial combat.

How about you? Were you already a fan of any Tatsunoko properties? Have you even noticed any of the Tatsunoko characters?

Two wonderful Tatsunoko vs. Capcom videos


These two clips suffer a bit from their conversion to embeddable Web formats, but that seems inevitable for something so quick and dynamic as Tatsunoko vs. Capcom footage. First, we have the commercial for the Japanese Wii release, narrated by Yatterman villains Boyacky and Tonzler.

After the break, we have extended gameplay footage, featuring a tag-team fight between Ryu and Street Fighter III's Alex vs. Ken the Eagle and Jun the Swan from Gatchaman. This amazing clip can be seen in higher quality at Famitsu. The super high speed and air combos help cement this game as a Vs. series game!

Continued →

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom boxart will look fantastic on no American store shelves


Capcom has released new character art by Shinkiro for the newly-announced characters in Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes. Despite Shinkiro's history, Viewtiful Joe, Ippatsuman, and Saki bear little facial resemblance to George Clooney at all.

They also released the above image, which will be used as the boxart for the Wii release of the 2.5D fighter. It's totally classic Shinkiro, semi-realistic, detailed, and -- yes, vaguely reminiscent of the star of Ocean's Eleven. We like how it's cleverly laid out to fit the Wii box: Viewtiful Joe, standing atop the PTX-40A, fills the narrower part of the white "Wii" band that will go at the top of the box.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom vs. anti-minigame prejudice

Everyone who dislikes or has disliked minigames in the past is now officially wrong. The latest issue of Famitsu shows off some more minigames found in the Wii version of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes, including this one, "How Many Servbots," about ... counting Servbots. Nothing about Servbots can ever be bad. Thus minigames are redeemed forever.

Other notable minigames include one about Alex throwing a car, Chun Li carving a Ryu statue out of rock by kicking it, and our favorite of the Tatsunoko characters' minigames, the one about polishing Gold Lightan.

We might be less inclined to think all these minigames were awesome and fun if a) there weren't so many and b) they weren't attached as bonuses to a Capcom fighter.

Joystiq Features




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