The return of Sonic... Blast Man?! - A 1UP classic from April 12, 2011

For almost as long as electronic games have been in penny arcades and the boardwalks of old there have been machines designed to test the strength and punching prowess of gamers. Some tested the hand grip strength of patrons, others Punching games have been part of the arcade scene for a long time and have never really disappeared. If anything they have evolved with technology and trends and have managed to keep on entertaining for decades.

The simplest type of punching game measures the punching strength and speed on some sort of scale. Most of the machines consist of a punching bag and an LCD screen. In some arcades these are ticket dispensing prize machines and have limited gameplay.

In 1990 Taito combined the punching game with the videogame in Sonic Blast Man. In it players wore boxing gloves and assumed the role of the over-the-top superhero Sonic Blast Man. Players were treated to simple scenarios going up in difficulty regarding speed and punching power. In the early stages our hero would get the chance to punch out a mugger. In latter levels he would get the chance to punch out a runaway truck, giant octopus and even meteor.

The character got a chance to shine on the Super Nintendo in two games. These titles were not like the arcade at all but instead side-scrolling brawlers like Final Fight or Double Dragon. The original title featured only Sonic Blast Man but the sequel introduced two new characters, Sonia and Captain Choyear, each with variations on the punching powers. The games were short and simplistic but gamers could take comfort in being able to punch opponents into oblivion.

Sonic Blast Man predated the over-the-top fighting of games like Capcom?s Godhand by more than a decade, yet was not the first or best game in the arcade to use the punching mechanic. Capcom had in fact beaten Taito to the punch (pardon the pun) in 1986.

The original Street Fighter arcade cabinet featured two oversized buttons that responded to the force applied to punches or kicks, from light and medium to hard. This game came out years before Sonic Blast Man and was far more interactive. Unfortunately for many arcade owners the pads were not always responsive and required routine maintenance. Gamers could not get into the early SF mechanics and the pads were quickly swapped out for the now standard six button control scheme. 

The punching mechanic was perfected in another arcade title, Hokuto No Ken (HNK), or Fist of the North Star. In in players assumed the role of Kenshiro and would play through scenarios made famous in the manga and animé series. Players donned hard plastic gloves and punched at targets timed with animations on the screen. The moves and techniques that were used in the comics actually made their way into the patterns employed in the game. It was a fun title but exhausting for the amount of effort, reflexes and timing required to get through levels. 

Taito is not hoping to topple HNK as the most interactive punching game ever but instead celebrate the arrival of the punching icon. Sonic Blast Heroes is not only getting a new arcade title but also a graphical makeover. As is the case with modern characters the hero himself is swollen to ungodly proportions. Aside from punching a new target in the arcade I really look forward to hearing the new soundtrack provided by their internal music group Zuntata.  

The Zuntata team celebrates 25 years in 2012. I had previously talked about the studio and a free album they published in Arcadia. Many game companies have come and gone in the past 25 years, it is rare to find a group that has not only survived the generations but has also maintained quality in their productions.

To celebrate Taito is publishing the Cozmo album which is a collection of the best from Zuntata. Arcade classics, console and handheld releases all appear on the album. From Battle Gear to Darius Burst, all of the catchy melodies are on the album. Check the track listing on the website and if there is a Japanese bookstore near you be sure to order a copy for yourself!

Do you ever play punching games in the arcade? If so which is your favorite? Do you have a favorite music team, or an underrated music team in gaming? I'd like to hear about it.

I bet you thought I was going to talk about the other Sonic announcement with this blog. But I'm not. Here is the video of Sonic with Sonic? 

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Ultimate Domain, a fighting game that never was.

Hello friends, today I bring you an arcade fighting game that never was. I’m always sad when I find out about a game that could have been, especially when there are screenshots, video, or even beta tests for fans to pour over. This was the case for the King of Fighter’s World. Then there were the studios that put some working prototypes in arcades like Capcom Fighting All Stars, and generated some press in the magazines.

There are also games that were never shown to the public, but managed to get exposure by accident like the role-playing-meets-fighting game Dragon’s Heaven. The things that made me the saddest were the fighting games that were 99% done, had already been testing in the arcade, and for whatever reason the studio pulled the plug. Such was the case for Ken-Ju, an arcade game that was also going to get a port for the Dreamcast.

I spent the end of summer, and part of fall 2023 moving many of my fighting game magazines, manhua, and rare game books out of the garage, and into my apartment. As I was organizing them I noticed there was a fighting game that I do not recall being released. Ultimate Domain was a collaboration from Atlus, and Racdym. The 3D fighting game got a short preview in the October 15, 1996 issue of Gamest. The magazine mentioned that they hadn’t covered an Atlas fighter since the Goketsuji series, aka Power Instinct almost 10 months previously, and that it had been almost an additional year in development before this was one revealed. What made Ultimate Domain unique was that it was 3D. All of the previous fighters from the studio were sprite based. Polygonal games were beginning to take over the various genres in the mid ‘90s. The technology worked great in things like racing games, and space shooters, but seemed to be a mixed bag with the fighting genre. Accurate collision detection in 3D didn’t have the speed, or flow that sprite-based hit boxes provided to audiences. Anybody that played Street Fighter II, and Virtua Fighter could relay how unique 2D, and 3D felt.

The Gamest staff didn’t get much time with the title. They explained that there were four playable characters in the demo, one of which looked like an animal man. The designs, and character selection art looked to be by Range Murata, the artist behind the Power Instinct games. The preview said that the stages seemed to have ring outs, and some of them even had low ceilings. To separate it from the other early crop of 3D fighters like Soul Edge (1995), Tekken (1994), and Virtua Fighter (1993) this game was supposed to feature super attacks like the 2D fighters. The characters had something called SOL (as in sun) Power, which had a separate meter under the traditional health bar. The magazine hoped to do a more in-depth article in the following issue. I didn’t have the following issue of Gamest so I had to track it down from an online bidding site, and wait for it to be delivered. It finally arrived in Fall of 2023, and despite how eager I was to scan the pages there was no further information about the game.

I checked the table of contents for almost every other issue in ’96, and ’97, and I never saw any further mention of Ultimate Domain. I couldn’t find any other details on it in any game forums, or Japanese web pages. I hit a dead end with this game. That was when I heard about a Playstation game that was published at the end of 1996 called Heaven's Gate. With no relation to the cult of the same name whose members committed mass suicide a year later. It was a shame because I would have loved to have seen footage of this title in the arcade. The screenshots that I scanned in for this blog entry were the only ones that I know of while the game was in development. I wish there was more I could share with you. I’ll keep digging, and if anything else turns up then I’ll be sure to share it with you. Were there any fighting games that you wish you had played? Or any unfinished / unpublished titles that you wanted to play I’d like to hear about it. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Welcome to Trader Sam's! - A 1UP classic from June 1, 2011

Hello weary travelers and worldly explorers. If you are in Southern California and of legal drinking age, there is a fun place to wet your whistle. The recently completed Trader Sam's in the courtyard of the Disneyland Hotel is easily one of the best themed bars in all of California.

The courtyard and pool area were recently renovated at the Disneyland hotel and a new water slide complex was built in the pool with an island-themed restaurant, the Tangaroa Terrace and the adjoining Trader Sam's bar filling out the reconstruction project. The renovations and new buildings were top-notch as one would expect from the Disneyland resort. The water slide for example it modeled after the old monorail station which used to connect the hotels to the park. There are also waterfalls pouring from either side of the retro-inspired Disneyland sign in memory of the waterfall that used to exist at the Disneyland Hotel grotto.

The Tangaroa Terrace and Trader Sam's are connected by an outdoor patio but the restaurant and bar are completely separated indoors. Island, explorer and tiki themes are repeated at every corner of the bar, helping to tell a rich story of its owner and founder. We'll learn more about the legendary Trader Sam in a moment.

The ornamental heavy wooden doors help block out the sun but are also the doors originally featured at the Polynesian Terrace at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. Once inside it takes a few minutes to let your eyes acclimatize to the bar and its tremendous personality. The bar is actually quite small, the occupancy of the room is around 47. This leaves many visitors standing around and enjoying the atmosphere or the outdoor patio night after night. This can also lead to very long waits for a seat at the bar or an indoor table. If you plan on going, think about traveling in a small group.

What type of bar would be adequate at the "Happiest Place on Earth" unless it too had a touch of the Disney magic? The bar itself it layered in tremendous detail work. Ornaments, masks, trophies, statues and photographs cover every inch of space on the walls. Each detail tells a story of explorers and adventurers seeking fortunes in lost continents, forbidden temples and dangerous jungles. The more details you look for the more you will find. Most everything in the bar has a sincere, albeit humorous spin on the typical tiki lounge.

The entire "Trader" theme is based heavily on the original tiki bar and inventor of the Mai-Tai Trader Vic's. A hearty thank you goes out to my wife's best friend Roger for treating us to the landmark Trader Vic's earlier this year and giving me a point of reference to how tiki bars are supposed to be done. Trader Sam's is actually an homage to the rich history that Disneyland and the Disney Imagineers have had with tiki culture for over 50 years. Adventureland was the most exotic of the original themed areas that made up Disneyland. The liberal use of Pacific Island art and culture helped frame the land, the masks, carvings, banners and ornaments were juxtaposed with traditional African art as well. The two most popular attractions in Adventureland were Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise.

The Tiki Room featured animatronic birds, flowers and carvings that sang and danced just above audiences. The attraction may be considered campy by most adults but it is still considered one of the more wondrous installations by younger audiences. Possibly the more famous attraction in Adventureland is the Jungle Cruise. The round trip around the rivers of the world features animatronic animals from Asia, Africa, South America and the South Pacific. This attraction ends with Trader Sam himself, a headhunter that is willing to make guests a trade, two of his heads for one of yours. After 55 years in operation guests have yet to take him up on the offer.

The motifs featured in the Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise appeared authentic but were also framed with a good deal of humor. Each of the scenarios on the Jungle Cruise calls for the “Cast members,” the skippers of the river boats to make as many jokes and puns as they can. Passing bathing elephants for example the skipper might say “It’s a good thing they packed their swim trunks.” The imagineers Rolly Crump and Harper Goff created these attractions at the height of the tiki scene in the USA. The art and inspiration for Adventureland was placed partly on the adventures featured in Tarzan comics and films as well as the movie the African Queen. These elements worked well with the lounge style atmosphere of the tiki movement. The Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise went on to inspire countless knock-offs and homages over the years. The magic of the attractions was captured and refined over the decades.

In Florida there was an Adventurers Club on Pleasure Island, a popular nightspot on Walt Disney World Property. It was a heavily themed nightclub featuring an elaborate collection of actual, reproduction artifacts and animated artifacts from around the world. The club hosts were improvisational actors whom stayed in character and often built followings with guests. The original concept of the Tiki Room was going to see the attraction as a restaurant where the birds and flowers would entertain patrons. That concept carried over into the early drafts of Club 33 where animatronic animals would speak directly to guests. Both ideas were cancelled during the building stages but the concept did not die. It eventually came to fruition decades later in the Adventurers Club. Sadly the club was taken down a few years ago with a majority of the artifacts going to Hong Kong Disneyland. Those that never got a chance to visit the club could see it in game form thanks to Garry's Mod.

Trader Sam's is much smaller in scope and scale yet also skirts the fine line between being too animated for its own good and just being light enough to rekindle those magic moments of early Disneyland visits. Part of the reason for this was because imagineers who also happen to be passionate fans of Disneyland had a chance to add their own input in the development of Trader Sam’s. It might sound odd but a good chunk of Disneyland construction and development is done outside of Imagineering. Or sometimes in the hands of people more concerned with coming in under budget than developing a quality attraction. It was refreshing to see a project in the hands of artists that understand the work of Crump and Goff and more important if that they could create something for modern audiences that did not insult the legacy. Freelance artists and former imagineers like Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily helped with the design and details of Tangaroa Terrace and Trader Sam’s. I understand that Kevin and Jody were standing on top of the bar painting details late into the night before it opened. Talk about being committed artists!

Disney has always enjoyed a close relationship with artists who also happen to be fans of the parks. Other notable retro-influenced artists like Shag enjoy working closely with the company. The influence of the original imagineers is apparent in the limited-edition prints that he produces. These types of artists made sure that every possible detail and nod to the masters went into the building of both Trader Sam's and Tangaroa Terrace. Even the fixtures are island-themed and reproductions of concept paintings for the Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room are scattered throughout both locations.

The love and attention to detail that inspired the Adventurers Club was rekindled in Trader Sam’s. Several of the club's gimmicks made it into the bar. The first are the barstools. A few of the barstools are rigged to lower themselves very slowly, so slowly that guests are unaware that anything has happened until they are almost eye level with the bar. These stools were taken from the Adventurers Club. The animated ship in a bottle was also brought over from the Adventurers Club. If a guest orders a special drink, the "Shipwreck on the Rocks" for example then the room darkens and the lights turn up on a model ship in a bottle. It begins tossing as waves rise up and a storm rages inside of the bottle. Eventually the mast snaps and the ship sinks under the waves.

Each of the drinks served in the bar has a funny name or an interesting story attached to them. The majority of drinks are inspired by scenes in the Jungle Cruise and clearly are written with fans of the park in mind.

These specialty drinks include the enormous Uh Oa!, the Hipoppatomai-tai, Mosquito Mojito, Ginger’s Pear-adise, Pirhana Pool, Ka-Blue-ie!, Shrunken Zombie Head, Rosita’s Margarita and the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum. There are even a few non-alcohol drinks for youngsters and designated drivers. Fruit-flavored cocktails including the Jungle River Sunset, the Skipper Sipper and the Schweitzer Falls help round out the menu.

There are other drinks that cause magic to happen inside the bar. The Krakatoa Punch is served in a tiki glass with an illuminated plastic ice cube. The drink glows red like lava. While the bartender is preparing it he encourages the guests to get into the spirit by ringing a bell and warning them of impending doom. The room darkens and the calm blue ocean projected behind faux window panes turns deep red and a volcano in the background erupts with a thunderous animated blast.

After a few seconds the bar returns back to “normal” and guests are free to enjoy the atmosphere. Each of the special drinks, which can be served in a collectable mug, bowl or glass, elicits some sort of theatrics. The Uh Oa! has a mini volcano in the middle of the bowl with actual flames shooting out. Guests are encouraged to chant "Uh Oa!" while they are served the dangerous cocktail. Those that are not setting their eyebrows on fire are usually busy looking at the details. The totem poles are easy to overlook for example. They have slowly moving eyes that seem to track patrons. These poles are inspired by those seen in the Tiki Room only they don’t sing.

Guests at the Disneyland Hotel and first time visitors to the resort get a sense that this bar is something extraordinary. Even some of the jaded annual passholders would have a hard time coming up for a reason to hate on the bar. Disneyland has a reason to celebrate with the opening of Trader Sam’s. It is a magical oasis tucked away from the hustle of the park. It is worthy of its name and legacy of Disney himself. I had the good fortune of visiting it on opening night and then a few days later, both times with my wife. Day or night the magic was still there. The only thing missing was our friends. Hopefully they will get a chance to check it out as well. Until that day we wish you all the best.

As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

I am thankful for you. The first post of 2024

Hello friends! I hope you had a great holiday season, and a wonderful New Years. Over here work was very steady, this was after a few years of a shaky market. A lot of my coworkers were let go, half the office was moved to Canada, and the remaining half (myself included) went to remote work. It was a nail biting few years, but I can say we're on steady ground now. My family had a modest but loving Christmas. I pray that good things came your way too. I wanted to start the blog for 2024 a little bit differently, and be a little more transparent with you. After a decade of writing here it turned out that 2023 was the most productive year I'd had in ages. There were two major reasons for that. First was writing a deep dive on the God of War series at the start of last year. It actually ran from January to March. This got me thinking about my favorite games of all time, which meant digging up, and reposting a classic 1UP series. The 1UP reposts through the summer, and winter helped fill up a large portion of the year, and hopefully gave you something fun to read. The other major thing that happened in 2023 was the release of Street Fighter 6.

I was so impressed by the work that Capcom had put into the game that it literally reignited the passion that I had for the franchise. It became an obsession that made me work extra hours all day, every day for months on end. This was both to play through all the content they had given us, and also to make a case as to why SF6 should be considered for game of the year. What I didn’t share with you was that putting together the series actually made me physically ill. I would get up early, work all day, and then immediately start writing, researching, and gathering screenshots for the 30-part series until the the early morning hours. I did this each day, every day, and even put in my time on weekends. When I was about 75% finished writing it I got extremely sick. If it weren't for an appointment I had already made with my doc I probably would have gone to the ER.

I was doing so poorly that I had to be honest about what I was facing. As painful as it was for me, it was equally scary for my wife, and kid. I needed to let the others I care about know what was happening. I messaged my brothers, mother, and best friend to let them know what I was going through. I reassured them that I was also getting medical attention. I didn’t share these details this with anybody else online, not even on my FB, or other social media pages. You were among the few to know. Thankfully I recovered, had a clean bill from my doctor, and a specialist, and became much more proactive about my health. What I went through I wouldn’t wish on anybody. Please listen to your body, and do not push yourself when you are exhausted. I slowed down my pace, and managed to finish the SF6 series. I also brought back 1UP posts to fill out the blogs for the rest of the year, and well through 2024.

That health scare got me thinking about the people, and things I love. I wanted to share much more about that on this blog. It was the entire reason I had started posting in the first place. Just one of the things I wanted to do through 2024 was talk a little about my fighting game collection. Although I wasn’t as active a collector as I was through the 1990’s I knew that I was sitting on some real gems. I began to bring my fighting game material out of the garage, and make room for it in my apartment. It took me a couple of weeks in September to do so. I planned on documenting, and sharing that collection here throughout the year.

The other thing that I wanted to talk about was how grateful I was to have visitors on the blog, on my social media, and even the people that occasionally shared the links on game forums. Whether you agreed, or disagreed with my posts, I'm glad for the conversations. I had more visitors through 2023 than at any other point in the history of my page. In fact I surpassed 500K views before the fall. One thing I considered were putting ads on my page to help make some money, but thought against it. There were so many independent game sites that Patreon, and a few ads sponsoring their pages. A lot of these people were serious about game journalism, and covering the industry. I didn't want that pressure. I’d rather write about the things I’m passionate about, without being focused on a deadline, or worrying about it becoming too niche. That is to say I didn't want this blog to be a main source of income. I wanted my page to continue to feel like a personal blog. One day I might post fan art of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and the next it might be a Chinese restaurant I wanted to talk about. If you enjoyed my stories then you were welcome to, but not obliged to support me on Patreon as well.

Speaking of not being in it for the money I’ve always enjoyed a handful of $1 monthly sponsors. Special thanks to Kevin, kasatushi, James B, Patrick, Mark, Tommy, Ben, James D, Allessandro, and Jeff. Thanks to those that followed me, but were not sponsoring as well. I had lost as many patrons as I had maintained these past few years. I’d like to let everyone know that their donations carried me through some of my toughest times. There were a lot of very personal things that had happened to me, and my family that not a lot of people knew about. Aside from my health scare in 2023 the hardest years for my family happened not too long ago. If you scroll to the bottom of my blog you will see a few years where the posts were sparse. It looked like I was washed out then, completely out of things to talk about. That wasn’t the whole story. A couple of years after I got married I started this blog, and began bringing over articles from 1UP, and Capcom-Unity. Things were going well with my newfound family, and my little slice of the web.

As my family was just getting settled the home that we were living in was sold out from under us. We were scrambling to find a place to live. Unfortunately my mother was in the process of selling her home as well, and we couldn’t find an apartment that we could afford with such short notice. A friend asked his parents if he could host us in the den of their second home. We lived in a single room of that house for a few years. It wasn’t easy, we had to keep up appearances that everything was fine to our relatives. We knew that our welcome could run out at any time. You can imagine that I had to put the blog on the back burner then. I was working long hours, and helping my wife with her mental health issues. I wouldn’t collect my patron’s donations until the end of the year so that I could make sure my family got a Christmas present. On more than one occasion I used the funds to pay for meds. I was humbled that I managed to keep patrons during my least productive years, and completely understood why many of them left as well.

Thankfully an affordable apartment opened up near my mom’s old house a few years ago. We moved in, and began trying to put our lives back together. Then COVID-19 happened. My job let a lot of staff go, including my supervisor, and manager. I managed to survive the cuts, and I began working from home. After a decade of therapy, new medication, and treatment my wife was in a much better place. Which meant that I was in a better place as well. This allowed me to put my focus back on blogging, and gaming. I cannot promise that 2024 will be the greatest year on this page. There was a lot I wanted to do, including doing more art. I honestly haven't touched my sketchbook in years! My goal was to post at least twice a week right here. I'd bring in classic 1UP articles until I had new content ready. New posts would most likely appear on Fridays. At the same time I would be helping my wife get back into podcasting. I’ll try to share those links here as well when we begin posting. I am thankful for everyone that has ever visited the blog. Thankful for those that left a comment, or dropped a message on social media. Please be safe, share your stories, and let’s try to make this year something to talk about!

As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Welcome to Death Vegas - A 1UP classic from January 23, 2009

We've made it to another Friday, hooray! What are your plans for the weekend? Anything fun happening? There's not much going on over here. Just relaxing and sleeping in a little. I did get wind of a new web-based fighter by our favorite indy fighting game developer Scott Stoddard. You might remember Scott better as the creator of the Capoeira Fighter series.

Scott has a new game called Death Vegas. It was created by his studio Spiritonin for Adult Swim. Fans of Metalocalypse and Robot Chicken, this fighter might be up your alley. But calling it a fighting game might be a little short sighted. This game doesn't play like Capoeira Fighter at all. Because of the control scheme and ability to read opponents moves in advance it involves a lot more concentration and faster reflexes than most fighters. If Capoeira Fighter were akin to Street Fighter Alpha then it would be fair to say that Death Vegas plays somewhere in between Killer Instinct and Primal Rage. Those arcade games used unique control schemes that gamers either liked or hated, there was no in between.

   

In addition to a dial-a-combo type gameplay Killer Instinct also incorporated a combo breaker system. A sort of forefather to the parry in Street Fighter III and the Revenge attack in Street Fighter IV. Death Vegas offers a sort of dial-combo move during special attacks yet also offers opponents a chance to block all those strikes. Primal Rage used joystick movements and delayed button releases (rather than presses) to perform moves and combos. Good players of Primal Rage had to be able to plan attacks and counter-attacks well in advance. Mashing buttons wouldn't get you far in either Killer Instinct or Primal Rage. The ability to read and react to every move in Death Vegas means the same thing. Players must be able to concentrate and plan the next few strikes in advance and that might put many gamers off.

The characters in Death Vegas are all unique and are scaled much larger than the characters in Capoeira Fighter 3. They are so large that they remind me of Art of Fighting sprites. Again, taking this game further from the Street Fighter comparisons. An extensive tutoring mode is included to allow gamers to learn the nuances for the game. A plot is used to pull the players through a mystery involving all of the characters they encounter on the streets and back alleys of the city.

Something that you might notice is the distinct character style that Spiritonin used in this game. The characters and game have a decidedly Sin City-meets-Killer 7 vibe to it. Very powerful contrast and carefully marked colors make out the characters and level details. All this adds a layer of detail and originality in this world of cookie-cutter 3D fighters. It also helps Death Vegas stick out in the world of web-based fighters.

Now this game isn't for everyone. The fighting can become very redundant with the computer-controlled opponent blocking almost all of your moves the further you get into the game. It can quickly become a test of concentration and looking for a mistake rather than a full throttle fight. Those that aren't hardcore fighters will want to pass on this title.

   

Death Vegas has some fun things going for it, the scale of the characters and polish of the animation and presentation shows that Spiritonin is only getting better with age. However this isn't likely to dethrone Capoeira Fighter 3 as the best web-based fighter. Check it out and let me know what you think. Oh yeah, and also have a great weekend! As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The William Birkin Toy Massacre - A 1UP classic from February 16, 2012

Hello friends, as long as we're talking about gaming toys I wanted to share a few more of my favorite figures. These come from the Resident Evil series.

I was always a fan of the boss designs in the first two games, the Tyrant and William Birkin's G-Virus mutation. The figures Capcom released were pretty big. They towered over the hero figures just as they did in the videogame. The cool thing for the Tyrant was a clear plastic heart filled with red dye. Pressing a plastic pump on his back caused the "blood" to pump through his heart.

As for the G-3 version of William, it could stand like the Tyrant, or when placed on the ground with a head swap could fully evolve into the G-4 version of the monster. It was a gruesome figure but not the most gruesome figure they had ever released.

A few years prior I had gotten a boxed set from Japan of the G-2 version of William. The figure was heavy and highly detailed. What made the set unique was a 45 minute video that came with it. It included the commercials directed by George Romero for Biohazard 2 (Resident Evil in Japan), as well as the making of the commercials. George as many of you know was in the running to direct the Resident Evil movie and had even written a script. His was far closer to the game than the action film series which was released later.

This figure is possibly the rarest Capcom figure I have and certainly the rarest Resident Evil item I own. Do you have any rare gaming collectables? I'd like to hear about them in the comments. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!