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Episode 13 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...rum/index.php?topic=11616
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Think you know your composite input from your component input? How about your SCART from your VGA? What the heck does the 7.1 mean in your audio setup?
This time around we will explore various video and audio setups that span the length of gaming. We discuss the different setups most commonly available to us gamers, explain a bit of the tech behind them, and offer up our favorite ways to get the most out of your consoles.
So whether you are the type who has been trying to perfect a set of Quadraphonic headphones, or don't even know what Quadraphonic means, it might be time to optimize your audio and video options in order to get maximum pleasure when using your collection.
Show notes
Links mentioned in the show:
Rock Band setup tutorial: http://youtu.be/-GZdZX9f_-U
Music: Jackal (NES)
9:28 Small Scores
2:02:18 AV
5:05:47 Outro
Mark Morgan is one of the more recent composers, he's been around for awhile now but most of the Japanese legends were already going strong by the late 80's or early 90's. Mark Morgan did not get his first video game project until 1995.
Dark Seed II was the first game released that had Morgan's signature dark musical tones. His style is known for creating an immersive, chilling, and crushing atmosphere within unique worlds. The Dark Seed games did have art design by H.R. Giger after all, seems like the perfect fit! This is quite his strong suit, but he is quite capable of more lighthearted and upbeat scores.
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Zork: Nemesis was the next game that released with him at the helm of the music and was a major departure of the series' roots, but he got to stay around and do the music for the more lighthearted follow up Zork: Grand Inquisitor.
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In between the two Zork games Mark began the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with Interplay, a well loved and respected developer and publisher that has long since lost its magic. But, Morgan entered when the company entered a new Golden Age, sadly one that could not save the company from itself.
BioWare's very first video game, Shattered Steel was the first project between Zorks, the game is basically a MechWarrior rip off. Depending on your experience with the games that is either awesome or kinda blah.
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The second project between Zorks was the sequel to one of the best first person shooters of the mid 90's, Descent II. For those like me that have played Descent you know much the music rocks, and Descent II is no exception!
1997 was a busy year for Mark Morgan and included one of his biggest successes, and a game that completely failed. On top of Zork: Grand Inquisitor he did the music for NetStorm: Islands at War. NetStorm sold badly as it was completely overshadowed by Ensemble's classic RTS Age of Empires, and Activision's marketing budget was effectively zilch.
Now for the big success, that partnership with Interplay was about to pay off with one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Mark Morgan and Interplay released Fallout onto the world in 1997, and RPGs were never the same afterwards!
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I will use any excuse ever to pull this video out.
Morgan and Black Isle Studios went together like corn meal and milk as the two came back for Fallout 2, a sequel which may just be better than the original!
Black Isle and Morgan continued their string of home runs with the incredibly unique, critically lauded, and the absolute definition of a cult classic, Planescape: Torment. This classic RPG came out in 1999 and completely failed on the sales charts.
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The same year, 1999 saw Morgan and other longtime partner Activision part ways, as the last Activision published game he worked on, Civilization: Call to Power released. This was much more successful on the sales charts and was not instantly relegated to the bargain bin. He did not work on the sequel however.
The following year saw Morgan's last work for the ailing Interplay, the entire company would be mostly dead in less than 3 years after this. 2000's Giants: Citizen Kabuto would be Morgan's last work in the entire video game industry for almost a decade as he completely switched over to score television shows. For Giants Morgan got the chance to work alongside the current Elder Scrolls superstar Jeremy Soule, in a meeting that the Greek Titans couldn't replicate if they tried.
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His list of TV credits during this period is quite short, One Tree Hill, Hawaii, Kojak, Killer Instinct, and Shark. Morgan worked on other shows throughout his composing career, and that shows how talented of a musician he really is!
In 2009 Morgan returned to the world of gaming, this time working for Electronic Arts to produce the original music for Need for Speed: Shift, his first racing game!
After a long time separated Morgan was finally reunited with long time employer Brian Fargo as he was brought on board as part of his famous Kickstarter campaigns, part of the stretch goals rather.
Upcoming games that will include Morgan's music include Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and possible vaporware Prey 2.
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Well, preparing to graduate stinks! Research projects stink! Geothermal wells REALLY stink!...
Know what doesn't stink....indie bundles!
Ever since my last blog, I have been super busy with school and work...and building a new computer! I was going to buy one, but decided building one was way cheaper for what I had wanted. I'm quite happy with the decision, and only regret not splurging on a higher power graphics card (even though my NVidia 610 GT is really fine and it is just an insecurity issue...I mean everyone else has better ones, why shouldn't I?!).
With the recent aquisiton of a desktop, as opposed to my crappy laptop, I've been sucked into the world of Steam sales, Free to Play, and Indie Bundles (indie gala Collossus and Humble bundle Android 5). And since my consoles have been left to collect dust this past few weeks, I figured these games deserved a bit of blog attention.
Team Fortress 2
First off is everyone's favorite hat simulator. Not much to really say here, except that I have an uncontrollable urge to get more items. Interestingly enough, the economy outside the game is almost more of a draw than the game itself. Then again...it could just be that I'm going through withdraw from my days as an item merchant on Maplestory....
Beat Hazard Ultra
If there is a surefire way to get me into a game...add music dependence. Not sure why, but I am addicted to rhythm games. Beat hazard uses your music to create a crazy seizurefest....er i mean twin stick shooter. So far, the power rangers theme has been the most intense level i've been able to generate. As of right now...it's 3.50 for the complete pack on steam. Go buy it....I'll wait.
Dungeon Defenders
I haven't gotten nearly enough time to play this (mainly because my girlfriend doesn't have it...but she has TF2, so see above). It's a quirky tower defense / shooter/ thingy. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it once I get far enough in, but so far it has a steep "you need to max your level or play with people to stand a chance" curve....which sucks, cause I generally dont play with random people. Other than that, I'm having fun.
Super Hexagon
This runs on a flash drive, so it has gotten played far more than any other game on this list. It's an "impossible game" type of maze game, where the only goal is to dodge walls along a hexagon. I'm terrible, but the music is awesome so I don't mind.
Uplink
If I could get one game to run on my flash drive, this would be what I would wish for. This hacking simulator has been a blast so far. You have to preplan your hacks, everything from buying new computer parts and security programs to bouncing your connection through multiple computers. The simplicity really lends well to its mood, as it really makes you feel like you are breaking an old school computer network. Totally recommend. Also, if anyone has a portable version lemmie know!
There are a bunch more games to talk about, but I really haven't gotten to play too much of them, so i'll leave them for another blog post.
As a side note, I picked up a few console games from a sale at best buy, so I'll prob have a post up soonish about Red faction: Armageddon and Farcry 3 (or as I've been calling it, "cabelas dangerous hunt").
Till next time, Smell ya later!
~Neo
Collection (not counting cpu games...gotta do them later): 741
Backlog count: 274
% complete: 63%
Looking to get into digital PC gaming? You are? Well well well then, let me tell you: Steam's a great place to start. Valve's digital distribution giant has an easy-to-use client that houses all your games, a huge selection of titles to buy, and the famous Steam sales where you can pick up new games for criminally low prices of as little as one or two bucks. A lot of my favorite games on there are indie titles, made by individuals or really small teams. Indie devs typically have no tyrannical management to worry about, and they also tend to have a true passion for what they make. As a result, it's very common for fresh ideas and unbridled creativity to shine through their work!
Whether you're unfamiliar with this side of gaming or you just want something new to play, Steam happens to be running a huge sale at the moment: The Indie Spring Sale, going through March 29th. Countless indie games on Steam (if not all of them) are discounted, many at 75%+ off. It is absolute madness - thankfully, a wonderful kind. And hey, maybe you need a little guidance? A recommendation or two? Well, here are a few of my personal favorites that you can pick up on the cheap.
Note: Steam features a decent offline mode that works if you've signed in on your current computer before. But if you want to know which games are DRM-free, so that you can back them up wherever you want and play without an Internet connection, check out this handy list.
Gravitron 2
You pilot a space lander with thrust controls, similar to Gravitar or Oids. Gorgeous neon vector (!) graphics, combined with great flight & shooting controls make it an instant arcade-style classic. Every time you finish your mission exploring the underground depths of an alien planet, a countdown begins and intense music plays as you must escape to the atmosphere before the planet itself blows up. Exhilarating.
Thomas Was Alone
Excellent puzzle platformer: Graphics are slick but minimalist, and the story is told through an awesome narration. Gets pretty emotional. Even though you play as squares and rectangles!
Swarm Arena
VERY fresh, unique fast-paced action game with hints of strategy. As a glowing ball, you move around the arena to pick up little blips of light called drones that will swarm around you. Taking out your opponent - human or AI, offline or online - requires building up your army and swinging them using momentum to break through the other army, to strike the other colored ball. Tons of fun and something that's never quite been done before, to the best of my knowledge. You can get a better idea of the gameplay by watching a trailer.
Super Hexagon
An action game in the purest sense, Super Hexagon is an example of a simple design executed to perfection. You are a tiny triangle rotating around the middle of the screen to dodge incoming walls. That's it. And it's really difficult. But with practice you get a better feel for movement and you learn the patterns of the incoming walls, and it's really satisfying once you can survive for longer than five seconds. Also: The chiptune music is absolutely jammin, and the whole game pulses to the beat. Man, it's great.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Take a stroll through the most beautiful pixel-forest ever imagined, use the ancient magical powers of sworcery, battle horrible beasts, gaze at the moon. A modern adventure game, and it also has a bizarre-but-excellent sense of humor.
Ben There, Dan That! / Time Gentlemen, Please!
Two hilarious point & click adventures, bundled together. Almost any item combination you can think of will yield funny dialogue! And a lot of the humor actually comes from poking fun at quirks of the genre, so if you're a fan of these kinds of games, the Dan & Ben collection is a must.
The Polynomial
Explore the space of the music. Pop in your own tunes or listen to what's already there, and fly around incredible visual feasts as the lights pulse to the beat. There are enemies to shoot if you really want something to do, but you can turn them off. There are a LOT of settings you can play with - it's a gigantic visual music sandbox.
Super Laser Racer
A top-down racer with neon vector graphics, not quite as slick as Gravitron 2. But the racing can be a lot of fun, and the soundtrack is killer.
Data Jammers: FastForward
An action game that has you zooming down digital highways, racking up as many points as possible. All the different ways to squeeze points out of the level really make it interesting - there are collectibles, but then there are enemies. You can slam into enemies for more points, but that takes away some of your life, which regenerates over time. So it becomes a game of balancing your life bar while weaving in and out of the different lanes, exploiting every little opportunity for a higher score.
And Yet It Moves
A unique papery visual style combined with a strange ambient soundtrack and the ability to rotate the entire world make this a very interesting platformer indeed.
The Path
A dark, creepy, stunningly beautiful adventure inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. It blurs the line between videogame and notgame, and some traditional gamers are turned off because it's too "artsy". But if you're okay with a change of pace, and you can enjoy something that breaks the mold, I wholeheartedly recommend The Path. (just remember, it is seriously creepy)
I-Fluid
You are a drop of water, and there's a whole house out there to explore. Slick graphics, and some really cool 3D platforming. Just watch out for paper, stove tops, etc.!
Criminy, and it just goes on and on. There are many more I could mention. I could continue heaping praise onto the games I love forever and ever, on and on until the end of time. Or close to it. And then there are the bunches of indie games I haven't played and look great. But I'll cut it off here so this post isn't too too long. In summary: There is an enumerable amount of quality titles out there, and if you feel like giving a few a go, now's a good time to do just that!
Hey, you! There's this really tough student that's driving us all nuts! Your gonna go beat him up, right?! Right! Now get to it!
Here we go again! Kenka Bancho 4 is the sequel to Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble for the PSP. This beat'em up is about Yuuta, who transfers to a new school full of tough kids, because he wants to beat up the strongest student there. When he arrives, he learns that he needs to get the student's attention to be able to meet and fight him. To do that, he needs to beat up all 300 students at his new school!
Being the sequel to Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble, the core gameplay remains the same, but with a few differences. You are no longer required to do stuff by a time limit now, for example. You can still customize your character and his fighting moves, so that's cool. Another neat little feature is that you can rename all the students at your school. Odd, but still neat.
Another thing about this game is fighting with honor. For example, you should never just walk up to a student and hit them. To initiate a fight, you should use the Menchi Beam instead. The Menchi Beam is a laser eye beam that signals another student to fight you. Upon using it, you will trade insults via a mini-game where you press a button at the right time. If you win, you get the first strike. If they win, they hit you first. As I mentioned before, you must fight with honor to remain a cool badass. As such, you shouldn't use weapons, just your bodily techniques to fight.
Overall, this is one hell of a game, and a great improvement over Badass Rumble. This is one of those rare cases where the sequel is better than the prequel.
When it comes to the world of video games some of the biggest and most influential names all come from the male gender. You got your Nolan Bushnells, Yu Suzukis, Shigeru Miyamoto, Nobuo Uematsu, Yuzo Koshiro, Warren Spector, the list goes on and on and seems nearly endless. So, I wanted to start putting the spotlight on video game music, something that most of us love and can quite easily make or break an interactive experience.
To start this series off I wanted to avoid the overdone artists, it does not take much time to find any information on Nobuo Uematsu or Koji Kondo for example, and what better way to start than with the rare female composer who has worked on many popular titles but still exists largely in the shadows?
Without further ado, the Compendium opens and begins reading an entry on Yoko Shimomura.
Yoko Shimomura graduated from Osaka College of Music in 1988 and quite quickly found herself working at Capcom during its Golden Years in the arcade. It would take her a year before she ended up working on music for an arcade game though. That game? Final Fight. She only did one song and was uncredited for the work however.
She went back to the Famicom World where she created the soundtrack for Adventures in the Magic Kingdom, and it turns out that she has quite the affinity for Disney! The next game that she did most of the songs on that the Western World saw was the NES game Code Name: Viper.
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She would soon find herself back in the arcade realm where she composed the music for the beat'em up The King of Dragons and finally moving onto a little unheard of game called Street Fighter II. You have probably never heard any song in this strange, quirky, and stereotype ridden fighting game, but least of all this one.
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Go home and be a family man!
For the rest of her years at Capcom she was mostly just a member of a large composing team for such games as Mega Man 5 and Breath of Fire before she left Capcom in 1994 and began working at a totally non-influential fringe developer Squaresoft.
When she first started at Square all of her work (like the entire company) was limited to the Super Famicom with the games Live A Live, Front Mission, and a game that no gamer could possibly dislike, least of all its music, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
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That's right, in less than 10 years Yoko Shimomura found her music gracing arcade fighting tournaments worldwide and also the most beloved Mario games not made by Nintendo. Quite a resume is building up so far.
She would continue working at Squaresoft through the rest of the 1990s. Her list of games continue to build and her credentials grow higher and higher with games like Parasite Eve, which shows a more suspensful part of her writing range. She ended the decade composing the mixed PS1 release of the Mana series Legend of Mana.
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And that foreshadowing I blatantly threw in your face back at the beginning of this text comes back to finally pay off! Yoko returned to the world of Disney to compose the soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts, every game in the series.
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After the release of Kingdom Hearts she broke away from Squaresoft to work as a freelancer and was hardly alone at this time since the mighty RPG giant merged with Enix and bled talent for a few years. But, Square-Enix kept her on the staff for the Kingdom Hearts series where she enjoys success to this day.
Kingdom Hearts is not the only series that has been built up by her music. She returned to the Mushroom Kingdom to work on one of the spiritual successors to Super Mario RPG, the Mario & Luigi series. She has done the music on all of them so far, but no word that I can find if she returned to work on the upcoming Dream Team.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wercpciDx4k
She also returned to the Mana series with Heroes of Mana, but we all forgot about that game.
In recent years she has worked to build musical scores for another new series, composing the music for the Wii classic Xenoblade Chronicles alongside her fellow Square alum Yasunori Mitsuda and returned to the world of Aya Brea in The 3rd Birthday alongside one piece of the talent that Square did not bleed, Tsuyoshi Sekito.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNR-wsFAfiU
Gamers will also be treated to her music in her first foray in the Final Fantasy series with the soundtrack for Versus XIII whenever that decides to come out, until then we will probably play some more games that she had her hand in, hopefully a few more of us will be able to find out if Yoko Shimomura put her stamp on it.
After pondering the merits of the various paddle titles out there for the Atari 2600, I started thinking about other games that I would recommend for the system. When it comes to Atari 2600 games, value (monetary and fun) or "bang for your buck" is an important factor for beginning collectors and others who primarily collect for other or multiple systems (i.e. without a specific Atari 2600 focus). I tried to narrow the cost down to games that I typically find in the wild for $10 or less, so it will not include those loose $20 copies of Star Raiders that you see on Craigslist.....sorry to disappoint some of you.
I am beginning with a list of my top 25 "bang for your buck" 1-player games and following that up my favorite 10 multi-player games for the system. Multi-player games were the best when I was growing up; back then, we didn't have the internet and I have fond memories of going over to friends' and relatives' houses to play. But,........I digress.
I am also including a list of few other harder-to-find, or more expensive games (yet most of them are still around $20) that I really enjoy playing should you be so inclined to shell out more cash or sweet tradez. None of these recommendations are in any particular order of my preference, I simply compiled this list while going through our database and looking over my collection.
Continue reading Banana's Best Bang For Ya Buck 2600 Games
With nearly all my family out of town this week I really capitalized on my newly obtained free time and played a TON of NES games. So ignore my past whining about being nervous about not having enough time to complete my challenge. Barring some unexpected event I'm feeling pretty confident now. I was able to cross a whopping 12 games off since last blog 
After having sooooooo much fun with Vegas Dream I thought I'd spend some more time gambling my pretend cash away. I played Caesar's Palace to scratch that itch. In order to get the best ending you need to leave with at least $140,000 after beginning with $1000. After some simple math and asking someone who had previously finished it off it seemed the best method for getting rich quick was going to be getting $3500 and then betting it all on the 40:1 odds of the Wheel of Fortune. After several hours of playing I was finally lucky enough to get a 40:1 payout and then promptly sped off in my new Ferrari-ish thing........probably never to return 
Not getting enough of that sweet sweet gambling action I was also plugging away at Casino Kid during the same time. The goal in Casino Kid is to beat 10 Black Jack dealers and 10 Poker Players which will eventually score you $1,000,000 which can be used to buy into a poker game with the final opponent. Things were going pretty good at first and then I hit a big bump when I had to win $50,000 playing Black Jack with the max bet being a measly $1,000. After many many failed attempts, when I was almost ready to give up, I accidently stumbled upon some extra options by pressing select during the match. Apparently after a certain number of hands you can actually force the guy to bid everything all at once. This made things go a lot smoother from that point on. Now that I know that I'm actually looking forward to tracking down a copy of Casino Kid II to try out.
Sticking with the slow paced games I plugged in Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. I had pretty high hopes for this game as it seemed quirky and I usually like that kind of thing. It turned out to be a bit disappointing though. With the odd setting and characters I was really hoping for a very comedic game. I have no idea why they went with the vegetable theme though as the story of the game was quite serious about kidnapping, an underground resistance and a little bit of pain and suffering. Really not what I was in the mood for with a game called Princess Tomato.
Videomation, like Taboo, is not really a game but more like really awful video creation software you can run on your NES. So I made a video of a baby crawling down the middle of a road. Enjoy!!
Wasn't really sure what to expect from Bram Stoker's Dracula, but I was hopefully for something enjoyable. It wasn't the worst action game I've played, but it wasn't overly memorable either. Each stage has a short time limit in which you need to make it to the end of. A lot of the bad guys can easily be avoided instead of confronted and there are a TON of secret areas and items scattered throughout the game. I don't have a problem with any of those parts really. The parts I found annoying where the boss fights/mid-boss fights and a few particular areas in which it seemed the only way to progress was to jump into spikes and take the damage. Granted there were a lot of secrets in the game so its possible I just missed a couple secret entrances in order to not have to use the damaging spikes to progress, but it was pretty lame regardless. And literally all the boss fights just suck. But at least if you duck in the correct spot after killing a boss it looks like your character is farting up a storm 
Konami has quite a few decent titles on the NES, but I think Bucky O'Hare might be my absolute favorite of the bunch. I used to watch the show as a kid and have a few of the toys, but I was completely unaware that there was a game for the franchise until well over a decade later. Its got 5 different characters that can be recruited and swapped to on the fly. For an action game its actually quite long, but it doesn't get stale as the types of levels are incredibly varied. Really awesome game that you should definitely check out should you have the chance.
Since I seem to like LJN games a bit better than many others I'm never scared to pop in a new LJN game to try. That was the case with The Incredible Crash Dummies and I didn't regret it. The boss fights were pretty sad, but otherwise I thought it was a decent game. You go back and forth between playing one level at a time as a guy with a unicycle for legs and a guy who can walk normally. Each level is designed specifically with those characters in mind and it works out well. It was fun to navigate through each slightly maze like level with these two different types of characters. The pacing felt pretty good by changing the play style after each area. Not a great game, but a good game.
Joc & Mac is a game that I'd played a few times in the Arcade as a child. Never had the chance to try the NES one until more recently though. The backgrounds were gorgeous, but otherwise the game was pretty forgettable. Its short, its easy. Not much else to say.
Totally Rad most likely holds the record as the game I rented the most as a kid. I loved that you could use any of your magic spells right from the start of the game, particularly the transformation spells. I was never able to beat the game as a kid, but I did beat it once as an adult about 5-6 years ago. After playing a lot of other action games recently and recalling some tactics from my last successful at the game it wasn't too hard to finish this time either. Its not prefect, but I'm very nostalgic for this game so I hold it in high regard.
I've heard that Lifeforce is like the beginners version of Gradius. That may be what frustrated me the most about it. I felt it was much harder than Gradius. I really hated a lot of the level design such as the areas that you need to shoot to pass through (and many of them regenerate if you're not moving quickly), or all of stage 3 (those arcs of fire are savage!!!). The final escape wasn't very much fun if you were at the slowest speed either. Definitely not my favorite shooter.
After being disappointed with my last Konami game I thought I'd pop in another LJN game, Wolverine. At least if I was disappointed with this game it wouldn't be much of a surprise. Much to my delight I really liked it though. Don't get me wrong though, Wolverine's name shouldn't have been anywhere near this game. Its extremely un-Wolverine, but its still pretty fun. You don't really have to kill to many enemies and mostly just run and explore each maze-like area until you find the correct door to leave. The gameplay mechanics are really smooth so they make running and dodging pretty enjoyable. You get two consecutive boss battles at the very end of the game, but they are both pretty anti-climactic. The rest of the game up to that point was very fun though.
And lastly I played an NES "classic" that I had been neglecting, Maniac Mansion. I had a lot of trouble the first few times I played, but once I figured some things out it was a lot more enjoyable. Some of the humor was pretty good, but like a lot of other point and click style games of the era many of the puzzles seemed a bit to obscure for my tastes. Overall I had a good time though even though I had to call the "space police" like 4 times because I couldn't figure out how to get them to bust in and save the day.
If my math is correct I've got 5 more games to beat until I hit that magical 100 game mark and I've got about 20 days left to do so
2013 NES List
Sesame Street Countdown
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters
Shooting Range
Space Shuttle Project
Double Dare
Win, Lose or Draw
Othello
Whomp Em
Dragon Fighter
Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle
Family Feud
Tale Spin
Platoon
Gotcha!
Gun Smoke
Kiwi Kraze
10 Yard Fight
Tom & Jerry
Wrecking Crew
Hatris
Time Lord
Orb 3D
Wheel of Fortune Jr
Wheel of Fortune Family Edition
Captain America and the Avengers
Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune Featuring Vanna White
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle
Bo Jackson Baseball
Jeopardy! Jr
Jeopardy!
Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary
Cowboy Kid
Crash n The Boys: Street Challenge
Galaga
Color A Dinosaur
Millipede
Popeye
Sesame Street 123
Sesame Street ABC
Sesame Street Hide & Speak
Soccer
Classic Concentration
Fisher Price I Can Remember
Fisher Price Perfect Fit
Mickey's Safari in Letterland
Mickey's Adventure in Numberland
NES Open Golf
Pictionary
Chessmaster
Anticipation
DK Jr Math
Donkey Kong 3
Urban Champion
Balloon Fight
Pinball
Qix
Hollywood Squares
Twin Cobra
Flintstones Rescue of Dino & Hoppy
Tiger-Heli
Winter Games
NES World Cup Soccer
Defender II
M.U.S.C.L.E.
MTV's Remote Control
Spot The Video Game
Spy vs Spy
Taboo The Sixth Sense
Gemfire
Monopoly
Legend of the Ghost Lion
Jackal
Rad Racer
Rad Racer II
Arch Rivals
Deja Vu
Nightshade
Mickey Mousecapade
King's Quest V
Vegas Dreams
Magic Johnson's Fast Break
Touchdown Fever
Caesar's Palace
Casino Kid
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
Videomation
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Bucky O'Hare
The Incredible Crash Dummies
Joe & Mac
Totally Rad
Lifeforce
Wolverine
Maniac Mansion
Future Plans - I've been working away on Track & Field II again. I'm currently stalled out on the final 3 events. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it off very soon. Also been working on POW, but I'm having some trouble on like the 4th stage. Hopefully I'll be able to break through the barrier on each of those games before too much longer.
As most of you know, I recently sold a large lot of Atari 2600 games to help raise a little funding for the site. Our own Razor Knuckles was the proud recipient of this lot and I am happy to say that it greatly bolstered his 2600 collection and has sparked what I have seen as a genuine interest in the system. As an Atari 2600 collector, it makes me smile knowing that others (especially those much younger than me) are still enjoying this system, even though is greatly.....er......"graphically challenged" when compared to more modern systems.
Recently, Razor Knuckles picked up a few more games and some paddle controllers, which he proudly displayed in the "small scores" thread. I asked him to PM me if he wanted some paddle recommendations, but after thinking about it for a bit, I decided that since it had been so long since I posted an Atari review (and to get Zagnorch off my back ....see I did the wink thing, so it's cool), I would give some opinions on paddle games for the 2600.
Continue reading Up Crap Game Creek With A 2600 Paddle
Hey everyone!
So a friend of mine asked the question "Do you still use strategy guides?". Now by strategy guides he meant an actual physical copy, not an FAQ or walkthrough on the internet. I made a video response over on my YT channel. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OowBVsUYE5I . For me it is mainly about convenience but I also find that official strategy guides are just way too expensive, sometimes they can be more than the game! It is not the games fault, its the maker of the guides(Prima comes to mind). The companies make these "Collectors Edition? strategy guides and everyone that picks up a copy of the games feel almost obligated to get the guide to go along with it. I cannot tell you the amount of people that were picking up the guide when I went to the release of Halo 4 back in November. All in all I just think that everything that I need I can find online and avoid the unnecessary shelling out of money that I could be using to get another game.
SSG Out!
(I started this one a while ago, but I only came back to revise it after reading about Crab's "Unloved" series. You gotta bring that back, man.
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Every game series seems to have a black sheep; a game that while may not be all together bad, is generally looked down upon compared to the rest of the series. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (CSQ) is not one of those games. Being an example of early non-linear game design on the NES, CSQ is packed with features that are commonplace in modern gaming, such as a day/night cycle, towns with conversant NPCs (who retreat indoors during the night), and a fair-sized world fully realized in 2D with no overworld movement. While the game certainly wasn't alone in the non-linear arena during it's day, it was certainly one of the more unique ones, featuring a story that is, well, dark and bleak.
The game finds Simon Belmont, protagonist of the first Castlevania game, broken and wounded from his battle with Count Dracula. Seven years have passed, and the land has become a cursed place, full of roaming monsters and zombies. Transylvania's only hope is for Simon to take up his whip again, gather the scattered parts of Dracula, resurrect and destroy him once and for all.
What actually follows this is several parts unconventional game design and several parts bad translation (which in my opinion is the games worst "feature"). While the game has some typical "Engrish" statements that were common during the early days of the NES, CSQ's translation made the game quite difficult to beat, as the hints provided by certain townsfolk often made no sense, though in an interview on G Wie Gorilla one of the series creators, Koji Igarashi, revealed that the townspeople were "liars", deliberately dolling out bad information to an unsuspecting Simon (and CSQ players as well). Still, despite this the game remains very playable even to this day, possessing an atmosphere of doom that has never really been duplicated again in the series.
As far as game design is concerned, CSQ took many of the arcade-style aesthetics of the first Castlevania and "Nintendo-fied" them. Remember whipping candles to get weapons? In CSQ weapons have to be bought or found, with a few are in hidden locations. The points system is also gone (which served nothing more than providing extra lives anyways) and since the game world is linked together in a non-linear fashion, there are no traditional level bosses, opting instead for a design similar to Metroid, but with less verticality.
Over the years CSQ has taken quite a critical pounding, and in some respects the critics are right. There are many flaws CSQs design that, in retrospect, may have been bad choices. The lack of direction, for example, can leave the player wandering the environments in confusion. One clue, the notorious "Deborah's Cliff" clue, requires the player to do... Well, no spoilers, I guess. Pundits have blamed the translation, though re-translation of the original Japanese game has revealed most clues add nothing helpful. Another common theme amongst haters is the difficulty, or lack thereof. In fact, once one figures out the vague clues provided by NPCs and found all the relevant hidden items, the game is ridiculously easy (though it will still take you a couple of hours to beat), with much of the remaining difficulty in either enemies taking advantage of Simon's "knock-back" flaw (that could drop you in the drink multiple times in a screen) or the strangely large amount of false blocks throughout the games' mansions. Also, things can be a bit grindy. In order to progress you will have to "farm" hearts (currency, remember) from enemies, which can take a while. In the first town alone you will need 200 hearts to purchase the required items (you start with 50). Granted, after the first mansion you'll have plenty of hearts, but if you have to continue you'll loose all of them (even though you respawn wright where you died). Yet even with that, in my opinion, CSQ manages to hold up better over time than the original Castlevania (and in some respects, better than Castlevania III) due to its original design.
So I beg of you, especially if you carry either an old grudge from childhood or one based on some no-talent dink from Youtube (*cough* angrynintendonerd *cough*) take another look. Approach it with an open mind old school-style (maybe even get paper and a pencil and make maps with notes) and if you do so, I think you'll find that CSQ is worth more than a short look by even the most jaded gamer.
Before my wife and I moved, I had to make a very tough decision. You see we had just about a month to pack everything up. This meant I’d have to pack pretty much my entire video game collection. But of course I’d have to leave at least something out if I had a spare hour here or there to actually play games. I decided that the one console I’d leave out would be my Dreamcast (kind of a no-brainer I suppose). And I’d need to also leave a small handful of Dreamcast games unpacked. But how do you choose? Who knows what you’re going to want to play, right? By the time all was said and done I had narrowed it down to just two final games -- Phantasy Star Online Version 2 (more on that in another post) and Sega Smash Pack Volume 1.
It might seem kind of funny to leave out a console to play a bunch of emulated games. But ultimately I was really pleased with my decision. When I wasn’t getting sucked into PSO, I had “12 Great Games” to explore -- most familiar, but some new to me -- and from various genres depending upon my mood. So with that in mind I ask that you get pretty comfortable as this is probably going to be one of my longest blog posts ever. That’s right, I’m gonna tell you about every single game on here…
 
Sonic The Hedgehog is obviously a game we all know pretty well. Indeed I was a convert to the blast-processing hype of the day, and my Genesis was bundled with this very game. Oh how jealous my NES-owning friends all seemed at the time. Though I swear I beat this game as a kid, I had no solid memories of the ending. So had I actually done it like I thought I had? Well… I think so. But I can’t be certain. In recent years this original entry has appeared to be one of the harder games in the original 2D series. I can blow right through Sonic CD usually only losing one life in haste. But going back to OG Sonic always seemed difficult.
When I found myself with a limited selection of games I realized something really important about this game -- it’s really not all about speed. In fact, the levels I hate the most (water ones) really require a lot of patience. When I’d try to rush through, I’d get nowhere. But if I took the time to just get an air bubble every time I had the chance, I’d survive no problem. And so that seemed to show me a certain genius in Sonic’s design. It’s a flashy, bright and fast game that’s maybe also meant to be savored. And I must add that doing so via VGA adapter is totally worth it. Like I said, I’ve owned Sonic since its release and not until seeing it in its VGA glory have I realized just how incredible those sprites really looked. And the compilations’ audio issues aside, this game really had some incredible music. I can’t go back and tell you if I did or didn’t beat the game as a child for sure, but I can tell you I felt totally triumphant sitting down and beating it in a single sitting this past month.
 
Golden Axe was a game I always enjoyed back in the day. I obtained my copy as part of the Sega Classics Arcade Collection which was a pack-in with the launch Sega CD. And though I enjoy beat-em-ups quite a bit, this one seems to have not aged as well as I wish it did. It’s totally possible I’ll get a bit of hate for this as Golden Axe seems a pretty beloved franchise, but I just don’t really think the original is all that great if I’m to be honest. Honestly, I’d much rather play Streets of Rage any day of the week.
 
I didn‘t actually play Shining Force this month, but I did get my first taste of it on this collection a year or two ago. And since then I’ve become a total convert to the franchise. The original Shining Force is a ridiculously awesome strategy RPG with excellent (albeit repetitive) music, cool (albeit repetitive) animations and a gigantic cast of characters considering the time of its release. I must admit I’ve long been a sucker for S-RPG’s though. There’s something about combining the grid-based movement and strategy of chess with the attack/magic/heal/etc combat of a traditional turn-based JRPG. Like I said this game made me a fan, and I’ve recently spent a good deal of hours plugging away at Shining Wisdom (an Action RPG) on the Saturn.
 
Wrestle War is a game. I don’t have a whole lot to say about it outside of that. Well… I suppose as a curio it’s kind of neat addition by Sega since it’s not exactly one of their most popular releases. But to be frank I found it totally boring. It’s a lot of button-mashing as far as I can tell, and that doesn’t really help a game based around something I’m already not interested in (wrestling). So I really didn’t spend much time looking into this one.
 
Streets of Rage 2 is really pretty awesome. I think we can all agree on that one. But would you think less of me if I said I still prefer the original game? Perhaps it’s nostalgia. Again, the original SOR was part of the Sega Classics pack-in on Sega CD and I spent countless hours on that one. The music of the original is still so iconic to me. Fast-forward some years and Streets of Rage was semi-responsible for not only making my wife a gamer herself, but even helping her realize that she had a new favorite genre (beat-em-ups).
But while I still prefer the original, there’s no denying that the second is fantastic. And truthfully I applaud Sega for putting the sequel on this collection rather than the original. It would have been so easy for them (I’m guessing) to have included the original four games from that Sega CD collection but instead they opted to deliver what is considered the fan-favorite of the SOR Trilogy. I’m reminded that I still need to beat this one, though most beat-em-ups get reserved for co-op with my wife nowadays.
 
Columns was in fact one of the other games that was part of the Sega CD collection I’ve been mentioning. If you’re not familiar it’s a blocks-drop-from-the-sky puzzler that I guess was Sega’s attempt at a Tetris-alike. Though unlike Tetris you can only move the order of the jewels, which are arranged in vertical lines always three-pieces long. It’s a pretty good, if not remarkable arcade puzzler. Sure it’s simple as heck -- and I’d far prefer any number of puzzle games. But I was also able to find a lot of enjoyment in it for several nights in a row. I played through equivalent of Tetris’ B Type game on multiple difficulties -- though admittedly I could never seem to beat the hardest one.
 
Another game I could get some hate for is Vectorman. I actually first played it as part of fellow RFGen-er Crabmaster2000’s short lived community game club back in 2009 or so. For whatever reason this game has just never clicked with me. And I am a fan of run-n-gun style platformers. But there’s something just off about it for me. Even worse on this particular port is the default button configuration, though you can change it to whatever you like in the options menu so don’t let the deter you. But like I was saying, I just can’t seem to make myself enjoy Vectorman. I’m not sure if it’s that I feel like there’s just a lot of blind jumps, or if I find the combat a little wonky… whatever it is it just seems like every time I give Vectorman another chance it still does nothing for me.
 
Phantasy Star II is… a Phantasy Star game so I’m a fan. Having first discovered the original Phantasy Star several years back as part of Racketboy’s Together Retro game club, I have since become a total sucker for the franchise. In fact I recently came to the shocking conclusion that I actually prefer Phantasy Star as a series to Final Fantasy. The characters, universe, music, setting, story and pretty much anything else just seems to appeal to me so much more. And this is coming from a guy who defends Final Fantasy XIII.
Beating the original Phantasy Star felt like a huge achievement to me. And I’ve raved about that game ever since, insisting that it outshines its immediate 8-bit contemporaries Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior in many ways. But it had also occurred to me that I hadn’t taken the time to really delve into other games in the series until fairly recently. So I figured the Smash Pack was a good excuse to start making my way through the second game. Though I haven’t beaten it yet, I’ve sunk probably 6-8 hours into it and am quite impressed. Though the music isn’t as good as the original, it’s still totally memorable. And everything looks great in 16-bit. Though the confusing first-person dungeons are gone from this one, they’re replaced with equally confusing overhead dungeons which for some strange decision in design feature weird pipes above your characters that often block your view. I’m guessing these were featured to show off some processor that Sega was proud of on their Genesis hardware, but man… it’s rough. But having said that, if you let yourself use maps for the dungeons it’s a fantastic (but grind-heavy, be warned) RPG that any admirer of the series should look into.
 
Altered Beast on the other hand is such a terrible game. Though the graphics were at the time well-detailed and the game does feature some voice samples that show the original Genesis hardware off, it’s just such a boring, sluggish and awkward game to actually play. And unlike Golden Axe or Vectorman, I feel like I probably won’t get a whole lot of disdain for proclaiming this.
 
Revenge of Shinobi fares slightly better. And as a side-note, how confusing did the Shinobi series get during the Genesis days? There was Shinobi 3, Shadow Dancer and this one all around the same time, right? I know I often have trouble keeping track of which is which. When I saw Revenge listed on the back of Smash Pack I got really exciting thinking “oh man, I hope this is the really awesome one with Batman, Spiderman, Godzilla and that forced-scrolling horse level!” But no. It’s not. Instead it’s a pretty good Shinobi game. But I don’t know… maybe it’s just because I was hoping for a much better game in the series, and then comparing the two unconsciously. Or maybe it’s because I have no idea how to even beat the first boss… but I guess I just kind of feel like Revenge is a game that looks a bit better than the original but seems to actually play a bit worse. Just me again?
 
Virtua Cop 2 is one of the other non-Genesis games on this collection and holy crap is it awesome! Now understand that I had to play this version with the control pad because I’ve yet to track down Dreamcast light guns, but even then the game was just incredible. Sega really knew what they were doing with light gun games, eh? I mean, I’m a really big fan of the House of the Dead series so I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into here. But damn, Virtua Cop 2 is just some amazing arcade fun. And like I mentioned earlier, here’s a game that really benefits from having a VGA box for your Dreamcast. Oh, and since experiencing the game here for the first time, I did manage to track down the Saturn port of the game along with a couple of Stunner light guns for my CRT TV in my new game room.
 
And finally Sega Swirl is the one new game to this compilation. Though certainly a simple game -- and let’s be honest, not even a wholly original puzzler. But it did offer something that makes it a very notable game in the Dreamcast’s library… online play. Some of you may be aware that a small number of Dreamcast games are still actually online to this day, but Sega Swirl has the distinction of probably never going away. That’s because the game used POP3 email as its means of getting online. So anyone with a POP3 enabled email account can pretty much always get a move-by-email round of Sega Swirl going with a friend. And with that, we’re left with another one of those little reminders just how stupidly ahead of its time the Dreamcast really was.
First off, thanks to whoever is reading this blog, although I can't guarantee I'll be doing a lot of them. There's only a few other subjects I can think of that I'll possibly write about, and that could be it, but who knows I'm mainly doing this entry for two reasons: one, I couldn't find much under a tags search for "plug and play", and wouldn't mind getting some discussions/comments going about the subject. And two, this is a warning for a certain plug and play brand to stay away from, as many of the games on this unit that I got are still included on many other units years later (which I'll get to).
Now, I REALLY love the...well, idea of plug and play units, due to them being small, compact, easy to use, inexpensive, and have many fun games on them all in one piece of plastic, wiring and buttons. Unfortunately the actual execution of these units can result in being mixed, if not being total garbage as far as results go, due to us old gamers that have been around since commercial video games were in its infancy in the mid 1970s, getting grouchy when manufacturers (who are out just to make a buck, rather than care/try to make us happy, let's face facts) port/reprogram old games and get them wrong (we just want stuff the way they were, dammit!).
I've only played a few modern day units, the best of which is Retro Arcade Featuring Pac-Man, which unfortunately they quit making a little over a year ago at the time of this writing, which is especially a shame due to there being 27 units before it before they came out with this near creme of the crop (ok, so I'm exaggerating, it was only 26!). I've seen YouTube videos of Jakks Pacific's past units (Retro Gold Featuring Pac-Man) where they got sounds, graphics, and/or various other things wrong on the included games. On this unit, though -- and which I give an 8 out of 10 (which you can see on this page, along with a YouTube presentation I also did, which a link will be at the end, although without a video camera, there isn't much video footage to it, which I hope to correct later) -- only Xevious was totally ruined (four way joystick control ONLY and several of the ground targets -- including the mother ship -- were taken out?!), with only minor changes with a few other games (Galaxian attack patterns, steerable shots on Bosconian) not screwing up the rest for the most part (although the joystick could've been better though).
Another one I played is the Star Wars Original Trilogy, with the games being pretty easy (which a review I wrote can be seen here), which I give it a 6 out of 10. I played it for a few weeks, then wrapped it up for a Christmas present for the nephew (had to make sure it worked first though, you know!). That one isn't bad, but it's nothing great either.
And then, there's the 25 Games unit, which is what inspired this blog; baaaaaaarf. Very, very bad. This is a totally different story altogether.
There is very little to like about this one, as games are rip-offs (and not as well done) of the arcade classics of Rally-X, Columns, Clowns, and I believe Depth Charge (if that's not it, it's some old game where you command a battleship and you drop bombs down on ships below), done to death themes of the scrolling shooters and snake games (i. e. avoid walls, and each time you eat something your snake grows in length), games taken (possibly illegally) from the Famicon, and then several bizarre games that no one in their right minds would rip off from the unit, unless they came up with better gameplay elements of, among several other craptastic games.
Now, chances are pretty slim that anyone is going to find or play this piece of junk, as it's a pirated version of the DreamGEAR 25 in 1 unit that came out in 2003 or 2004. However, the reason I'm putting this up as a warning is that, right now, in 2013 that I'm writing this, the DreamGEAR company is up to a 140 games in 1 unit. And that's what you have to beware: I don't know if these units are sold outside of the States here, but upon doing research, many of the games on this 25 Games unit is on the current 140 in 1 unit, along with several of the DreamGEAR's previous ones. Because I first became aware of DreamGEAR about a year and a half ago when I spotted their 50 in 1 unit at a local Walgreens and wondered what it was like. However, it said it was for ages 5 and up, so that means these are for only:
1. Hardcore game collectors
2. 12 to 14 year olds, max
3. And/or people who are terrible at video games, since the games on this 25 Games unit are WAY too easy and boring for the most part
To summarize, I only gave 25 Games a 3 out of 10 rating. A link to my review of this can be seen here, although, with going over every single game (briefly, though), it is a bit lengthy, I'll admit. At least I only paid $2 U. S. for it, as the price tag read $4 at a local resale shop, but luckily everything was half off that day when I got that piece of junk.
I can definitely understand why someone got rid of that junk heap, and got pretty much nothing in return for it. I just feel sorry for whoever bought it and paid full price for it though; luckily when I saw the 50 in 1 unit at Walgreens a couple of times, I only had enough money for whatever it was I was buying on those nights, because I was bored and really needed some new games. So as we should all be thankful for things when we can, I'm glad I only spent $2 on this (plus tax), rather than $10 (again, plus tax) on the 50 in 1, which would've taken even MORE time to play twice as many games, which those might not have been any better than the games on this unit that I ended up with.
I will most definitely welcome comments on this subject, especially for those who have some plug and play units that I haven't really heard much about, such as the Intellivision and Commodore 64 ones and the like.
And who knows, maybe even pirate versions.
(Note: no, this unit's not in the database here, since RF Generation doesn't accept pirated games or consoles, so that's why it's at Stage Select. So don't bother trying to add it here, either.)
Links
(The first four links are the reviews mentioned throughout this blog, with the fifth being a bonus [not! You'll see why!] one)
*Stage Select page for Retro Arcade Pac-Man, with pictures and review
*My YouTube channel, which has a presentation of the above
*Stage Select page for Star Wars Original Trilogy, with pictures and review
*Stage Select page for 25 Games unit (puke), with pictures, a code and review
*YouTube channel (not mine), having many videos on the actual legit 25 in 1 unit, which most of the games on there are on this unit too
When I was in Junior High I had a neighborhood friend who had the NES port of Bubble Bobble. And it had remained pretty much my sole exposure to the game until just recently. In February the Together Retro game club over at Racketboy.com had Bubble Bobble on their calendar. I was actually pretty excited to delve back into this one. The NES game was a really solid puzzle-platformer that offered an excellent co-op experience. Indeed I remember spending many hours as either Bub or Bob and capturing enemies and bursting their bubbles as my friend Jason and I traversed our way through those hundred levels. But this time out I’d be delving into the Saturn port which promised to be much closer to the original arcade experience.
Here’s what I found out: Bubble Bobble is really hard you guys. Compared to the NES version the computer AI was extremely aggressive. And though I didn’t spend a massive amount of time playing, I did put a fair share of effort. No matter how much I tried I could never seem to beat level 15 by myself. Although “by myself” probably illustrates the biggest issue I took with this game. Bubble Bobble is the sort of game that begs for co-op. Unfortunately my wife and I were gearing up for a big move, which meant we had pretty limited time for things like video games. And never once did we get to give this game a go together considering I wasn’t even sure which box my spare Saturn controller had ended up in. So more than anything I just found Bubble Bobble really frustrating. Though you can’t hate on the music which is still stuck in my head a month later.
 
Luckily enough the Saturn release of Bubble Bobble also includes the sequel Rainbow Islands. I had actually never played this one before, and was actually pleasantly surprised by this one. Instead of dragons you play as little humans (who I think I’ve read are actually Bub and Bob in human form… or something?) who have the power to make little rainbows. The rainbows can be used to contain enemies much like the bubbles were used in Bubble Bobble, but they can also create little platforms for you to ascend each stage. The whole thing is really colorful and bright and just a whole lot of fun. Though I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to spend on it this month, I’d gladly re-visit Rainbow Islands again in the near future.
 
This disc also contains a third game. But the third game is also my major complaint about this particular release. Bubble Bobble Also Featuring Rainbow Islands includes a sort of remake of Rainbow Islands. But why? Why bother with such a superfluous inclusion when the compilation could have been made totally amazing by adding in Parasol Stars? For those who aren’t familiar, Parasol Stars was the third game in the Bubble Bobble series, and to this day my favorite of the trilogy. Parasol Stars was one of the few TurboGrafx-16 games I owned back in the day and it sort of combined all the good stuff from both Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands into one incredibly awesome game. Sadly, it’s nowhere to be seen here though. Oh well
February was an extremely busy month for my wife and I due to moving, so this collecting blog post will be a bit different than previous months. I really didn’t have time to take pictures of all my additions or even catalog them in my RFGen collection yet for that matter. Although this is going to look like a huge update, the funny thing is that almost everything you’ll see was purchased in January but didn’t actually arrive until February.
In fact the bulk of my pickups for the month all arrived in a single box. A couple of my friends and myself put some cash together and basically bought an ex-collector’s entire Saturn and Dreamcast collection. And to be honest, their collection was insane. So here’s what my third of the lot turned out to be:
SATURN:
AnEarth Fantasy Story
Angelique Special 2
Battle Athletes Daiundoukai
Black/Matrix
Blue Breaker
Blue Seed
Bootleg Sampler
Bootleg Sampler (loose)
Cotton Boomerang
Crusader No Remorse
D-Xhird
E'tude Prologue
Farland Story
Fushiginokunino Angelique
The Game of Life DX
Grandia
Hexen
Kakyusei
Nightruth
Nights Into Dreams Sampler
Ogre Battle
Refrain Love
Riglordsaga
Riglordsaga 2
Ronde
Sakura Wars Steam Radio Show
Sega Screams Volume 1 (loose)
Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner (x2)
Shiroki Majo
Slayers Royal
Slayers Royal 2
Super Robot Wars F Final
Virtua Cop (NFR) (x2)
Virtua Cop 2 boxset w/ Stunner lightgun
Wachenroder
Wizardry VI & VII Complete
Wizards Harmony
Yukyu Gensokyoku 2nd Album
Yu-No
Action Replay Plus w/ manual
Mouse w/ mousepad
Netlink modem w/ SegaNet disc, manual
S-Video cables
DREAMCAST:
Sakura Taisen LE boxset
Sakura Taisen 2 LE boxset
Broadband Adapter
Keyboard (loose)
Performance rumble pack
Vibration Pack (boxed)
VGA Box (boxed)
VMU (boxed, grey)
You may notice that almost all the games are Japanese. As such, I’ve not yet fully decided which games I’m keeping and which I’ll be getting rid of. Certainly some of them are at least somewhat import-friendly. But there’s an abundance of RPG’s and Adventure games that without an understanding of English will honestly just sit on my shelves untouched. But even saying that I know I’ll hang on to Grandia and the Sakura Wars box sets no matter what. There are some games that are just too cool to get rid of regardless of a language barrier.
I definitely have to thank my buds for hooking this deal up though, as I got a whole lot of incredible stuff here for about the cost of just the Dreamcast Broadband Adapter and that copy of Cotton Boomerang alone.
My other acquisition was actually bought all the way back in December. I got another Neo Geo Pocket Color console -- this time a nice silver one. It’s actually a Japanese edition because I really had been wanting a minty boxed system. As it happens, this one came bundled with a Japanese Pachinko game which I’ve yet to delve into. But I have played a whole lot of Bust-A-Move Pocket in the last month. Anyway, sorry about the lack of great pics this month. I’ll make up for that next time…
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We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
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