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In Part 1 of my critique on video game categorization I posed the question "Can the Zelda games be considered RPGs?" My stance is that these games cannot be labeled as Role Playing games on the basis that they do not depict the character growth, statistic building, and depth of narrative required of games of the genre.
The Zelda series no doubt presents many enthralling story lines, but the characters are subject to the direction of the narrative. Consider these games to be akin to a Greek myth in which the hero is a victim of the fate determined by the gods. Like Odysseus, Link must take up arms, embark upon a journey of epic proportions and cope with an unalterable destiny. The characters of Adventure games are driven by the story. RPGs display the opposite. The characters push the narrative forward.
Despite this critical fact that separates Adventure and Role Playing games one cannot argue that both involve playing the role of a hero on an adventure. This is why I am not comfortable with the term "RPG." Modern video games, and even many retro titles, cannot be pigeon holed into just one genre category. A game such as Secret of Mana is rooted in the RPG basics and incorporates gameplay elements from the Adventure genre. Titles that merge these two genres are too conveniently labeled as Action RPG. This does provide insight on the game's play style, but does not accurately identify the game as a whole. My solution to this is to look at the adventure itself, the context in which it takes place, and whether characters grow as the game progresses.
Narrative Adventure
This is the typical RPG whether it is turn based or played out in real time. These games depict stories which are driven by the protagonist and his or her companions. Character development is illustrated via statistics, but more so in the dialogue or cut scenes. As the characters grow the story becomes deeper much like a film or novel. These games tend to be longer as more time is spent allowing the player to experience the characters and setting. The structure of the narrative often follows Joseph Campbell's Monomyth.
Fantasy Adventure/Action Adventure
The story is set in a fantastical world which has power over the hero. The protagonist's shortcomings do not impact the story; in this case the story predetermines his or her weaknesses. The focus of these games is directed more to the player having to adapt to and overcome challenges presenting by in game obstacles. These games also follow the Monomyth structure, but take the shortened path which is shown in the upper portion of the diagram.
I've enjoyed looking at what constitutes an "RPG" and like that there is no definitive answer. My solution for the categorization problem uses the characters and storyline of the games, as I feel they are integral to a great gaming experience. What are your thoughts on these labels? How do you identify what is and isn't a Role Playing game?
Steel Battalion. That mythical controller/game for the xbox. Much has been written about this beast, a few people have actually seen one. Through a unique set of circumstances, one of these has appeared at my house.
It was agreed that I could borrow this "thing" if I cleaned it. It had been in storage because the owner no longer has an xbox. He must have been keeping it at a RV storage facility, it wouldn't fit anywhere else.
So you can look at this two ways: If you let me borrow something with the promise I clean it, I will do my best by cleaning it inside out or if you leave something with me, I will tear it apart.
Oh yeah, lots of pictures. I know that is good for some and bad for others but I think it is necessary in this case.
Steel Battalion, look at this thing, I mean just look at it.
Continue reading Whats Inside Steel Battalion
Is the home video game industry charging headfirst into another market crash?
I ask myself this question because there are so many signs pointing towards another crash when I look back on the previous ones. We are on the cusp of the 8th console generation really getting ready to begin, only Nintendo having dived head first into these potentially treacherous waters. Unlike the 7th Generation, where the current Big 3 stepped in to tango against each other largely without disturbance, they will have competition from fan favorite Valve, as well as some more unknown companies. So let's take a look at some of these and extrapolate the events and lessons learned to the modern era.
In 1977 there was a major crash of the video game market that is largely ignored by the public and even by gamers that were around at this time. The major problems that lead to this crash were centered around the insane popularity of Pong through the early to mid 70's. This game was so popular in the arcades that every company wanted to make a standalone Pong system for home consumers. Even the beloved and mighty Nintendo is guilty of this. By 1977 the market was flooded with so many Pong and dedicated systems that consumers had no idea which ones were good, which were bad, or which one was made by the original creators of the game.
Nintendo's Color TV Game. Exclusive to Japan.
However, one piece of the video game market continued to grow through 1977, the handheld market. If you're a bit younger like me you'll probably remember the Tiger handhelds with crappy LCD screens and primitive beeps for sound. These standalone handhelds are a relic of this growth in the late 70's, and they kept going strong through the 80's with some still being released today. Nintendo had their hit Game & Watch brand of handhelds while they moved into the arcade market and dipped their toe into the home console market with some VCS ports.
But SirPsycho, you may be asking, didn't Atari release their VCS/2600 in 1977? They did, and they managed to survive this crash on the strength of their brands and high quality products they put out in the arcade, which was untouched by this 'crash'. The Atari VCS did not really take off until 1980 when the company secured the rights to port Taito's enormous arcade hit Space Invaders to their system.
So what lessons does this archaic crash have for today's incredibly diverse market? Too many systems on the market at one time is a bad thing for the game consuming public, and all of these systems did roughly the same thing, they all played Pong with fancy names like table tennis, raquetball, handball, they were all the same game at heart though. None of these machines offered interchangable cartridges, the machines that did are not considered Pong consoles even if they had a Pong clone cart.
Even if some upcoming tangential systems secure a foothold in the market, like the Ouya from Boxer8, it is essentially a modernized Pong console if all of their promises and features will deliver. The Steam Box from Valve is roughly the same idea, all digital distribution, firmware updates, and streaming. You push a button or flip a switch to change modes. Valve has a massive leg up on Boxer8 however, a huge, hardcore, and loyal fanbase. There's also the GameStick on Kickstarter right now, which just looks like its an Atari Flashback in USB form.
The Ouya from Boxer8.
The North American Crash of 1983 is highly publicized so I will not write about it much here, but the lessons from it are primarily software related. The crash of 1977 left Atari and Magnavox competing against each other in the late 70's, Magnavox and its Odyssey^2 could not keep up and they bowed out. By the time the '83 crash happened Atari's renamed 2600 was holding a gigantic lead over Mattel, Coleco, and its own 5200 before the ground crumbled beneath them as a result of their own leadership, knocking their two competitors out at the same time.
Low quality software from Atari themselves left fans feeling betrayed so they left the system and company behind. A lot of Atari's veteran talent left as a result of their barbaric employee treatment. A handful of talented developers founded Activision before the crash, and Atari lost a court case against the fledgling 3rd party that lead to a huge growth of 3rd party developers and publishers. There were many new and inexperienced 3rd parties that did not help Atari's case either.
One case of a third party bad Atari game.
What markets thrived during the down years between the 1983 crash and the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System outside of Japan? The arcade market entered what could be considered a Silver Age. Long time arcade developers released new, cutting edge machines that kept the fans that built and crushed Atari happy. The PC market really hit its first major stride and many of the initial 3rd parties that began as console developers and publishers for Atari's 2600 and lacked any arcade experience, made a swift move to the home computing market to survive.
There was another swell of parties that entered the console market in the early to mid 1990's seeing Sega's success against Nintendo as a call to action. Philips and 3DO tried and failed. Atari's last gasp with its agile Jaguar fell flat on its face. SNK's high priced Neo Geo could not penetrate the larger market and remained a small, insignificant niche, their steamlined Neo Geo CD not doing much to expand their audience either. Apple and Bandai's partnership led to one of the worst selling systems of all time, the Pippin. Sega themselves proved that console add ons do more to alienate a fanbase than to reinvigorate it.
The Neo Geo CD isn't a bad looking system either.
Now let's take a look at today's market. Facebook has risen to become a powerful social and casual gaming hub, and fallen quite quickly as well, perhaps needing to learn the lessons of the 1983 Crash the hard way. Smartphones have been hyped to threaten Nintendo and its handheld dominance while the 3DS started slowly. Now Nintendo's system is really starting to fly off the shelf, crushing every other system in Japan on a weekly basis. With Pokemon X and Y releasing this year the global market can be expected to fight over incoming shipments of 3DS consoles, perhaps leading to a temporary shortage and more money printing for Nintendo.
News of Sony's patent filing that would essentially eliminate the used game and rental market, as well as social borrowing and trading, is hitting the community hard. Many gamers are already pulling out their pitchforks, even longtime Sony faithful fans. If this is implemented I can see Sony going the way of Sega, maybe not until the 2020's if they try and save themselves and bow out with honor. This patent, if implemented in the PS4, would be the beginning of the end. Sony's recent add ons, the Eye Toy for PS2/PS3, and the Move which uses the Eye Toy sold decently well, but again failed to be a gaming reimagination that they wanted their fans to experience.
Microsoft has been quiet about its 360 successor, already having lost the major advantage it had in the Seventh generation, launching first, to Nintendo's WiiU. But, sales are still strong, especially after the holidays. Their Kinect for 360 has become nothing more than a dance simulator with a few iOS and Android ports that make decent use of the technology. Most real AAA efforts have released to critical failure. Still, I believe Microsoft would be foolish to not show their new console off at a major convention this year. What would be even more idiotic would be if MS released another console that is as sloppily designed and prone to failure as the fat 360s are. Gamers handled it for one generation, they will not deal with it for two in a row.
My one true nemesis!
If handled well, and the home console market survives, this could be the time where Valve steps up and knocks one of the current 3 major players out, letting it have an effective stranglehold on PC gaming with Steam, and at least have a slice of pie on the home console front with Steam Box. Of course it would have help from the company in question, Sony and Microsoft look the most vulnerable at the time of this article's writing. If there's one lesson to learn by looking at the entirety of the home gaming, arcade, and handheld market, it is to never bet against Nintendo. There has never once been a worldwide video game crash, for every one that has happened gamers quite quickly moved onto other ways to play, like handhelds, the arcade, or PC gaming.
The first article in my new RPG Analysis series sparked some great conversation about community members' thoughts of the pricing of Role Playing games. We discussed some of our favourite titles and touched upon the timelessness of the genre. One comment, however, stood out from the lot. Addicted cited The Legend of Zelda as the first RPG he had played to completion.
There is no doubt that Zelda series boasts many great games in its catalogue. The debates lies here: can the Zelda games, which commonly accepted as Action Adventure games, be considered RPGs?
Continue reading Categorization Caveat: Part 1, The Problem
To call myself a "fan" of Puzzle Fighter would be a huge understatement. Since I first picked up the GBA port some years ago to quench a thirst for a portable puzzler, I have ranked it as my favorite puzzle game of all time. And though the gameplay remains the same for each of its various ports, I've for some reason felt compelled to seek out (and beat) almost every version released to date. To this day the only versions I've yet to make it through have been on the PSP and PC. With all that said, I feel like I'm a pretty good judge of the various releases. So let's how the Sega Saturn edition came out, shall we?
 
For those of you unfortunate enough to have never played the game, Super Puzzle Fighter II (there was no part I) has an extremely interesting premise. It's a puzzle game that emphasis a Vs. Mode. You will play against a human opponent or the computer. Each player selects from a roster of super-deformed versions of characters from the Street Fighter and Darkstalkers universes. The goal is to match up colored gems that fall from above and build them up into bigger gems. Sporadically a glowing sphere will drop, and if it touches blocks of its own color it will destroy them -- sending junk blocks over to your opponent. The bigger the gems you create, the more junk you'll send over. This is where the real strategy of the game comes in however. Each character has a different pattern of junk blocks that they send over. Much like in a fighting game, it is just as important to know thy enemy as it is to learn to play well.
 
The Arcade Mode of Puzzle Fighter plays well on the Saturn. The gem explosions are a bit more pixelated than in other ports, though this certainly doesn't take away from the gameplay at all. The music is excellent -- which is usual across the board as far as the various ports go. There is some loading between rounds, though they're not terrible.
If you're playing this without a friend, the real meat and bones of this game is the Street Puzzle Mode. In this mode you must play single rounds with each character to unlock various 'Goodies.' Each character has five Goodies to unlock. These range from pallet-swaps, hidden characters, background music tracks (both original and remixed), art galleries and so on. These are the sorts of extras (especially the hidden characters) that really makes this game a blast to play in single player, and ultimately opens the game up even more. It is not only one of the only games I've cared enough to "100%," but I've done in it multiple times with multiple versions.
Although this review is meant to be about the Saturn edition, I suppose that it's worth mentioning some pluses about other versions for those curious. It is worth noting that the PSN and XBLA versions do look really nice in HD but more importantly allow for online play. The XBLA version was eventually released physically as part of the 360 Capcom Digital Collection if you're not a fan of downloadable games. The Dreamcast version was only available in Japan, however it does support the VGA cable if you wish to import it. Sadly, its online play option is no longer available. And of course the GBA and PSP versions are worth grabbing if you're a fan of portable puzzlers. However the truth is that any version of Puzzle Fighter is going to be recommended by me. And really, any version will give you a great game to play.
Episode 11 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...rum/index.php?topic=11204
How would YOU like to be a guest on an upcoming RFGeneration Collectorcast episode? The winner of this auction will get to join hosts Crabmaster2000, Duke.Togo, and Wildbil52 for an interview. http://www.gamegavel.com/....cgi?show_item=0000715716
This will be your chance to talk about your collection, share your passion for the hobby, and tell Crabby yourself why Super Metroid is great (or not, I suppose if you are one of THOSE people.)
All proceeds from this auction will go directly to support RFGeneration. RFGeneration is supported solely on donations, we have zero advertisements and everything on the site is completely free. Any and all donations go strictly to paying for our server costs. Well, what are you waiting for? GET BIDDING!
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We have talked at length in the past about many of the quirks involved with a collectors persona. Do those oddities manifest themselves into your gaming life also? The three of us reflect on our game playing to see if our collector mentality spills over. Apparently it hits some of us harder than others 
We also hope you enjoy the extended Small Score part of the podcast! Extended?!!? Thats correct. With a few generous RFGeneration members donating enough money to the site to reach our coveted featured on the collectorcast target, weve added their latest pickups to the podcast in great detail. So take the time to listen to their finds for the month and hopefully it encourages more people to donate in order to keep the site running smoothly!
Music: Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis/Mega Drive)
0:00 Auction Announcement
2:07 Intro
15:38 Small Scores
2:32:34 Gaming and Collecting Rituals
3:55:15 Closing
After playing through something tough like Time Lord I often like to unwind with something on the lighter side. Since I have had fun in the past with some of the gameshow type games on the NES I thought I'd try my hand at some Wheel of Fortune. Well it turns out I probably sunk more time into the Family Edition than I did playing Time Lord  Its an incredibly short game, and not hard to beat both computer opponents, but I had a hell of a time trying to solve the final puzzle and win my Emerald Necklace. I typically wasn't even familiar with the phrase or person in the answer (except when I couldnt get Donald Trump for some reason). Eventually I was able to get a puzzle that I could answer. I have to say though that there seemed to be a large variety of puzzles since I never saw one repeat in all the time I spent playing.
Luckily in the Jr edition of Wheel of Fortune I had a much easier time. Being Canadian and them throwing Toboggan at me in the final puzzle was pretty nice Got to make off with my new TV and VCR with much less trouble.
Felt like it was time to try something with a bit more meat on it again so I popped in Orb 3D to check it out. It was very confusing at first, but once you figure out how to control it and what your objective is, its actually a pretty fun game. You basically play Pong with yourself and you have the ability to make the ball change from the foreground to the background mid pass. By doing this you can interact with the objects in the room. There are 30 rooms in total and each one has a special puzzle for you to solve in order to move along. It starts off pretty simple doing things like knocking down a set of bowling pins or winning a game of tic-tac-toe and eventually moves into more complicated puzzles like winning a mini-game of chess or navigating a ball through a maze. Some of the puzzles are challenging, but you have as many continues at your disposal as you need so its not to bad. Definitely one of the more unique titles I've come across.
I had originally planned to try the other two Wheel of Fortune games I hadn't tried yet, but after adding the last few games to the personal list I keep I realized the next game I beat would be a milestone (which I'll get to in a minute). So I thought it should be something a bit more epic than a game show. What's more epic than saving the world from Super Villians? I couldn't think of anything so I decided to go with Captain America and the Avengers. I've played this game before and it was pretty tough. This time I read the manual and figured out you can actually level up your characters and earn them some new moves. So right from the get go I did about 20 minutes of grinding and maxed out Hawkeye and nearly maxed out Captain America (Iron Man and Vision have been captured by Mandarin and Wasp is more of an information center). With that taken care of the game becomes significantly more playable.
The game has a map of the US that you can navigate with your characters independently or as a team. In order to play them as a team you have to get them to the same area on the map and beat the level with whoever entered the area second. This again makes the game much more fun as you can swap between characters at any time that you can stand still. They both played a bit different which made them both equally useful in different areas and situations. I tended to favor Captain America during most levels, but Hawkeye was awesome on most boss fights. I don't know how the hell I would have beaten Mandarin with Captain America. Once I did beat Mandarin it turns out he wasn't the mastermind though and it was Red Skull really pulling the strings. So I took off into space for a final battle with Red Skull. It was pretty tough and it ended taking me three really good attempts to finally knock him down while I was on my last hit with my both characters.
As I was mentioning above Captain America and the Avengers put me to a milestone. It was the 250th NES game I've beaten and recorded since October 2011!!! I'm quite proud of that number, and even though there are several easy victories in that list there are as many or more challenging ones. I think its a pretty solid list so far. If I can keep up the pace with my 100 in 100 challenge I should be able to surpass 300 games beaten over the next little while. At that point I'll have beaten roughly half of the NES games that I own, which is pretty damn cool if you ask me.
Here is the full list of 250 games beaten. Click on any of them to view the corresponding videos:
Beaten Since Oct.8th
(click on a title to see the video)
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Castlevania
Adventures in the Magic Kingdom
Duck Tales
Duck Tales 2
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2
Felix the Cat
Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
Ren and Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$
Double Dragon
Contra
Super C
Contra Force
Power Blade
Power Blade 2
Dynowarz: The Destruction of Spondylus
Metal Storm
Journey to Silius
Air Fortress
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Blaster Master
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
Legendary Wings
BreakThru
Commando
Guerrilla War
World Games
Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular
Caveman Games
DK Classics
Jaws
Ninja Gaiden
Where's Waldo?
Bonk's Adventure
Panic Restaurant
Bubble Bobble 2
Dr. Mario
Bubble Bobble
MC Kids
Batman
Circus Caper
Roller Games
Widget
Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures 2
The Jetsons
The Little Mermaid
Monster in my Pocket
Gremlins 2
Kirby's Adventure
Kickle Cubicle
Kung Fu
Yo! Noid
Xexyz
Puss 'N Boots: Pero's Great Adventure
Wall Street Kid
The Karate Kid
Archon
Golf
Super Dodgeball
Super Spike V'Ball
Jakcie Chan's Action Kung Fu
The Three Stooges
Ice Hockey
Tecmo Bowl
Track & Field
Mario Bros
NARC
North and South
Barbie
Battle Chess
The Simpsons: Bart vs. The World
The Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak
Snow Brothers
Little Samson
Sky Shark
Ninja Gaiden II
Mike Tyson's Punch Out
The Simpsons: Bart Meets Radioactive Man
StarTropics
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
River City Ransom
StarTropics 2: Zoda's Revenge
The Jungle Book
Castlevania III Dracula's Curse
Mario is Missing
Blades of Steel
Hogan's Alley
Wild Gunman
Burger Time
Silver Surfer
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones
Ghosts n Goblins
Tetris
Pro Wrestling
Gradius
Zanac
Adventure Island
Karnov
Trojan
Excitebike
Baseball
Spy Hunter
Adventure Island II
Tennis
Battletoads
Shadowgate
Battletoads/Double Dragon
Pinball Quest
Section Z
Godzilla
Hydlide
Marble Madness
Back to the Future
Darkman
Terminator 2
Robocop
Total Recall
Predator
Robocop 2
Robocop 3
Hudson Hawk
Home Alone
Home Alone 2
Batman Returns
Ghostbusters II
Ghostbusters
Die Hard
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Krion Conquest
Adventures of Dino Riki
Ultima: Exodus
Legacy of the Wizard
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar
Darkwing Duck
Ultima: Warriors of Destiny
Legends of the Diamond
Pro Sports Hockey
Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball
Yoshi's Cookie
Kick Master
Zombie Nation
Stadium Events
Super Jeopardy!
Joust
Yoshi
Dance Aerobics
Adventures of Bayou Billy
Pipe Dreams
Ski or Die
Werewolf: The Last Warrior
Simpsons: Bart vs The Space Mutants
City Connection
American Gladiators
Roundball 2-on-2 Challenge
720
Athletic World
Super Team Games
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Gumshoe
Bases Loaded
The Addams Family Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt
Kings of the Beach
The Blues Brothers
Volley Ball
Lode Runner
3D World Runner
Twin Eagle
Dragon's Lair
The Adventures of Rad Gravity
Break Time: The National Pool Tour
Bases Loaded II
Rainbow Islands
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Peter Pan And The Pirates
Kid Kool and the Quest for the Seven Wonder Herbs
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dragon Strike
Slalom
Wrath of the Black Manta
Race America
Treasure Master
Krusty's Fun House
King's Knight
Mighty Bomb Jack
Bases Loaded 3
Castelian
Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll
Dirty Harry
Conan
Cobra Triangle
Spider Man Return of the Sinister Six
Tag Team Wrestling
Eliminator Boat Duel
Galaxy 5000
George Foreman's KO Boxing
Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge
Thunder & Lightning
Heavy Shreddin'
Flying Warriors
Rocket Ranger
Roger Clemens MVP Baseball
Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure
Destination Earthstar
Street Cop
Short Order/Eggsplode
Star Voyageur
Days of Thunder
Laser Invasion
Silent Service
Back to the Future 2 & 3
Overlord
High Speed
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
BONUS GAMES:
Assimilate
Future Plans - Besides working on Captain America and the Avengers in the last little while I've also been spending some time with Gun Nac. I beat it relatively easy on the default settings, but it turns out you need to beat it on Expert to get the real ending. That is proving a bit more difficult. I've gotten to the final stage, and even the final boss, but ran out of time. I'm trying to perfect my strategy on a couple specific bosses and figure out the best use of my money and mail bombs. With a bit more time I'm confident it'll fall, but in the mean time I'll probably play some more game shows.
Once again Nick and I headed out early in the morning, into the wilderness that is Omaha... in search of all things great and gaming. That was Tuesday. Today, Friday, I sit here in a Nyquil haze... cleaning, taking pictures, cataloging, and stuffing my face with cold pizza. Ah.. Nyquil... The Green Death. The Nyquil haze is thanks to contracting only what I can describe as the plague from a coworker, all fun and games, until the Nyquil wears off and the maladies of the plague return with a vengeance. Anywho, on with the show...
The first image, as seen in the small scores thread, are a pair of CiB SNES Star Wars games. Super Star Wars and Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.. Ordered these from Lukie Games on Monday and they arrived Wednesday.
Next up are some scores from a stop at CD Tradepost on Monday. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, GTA Collectors Edition, Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits, Activision Classics, and Air Combat, all on PS1. Soul Calibur II and... Soul Calibur II, different systems.. yeah. Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for XBox, Virtua Fighter for 32X, and then some Game Gear carts... Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Streets of Rage.
Onward to Tuesday morning... a trip to HPB yielded a couple strategy guides for Twilight Princess (Gamecube version) and Dirge of Cerberus, as well as couple GC games. Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, and some weirdo preview disc for Rogue Squadron III.
After leaving HPB we hit up a couple Gamers locations, one of those new Game Central stores (new to our area at least) that Nick mentioned last week, and Ben's Game Room.
I found Mega Man X7 (PS2) and Tomb Raider II at Game Central. At Gamers I found Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Xenogears, Threads of Fate, Mega Man X6, a copy of GTA collector's edition to fill out the incomplete one I had last week. At Ben's Game Room I snagged up Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider III w/ strategy guide, a matching controller for the PSOne I got last week, Goldeneye 007, and a lose copy of Super Star Wars (because I'm anal and don't like to open/close boxes over and over when I want to play a game).
It seems the theme for the week was Playstation, with a sub-theme of Tomb Raider.
Welcome to what I hope to be a recurring series of blog posts. As i finish games, it seems fitting to throw my 2 cents out to the world....so without further adieu...!
Geometry Wars: Galaxies ~ Nintendo Wii
Average Used Price: 4$
For anyone who hasn't played it in one form or another, geometry wars is a twin stick shooter that revolves around the idea that bright lights and flashing is fun (if any game needs a seizure warning, it is this). Galaxies takes the original game, which had a square arena and a few different enemies, and added more arenas and more enemies. It also brings a new game play element in with a new "companion". You now have a pod that follows your ship around. Depending on what you pick for it to do, it can fly around and collect "geoms", the game's new currency, attack stuff, defend your ship, etc. The game has a ton of levels and has a neat mechanic, where if you have the DS version, you can link the two games together and unlock a special world in both.
Graphics:9/10
Geometry wars has simple graphics, but what it does have is done well. Lines are sharp. Colors are bright. Even more important is that, even on the wii, there is no slowdown when the screen is swarming with literally hundreds of bullets and enemies.
Audio: 6/10
The soundtrack consists of generic techno music on a loop....which gets pretty repetitive. The actual sound effects feel very generic as well, and come out sorta "muddy", even on a nicer sound system.
Control: 15/20
The game gives you the option of playing wiimote+nunchaku, or with the classic controller. While playing with the wiimote is "possible", i wouldn't recommend it...ever. Twin stick shooters need two sticks. With the classic controller, the game plays and feels great.
Gameplay: 40/50
Geometry Wars is fun. Period. What are you waiting for? Go play it!
In all seriousness, the game is fun on its own...and the addition to a leveling system for your pod, as well as a ton of levels should keep you playing for days.
With enough time, it'll get stale for a bit...you'll put it away...and then later on pick back up and have as much fun as you started...but the same could be said for many classic arcade games.
Replay: 10/10
Geometry Wars is a game that you will keep on picking up and trying to beat that high score. It has the same addiction level as tetris or pacman, with the game being simplistic, and having a large focus on score. Multiplayer support is great too!
Total 80/100
Geometry Wars: Galaxies is defiantly one to own if you have a wii sitting there collecting dust. At an average used price of about 4$, it's a steal!.....go play it already!
Till next time!
Neo~
Backlog: 271 (63% completed)
P.S: just redid the gameroom! expect a full report eventually!
Hey everyone! Bill & I did some Game Hunting yesterday and I purchased quite a bit and so did Bill. We had a good day for hunting the sun was shining the weather well it was COLD! Also the other day Bill and I met up at CD Tradepost and I got rid of a some more movies and some CD's and I purchased some more games in the Buy X Get X Free. So let's start there at CD Tradepost on Monday I picked up a few Genesis titles I needed to fill my empty boxes that I am working on and yes I will be posting a Sales Thread soon for everything I have for sale including those Genesis boxes that are for sale. I picked up David Crane's Amazing Tennis, Barkley Shut up and & Jam, Jack Nicklaus Power Challenge Golf, Jeopardy and Revolution X CIB. I also picked up a couple of PS1 Games - Go figure! haha and I also picked up Spyro Enter the Dragonfly Player's Choice GameCube.
Then yesterday Bill and I started off when our usual routine after we stopped at the post office to drop of packages on for Zag and one for Shadow they are on their way guys! Then we were off to HPB and I found a Final Fantasy Anthology pretty much New Brady Guide for $15.00 any other place I have seen this around here are $30.00. I also picked up He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Book copyright 1985 - I know not game related but it's nostalgic. I also picked up a very mint pretty much new but they opened it to verify contents stupid HPB sometimes a GameShark Special Edition for Game Boy Color Pokemon Crystal Edition. As always I will have everything listed and priced in the end. Then we went on to the first Gamers and Bill picked up a few Atari 2600 & 1 7800 game for me instead of Gas Money and and I picked up Road Rash 3D PS1 Black Label & MEGA MAN 3 on Game Boy!! For those who don't know the title of my blog this time is for the Mega Man the Theme Song from the Anime in the '90s had the lyrics with "Super Fighting Robot Mega Man." Then we went onto Game Central Prices are all over the place but I got me something very nice and very cheap I got a box for the Atomic Purple Controller N64 System and semi-rare Atari 2600 game called Wabbit, and I purchased Tomorrow Never Dies on PS1. Then we were off to a second Gamers that we haven't been to for a while and they usually don't have anything but this time they did I picked up Ristar CIB on Sega Genesis, Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge on Game Bo. I also picked up Chuck Norris SuperKicks Xonox Cartridge my second one --One of Them Will be for sale probably eventually for those interested and finally I picked up Star Wars: The Arcade Game on Atari 5200. Then our final stop was Ben's Gaming Zone Bill picked up Minty CIB Phantom 2040 SNES for me and Jupiter Strike PS1 Long Box. Then I picked up Syphon Filter 3 Black label in which I picked up Syphon Filter 2 Black Label at CD Tradepost. SO here is the run down please comment!!! and pictures to follow.
CD Tradepost - Monday
*Revolution X - Genesis - CIB - $5.00
*Jeopardy - Genesis - $4.00
*Jack Nickalous Power Challenge Golf - Genesis - FREE
*Lost Luggage Apollo - Atari 2600 - $1.00
*Barkley: Shut up & Jam - Genesis - FREE
*David Crane's Amazing Tennis - FREE
*Sypro Enter The Dragonfly - GameCube Player's Choice (yuck) - FREE
*Thunderstrike 2 - Long Box PS1 - $5.00
*Syphon Filter 2 - Black Label PS1 - Free
*2 more GBA Cases - $0.20 a piece
Half Price Books - Tuesday
*Final Fantasy Anthology - BradyGames - $15.00
*He-Man and The Masters of the Uinverse Book - $1.00
*GameShark Special Edition Pokemon Crystal - $5.00
Gamers #1 - Tuesday
*Road Rash 3D - Black Label PS1 - $4.50
*Mega Man III - Game Boy - $11.50!!
*Crossbow - Atari 2600 - Gas Trade
*Double Dunk - Atari 2600 - Gas Trade
*H.E.R.O. - Atari 2600 - Gas Trade
*Kangaroo - Silver Label Rerelease - Gas Trade
*Kool-Aid Man - Atari 2600 - Gas Trade
*Solaris - Red Label Atari 2600 Rerelease - Gas Trade
*Space Invaders - Silver Label Atari 2600 - Gas Trade
*Karateka - Atari 7800 - Gas Trade
Game Central -
*Tomorrow Never Dies - Black Label PS1 - $7.00
*Wabbit - Atari 2600 - Semi-Rare - $3.00
*N64 Atomic Purple Controller System Box - $5.00
Gamers #2 -
*Ristar - Sega Genesis CIB - $15.00
*Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge - Game Boy - $9.00!!
*Chuck Norris SuperKicks - Atari 2600 - $1.50
*Star Wars: The Arcade Game - Atari 5200 - $1.50
Hope you all enjoyed this blog again please comment.
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/mQjnSo4IQIQ&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/mQjnSo4IQIQ&rel=0</a>]]>
This is a series where I read the story and sometimes the character section of the manual of some random video game, in a dramatic fashion. The main goal is to bring attention to how good or bad some of the manual stories can be, and also how well they can prepare a player for a game.
Of course sometimes the dramatization ends up being completely uncalled for, and that's where the real fun begins.
Check me out on Twitter and Facebook!
https://twitter.com/SirPsychoPlays
http://www.facebook.com/p...Play-This/277098909016440
As someone new to the hobby of video game collecting the issue of retail value versus perceived value regularly comes to mind. Generally this is not a problem as many retro games can be purchased for reasonably low prices. Simulation, sports, and platforming titles are excellent examples of games that may be acquired for a few dollars with the intent to fill those collection holes fairly easily. There are, however, certain games that command excess amounts of money years after their release. These would include games of the Role Playing genre.
A search on Ebay will yield results displaying complete copies of early entires in the Final Fantasy series with three figure price tags. A minimum wage pay cheque is often insufficient to pay for a complete in box EarthBound. Even games of these genres from less popular consoles command relatively high prices. In many cases these Role Playing games have appreciated in value.
Continue reading Perceived Value and RPGs
Due to some craziness, I have not been able to write in a long time. But now im back with a vengeance!....or at least more blog posts!
First, let's take a look at some recent acquisitions! (I'll add pictures later...unless i get lazy)
EDIT: added pics of interesting stuff... /EDIT
Halo 4 collector's Edition! ~ expensive as butts.
Ninja Gaiden 2 ~ Free (Christmas)
Too Human ~ Free (Christmas)
Sacred 2 ~ Free (Christmas)
Mega Man 6 ~ 20$
Nintendo Power Bonus Tip Books for Super Mario 2 ~ Free!
Nintendo CodeBook / Strategy Guides ~ Free!
Pacman Fever Vinyl ~Free (Christmas)
Rick Astley "Never gonna give you up" Vinyl ~ 1$
It has been a little slow on the uptake here, at least as far as video games go. (it has been one hell of a year for board games though!)
In other news, I picked up a new job at our local video game/comic/collectable toy store, Level Up Entertainment (http://levelupentertainment.com/). If anyone is ever in the southern New Jersey area come stop by! So hopefully some scores / a tour of the store / posts about specialty stuff may be in order. Just as a preview, we have sealed copies of panzer dragoon saga , pokemon XD, star wars KOTOR 1 and 2...etc, that will go unbought since we lack many "collectors" in our area. Tons of classic toys and stuff too!
Lastly, as sort of a new years resolution, I intend to have a bit more game reviews, and scores posted this year...sorta a personal goal there.
until next time!
~Neo
Backlog 272
Collection 736
Completion: 63%
So as many of you (I assume) may know I have done some major sell offs in the past. It seems like once or twice a year I end up putting myself into a bind financially because I am am irresponsible with my money. No I am not even going to sugarcoat it.
Over the last 8-10 years there have been multiple occasions where I have spent money for bills or other essentials on games instead. I have gotten much more responsible over the last 5 years since my son was born. But I feel there is still much more work that needs to be done.
So I have finally decided to take the plunge from being a gamer/collector to being a seller/gamer/collector.
I had mentioned in chat that earlier this week that I have only once before bought games with the express intent of reselling them(Final Fantasy VII). That finally changed yesterday with the purchase of this Gamecube lot.
When I bought it I knew I would be lucky to make 20$s on it. But I had decided I needed to start somewhere if I was going to do this. When I got to see the lot in person it included games that had not originally been listed or pictured so I definitely lucked out.
There have been a few of you lately (primarily in chat) who helped nudge me into this direction.
SirPsycho, Project, theGruuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeee, Bick, Shadow, NES_Rules, etc, etc
In one of the old podcasts Duke.Togo had said something along the lines of: people who collect as an investment are in the wrong kind of hobby. I immediately disagreed with him as i was listening. I can definitely understand where he is coming from.
I have always bought games because (in my mind) they will always have value should I need to sell them. And so far I have always been able to make enough selling my things when there was a crunch time. But inevitably I take losses or sell them cheap just to move them.
I still want to enjoy this hobby and it has taken me all these years to realize I cannot do it without some sacrifice. I can't keep holding onto every item I have ever purchased. I doubt it will ever be self sustaining but I need to have a collection and an inventory from now on...
EDIT
I FORGOT TO MENTION SOMETHING IMPORTANT!
I will be doing a trial run of GameGavel with the Gamecube stuff i picked up. I have had great experiences selling here and on the other sites i have been/am a member of but it gets to be a hassle and keeping several sites up to date and sometimes missing one. Nothing worse than having people on different sites asking to buy the same item.
/EDIT
If anyone read the whole thing thanks for reading.
More importantly feel free to PM me or leave advice in the comments.
Remember:
Its been a few days since my last update so you might expect to see a lot of games in mentioned in this blog. Unfortunately there are only three to speak off. That wasn't because I was slacking though. They just ended up being much more time consuming that I had initially planned. I knew Wrecking Crew would let you "continue" as many times as you required, but I didn't anticipate how challenging some of the later phases would become. Many of the later phases took me 10-20 minutes to figure out each. And a few even more time than that. I think phase 80 gave me the most trouble and took me nearly 45 minutes to solve. It might sound like I'm complaining, but I loved it. Very fun little puzzle game and one of the best Black Box titles I've played yet. There is no ending screen so here is a shot of my finishing off the final phase.
Hatris is another one I thought would be much quicker than it was. Things definitely sped up as I got better at the game, but I thought it would be a very quick victory and I was a wrong. Again its not a bad little puzzler and definitely hit the spot.
Lastly, and one I'm quite proud of, is Time Lord. I've tried a few times over the last few years to beat Time Lord and kept getting stuck on the boss of the third level. I put Time Lord on my list for this challenge in order to pressure myself to really have at it. My first few attempts made it seem hopeless. Its a very challenging game. Luckily its fairly short though. After spending much of the last 3 days practising the game I was finally able to pull out a win tonight! Turns out the boss that gave me so much trouble before was the easiest one in the game though. It was kind of funny after the fact that I've spent so much time (probably around 12+ hours in the last couple days) and effort (dozens of failed attempts) on Time Lord and the final video ended up being like 20 minutes long. Its short, but definitely not sweet.
Had a bit of time left so I plugged in Gun Nac and had my mind blown!! Its a lot of fun!! Can't wait until I have more time to put into it!
And for those of you that enjoy Let's Play style videos check out my Dragon Fighter vid. I recruited Duke.Togo to help me commentate over the game play and I think it turned out quite well. Be especially critical of the audio in the comments. I'm learning the ropes and any feedback would be great. If you enjoy it be sure to also check out our commentary video for Legacy of the Wizard.
21 Games Down now and 13 days into the challenge. Even with the slow pace over the last few days I'm ahead of my target. Still hopeful!
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
Future Plans - MORE GUN-NAC!!!! Also gonna check out some Orb 3D and maybe play some Wheel of Fortune if I feel in need of a break from either of those.
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