mikeszekely

Yep, it was me. And I'll stand by it. Chronicle better than Jerrid? At least Jerrid had some personality! While Chronicle started off with some potential, he blew it by the end of the series. Chronicle would have been totally forgettable, except he had a mask. Now we can all remember him as the guy with a mask that wasn't Char. Besides, he was definatley nothing compared to Scirrocco, who was in fact the real rival villian. Sorry, a reoccuring butt-whoopings doesn't make you the rival character, Jerrid. Scirrocco was the final-duel-enemy-newtype. Now, to tear apart the rest of the cast, we have the Shrike team who, as Abombz was kind enough to point out, showed up for the purpose of dying. Sorry, I have to disagree on caring about them, though. They were just cannon fodder with names. Odelo was the only character who's death meant anything to me. Too bad he was a ass for half the series. Marbet, like Chronicle, started off with potential but blew it by the end of the series. Katejina was just ridiculous. "I'm an important League Milliataire figure. But I'm going with Chronicle. It's because I'm a spy. Okay, because I actually believe Zanscare's ideals. Alright, fine, it's because I blame the LM for the destruction of Woowig. Okay, okay, you got me. I really just like Chronicle." Nevermind the fact that we'd seen that before with Reccoa, who was at least a bit more convincing. Shakti was even more pathetic. "We're being attacked, but we shouldn't fight." And then later, "I'll ask my mom to stop the war, and it'll be all good." Right. And Uso? He was okay, but do the main characters need to keep getting younger and younger? I mean, 13? Come on! Why not just put Suzy in a corefighter? The rest of the villians were lame attempts to create memorable villians. And the rest of the "hero" chacters? Hell, they didn't even try there. Two for one sale on cardboard cutouts. Now throw in the bland Victory Gundam, the even more bland Jamesgun, Gunblastor, and Gun-EZ, and downright stupid and ridiculous enemy MS. The V2 was the only interesting MS in the series, and thankfully the story does pick up after they get into space. Now why do I think Gundam X was better than V? Because Garroad was a truly likeable character, you genuinely wanted things to work out for him and Tifa, once you learned more about Roybie and Witts it was hard not to like them, and while Shagia and Olba weren't the most exciting characters, at least they were truly sinister. Top that all off with the fact that, IMHO, the story was better. As for Zeta, yeah, Camille could be a jerk and a complainer. But unlike Amuro, he seemed to have more genuine reasons for his attitude. He was a genuinely dark character who seemed to suffer more hardship everytime it finally seemed like something was going his way. In fact, in Zeta, you got to know every character pretty well before many of them got killed, which made most of their deaths a lot more tragic than V Gundam's Shrike Team ("I'm a Shrike Team member! Whoops, I'm dead!" "I'll get revenge! Whoops, I'm dead!" "I'll get revenge..." ect).

Originally the Navy wanted a non-stealth aircraft to replace both the F-14 and the A-6, but they gave that up and launched an ATA program, which resulted in the A-12 Avenger II. In a 1985-86 agreement, though, the USAF was going to buy a number of A-12s to replace the F-111 and F-15E, and in turn the Navy was going to buy a carrier version of the winning ATF to replace the F-14.

Which would be great, except that it implies that the F-35 is supposed to replace the Tomcat. And that's just not the case. Success or failure of the F-35 is moot- the Navy went with the F/A-18E and F to replace the Tomcats. If they were really interested in having an ATF with emphasis on outdoing the Tomcat, they might have given more serious thought to Lockheed's AFX

Going up against Rafale's doesn't sound too farfetched to me. I mean, I know Iraq was fielding a few Dassault Mirages, and I think North Korea might have a few too. If France/Dassault is still being less than selective about who they sell fighters too, I could believe that the Rafale could end up in hostile hands. Of course, the F-35 isn't supposed to go up against the Rafale. That's supposed to be the F/A-22's job. If I recall right, someone in this thread likened the F-35 to a more maneuverable F-117... and suprise, that's exactly what the F-35's primary mission is supposed to be! The standard load for an F-35 is two JDAM's and two AMRAAMs, although I heard that the Navy wants it to carry a GBU-31, and the Marines want it to carry a GBU-32. I assume F-35s carrying those will do so in place of some or all of their missiles. The gun issue? Last time I checked, the F-35A (USAF version) will in fact carry an internal gun. A gun pack was developed to be carried by the F-35B (USMC version) and F-35C (Navy version) in place of one of the JDAMS. Maybe that's not the best setup for dogfighting, but I'm sure you'll all agree that it's better than no gun. Oh, and as for the USMC and USAF using the F-35B for CAS, where stealth isn't as important, the F-35 was designed to carry some weapons externally. Oh, and again, the way I read the original post, the F-35 isn't going to replace the A-10. The way I read it, the A-10 is going to get a nice upgrade, and the F-35B will be used in tandem with the A-10 for CAS. At the end of the day, I kinda like the F-35. Sure, it would have been a lot better if many different contracts went out to create specific planes for specific duties. But I definately think that Lockheed did the best they could with the limits imposed on them for the JSF design. Even if you don't like the F-35, I think we can agree that it's not Lockeed's fault, but the fault of the powers that be who wanted their specific requirements in a common, affordable design. Oh, and David, what delta F/A-22 are you talking about? The X-44, or something else? And about those upgraded F-15s, I think we are supposed to keep a few of them around, for just the reason you named- only 339 F/A-22s to go around.

Another thing, initially, the Daedalus and the Prometheaus weren't spaceworthy, and the crews died following the fold. After attaching them to the Macross and making them spaceworthy, the military crew of the Macross moved to the D and P, which would have left more room for the civvies in the main ship. As far as supplies go, I'll second what everyone else said: the Macross, D, and P were probably all fully stocked. Plus, they could salvage stuff from South Ataria. Oh, and yes, the Macross did have it's own factory or factories. I'm not sure where they got raw material from (perhaps South Ataria, perhaps run-down Destroids and Valks). But if memory serves me correctly, one of the Destroids was actually first manufactured aboard the Macross. I also have the impression that the Super packs for the Valks were invented/built aboard the Macross, too.

The way I'm reading it is that the USAF will buy a handful of F-35B's (last I heard, between 30 and 35). They will also upgrade their A-10 fleet. Both of those actions will be to bolster the service's ability to provide ground support. I don't think you're supposed to read it as the USAF is buying F-35B's to replace the A-10. And what are they thinking? Well, they're thinking that the A-12 program was cancelled, and they still consider the F/A-22 the highest priority (despite the fact that they're going to buy less than 350 now), but they've got to do something. The F-35 is supposed to be cheap (due to economies of scale [between the USAF, Marines, Navy, and Royal Navy, over 3000 F-35s are on order], the fact that the F-35 uses many off the shelf electronics, and a lower development cost since the F-35 borrows from the F/A-22), so the USAF can use some of those, but no way can it do the job of the A-10, so the USAF will start upgrading the A-10 to keep it around for awhile longer.

In the end, I learned to like Victory Gundam alright... I guess. My gripes with it? It had a nasty beginning, much worse than even ZZ Gundam. The characters were, by far, the worst in a UC Gundam series. And while I learned to like the V2, the rest of the mobile suits sucked. Oh, they sucked big, even the Victory. Finally, despite the UC setting and the reoccuring UC themes, the show just didn't have the same atmosphere that was found in the origninal, Z, or ZZ. Gundam X felt more like those three than than V did, and no, Gundam X did not suck. From what I've seen, Gundam X is by far the best of the UC Gundam series (I have yet to see Turn A or G), and is actually a better TV series than V. I definately have to disagree with Graham. Z Gundam was the best Gundam TV series. Excellent story, characters you love to hate, and excellent mecha.

So Fusion is bad, because it tells you which area to explore in, but Zero Mission is good, because you're limited to where you can explore by your equipment? See, I'm tired of hearing this lame argument that Fusion is the bastard of the Metroid family because "it's so linear," simply because they tell you which areas of the station to go into. Zero Mission is equally linear. In both games (and the GBA Castlevanias, for that matter), you're forced to do different tasks in a predetermined order, simply because you cannot open certain doors or progress down certain paths without certain equipment. The only difference is that in Zero Mission, you have to walk to a dead-end to figure out that you need to do something else first, while in Fusion a computer tells you which of the station's seven areas you should be looking around in. Let's stop giving Fusion a bum rap! Zero Mission = good! Fusion = good! Justice League: Injustice for All = bad! As for Crystal Chronicles, try and find four friends with GBA's and link cables that want to come over and play. If you are successful, count the number of times you have to wait for one of the other guys/gals to do something in their menu on their GBA, even if you don't see it on the TV. Finally, remember that the single-player mode is a waste of time. No, I stand by my original statement: sticking the Final Fantasy name before Crystal Chronicles was simply SquareEnix's attempt to get name recognition and make a quick buck off of a lackluster game that really has nothing to do with Final Fantasy.

Working for a major videogame retailer, I can tell you I've played most of the GBA games to be released. Some have been good, some bad, and some not too bad but overly generic, ala most of the SNES's lineup. But here's the short list of must-have games for the GBA- Megaman Zero Megaman Zero 2 (I love all Megaman games, but for non-Mega fans, the Zero series is simply the best) Metroid Fusion (call it linear if you must, it was still fun) Metroid Zero Mission Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (All three are excellent, but Aria was the closest to Symphony, and the GBA Castlevania I reccomend the highest) Wario Ware Inc: Micro Mega Game$ Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past w/ Four Swords Sonic Advance 2 Aside from those, I'd also suggest Yu-Gi-Oh! World Wide Edition: Stairway to Destined Duel if you at all familiar with the card game. It doesn't really have anything to do with the plot from the anime/manga. It's basically just the card game, with the official rules. As far as link cables go, I say pick up third party after market cables, maybe even used ones, and only after you find games that need them. I mean, I got a GBA to GBA cable for free, but I've yet to use it, even after I got a second SP for my wife. I got a GBA to GC link cable after I got Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion, and I did use it to unlock original Metroid and the Fusion suit in Metroid Prime. And that was the end of it. I did not use it to take Chao from my Chao gardens in the Sonic Adventure games and put them in Sonic Advance 2, because I didn't bother with the Chao is Sonic Adventure 2, and because even if I did, the Tiny Chao Garden in Sonic Adventure 2 is a waste. And despite all Nintendo's hype, I can't think of a single (useful) case of GBA to GC connectivity beyond unlocking stuff in Metroid Prime (which I could have done with an Action Replay, in any case). Oh, and before anyone says anything about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, let me just point out that FFCC is a mediocre game at best that isn't really even a Final Fantasy game... SquareEnix just slapped the FF name on it because they know ravenous fanboys and fangirls would buy it up for the name alone that way.

A damn fine question, as I'd definately like to see one that has X1-X6. For the bonus games, Megaman Soccer and Megaman Battle and Chase. Then all I'd need is a US port of Super Adventure Rockman and Rockboard.

I think that's GameCube. If I missed something and it IS multi-platform, make sure your PS2 is modded. Rumor is that Sony will no longer license 2D games for US release AT ALL, so it'll likely be a japan-only release. It's PS2 and Gamecube, and it's being developed by Capcom of America. All the Japanese are getting so far is a box set that has their older PSone remakes of Rockman 1-6 with Rockman X7, meaning that the collection we're getting is by far better. As for that no more 2D games on Sony consoles, that rumor's been flying around since the original PlayStation was just a baby. I, for one, would take it with a grain of salt. Viewtiful Joe (2D gameplay, however they rendered the graphics) was one of the best-selling GC games in 2003, and retro-gaming is very in. Sony has already allowed a new Intellivsion collection and Midway's Arcade Treasures to be published for PS2. I'm confident PS2 owners will get their Megaman. Speaking of, go reserve the Anniversary Collection at Gamestop! If you do, you'll get a slick T-shirt that has a pic of 8-bit Megaman jumping, surrounded by the bosses from Megaman 2. Underneath, it says "I Beat the 8 Master Robots." I'll try to get a pic for you guys later.

Kinda old news in the Megaman community, but I thought I'd share it here for those that cared (especially since Megaman Zero 2 was the best Megaman game and one of the best GBA games in 2003). Capcom announced Rockman Zero 3, for a late April release. That hopefully means that we'll get it as Megaman Zero 3 in the US in the fall... and means that like last year, 2004 will see a ton of new Megaman games ranging from good to bad to mysterious. As of right now, we can expect the following: Megaman Battle Chip Challenge (GBA, March) - Not looking so hot Megaman Anniversary Collection (PS2, GC, May) - An EXCELLENT collection, Megaman 1-8 plus the two arcade games, with lots of bonuses for fans of the series. Megaman Mania (GBA, May) - I'm hearing that they might just call this one Megaman Anniversary Collection as well. This one is a collection of the old Gameboy Megaman I-V, in their original form as well as a cool recolored version that makes them look more like NES games. Megaman Battle Network 4 (GBA, Summer) - Like 3, this one comes in two flavors, Tournament Red Sun and Tournament Blue Moon. I've heard that Capcom has actually reworked a lot of the gameplay in BN4. Hopefully it'll be more fun than the last one. Megaman X Command Mission (PS2, GC, Summer) - A turn-based Megaman RPG featuring X, Zero, Axl, and a handful of new characters. Looks and sounds very interesting, but the director of CM is the same director that's been screwing up the X series lately... Megaman Zero 3 (GBA, not officially announced for US, but you can bet your sweet bippy we'll see it sooner or later) - Zero's getting a new weapon and some new abilities in the third of series that's given us the best Megaman games since X4.

What is this "Anaheim Journal?" Worth looking for?

Hopefully someone has dropped Animeigo a helpful email regarding this then. they can stop the stores in the usa/canda form selling them. but it will be hard to stop their imports trough other means. They can, and HG might, but Animeigo? Probably not. Just like Bandai hasn't really done anything about the HK boots of R1 Gundam W, G Gundam, or Stardust Memory.

Right, there's 117 planes you can fly, over nine pilots.

Okay, this will be the post for the official list of planes in Airforce Delta Strike. This is everything I have unlocked at the moment, and yes, I did use an Action Replay to unlock some that I shouldn't have yet. If you unlocked any planes that are not on this list, please send me a PM so I can update this post and give you credit. As stated before, these are the names as they are written in the game. Any innaccuracies, blame Konami, not me. This is also the number order as they are found in the game, not necessarily best to worst or vice versa. 1. F-5E Tiger II 2. MiG-21bis Fishbed N 3. Su-20 Fitter C 4. X-29A 5. MiG-29SMT Fulcrum C 6. Su-27LL-UV(PS) 7. YF-17 Cobra 8. 9. 10. X-32A 11. 12. F/A-22 Raptor 13. Hunter FGA9 14. 15. Su-24M Fencer D 16. F5D-1 Skylancer 17. Jian-Ji 8 II M Finback B 18. F-20 Tigershark 19. HiMAT 20. 21. F/A-18C Hornet 22. 23. 24. 25. Su-35 Flanker E 26. YF-23A Black Widow II 27. 28. 29. Su-7BMbis Fitter A 30. F-106A Delta Dart 31. F-4E Phantom II 32. FC-1 Fighter China 33. MiG-23ML Flogger G 34. 35. X-31A 36. F-16C Block 50 Fighting Falcon 37. F-15C Eagle 38. 39. 40. S-37 Berkut 41. 42. 43. P-38L Lightning 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. Lightning F-6 49. Jian-Ji 6 Jin 50. YF-12A 51. F-104G Starfighter 52. 53. 54. MiG-27K Flogger J 55. F-111F 56. 57. 58. Su-37 59. 60. 61. 62. T-58VD Flagon B 63. Yak-38 Forger A 64. 65. Jian-Ji 7 MG 66. F-5A Freedom Fighter 67. A-5A Vigilante 68. 69. AV-8B Harrier II 70. 71. Yak-141 Freestyle 72. X-32 B 73. F/A-35B 74. 75. 76. F-105D Thunderchief 77. Su-25A Frogfoot 78. 79. A-10A Thunderbolt II 80. F-117A Nighthawk 81. Jaguar GR1 82. 83. Tornado GR1 84. 85. 86. 87. A-7B Corsair II 88. A-4M Skyhawk 89. Buccaneer S2D 90. 91. 92. 93. F-1 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. RF-4C Phantom II 119. P-3C 120. SH-3H Sea King 121. KA-52 Hokum B 122. Mi-35 Hind E 123. AC-130H Spectre 124. B-1B Lancer 125. B-2 Spirit 126. C-5B Galaxy 127. SR-71A Blackbird 128. U-2A 129. E-2C Hawkeye 130. E-3C Sentry 131. YAL-1 ABL 132. Tu-160 Blackjack 133. M-17 Mystic 134. A-50 Mainstay

Pick the fastest plane you have, fly to a wheelie thing, slow down, and approach from the front so the wheelie is on your left. Switch targets until the orange target (I guess it's the wheelie's bridge) is highlighted, then fire four missles right at it. Jet off as fast as you can to the next, and repeat. Don't waste time with any of the other targets. I've figured out by myself, that you just need to shoot the bridge of each wheelie. I've been using the F-105, which is pretty fast. I have it armed with the air to surface missiles, which lock-on at longer range than regular missiles and seem to do more damage. The problem is, I still can't kill all the wheelies before one of them makes it off the map, there are just too many of them. I don't know how many there are, I'm guessing at least 12 (4 groups of 3?). Seems like some of the planes don't have afterburner. SU-25 Frogfoot and the F-8 or is it an A-7 (I always mix up the two)? Also found that if you time the release right, the Frogfoot's FAE bombs can be quite effective against the wheelies. Starting to get frustrated. Graham Man, I wish I could remember what plane I used. What element(s) can you pick from? That might help me narrow it down. But let me tell you, if you think that mission is frustrating, wait until you get past it and do some really frustrating missions. And David, sorry, I didn't pay attention to the F-4. I may not even have bothered to fly it. As for the F-14, I don't think I unlocked it. Personally, I wouldn't count on any high degree of realism that gave a stealth rating of 3 (highest in the game) to the Boeing X-32. (Not to mention that the X-32 turns much faster in AFDS than the F/A-22.)

Exactly. The Simpson's is still probably the only show worth watching on TV anymore. Of course, by the time the movie comes out, I'll be playing with a PS3.

Pick the fastest plane you have, fly to a wheelie thing, slow down, and approach from the front so the wheelie is on your left. Switch targets until the orange target (I guess it's the wheelie's bridge) is highlighted, then fire four missles right at it. Jet off as fast as you can to the next, and repeat. Don't waste time with any of the other targets. Right now, I'm stuck on a mission where you have to fly into these underground bunkers. Problem is, the mission objective targets only show up when you're underground, so I find myself accidentally going back into bunkers I already took out, getting lost, and running out of time. I'm working on a list of all the planes in the game. I have a fair number of them listed already, but it seems that there's an unlockable ninth pilot, with his/her own specific set of planes. Maybe I'll just post what I have sometime, and edit it as I unlock more planes.

The F/A-22 will be able to beat the Eurofighter, Gripen and Rafale, but the Eurofighter is supposed to be better than the Gripen and Rafale and any older planes the US has, including the F-15, F-16 and F/A-18. Graham Well, I don't really have any info who was supposed to be able to beat who, and I meant no disrespect to the Eurofighter by catagorizing it with the others. My point was simply that the F/A-22 is supposed to beat all the other fighters in or going into service. If it wasn't... say it beat the Gripen and the Rafale, but not the Eurofighter, then the YF-23 would have won.

I think Mike meant that it's vastly superior compared to any other fighter in or near service, not the YF-23. Exactly. In my original post, I compared the F/A-22 to other fighters "in or going into service" to deliberate exclude the YF-23. I'm certainly willing to concede the YF-23 could be superior in lord knows how many ways, since so much of the info is still classified. The USAF would only have settled for the lesser fighter providing they felt that their fighter was still better than everyone elses. By that, I meant that the F/A-22 is expected to beat the Eurofighter, the Gripen, the Rafale, the Super Flankers, etc. BTW, I heard that in the end, the YF-22 won the ATF competition not because they felt that it outperformed the YF-23 in any catagory. Rather, the YF-22 was picked because it was expected that a carrier variant could have been made to replace the F-14, whereas the YF-23 would have simply been too big.

But that's the whole point... it's not a jack-of-all trades. It can carry a larger payload and has a greater range than the F-16, and that was first and foremost what it was supposed to replace (David can tell you better than I how it stacks up to the F/A-18 and the Harrier). The Navy and the USAF have the Super Hornets, Raptors, and upgraded F-15s for other roles. Only the Marines want to use it in heavier, close-combat role, and they can mount all sorts of external weapons on it, as they're less concerned with stealth.

I heard the same story. The USAF brass thought black planes were more badass so F117s are black instead of a more low-viz purple or blue. Actually, if I recall correctly, the USAF brass didn't believe that a stealth aircraft would work, so they had it painted black so that it only would fly at night. Now they're probably changing their minds since the stealth concept has been validated.

What happens if a Valkyrie gets both of its legs blown off? It would lose both reactors, wouldn't it?

As noble as that might sound.... it would be hard to take 2 stablished franchises and simply fuse them together. Remember, Abombz, that you're talking about the company that fused Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada and got away with it for this long. Considering how little attention Southern Cross gets, and how seperate MOSPEADA and Macross are, I would say you are incorrect. Look at how many continuity questions are constantly brought up by Robotech fans. Harmony Gold did a horrid job. I never said they did it well or correctly. I'm saying they did it, and got away with it for this long.