So when SEGA announced that the sequel, Oratorio Tangram, would be ported to the Dreamcast there was a collective sharp intake of breath amongst fans. Could they really pull it off this time? Porting from Model 3 arcade board down to the Dreamcast, wouldn’t that just be as bad as what happened to the first game on the Saturn? More importantly, would it have a new TwinStick peripheral?

All those questions were answered come the game’s release and, for us, this game ultimately ended up defining the console in so many wonderful ways.

Oratorio Tangram, or just Oratan, was originally released as a flagship Model 3 arcade game. Much in the same way the first game had championed the then new Model 2 board, Oratan’s The first two iterations, specifically M.S.B.S. 5.2 and 5.4, used Model 3. It was a graphically impressive game too and quite the step up from what had preceded it.

Oratan was in many ways obviously similar to the first game but it evolved and streamlined much of the core mechanics quite substantially. The same dash based combat was still very much present, as were the distinct usage of ranges. What had changed though was how these core elements worked. Notably the dashing no longer had the same punishing amount of freeze at the end of each manoeuvre, so the tactical element had been sadly simplified in favour of something more reflexive. That said, the dashing functionality did receive a work-over to rectify this.

From Watari dashing, that allowed you to change your direction perpendicularly mid-dash, to the equally new aerial dashing. Whilst the core dashing was tactically simplified the amount of choice in approaches countered that and still offered a new type of tactical variety to the player.

Coupled with this was the updated setup for circle strafing in close combat. Instead of the graded manual control of the first game, the player now had access to a more digital quick step function. Allowing a quicker and simpler entry into the complexities of melee combat. This understandably made close combat encounters faster paced and prone to jump cancels, to avoid melee swipes, but this too had a counter; in the form of a new downward slice to curb cowardly players.

One of the biggest additions though was the new usage of the turbo buttons atop the TwinSticks. Coupled with various trigger inputs, the core weapons for each VR had a form of status modifier applied. Right turbo effectively powered up each shot, whereas left turbo was normally more defensive. Tactical usage of these abilities were also crucial in herding opponents.

So whilst all the manual elements and stringent tactics of the first game had been somewhat eschewed in favour of a more digital but broader menu of attacks, the game hadn’t been ruined as consequence of that. That in itself was and remains quite remarkable.

When the Dreamcast and its specs were finally announced it was clear there would be a disparity though. Admittedly it was nowhere the same kind of gulf that had occurred between the Saturn and the Model 2 original, but it was substantial enough to have fans concerned. In hindsight SEGA did the right thing by ignoring this reaction entirely and keeping very quiet throughout the Dreamcast game’s development.

When the game was finally released at the end of 1999 it was clear that the port was pretty much perfect. Whilst there were graphical discrepancies, notably in the heat haze which was entirely absent in the Dreamcast version, it was nowhere near the amount people were expecting. More importantly though, the game played identically and the TwinStick peripheral offered a refreshingly surgical level of precision to the player’s input.

What really impressed people though was that this port was online, using the console’s modem you could play against other people you’d never even met. Back in 1999 that was a concept that blew a fair few console gamers’ minds. You could even customise the colours of your VR too, something that even the game’s mecha designer Hajime Katoki had done allowing fans to download his colour schemes as well (the latter ended up spawning toys to that effect too).

In short, the port was nigh-on flawless and had in the end catered to the fans’ concerns but simply remedying them head on, rather than trying press based damage control (that seems more and more common in gaming these days).

From the beautifully hand-drawn cover art by Hajime Katoki, to the epically large instruction manual (requiring a special case to house it) an enormous amount of love was poured into this game. Even the TwinSticks were engineered above and beyond what was really required and remain the ultimate peripheral for the Virtual On series to this day.

In some ways, and this is remarkably rare, the Dreamcast port of Oratan was arguably more ground breaking than the arcade version that birthed it. Not only did it showcase the potency and the then unique online nature of its host hardware but it did so almost effortlessly. As games and ports go then this, for us, justified the price of entry.

Tamashii: 9/10

Whilst this review is for the Dreamcast port, the subsequent XBLA version based on M.S.B.S. 5.66 (with online multiplayer) is regarded as highly.

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

There’s a really cool little interview with Hiroyuki Maruyama, CEO of the wonderful Japanese developer G.Rev. The interview also goes into a detail on what happened to the Senko no Ronde DUO DLC. Thanks to Matty Manzarek for the heads up.

After a bit of a wait, we’ve finally got our hands on the limited release Robot Damashii toy for the White Dingo GM Sniper II, as originally seen in the Dreamcast game Rise from the Ashes. Whilst we’ve already reviewed the standard GM Sniper II toy, this variant is very much a gaming specific mobile suit. As such, whilst the toy is pretty much functionally identical, the context of it is something we wanted to cover in more detail. Especially, as the White Dingo team themselves in effect birthed a specific development studio within Bandai Namco games. Naturally, we’ve also included a variety of gameplay videos at the end of the review to give the toy some context.

Back in 1999 a new Gundam game was released on the then new Dreamcast. Entitled Rise from the Ashes, it was in first person and had the player boxed into a claustrophobic cockpit. Much like its Sega Saturn Blue Destiny lineage, the game didn’t feature any playable Gundam mobile suits. You were Feddy grunts on the frontline, tasked with taking back Australia from those pesky Zeeks in an array of pretty standard GM mobile suits.

The protagonist’s team was that of the White Dingos. An elite group of special forces mobile suit pilots given missions that required almost surgical precision. The player took on the role of the team’s commander, Pierce Rayer. Naturally, a silent but suitably stoic pilot. Over the course of the game, conspiracies were found and eventually a Zeon plot to escape the Earth too. In the last mission of the main game, the player was equipped with a top of the line RGM-79SP GM Sniper II. This time though in White Dingo colours.

The final mission had the player square off against a Zeon ace whilst destroying a multitude of HLV ships to thwart the Zeonic plan at reinforcing their compatriots in space. The game even had a nice nod to later events in Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory as one of the escaped HLV’s managed to make it to North Africa.

Rise from the Ashes was a game that engendered a very strong response from the fans. So much so that the team that made it went onto call themselves under the White Dingo moniker. As a rule, Team White Dingo was arguably the best at making a variety of Gundam games, annoyingly many of which have never been released outside of Japan. Subsequently, the White Dingo GM Sniper II has also gone on to be featured in a multitude of games since.

The latter is an important point as the Tactics Battle mode in the unfortunate Journey to Jaburo featured a specific White Dingo segment (with some nice animation to match). This in turn would prove out the theatre of war concept later seen in the far superior Lost War Chronicles. This toy then, is a lovely little nod to the mythos it represents. Whilst it’s sad that it was only released in limited quantities, the fact it was made at all warms our heart.

Toy: Robot Damashii White Dingo GM Sniper II
Price: 3,150 yen
Size/Weight: 19.5 x 15.2 x 5.6 cm / 160g

As with the standard figure, the lack of gimmicks are borne from the almost utilitarian design itself. It’s a very sturdy and well built figure that can hold a number of dynamic poses very convincingly. The paint job and sculpt are also exemplary, especially considering the relatively inexpensive asking price. Though, as this was a limited edition figure, expect to pay more if you want to get hold of one now.

Overall then this, like the previous figure, is a wonderful little toy made all the more brilliant for its connection to a lovely Dreamcast games that gives us all manner of fond memories.

As we suspected the White Dingo variant of the GM Sniper II is now available for pre-order as a Tamashii Web special purchase. Fear ye not though, as places like Tokyo Hunter are stocking the toy on your behalf (as Tamashii Web specials are Japan only purchases unfortunately). Considering how much we loved the recent GM Sniper II toy, we literally cannot wait for the White Dingo version as the Dreamcast game that birthed it is very close to our heart.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from Mobile Suit Gundam 0080 to review. Specifically, the new GM Sniper II from the Robot Damashii range. The gaming significance of this design is also quite interesting and this review is meant as a companion piece to the forthcoming “White Dingo” version.

Back in 1989 the world of Universal Century Gundam was a far simpler place. To commemorate Gundam’s then 10th anniversary, Sunrise commissioned the first side-story mini series for the saga. It would be a first in many ways for the saga, from Haruhiko Mikimoto’s involvement as character designer to the absence of Yoshiyuki Tomino behind the directing helm. In addition, it would be the third time that the wonderfully talented Yutaka Izubuchi would pen the mecha design for Gundam (with the prior two instances being Gundam ZZ and Char’s Counterattack obviously).

What was different this time though for Izubuchi, was that he was going backward through the timeline and re-working classic designs with a more modern aesthetic. This also allowed him to pen designs that were new as well, from the beastly RX-78NT-1 Gundam “Alex” to the more interesting RGM-79G GM Command and RGM-79SP GM Sniper II.

Interesting in the sense that the latter two designs were instrumental in the creation of Bungie’s Master Chief, as well as its Mjöllnir armor wearing Spartan progeny, across the various Halo games. This is more to do with the fact that the base GM line in Gundam were meant as mass produced front line “soldiers” and Izubuchi instilled that in an almost implicit way with his take on the updated versions. Unsurprisingly, that was more than a good fit in a functional sense when it came to Bungie bringing the spirit of their Marathon games to consoles (bear in mind that the cyborg in Marathon looked very different compared to the Spartans in Halo, so this Izubuchi inspiration is quite a clear cut one as to when the design direction changed).

Whilst the GM Command does have a hand in mecha gaming, as it’s been in numerous titles over the years, the GM Sniper II actually has a longer and more distinct history behind it. Based off the first RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom, the GM Sniper II was a considerably more potent and high performance unit (rivaling the stats of the original RX-78-2 Gundam in some areas). What would bring the design into the hearts of gamers, was when it was given as a final upgrade to the “White Dingo” team in the Dreamcast game Rise from the Ashes. Since then, the White Dingo variant has had a big presence across the Gundam gaming saga.

This version of the GM Sniper II though is from 0080, as the colours and armament are more standard. In the anime they typically get obliterated in double quick time but their brief appearance was a memorable one. This toy then has a quiet lineage behind it and it’s arguably one of the best Robot Damashii toys we’ve had the pleasure of handling.

Toy: Robot Damashii GM Sniper II
Price: 2800 yen
Size/Weight: 19.5 x 15.2 x 5.6 cm / 160g

As you can see, the joints and articulation on this figure are very thorough – allowing for a large array of solid poses as practically the entire toy is covered in various joints. Due to the simplicity of the design itself, this has made the whole figure feel very solid. There aren’t many gimmicks though, bar the sniper “scope” on the head and a nice little cockpit hatch; instead the focus has clearly been on re-creating a classic design with modern day toy building techniques. Whilst there is technically no real die-cast elements in the figure, the joints are reinforced with metal pins that hold everything together (as well as keep the various poses very firm). The toy comes with six pairs of additional hands, for either holding the sniper rifle, beam sabres or just with its hand outstretched for the more dramatic of poses. The shield can also be affixed in two different ways onto the arm, either back or side facing.

This then is a simple and classic design done good. As a toy it’s a huge amount of fun to play around with and if I had any more GM Sniper II’s I’d have probably spent my time making a small battleground across the carpet at home. If you’re a mecha fan that only really goes for the protagonist designs, then this probably isn’t for you. However, if you enjoy your mass produced spirit then this toy ticks all the right boxes. For such a tiny price tag it would be a crime not to at least pick one of these up, that way when the White Dingo version comes out you can at least have the two figures do a fist bump.

The ongoing Tamashii Nation 2010 show has received various bits of coverage, with AkibaHobby’s being one of the most extensive. From the White Dingo GM Sniper Mk.II variant Robot Damashii shown above (still no release date though), to a veritable avalanche of Super Robot Wars OG toys, from the PTX-007-03C Weißritter, to the the R-Series (as in R-1, R-2 and R-3). The latter offers the potential for a chogokin SRX down the line (with some anime/engineering magic). In any case, this year’s show has had a lot of surprises.

Notable of which is the teaming up of Studio HalfEye and Bandai to make a new transformable Escaflowne chogokin, most probably based on the older and very expensive garage kit. Hopefully it will be better than the awful Yamato toy. Whilst it’s somewhat kept quiet, Escaflowne did receive a PSone game back in the day (but as you probably guessed it was a bit dire). Even the Ver.Ka Temjin made a showing too, as well as a brief presence from Dann of Thursday from Gun X Sword.

All said and done though and it is admittedly not in a mecha game at all, we’re also very excited about the announcement of the Gunship from Nausicaä in Bandai’s new Formania line. Put simply, it looks bloody amazing.

GAGraphic has finally previewed an upcoming and somewhat unassuming Robot Damashii toy, that of the wonderful RGM-79SP GM Sniper II. This version is using the Gundam 0080 colour scheme but this design has a worthy gaming history. Whether we’ll see the previously shown White Dingo variant remains to be seen however. The sculpt does look brilliant on this toy though. In any case, this version of the GM Sniper II is released later this month for 2,940 yen and you can pre-order it here.

A rather interesting animated gif has appeared over on the Tamashii Web front page. Despite talking of a collaboration with Hobby Japan, the interesting aspect is that the font used for “Ready” as well as patented SEGA blue sky background (not to mention the green hatching) makes us think that a Virtual On Oratorio Tangram toyline could be on the way. Bear in mind that the Tamashii brand is squarely aimed at collectors so we could be in store for something rather wonderful. In any case, we’ll know more on the 25th June.

To commemorate the year since the XBLA port of Oratan 5.66 was released, Yamashita-san has posted a somewhat vague but interesting entry to the official blog. Now, we already know that the port did very well but it turns out that the sales figures also exceeded SEGA’s own internal expectations (though actual concrete sales figures weren’t specified unfortunately). Couple this with the various online questionnaires over future Virtual On ports as well as newer entries into the series and this starts to make more sense. The most obvious follow on from Oratan is a home port of Force, something that Marz tried rather dismally to cater for. Despite SEGA not supporting Force in terms of updates, the arcade community is still very active across Japan so a proper home version (with online multiplayer) would make a lot of sense. It would also help justify the crazy price tag of the limited edition HORI twinsticks that were released not that long ago. Considering that After Burner Climax is also doing quite well, a game that Yamashita-san’s team also worked on, there’s probably an understandable amount of chin stroking going on within SEGA when it comes to their pretty epic arcade gaming back catalogue. Apparently, there will be one more final Oratan 5.66 column quite soon and with any luck some more overt announcements might surface. We’re hoping for an all new game, as that’s what most fans actually wanted (scroll down to see the questionnaire results).

Updated: Turns out SEGA are already planning a Force port for the 360. Thanks to Excellen Browning for the heads up.

Over at AmiAmi they’ve shown the new Robot Damashii RGM-79SP GM Sniper II that’s set for a September release this year. Effectively a special forces GM, it comes very close to and exceeds many of the RX-78-2 Gundam’s abilities in the saga. This toy, like the others in the Robot Damashii range, boasts some impressive articulation yet it still retains a remarkably faithful sculpt. This is also one of Yutaka Izubuchi’s most loved mobile suit designs and one that played a vital role in the latter parts of Dreamcast game Rise From The Ashes (and the Premium Disc too). The above version is actually the colour scheme seen from the design’s original version in Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket though. The White Dingo livery, from the Dreamcast game, has yet to be given a release date (though it is planned). In any case the GM Sniper II has graced multiple Gundam games over the years and is, in part, responsible for the aesthetic direction for the Master Chief in Halo as well (something the Sniper II also shares with the RGM-79G GM Command). You can pre-order the toy here.