3/10 - First Impressions: GUNSLINGER STRATOS 2

By Ann Nakamura

Gunslinger Stratos 2 is a game published by Square Enix (alongside Taito) that was to be location tested at certain Round 1 locations. Eastridge Mall had the honor to be one of those locations! As a personal aside, I have been waiting to play this game ever since I had seen gameplay videos of it, so my expectations were pretty high. Were they satisfied after the 3 year wait? Read on!

To start off, the actual arcade cabinet itself is aesthetically pleasing. Side panels have glowing lights that change during gameplay, and it comes equipped with two, very intricately-made lightguns. Each lightgun has two joysticks: the one on the left gun controls your character's movement, and the one on the right controls where you are aiming. The gun on the right has a "jump" button which leaps/floats you into the air to be able to shoot foes from above. Of course, both guns come with triggers and you can alternate from shooting from each. However, you can only shoot from one gun for a certain amount of time before it is forced to reload and by reload, it's alternating to the next gun you have. Now before you, as the reader, go "well, that sucks, I'm not left handed", it adds a sense of bad-assery and, to my surprise, trying to aim with the left gun wasn't too bad! The crosshairs really help out with this as well.

I like this gun. Like, a lot. The middle of the gun has a slot for you to merge your other gun with it.

The long line of Gunslinger Stratos 2 cabinets

Now comes the cool part of Gunslinger Stratos. Why the hell does it have two guns? Well, with Gunslinger Stratos, you are able to "combine" your guns so you can use even better guns! There is the side-style and the tandem-style: one where you hook your guns to each other side-by-side and your gun becomes a semi-automatic machine gun that you can use for a short time on foes. This gun packs a PUNCH and will end an enemy's life before they can say, "Nani?". The tandem style, placing one gun on top of the other, unlocks a ranged weapon which can be a sniper, a laser gun, anything. These are great if you're trying to hit an enemy from really far, especially where a normal gun or machine gun could prove not as effective. What is great is that each character has a unique weapon for both modes, so you may or may not see different guns for the characters you use. This game gets intense very quickly in having to dispatch enemies before the timer runs out, so you are quickly switching between shooting from both guns, switching out your styles and running around so you do not get hit.

But besides gameplay, what else does this game offer? Besides having over 15+ playable characters, with a NESiCA card, players are able to upgrade their weapons and unlock more content. You are also able to play through a story mode which is unique to each character (although, once again, if you cannot read or understand a lick of Japanese, may not be the best thing). Also, the game comes equipped with audio jacks that allow players to use headsets to communicate with each other during gameplay. This proves to actually be in the interest of players since the whole entire game is team-based, and, if players are matched up with a rival team, it makes communication easier than yelling to the other machines. It is a very different functionality on an arcade cabinet, but one that is meant to be for the benefit of the users. 

I picked Olga Janetine as my character of choice. Her costume is pretty... um.... well, you can fill in the blanks.

My thoughts? The game. Is Freaking. Awesome. I am very sad that is just going to be a location test, but I would personally love to see this game in Round 1 SJ in the future. The one major drawback that may prove to be the game's downfall is that it is not localized for an American audience (as most Japanese games tend to be). It is definitely not American friendly, and a couple of Round 1 employees who tried the game were a little peeved when they had to endure a 15 minute tutorial mode by mistake followed by a very dry practice mode. However, for an individual who knows Japanese or for someone who is familiar with at least the basic language, this game will be very interesting and something to be genuinely hyped about, mostly because it is different and a different type of arcade shooter.

Since Gunslinger is looking to be staying for about one more week or so, I would DEFINITELY recommend giving it a try, especially with friends. 

Authors Note: If you decide to buy a NESiCA card for this game, please do yourselves a favor and keep the card on the NESiCA wavepass at all times. According to staff, if you take it off at any time, you lose access to your NESiCA card, meaning that if you try out story mode and take it off, you end after the second stage (out of eight). This is also true for doing team matchups.

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Ann Nakamura is the head correspondent for The (Unofficial) Round 1 Arcade Hub. A lover of arcade games of all genres, she likes to spend her time playing Gitadora and trying out new games that hit Round 1 SJ's arcade floor. Got questions for her? Contact Ann through Facebook!

New Addition! School of Ragnarok

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a good Halloween! Some of our staff members had been giving out candy to all the good little boys and girls outside of Round 1's entrance and the kids have never been happier!

Today we bring you a special report! School of Ragnarok, a 1vs.1 fighting game created by Square Enix has entered Round 1!

Title screen for School of Ragnarok.

So what is the big deal about this game? Well, for one, it's an arcade game where you can make custom characters. If NESiCA is enabled, you can create a character, save it, be able to use it in-game against other characters. In School of Ragnarok, there are 8 different weapon disciplines that a player can choose from, and the weapon discipline they choose corresponds to a support character they can use in game. Weapon disciplines range from chainsaws to mechanical fists to traditional swords to staff-wielding. (I apologize for any mistranslations from here on out or any odd assumptions. Feel free to send us an email for any corrections!)

Emma, a robotic girl who weirds mechanical, floating fists.

Lucy, a renegade high schooler who dons a spiked bat and chainsaw.

Smile Heart, the Madoka-looking magic girl with a pink staff.

Valhalla, a sword wielding demon.

Once a discipline and support has been chosen, you have the option of learning the game through Tutorial Mode or fight against a CPU. Either way, you will be having to learn the game very quickly as there are many buttons to this game that a player must be able to strategically use.

Starting from the Bottom Left Button up: Guard, Attack, Skill, Shot, Jump and Lock-On (to target). The Gold button calls your support to use their skill and the silver button has your support move to certain locations on the map that will boost your strength, defense or other stats. 

There is truly much more to this game than the "attack" and "move" buttons. Every character has a unique set of skills that you can use during the game through certain button commands. Also, every character has a ranged "shot" attack that they can use on their opponents from afar. Your supports have skills you can call upon (so long as you have your "support" gauge filled to a degree) that can either obstruct your view on the screen, cause damage, and much more. What this game really comes down to at times is your support character's "special skill" that they will bestow onto your character for a very short period of time. This special skill is like the equivalent to using a "Super" in Street Fighter or Marvel vs. Capcom. These skills usually cause massive amount of damage to your opponent and can sometimes change your game for the better or for the worst. Every character has different "special skills" so its worth it for you as the player to try different characters to see what play style and skills will suit you the best.

You are able to choose a set of skills to use in your battle.

Now why is School of Ragnarok an important and big deal to Round 1? First off, School of Ragnarok is solely an arcade exclusive and this is Square Enix's will be one of two games to be entering into the arcade scene from Enix, the other being Final Fantasy Dissidia Arcade which is to be released late November. This game is Japanese and Round 1 gives any American players the opportunity to give the game a try. The second and larger deal of School of Ragnarok being on American soil is that School of Ragnarok uses NESiCA which is similar to Konami's e-amusement network and Sega's banapass network. Since Round 1 stores have some games that support this online server, it is very possible that Eastridge Round 1 will be getting NESiCA very soon! La Puente Hills Mall Round 1, the Flagship USA Round 1, has received NESiCA support already: in particular for Groove Coaster, a music game produced by Taito. 

What does this mean? NESiCA may soon be hitting other Round 1 USA stores very soon! With more and more games running on the NESiCA system, it would prove beneficial (and somewhat mandatory) for Round 1 to get its network running and its cards distributed to stores. Only time will tell. But for now, give the game a shot!