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September Super Shooter Day
If any one day will cement 2007 as being the return of the 2D type shooter, today is the day. This day saw the announcement and confirmation of several shooters for release on Xbox Live Arcade and the Nintendo DS. This is a day to remember, shooter fans. First up, Rez is heading to Xbox Live Arcade. It is not just Rez, though, it's Rez HD. Rez HD will have upgraded HD visuals and 5.1 sound making it a must play for anyone who has already played through the original. New fans will also get to see why us Rez fans people love it so much. Rez may not be a 2D shooter, but it is one of the original and awesome shooters you will ever play. Rez was originally released on the Dreamcast and the PlayStation 2 in 2001. The Dreamcast was already fairly dead in the US, but North America saw the shooter in 2002. The game was a huge hit. However, Sega did not anticipate the popularity of the title, so limited copies of the game were available. To help satisfy demand for the game, Sega produced a second run of discs. The second run was still hard to find, but it gave some fans the opportunity to avoid high eBay prices.
Hudson has a brand new original shooter called Omega Five prepped for release on Live Arcade in November. Omega Five looks to be a side-scrolling shooter but will have 3D environments and visuals. The game will also have five playable characters. It looks similar of the old shooter Forgotten Realms, where your flying person had 360 degrees of shooting capabilities, but this looks so much better. Ikaruga was already kind of announced for Live Arcade a while ago, but today it was officially official. Ikaruga is an incredible top-down 2D shooter that was originally released on the Dreamcast and made it's North American appearance on the GameCube. The game uses positive and negative polarities that brings one of the most unique experiences of overhead shooters. It also seems that Trigger Heart Exelica and Every Extend Extra Extreme were confirmed for Xbox Live as well.
Another shooter to see life on Live Arcade will be Castle Shikigami III. The first Castle Shikigami was inexplicably released as Mobile Light Force 2 in the US on the PS2. Castle Shikigami 2 was also released on the PS2 and kept its real name. The Castle Shikigami games are overhead shooters that feature flying people that have extra shooting super powers. The translation and voice acting on Castle Shikigami 2 was one of the worst I have even encountered, so hopefully if it gets released here a little more care will be taken in its localization. The Xbox 360 wasn't the only system to get some shooter lovin' today. The Nintendo DS will be receiving a remake of Treasure's Bangai-O called Bangai-O Spirits, according to Famitsu via 1up's translation. This multi-directional shooter was originally released on the Dreamcast (of course!) and the Nintendo 64 in 1999. The DS version will have the gameplay on the bottom screen while the map of the stage will be on the top screen. Bangai-O Spirits will also have competitive and co-op multiplayer over wireless and a level editor. The only shooter to actually be confirmed for a US release is Omega Five. The rest of the shooters are all for Japan at the moment. Let's hope that the value and importance of all of these titles is recognized and we see an announcement for their release in the US. More screenshots of Rez HD, Omega Five, and Castle Shikigami III follow below. Thanks go to Kotaku for all the delicious images. - Shawn - 09/12/07 Rez HD Pics:
Omega Five Pics:
Castle Shikigami 2 Pics:
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