Korn and Video Games
Ok first things first. U are probably asking yourself. What does Korn have to do with Gaming??? Well scroll down and experience my journey and find out.
First thing u do is you get your self a ticket to the Concert.
Then u head to the concert. As some of the members here might know, I am currently living in Sicily, Italy. Pretty much no bands come this far south. So I had to do a little traveling up to Rome for this event.
Once I left the airport I had to catch a train.
I got off at my stop and had to start walking. The venue where the concert was going to be was called Ippodromo Capannelle. This was my first impression of the place from the walk down the road. Looks a little beat down.
Outside the front of the Venue
I had a VIP pass so we gained early access to get up front. If you are still wondering how this is about gaming please be patient. It is coming 
From the side of the stage right before Korn started.
The drummer starting up the show.
Jonathon Davis the lead singer tearing it up on the bagpipe during the begging of the song shoots and ladders. What a great song.
So the concert was absolutely amazing. Korn always performs amazing and they our great with the crowd. But to this point we still have not seen anything gaming related? So since this post is already pretty photo heavy I am going to skip ahead a bit.
After the show was over as part of my VIP pass I got to meet the band members and then from there I got to experience one more cool thing. With the VIP pass I had it was a One on One gaming session with Jonathon Davis the lead singer of the band.
Before the gaming session started I first had to show him my gaming collection. Video Game collecting is one of my biggest passions along with the gaming industry. So I showed him my collection and he was defiantly impressed. He actually said he had alot of games as well which is pretty cool.
So we started up are gaming session and thankfully it was Call of duty. I did not know which game we would be playing when I bought the pass and I was fearful of getting stuck playing guitar hero. I use to love that game but it has worn out its welcome lol.
Here is a photo of me during the session having fun.
Overall the gaming session was pretty short but it was alot of fun. He informed me after we were done that I was only the second person to ever beat him which is a pretty cool feeling. But before I left I got one more photo with him.
Overall the night was awesome and a once in a lifetime experience. Also sorry for the people with slow computers. I had more then enough photos on this blog which can slow things down.
NOTE: I know this is a Blog about gaming, but come on! Anime and Gaming go together like...like...well, you know. 
Let's face it. If your an Anime Fan, there are unwritten rules that you must abide by, whether you like it or not. Well, as of now, I am making these rules written. So, here they are, the Rules of being an Anime Fan:
5. Show some respect!
Okay...not many people like English Dubs of Anime. What people fail to realize is that these companies/voice actors work hard to make an Anime into English. Japanese is a very hard language to translate. That being said, more Anime Fans should show respect to those that do it, even if they didn't do that well in the process.
4. Remember where it comes from!
Anime is from Japan, plain and simple. Some fans will criticize things seen in Anime, because they don't understand Japanese Culture. This usually applies to new fans, but all the same, you should still remember where it comes from. What may be correct in Japan may not necessarily be correct in your country.
3. Watch Akira!
Akira is perfection in the form of a film. Need I say more? You MUST watch this movie if you are a fan of Anime!
2. You are NOT a Super Saiyan!
Dragon Ball Z is popular, and that's a fact. But for crying out loud, don't go around trying to fly or fire Kamehameha Waves! You are NOT of an Alien Race that has powers! You'll only embarrass yourself trying to act as such.
1. Study Osamu Tezuka's life and works!
This is the Number 1 rule of being a fan of Anime!! Osamu Tezuka created Anime, and as such, gave us all a gift that we can truly appreciate. The least you can do is go to Wikipedia and look him up. He loved his job so much that his final words were pleas that he be allowed to work. That being said, study this man's life and works, and never forget where the wonderful world of Anime came from.
Well, that's it. This list was mostly made for fun, and should be treated as such, except for rules 3 and 1, as I am very serious about them. Thanks for reading it!
In order to save some space as I post on the Forums for my Collection each time it will be moved to this blog when I post new stuff in the forum :-)
Yesterday I posted a few teaser pictures of part of my collection today I am going to post pictures and some information on those pictures (there are quite a few) of PS1 through PS3 & PS Vita games I have. If you have any questions or anything please comment. Note none of it is for sale sorry  But I started this thread to talk about games in my collection or anyone else who wants to talk about games. After the teaser pictures will be the new pictures. So scroll on down and please comment away! Also this will not be in a blog anymore so if you want to check out my older parts of my collection please do so on my blog ALSO I will still be making blogs just not of collection parts I think the thread gets it out there better and who doesn't like to show off their collection.
UPDATE - SCROLL DOWN FOR 32X, SMS, TG16, NGAGE AND MORE!!! 05/03/2013
NES Shelving for Now - Muwahahaha NEED MORE check out my wanted NES forum and my fs/ft for anyone who can help. Thanks again for those who have or are going to!!
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Teaser Pictures:
Picture 1: Big Boxed PC collection
*I recently obtained a substantial amount of big box PC games from ixtaileddemonfox (again thanks) which helped a large collection grow to an even larger collection of Big Box PC games.
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Picture 2: The Not so big boxed PC games
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Picture 3: Playstation 1 & 2
*That DVD rack used to be full of DVD's and Blu-Rays it has now dwindled as I have been selling off most of my movies to replace them at another time with Blu-Ray only. SO my PS1 collection has grown tremendously as of late and I finally have enough room to put my PS1 & PS2 games on a shelves again together.
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There will be more to come eventually if you want to read back on my blogs of my collection of findings, my Nintendo Collection (which will be updated) and many other fun stuff in my blogs so check it out! Also please feel free to comment.
Picture 1 - PS1 Long Box Games
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Picture 2 - PS1 Games #1
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*Few things in this picture to note -
--3D Baseball as you see I have two copies one actually has the manual the other just has the manual cover but this game like the Saturn Version has kind of spiked a little for a sports game.
--The Beyond the Beyond has the original 3D Glasses in them.
Picture 3 - PS1 Games #2
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Picture 4 - PS1 Games #3
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Picture 5 - PS1 Games #4
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Picture 6 - PS1 Games #5
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NOTE -- Starting to notice the trend of Square Games & RPG's?
*NCAA March Madness 2001 - Brand New Sealed
Picture 7 - PS1 Games #6
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Picture 8 - PS1 Games #7
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*NOTES -- ALL CIB
--Arc The Lad Collection
--Lunar: The Silver Star Story
--Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
Picture 9 - PS1 Games #8 - GameSharks & Imports
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**Love the Imports I already have looking forward to hopefully finding more down the road. **
Picture 10 - PS2 Games #1
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Picture 11 - PS2 Games #2
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Picture 12 - PS2 Games #3
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**Notes**
--Innocent Life - Brand New!
Picture 13 - PS2 Games #4
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**Notes**
--Radiata Stories - Brand New!
Picture 14 - PS2 Games #5
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**Notes**
--Samurai Legend Musashi - Brand New!
--Shepard's Crossing - Brand New!
Picture 15 - PS2 Games #6
[img width=700 height=525]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/100_4192_zps7f4931d4.jpg[/img]
**Notes**
--World Heroes Anthology - Brand New!
Picture 16 - PS2 Games, Complete Sets, & Imports
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**Notes**
--Dragon Quest VIII - 2 Copies - 1 is Brand New!
--Growlanser Heritage War CE - Brand New!
Picture 17 - PSP Games
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**Notes**
--Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles - Brand New!
--Final Fantasy 1 & 2 - Brand New!
--Knights in the Nightmare - Brand New!
Picture 18 - PS2 & PSP Collector's Edition
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**Notes**
--SORRY CUT OFF DEVIL SUMMONER 2 CE - BRAND NEW!
--ALL GAMES IN PICTURE ARE BRAND NEW Except one of the Copies of Prinny
Picture 19 - PS3 Games
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**Notes**
--Demon Souls - Brand New!
--Disgeaa 3 - Brand New!
--Heavy Rain - Brand New - Game Stop Pre-Order Edition
--Tales of Graces F - Brand New!
--PES Evolution is an Import
Picture 20 - PS3 - Special or Limited Editions
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**Notes**
--Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland [Premium Box] - Brand New!
--Atelier Totori: The Adventurer Of Arland [Premium Edition] - Brand New!
--Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten [Premium Edition] - Brand New!
--Gran Turismo 5 Collector's Editon - Brand New!
Picture 21 - PS3 - LOTR War In The North - Brand New!
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Picture 22 - PS Vita
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NEW STUFF ADDED TO LOOK AT - 05/03/2013
Picture 1 - Boxed Sega 32x Games
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**NOTES**
-BC Racers, Cosmic Carnage - Sealed
Picture 2 - Cart Only 32X some have manuals just forgot to dig them out, EXCEPT FOR THE ONE :-)
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Picture 3 - Sega CD 32X
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Picture 4 - Boxed Sega Master System
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Picture 5 - Rare Sega Master System Games or Semi Rare :-)
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**NOTES**
-Sega Mega Drive Game is Sailor Moon
-Gauntlet SMS is PAL
-Mega Key - Allows players to play MD and PAL MD games on Sega Genesis
-Action Replay For Sega Genesis
Picture 6 - Cart Only Sega Master System
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Picture 7 - Boxed Intellivision Games
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Picture 8 - Boxed Intellivision Games Part 2
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- My cart only Intellvision games are somewhere in the storage unit.
Picture 9 - CD-i
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Picture 10 - N-Gage
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Picture 11 - Odds & Ends
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Noriyuki Iwadare: Chapter 2
When we last left off with Iwadare's career we just stopped at Der Langrisser, and covered the big Lunar games and one remake, now its time for a new series to rise, and Lunar to continue with its remake train.
In 1996 Iwadare and Pack-In-Video worked together to make Monstania, a short tactical RPG for the Super Famicom that you guessed it, was never localized anywhere. It was quite late in the Super's lifecycle by then and Japan already had the Nintendo 64 to play with. Also, Pack-In-Video almost never localized their games anyway.
In the same year Iwadare and Game Arts released the Playstation remake of the first Lunar, adding Story to the end of the title for some reason. Anyway, this is more than just a simple remake, since the Playstation has more power than a Sega CD the developers were able to upgrade graphics, sound, music, everything, and with the upgrades came new songs.
A year later saw the Japanese exclusive release of Langrisser IV for the Sega Saturn, Iwadare worked with a couple of others to produce the music for the game. The aforementioned remake of Lunar Walking School, Magic School Lunar, also released for the Saturn and only for Japan in 1997.
What the rest of us got from the wonderful year of 1997 is another work from Iwadare and Game Arts, a new project, one that's not Lunar. Grandia. Grandia originally came out in 1997 for the Sega Saturn (for Japan only of course), but it was ported to the Playstation and released internationally in 1999 (2000 for the Euros out there). Because of its similarity to Xenogears in appearance and camera control it is the cause for some finger pointing ire amongst RPG fanboys, or did back when people cared.
1998 would see a couple more big projects from Iwadare. Langrisser V would release for the Saturn and Playstation (what geographical area do you think it was released in?) This is currently the latest game of the Langrisser series until Schwarz releases. Iwadare is credited as the composer for this upcoming game as well. But, the big news, at least internationally, was the remake of Lunar 2, getting the full Playstation treatment just like the first game got.
The next year was fairly quiet for the international Iwadare fan. None of the games would release outside of Japan but one did start a brand new series. Well, it is a new game in a way. Growlanser released in Japan only in 1999, but we would get some of the later games in the series.
In 2000 the world of role playing would be shaken to its core, or it should have been if it didn't, because Game Arts and Iwadare came out with an all new Grandia for the new at the time Sega Dreamcast! I consider this game to be in the Holy Trinity of Dreamcast RPGs alongside Skies of Arcadia and Phantasy Star Online. Just ignore the PS2 port and get the DC version!
Let us start the 21st century by saying that the next couple games had no chance of releasing outside of Japan. Mercurius Pretty is a remake of an old Japanese PC-98 game, there was no exposure when it was originally released and most likely not going to attract even a niche fanbase at the time. True Love Story 3 is a dating sim, that's about it for that one.
So the next music the international crowd was introduced to is a Grandia spin off, Grandia Xtreme. I have not played this game yet as I have never owned it and did not rent it back in the day, it is on my hunting list though as I have been digging the music.
Another True Love Story would come out along with an... 'adult' visual novel called Wind: A Breath of Heart. All the good stuff is in the PC version as it was cut for the console market. 2003 would see Iwadare work on that timeless PS2 classic Mega Man X7 with an entire music crew. Counting him, there are 9 credited composers for that game. Yikes!
Anyway I'll skip the Mega Man X7 for now and move onto something else completely awesome. Lawyers. Namely, Capcom's resident lawyer Nick Wright and crew. Yes, Iwadare started in the Ace Attorney series with the 3rd game, which we know as Trials and Tribulations. These games originally released as Game Boy Advance games. They were later remade for the Nintendo DS and released internationally a few years later, when I got in on the series.
Iwadare finally got to work for the big name in console RPGs, Square Enix, to compose the soundtrack to Radiata Stories before going back to compose the music for the Grandia I wish I could forget, Grandia III. After this he went back to making music for some Japanese exclusive sims primarily he made a return to the Ace Attorney series with Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth in 2009, and its UNLOCALIZED sequel Gyakuten Kenji 2 in 2011.
Alongside the new Ace Attorney spin off Game Arts and Iwadare made ANOTHER Lunar remake for the Playstation Portable. Lunar: Silver Star Harmony came out in 2009. The awesome Limited Edition has some sexy Lunar girl cards and a sweet CD soundtrack of all the music in the game! This is more of a slight enhancement to the PS1 remake than a different overhaul of the Sega CD original.
Grandia Online released in 2010 with Iwadare composing the entire soundtrack. Yes, this MMO is exclusive to Japan. I think its getting quite clear why Noriyuki Iwadare might not be as well known as he should be. Half his music never made it across any body of water!
The most recent games that Iwadare has worked on are the aforementioned Grandia Online, Gyakuten Kenji 2, and Kid Icarus: Uprising. Upcoming games with his music are the newest Ace Attorney game and Nick's return; Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies, as well as Langrisser Schwarz.
Composer Compendium LP - Stewart Copeland
Introducing the Composer Compendium Limited Play, or LP for short. The idea behind the LP is to highlight a short career in video games. Perhaps a life was tragically cut short, or an artist made music for a handful of games and moved on, or, and this is the most common one, they exist as a popular entity outside of video games already. They have a made name with clout behind it, whether the person was in a famous band, does Broadway music, movie and TV soundtracks, whatever else they were doing beforehand does not matter.
As an extra to the conclusion of Noriyuki Iwadare here is the Limited Play of The Police's drummer Stewart Copeland's work in the video game industry.
Sadly, he only worked on one series of games and one other random game, but the best games in that series. Mr. Copeland composed the music for the first four Spyro games. He started work on the very first one for the Playstation, and finished with Enter the Dragonfly on PS2.
This time coincided with many musicians outside of the realm of video games entering the medium in the West. They no longer needed in depth knowledge of a system's sound capabilities with the rise of CD gaming. The CD brought incredibly high quality music with it since NEC first introduced the Turbo CD as an add-on to the Turbografx-16. You did not need to be Yuzo Koshiro and create your own music coding language just to create high quality music. This brought many new audio styles to the world of mid-late 90's gaming.
I love me some Insomniac, and part of that reason is that I grew up with the PS1 trilogy of games and this music. I still like to try and play through them every other summer for some fun and nostalgia. Even back then I thought the music was much different from anything I had played on the Super Nintendo and PS1 beforehand. This may have to do with Copeland's lack of experience with the overall gaming market. He wasn't listening to the soundtracks of other games to get a style of what a game should sound like, he just made great music to fit the style of the one game he was working on at the time.
The one non-Spyro game soundtrack Copeland did is Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. I have not played this game so I don't know how it holds up, but I know its supposed to at least be creepy and mildly scary at times. I'll leave you with this nice, pleasant, limited little Spyro sample and this interview footage of the man himself.
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After my last update of A8 game finds I was talking to a member about how to find games and there really should be a list of what games would be worth the money for a starter collector and those on a budget. I was linked to one down by SingleBanana on Atari 2600 games and thought that is a great idea. I was doing the Back in the day segments that were to highlight a great game each week but doing one like this will help those looking for games on ebay or craigslist know whats worth playing without breaking the bank So with that said heres my whats what on the Atari 8 bit line of systems.
How did I manage to pick out this list of 25 games? Well, over the last 26 years Ive played many different titles some have been easy to play from day 1, others have been a learning process and even others I still don't have a clue how the game is played. I took the best Ive played from the first two and compiled them in no particular order into the list below. For as the top 3 over $15 games please keep in mind some of the titles will be very hard to locate if you can and could run you ( at least on ebay ) upwards of $100+ ( Mr. TNT and Mogul Maniac [even though I gave you a nice simple cheap way out of this title])
For as how do I find what I find to add to my collection; that would be determination and a lot of hunting online. In the wild you will find very little in the way of Atari 8 bit items. Ebay , Amazon, Craigslist and Atari Age would be a start for finding games and systems forsale that you can add and start a collection with. I was thinking of tossing in prices but the way people like to mark things up and lower prices later on ebay I figured it'd be best to leave them off the page here.
These titles are an opinion list from me. Feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and comments on the titles here and what you would suggest to others.
A8Scooter's Top 25 Bang for the Buck Games for the Atari 8 Bit Computer Line
Should be had for $15 or less ea.
Hardball - A fun baseball game with alot of controls to keep you feeling your in charge of the game
Pole Position - A arcade Classic that is well ported to the 8 bit line.
River Raid - Activision Atari 2600 classic that reminds me of Blue Max that you will also find on this list. Simple controls and a challenging game field.
Centipede - Shooting at a centipede shootingout mushrooms along the way. Good times.
Blue Max - WWI flight shooter. Add to the fun the idea that each time you beat the game you get a different rank and score, will bring you back for more.
Donkey Kong - An all time arcade classic + introduction of Mario and the Princess = AWESOME!
Pacman - Just because its Pacman.
Miner 2049er - Another addictive game that you need to step on every inch of the floor and destroy your enemies. Great fun.
Pitstop - This game is similar to Pole Position but if you came across this online before Pole Position I would say pick it up and give it a go. Alot of fun as well.
David's Midnight Magic - For a pinball game this is quite entertaining. What it lacks in sound you make up for in fun. To me this is a worth the trade off.
Frogger - Frogs crossing the street , this classic will not disappoint
Missile Command - This shootem title is alot of fun and can be played 1 player or 2 player. People who have an XEGS will find this game built into the system if you disconnect the Keyboard.
Decathlon - This activision title is alot of fun and will challange you and your friends. The only down side is it will wear out your controller.
Pitfall - For those who loved this title the first go on the 2600 will surely enjoy this port over.
Galaxian - This is another game that is fun as heck to play. Shooting at rows of aliens is always a good time.
Super Breakout - Breaking tiles with a small ball. YES sign me up!
One On One Basketball - DJ vs. Larry Bird. True one on one action, play to 21 or a set number. Then go out there and break the back board ( Seriously you can ).
Bug Hunt - This pack in game for the XEGS is a good shooting game. Shooting bugs that got into the tv screen is always a good idea.
BallBlazer - Ah yes Between the cool start up intro screens and the fact you race around with the ball trying to shoot it between 2 goals. This is new addition to my collection has been nothing but fun.
QIX - A maze game that you have to cut parts off the screen. Fun and a must own.
Joust- Anytime you get to ride an ostrich, joust then pick up eggs to prevent more birds from developing. My kinda game.
Space Invaders - Yep another one of the best arcade classics ported over beautifully to the A8 line.
Choplifter! - Saving American POWs. Need I say any more into why this game rocks.
Cavern of Mars - A side scrolling ship game that is a blast to play.
BASIC - On the Atari 400 you dont have one and yes this isnt a game but some cassette games will require you to have this in the cartridge slot so you can play the games. So consider this an investment cart to future gaming. ( You could go and buy an XL or XE with BASIC built in too. )
3 games that run over $15 but would be wortha go.
MR TNT - Heres an interesting and forgotten title I hear little about. From what Ive played of it you eat up the lines on the board but try not to leave yourself in a dead end. This game gets addicting fast.
Bounty Bob Strikes Back - The sequel to the Miner 2049er title. The fun continues with more levels and more enemies.
Mogul Maniac - Skiing game for the Atari 8 bit line. Even though this is a Disk based game a hand ful exist on cartridge and that would run you over 15.00 to get one. Skiing is fun on the Atari 8 bit line.
Another Tuesday is here and that means another back in time trip for you my blog followers.
This week I decided to go back to another one of those Atari arcade classics that has become the staple to American video gamingness. Pole Position.
RX8034 - Pole Position Atari Inc. (c) 1983 ( Re-released in 1987 )
[img width=548 height=280]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-034/ss/ts/U-034-S-01540-A.jpg[/img]
I could remember playing this in the arcades in the early 90's ( while they were still around ), the local pizza places, and at the local YMCA in the summer time before that got replaced with OutRun. ( which off hand is my other most favorite racing arcade game).
This 1 player game allows you to pick your track, pick the number of laps you want to race and then pits you against the track for your qualifying run. You have a time limit to qualify and in the race. However in the race you get extensions for each lap you complete.
Things you need to watch out for include other cars , track signs and the grass ( even though your wont go boom, you will slow down and well yeah you have that time thing to worry about ).
Scoring is quite strait forward the better you qualify the more of a bonus you get all the way to 20,000 pts for the pole. At the end of the race you get extra points for each second you have left on the clock and for each car you passed in the race you get a 50 pt bonus.
The only thing this game really misses out on is a shot of victory lane once you finish the race. I would personally recommend this to anyone with an A8 system that loves racing games. Pitstop is a good game that is similar to this title but when it comes down to the real deal Pole Position is where its at.
This game was fun to play in arcade and the fun was brought to your game room now with this 8-Bit version.
[img width=700 height=388]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/DSCF2663_zps9fea0196.jpg[/img]
I hope everyone who participated in June's Community Playthrough enjoyed the 16-bit Disney games we played. Puzzling and platforming through those was loads of fun!
July is fast approaching and that means the RFGen community will be playing through another game together. Wildbil52 hinted that it would be a super game for the seventh month and we'd like to congratulate Duke.Togo for correctly guessing Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars as the next Community Playthrough game!
Those who want to join can head over to this thread for more info.
CCAG (Cleveland's Classic Console & Arcade Gaming Show) 2013 has now come and gone.
http://www.ccagshow.com/
And wow, I just have so much to say. First, the non-mushy stuff you care about;
[img width=700 height=393]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/CCAG2013.jpg[/img]
And since I'm a terrible photographer using a tablet camera, here's the breakdown.
Bomberman Inflatable Bomb
Pac-Man Fever Vinyl
Bally Astrocade:
-Bally Pin (CIB)
-Grand Prix/Demolition Derby (CIB)
-Galactic Invasion (CIB)
-Basic w/ built in Audio Interface (CIB)
-Space Fortress
-Multicart
PC:
King's Quest VII (CIB)
X-Com Apocalypse (CB)
3DO:
Who Shot Johnny Rock (CI)
PS2:
Commandos 2
NES:
Sweet Home (repro)
Summer Carnival '92 Raging Fire Recca (repro)
PC Engine CD:
Vasteel (CIB)
Space Adventure II (CIB)
Super Famicom:
Battle Dodge Ball II
Retro Gamer Issues 104-108
Xbox:
Stake: Fortune Hunter (CIB)
Genesis:
Twinke Tale (repro) (CB)
Pulseman (repro)(CB)
Command Control TI 99 Joystick Adapter (CIB)
SNES
Bahamut Lagoon (repro)
BS Legend of Zelda (repro)
Virtual Boy:
Virtual Pro Yakyu '95
Colecovision:
Root Beer Tapper
Congo Bongo
Facemaker
A26
Ladybug (CI) (Homebrew)
Dungeon (CI) (Homebrew)
SSSnake (CI)
Space Combat
Outer Space
Pooyan
Pressure Cooker
Crash Dive
Summer Games
Sea Hawk (CIB)
Off the Wall (CIB)
PSX:
Zero Divide (CIB)
A52:
Gorf
Mountain King
Space Shuttle
Robotron 2084
Pitfall!
GBA:
Need For Speed: Most Wanted
Jaguar:
Defender 2000
DS:
Game and Watch Collection 2 (sealed, though not for long!)
Famicom:
Volguard II
Hector '87
Uchuu Keibitai SDF
Saturn:
Winter Heat (CIB)
Nintendo Power Dynowarz Poster/River City Ransom Map
Dissidia Final Fantasy Soundtrack Excerpt CD
Zaxxon Milton Bradley Board Game, one complete and one missing pieces
Interesting notes:
The A26 Dungeon and Ladybug carts were our first Chinese Auction win, from seven years attending. Funny enough, my beloved and I were going back and forth about where some of our tickets went when our winning number was called. XD
It was only a year or two ago that we took a real interest in repros. In fact, it was largely our own Crabmaster turning me onto a Summer Carnival '92 Recca, and Redd McKnight selling me a Mother Famicom translation repro that got me started. Seeing as how I'm a gamer before a collector, and I have no working knowledge of Japanese, some of these repros fit my interests perfectly, such as Sweet Home and Bahamut Lagoon. At the right price, I much prefer them over PC emulation. I even picked up another Recca because of a label and cart variation (not that I hunt down variants per se, but now that Recca is a personal favorite I like having a backup.) The BS Zelda is a particularly neat find, because it compiles the Satellaview Zelda chapters together into a complete game. Now I'm looking for an F-Zero Grand Prix cart!
There were many Famicom and Super Famicom games for sale, with the ability to demo them. The Famicom titles I picked up were shmups that impressed me, especially Uchuu Keibitai SDF. If I get enough time, I'd enjoy putting up some reviews.
I hear Zero Divide is pretty good, but I actually bought it CIB for a dollar to play the Tiny Phalanx unlockable. 
Now, every CCAG my beloved likes to use the advantage of our favorite gaming event taking place the same week as Father's Day. She's always on the lookout for that cool find that she can surprise me with as a Father's Day present, and boy does she succeed. Our AES, some rare NES games, and cool Saturn or Dreamcast finds are a few examples of collection gifts she's found over the years.
Its become an interesting tradition; we get in and she asks what direction I'm going; she goes the opposite and we do our initial scouring run on either side, to meet somewhere in the middle. That way we cover as much ground as possible as soon as the doors are open, and there's a good chance she'll find a cool Father's Day gift to sneak away before I see it. This year was no different.
We met up about 45 minutes later, and she had that frown that spoke before she did; no real finds yet. At least, not that would qualify for what she wanted.
And finally we come to the Bally Astrocade. An older gentleman had a table with a few refurbished systems, and he was selling them for very good prices. Near the end of the day he only had one left, and I was very tempted, but I had spent quite a bit. Not as much as I brought, but enough to make me more conservative.
My beloved saw me chatting with this fellow, Mr. Ken, and came over to check things out. I started explaining about how impressed I was with the system, and how games like Gunfight were more complex and had better graphics than I expected. And of course, it was a system we didn't have, which always interests us.
She kind of nodded, and after a few minutes, pulled me away. She was torn; I certainly seemed interested, but she's never heard me mention the Bally before. Other finds she had confidence in because we'd chat about a Neo Geo or holes in our favorite system libraries. I never owned a Bally Astrocade, never knew anyone who had, and never really mentioned it until now. Sure, its a system we don't have, but...
That wasn't enough. She looks at me directly, with her 'this is important' body language, and explains that the Fathers Day Gift thing is not just about finding more video game stuff. I stay at home with the kids; I take care of them and our home. She tells me that she's not just seeking a gift of something I'd like, another trinket for the pile. In this annual moment, she seeks to honor me; to do more than show appreciation for the father of our children. She tells me that she looks to find or do something that displays a deeper respect and kindness for who I am to her, and that often translates to tracking down something that proves she knows me, really listens to my interests, and doesn't just look for something pricey that we don't have. Would she be honoring me with something she's never heard me mention during my lengthy, excited conversations about video games?
I'm taken aback; I know this wonderful woman better than anyone, and we've been married for almost a decade and a half; and yet she still stuns me.
Mr. Ken, the older gentleman with the Bally table, apparently has better hearing than his age may suggest. He's a very kind soul, and I've known him from previous years at the convention. He's been gaming since the literal beginning of the hobby, and some of his work is in the multicart he sells with the system. We have more than games in common; during previous conversations we've realized we're fellow musicians and believers in Christ.
Mr. Ken leans toward us a bit, and his finger brushes the handmade wooden cross I wear as it dangles over my chest. His soft eyes smile as he says that what we should do, as we already know, is to step outside a just give a prayer about it. He'll be here. We both nod and accept his sage wisdom.
After clearing our heads from the humid, human-packed convention center, we have a moment of genuine connection over each-other and our shared interests. And we do pray, not expecting an answer over a toy purchase, but a request for our hearts to be as they should and for our stewardship to be honoring.
When we return inside, Mr. Ken was still there of course, literally coaxing each passerby to smile. He turns and waves to us as we approach. He sells us the system, a multicart, and a compilation of software on four CD-Roms (including everything from games to an entire disc of chiptunes) with instructions on how to load them from a normal CD player, through a data cable, and into the BASIC cart he gives us with the system. He tosses in a free game. He sells the whole setup for far less than the prices he has on his table. Then he tells me he hopes our own marriage is as wonderful as his, 38 and 3/4 years before she passed. He still has a twinkle in his eyes as he talks about her.
I realize Mr. Ken and I have even more in common; we both recognized our own 'gaming' holy grails.
It was the best CCAG yet.
Update on my attempt for the complete N64 collection Boxed with manuals.
I started this journey with 12 boxed games and then I did my first ever online transaction for a Video game after collecting since 2002. That title was NBA Jam 99 and I bought it on Feb 12th 2013. Then when I did my last update in april I was currently at 77 boxed games. Since then I have made a big jump.
I am now rocking 160 different boxed N64 titles out of the 296 released for the system in America. Over half way and loving it.
While I do have a handful of the titles out of the way I only have a few of the expensive titles. Clayfighter Sculptors cut is by far the highest valued CIB game for the system currently and will probably stay that way for a while. I also ended up getting a sealed copy of Blitz Special Edition and Hydro Thunder which is nice to have. The few titles I have right here range from $90 dollars and up currently which make them some of the more expensive titles in the N64 library in there complete form.
According to Nintendo Age, this is actually the rarest item for the N64 with a rarity of 9/10. It is also now the most expensive item in my whole Video Game collection. Three manuals by them self have just sold for over $1000 dollars each on eBay, which might actually make them the most expensive manual out there across any system but I honestly do not know if that is true. 
During my last post I had 2 shelfs displaying my collection but since then I got my other two shelfs in the mail and I now have my complete game collection minus my sealed game collection displayed. 
This will however be my last post for a while on getting these N64 games. It is now getting to the point where the titles are not showing up as often or the ones that are available are in to poor of condition for me to want to add it to my collection. But to end this on a good note, I have more then enough duplicates that I would love to trade or sell to some other collectors on the page if anyone is interested.
All these titles have the games in them but only a select handful have the manual. I can give you better photos and detail about the item if you are interested.
All these titles are just empty N64 boxes.
These our the titles I am currently looking for. But please only in CIB form. I now have a ton of duplicates because of finding the box and manual by it self is so low I had to rebuy alot of stuff in it's complete form. If you are trying to get loose cartridge games you can look under my profile as well and only the games that show duplicates are the cartridge games I have for sale or trade. None of my duplicate box games are reflected on Rfgeneration.
Aerogauge
Aidyn Chronicles
All-Star Baseball 2000
All-Star Baseball 2001
All-Star Tennis 99
Asteroids Hyper
Automobili Lamborghini
Banjo-Kazooie
Bass Masters 2000
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
BattleTanx
Battle Zone: Rise of the Black Dogs
Beetle Adventure Racing
Big Mountain 2000
Blues Brothers 2000
Bomberman 64: Second Attack
Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling
Buck Bumble
Bust A Move 99
Bust A Move 2
Castlevania Legacy of Darkness
California Speed
Chameleon Twist 2
Chameleon Twist
Charlie Blast's Territory
Cyber Tiger
Daikatana
Dark Rift
Destruction Derby (Game and Manual Only)
Disney's Toy Story 2
Donald Duck's Going Quakers
Dual Heroes
Elmo's Number Journey
F-1 Pole Position
FIFA 99
Fighter's Destiny 2
Fighting Force 64
Flying Dragon
Fox Sports College Hoops '99
Gex 3 Deep Cover Gecko
Geomon's Great Adventure
GT 64 Championship Edition
Harvest Moon
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hexen
Iggy's Recking Balls
In Fisherman Bass Hunter 64
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
International Superstar Soccer 64
International Superstar Soccer '98
International Superstar Soccer 2000
International Track and Field 2000
Jeopardy!
Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest
Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards
Knife Edge Nose Gunner
Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside 2
Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask
LEGO Racers
Looney Tunes: Duck Dodgers
Madden NFL 2000
Madden NFL '99
Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr.
Mario Golf
Mia Hamm Soccer 64
Mike Piazza's StrikeZone
Milo's Astro Lanes
MLBPA Bottom of the 9th
Monaco Grand Prix
Monster Truck Madness
Multi Racing Championship (MRC)
Mystical Ninja Starring Geomon
NBA In The Zone 2000
NBA Jam 2000
NBA Showtime
NFL Blitz 2001
NFL Quarterback Club 2001
NHL Breakaway 99
NNL Blades of Steel 98
Offroad Challenge
Olympic Hockey Nagano 98
Penny Racers
PGA European Tour
PilotWings 64
Pokemon Puzzle League
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
Quest 64
Rally Challenge 2000
Rat Attack
Razor Freestyle Scooter
Ridge Racer 64
Road Rash
Roadsters
Rocket Robot on Wheels
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
Rush 2049
SCARS
Scooby Doo: Classic Creep Capers
Shadow Man
Snowboard Kids 1
Snowboard Kids 2
Space Invaders
Space Station: Silicon Valley
Starshot Space Circus Fever
Star Solder: Vanishing Earth
Starcraft 64 (Game and Manual Only)
Stunt Racer 64
Supercross 2000
Superman
Tom and Jerry: Fists of Furry
Tonic Trouble
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Top Gear Hyper-Bike
Top Gear Rally 1
Top Gear Rally 2
Transformers Beast Wars
Turok 3 Shadow of Oblivion
Twisted Edge Snowboarding
Vigilante 8: Second Offensive
Virtual Chess 64
Virtual Pool 64
V-Rally 99
WCW Backstage Assault
WCW vs NWO: Nitro
Wetrix
Winback
Worms Armageddon
World Driver Championship
Yoshi's Story
Episode 15.5 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...rum/index.php?topic=12105
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Bil and Duke travelled to Philadelphia for the TooManyGames convention to present a live (and much shorter) version of the Collectorcast. We discuss scores from the show as well as convention collecting tips.
We were excited to meet some of you there, and for those that want the experience the YouTube version includes video.
CAUTION: The Collectorcast does not accept responsibility for damage to your vision from viewing the YouTube version. Cast your eyes on us at your own risk.
Due to the feedback of several members, and a little bit of common sense, we are trying something new with the Keep an Eye Out For Me board.
The old board was a moderately successful idea at first but once the thread grew to 10+ pages with a different post for each user, it became unwieldy to access in the field while hunting for other members.
The new Keep an Eye Out For Me is a child board in the Collection Connection area http://www.rfgeneration.c...orum/index.php?board=12.0
There is now a different thread for each major system. Once you post the items you are looking for with a bounty, myself or another staff member will update the thread and delete your post so that the thread is very clean and made up of just a few posts with everyone's list combined.
If you want to check it out, head over to the new board and read the READ ME FIRST thread.
Please PM me with comments, suggestions, ideas, etc.
[img width=550 height=779]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-115/bf/U-115-S-09930-A.jpg[/img]
Even if you know nothing about it, you probably already know if you'd like Lollipop Chainsaw by looking at its cover. If you can answer a question as simple as "would you enjoy playing the role of a high school cheerleader who must rid her town of zombies with the aid of a chainsaw and her decapitated boyfriend's head?" then you can clearly decide if this game was developed for you or not. And for me it was a no-brainer for a very long time before the cover art had even been released.
Suda51 has certainly become a favorite developer of mine this generation. Though I arrived to the party rather late - though I did play a bit of Killer7 years ago now, it wasn't until the 2011 PlayStation 3 re-release of No More Heroes that I started playing close attention to Goichi Suda and his Grasshopper Manufacture. In fact I've since investigated much more of his work. And though the half-dozen or so Suda games I've played have all been really intriguing, Lollipop Chainsaw is probably my favorite at this point. However instead of just talking about the game itself, I thought I'd talk about its parts. That is to say, while No More Heroes felt like Suda's Kill Bill with its plot and themes; Lollipop Chainsaw is more along the lines of his own original work in the vein of Tarantino's mixtape-approach to creation.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2011/300/637316_20111028_screen003.jpg[/img]
The first piece of the puzzle is James Gunn. Gunn wrote much of the dialogue, and it really shows. For those unfamiliar, Gunn is responsible for fun but morbid films as diverse as Slither, the Scooby-Doo reboot, the Dawn of the Dead remake and perhaps most importantly, Tromeo & Juliet. Yes, although Lollipop Chainsaw had a pretty decent budget there was a definitely a lot of Troma spirit in there. Be it the humor of Juliet (ooh, I just noticed the name!) saying that her friends considered her dad a "DILF," or any number of low-browish jokes that seem to stradle the line between 'fun' and 'offensive.' One of the lines that actually made me laugh out loud was when Nick, the decapitated head looks up at the final boss and says that yesterday he had stubbed his toe and thought to himself 'man, this is the worst day ever.' And (presumably) Gunn's taste in horror and b-movies finds its way into the script as well with references to everything from George Romero and Lucio Fulci in abundance.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2012/166/reviews/637316_20120614_screen020.jpg[/img]
Speaking of movies, I think it's safe to assume that there's at least an inkling of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in there. That said, early screens of the game could have certainly worried folks that this would be too much a rip-off of Buffy. Thankfully the game has so much of its own personality that it's also miles away. Sure Juliet is the pretty cheerleader doing all the dirty work, but it's also far more gory and vulgar. In a sense it's a bit like taking the best ideas from Buffy and combining them with the schlock of Oneechanbara and coming up with a game that's better than any game in either of those franchises.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2012/166/reviews/637316_20120614_screen016.jpg[/img]
Retro gaming itself is also a strong influence on the final product. In one of the absolute best stretches of the game it becomes overly apparent that this is a game made by folks who grew up loving games. Indeed, Fulci's Arcade will find you hopping from cab to cab playing bits of the level based on classic arcade titles such as Pac-Man, Elevator Action and Breakout. It's an aesthetically incredible section that never falls into the trap of "being retro to be retro," and instead just feels like a very natural part of the gameplay wrapped up in wonderful homage.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2011/300/637316_20111028_screen007.jpg[/img]
And much like a Tarantino movie there's layer upon layer further to be discussed. I could spend time on the wonderful soundtrack mixing new bands I've never heard of with a score by Mindless Self Indulgence and a bevy of interesting licensed material from the classic "Lollipop" or cheerleader-associated "Hey Mickey" or girl-with-edge "Cherry Bomb." It's all so perfect. Or we could get into the No More Heroes-ish fondness for subarban samurai with the introduction of Juliet's sensei. We could wax philosophical about the symbolism of Juliet's boyfriend being reduced to just a head that she carries and controls at all times or the boss battle where misogynistic words are literally a weapon used against Juliet. Hell, we could ponder the design decision of making the final action in the game a simple and unchallenged Quick Time Event.
And perhaps that's what makes Lollipop Chainsaw so great. As brief as it is, and as shallow as it may appear to outsiders, actually experiencing it is exploring a whole world of awesome shit that you want to experience again and discuss with others who have as well. And for that I say bravo.
[img width=378 height=459]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-034/gs/U-034-S-01300-A.jpg[/img]
[img width=573 height=322]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-034/ss/ts/U-034-S-01300-A.jpg[/img]
Here is another game that I find dear to my heart ... Big Five Software's Miner 2049er. Released in 1983, this is the first installment of the Bounty Bob series. In this game you need to defeat the monsters in each level with tools that are provided to you and be able to step on each section of the floor. You are able to jump from one area to another but be-careful, if you fall you will go splat. ( which is kinda cool just the same ).
For the collectors of this system this title provides 3 different label variations ( blue picture, silver text and blue text labels) along with 2 manual variations (one states this is for the 400/800 and another stating its for the 400/800/1200) .
Even though I have never beaten this game it is greatly addictive since it's premise is so simple that you would think " I got this no problem", but like any well made game you realize its easier said than done.
This is one title I would highly recommend to the Atari 8 bit community. Although this review might be short for this title, if you play this game I can assure you that your amount of time enjoying this game will be much longer and intense.
Stayed tune to see what games from the way back I pull out and rediscover. Feel free to comment and make any gaming suggestions. Your game suggest might just make it to the next review. Email to Braves1545@aol.com Subject: Moment In Time
[img width=640 height=737]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/1/8/6/643186_228507_front.jpg[/img]
Rock beats scissor. Scissor beats paper. Paper beats rock.
This is how simple the Dead or Alive concept is. And yet, it's seriously one of the deepest fighters I've ever played. Sure you can mash, like many other games. And there's no doubt you can have a good time mashing. But if you want to really get good you must understand the game. And to understand the game, you must understand "the triangle system," or roshambo. In Dead or Alive it works like this: strike beats throw. Throw beats grab. And grab beats strike. But the deepness comes from how you utilize all these. You see, "strike" is another word for punch or kick. And all of these punches, kicks, throws and blocks can be executed high, low or medium. It gets tricky. No wait, actually a better word is frantic. Because frantic is the word to use when you're talking about a fighting game where matches rarely make it to a minute in length. I mean to be honest in DOA5 even after you've saved a bulk of the data to the HDD to minimize load-times, the loading is still likely to be longer than your fights. But if you're a fan of the series, this is a thing of beauty. You know that each fight should be an amazing rush of blood to the head erupting in a violent ballet of well executed moves that are less chance than the roshambo of Alex Kidd's world.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2012/269/936978_20120925_screen071.jpg[/img]
Long has the DOA series been dismissed as just visual fluff. And to a certain degree that's understandable. I mean to be fair the developers spent more time on the physics of breasts than most others spend on their fighting engine. But throughout the progression of the series we've seen an arcade fighter come into its own. A definite high point was Dead or Alive 2 released on Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. And although subsequent releases - namely DOA 4 - would blow it away visually and roster-wise, it's hard to cast any stones against the second installment.
And I suppose before I go on I should just admit my bias. I am a big fan of the DOA series. I mean, I'm not a big 3D fighting fan. But I enjoy some Tekken. I think the SoulCalibur series is fun and worth your dollars. But DOA is what really grabs me. It's visceral, yet strangely brainy. But not overly brainy - nope, I'm a guy who enjoys the dumbness of the movie adaptation.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2012/227/936978_20120815_screen004.jpg[/img]
And I've spent a half-dozen hours this past week devoted to Dead or Alive 5. Specifically, the Story Mode. And this is exactly why I'm raving about this game. The Story Mode is actually one of the most impressive doses of fan-service I've ever seen injected into the single player mode of a fighting game. Normally, you get an Arcade Mode. So what's that? Fight a bunch of dudes, win the game. Easy right? Twenty minutes? This was basically an entire movie full of ridiculous plot twists, stupid dialogue and insane scenes. To note: for a moment I was upset that I thought a major character was dead only to find out it was a clone I saw slain; at one point Tina declares she is running for governor; and at one point Kasumi visits Antarctica wearing... well, very little.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2012/268/936978_20120925_screen015.jpg[/img]
Dead or Alive 5 is a game so good that it actually renders its predecessors unnecessary. You've got an overwhelmingly awesome single player mode - one that will unlock countless extras including characters from Virtua Fighter. You've got a solid 2-player mode via local or online. You've got a roster that is impressive as hell. You've got stunning visuals that put the preceding games to shame (which is saying something when graphics have been so important to the series). Really, this is a game I strongly urge all fighting fans this generation to run out and add to their collections. Now.
[img width=550 height=945]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-095/bf/U-095-S-03970-A.jpg[/img]
I have considered myself a fan of the Final Fantasy series since right around the time that the very first game hit Western shores. Though in my fuzzy memories I can't quite recall if it was Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior that was my first RPG experience, I'm guessing it was the former since that's the series I ultimately felt more connected to over the years. To elaborate, I'd at least call myself more than just a casual fan of the series. I've played nearly every numbered installment - including sequels. I've played many of the spin-off's (Adventure, all three Legend games, Crystal Chronicles, Tactics, Tactics Advanced, Mystic Quest, etc). Hell, in many cases I've even played multiple ports of the same game - for example this first game which I've experienced on NES, GBA and PS1 before picking up this PSP port. And yet here comes the shocker: I've never actually finished a Final Fantasy game. Seriously. Two decades or so of playing these games and I had never watched the credits roll on a single one of them.
Whereas some gamers seem to feel a certain compulsion to beat every game they play, I've never really been that way myself. When I know I've got limited time for gaming to fit within my life, that means that I'll generally play a game for as long as it keeps me enthralled, and it's time to move on to something else when that something else successful grabs my attention away. Never once have I felt cheated though. It's just realistic to realize that in many cases RPG's are just too vast for me to see through to the end. Most recently I picked up Final Fantasy XIII-2, not long after launch and paying less-than, but close to retail. Did I finish the game? Nope. Sadly though that one had to do with losing a bunch of PS3 saves. At any rate, while I never got through XIII-2, I did enjoy the ten or so hours I spent with it. In that case how could I be upset? To me, I felt justified spending $4 per hour for a game that I enjoyed playing for ten hours. At the end of the day isn't a video game supposed to entertain us?
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Oh gosh, I've certainly gotten off track here haven't I? Well the point of all this was to say that even though these are my feelings on such things as 'value' and desired game-length and so on, I also realized that while a fifteenth proper numbered installment to the series has been announced, I've still never seen the end of any of them. And maybe it was time to change that. Sure I could cherry pick. Maybe I could finally see what happens after Shinra Tower in VII (I've stopped there three times since the game's release)? Maybe I could finally decide if I really prefer IV to VI? Maybe I could finally give VIII and XII a much fairer chance than I have in the past? Nah. It seemed like the natural thing to do would be to just start back at the beginning.
The original Final Fantasy has been re-released many times over the years. And as stated earlier, I have played many of these different takes on the game. The PSP version seems about as deluxe as you can get. Not only is it easily the prettiest version of the game graphically, but the PSP's wonderful widescreen really accentuates the visuals. Add to this the fact that there were now many impressive cut-scenes to help progress the story as well. Along the same lines the game now has a wonderful CD-quality soundtrack in portable form thanks to the UMD media. Other additions beyond the superficial overhaul include some extra dungeons that I personally spent very little time investigating.
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As I started the game up I decided to go with the default roster of classes: a knight, a thief, a white mage and a black mage. Sure customization and strategy is great - but for some strange reason I'm sometimes a fan of just sticking to the default and seeing how a game feels if you don't tinker with a thing. Overall, I found the party sufficient. My knight and thief handled the dirty work physically, the black mage was there to unload some brutal magic on bosses, and the white mage did her best to keep us all alive. In fact the party was so sufficient that I actually had very little problem advancing for the entire twelve hours it took me to get up to the final boss, Chaos. I did very little grinding up to that point. I was mostly only equipping items, weapons and armor that I found in dungeons or won from battles. And really my mages (well, now wizards) had only a handful of magic spells to work with.
The Chaos battle did not go well. And after a half-dozen or so failed attempts I admitted to myself that it was time to backtrack out of Chaos Tower, go back to all the towns and start spending money on hardcore magic and weaponry. And why not? I had maxed out my gil by the end of the game. I told you I was stingey about spending.
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As I made my way back up Chaos Tower an hour and a half later, I started thinking back on my quest. Here it was, my first RPG and twenty years later I was finally making a solid effort to see the story come to a close. Oh, how many times over the years had a slain Garland with a level 3 or 5 party and then watched those beautiful opening credits roll? But never once had I seen the end credits. All those years I had gone missing out on so much of the awesome middle game. I hadn't even been aware there were mermaids in this game all those years. But now I was progressing from one floor to the next in Chaos Tower now. My party was all above level 50. We had weapons like the Excalibur and the Marumasa. Heck, even my black mage was killing most enemies in that final dungeon with a single hit.
So once more we faced Chaos with narry a worry in mind. Among us four we had nearly every spell in the game including protection spells, and spells that would make us move faster or hit harder. We had a spell that would not only revive a fallen character, but refill his HP completely. We carried 99 potions, hi-potions, ethers and phoenix downs with us. Chaos didn't stand a chance.
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You better believe that the internal speakers in my PSP were tested that night as I blasted the end-score that played over the closing credits. I saved my game and took the UMD out and realized that for the first time a Final Fantasy game to me wasn't just about enjoying the journey while it lasted until my eventual detour. For the first time I stuck with it until I reached my destination. And though that final few hours dealing with Chaos and grinding infuriated me, I realize it was my own stubbornness about spending gil and powering myself up that put me in that position.
And I also realize this: as much as I prefer console gaming, there's no doubt that playing this on a PSP made it far more likely I'd finish. The ability to save anywhere, and pick it up later and continue immediately at the exact spot I left off meant I continued far more often. Any bit of progression could be made with even a spare 20 minutes while half-watching TV. So to that I must conclude that although I've played nearly every version of this game to be released in the US, I'll plan to make my way through II, III and IV via their PSP ports as well.
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