Number 9 on my Top 10 list is a motorcycle themed pin called Banzai Run. There are a few things that make this pin special, the most notable of which is the playfield backbox. When a shot is made through the spinner in the upper left corner of the lower playfield, a magnet carries the ball to the upper playfield, which plays a significant role in the game. Before heading to the upper playfield, it's important to light your "competition;" the riders Red Hot, Blue Beard, and Yellow Belly are lit by hitting 3 color coordinated stand-up targets and Green Machine is lit by sending the ball into the knockout hole between the pop bumpers. Once these are lit, the player shoots through the spinner to send the ball to the upper playfield. There, a shot representing each opposing rider is lit and hitting each shot causes you to "pass" that rider in rank on the leaderboard. Once all riders are defeated, the lock on the upper playfield or lower playfield knockout hole is lit and sending a ball into either, locks a ball and allows you to plunge a second for multi-ball. The object here is to put one ball into the knockout hole for a timed lock and send the other to the upper playfield for a very difficult captured ball shot. Hitting the captured ball allows you to pass The King (the ultimate rider) and move into first place to win the race.
**The King defeated just after the 4:00 mark** <![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HFcf0z8ZaLc&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/HFcf0z8ZaLc&rel=0</a>]]>
Banzai Run is a fairly simple game. It doesn't have a large number of shots and the goal is fairly simple once you understand it, but I find that the excitement in trying to achieve this goal is overwhelmingly addictive. The shots on the upper playfield are difficult due to the pitch, but once you have a feel for them, they are relatively simple. The game has a total of 6 flippers, which are all really important to master and each play a key role in the game.
For those who really appreciate the history of pinball, the most notable feature of this pin is its designer, Pat Lawlor. Lawlor is one of the most well-known pin designers and arguably, regarded by many, the best. A list of his most notable pins include: Twilight Zone (#1 on several lists), The Addams Family (the best selling pin of all time), Whirlwind, Funhouse, and Monopoly. Banzai Run is special because it was actually Lawlor's first.
It's time for another entry in my "Playing The Classics" series, where I play through some of the greatest games of all time and talk about the experience. In some instances, these are games I've never really delved into, and in other cases I've played them many times over. The choices are not an indication of rank, and it's actually quite random. Oh, and spoilers and stuff.
This time around, the game of choice was the 1994 SNES classic "Donkey Kong Country".
Past Experience
I've played through this a few times, including once on the GBA port from ~2003. I always really enjoyed it but distinctly remember hating a level or two, largely for difficulty reasons. What I (and everyone else) remembered most is the graphics. For 1994, they look incredible. They're not sprites! Amazing!
This is a small pic, but you get the idea.
The Playthrough
I'll get this out of the way - it's not as good as I remembered. At its best, the platforming is really exciting but at other times it's really just baffling. The same goes for the level design. A tip for all designers out there - a level whose theme is that it's really dark so you can't always tell where you're going is bad level design.
For some reason, I could have sworn that the industrial themed world, "Kremkroc Industries, Inc.", was the last one. I was stunned when there was a whole other world to go through. I have no idea how I got this impression. So, that was weird. It doesn't help that a lot of the levels in "Kremkroc" are frustratingly tricky, and any sense of relief I might've had was quickly squashed.
Having said that, the good outweighs the bad. Graphically, it's still very charming and neat looking, even if it doesn't look 'new' anymore. More often than not the levels provide a reasonable amount of challenge and secret stuff to find (seriously, there is a TON of secret stuff). The bosses are standard fare for this era, which isn't a bad thing at all. Find the pattern, exploit the weak spot, etc.
Summary
Donkey Kong Country is a flawed but still great game, one definitely worthy of being called a classic. If you enjoy 2D platformers and somehow haven't given this a spin, I suggest you do so. Prepare to be frustrated by a few later levels, but also to be won over by its charm. The sequels (which I hope to get to in this series eventually) are great as well, so if you enjoy this one there's no need to stop here.
What a pleasant surprise this was!
I've dabbled a bit with the Virtua Fighter series in the past, but never gotten too into it. Though I've always kind of understood why it was such an impressive game for its time, it also feels too real if that makes sense. For whatever reason that hasn't really clicked with me. At least not yet. When I got Fighting Vipers recently as part of a big lot of Saturn games, I figured it would be quite similar. I was under the impression that it was a spin-off of the VF series -- which it turns out isn't entirely correct, but that's beside the point. And in fact Fighting Vipers totally surprised me within moments of firing it up.
 
Having no familiarity with any of the characters, I selected Candy. Later my research would tell me that Candy (or Honey in Japan) is actually a bit of a Fighting Vipers fan-favorite and co-splay mainstay to this day. Who knew? Whenever I'm not familiar with a fighting game roster I usually go for whoever looks to be the smallest female character, as they tend to be among the fastest which is how I like to move.
Well it turned out Candy worked just fine for me. Surprisingly I was able to beat the game on a single credit on my first try. Which is not to say it's an overly easy game, but certainly the default difficulty is meant as a starting place for newcomers to get used to the game. The controls are straight out of Virtua Fighter -- utilizing the three-button setup of block, punch and kick. Thus far, I have not mastered using the block well enough. Though this simplified control scheme might seem too basic, it actually offers up a very deep fighting game with an amazingly long list of moves. Indeed there are literally hundreds of moves available to the player with all of them listed in the instruction manual. This is awesome considering publishers today milk every cent out of gamers by offering a game with a tiny manual and the option of a $20 strategy guide for learning moves.
 
Graphically the game looks alright. Certainly it's at least on par with the blocky 3D rendered fighters of the time. The music however is fantastic, leaning toward the sort of hard rock soundtrack that later games like Guilty Gear or BlazBlue would perfect. But what really makes Fighting Vipers an excellent game is the over-the-topness of it all. Where Virtua Fighter attempted to aim for realism, Fighting Vipers smashes any bit of reality. Mists of blood rain out of your opponent, their armor shatters off of them (which opens them up to being vulnerable to taking more damage per hit), and single attacks can send enemies flying many feet... sometimes through walls.
Even if the Arcade Mode is short, it is ridiculously fun. And the Saturn disc also includes two variations in Arrange Mode and Hyper Mode so that you won't get too bored too quickly. And I've enjoyed this game enough to research the series further. In fact I've already got a copy of Fighters Megamix pending via trade right now, which combines the Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter games into one big glorious mess. Until I play that one, I'll highly recommend fighting fans pick this one up.
Hey everyone my brother and I hit up HPB yesterday because we had some coupons and it was time we went there to pick up some more games. If you haven't read last week's blog do so! haha my brother picked up some more big box PC games last week among some other things as well BUT this week we picked up some more at HPB most I picked up were on clearance for a $1.00 or so. Also I picked up my Halo 4 Limited Edition Game & Guide. Honestly I love the game (campaign and mulitplayer) but as for class I think the guide has more perks than the $100.00 price tag on the limited edition anyone with me on that one?? Anyways here is run down of what we picked up yesterday and a picture hope you enjoy!
Game Stop - Halo 4 LE Game & Guide (not pictured) - Pre-ordered - Paid off - Total - $135.00
HPB:
*Tomb Raider - Lost Artifact - $0.90
*Links LS 2-Pack - $0.90
*Vietnam: Black Ops - $0.90
*Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit - $0.90
*Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed - $0.90
*Return to Atlantis - Amiga 500, etc. - $1.40
*Boeing 737 Collection - Brand new - $5.00
*Boeing 737-600 Advanced - Brand new - $4.00
*Ilyushin IL-96 Traffic 300 - Brand new - $4.00
*Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (wasn't in the database but I did submit it) - Brand new - $8.00
*Treasure Island - Brand new - $1.00
*Star Trek Encyclopedia - Not a game but still it was ORIGINALLY priced at $50.00 but they marked it down to $7.00
*Jane's F-15 - $7.00
*Retro Gamer Magazine (love this mag company!) - Sonic 20th Anniversary Special - $2.00
All of these games are complete and in Mint condition!
As many of you on the site know, along with collecting classic video games and systems, I have a big interest in playing and working on pinball machines. I bought my first machine on August 6, 2011, an electromechanical pin called Spanish Eyes (1972) and I've owned a total of 9 machines since. Many of them I have fixed up, played for several months, and sold. I recently picked up one of my favorite machines, Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993) and am currently restoring a favorite from my childhood, Taxi (1988), a machine I picked up in February earlier this year. In April of next year, I will be driving up to Pittsburgh to attend, maybe play in, Pinburgh 2013. http://papa.org/pinburgh2013/
Anyway, while my Vectrex Interview Series #3 is in the works, I thought I might do a Top 10 list of my favorite pinball machines for those who might be interested. I'm a member of Pinside.com, a great source for pinball collectors and enthusiasts, and through their rating system, I have been able to keep track of the pins that I have played (currently 112!) Though I've rated the machines on this site, the categories for ranking don't necessarily reflect my favorite machines. Though I recognize the flaws in some of my favorite machines, they are often not such that it takes away from my enjoyment of them. Sure, the artwork might not be the greatest on some, but the features, the experience, or even the nostalgia may outweigh what others might see as imperfections.
Coming in at #10 is a machine I played quite a lot growing up, High Speed. High Speed is an early alphanumeric solid state machine that was made by Williams in 1986. The game was designed to simulate a high speed chase from the cops in which the ultimate objective is to escape their pursuit. The game's designer, Steve Ritchie claims that the concept of the game is based on the true story in which he was once chased by the police in his 1979 Porsche 928 and charged with reckless driving. What I really appreciate about High Speed is how the concept is well integrated into the design of the machine. Ramps and loops are designated as freeways and when you plunge the ball, you hear the sound of an engine reving and a car peeling off. The machine even has a red light topper that flashes during the pursuit and police call outs simulating a call into the station and instructing you to pull over. High Speed also has a side ramp, which presents a greater challenge, since it can only be reached using the 3rd flipper located in the upper right playfield.
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/b5yB_NTCFfg&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/b5yB_NTCFfg&rel=0</a>]]>
What makes High Speed especially attractive is the history of the machine. It wasn't the first machine to have sound (Gorgar - 1979), but it was the first to have an original musical score. High Speed was the first Williams pinball game to use alpha-numeric displays and was the first game that allowed players to enter their initials for a high score, which was very revolutionary since it gave players an incentive to pump in more quarters. Over 17,080 units were produced, so it's a fairly common title to find; however, due to its popularity and age, they are typically in pretty poor condition. High Speed was basically remade in 1992 as The Getaway: High Speed II and had the same basic playfield layout, but included a metal Supercharger centrifuge ramp to left center, an animated dot-matrix display, and ZZ Top's "La Grange" as the score.
**Gameplay and Tutorial (be sure to watch in full screen**
<![CDATA[<a href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=43579230&server=vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=01AAEA" target="_blank">http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=43579230&server=vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=01AAEA</a>]]>
Hey man, it's the King!
-Claude Speed, the Protagonist of Grand Theft Auto 2
Grand Theft Auto 2 is, without a doubt, one of the funnest games for the PlayStation. Released in 1999, this (somewhat) Open-World Crime Game is (obviously) the sequel to Grand Theft Auto, also on the PlayStation. Even though the improvements over the first one were only slight, they made for one hell of a fun game. Many will probably tell you that this game hasn't aged well, but that's crap. This game is the very pinnacle of fun on the PlayStation. It's assortment of Action, Comedy, and References come together for a thing that can be called near-perfect.
Unlike the later games in the series (sans Chinatown Wars), this one is played from a top-down perspective. The point of the game is to do jobs for various gangs, earning enough cash to proceed to the next level. It's kind of hard for me to describe this game's actual gameplay, so I won't. Besides, you should really experience this game for yourself. If you like retro games (which I'm sure you do), I'm sure you'll enjoy this gem.
One of the coolest things about this game is that it got a short film adaption titled "GTA2: The Movie". I've never seen it myself though.
This was also the first GTA Game I ever played, receiving it in Christmas of 2000. Believe it or not, I still have yet to beat it though.
Also, you may remember me posting something about making a documentary. Don't worry, it's not cancelled. It's just on hold while I look for a new Video Camera.
The genres are all over the place this week!
If you've followed my blog for the last couple months you may have noticed me mention the game Thunder & Lightning a couple times in my future plans. If you're not familiar with the game its an Arkanoid clone. A pretty good one though. I played it several times before my surgery and got the either the last level or second last level 5 times and then failed. One such run was particularly frustrating as I got to the last level with 5 extra men, which should have been more than enough to finish it off. All I needed was pretty much any item except the missile. Literally any other item would have been helpful (some more so than others, obviously) except that one. Well with my 5 lives I was able to obtain 5 missiles before dying. Its very rare that I get the same item twice in a row, so 5 was devastating.
When I was recovering from surgery at home I gave the game a try on our 42" Flatscreen and was finding it much more difficult to play for some reason. So it got shelved until I returned to work this past week. With all of the above in my mind I was determined to finally beat it even if it meant playing it safe (or being cheap some might say :p). There are 3 levels that have new blocks spawning and if you can clear out enough of the blocks and keep them at a manageable level you could play the same level for as long as you want. By doing this I spent probably about 1-1.5 hours farming 1UPs between these 3 levels in order to ensure my victory. Doesn't make for the most exciting video, but I'm still happy to be able to cross it off my list! And after all that I was treated to the best ending screen to date......
Since we had a pretty good snowfall up here already what better game to celebrate with than Heavy Shreddin'. Much like George Foreman's KO Boxing this game seemed brutally hard at first. After getting used to the controls and realizing that you NEVER have to use one of the two styles of control available it became quite a bit easier. The game seems quite long at first two, but all of the 18 different runs are short so in the end my final run was just barely over 20 minutes. The Backwoods levels which you have to finish at the end of each run are really a lot of fun too. This game really surprised me.
Last up for this update is Flying Warriors. You might remember me talking up how much I enjoyed playing Flying Dragon this year. I was very much looking forward to Flying Warriors as its somewhat of a sequel. While it did have some of the parts I enjoyed from Flying Dragon it also added a lot of new things to the game. Most of which I didn't like. One of the things I liked to much about Flying Dragon was the simplicity of it. The game had you doing fetch quests, farming enemies for money, changing to multiple characters for slightly different spells, and a couple poorly thought out turn based boss battles. I really want to like this game, and had they fleshed out some of the new ideas a little better I think I would have, but given the choice I'm gonna pick Flying Dragon over it.
NES Games Finished In 2012
(click on a title to view the video)
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
Air Fortress
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
BONUS GAME -
Assimilate
Future Plans - With the nintendoage list I'm using to choose my games dwindling, and the number of games I even own on that list rapidly shrinking, I'm getting relatively low on options these days. I got my doctor's OK to finally dig into those two last power pad titles I've been salivating over though. After that though you can probably expect to see some gems like Back to the Future II & III, Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure, Mad Max, Roger Clemens MVP Baseball, and maybe if your lucky some Pinball games!
October has come and gone, but Halloween continues to haunt my mind.
I've previously mentioned I've spent a good portion of the past month reading up on the history of Sega, as well as putting my body to the test by running in two marathons. Yet, I've remained silent on my acquisitions for October, with the final one being held up in the postal system, thanks to a certain cyclonic storm system.
After three months, it should be no surprise by now that I collect Dreamcast stuff, so here's the photo roll:
Imports
Continue reading Dreamcast Mania! October 2012 ed.
A little while ago, my wife and I decided it would be fun to play through a bunch of the greatest video games of all time, one by one, and see how many we could get through and enjoy them together. In a lot of instances, it was the first time completing the game for either of us, and sometimes it was even the first time playing the game at all. We didn't come up with any particular order to do these in and are just kinda making it up as we go along. Here's a summary of our first game playthrough, which was "The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past" for the SNES.
Before going further, I should mention that while these games are classics and youve probably played them, this article does contain spoilers. Just fair warning.
Past Experience
I've played Link to the Past a handful of times over the years but I've never made it all the way to the end. I'm not really sure why, exactly. It just never worked out that way, I guess. I remember being frustrated and confused by the light/dark world mechanic, especially when I was much younger. For whatever reason I didn't fully get the relationship between the two worlds, which is pretty critical for a large part of the game.
As a quick aside, one of my favorite things about this game was (and still is) the opening title sequence. The music and visuals leading up to the game's title are so unique and were awfully mindblowing back in the early 90's. It still holds up pretty well, too. Just look at this and tell me it doesn't give you great memories:
Just awesome.
The Playthrough
While I'd never beaten A Link To The Past, I'd started it enough times to know how to get the ball rolling when starting it this time around. I know the first few stages practically by heart by now, and they set the tone very well. The game actually starts with Link rescuing Zelda! Fear not, though - she gets kidnapped again and the game plays out a lot like the rest of them do.
After the prologue, you have to complete three dungeons. After that you can unlock the ubiquitous Master Sword and the second set of dungeons. The second set is 7 dungeons, which leads to one massive final dungeon and final showdown with Ganon. The dungeons need to be done in a specific order and each dungeon unlocks an item that helps you finish that and/or the next one. I'll leave it at that because all Zeldas basically follow the above path. So, let's go over what makes Link to the Past unique.
The biggest 'tweak' to the formula in Link to the Past is that the game takes place in two different worlds - a 'light world' and a 'dark world'. The worlds overlay and are very similar to each other, but are different in just enough ways to make travelling between the two a strategic thing. The player can travel from the dark world to the light world at any time but can only go the other way around at the same point where they entered the light world or from a few hidden portals. This leads to certain places being inaccessible at certain times, which keeps the game fairly linear. This particular 'tweak' is a very good one, and does a great job of combining puzzle-type elements with action ones. This balance is what makes this such a beloved title.
I did have a couple of gripes on this playthrough, though. While the game does a pretty good job of pointing you in the right direction at any given time without holding your hand too much, there are a few places where it doesn't do that enough. A few dungeons can't be reached at all without the use of items that are completely missable. This happens very early on, in fact, where the Book of Mudora is required to unlock the game's second dungeon. Had I not played the first part of the game so many times, I'm really not sure how easily I would have figured this out. Each instance of this sort of thing is countered by varying degrees of hints given by nearby NPC's and other clues.
The most egregious of these to me was when trying to access the 6th dungeon in the dark world. This requires an item that is in a treasure chest on the opposite end of the map, and is one that I was not aware even existed until I saw the symbol at the dungeon entrance implying it was what I needed. I'm conficted on this because I do think that it's great that the game encourages exploration and excessive hand-holding could have ruined the game. However, this felt unintuitive. It may be a testament to the rest of the game's greatness, but this little flaw bugged the crap out of me.
Summary
After completing the game, I had little looking past the nitpicks I'd had. This is truly a masterpiece and has the distinction of being the only 16-bit Zelda, giving it sound and visuals entirely unique to the extensive series (except maybe the Oracle duology, I guess). In addition to the engaging two-worlds gameplay, that uniqueness is a big part of what makes this game so great. In many ways, it's a refined take on the original NES Legend of Zelda, but the upgraded hardware allows it to be a lot more than that. I am unwilling to call it the greatest Zelda (not because I think something else is better, but because I just plain can't pick one), but it is absoutely up there. It's an absolute classic from start to finish.
Greetings from Terra...
Inspired by http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=10499.0 , I decided to celebrate Halloween by gettin' my drink on with some of the freakiest critters around--
 AAAAIIEEEE!!!
NOT THAT FREAKY!!!
*GUUUUHH*
Geezus, I just about had a heart attack there. What the hell, man! No way I'd hang with a weirdo like that!
 I have standards, you know.
Moving on: I decided to spend Halloween night knocking back a few of my fave libations-- Disaronno and Strongbow cider-- while playing Skylanders Giants, and pausing occasionally to jot down my thoughts on the game as they come to me. There's no possible way anything could go wrong with this little experiment.
 Nothing like gettin' tanked to a video game aimed at 'tweens, lemme tell ya.
On the upside: no trick-or-treaters have darkened my front door in years, which means distractions are all but nonexistent. Best of all, I can keep this bag of fun-sized Butterfingers for myself.
 Hey, Bart, I got'cher edible shorts right here.
On the downside: I have no close friends to invite me to their cool Halloween shindigs. Which means I'm all alone, with only my thoughts to keep me company.
My dark, depraved, disturbing thoughts.
And now you know the real reason why I drink...
But let's dispense with the self-pity, and get this mofo started:
 A shot for my homies-- except for Pop Fizz (he's had more than enough).
DIFFICULTY LEVEL SELECTION:
There's the "pussy-ass nancy-boy" setting:
The "you're still a nancy-boy, but I still have a little respect for you" setting:
Aaand "the super-macho manly-manchild)" setting.
Whattaya think of that last one, Flynn?
http://www.youtube.com/em...I?start=1525&end=1527
My thoughts exactly!
CHAPTER 1 (Drinks tote board: Two shots of Dis and half a Strongbow)
I'm starting this one with the Giant Bouncer, and alternating with a few of my Series 1 faves. He ends up taking out a giant robot voiced by Mr. Sulu on this level. Which kinda sucks, 'cuz I really like that Sulu guy. (NOT in that way, though; besides, he's off the market)
 OH MY!
Hey, I know: I'll just pretend he's the evil mirror-universe Sulu. You know, the one with the scar?
Yeah, thas the yticket. Now I don't feel so guilty abut killin him here.
CVHAPTER 2 (3 Dis, 1.5 SB)
I jusyt realized that Bouncer's voice is done in a stereotypical black urban fashion, reminiscent of Jazz from the first Transformers flick, but a bit more subtle. But if youthink that's bad, whenever Hex eats something, she sounds just lik Oprah Winfrey doing thast mmm-hmmm sound..
CHAPTER 3 (4 DIS 333 SB)
HEE HEEE WHOA WHERES THE CAPS LOCK WHAT THEfu found it yaay
When I saw the new Hotdog chara for this gam I thought he lokt kinda lame. I mean even his name has absolutl no imagnatin behind it at all. But then I found his soulgem 'ultimate' powerup.
A FLAMING BAG OF DOG POOP heh hee now I gortta add him to my collection when hecoms out juswt so ican use that power that's just so awesome
CHAPTER 4 [6 DIS / 4 SB)
Hpoly crap bad sulu is still alive! sorta yay and sorta boo too I guess.
The skystones minigames are waaay better than the cardmatch crap in the 1st game I mean theyre much more challenging cuz I actally lost a few of em
dAMN Stelf elf is hot, holy crap did I really just type that. That is SOOO GAY ha heeee
 Aw no she brought her kid sister with her.
What a freakin c0ck-blok, right guys?
CHAPTER 5 [98 dis 51n sb]
Nooo I got kild for the 1st time, and my fave skylander too oh why, Eon whyyyyy
 I dint man to killya Trigs, Im so sorty
Okay finally completd th levl. But I think ill go through the 1st 5 levels again to complewe all the challenges. Better check the strat gide first tho. But I'm havin a hard time flipping the pages, and it hard to reed
 this things written in martian or something
Need to use the littl3 boys room brb oops never mind. Back to th game
BACKTRAcking CHAPS 1-5 (booz level OVAR 9000+ THIS... Is... SKYLAAANDS!!!)
MMM these are gooood butrfingers. Got some prunes too dont ask.
I kinda feel bad for Kaos' sidekick glumshanks. I cn tell from his dmenor n expresons that he knows his boss is gonna fqail hard in the end, but he goes along with the deal anyway. His loyalty to his buddys lost causes iz so beautifl an yet so sad.But Im NOT gonna cry, Im not gonna cry--- oh god im totally cryin. Im such a fruit
 Hes just tryin to get by in this cold cruel wrld
the best he can. Is that so rong?
DAMN I wish this was a M rated deal so I can see bllod guts & body parts fly when I fight da baddies just thatd be the coolst thing evar! And the kids would lov it too
Woohoo just got my first Sklyander levled up to 11 goddan it took frekun long enuf
Why cant this game support th wii classic contllr id lov to have tha opshin
Hah I just killd a horde of elfthings eat me you douches
getting sleepy
[0joL:M?
 To be continued?
Don't you love it when a game finally wins you over? You know what I mean, right? There's games out there that everyone seems to consider a classic and you don't get it. You try and try but just don't see what's so great about it. And then suddenly, maybe without even realizing it you just completely adore the game? Well, let me tell you a bit about Marvel Vs. Capcom 2.
If you've followed this blog at all in the past then you definitely know that I've always used Street Fighter II (well Turbo or Hyper or IIX or whatever you want to call it) as the high water mark by which I compare all 2D fighting games. And while everyone seemed to rave about MVC2, I never really spent any serious time with it until it got an HD re-release on PSN. I had actually just picked it up for around $30 on PS2 but hadn't had a chance to play it when I received a PSN giftcard and figured that the online-enabled PSN port would be the better way to experience the game. So I sold the PS2 copy and downloaded away. And of course these sprites looked great beaming through an HDMI cable, projected on an LCD monitor in hi-def wide screen. But the game... it just seemed so boring to me. It had this huge roster of awesome characters, but I could barely force myself to enjoy an entire 3-on-3 fight, nevermind the entire Arcade Mode.
 
And so I assumed I really didn't like Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. Although it was widely considered the fan-favorite, I seemed to get far more enjoyment out of the third installment, and eventually the first. I tried to figure out what was wrong with it -- the music? The four-button simplicity? The sprites that probably should have been redrawn? Sure these were all marginal complaints, but they shouldn't equate to a ruined game by any means.
Recently I got a day off from work due to Hurricane Sandy and decided for some strange reason that MVC2 would be the game to pop in for the afternoon. I'm actually quite terrible at playing fighting games with arcade sticks, but since I don't have a legit Dreamcast fightpad I decided to fire it up with my Agetec to try to learn how to fight with a stick to get a sort of arcade realism going on. At first I had so much trouble pulling off simple moves. The classic Capcom Ryu projectile movement of down to forward + punch for instance often saw me jumping around like a flailing lunatic. But after about an hour I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable.
 
But maybe weirder is that after that hour I was also having a ton of fun. But the real difference to me was replayability. In the PSN version I was used to having all 58 characters accessible from the get-go. This was perhaps overwhelming to the point of boredom if that makes sense (see: Devo's "Freedom of Choice"). However playing the Dreamcast port meant that two of my go-to fighters (Morrigan and Chun-Li) weren't even available. So instead I had to play with Wolverine (who is a favorite), Ryu (who is an "okay, I like him") and a wild-card. And then I slowly started unlocking characters.
After a couple of days playing sporadically I had unlocked a handful of new folks, among them an alternate Wolverine and my beloved Morrigan. And yet nothing makes me want to slow down my progress. No, instead I'm loving mixing up my trio and unlocking more of the roster in a "gotta catch em all" style mania. Hell, I still don't have Chun-Li or Cammy or Akuma or Felicia or Mega Man or... well you get the idea. So yeah. It turns out I kind of love Marvel Vs. Capcom -- when it's done right, like on the Dreamcast.
So this past month I decided to broaden my collecting goals. Rather than focus exclusively on Dreamcast, I started picking up Sega CD and Saturn stuff as well. I find this adds an even greater selection of interesting games to my library, as the whole early optical media days presents amazing variety from killer 2D games, awkward 3D games and even impressive arcade ports. What's crazy is that this month turned out to be perhaps the most I've added to my collection in a single month this year. Let's take a look, shall we?
First off, I picked up an X'Eye via trade with our very own Duke.Togo. This is actually my household's second X'Eye, though the first is my wife's and resides in our living room. I wanted this one for my main gaming setup. I love the X'Eye. Sure, the CDX is a bit sleeker, but it's also more expensive. Plus the X'Eye is a karaoke machine. Eat your heart out, CDX! Oh and I nabbed that 6-button controller elsewhere.
Some common additions to my US Sega CD library, but good stuff no doubt. Sonic CD is definitely an all-time favorite SCD game, and I was really excited to find Mickey Mania as Mickey's Genesis platformer games were great. Most of these were trades or cheap local pick-ups.
A few pack-in games... the more common edition of Sewer Shark along with the X'Eye pack-ins of Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia and a karaoke sampler.
And finally I've got a copy of Night Trap! It's the blue cardboard re-release version, and in great condition.
Now a pretty big haul of US Saturn games. Mostly commons, but some good stuff in there like D and Fighting Vipers. That 3-Pack is cool as well and came with a really awesome Saturn poster. Most of the Saturn games came from a cheap-o eBay lot.
Oh... and Shining Wisdom!
Not to mention the Nights boxset, which netted me an extra 3D controller. Got this and Shining Wisdom via trade with Ghost Soldier here.
Also managed to grab a copy of Dead Or Alive, which was only released in Japan. This was nabbed off eBay for cheap.
I picked up the Saturn Stunner lightgun for just $7 at my local retro shop. And got that Sega 3 button controller as part of trade with barracuda.
Needed a Saturn arcade stick, so grabbed this boxed Virtua Stick off eBay for $20 shipped. It's certainly nothing amazing, but it'll work for the price. Plus it's cool to have an official Sega stick.
And of course some Dreamcast US games. Definitely some good stuff in there. Most of these were trades or acquired through friends.
Plus a few stand-outs: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Marvel Vs Capcom 2 were both from a friend of mine, while the Dream Passport 3 I picked up locally. Dream Passport 3 was a Japanese web browser, but what made it interesting was it had Genesis and Turbo Grafx-16 emulators built in so you could download ROM's off of the Japanese Sega service. Think of it as an early precursor to PSN, XBLA or Virtual Console.
Another trade netted me the Seaman box set, complete with microphone!
And a good friend of mine gave me a great deal on the Dreamcast Agetec stick, which is easily one of my favorite arcade sticks of all time.
That same friend also found me a Japanese Dreamcast keyboard in Typing of the Dead box! He managed to nab it off eBay for super cheap and passed the savings right on to me.
I also picked up one of those Dreamcast SD card readers off eBay, though I haven't had a chance to try it yet. And GreyGhost81 here hooked me up with a free box for a VMU.
Locally I managed to nab five issues of Sega Visions magazine. They're all in great condition.
But probably the coolest swag I've found lately is this "Sega Swirl" t-shirt!
Hey everyone it's only November 1st and already have I got a new Game Hunt for you. I read Bill (engel762)'s blog and I am glad he got his Genesis 2 working perfectly I am sure he's got a story for me and that's awesome. Today I went and traded some dvd's I had an itch that need to be scratched and well I got rid of a few DVD's to buy MENACE BEACH COMPLETE IN BOX! Bill and I saw it the other day at one of our favorite local stores. Is it bad that I paid $150.00 for it?!?!? Then my brother decided to come out of "Semi Game Collecting Retirement" haha. We stopped at a few of our usual places we went to Game Vault where he picked up a couple of "Big Boxed" PC Games Ages of Myst Commemorative Edition & Star Trek Klingon Academy.
After Game Vault we went on to Gamers (also at Game Vault he picked up a spare Xbox 360 power brick and cord). At Gamers we saw squat so we went on to Good Bytes which lately that place has been as dry as the Sahara desert. But there we picked up The 11th Hour (PC), Strike Commander (PC), Ridge Racer & NBA In The Zone (PS1) big boxes, Ace Combat Zero (PS2), and Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GCUBE). Then the other day my brother bought Postal Fudge Pack Edition on eBay. So overall I don't think too bad for the start of the month. SO here is the pictures of everything.
OH Almost forgot somewhat video game related but more Retro related I picked up 3 puzzles for $3.00 at a local store.
And here is the run down:
Favorite Local Store -
*Menace Beach - COMPLETE IN BOX - $150.00
Game Vault -
*Ages of Myst - Commemorative Edition - $15.00 - Complete
*Star Trek: Klingon Academy - $27.00 - Complete
*Xbox 360 Power Brick and Cord - $20.00
Good Bytes -
*11th Hour - $2.00 - Complete
*Strike Commander - $2.00 - Complete
*Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure - $2.00 (Need a manual)
*Ridge Racer - $2.00 - Complete
*NBA In The Zone - $2.00 - Complete
*Ace Combat Zero - $2.00 - Complete
eBay -
*Postal Fudge Pack - $30.00 Brand New
Please Comment.
Episode 8 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...rum/index.php?topic=10545
Get the show at http://www.collectorcast.com
Follow the Collectorcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Collectorcast
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Collectorcast
On Stitcher (enter Promo Code RFGeneration): http://www.stitcher.com/RFGeneration
On iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/u...collectorcast/id524246060
On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/DukeTogo74
Many of us are familiar with the games released for our favorite consoles. But how can you enhance your collection beyond simply obtaining retail releases? Well explore one of many answers to that question this time around by entering the realm of Homebrew titles. And to make sure we treat the subject appropriately we've sought out help. NES Homebrew Developer John White, creator of the game Assimilate, joins us to discuss his thoughts on Homebrew games.
We took this opportunity to poke and prod as much info as we could from him regarding both his game and Homebrews in general. Being a collector focused site, we of course had to get his unique perspective on the collectability of such items too.
As usual we also discuss the most interesting scores posted on the site since our last recording. With the overwhelming number of post this time around we must apologize if you feel we missed mentioning your finds. There were far too many wonderful additions to our member's collections this episode that we really had to cut it down to what we felt were the absolute best scores.
Show notes:
Music: Final Fantasy III/VI (SNES)
4:53 Small Scores
1:12:00 Homebrew intro discussion
1:35:03 Interview with John White
2:50:59 Outtro
Sites mentioned in the show:
http://airwalkstudios.com/
http://nessylum.wordpress.com/
http://www.retrousb.com/
Went out hunting games with niceguy1283 again, with the initial goal of picking up a Genesis 2 and a Sega 32X for the hell of it. We started at the usual place, Half Price Books.
Bought a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog (NFR) and Streets of Rage while we were there killing time, both complete. Six bucks each. Found a Super Mario Advance strategy guide for
two dollars also. From there we headed off towards the next stop, one of the Gamers locations in town.
Did some scrounging through some boxes of random new crap they had just bought in from customers. Found a couple Atari 2600 games for a buck each, Sneak'n Peek, and
Ms. Pac-Man. Just for the hell of it I bought Dreamcast Web Browser 2.0, useless, but dirt cheap.
Onward to the second Gamers store location we frequent, found a 32X and a Genesis 2 here for 45 bucks total, not the cheapest in the world, but things are drying up around
here lately. Also found copies of Mega Bomberman and TMNT Tournament Fighters on Genesis for 5 bucks each. Shadow Squadron for 32X for 2 dollars, Final Fantasy Legend II
for 7 dollars.
As we headed out of Omaha and back across the river to our home ground, we stopped at another local shop we like. Found a complete copy of Parasite Eve for 15 dollars, sadly the
cheapest I've managed to find it locally. I got a few things from Nick in a trade, Power Stone (JPN) for Dreamcast, Paperboy for Game By with manual, Fist of the North Star and
Robocop on NES, Legend of the Mystical Ninja on SNES, Star Wars Arcade for 32X and a 6 button Genesis controller.
After getting home and disconnecting my old Genesis 1 and hooking up the Genesis 2, I discovered the console wouldn't stay powered on without jiggling the power cord. I tore it down
and cleaned out the dust bunnies that had moved in over the years. After inspecting the power socket I discovered two of the three solder points on the socket had been cracked.
After getting a bit irritated at the "guaranteed to work" policy Gamers has,and not wanting to drive all the way back over there, I dug out the soldering iron and re-soldered the
connections and reassembled the console. Plugged it in and it works like a champ now.
Couple days later I was out running errands and made quick stops at CD Tradepost and a local comic book store, picked up Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, and Contra Shattered Soldier
for the PS2 and a strat guide for Xenosaga Episode 1.
Nurse, solder! STAT!
All better!
Stuff from Nick:
|
