Courtesy of Chad Bonin of the GaijInside Blog:
The Versus Series
expands into new territory, pitting some of Capcom’s greatest
characters agains the heroes and villains of Japanese animation. Years
ago, the Street Fighters clashed against the X-Men, the Marvel Super
Heroes, the entire Marvel Universe, and the SNK fighting characters,
and now the Capcom legends face off against some of the Tatsunoko’s
titans. Ryu and Chun-Li face off against Ken the Eagle and Jun the
Swan from Gatchaman, the henshin hero of Viewtiful Joe faces off
against his heroes of Tekkaman, Casshan, Polmar, and more, and even
succubus Morrigan and zombie photographer Frank West (he’s covered
wars, you know) throws on his Megaman armor alongside Zero, Megaman
Volnutt, and Roll to tackle Doronjo, Karas, Gold Lightan, and more!

Capcom’s exploits are legendary across all consoles, genres, and
medium. Tatsunoko, on the other hand, is nameless in America. Only
known for a few of their properties making their way to America
(Gatchaman, Casshan, Karas, and Tekkaman), Tatsunoko has created
classic characters in Japan. This game, once titled Cross
Generation Of Heroes, showed the clash between legends and lesser
knowns. Tatsunoko VS. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars comes after
extensive speculation. Once expected to never reach America, due to
the prevalence of copyright law and mixed properties prevalent on the
Tatsunoko side of things, the game has finally hit American shelves
minus one character and adds tons more.

The fighting engine continues
the VS. series mindset of a five-level Super bar, with
characters having both single level Supers, triple level Supers, and
can combine to perform Partner Supers. Added to the mix are Baroque
and Mega Crash, with the former allowing the player to continue
chaining combos while sacrificing life, and the latter saving them
from crushing attacks.

The only real way to play this game, outside of a arcade stick (Which
were made specifically for the game, which is a nice touch), is with a
Classic Controller (or a Classic Controller PRO, coming soon). Three
buttons are dedicated to light, medium, and hard attacks, with one
button dedicated to partner actions (press it to call out your partner
for an attack, or hold back and press it to swap out with your
partner). Any other control scheme, and you’re limiting your accuracy;
given that this reviewer was raised on SNES pads with Street
Fighter II Turbo, the Classic Controller just tends to be the
best way to tackle the game.

Multiple modes are expected with a fighter, and while Ultimate
All-Stars doesn’t break any new ground, the roads traveled are no
less fun. Arcade, Time Attack, and Survival are fighting game
standards, with arcade going through eight matches, time attack going
through seven (omitting the final battle with Okami’s boss, Yami), and
Survival lasts as long as you do. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection allows for
both ranked and player matches, but it seemed to take an inordinate
amount of time to make connections. Once made, the fight seems laggy.
It’s hard to quantify this as an erroneous code or just a bad
connection; the sheer inclusion of a Online mode puts the game a step
ahead of it’s Japanese half-predecessor, but Nintendo’s third place
weakness in the online department shows.

One of the most frustrating
unlocks in the game (with art, character colors, videos, and more
available for purchase with Zenny earned from playing naturally) is
the Extra Game, Tatsunoko VS. Capcom: Ultimate All-Shooters.
Unlocked by beating the game AND collecting all highlighted letters
(spelling THANK YOU FOR PLAYING) during the ending credits… it took 26
runs through the game to unlock this mode. Once unlocked, Ultimate
All-Shooters is a four-player shooter starring Ryu, Ken The
Eagle, PTX-40A, and Tekkaman Blade. While not worth a game purchase on
itself, Ultimate All-Shooters is a fun little bonus game
that’s worth a few play throughs, but not worth completely going out
of the way to unlock.

Much of Ultimate All-Stars fun comes from the style and
reverence held throughout the game. Past the point that the combo
counters showing how much damage ranks up in the billions, Capcom (and
UDON, the artists behind the new endings, which replace the animated
endings of Cross Generation Of Heroes) show how much fun can
be had when combining two relatively dissimilar brands. While the plot
is pared down to “the worlds are combining, we have to fight to save
them”, character moments make it beyond the generic setup. Viewtiful
Joe gets to hang out with the heroes he only could buy toys of in the
past, the roster of the Space Knights is enhanced by Roll, Zero, Gold
Lightan, the PTX-40A, and more, and a certain picture on Frank’s
camera during the Willamette Mall incident is revealed. The multiple
openings feature such text quotes, including Ken’s suggestion that Ryu
should join G-Force, but show a problem that will come from the
American players: all voice acting is Japanese, outside of characters
that are uniquely English-speaking. While it’s better than having an
offensively-poor dub, when you can’t understand the dialogue thrown in
the middle of matches, it loses some of the fun. After-battle quotes
are tailored for many of the matches, and levels pulled straight from
the franchises enrich much of the feel of the game.

If you own a Wii and enjoy the franchises involved, definitely check
out the game. If you just want a good fighting game that isn’t
party-designed like Super Smash Bros., this is your best bet.
If you love both factors, this game will go high on your list of
instant classics. While parts of the game are just incredibly obscure,
the fans of them will get their money’s worth.–

Ultraman fans, your time has come and it has come with not one.. but THREE series!

Here’s the breakdown courtesy of Ryoutarou:
Ultraman Zero - 26 episodes
Ultra Galaxy WARS - 26 episodes
M78: nBelial STORY - 4 episodes

Ultraman Zero / Matsuki Juuri : Miyano Mamoru
Rei / Reimon : Minami Shouta
Ultraman Dyna / Shin Asuka : Tsuruno Takeshi

Ultraman Zero OP “GENESIS” by Tohoshinki
Ultraman Zero ED “SPINround” by BACK-ON
Ultra Galaxy WARS OP “Ahead” by coming-century

And I found out from JEFusion Blog that this series will be a sequel to the upcoming epic flick Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend The Movie.

Special Note from the author SciKaiju:Before the final episode get’s going I wanted to give out some “thanks you”, I’m new at this so please bear with me and hopefully it won’t be too corny. First of all I want to thank Keith for wanting to put this on the front page. And I want to thank to Ragna “D” BloodEdge and Dami-chan for the banners, and a special shout out to “D” for doing those banners every episode. I also want to thank Gryphman for creating the image of Fusion that appears in those banners. All you guys rock. And while Toei owns the Kamen Rider franchise I want to give a special thanks to Shoutaro Ishinomori for creating a concept that has lasted this long and that let my imagination run a little wild. And hopefully he doesn’t mind what I did with it. And I want to thank those of you who took time to read this thing, or just skimmed it (looks at Keith). Hopefully it was worth the ride and you enjoyed it.

Note from Keith Justice: Thank YOU scikaiju… damn glad to have this up on the front page and I hope everyone else enjoyed as well. See you on the otherside at Super Sentai Special Police DekaOps!

<Episode 52>

His face felt like it was on fire as Anderson slashed his cheek with his claws. Jack had to check to make sure he didn’t tear his face off when he saw the staff lying there. It looked so far away it wasn’t even funny. Still it was the only idea he had at the moment so he crawled for it. Jack was expecting Anderson to pounce on him at any moment but he slowly made his way toward the staff. Jack didn’t feel anything as he grabbed it and struggled to his feet. Snapping it to its full length he twisted the ring all the way, if this didn’t work he was dead. “Do you think there’s enough of a charge in to defeat me?” Anderson taunted.

“Who says I’m going after you?” Turning around he ran for the device. Swinging for the fences he broke the glass around it with the other end. Not even stopping to see where Anderson was he jammed the other end into it and popped the electrode. The device sparked a couple of seconds later. The sparks ran up the wires connecting it and then parts of the ceiling started to short out. As the sparks rained down on top of them he finally looked at Anderson. He was standing there shielding himself from the shower.

Ignoring the pain in face, arm, leg and everywhere else he was feeling it Jack raised his left arm across his chest. The belt materialized around his waist a moment later. Swinging his arm to the side he raised his right arm to his face. “Henshin!”, he shouted as he slammed his hand down on top of the belt. Anderson looked at him as the belt scanned his body and covered him in the black body suit and blue insect style armor of the system.

Then Anderson started clapping, momentarily reverting to his human form. Jack took a step back as he walked foreword. “An excellent job Mr. Davidson,” he said, “a truly excellent job. I must say you have performed better than I ever dreamed possible. I must say I’m feeling a little bit of pride when I look at you.”

“I’m touched,” he said sarcastically. “But tell me one thing, why were you so interested in my condition a while back.”

“Curiosity mainly,” Anderson answered him, “and I’ll admit a little bit of concern as well. The person I saw didn’t seem the like the type to succumb to a mental breakdown, or whatever it was that was afflicting you. But honestly I knew you wouldn’t be down forever, I knew you would be able to pull yourself back together eventually.” They looked at each other for a few more seconds, “I suppose there is only one way for this to end?”

“Yup,” Jack said. In the next instant Anderson changed back into his cheetah form and Jack rushed him. He got in a punch before the Drakan could react. The cheetah stumbled back from the impact. He had a feeling Anderson was one of those warrior kings so he wasn’t going to give him any breathing room as he pressed the attack. He tried to pound Anderson down but the Drakan refused to go down. Suddenly he pressed an attack of his own swiping in claws at his chest armor. Jack was pushed back and saw Anderson come at him.

Falling back Jack got his foot on his gut and was able to flip him. The cheetah hit the tube behind him hard. Jack got up and aimed a kick at his head. Anderson moved at the last second and his foot went through the glass of the tube. The blue goop inside poured through the opening as he tried to get free. He wasn’t fast enough as Anderson grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Then he picked him up and threw him through another tube. Jack freed himself from the person inside and threw a right cross as Anderson jumped at him. He connected flushed in the head and could tell he stunned him. Jack grabbed him and threw him into a tube in return. Going in his head snapped back as a foot kicked him under the chin. Trying to quickly clear the stars he didn’t see Anderson until it was too late. He grabbed Jack by the head and slammed him to the floor.

Putting a foot on his throat he pressed down with all he had. Jack struggled to breath before grabbing the foot and forced it off his neck. Sucking in the air as fast as he could he backed away from Anderson. “This is most exhilarating Mr. Davidson,” he told him, “I haven’t had this type of a workout in quite some time.”

Jack looked around him at the other doors. Arron was just starting to come too and they didn’t need the EMP device to get damaged. “Why don’t we take this where we’ll have a little more room?” He ran for the nearest door with Anderson right behind him.

***

“Do we have a progress report?”, Melissa asked. Rachel, Emily and the others huddled around the comm. center. Their cell and the others had never had ran an operation this big before and she was amazed there was an audio connection to their forces. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing at the moment.

“It just came in a couple of seconds ago,” the man at it said. “Anderson’s troops have the opening pretty well protected. They’re pretty much at a stalemate at the moment. Susan had an idea though, she sent a small group to the vent Jaime and the others used. She’s thinking they can surprise them from behind.”

“At the very least,” Rachel said, “they’ll divide their attention.” Melissa squeezed her shoulder, she was doing everything to not think about were Jack was in the middle of that mess. “That should increase their odds.”

“I can’t help but think Chris would have something inspirational to say here,” Melissa said. “He’d be there saying it personally but he’d still be saying it.”

“They knew what the stakes were child,” Emily told her.

“What if Jack takes out Anderson?”, Rachel asked suddenly. “What’s going to happen then? I mean he took over the company after killing Allen’s father. He’s going to have something in place. What if the next guy is worse than him? If that’s even possible.”

She could feel Emily look at her. She knew what Chris planned to do and she really didn’t want to think about it, but she knew she had to go through with it if they had any chance of surviving. Still she told Rachel, “Let’s just say we’re going to have to act fast.”

***

Somehow Davidson led them to a manufacturing lab. Yes they had more room to maneuver, but there were still some rather heavy equipment to use. A fact Davidson proved when he picked up something and threw it at him. Anderson easily ducked it and continued after him. Before he could grab something else Anderson jumped on top of him, swiping at his head on the way down. Small sparks flew as his claws scratched the metal of his helmet. Hauling him up he kicked him in the gut and kneed him in the head to get him back standing. A jumping spin kick knocked him into a table. Anderson grabbed and threw him into a series of lockers. He fell to the ground but still he tried to get back up. “I do realize you are angry that I killed the monkey before you had the chance Mr. Davidson, but really. Why continue to get up?”

“Because… because,” he said between breath as he got to his knees, “I’m their champion.” Getting a foot under him he started to stand, “And thanks to you I finally figured it out.” Hunched over he looked at him, “I’m not angry you killed the monkey. I’m pissed you thought you had the right to do this to them!” Standing at his full height he finished, “I’m stopping you no matter what.”

“Brave words Mr. Davidson,” Anderson told him, but he could tell he was still in pain. Despite that Davidson waved him on and he obliged.

***

The last time Jack felt this exhausted was when he was fighting Melissa’s brother and his men. Like back then he knew he had to keep going, this time more than ever. Because the rebels were never going to be safe as long as this Drakan was still around. But it was strange, while he was fighting Anderson he had never felt so right about anything in his life. As he ran in with a uppercut that jacked Anderson’s jaw he knew they were right, this was his destiny and he stopped fighting it.

He was able to grab the cheetah from behind and threw him over his head. The Drakan flipped in the air and landed on his feet, a backhand as he turned around floored him. Getting to a knee Jack clasped his hands together and swung for the fences again. He saw a tooth fly out of the cheetah’s mouth. Jack ran in as he stumbled back and jumped off Anderson’s leg as he kicked him in the side of the head. Running in again he grabbed him around the waist and picked him up, slamming him into the wall. Holding him there Jack slammed his fist into the Drakan’s gut repeatedly. Suddenly he grabbed his wrist and twisted. Jack went down to a knee as it felt like he was going to tear his arm right out of its socket. Anderson let go and grabbed him around the shoulders and slammed him against the wall again and again and again.

On the last one the cheetah let go and walked away for some reason. Jack tried to stand up again as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Anderson rammed some sort of drill press into the side of his head. As Jack went back down he hit with it again and again and again. He felt some sort of breeze while his heard ringing in his ears when he finally stopped. Jack felt Anderson pick him up and drag him away from the wall before getting him a seated position and standing over him. Then he felt those claws on his cheek again as he realized the helmet was cracked open. On instinct he tried to stop him as Anderson tried to rip it off of him. There were several small cracking sounds that turned into one long on before the Cheetah roared and strained as his helmet broke in half.

Taking a step back to regain his footing as Jack fell backwards Anderson studied his face as the back half fell off his head. Then he looked at the front half of his helmet before dropping it to the ground. “Now it ends Mr. Davidson.”

***

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X-MEN: HOPE #1
Hope Summers could be the much-heralded “messiah” who will save mutantkind from extinction…or she could just be some poor kid, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time(s). Either way, since her infancy she’s been raised by mutant soldier Cable in a hostile, dying future Earth — and she’s had to learn some hard lessons along the way. Now, Duane Swierczynski and Steve Dillon bring you four thrilling, untold tales from Hope’s future past as she grapples with vicious snipers, robot wolf packs, mutant rats, and even Cable himself. This is the place to start if you want to know what the X-Men’s future “messiah” is made of. reprinting the four backup stories from Psylocke #1, Dark X-Men #1, X-Men: Legacy #230 and X-Force #22.

THE WARLORD #12
Death could not stop him! Shamballah has been destroyed, Deimos is resurrected and The Warlord is…defeated? A hero will die – but will the legend live on? The coming months will reveal all as DC’s finest fantasy epic throws away the rulebook and takes a turn you never saw coming!
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The new Spider-Man is green lit and on the way. While the last movie made a truck load, they’re tapping director Mark Web to reboot the franchise and hook us up with a take on The Ultimate Spider-Man franchise… and friend of justice, Stephen Lunsford is stepping up to answer the call.

Join the fight at his Facebook Group to help give the man a shot at the title. With the director that helmed 500 Days of Summer and our very own Dragon Knight taking up the red and blue.. I’d say we’d all be in damn good hands.

Let’s help make it happen HJU.

Oh yeah, don’t forget to hit Lunsford up on Twitter and see what he’s been up to.

[Direct Download]

Power Rangers RPM has come to an and and HJU Radio is here to sing it’s praise. Racial tension runs hysterically in this episode as we confuse black Rangers vs. Black Rangers and we all stand in salute to the end of a fantastic run. All of our thoughts and a brief discussion on what we think the future of the franchise will be…. or would like it to be.

Hats off to the longest running series of its kind. And WHAT an end! Great job to Eddie, Judd, and the cast and crew of Power Rangers RPM. I’d lost interest in Power Rangers a while back, so it’s awesome that the last series had me hook line and sinker.

Until the sun rises again on a world with Power Rangers….. may the power protect you.

Our ragtag group of guest hosts are as follows:
Tristan of the Hero Power Blog

Chad Bonin of Gaijinside!

WTF @ TFW’s Vangelus who has a MOST rockin’ YouTube Channel

Editing duties have been handled by the Plastic Addict, TJOmega.

Above graphic by Ragna D BloodEdge

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ZaBee

Punch & Kick Hopper

SaSword

Vangelus keeps the hits coming with more killer Figuarts reviews!

MS. MARVEL #50
Over-sized final issue! It’s Ms. Marvel and Mystique in a fight to the finish—and the ending will rock the world of Carol Danvers!

BLACKEST NIGHT #7
As Nekron continues to wage war on life throughout the universe, Hal Jordan discovers the grim, true mission behind the villain’s return. But the truth is so cosmically abysmal that it threatens to expose a secret that could tear the very universe asunder. You can’t miss this stunning, penultimate issue to the year’s biggest event!

MARVEL

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #33
The Initiative faces its own CIVIL WAR as Taskmaster, Constrictor and Diamondback join the Dark Avengers in the Siege of Asgard…and come face-to-hammer with Thor! Meanwhile, Justice, Tigra and the rest of the Avengers Resistance assault Camp H.A.M.M.E.R., aiming to bring it down once and for all — but the Hood is ready for them! It’s all-out war on two fronts — and one side won’t be here when it’s over!
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S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Kabuto

S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Gatack

Vangelus kicks off a week of S.H. Figuart Reviews that I think will end in a review of the highly anticipated, Kamen Rider IXA. Click on, enjoy and remember to IXA-cise!

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If you’re one of our hundreds of loyal listeners, and perhaps you jumped on later in the game, maybe you didn’t catch the earlier episodes of HJU Radio. While they’ve always been available in our blog here, if you’re like me, you get your podcasts from iTunes exclusively.

Worry no more. I whispered a wish to our resident Web Wizard and with a wave of his magic wand, all 22 downloads appeared on iTunes for your easly downloading pleasure. Sorry about the hold up on Part 2 of Episode 12, but rest assured, it’s coming. TJ Omega is currently putting on the final touches and we should have it by the weekend.

As always… thanks for listening.