It’ll Do

So, Konami has made various announcements today ahead of E3, one of which is a HD collection of the two main Zone of the Enders titles. Simply put: Yes. Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes. It’s a great series, Zones of the Enders, at least conceptually. Aside from maybe the Gundam franchise, it’s one of the most perfect examples of Japanese mecha franchises, and definitely one of my all time favourites. If it had any flaw, it was that it was developed by Hideo Kojima’s studio, which isn’t really bad thing except they’ve been so busy milking the Metal Gear Solid cow everything else has been pushed to the back.

The first Zone of the Enders game sadly was rushed, and so wasn’t very long and had a bit of an odd ending. It was still fun to play though, and I remember it fondly. IT was full 3D as well, with your mech – Jehuty -fully controllable in terms of movement and action. It was part twitch based, part blowing-bitches-up based, and as you progressed through the game you gained new abilities with which to take down foes. There were a handful of very distinct enemies, each with their own tactics that you needed to beat.

The second game Second Runner, I never ended up playing. It was just one of those bad timing things, I just didn’t have access to a PS2 when it was out, and then the whole world moved on to the next generation of consoles. It’s supposed to be better though, kind of like what the first game was supposed to be like, and I remember my friends telling me it had some great moments in it. The anime-style telling of the story segments appeals to me as well. My PS3 model isn’t backwards compatible, which was the only drawback with it as it meant I couldn’t go back and pick up these Ps2 games I’d missed out on, which is why this HD collection news is great. I’d much prefer a proper Zone of the Enders 3, but hopefully this collection will sell well enough to make it happen.

Of course, there’s more to the franchise than those first two games (well, not much more, admittedly). There was an anime film – Idolo, and series i, Dolores, which I got years ago. The film acts as a kind of prequel to the whole premise of the franchise, covering a key event in the universe, and the TV series is a separate story that takes place in and around the first game, but before the second. There was also a GBA game called The Fist of Mars, and I’m not sure where it comes in but it’s not really part of the main canon I don’t think. Still good though, and about one of the only games I play on my DS at the moment.

So yeah, that’s my day made, and it’s only just gone 10. Bring on E3!