One of the biggest drawbacks of the NES Model 2, or the "Toploader," is its lack of AV out. Being tethered to coaxial output these days seems almost barbaric, especially since the Model 1 Nintendo has it standard! Thanks to the wonders of the internet, and a neat little circuit board, I fixed that issue in short order.
As a bonus, I did some repair to my GBA SP, which warrants some attention in case any would be handymen decided to undertake the job themselves.
Date : Early Winter, 1998 Time : 2am Place: The bedroom in my first apartment
It is cold, maybe forty-five degrees Fahrenheit. It's just the way my room is; like a cool spring day in Michigan, nearly all year round. Suits me just fine. But just for once, I want it to be a teensy bit warmer. I've been glued in front of my crappy CRT for close to five hours now, ever since I got off the phone with my fiancee, and my toes are starting to go numb, but I'm not ready to move yet. DOOM, for the Sony PlayStation, has gotten it's claws into me once again, and this time I'm not moving until I see those credits roll.
There's something inherently natural about the desire to make rhythm. Leave a conga drum out in the open, and it's guaranteed to get bopped a bit by random folks passing by. We may not all have perfect timing, but thumping hands in a percussive manner comes as natural as whistling or toe-tapping to pretty much everyone.
In that sense, the real surprise isn't so much the recent rise and fall of music video games, but rather that they haven't had more of a longstanding presence alongside other classic genres. We've pretty much always seen some variant; sound and pattern recognition (endless runners like Temple Run), instrument training (Miracle Piano, Rocksmith), exercise and dancing (Dance Dance Revolution, Pump It Up), abstract music integration and layering (Frequency, Amplitude, Rock Band Blitz) and of course, the playful guitar/band sims (Rock Band, Guitar Hero).
Most people know that I am a huge fan of the survival-horror genre, particularly the Resident Evil series, so I was immediately intrigued when The Evil Within was announced back in 2013. This was a brand new survival-horror IP directed by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, and it promised to bring the genre back to its survival roots rather than the action-oriented approach of more recent horror games. While I still enjoyed more recent horror titles that have been given the label of 'action-horror,' the prospect of a modern title that recaptures what made the old-school games so unique and interesting was exactly what survival-horror fans had been hoping for.
It's October, so it's time for spooky games. Phantasmagoria is a point and click horror adventure game by Sierra. It was controversial due to its depiction of graphic FMV gore and adult themes and became a best seller. But is it any good?
I remember seeing the box art for this game all the time when I was a kid. Though point and click adventure was a staple of my gaming history, I had never played this game before. I've always had a soft spot for FMV as well, though this wasn't quite what I was expecting.
Join RF Generation Playcast hosts, Rich (singlebanana) and Shawn (GrayGhost81), as they discuss the September playthrough of Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. In this episode, we discuss our history with Lego video games, our childhood love of Lego and Batman, the ins and outs of the gameplay, and the differences in the handheld and home console versions. How does this game differ from other games in the Lego franchise? Is this rather cheap title worth your time as a fan/non-fan of in-game collectables? You won't want to miss this episode of the RFG Playcast!
As always, we are happy to hear your thoughts on this games on our discussion page (linked below). We will respond to your comments and are always happy to discuss these games more. We hope you enjoy our show. Please be sure to rate and write a review of the show on iTunes to help us increase our listenership. Thanks for the listen!
As RWX approaches and Bil prepares, Crabby and Duke take time to discuss a few topics including PlayStation VR, the art of CRT repair, and the end of a collecting journey.
[img width=320 height=319]https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQ7mbm8DA5I/V9ia0dkxMYI/AAAAAAAAAio/WtKi97rPwPYPzJULNyQxLyjv_ub3RGgBgCLcB/s320/Cosmo%2BTank%2Bbox.jpg[/img] Image shamelessly stolen from GameFAQs. Similar to Solar Striker, the logo image for Cosmo Tank is so metal.
In the year of our Lord, 2016, Atlus is known for 2 things. First, for being the foremost developer keeping the Japanese RPG, or JRPG, alive in the west. Second, for having been purchased by Sega, and having been, thus far, largely left alone to do what they do so well. However, prior to becoming a go-to RPG powerhouse, Atlus dabbled in a number of different genres. They've published puzzle games, platformers, beat-em-ups, and a number of other games. Keep in mind, some of these games were developed in-house by Atlus, and some were not. One such example of an early game that may have had some bearing (or not) on the RPG direction Atlus would eventually settle into is Cosmo Tank, developed by Asuka Technologies. Curiously, Cosmo Tank is the only game attributed to the studio, and it's a shame, because while Cosmo Tank is flawed, it hints at what could have been, and shows that, in the right hands, the Game Boy can do impressive things.
Welcome to another edition of RF Generation's Site News! In this issue, we announce the Playcast's VERY special November playthrough, publicize an appearance by two site members who represented RF Generation on the latest N.A.R.C. podcast, make a final plea for YOU to attend Retro World Expo, get an early glimpse of how to join in on early November's annual "International Play Your Vectrex Day," and lastly, thank all of those members who sent in submissions to our site during the month of September.
REMEMBER: If you have any news about upcoming events or topics that you think the site needs to hear about, please PM singlebanana and put "RFG Site News" in the subject line. Who knows, maybe your news will make our front page! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I recently had the chance to travel to New York for work and I knew I wanted to visit Nintendo NY. Located in New York City in Rockefeller Center at 10 Rockefeller Plaza, the two-story, 10,000-square-foot store is a must stop for any Nintendo fan. I started my journey by mapping out the subway lines, and after getting lost a couple times, found the store.... ten minutes after they closed. I left disappointed, but I was not giving up. I made it back early the next day and would like to take you on a tour.
There's just something about going to a live event that's special. Seeing so many people gather with friends and strangers alike to share their passions, and seeing those passions take shape in all sorts of fun, creative ways, is powerful. It's encouraging and uplifting to be able to step away from the all-too-common toxicity of the internet at large to see the best of what a fan base can be. This is even better when the event is local. I've traveled to shows and expos in the past, and while that's fun and carries with it an added layer of traveling adventure, it can also get expensive. A local event gets you all the excellence of a good con without the potentially prohibitive cost of a flight, gas, and/or hotel room.
So it's with this in mind that I'm going to break from the norm and hold off on writing an October/Halloween post for the time being. Instead, I wanted to share my experience at the 2nd annual Cleveland Pinball and Arcade Show I attended a couple weeks ago. I went to the first CLEPIN as well, and I'm happy to say there were some fantastic tables on display this year, making for an even better show than in 2015.
When Shovel Knight first came out, it reminded those of us that had forgotten, or maybe those that had never experienced, what pure bliss retro gaming could be. The simplicity, the sprites, the level design, the challenge and wow, those chip tunes! It was really something special, and as a primarily retro gamer, it was really exciting to see just how well it was received. After playing it at a friend's house and instantly getting drawn in, I got very excited and eagerly awaited the physical release for my Wii U so that I could play through it again. What was even better was that this version included the Plague of Shadows DLC on the disc!!
Alundra is a game that I think I would have really liked as a kid. Unfortunately, I don't recall ever hearing about this game at the time, so I must have never crossed paths with it through friends, magazines, or rental stores. It is usually labeled as either an action-RPG and/or a Zelda clone, and, being a huge fan of both of these types of games, this seems like a title that would have been right up my alley. I have owned a copy for a few years, and it has been on my mind for a while as something I should really get around to playing, so I've finally decided to pop the disc in and see how it holds up.
There have been many games that didn't click with me when I first tried them. For whatever reason, the game and I were on different wavelengths, speaking different languages, or in different moods. Oftentimes, I will revisit those games because I believe people change or evolve over even a short span of time, even a year or two. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised to find that the game clicks and sometimes I affirm the result of my precious experience with the game. However, I have never been absolutely convinced that a game wasn't for me to the point that I completely wrote it off, to then go back and give it just one more shot...and have everything completely fall into place to the point where I play that game every single day and love every minute of it...until Destiny.
In recent years, I've gone from being a console gamer, to a mostly PC gamer, to a totally PC gamer. I could go on and on about why I finally decided to be a PC-only guy, but it doesn't really matter - at least not for this blog post. Instead, I thought we'd explore the many options that PC gamers have in the area of controllers. Truth be told, I probably end up using the mouse and keyboard for the majority of games I play anyway. And yet, I've got controllers scattered around this room everywhere I look.
Now this post can really only be as thorough as my own experience goes. I mean, ultimately the options are nearly limitless. Basically anything with a USB connection is fair game, right? And pretty much any Xbox 360 device is going to be plug-n-play on PC. Not to mention the fact that nearly every classic console controller has some kind of USB adapter you could use. However, for the purposes of this article, I'll just focus on the major controllers just to scratch the surface of the options available.