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DVD Title
 The Pachinko Theater: CR Godzilla
International Title
 CR Godzilla 3S-T Battle
Movie Length: 10 minutes Original Length: 10 minutes
Company: Newgin Release: 2006
Aspect Ratio: 1:33:1 Anamorphic: No
Region: 2 Discs: 1
  
Language/Sound:
Japanese (2.0 Stereo)
Subtitles:
None
Extras
· Menus (Japanese)
· Chapters (4 - Segmented)
· Trailers: CR Godzilla 3S-T Battle (TV Commercial)
· Behind the Scenes Footage (4 Minutes)
· 3-D Models
Captures
Review
Anthony Romero

This follow up from Newgin features a lot more content compared to the CR Godzilla: Coming Soon disc. The movie feature included focuses primarily on how to play the game, while also showing off the levels and characters. There is also a generous amount of footage included surrounding the live action segments. Unfortunately, those expecting a full presentation of these scenes will be disappointed. It would have been particularly nice to see the entire battle between King Ghidorah against Godzilla, Mothra and Minilla. Rodan, aside from the menu and a quick shot near the end, is pretty much glossed over in this release as well, although I guess that shouldn't be too surprising given that his appearance was intended to be a secret. In terms of the quality of this release, it's a pretty lackluster DVD all around in regards to the video, audio and extra presentations.


 Video:

It's probably not surprising that the video quality on this release is about on par with its pre-release predecessor. This means the disc features the same problem with over saturation, which does bring out the color in some scenes but also gives a washed out look to others. The worst offense in this case is the scenes around the day battle of Godzilla and King Ghidorah, in which the three-headed dragon's gravity beams completely blend into the background. Like the other DVD from the firm, this one also features an image which is notably soft, as apparently the company went a little heavy in compressing the video for this release, particularly given how short it actually is.


 Audio:

Another straight forward effort from Newgin here, as the disc features one Japanese audio track for the feature. The quality of the track is serviceable, without any inconsistencies noted during the feature itself. There is a slight error on the menu music, though, which is the ending title from Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995). The problem in question occurs when the music plays for more than a minute and a half, at which point the the audio gets a little harsh, like there was a problem in compression when they added the music.

Like the disc that came before it, this DVD is devoid of optional subtitles.


 Extras:

Not ideal, but a much better showing here compared with the first DVD based on the video game. First off, this disc has the same four minute feature found on the CR Godzilla: Coming Soon DVD, which focuses on behind the scenes segments related to the live action footage. Next up is a very short TV advert that ran to promote the pachinko machine. Finally, there is also a selectable shot that shows off the game's various polygon models for the monsters, a capture of which can be seen here.

One last thing worth mentioning about this disc is the way it presents chapters for the video track, as it's not the normal method. In total, there are four different options to skip to. When selected, though, these options start up short two minute segments from the feature, rather then using chapter stops, which will then send the viewer back to the main menu when done. Overall, it's not a very useful implementation of the chapter concept, but given the very short runtime it wasn't a really needed option here anyway.


 Overview:

Bottom line, this disc has a lot more to it compared to its pre-release predecessor. However, it still only features 15 minutes, in total, of actual footage and is going to be a tough sell to anyone looking to pick up a copy now from a third party seller.