#have i played a demo off a ps2 demo disc?

[astrarobotica]

20 years ago...

20 years ago, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block, on January 4, 2003 at 11PM, and I was a distraught ten year old.

My bedtime... was 11PM.

About half a year earlier, Mobile Suit Gundam had become my favorite thing. My friends in school were becoming obsessed with anime like Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh!, but they didn't really pique my interest, and Pokemon was essentially the only anime I had watched regularly before. But I remember seeing the box art for Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo behind the case at Walmart on multiple occasions. It reminded me of the Armored Core demo I had played on the PS1. I thought mechs were cool, but never really got into any sort of mech media. I convinced my parents to buy me the game, and became obsessed with it.

Around the same time, a Gundam anime began airing on Toonami. It was... Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

And well... I watched it. I even enjoyed it. Some of my friends watched it, and I could talk with them about it at school. But even then, I knew it was ridiculous, and even downright inferior, compared to Mobile Suit Gundam, whose story I only knew from Journey to Jaburo, which spans about the first two-thirds of the plot of the anime. One of my friends had the Federation VS Zeon game, which doesn't really have a campaign with a story, but is set during the anime and contains content from the last third of the series. I was enamored with the world of Mobile Suit Gundam, specifically the Universal Century timeline. Yet beyond a couple of PS2 games, I had no way to properly experience it.

I grew up in a rural area where the closest mall was a forty minute drive from our house. No matter where I went, I never found any Gundam DVDs. I had no way to watch the original series. Or 08th MS Team. Or 0083: Stardust Memory. Or 0080: War in the Pocket. All of which I only knew of because trailers were included on the Journey to Jaburo disc. Walmart sold figures from all of those series, but there was a wealth of Gundam content I desperately wanted to experience and just couldn't.

Then, 20 years ago, I saw this promo for the Char's Counterattack film on Cartoon Network, and it was torturous. I knew I wasn't going to be able to watch it. My parents weren't strict, but staying up until 1AM to watch a movie was out of the question at that point. I didn't have access to the satellite tv in my bedroom, and the tv in the living room was right on the other side of the wall of my parents' bed. There was no way I could watch it without getting caught. I was able to watch the first ten minutes or so, and then it was off to bed. My memory of this is so vivid.

Only a few months later, while at the mall that was a forty minute drive from my house, I saw it. Right there on the shelf at FYE, the DVD for Char's Counterattack. My mom told me she couldn't buy it then, but my dad said he would check to see if it was still there on his way back from his out-of-town job later in the week. And he brought it home with him. My parents watched it with me, and I think they were perplexed at how not-for-children the movie was. Not that it's graphically violent, although a lot of people die. But rather, it had mature themes that I didn't fully understand at the time; manipulating children to fight in wars, propaganda and the grey-ness of conflict... I remember them laughing at the part where the space colony residents give flowers to Char and sing a song dedicated to him on the train while he's accompanied by Quess Paraya, a runaway teenage girl who he intends to exploit in battle. They had watched G Gundam with me, but that was like a Saturday Morning Cartoon compared to this.

The explosion of anime accessibility over the past decade is insane. 20 years later, I can legally stream The Witch from Mercury on the same day it airs in Japan. Throughout middle and high school, I didn't watch much anime because I was worried I would be made fun of for it. Then I stopped giving a shit about that in college, and only got back into anime properly six or seven years ago. And I'm so glad I didn't just grow out of it. I'm glad I can now experience and enjoy Gundam as much as I wanted to 20 years ago. The PS2 games don't hold up especially well control-wise (I still prefer them to the modern attempts that feel compelled to cram every Gundam series into one game rather than actually try to produce a cohesive story), and it's difficult for me to view G Gundam as anything but absurd. But Char's Counterattack is still one of my favorite anime films.

[wozman23]

The Ratchet & Clank Franchise Turns 20!

Today marks the 20 year anniversary of the Ratchet & Clank franchise, and as my favorite franchise of all time, I feel like a china anniversary warrants me dusting off my tumblr blog. I’ve been playing video games for roughly 35 years now. I’ve watched trends come and go, and my tastes change as I’ve grown with the industry. What started off as a love for simple little arcade games and 2D platformers on the Atari 2600 blossomed into my current obsession with weird indie games and the AAA games of today that would have blown my four-year-old mind and made me shit my Ninja Turtles underwear.

Through the years, my interest levels have ebbed and flowed. Not long before Ratchet & Clank, I’d say I was in a lull. I don’t look back all that fondly on the early days of 3D games. The industry was in a state of flux. Nintendo continued their excellence with the Nintendo 64, which featured some great first party platformers, but little else that interested me. Then, a new up-and-comer, Sony, entered the market with a counter to Nintendo’s offerings, becoming my main platform of play. They had some great platformers of their own, but I found myself, much like many teenagers, turning towards other genres with games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater, racing games, car combat games like Twisted Metal, and the early top-down Grand Theft Auto games. I shifted toward more mature experiences. I still had fun those years, but overall, the rough polygon look of early 3D games left very little that actually stands out to me. And outside of those few games, like Tony Hawk, that consumed me, I spent less time gaming overall.

Spyro, Insomniac’s first big franchise, is a great example of these growing pains for both the industry and myself. I played through most of the franchise with a friend. And they were enjoyable. (The fact that they’re scored by Stewart Copeland still blows my mind.) But in retrospect they feel like they were just laying the groundwork for what would be much bigger and better things that the PlayStation 2 would soon offer. I had similar feelings about the Crash Bandicoot franchise as well.  In 2002, I was a freshman in college. I had the time to enjoy my gaming hobby, and newfound freedom from my parents, but I didn’t have a job, or much money. I got a PS2 not long after it released, maybe after a Christmas/Birthday or two. Most years, I just picked up GTA and Tony Hawk. I spent countless hours mastering those games. And I didn’t really focus on much else. But, during that time, I also subscribed to the Official PlayStation Magazine. With that subscription came the occasional demo disc. One such disc featured a game I knew little about: Ratchet & Clank. I still remember sitting in my dorm, with that same friend I’d played Spyro with, and trying out the original Ratchet & Clank. There were two levels: Metropolis and Blackwater City. I played them both... then I played them again, and again!  From that mere demo, I was hooked. I finally got the full release, again probably as a gift for a birthday or Christmas, and the full product was just as amazing as I could have hoped it would be! I loved everything about the franchise: its cartoony nature, the humor, the wacky weapons, the motley crew of charming, silly, and dastardly characters, the scope and scale of the level design, the unique mechanics, the freedom to play however you wanted and with whatever weapons you wanted to use... Everything astounded me! Even the commercials were great! From then on, Ratchet & Clank games were the games I saved my money for. And from then on, I bought every single entry on release day. The franchise single handedly reinvigorated my interest in video games. I found Jak and Daxter, and - another all-time favorite - Sly Cooper. I began to learn about the industry and its developers. I found Psychonauts, Beyond Good & Evil, and Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. (Still waiting on my sequel...) Sony’s first party output, like God of War, Dark Cloud, Shadow of the Colossus, became more of my focus. Those years, thanks largely in part due to Ratchet & Clank, really lit a fire under me. From then on, video games were one of my biggest passions. I was getting older, and finally employed, so when time came time to upgrade to the PS3, I was there on Day 1, largely in part for Resistance: Fall of Man, another Insomniac franchise that while far more grim and mature in tone, still carried a lot of the Ratchet & Clank DNA along with it. That franchise became my favorite FPS franchise of all time. While I’d say that the PS2 years were a rebirth, the PS3 years are where both Sony and Insomniac were really banging on all cylinders. We got a Resistance or Ratchet & Clank game pretty much yearly. Development times were miniscule compared to what they've ballooned to today, so a steady stream of new releases kept me on cloud nine. But the tail end of the PS3 years also were some of the most pressing for Ratchet & Clank fans. After 2009′s brilliant “Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time” the franchise’s future - no pun intended - seemed a bit hazy. With a franchise that already had a handful of games, put out on an near-yearly basis, Ratchet & Clank didn’t feel as fresh to me anymore. The development landscape was changing. Games were becoming incredibly expensive to make. Downloadable games were a new idea. And the franchise began to branch out in experimental ways, with smaller games, four player co-op - more on that later - and even a tower defense strategy game. I began to wonder if my favorite franchise had run its course, much like many of the other franchises I’d grown to love and then sour on. But alas, a PS4 reboot to go along with a movie adaptation brought new hope to the franchise - revisiting past ideas while also adding a smidge of new. Maybe, just maybe, the franchise could still remain in the limelight... Then “Rift Apart” was announced! After so many years wondering and waiting, I shed a tear at its reveal. That’s never happened before. Then it released. It was a critical and commercial darling. And it finally felt as if the franchise was back! Years of worrying about whether or not I’d ever see another traditional adventure were quelled. New characters and stories showed a promising future. A future in which I’m now certain includes more adventures from Ratchet, Clank, and Rivet.

It’s really hard to sum up the 20 year history of the franchise. For me, while there were those few years of darkness, there were so many bright spots. One of the brightest for me is a game in the series that often gets ostracized: the multiplayer designed “All 4 One” that was built around co-op. Is it a traditional Ratchet & Clank adventure? No, and it’s far from it! But that is one of a few reasons that make it noteworthy, and great. As I said, “A Crack in Time” was often viewed as the pinnacle of the franchise. But for me, it represented my point of burnout. It was great, but I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as others. So when “All 4 One” followed, with something completely different, it was a breath of fresh air. It didn’t play like Ratchet & Clanks of the past. But it didn’t need to. Much like the original game introduced so many cool ideas, so too did it. There were cool cooperative moments, beautiful level designs, terrific bosses, and some great story moments like Dr. Nefarious’ inclusion in the team and his internal battle about whether he now liked the duo he’d fought so hard to erradicate. With a new style of game, the game’s actual style could also be modified. The artists known as CreatureBox, Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin, long responsible for the franchise’s look, could go in different directions. And boy did they! The concept art from those days is by far the greatest in the franchises history. The pieces detailing the Octonok Cay Cannery, Deadgrove Village, and the Wigwump enemy are absolutely astounding! For good reason, Dave’s work was often recognized by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ yearly Into The Pixel collections. I would have loved a game that could have perfectly replicated that hand-drawn style, but sadly CreatureBox and Insomniac have parted ways. What I did get though is one of my most prized possessions, Boss Fight!, the wonderful glow-in-the-dark print that Dave created for the franchise’s ten year anniversary. It feels like the culmination of that art style and reminds me so much of why I love the franchise.

Another prized possession: The Ratchet & Clank graphic novel signed by writer TJ Fixman that I won thanks to a contest in which I created this humorous gif, which gave me some recognition from the developers. I’d picked up the individual comic prior, but hopped at the chance for a signed copy. (I’m also pretty sure with the same gif, I missed out on the awesome, custom colored PS3 Dualshocks given away as part of a contest not long after All 4 One’s release merely because I didn’t respond to a twitter DM from PlayStation within 24 hours... but that’s another story that I’m NOT at all still bitter about... and I’m still followed by the official PlayStation account on twitter, which I guess is cool... but not as cool as the orange, blue, green, and purple hues on those DS3s that I don’t have and instead have a few codes for some really shitty games... NOT BITTER AT ALL!!!...) Then, in November of 2018, right after I moved out to Los Angeles, there was a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the franchise, at Gallery Nucleus, a meet and greet and art display, where I finally got to meet and thank many of the people who were instrumental in the franchise’s and studio’s success, Ted Price, Brian Allgeier,  Brian Hastings, and James Stevenson to name a few. I also had them sign my graphic novel. (Not sure if Ted was just being super nice, but I’m pretty sure he recognized me from my gif, or just one of the many other times I’ve interacted with the studio online.) So what seems like a little “kiddie” game to some really means the world to me. It reignited my love of gaming. Not only in the games, but in life too, I have so many great memories that are tied to the franchise and the wonderful people who dreamt it up. I’m forever indebted to the fine folks at Insomniac. They’re the main reason I buy PlayStations, and they were the reason that the Xbox One became my first Xbox console when the Sunset Overdrive bundle released. The fact that they are now finally an official studio underneath Sony feels perfect. Though they were independent for many years, they’ve always felt like a Sony studio, and much of my love of PlayStation is rooted in their works. I’ll play the Spider-Man sequel despite not being the biggest Spidey fan. And I’m excited to see what they do with Wolverine, being a bigger X-Men fan. But I’m really just waiting for the next Ratchet & Clank, or the eventual next spiritual successor to it that takes them to even greater heights. Thank you for everything, Insomniac!

[ameritonki]

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Lastly, game saves will not transfer to Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S but once created on Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S, the game saves can transfer to other Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S consoles through the cloud. There are no Xbox achievements for Original Xbox games because this functionality was not available on the Original Xbox at that time of its release. With system-link (if game supports the feature), you can play with others across Original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles. This page contains a list of cheats, codes, Easter eggs, tips, and other secrets for Prototype for Xbox 360.

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However, offline multiplayer scenarios such as co-op, party scenarios (multiple controller on one console), and system-link are supported if they were supported on the Original Xbox. Since these are the original games, not remasters, Xbox Live services such as online multiplayer and in-game marketplaces that were available on the Original Xbox, will not be available. You can play the digital or disc-based game you own, taking advantage of Xbox features like Game DVR and broadcasting.

↑ 7.0 7.1 7.Functionality will be very similar. mission one was just like a demo or something I really start the game off with no special powers Okay fair enough.

If youve discovered a cheat youd like to add to the page, or have.

↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Xbox LIVE Marketplace (en-AU Sonic-The-Hedgehog-2/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258410863) (Wayback Machine: 19:54) This page contains a list of cheats, codes, Easter eggs, tips, and other secrets for Prototype 2 for Xbox 360.

↑ 1.0 1.1 (en-US s/sonic2xboxlivearcade) (Wayback Machine: 12:41).

Although Sonic and Tails are available as a playable combination, a second player cannot control Tails in the single player mode. Leaderboards for Overall High Scores over Xbox Live Arcade and Achievements are supported. With the PlayStation outselling its Nintendo and Microsoft rivals in Europe, it brings it to a mere 2 million unit sales below the Xbox 360 which had a significant release date advantage. A custom Game Save option is also included. With the earlier dominance of the Xbox 360 due to its early release date, the PlayStation has reached a point where it is catching up at an alarming rate.

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A custom Options screen is available, which allows the player to toggle a graphics smoothing filter, character selection (via screen size adjustment, and custom button mapping. XBOX 360 controller emulator for PC games version 3 is confirmed working with Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2 & Logitech G25 Racing Wheel. Since the game uses a custom title screen it is not possible to enter any cheat codes via the Sound Test or select the in-game options selection. In there you will find options organised by category and new choices will be added and unlocked as you progress and.

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The various options available can be accessed by pressing ESC during the game and selecting the Upgrade tab. The game is run on an Mega Drive emulator and allows for control by either analog stick or D-pad. The second part of the guide will deal with Prototype combat upgrades, disguise abilities and vehicles and weaponry. It has extra features that the Sonic the Hedgehog (Xbox Live Arcade) port didn't have, like online multiplayer (over Xbox Live or Local Play) and voice messaging. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a downloadable version of Sega Mega Drive game Sonic the Hedgehog 2 released for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade in late 2007 as part of the " Sega Vintage Collection" series.

[wbspeedsite]

Buy ps1 controller

But not only does the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers now let me feel the tension of a bow in, say, Horizon Zero Dawn, but the DualSense fully immerses the player in a three-dimensional way.Īstro’s Playroom, a pack-in game on the PS5, demonstrates this wonderfully. I’ve had a blast running through PS4 games with the DualSense and it’s pleasing that many have incorporated the unique features of the PS5 controller. Now I can feel the weight of the cars, the distribution of balance, and the texture of the different road surfaces through my hands. I’m already regretting not having played Gran Turismo Sport mostly on PS5. The detail and variety of feedback coming through the DualSense is remarkable. The DualSense, PS5’s evolution of the DualShock, represents true innovation. The PS4’s was better, but it still represented an incremental upgrade on DNA that was pioneered on 1997’s DualShock, which featured rumble and dual analogue sticks. The PS3 added SIXAXIS and was wireless (big whoop). The PS2 had a rumble controller, but the technology was pioneered on the PS1. It is, after all, the one object that you actually feel - the only tactile connection you have with the visuals you see onscreen. And I put it to you that the PS5 is the most innovative hardware Sony has put out since the first PlayStation. Instead, we’re here to talk about hardware. If we were to rank the PlayStations on their software I’d probably have to give the top spot to the PS2, considering the unparalleled mix of quality and quantity across its library. But we are not here, in fact, to talk about the games. Later, games such as Tekken 3, Gran Turismo, and Final Fantasy 8 would wow ‘90s players with their realism and depth, while Lara Croft would captivate an entire generation. Famously, the PlayStation came with a demo disc that showed off its 3D prowess, allowing you to view a walking dinosaur and move the camera around to see it in its full polygonal glory - a dinosaur that returns to the PS5 via a cameo in the already-installed Astro’s Playroom. The Sega Saturn, unfortunately, was an awkward turtle between the eras. It marked a significant change, leaving behind the 16-bit era of Mario and Sonic, and launching into a new graphical standard. Related: If There's One Thing Spider-Man 2 Needs, It's More Mission Variety Paltry numbers, in retrospect, but it was quite literally game changing for the mid 1990s. It had a 32-bit CPU, 2MB of RAM, and 1MB of VRAM. The PlayStation launched on 3 December, 1994, in Japan and arrived in North America and Europe nine months later. There are a good number of reasons for this, but at heart it has everything to do with the roots of Sony and the unique footprint the Japanese giant has left on technology and design. I believe the PS5 is the best PS since the first one, and is superior to the PS4, PS3, and the PS2. Although It's been very difficult to acquire one the PS5 has been selling quite well. It also might be one of the hardest ones ever to buy, although the PS2 was hard to find too - in the UK, at least - when it launched. The PS5 might just be the best PlayStation since Sony’s first ever PlayStation.

[faithgreys]

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Head CoXbox 360 - Brand New Factory Sealed - Football EA NFL. Navigating menus by mouse is often frustrating, but the keyboard shortcuts work fine. 16 product ratings - NFL Head Coach (PC CD ROM, 2006) EA Sports near Complete 3 Disc Accept Condition. On our system (2.4GHz CPU and 512MB RAM), however, the action by the players on the field was incredibly slow, enough to almost ruin the experience.

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The game in the demo only allows for one-minute quarters, but there's a full set of time-outs to maximize the gameplay. It was nothing like NFL Head Coach 09 though so it would be a waste of time purchasing this old PC Game. There is the first attempt EA did a year or 2 before 09 it was NFL Head coach 06 or 08 I believe but it was a bug filled disaster but it was available for PC. For example, you can tell your quarterback to always look to the sidelines during a specific passing play, giving you a good option when you need to stop the clock. There is no PC version of NFL Head Coach 09. In the practice sessions, you can offer specific advice to your players that they will remember come game time. The action is much more hands-on during an actual game, where you can call every single play, motivate your players with speeches, and make slight strategy tweaks to help your squad. You can only access office hours, a coaches meeting, and the NFL draft, where you will be making selections in three rounds for the Houston Texans, who have the draft's first pick. The demo begins one week before the draft, although preseason options are quite limited. Though the demo ably demonstrates the depth and breadth of content available, it leaves out some key game elements such as the play designer. The action is broken up into three main sections: preseason scouting and drafting, practice, and games. Managing in-game options is intuitive, but the 3D graphics slow down the gameplay in places where fancy graphics aren't needed, such as during drafting and making roster changes. There is no PC version of NFL Head Coach 09.NFL Head Coach takes a good idea-a 3D football-management simulation-and nearly pulls it off, with a dizzying array of options, plays, and tasks for any would-be football coach or general manager. Up to 24 cash back In this regard EAs NFL Head Coach 09 manages to strike an effective balance. NFL Head Coach A strategy and simulation game allowing you to take up the position of coach of an American football team prepared by the internal studio of Electronic Arts concern - EA Tiburon. NFL Head Coach is a 3D sports sim that puts players in the shoes of an NFL head coach. NFL Head Coach 09 full game free pc download play.

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Head coach game head coach game pc download head coach game android head coach game ios nfl head coach game. Hi there So I have the PS2 version going on an emulator and thats working okay as best as it can for a crap laptop anyways. I really want to find the pc version somewhere so I can get those fancy sliders that fix the AI so the game can be a lot more enjoyable. Holly Lewis on nfl head coach full game pc download. It will now start game Installation.ġ4 Shares Share Tweet Share Share Email Comments Simulation sports games face a difficult burden. NFL Head Coach download section contains. Now open NFL Head Coach game installer from desktop. Open the Installer Click Next and Install. Sports American football Images 7 Demo Files 2 NFL Head Coach Release Date PC PS2 XBOX. MegaGames - founded in 1998 is a comprehensive hardcore gaming resource covering PC Xbox Series X Xbox One PS5 PS4 Nintendo Switch Wii U Mobile Games News. It was nothing like NFL Head Coach 09 though so it would be a waste of time purchasing this old PC Game.Īll the news and reviews on Qwant Games.

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[breadknight-likes-things]

Bread’s Game Journal 11/08/20: The PS2, Best Console Ever Made?  It’s More Likely Than You Think!

It wasn’t until 2001 that I actually played a PS2, and a little less than a year later that I would get one for myself, but neither of these events are things that happen anymore.  Not getting consoles of course, you can just go buy a console whenever you want.  It’s the two ways that I achieved both the initial playing of the PS2 and acquiring one for myself that has vanished into the social ether.  One for an unfortunate reality of changing times, and another because of the powerful curse it put upon me. Getting a little ahead of myself with the curse there, but let's start with how I first played the second Playstation console.  The store is Capitola Video, the owner is Ken, an exceedingly nice Vietnamese immigrant who clearly loved movies, and the PS2 is the store rental unit.  It seems insane to think of now, but local video stores used to just....rent out consoles!  Ken even included a store memory card, that believe it or not I actually now own, and treasure!  That rental unit is where I first played Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, an all time favorite game (And also something else I made sure to buy when that store unfortunately went out business about a year ago now), and by extension, where I was introduced to a new conception of the grand adventures that video games could be.

Now, that being said, I bet if you tally up the amount of times we actually rented that store PS2 it would probably only be three or four, but each one meant a lot to me.   So when it came time to get my own PS2, that’s when I was irrevocably cursed.  Bless my mom’s heart, she knew I liked video games, and when one of her co-workers asked around at the school she worked for if someone wanted to buy her son’s Playstation 2, she had the great idea to take her up on the ridiculous $80 offer (The PS2 was still $300 new at the time, I don’t know if the low price was intentional, but I often think about the ridiculous deal we got).  What I didn’t know until much later, is she was selling the PS2 as a punishment for something the son had done...and I took that kids PS2 away from him without even knowing or caring.  I swear I see the ghost of that kids passion for video games out of the corner of my eye every now and then.....

But hey!  What a console!  I wrote that post title in a half joking manner based on how many people decisively claim that the PS2 is the best console of all time, but really?  They aren’t all that far off!  The game library for PS2 had everything!  You could get action games, racing games, RPGs, excellent platformers, and even first person shooters, which had begun to come into their own on consoles around the time (The PS2 never did have the elusive “Halo Killer”, but it did have quite a few great FPS games when you know where to look).  

I have vivid memories of Killzone being hyped up as the “Halo Killer” and recall that when I actually played it, I found is esoteric and nowhere near as effortlessly fun as Halo, those claims were always wild!

Notably, unlike the consoles of today, the PS2 felt like it was largely defined by new IP.  If you really dig into it, a lot of the games on PS2 that were from older established franchises ended up pushing a lot of said franchises over a bridge too far.  I don’t mean to say all of them were bad (Tony Hawk, for example, only got better, and Final Fantasy’s PS2 entries are widely beloved), just that in my time, it was the original titles that really stick out to me in defining that era. It really felt like a time of experimentation for a lot of the big companies, where that same experimentation is really only the field of indies now. It’s genuinely insane to me to think that, in general, the 6th gen of consoles only lasted about 5 years.  So many great experiences, and indeed, industry defining games, came out during then.  Whether those be radical reinventions of established formulas like Resident Evil 4, noteworthy consistency like Tony Hawk, or even an explosion of JRPG’s that earlier consoles could only dream of.  The PS2 was an incredible era for video games!  It molded and shaped most of my game tastes up to the games I still play now!  I revisit PS2 games on an almost constant basis, for nostalgia sometimes, and other times simply because the games themselves are still incredible.  I didn’t even get to the fact that the PS2 was the first ever DVD player I ever owned, which was another huge boon to this console that I didn’t even go into here!

A strange fact I recall was “The Matrix” on DVD being a significant driver of PS2 sales in the early years of both that console and format, it was good timing! (And of course, a great movie!)

Because I can’t think of a very good way to sell just how much the PS2 meant to me in an ending for this post, I’m going to tell you a silly fact instead:  I used to watch the trailers and developer diaries for scary games on Official Playstation Magazine demo discs, but I was genuinely scared to think of what might happen if I ever actually played one of them myself....Siren still haunts me to this day!

[biscuitreviews]

Biscuit Reviews Final Fantasy VII Remake

For many people Final Fantasy VII was a gateway to the JRPG genre and the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy VII was actually the second game in the series I played and I loved this just as much as Final Fantasy VIII. In fact, I used to have a Spring Break tradition when I was in high school where I would play Final Fantasy VII from start to finish. The original Final Fantasy VII hasn’t aged well in the visual department, but the gameplay is still really solid. The Materia system is still regarded as one of the best advancement systems in any RPG, and its influence is still felt today in many titles. I still remember 15 years ago when the PS3 tech demo came out showing the newly remade intro to Final Fantasy VII and like many, I too wondered if this was the beginning of a remake of the game. 

Square Enix would deny this saying it was just a demo of the PS3 capabilities and rather than remake the game, they decided to expand on Final Fantasy VII, with a movie (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children), a mobile game (Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII), a PS2 third person shooter (Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus), and a PSP Prequel (Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core). All these entries were not great, with the exception of Crisis Core, which followed SOLDIER Zack Fair and how he kickstarted the events that occured in Final Fantasy VII. 

Like many fans, I too entered the Final Fantasy VII Remake with extreme caution. My main worry wasn’t if content would change, but rather if everyone’s personality would mirror Advent Children. That was my biggest concern because Advent Children really brought down the cast quite a bit. Needless to say, they more or less kept in line with how they were originally portrayed in the original game with some extra moments where they all shine.

I want to first mention that as you probably know that the Remake only covers the Midgar section of the original story, which consisted of five in-game hours of the original. I do also want to mention that there will be some spoilers, but I won’t be spoiling the new things in the Remake, but rather spoiling the instances that the Remake shares with the original. I will have a spoiler discussion at the end which will be marked by the “Keep Reading” cut. Final Fantasy VII Remake will follow a episodic release and I have to say, Square missed the opportunity to call this Final Fantasy VII Remake: Disc 1. Then again, maybe that could have potentially caused confusion towards potential new fans.

You are Cloud Strife, an EX-SOLDIER and mercenary hired by AVALANCHE to assist them in their mission to take down the Shinra Corporation. Cloud will meet various allies to help on his journey that include: Barret, the leader of AVALANCHE, Tifa, a bar owner and member of AVALANCHE, and Aerith, a flower girl from the Sector 5 Slums.

Many classic characters get expanded upon as well. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie get backstories and more personality. Biggs is just a big softie, Wedge’s personality is food, and Jessie’s personality is sexual harassment. I tried reporting her to AVALANCHE’s HR, but there wasn’t one and Barret wouldn’t listen to me, so Cloud just had to deal I guess.

For fans of the original, all the classic moments are still here. The Sector 1 attack, the Airbuster fight, Cloud in drag, all those moments are still present in this Remake. All of those moments are also really beautiful looking and even expanded upon in great ways that honor the original. They will definitely make fans of the original Final Fantasy VII just pause and admire the upgraded look of everything.

There were some places that got expanded upon for the sake of padding, but honestly it didn’t really much bother me, but to me it meant fighting in the newly upgraded ATB battle system.

The combat is the perfect evolution of the ATB battle system. You can attack and defend at will, but if you want to use special attacks, magic, or items, you have to let the ATB meter charge and fill up to use those commands. When you open the command menu, time slows down to give you a moment to find the command you want. You can even switch characters in the middle of battle to give them their own commands or even play as them during the fight.

I also love how some fights you have to really strategize how you’re going to handle the encounter. Staying as just one character isn’t going to cut it in some fights and there are some moments where you will have to take control of another character because they're better suited for that battle. You’ll also have to make sure go in with the proper Materia to expose weaknesses to gain the upper hand. Some of these fights are really hard and you’ll get pulverized for going in them ill-prepared and that’s just on the Normal difficulty.

The Materia system still works the same as it did with the original. You upgrade your materia by completing battles. However, now you can upgrade your weapons for additional stat boosts. Each weapon also has a weapon ability that you can learn. Once the ability is known, you can use that ability even if you have a different weapon equipped. You know how I mentioned earlier that having the proper Materia will help in a fight. Even though it’s not so much the case for weapons, there are 1 or 2 boss fight that you might want to consider switching weapons around for your characters.

Now, what about the other mode that Square advertised, Classic Mode, is that closer to the turn-based style from the original? No it’s not, in fact it’s Super Easy mode where attacking and defending happens automatically and you only worry about the commands, but even then you don’t have to bother much with commands as the game plays itself mostly. Don’t take this as me shaming anyone for playing this mode, if you want to play it on Classic, more power to you, but I also don’t want someone seeing it and thinking that the mode is something that it’s not.

Even though this game is a Remake, it doesn’t in any way erase the original game. The original Final Fantasy VII will always be there and it’s still worth giving it a look today if you’re curious about the rest of the story.

Now, I’m about to enter spoiler territory as there are moments that I do want to further discuss, so if you don’t want spoilers, I’ll give my score here and have the spoilers in the cut. Only go to the cut if you’ve played the game or don’t mind spoilers at all.

Final Fantasy VII Remake gets a 5 out of 5

Ok, Story Spoiler Discussion Time!

I have to say, I’m actually a big fan of the ending. I’ll admit when Sephiroth was introduced in Chapter 2, I was concerned that Square sped it up for the sake of the fans. When Barret was saved by Fate, I was concerned that it was just going to be a stupid plot device to make sure certain characters lived. 

Then the final chapter happened and everything made sense in a weird way. 

The fact that this is the same Sephiroth we’ve known since the original game, the fact that the Remake is actually a Sequel and what we experienced in the Remake was actually an alternative universe is something that I have to admit was a very risky gamble and I think it paid off. What happens next is unknown and now that anything can happen since this is actually a continuation of Sephiroth’s story occurring in an alternative universe, it opens a lot of possibilities and I’m excited to see what happens next!

I’m excited to learn more about how he got to this universe. Will the Prime Universe try to find ways to the alternate universe to continue to fight Sephiroth? Did fighting Fate alter the timeline of the alternate universe we’re experiencing. If anything, I think this was the best way to preserve the original, do a retelling of original events, alter them a little and then reveal that it’s an alternative universe that the original game has influences on. It also still makes the original important as it lets you see and experience how Sephiroth got to this point. It’s like the 2009 Star Trek movie and I have to say, I thought that was handled well.

Also, this hasn’t been confirmed by anyone in Square but I think Fate was a representation of the fans. Think about it, Fate was doing everything it could to make sure certain events played out exactly the same as they did before. Which is what the fans wanted in a Final Fantasy VII Remake, the same game, just prettier and modernized. With you fighting and killing Fate, I think it was Square’s way of showing what their thoughts on this was. They didn’t want to rehash the same story, they wanted to tell a new story. So by having Fate die, it showed that Square is going to do something new, but the fact that certain events still played out the same, also shows that Square will keep some of them, but at the end of the day, this is a new story. 

However, with that said, I still have concerns about the upcoming sequels to this game. Particularly, Tetsuya Nomura’s very recent quote that the team doesn’t know how many more sequels there will be and is in favor of doing smaller chunks of the original story. This concerns me that the continuation of this new arc of Final Fantasy VII’s story will go in the route of Kingdom Hearts. The first couple games will be great and amazing, and then it will start going downhill because Nomura will get bored, stop caring, and will start doing things because he thinks it’s cool.

There is some great potential and I hope that what happens next continues to pay off.

[derekscorner]

When relevancy goes too far

Relevancy is a bit of a complex topic the more you think about it. How far do you push it? Which parts of a story are needed to know the other? How should something define the follow up? These questions have widely different answers depending on the person and especially depending on format.

Hell, if you wish to nit pick it further, even the series in question is a factor. Some series’ thrive on whats done while others drown in their own scripts. I believe Kingdom Hearts is one of the latter.

That said, I am not someone who hates KH’s expanded stories simply for existing. The “side games” in of themselves aren’t bad nor is the idea of using such things to expand a world. The same could be said for game novels or comics in my opinon.

However, these things can be a slippery slope or a lazy exist. For example, Assassin’s Creed threw out it’s whole Juno arc into a comic just to get it out of the way which completely shattered my investment.

In turn, Nomura himself isn’t at fault for as much as we bash him for. Something he’s admitted himself as seen here;

So, the new Days is one of the three titles announced in the Autumn of 2007 as new projects in the KH series.

Nomura: Those three titles were all announced at the same time, but in reality the opportunities for the projects were raised in a disjointed way. Birth by Sleep is a project that was raised within our company, but Days is from Nintendo, and coded is from Disney, so we started by talking to each of them.

-source <--Link btw

And anyone that’s read interviews out of curiosity will know that there’s also factors like how ‘Birth By Sleep’ was shifted from PS2 to PSP or that ‘Chain of Memories’ wasn’t a planned title either. (seen here)

So if these things aren’t inherently bad or planned that begs the question of why it’s a problem here? At least in my opinion of the series.

The answer is simple and it lies solely on Nomura’s shoulders for it as a fault, relevancy. The man goes out of his way to make each and every game, concert, or otherwise is attached to the series in some meaningful way going forward.

Naturally, any expanded media is tied to the main narrative in some way. I know this, I am not that foolish. The problem is that Nomura makes them plot relevant going forward.

These titles can’t be true “side games” because they dictate the story going forward in some way. It’s for this reason the more radical fans hate to hear the terminology “side game” to begin with.

This problem was especially bad for years because of how spread out the series became among other gaming systems. And while some like to say it’s fine now due to the collection discs I dont think this will last long given the “phase 2″ images released for KH’s near future.

Hell, I’d even argue this problem isn’t even fixed in truth because the current KH story involving Foretellers, Luxu, and so on is all things spun from a mobile game. Yes, you have to sit through scenes on YT or play a mobile game to fully grasp that cat creature (Chirithy) you saw in KH3.

Naturally, it’s much easier to watch the scenes on YT these days but that also feeds into the loop of not paying for the game itself. I personally see no issue with it but companies are much worse in recent years for shutting down Youtube channels over loose definition of “piracy”.

No game series is worth several consoles. Of course, I’m just speaking from experience, with KH now on the Xbox this may be a moot point in a few years.

I am rambling, off track, lets focus. “Why is this an issue?” is what you’ve read this far for me to explain. The biggest issue with this poor decision making is how it harms the main narrative you’re telling.

For comparison, look at Sora in KH3. He’s often confused by people he doesn’t remember meeting or events he doesn’t remember nor took part in. This is roughly close to what it would be like for someone that’s only played KH1, 2, and 3.

Sora has that same level of insight including what he was told about others like Roxas or Aqua but other characters in-game. This feeds into KH’s misconceived air of complexity.

Kingdom Hearts, as a story, isn’t that complex. It has deeper themes it throws to the wayside but it is easy to follow if you play most games in some form. This ties back into how the series was handled up until the PS4/KH3.

Ever want to know who Roxas was in KH2? Well you had to play Days or you can sit through that horribly boring 3 hour movie on the Remix disc. Even then, the Roxas you see in Days wont be like the one in KH2.

Wish to know who Xehanort was? Play Birth by Sleep! All three campaigns with little variance. Then once you’re done get ready to sit on YT or download a phone app and play Kingdom Hearts Dark Road.

The Foretellers, Luxu, or the Master of Masters? That’s another set of hours, if not days, with the KH Union X Cross, KH Dark Road, and should you choose you can even watch the Back Cover movie which answers nothing at all but shows you the Foretellers in Kh3 graphical glory.

You wish to know how Namine knew who The Lingering Will was? Well dig up a fan translation of a script the Japanese voice cast read for a music concert event. (yes that happened)

You can see where this is going I assume and this is just scratching the surface by the way. You wish to know the finer details like Keyblade types, the inconsistent time traveling, “recompletion”, and so on then be prepared to read word of god interviews, in-game dictionaries/journals and always be ready for a few to change.

Whether it’s a true retcon or just an ambiguous statement, the series is ongoing, Nomura heads the ship, and he is by no means obligated to stick to previous statements if he can make a new one to alter those events.

Then again, holding too much weight in words said outside the game itself is a faulty way of doing things that most fans (like me) have fallen victim too at least once.

At the same time, all of these things are relevant by Nomura’s decision. Sure, the remixes have fixed this to a degree but it’s anyone’s guess for how long. Better yet, at what cost did the remixes fix anything?

The best example of what I mean is Coded. It was originally a game for phones. At the time, only Japan had a phone capable of playing it. Feeling that a shame the game later found it’s way to the DS for all fans to play.

At this point in time Coded was the only true example of a “side story”. It was by no means necessary. The whole datascape plot was more convoluted than it needed to be despite data!Sora being far better than the original at this point, and easy to miss.

But...well that was good. The DS version of Coded was fun as hell to play. The only version of the “command deck system” I’d consider worth any semblance of praise. It did it’s job of getting some level of fans invested such as my friend @blackosprey​ and it’s story was missable.

You did not need to play Coded to understand Dream Drop Distance or further. This was perfect. This is what games like Days, KH Chi/UX, 0.2, and DDD should’ve been.

Games that reached out to grab new people, games that played around, and games that expanded on the main narrative without dictating it’s direction. A side game is something that exists alongside or outside your main story.

However this isn’t what we got. 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage was a short sequel to BBS but also a pretty tech demo for KH3. Dream Drop Distance was there to show the real Sora that people needed help and to show us that Xehanort was back.

KH Chi was a browser game meant to show the Keyblade War and how it shaped Sora’s era. Now it’s an ongoing curse on the series with time traveling plot that affected KH3 directly.

Coded was made into a movie you needed to sit through thanks to one small newly added scene. Days lost many small interactions it’s fans loved in the transition to a movie that is hard to sit through.

I’ve also heard KHDDD and 0.2 were “shaved off” KH3 in a sense to be their own titles...this...this makes so little sense.

Nomura calls KH “Sora’s story” but this is a lie. If it truly was Sora’s story then your main narrative would be BBS, KH1, CoM, 2, and the original combined form of KH3. That’s the titles he’s relevant, those are the titles he stops Xehanort’s plans.

These other titles could’ve been so fun but none of them were truly allowed to breath and be themselves. They were weakened and limited by Nomura deciding to prop the ongoing story upon them like they’re stilts.

Then as a result you can’t close out KH3 without resolving all of these other events and characters which drags it’s own story down. KH3 feels all over the place because it is. It’s trying to tie as many knots as it can from threads created in titles that were way more relevant then they needed to be.

Kh3 can be seen as a clean break for many but I see it as a matter of time. KHUX and now KHDR are still there casting a shadow, dictating what comes next. Melody of Memory is one of several games planned for an unknown but hopefully more thought out direction.

I worry I haven’t explained what I meant well enough but moral of my story is that making things too relevant hurts not only your main story but these new stories you wish to explore.

You can’t have a story and it’s cast breath if you’re tying a knot of mythos too tightly around their necks and this is a tragedy to me. KH began life with such potential but it constantly holds itself back because so few entries into it’s story are truly just an entry.

And I am not saying games can’t follow up one another nor that they shouldn’t. What’s needed is a clear idea and some breathing room. A good example would be to save people in Days with the game DDD. DDD could’ve wiped away some clutter to focus on the final Xehanort battle in a sense.

Nomura has a huge problem with wanting connectivity without letting games be connected by the name alone. It’s like he wants to do the opposite of what Final Fantasy has done but to detrimental results.

This harms so much but worst of them it hurts development. Because Days was made so important, we had a movie made. Because Coded was elevated, a movie was made. Because the keyblade war was so popular, Union Cross was made.

The Remixes would’ve been better to consolidate lore not waste time trying to appease every whim. KH’s relevancy is a huge problem and I doubt it’ll stop any time soon.

[daleisgreat]

25 Years of Sega Saturn & Virtual Boy - Flashback Special!

After the deluge of wrestling-themed entries for WrestleMania month this past 30 days, I have been pining to do another videogame anniversary special. Looking up which platforms have major milestone anniversaries this year, I noted six that stuck out. Four of the platforms (NES, Xbox 360, PSone, PS2) I have an extensive history with and they will get their own respective flashback treatment from me when their anniversaries draw nearer later this year. The other two platforms have all had lackluster or outright abysmal degrees of retail success and both I have only had limited histories with and never played on a consistent basis. Nevertheless, the time I did have with them I considered unique and I do have some fond memories of my experiences with each platform. So let us get on with this flashback special as I celebrate the 25th anniversaries of two consoles that each hit in 1995: Sega’s Saturn and Nintendo’s Virtual Boy.

I want to begin with the platform I have played the least of these two, the Saturn. Yes, I played my Virtual Boy and its daunting 14 game library more than the Saturn. In 1995 I was still lagging a generation behind on the latest consoles. All my family had was an NES at this point and I recently got a GameBoy for Christmas of 1993 so in 1995 I was getting a lot of mileage out of my GameBoy and my parents were still hitting up garage sales for bargain price NES game for me. By the time the Saturn and PSone hit in mid-1995, I was a year away from getting a SNES which I desired more so the Saturn and PSone were not even close to making my wish list. I read about them looming in magazines like Game Players and Electronic Gaming Monthly, but truth be told I was not all that excited for the future of disc-based platforms and the advent of polygonal graphics that were about to come into fruition with 32-bit consoles. As a naïve 12-year old, the first major 3D polygonal games that hit on SNES and Genesis in the early 90s like Star Fox and Virtua Racer looked butt-ugly to me, and from trying out demo kiosks of PSone and Saturn at stores the impatient kid I was back then was furious at this newfound ‘feature’ of the latest systems having loading times. Combine that with my family having no desire to chunk down several hundred dollars for another gaming system and I was left with no cravings for the Saturn and PSone when they both hit in 1995. I had no clue of Sega’s surprise Saturn launch announced at the first E3 in May of 1995. For the unfamiliar, it was when going into that E3 it was known that both the Saturn and PSone were slated to launch within days of each other in September of 1995, but at Sega’s press conference they said right then and there the Saturn is out right now at a handful of select retailers. In 1995 the Internet was only around for a few years and not even the slightest bit ubiquitous. Computers were still a couple years away from coming down to more reasonable family friendly prices, so at this time I got all my gaming news from my monthly subscription to Game Players.

Here is the podcast special on the Saturn I originally recorded way back in 2008. Check it out if you want to know even more about the history of the Saturn and its games. I wound up largely ignoring both the Saturn and PSone for the first few years they were out, maybe occasionally trying out an occasional store kiosk demo and that was about it. I remember the magazines at the time putting a lot of hype into Sega’s arcade ports, and console exclusives like Panzer Dragoon getting cover stories of having mind-shattering graphics, but I was not buying it at the time and stubbornly remained loyal to my 2D sprites. For the Saturn, I finally got my first real experience with it in April of 1997. I remember shortly before this time the Saturn was being pushed aggressively on TV with a special 1996 holiday bundle packaging it with Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter 2 and Virtua Cop for $199. I had no idea at the time why this ridiculous deal happened was because Sega was getting killed in sales at this point in the PSone/Saturn/N64 era and they were desperately trying to play catch-up with a hell of a value considering several months earlier in 1996 it was clinging onto its dooming launch price of $399.

Flash forward a few months later in April of 1997 and my hometown got hit with a huge flood that forced a mandatory evacuation of the entire town for a couple weeks until the waters receded. For a couple days our family stayed at a nearby air base hangar. I believe we were planning on hunkering down there for several days until a couple days in my uncle from St. Paul surprised us and showed up and ‘volunteered’ on taking us in and refused to leave without us coming with him. My siblings and I were delighted to get out of the crowded hangar and spend time with our cousins for what ended up being a week before we were able to get back home. My cousin Royce, who was within a year of my age at the time wound up getting that Saturn three game bundle for Christmas a few months earlier and we played those three games along with the demo disc that came with the system almost every day. We must have played through Virtua Cop at least a few times, and I remember finding it a big step up from previous light gun games I was accustomed to. Daytona USA at the time did not really click with me, and while I was impressed with the graphics at the time I did not come around to checkpoint-racing games yet and was more turned off by their enforced time limits back then. On the demo disc our family got a lot of fun competing against each other in the home run derby mode available in World Series Baseball. The standout game of the pack was easily Virtua Fighter 2. It blew me away and for me it was the first game that proved not only for fighting games, but for games all together that 3D polygonal graphics and gameplay could be viable and damn fun. I knew I was a couple years late to the party by this point, but by 1997 polygonal graphics were no longer the crude, non-textured blocks and rectangles on the SNES and Genesis, but actually had some depth and style to them. I loved Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat at this point, but Virtua Fighter 2 proved to me that 3D fighters could coexist with 2D ones.

That week with my cousin was my proper introduction to the 32/64-bit era. It would be over a decade though before I got more serious hand-on time with the Saturn. Not many friends of mine had the Saturn back home, or if they did we rarely busted it out. My friend and former podcast co-host, Matt has a mammoth collection, and I only recall us turning to the system once or twice all these years to play the charming platformer SCUD. Another friend and podcast co-host of mine, Chris also has a Saturn in his equally mammoth game collection, and until 2008 I only recall us powering it on a couple of times to play the fun co-op action platformer, Three Dirty Dwarves, which had a nonsensical, grungy vibe to its destruction. In 2008, we were a couple years into doing our videogame podcast and we loved doing console retrospectives, so we decided it was time to do one on the Saturn. I just uploaded it to YouTube and integrated it into this article for your listening pleasure! Chris knew about my limited Saturn hands-on time at this point so we decided to spend literally a whole afternoon, about four to five hours of ‘research’ playing a good chunk of his Saturn collection. About 10-15 minutes for each game for a quick refresher for what each game brought to the table. There was one though we played for about two hours straight. That was the rare Panzer Dragoon Saga Chris had a copy of. I knew about it being a collectible at this point and heard the acclaim for it being an ahead of its time RPG and professed to Chris to hope to spend a little more time with it to see what the hype was all about. I remember digging its rail-shooter action the first two games established while simultaneously mixing in RPG style mechanics and exploration. I think we both got wrapped up in it, and stuck with it a bit longer than anticipated. Suffice it to say, those opening hours stood out to me all these years later and I can see why Panzer Dragoon Saga became a hot commodity.

Jeremy Parish did an excellent line of videos with deep dives on every individual Virtual Boy game released, including Japanese exclusives. Here is his take on the Wario's exclusive Virtual Boy game as of yet to be re-released, Wario Land. In my TurboGrafX-16 flashback, I wrote about how I procured the system at a gaming community meet-up event. At that same event there were several gaming systems hooked up for play throughout the night, and one of them was the Saturn. One of the highlights of that night was someone bringing enough multi-taps and controllers that we were able to get plenty of rounds of eight player Saturn Bomberman in. I am a fan of classic multiplayer Bomberman, but never played more than four players before, and was surprised to see the Saturn pull off an eight player version with a micro-sized map and characters in order to fit everyone on screen. It was a Bomberman experience that nothing will likely ever stack up to. I dug up a photo from the event of all of us gathered around the TV so you call can see the tech in action!

Sadly, I never got anymore hands on time with the Saturn after this. It is one of the few major consoles that I do not own. For years I remember seeing the system for sale at our local retro games shop for around $30, but I always hesitated on it. The games I enjoyed on there Sega released better sequels on other systems, and I later got to check out some of its top ranked games like the Capcom fighting games, Guardian Heroes, Nights Into Dreams... and acclaimed shmups like Radiant Silvergun on enhanced re-releases on the Xbox 360 and PS3. There remains games exclusive to the Saturn that I always wanted to try like Die Hard Arcade, World Series Baseball ‘98, Fighters MegaMix, Burning Rangers and Shining Force III, but with retro game prices continuously going up, the time to start a Saturn collection has come and gone in my book unless I happen to stumble upon a steal of a deal. I do have one Saturn game in my collection however, and I will give props to Matt once again who gifted me his extra copy of Bug!. While Sega pulled the plug early in America on the Saturn, it comparatively fared much better than Nintendo with the Virtual Boy. It launched in America in August of 1995, and sold so poor right out of the gate that Nintendo could not have abandoned the platform any faster. Its last game, 3D Tetris, hit North America in March of 1996, only seven months after it launched and with a total of a meager 14 games officially releasing stateside. I remember seeing the hype leading up to the Virtual Boy’s launch in the magazines, and like with the initial wave of polygonal graphics, I was not sold on the concept of virtual reality. However, a couple months after that same flood hit in 1997 our local Wal-Mart had unsold Virtual Boy inventory it was desperate to get rid of by selling the system itself for $20, and games for $5 each. This was one of the first times as a kid I recall my dad abstaining from his garage sales-only videogame rule and realized the steal the system was going for. We walked out of that Wal-Mart with the system and the copy of Mario’s Tennis it came bundled with, along with copies of Golf, Mario Clash and Nester’s Funky Bowling.

I was in the midst of spending summers on a farm at this point in my childhood for several years, and that was the summer of Virtual Boy with my siblings. I played the crap out of all four of those games. I abided by the recommended break alerts that popped up every 15-30 minutes seriously because I recall the gaming mags at the time reporting on the Virtual Boy causing eye strain after consistent use. Even with all that heavy duty play of the Virtual Boy that summer, somehow I am the only one in my family that does not have glasses. All four games we had were solid, but not mind blowing. Mario Clash I thought was a nice, fully-featured take on the classic original Mario Bros. arcade game that fleshed out that style of gameplay with about 100 stages and got so difficult early on I did not come close to finishing it. Golf was a good simulation of the sport, but it only had one course so I did not revisit it that often. I remember enjoying Mario’s Tennis a lot, but this being the debut version of that game it was more of a tennis sim with Mario characters, and had less of the wacky mini-games and power-up attacks associated with the franchise today. My siblings and I played a ton of competitive Nester’s Funky Bowling. There was not anything that funky about it other than the occasional cheerful animation from Nester and his twin sister Hester whenever you scored a strike or spare, but it was a functional enough bowling game that we had plenty of fierce rounds of over that summer. After that summer we and I got our fill of those four games and the Virtual Boy found itself in the closet for many years. Eventually I randomly dug it out and found the tripod busted, and the pack that hooked up to the back of the controller that contained the plug-in for the AC adaptor was missing. With no means of powering on the Virtual Boy, it sat in a bag forgotten in my closet for well over a decade. I will thank one Jeremy Parish for renewing my interest in Virtual Boy with his excellent line of Virtual Boy Works videos. For those that are unfamiliar with him, Parish is one of most credible members of the retro gaming press, with him hosting the renowned retro-game podcast, Retronauts since 2006 and going on to write countless books and producing chronological video series on nearly every 20th century Nintendo platform. He averages one video a week, which usually highlights one or two games and does a deep dive into its development history and then proceeds to review the game. A few years in he has already covered almost all the games released from the first years of the SNES and the first two years of NES and GameBoy.

Throughout 2019 Parish took a detour from those three systems to focus on going through the entire VirtualBoy library, including its several Japanese exclusives. His surprise love for the platform shined through his thorough coverage for each game. It is a well-produced series and fantastic history lesson for this blink-and-miss-it platform that I highly recommend checking out by click or pressing here, especially now to learn about the first major attempt at a virtual reality platform with VR now having a modicum of success with the PlayStation VR and the Oculus Rift having made legit waves these past few years. Virtual Boy Works inspired me to track down a few more Virtual Boy games to my collection which were surprisingly going for not that much on eBay. I wound up getting Galactic Pinball, TeleroBoxer, Virtual League Baseball, Vertical Force and Wario Land. I also tracked down a replacement AC Adaptor hub and tripod stand which resulted in my Virtual Boy powering on once again! I tested out all these games briefly. I love me some videogame pinball, and Galactic Pinball has some nifty 3D tricks up its sleeve. TeleroBoxer is like Punch-Out meets Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots or Real Steel for the younger readers who need a more contemporary reference. Vertical Force is a competent shmup, and I wish I put more than a few minutes into Wario Land because it is a legit top notch platformer and went down as one of the few highly rated games on the system. I swear to one day make it through Wario Land! Thank you for joining me on this two part 25th anniversary special for the Saturn and Virtual Boy! Got a favorite Virtual Boy or Saturn memory of your own? I would like to hear how it compares to my tale so shoot me a line on Twitter over @Gruel. If you enjoyed this journal-style flashback special, than I encourage you to check out the links below to the specials I wrote for the Dreamcast, GameBoy, Genesis, TurboGrafX-16 and yes, even the 32-X. Thank you all once again for indulging me!

My Other Gaming Flashbacks Dreamcast 20th Anniversary GameBoy 30th Anniversary Genesis 30th Anniversary TurboGrafX-16 30th Anniversary and 32-X 25th Anniversary

[blogan405]

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[tumblunni]

OH FUCK U GUYS SHOULD I BUY ALL THE KINDGOM HEARTS IN A ONCENESS???

Holy jesus i knew they did hd ps4 ports of the playstation games but they ALSO added all the final mix content that engkishspeaking fans never got during my childhood? And they ALSO remade chain of memories entireky in 3d with Very Animated Ice Dad?? And they ALSO remade BBS despite it not needing it nearly as much as the old games and thet ALSO remade friggin dream drop distance which came out on a goddamn current gen console?? Like they seriously just made a non portable version?? Now all the spinoffs are on the same console at last?? Why did you not just do this in the first place?? I mean the psp and 3ds games were basically ps2 equivelant graphics and disc space anyway...

Oh and fuckin ALLLLSOOOOO

Also the final mixes of all of those! Also a movie version of the plot of khux! And also Coded and Days, which is a really big shame cos Coded is indeed sparse enough on content to deserve it but Days was my FAVOURITE GAME and it sucks its the only one that didnt get remade! I mean its in the same spinoff category as bbs and com, its not a cheapo mess like coded. Nothing else in the series deserves to be shoved in the Coded bin, even khux at least has better plot even if the backtracking and lootbox shit makes it harder to get to it...

Anyway ALSO a random new sidestory with Aqua going thru like one dungeon or somethin?? I dunno?? Its like a glorified tech demo for kh3, its just 'hey fuckin look what we can do visually on a proper ps4 game' and wow how have i never fuckin heard of this it looks so pretty!! I mean i dont know if its even more than 5 hours or somethin but.. Pretty!! And apparantly you get unlockable costumes for her or somethin? I hope they keep that feature in kh3! Itd rock if it wasnt just the main character too, and we could dress up riku and kairi and goofy and donald and roxas and axel and every the friends :3 new secret to how they defeat xehanort: slap a bow on his damn head

ALSO ALSO

All of this is available in one big bundle pack for £90 which ALSO contains literally kh3. THIS IS HOW THEYRE HANDLING PREORDERS?? THATS SUCH A GOOD WAY TO HANDLE PREORDERS!! Get a discounted price on this new game but while youre waiting for it you get to enjoy an (also discounted) giant fuckin 300 hours memory lane compilation of every damn thing from the last 15 years in one beautiful updated package. Holy fuck its like they made this for ME SPECIFICALLY!this is the perfect way to get people back into the franchise who dropped off in The Great KH3 Wait cos they couldnt afford all the damn million portables needed to gather that Dank Lore. God fuckin hell it cost more than the price of this bundle just to play any one of those games individually on some stupid retro machine i bought exclusively for that one damn game. THAT PSP STILL ROTS IN MY KITCHEN CUPBOARD YO

So

So so so so so

Guys

Please give me permission to buy this

Or like please convince me not to waste my money if you think i'd waste my money??

I really just DONT KNOW! ive been out of the fandom for so long and my last experience was really hatting BBS and feeling horribly out of place as everyone else raved about it being the best thing ever. And i know NOTHING about what kh3 is gonna be or whether its even possible for me to get back into the fandom and like.. Care about it at all again. I just got fuckin fatigued with it and my teenage years were like me clinging on to the edge of a cliff by my fingernails begging everyone to believe me that Its Still Good, Honestly, Its Worth It while square enix is up there all LONG LIVE THE KING and they push me off. Into a stampede of PSPs. Somehow.

And then aaargh i know i literally only came back to the fandom because organization xiii fuckin eternally holds my heart in their lil grabby hands. It was indeed a good nostalgic moment remembering how i loved them! And getting a new appreciation for Vexen and being blown away by how much he should have been my favourite but i just never got to play COM as a kid and then when i played it as an adult all the way after bbs i ended up quitting before even getting to meet half the org cos this one stupid 'defeat 99 shadows jn 99 seconds' mission kicked my ass. I'M JUST NOT GOOD AT ACTION RPGS OKAY!

Aaaagh thats another Big Worry, yknow? Like asa kid i was Bad, as an adult i'm Barely Better , and as a both i never enjoyed beat em up thingies of any kind at all. And on top of that i was never big into disney, i never saw them as any sort of 'childhood magic' but just some naff cliche shit retelling public domain fairy tales in the safest way possible with a bunch of obnoxious celebrity cameos. Also lion king and snow white terrified me as a kid. Also i associated robin hood with my dead grandma. Also as a kid i couldnt appreciate good artistic ability or voiceacting, i was all about the story, yknow? And most of kh's adaptations are really rushed and barebones versions of an already shoddy story, without any of the visual splendor. ALSO i never saw any of the darker or more emotionally focused stuff like Hunchback and Beauty and the Beast until way after i quit playing kingdom hearts, oddly enough. Wtf beauty and thebeast is actually real good and looks so far beyond its time!! Wtf hunchback has my goddamn evil dad in it!! Why did i miss the only good didneys!! Why did snow white traumatize me and those didnt!!

ANYWAY the point im getting at is that im not inherantly predisposed to like.. Any of kingdom hearts's appeal at all. I didnt know half the disneys and i didnt have any hype for the others. None of my fave final fantasy games made it into it until the sequel and then never again after that. CMON I CANT JUST DEAL WITH ONE VIVI CAMEO Y'ALL! And i haaaate the genre and its an uphill struggle to play a game like that with my stupid inelegant sausage hands. So i just came for the story and then everything after the first game has been conspiring to ruin it for me, sheesh! I felt so much for that short concise self contained first episode and then i fall more and more out of love as they establish this status quo of everything being retconnable so dont bother get attatched to it. Blablabla the entire worldbuilding is different now and everyone was secretly someone else and please memorize a bunch of shit from fifty fuckin spinoffs and also time travel and cloning suddenly exist and ALSO Grandpa Onlyblackmanintheworld is generic motiveless evil and everything was him even of it looked like it was actually a sympathetic villain. *insert dio meme face*

So yeah now im just.. In it for the characters?? And the cute art style and monsters and lovely animations and big fanfic oc potentials stuff. But man even tho i had Big Feel for those things i was able to completely drop it all and forget about the series for years, that was just HOW BAD the kh3 drought was. Steven universe hiatus eat your heart out...

So ffff i dont even KNOW if i'll be able to get feels'd for these characters again or if they actually hold up to modern bunni standards of huggable. And i know all the ones i want to hug the most got like zero sympathy and all died horribly and were also retroactively revealed to be clone oldmanvirus somethingy and aaaaaagh. But also something something people say they all came back and got cured?? And this is why?? I am here?? Again?? And buying?? The thing??

Like man fuck i am already building it up so much in my head aaaa what if i dont actually love axel as much as i used to love axel and i dont love Grumply Science as much as i always love That Character Archetype seriously MAN how was he like THE ONLY ONE I DIDNT GET TO SEE AS A KID

Aaauuuuaggh gahhh like maybe this will reignite my passion for the series or maybe i'll just be all critical and dumb and waste all my moneys

Guys... What do??

[oldnintendonerd]

Tis the season... to be hunting

Aw yes! Here we are folks. Yard sale season. You know what that means. Actual finds. Spring cleaning has come and gone! People are now having Yard Sales, and donating to thrift stores. We are already chock full for this post, so sit back and relax, I have pictures of everything, and it is a long one.

First up is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for Playstation - Found 2018.04.20 at Goodwill

I have never played this game, and have no intention of playing this game. Hate to start out o a bit of a negative note, but Harry Potter is of no interest to me. It was $0.99, so with tax, $1.06 out the door. Strictly resale bait. Anything I can sell for about seven to eight times what I paid for it, I’ll always pick it up.

Next up, you are witnessing the very first yard sale I was able to get to this season. It was literally within walking distance of my house. I happened to see the sign on the way out to get breakfast on the morning of April 21st. It was so convenient I really had no thoughts of actually finding anything. But of course I stopped anyway and lo and behold... three very nice condition PS2 games. Nothing earth shattering, but I’ve been wanting to try the Ratchet and Clank games for a while. Now is my chance.

Ratchet and Clank - PS2 - Found on 2018.04.21 at a yard sale

As you can see from the masking tape price tag, it was only $0.50. Those are my kinds of prices, especially for clean, well taken care of games. It is complete and in great condition.

It has instructions/poster. Which are in A condition, as well as a solid A disc, and A case. I will be looking forward to checking out this game in the near future. Not sure when, but soon. Especially since the lot came with an additional Ratchet and Clank game...

Ratchet and Clank Going Commando - PS2 - Found on 2018.04.21 at a yard sale

Another one in pristine condition for being as old as it is. Same ratings accross the board as it’s prequel. Could not ask for much more. Solid games for a very good price at this sale.

Once again, just minty fresh, and complete with instructions/poster. Definitely going in the collection, right along with Ratchet and Clank.

The third one they had may go in a bundle or be trade bait, I am not a big Star Wars, or Lego movie/game fan, don’t get me wrong, I love Legos. I just always thought the games and movies were hoakie and kinda blah. But, for $0.50, its hard to really pass up any title. I may have bought freakin Madden games for that price just to have extra cases or bundle fodder.

Lego Star Wars The Video Game - PS2 - Found on 2018.04.21 at a yard sale

Once again, just immaculate condition. A’s accross the board. There were kids at the sale, but I cannot imagine this was ever handled by them, I have a feeling the homeowner was also the PS2 owner. There were no other games or consoles out. Which is strange. Who puts out just three PS2 games. However, being the first sale, and so dumbstruck was I that I even found something, I broke my very first rule. I forgot to ask about more games. So I’m not sure if they would have had any more, or be willing to part with them if they had. Dropped the ball there, it won’t happen again.

An item that is a little off topic from the usual blog content, I also picked up a really nice Sony dual tape deck for $1 at the same sale, it says “turns on but won’t play”,  I immediately figured it needed belts. I opened it up and it does in fact need belts. They are snapped and gooey, wrapped around the flywheels and gears. I have ordered a set and I can’t wait to get those in and fix it up, and listen to all my old cassettes. Maybe even turn a few of them into MP3. Not traditional music Cassettes, these are recording I made when I was a kid, and even live concerts i recorded off of the radio back in the early 90′s. Can’t replace those. So backing up to digital would be very nice.

Well. Since that is not related to the normal content of this blog we’ll just stop talking about that one right there. Though if you don’t mind seeing a few things here and there outside of gaming for finds, I’m happy to toss one in here and there. Leave a comment if you feel one way or the other on that topic. Here is a pickup recap photo with the tape deck in it for fun anyway.

Moving quickly on, or this will be a mile long and you will be here all day reading this post. I think it may get to be a mile long anyway. Sorry about that.

A couple days later I popped back into a Goodwill and found a game I never could get to play on any of my machines at the time it came out. I think I had a demo, and it absolutely destroyed both my rigs at the time. It was unplayable. It is old enough to be on 5 CD ROM discs, no DVD ROMs here! In a nice condition double disc jewel case I found...

Far Cry - PC - Found 2018.04.23 at Goodwill

I picked it up and thought, there has to be a missing disc, or they are all scratched to hell. But nope, every disc was accounted for, and they were in immaculate condition. Ubisoft releases patches for their older games, and after a quick Google search in the store, it appears there is one that will allow this to work on Windows 10. So I bought it. $1.06 out the door from the CD bin. I haven’t tried it yet, and even if it doesn’t work, that’s a cool piece to have.

Next up is another one I had a long time ago, not valuable or rare or anything, but was a good game that I enjoyed playing in the early 2000′s.

Fable - XBox - Found 2018.05.03 at Goodwill

This was in a little rougher condition than I’d have liked, but it might still play. See the scratches on the disc below.

Worst case I can get it resurfaced for like $2. The scratches do not have a “catch” to them when you run your fingernail over them, which is a good sign. They will likely buff right out and it’ll be good as new. Unfortunately that would put it up to a total cost of $5.21 since this guy cost $3.21, and with a value at only $7.36 it doesn’t really make it much of a bargain. But I can live with that if it is added to my collection in working order.

Still a couple bucks under retail, and if I’m lucky, I won’t have to resurface it, making it even closer to a bargain at about half price. So disc is about a C. The case has a small crack, placing it at about a C+, and there is some wear on the manual. The manual though is not falling apart so it stays in the B’s with a B-. Some days later I found a minty “Platinum Hits” edition of Fable at another Goodwill, but the case was empty. I took it to the counter to ask if I could have the case, and they said no, unless I wanted to pay $3 for it. Bummer.

I don’t know why all of a sudden most of the Goodwills in the area are keeping people from taking empty cases. The one closest to my house still lets me take them if I get the right employee/manager on at the time, but the others still won’t let me take them without paying at least a little bit for them. At least they don’t want full price. Maybe they are getting a good deal on recycle material or something. It’s irritating though, glad I got the cases I did throughout last year while I had the chance.

Anyway, moving on.

This was actually the same store and trip that I found the empty Fable case. The game section had close to zero games in it, and I was about to leave (and see if the cashier would give me the Fable case) when I decided to eyeball the toy section in case some controllers or other accessories got tossed over there. For some reason three PS2 games were sitting on the shelf. Two of them were of no interest and were not valuable enough to even buy at $3. But, this one I was interested in playing. I had Defender of the Future on the Dreamcast a LONG time ago. That version is a lot more valuable than this one now of course. By about double, but if it is the same game, I’m in.

Ecco The Dolphin Defender of the Future - PS2 - Found 2018.05.06 at Goodwill

Another very good condition case and disc. Id put the case at an A-, you can see some wear on the outer plastic. Disc is a solid A, as is the manual.

I was always mesmerized playing this game on the DC, how fluid, and realistic the movements of the dolphin were through the water. If this one is as good as the DC, and plays the same, it will stay in the collection as well.

Side bonus to this one, the clerk only charged me the DVD price of $1.99, instead of the video game price of $2.99. Score! I’ll take any small discounts I can get. That $1 could be a GameCube game at a yard sale or something.

The very next day I wound up at another Goodwill and noticed a Wii bundle in the showcase. It was marked $49.99. I noticed there wasn’t a power cable, video cable, or sensor bar sitting with it, which was making me start to shy away from it. It did have several games with it, along with a first party Classic Controller, which I could use, I don’t have one, and have been on the look out for one. Additionally it had two first party nunchucks. I need nunchucks, I only have one first party nunchuck. As far as stuff that did not help the value, there was a Wii balance Board and it also had two third party controllers with it. Which were junk. Additionally it was missing flaps. So I felt at the top end, I was willing to pay maybe $25. The store manager noticed me looking at it and immediately apologized for there not being a sensor bar, power or AV cables with it. He said he usually tries to get them complete before they are put out, he wasn’t sure why this one was out, and it was definitely priced as though it was complete, so he dropped the price to $30 right there. Okay, now we are getting somewhere, but another $5 off would be better.

I said thank you, I appreciate that, that does compensate mostly for the missing cables, though I have a couple other concerns. The GameCube controller port covers are missing, and the two Wiimote controllers it has are absolute junk. How about $25? He didn’t even think about it, he immediately said yes, and dug it out of the showcase to bring it over to the register for me. I wish I’d offered $20 first now. Worst case he comes back with $25 and we end up there anyway.

Wii Bundle - Found 2018.05.07 at Goodwill

I looked closer at the games while he ran around behind the counter for a few moments, then helped a couple other employees with something, and they are all in extremely good condition. Of the games in the bundle, I am interested in adding Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz to my collection. So I will do close ups on those below. The rest are in almost as good condition and I’d like to sell off as a bundle, and get close to or more than I paid here for it. Sonic was in the DVD / Games bin and cost an additional $3.21 to get that as it was obviously not part of the Wii bundle. It was also in immaculate condition. So I couldn’t pass it by. I included it in the picture because it was all the same purchase. As he was ringing me up, and because he was so eager to get me going, I almost thought maybe he knew something was wrong with it. But when tested, it booted right up and reads discs OK. Likely it was just busy in there and he was looking to get the transaction taken care of and me on my way.

As for the games themselves, well, have a gander.

Sonic Mega Collection Plus - PS2

I have been playing Sonic games almost as long as Mario games. Maybe less by perhaps 4 or 5 years. While not as near and dear to my heart, I do hold them up as quality games. I owned a Genesis/32X/Sega CD monstrosity for a number of years and played Sonic 2, Sonic CD, and Knuckles Chaotix a lot in my later teen years. I also had a Game Gear with a Sonic game, and this title proclaims to have Game Gear titles on it as well. So I’m looking forward to that.

Super Mario Galaxy - Wii

What can I say about this find? Freaking. Perfect. Condition. Perfect. Like someone took the cellophane off, and brought it to Goodwill. So crispy. I absolutely LOVE finding games in this condition. It is nearly flawless. Close to crystal clear outer art sleeve.

Manual is an solid A, one tiny dent there in the lower right-ish corner prevented the A+, but otherwise looks like its never even been touched. So happy to have this one in the collection finally. I never owned it, even having owned a Wii since at least 2008, I’ve never played it until recently. Looking forward to giving it a proper spin.

Donkey Kong Country Returns - Wii

Wow. Just. Wow. Immaculate. It astounds me that something this old can be in this good of condition coming into a Goodwill. This game was released when? November 2010 according to Wikipedia. So it could be anywhere from roughly six to eight years old or so depending on when this copy was actually manufactured and bought. This belonged to someone who either didn’t care at all, or hated the game the first time it was played, set it on a shelf and it was forgotten until donated, or it was loved and well taken care of. Considering it was donated, I’m going to wager a guess on the former scenario as the most likely.

The crispiest of manuals. A+. Just look at that. Did anyone EVER play either of these games!? I love it. Disc is A+, not a mark on it, flawless. Case is a solid A as well, very clear jacket, no dings, dents, cracks or chips.

The game itself to play is quite good as well, good play control, the visuals are on par with the DKC series, and is updated into the “New Super Mario Bros Wii” style, by rendering everything then fixing the camera in position to create a side scrolling platformer that can be smoothly zoomed in and out, as well as create pseudo parallax scrolling by placing layers of rendered backgrounds behind the area in which you are playing. Backgrounds become the play field in this game as well. I’m enjoying it so far.

I dig this game a great deal, and will also be giving this a proper play through sooner than later.

The condition of most of these finds this month has been stellar so far. Super crispy and clean games. The exception to this is the following game.

Super monkey Ball Banana Blitz - Wii

Really good shape for the most part though, the only blemish on this game is the sticker. GAH! At least we can get that off of there with relative ease, the blog post from a while back I did shows my technique for this. It is very effective and uses nothing more than a damp cloth and packing tape. No goo gone required. So case is an A-. I do however, find the two stickers inside to be rather amusing. They appear to be actual Chiquita banana stickers, with Monkey Ball characters on them, so I think those will stay. It adds to it in my opinion. Manual is A+, very crispy. Disc is a solid A as well.

This game isn’t great because of the controls in my opinion. I much prefer the GameCube games, but my son is a big fan of the series and played the original and the second one on our Wii with a GameCube controller pretty regularly. He has tried this one, and was not as thrilled with it because he cannot use the controller easily, it is all motion/tilt control. But I can see him trying again when he understands the control better. Hes still only three, he will pick it up I’m sure.

Side tangent for a second, does anyone else hate certain games on the Wii because of the controller options? Or rather, severe lack there of? Taking a series like Monkey Ball, or Metroid Prime, that originated on the GameCube, and then make it so you HAVE to use a control scheme that incorporates the new Wiimote motion control. It infuriates me. How hard would it have been to allow fans of the series that played the games on the GameCube to plug in their favorite controller, and seamlessly pick up the game using the same control scheme they know and love. It was simply left out of the game entirely. A big middle finger from Nintendo. Nope, you have to use our new way, we innovated this new motion control platform, and we are going to force you to use it in EVERY game. Plugging in a GameCube controller to a game series that is a continuation FROM THE GAMECUBE should at least be an OPTION. Another example, a game like Twilight Princess, where it was actually a GameCube game ported to the Wii. Not just a series continued from the GameCube. But an actual GameCube game. The original control scheme with a GameCube controller should be an OPTION. But it isn’t. They even mirrored the entire game just so Link would carry the sword in his right hand to match up with 99% of people’s “sword hand”. Really? Oi.

Speaking of Zelda...

*grumble grumble*

Moving on.

To round out this month’s finds I have two more to go. First is a small find from Goodwill. A single game, but, it is on a system that I just do not see games for in Goodwills around here. Gamecube. Nothing spectacular by any stretch, but I had to grab it considering it was GameCube.

Medal of Honor Frontline - GameCube - Found 2018.05.09 at Goodwill

Relatively good shape, I’d give the case a B. Manual is an A, very crispy. Disc is a solid B, a few light scratches, but no question it will play. It will go in the collection for now, but might not stay forever, FPS games and I do not generally get along on consoles.

Still happy to get it, of course it ran the standard $3.21, it only weighs in at a little over $5 on pricecharting though. Oh well. A GameCube game is a GameCube game these days.

Last but certainly not least, my final yard sale find of the month is a Glacier Game Boy Advance, with Pokemon Red version included.

Game Boy Advance with Pokemon Red - found 2018.05.11 at a yard sale.

I’ve only ever owned an original Game Boy DMG-01. I played Tetris, Revenge of the Gator, Metroid II, TMNT, Mega Man, Super Mario Land and other games for hours as a kid growing up in the late 80′s and early 90′s. The GBA was released after I’d become an adult, and portable gaming was lower on my priority list at that time. I was doing less riding in cars on road trips because I was now the driver on road trips. I had a girlfriend/wife or friends to talk to on those trips in any case, so even if I wasn’t driving, it wasn’t like I was bored off my ass in the back seat while we drove to another family vacation. Or sitting in school or something. I had a job. Way less free time.

So, having never owned some of them when they were new, I am down to get my hands on a few of these portables at this point. If nothing else, I can give them to my son to play with on some family road trips!

I saw this one in a picture in a Cragslist ad, the person’s ad for the Sale had photos. It was on a table along with a TI-84 Plus and an Apple TV. No price tags were on any of it in the photos. I’d hoped to get all three for a steal, and flip the Apple TV and calculator for a profit to help fund the collection. My hope was about $10 for the Apple TV, $15 for the Calculator at most, and perhaps $10 for the GBA. I arrived at the sale only a minute or two after it was scheduled to start. Of course there was already a swarm of people and I thought “damn, I’m sure it’s gone by now.” However it was not gone, as you can see from the picture, marked at $20. Double what I was hoping for. Probably why it was in still there. A glacier GBA is only worth about $25 according to Pricecharting, and I would also assume that price assumes the battery cover is present. This one does not include the battery cover. So I asked the guy if the price was flexible. He said he could go $15. I pointed out it was missing the battery cover and that I was hoping for $10. He said he hadn’t noticed the battery cover, and in that case he could go as low as $12. Knowing Pokemon Red had to be at least a ten dollar bill, I bought it.

As you can see it works fine. I figure this could also be a unit I will take thrifting with me to test GB, GBC, and GBA games right in the store before buying them. Will be handy.

Incidentally the TI-84 was marked at $40, they are only worth about $50 to $60, and this one was a little rough. The Apple TV was marked at $30. But only worth $40 to $50. If I could have gotten them for the prices I was hoping for, I may have picked them up, but given the price he wanted for the GBA, I don’t think I could get him that low, so I didn’t bother even making an offer. The only item I was really after was the GBA, and I think I got a good enough deal on that.

That wraps this post up for a little more than about the last month of hunting. A lot of stuff this time around, the season is just starting to hit stride. Hopefully this continues. The finds have already been fairly good.

So now down to the official business. We had $57.46 at the end of the last posting.

Harry Potter was $1.06, that takes us to $56.40. Ratchet and Clank, Ratchet and Clank Going Commando, and Lego Star Wars were 50 cents each, taking us to $54.90.

Then we found Far Cry, another $1.06 takes us to $53.84, and Fable at $3.21 takes us to $50.36. Ecco the Dolphin Defender of the Future was only $2.13, but that still drops us to $48.50.

That takes care of most of the one off stuff and brings us to the Wii bundle with Sonic Mega Collection Plus. All of it was $30.08 out the door. A little ouch compared to what we have available for funds. But a good deal for what I got. That shrunk the total to $18.42. But it was worth it, those games were in stunning condition. Plus, I should be able to eventually make back every penny on the leftovers. Assuming I'll run across some cables at some point. A Wii bundle with the games that were left, the Wii Fit Board, the controllers, nunchucks, and all the cables should fetch at least $30 - $40.

The last one off game was Medal of Honor Frontline for the GameCube. It ran $3.21. Taking us down to $15.21. Only just enough to bring home the last item, the Glacier Game Boy Advance with Pokemon Red Edition. That $12 brings us down to what I believe is a record low. $3.21.

Ironically, just enough money to buy ONE game at a Goodwill without going negative if one turns up.

Not to fret though, I have a small pile of items I will be listing very directly, which should refill our till so we can move into peak Yard Sale season fully armed.

Slated to hit eBay soon are: Pokemon Red Sealed copy of Wii Fit Plus Sealed copy of Wii Play A copy of Dragonball Revenge of King Piccolo The Lot of 007 Games from last post.

I might list the entire 007 lot for something between $12.99 and $17.99 buy it now with free shipping. I feel like that should move fairly quick, but we'll have to see what's going for what price as I'm listing it all to really choose final pricing.

That’s all for now, happy hunting to my few readers! I love you all.

2018.06.02

[demoban]

Release: Dengeki PS2 D66 (SLPM-61070)

Download Link

Hi! It’s been a while, huh? I know I said I had more in store for Demoban, but as you can probably guess, things ended up going a little dark instead in order to focus on a big project for work. But I didn’t want this blog to languish for too long because some of these discs I have lying around in the backlog are especially deserving of a wider release. So, here’s the first of two Christmas presents today in the form of another Dengeki PS2 disc!

What makes this one from early 2004 special is that it has another demo from Katamari Damacy! And not only that, as if the last Katamari demo I dumped didn’t spoil us enough with lost content, this one also features its own unique level that isn’t present in the final game and was custom built to show off the game! The opening sequence plays out much like that other demo, but as soon as the level loads, it becomes clear you’re playing in a completely different sandbox. And much like that other demo, if you take the time to hack the timer so you can roll up everything in the level, you’ll see some fun easter eggs that are otherwise nearly impossible to witness during normal gameplay.

That’s easily the biggest highlight of the disc, but some of the other things to be found on this disc are fun on their own merits such as the footage from the initial press conference where Final Fantasy XII was first revealed way back in 2003. For a full content breakdown, check out the list below!

Magazine Name: Dengeki PlayStation 2 (Dengeki PS2) Issue: D66 Publication Date: 2004/2/27

Special (Green): -Final Fantasy XII reveal press conference and initial trailer

Demos (Red): -Shadow Hearts II -Firefighter FD 18 -Katamari Damacy -Cy Girls/Cool Girl -Cambrian QTS: Kaseki ni Nattemo -Simple 2000 Series Vol. 44: The Hajimete no RPG: Densetsu no Keishousha

Movies (Blue): -Furasera: Hurrah! Sailor -Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax -Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon -Death by Degrees -Kaena -Popolocrois: Tsuki no Okite no Bouken -Kuon -Blood Will Tell: Tezuka Osamu's Dororo

Save Data (Yellow): -Memory card files for various games.

Museum (Purple): -Phantom Brave -Monster Hunter

There’s one more disc I plan to upload here either later tonight or sometime tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that!

Happy holidays!

-Pepsi

[gta5onapk189bestblog]

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[1-dollar-cd-sale-reviews]

Decade: Ten Years of Fierce Panda (2004) - Side B

(I apologize for the blurry picture, it’s all I’ve got right now and it’s 4 in the morning here. I’d take a replacement picture if I could, but I just finished listening to this CD and I need to strike while the iron’s hot)

This is the second half, or “Side B”, of Decade: Ten Years of Fierce Panda. I reviewed the first ten songs eight days ago - frankly, I worked my way into a bad mood after that review and avoided the CD for a while. But I’m back to finish the review, because there are a couple of CDs I want to get to in time and I can’t do that without finishing this one.

For this half of the compilation, I turned my sound down to help combat the distortion - the main issue I had with the album in the previous review was the sound quality, and I decided to forego the same audio quality complaints for this review. By all means, it’s still a problem - but I’ve decided to focus more on the songs themselves this time around.

Surprisingly, I liked this half of the album a lot more than the first half. It could have been the lower volume making each song less grating, but I think there are just more tracks on this half that appeal to me.

It kicks off with a song by Coldplay - one of the names I bought the album for. I don’t mind Coldplay so much, they release good singles and I think the stereotypical “well, at least it’s better than Nickelback/Coldplay!!” statement is stale and trite - but as far as albums go, I’m no fan. Give me The Scientist and Yellow, maybe a handful of other tracks like Fix You, and that’s about it. This is a singles band for me.

The track on this compilation, Brothers and Sisters, doesn’t fit into that handful of tracks I just mentioned. Lyrics didn’t resonate or stick out to me, especially with Chris Martin’s singing style. The music was good though, I feel like Coldplay is a decent-sounding band as far as instrumentals go - pre-Sky Full Of Stars, anyway. Overall, kind of a letdown considering that Coldplay was one of the key draws to this compilation in the first place. I was hoping to find another track of theirs that I might like, but it’s no skin off my back in the long run.

Hundred Reasons’ “Cerebra” is more of a heavy rock track. Maybe emo, or alternative rock? I dunno. The music sounds good and the singer has a decent voice for this style of music. This is one of the better rock/metal-oriented songs I’ve heard during the course of this blog, which is to say it was well-produced and I liked it well enough.

The song Arienette by Bright Eyes was the first surprise of this half of the album. It’s got a very brooding, almost gothic atmosphere to it, played very well by the band. The vocalist sounds a bit wobbly in his singing, but I chalked this up to the sound quality - if only because I want to believe there’s a smoother, better quality version of this song in existence.

I actually checked out a higher quality version on Youtube, just for background noise as I wrote this review up, and unfortunately the vocalist still sounds like he has marbles in his mouth. Even considering this development, I still like how this song sounds very much. Hell, it works for the latter half of the song - all in all, this is a decent tune.

Hundredweight, by Easyworld, switches between a softer, more beat-driven sound, and a more pop-punk sort of sound for the chorus. I would have preferred if the whole song was in the more pop-punk-sounding style, the singer just sort of annoys me in the quieter sections. If this song was more like the chorus all the way through, it’d be a pretty good track.

Take the Long Road And Walk It, by a band called The Music, sounds like three or four notes being played for the entirety of the song. I hated it.

The Polyphonic Spree’s song “Soldier Girl” runs into a similar dilemma as Hundredweight, though I like this song for what it is. The song starts off with someone laying down a beat by... puffing into a flute the wrong way? I dunno. I had a try of my friend’s flute once, and the discordant puffing noise sounds like when you aren’t blowing into a flute the right way. This sound is what makes up the beat at the start of the song, and I kept hearing it through the song - for that reason, I found it a bit uncomfortable to listen to.

But the chorus gives way to more of a Brit-pop sound, or something a little rockier, and this part of the song sounded really good. It makes up the last third of the song, and I really liked that. This is a song that I can tolerate at worst, and have a smile and a nod to at best - it’s a pretty decent track.

Manhunt, by Winnebago Deal, is another hard rock sort of song. The band sounds good, but when the singer comes in, everyone decides to stop playing when the singer is yelling something out - but they’ll play tiny sections in-between his statements. I don’t know if that has a term, or if it’s a trope? I’ve heard songs do this before. Either way, I don’t like listening to it. There are also a handful of cusses thrown in there that just feel tacked on, like they’re pandering to an edgy teen crowd by saying “fuck” once and “bitch” a handful of times. It’s face level at best.

Six By Seven’s contribution, “Bochum (Light Up My Life)”, is what you get when you mix uplifting, soaring music with more of an airy, ambient atmosphere - and then give that song a tub-thumping drum pattern. The drums kind of reminded me of how the Lumineers would use a drum track, but I think that comparison does Bochum a disservice - it’s a bit distracting, but it’s still a good song. The only disservice that’s been done to this song is how flat the vocals are - otherwise, this is a really neat track.

That leaves two songs: Tiny Vessels by Death Cab For Cutie, and This Is The Last Time by Keane.

Death Cab For Cutie is one of those bands I know about solely from the name. They’ve never been on my radar, and I went into this song relatively blind. I felt like I might have heard a song or two from them in the past, but nothing really stuck out in my mind. This was a pretty clean track, the vocals were smooth and the instruments sound good. The tempo hooked me in, and the rest of the song really delivered.

And finally, This Is The Last Time by Keane. Yeah, this is the last time I listen to this CD! I’m excited, even if the song doesn’t end up being so good.

Keane is the last band that drew my eye on this disc. I have fond memories of playing a Singstar demo on PS2 with Somewhere Only We Know on it, and I was hoping to get some more of that goodness with this track.

This is the only brand-name recognition song on this disc - out of this, Supergrass and Coldplay - that managed to live up to my expectations. It’s got a lively piano line to it, and the vocals are strong right out of the gate. The chorus is very upbeat in its sound, and the vocalist hits these high notes that no other song on this compilation gets close to - the song just comes across as more lively. It has more range than any other song on this disc, and it appeals to me in a very bright, lovely, mid-00′s poppy sort of way.

So - with that last great song done and dusted, how does the whole album stack up?

I’m not going to mince words - I thought this compilation was trash.

I don’t say that because the songs were particularly bad - the first ten songs had some mediocre tracks, but I liked a couple songs on that first half and I liked a fair amount of songs on this half. I say it because the audio quality is terrible.

This could be me talking out of my ass - I’ve made no secret of my own ignorance in my reviews. But I’ve listened to the MP3s on this CD, and I’ve heard rips and official single releases on Youtube for songs that I liked, and the CD quality songs sounded much worse. Some songs sounded like they were buzzing when too much was going on, like they were clipping, and particularly heavy guitar playing or loud mixed instrumental songs would sound distorted as well as have that clipping sound to it. The mixing on this compilation is straight-up garbage.

Because of that, I can’t recommend this album. If you see Decade: Ten Years of Fierce Panda in your local used multimedia shop, or on eBay, or whatever - grab the track listing, and take it to YouTube. I don’t say that as in “pirate this album”, I say that as in “don’t waste your money on gimped versions of these songs”. Hell, buy the albums from each artist featured on this compilation if you want to hear each song and show your support for their craft. Whatever. Just don’t buy this release.

Recommended songs are All You Good, Good People by Embrace, Porchlight by Seafood, Arienette by Bright Eyes and This Is The Last Time by Keane, There are some other songs that are worth a listen, but these are my favorites. You can find the first three on Youtube, I know that for a fact - and it wouldn’t surprise me if This Is The Last Time was uploaded on there as well.

[retrowarriors]

Remembering Working Designs

A tribute to non-literal translations and over-the-top packaging

By: Chris Saturn

I’ll always remember my 23rd birthday. It was the first year that I lived alone. No roommates, no girlfriends, no family. Just me and a small rabbit with apparent anxiety disorders named Ephraim. I couldn’t talk my way into getting the day off of work, but I did have the following three days off and a plan on how to spend them. Square-Enix had given me the gift of re-releasing one of my all-time favorite games right on my birthday. I’d stopped by the Electronics Boutique on my way home from work and picked up my copy of Final Fantasy IV Advance and went home to enjoy a long mid-week weekend. Before starting the game, though, I powered up the ol’ internet-machine to catch up on my message boards and the day’s news. That’s when I saw the headline: “Working Designs Officially Dead.”

The news hit hard. A week that was meant to be filled with happy nostalgia was instead clouded over with the knowledge that a big chapter just closed in the history of video gaming, and that several people in one of the most open and transparent video game companies were now unemployed. Even now, nearly twelve years later, I look bad with sadness when I remember that day. Fortunately, thanks in a large part to the transparency provided by Working Designs and its president, Victor Ireland, we don’t have to ask how it happened.

First, let’s rewind a bit; many people may not remember Working Designs. Gamers outside of North America may have never even heard of them. So let’s pause and reflect on what it was that made Working Designs such an important component of the history of video game localization.

Though I played some of Working Designs’ early releases on the TurboGrafx, they first caught my attention with the first release of what is arguably their signature franchise: the Sega CD game Lunar: The Silver Star. As a fan of JRPGs like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy, I was always looking for something new. The US market wasn’t oversaturated with the genre like Japan was, so western fans had to hunt for their next fix. The Sega CD market wasn’t exactly a crowded space, so Lunar definitely stood out. Anime cutscenes, voice acting, and 80’s style hair metal? Sign me up. Pushing past those first impressions, the part of the game that truly stood out was something I’d not really focused on in past JRPGs: the script.

Out were the thees, thys, and thous of Dragon Warrior. In were references to MTV and The Simpsons. This wasn’t some stuffy tale of knights and dragons, this was something relatable. Something like I’d seen on TV and in movies. As the years went on, I greedily snatched up anything I could find with that pink gradient logo. Though the games varied wildly by genre, they all had at least the one thing in common. No matter the tone, the setting, or the gameplay, they all had Working Designs’ trademark tongue-piercing-fully-through-the-cheek translations.

In the early days of gaming, few considered localization to be important at all. If the players could figure the game out, that was good enough. Although looking at Castlevania II, I don’t think they were even up to that standard. Many younger gamers didn’t even realize games were originally from other countries, and just accepted the broken, machine-language as a staple of video games. Then came this company out of Redding, California who not only put a ton of effort into translating their games, but into making the script fun to read.

As the sun was setting on the Sega era and Sony was rising to prominence, Working Designs followed the money over to the PlayStation. Big name games like Final Fantasy VII turned the JRPG from a niche genre to a behemoth international industry. Despite their high quality translations, Victor Ireland and his team needed a way to stand out. In a move that seemed bizarre at the time, Working Designs became one of the first companies to offer special Collector’s Edition packages. Several of their Sega games came with foil-embossed covers, but they truly went above and beyond on their PlayStation games. The 32-bit reimagining of the first Lunar game came in an oversized box that included the game (with limited, randomly selected art on the discs), a soundtrack, a behind-the-scenes documentary, a leatherette hardbound artbook/instruction manual, and a full cloth map! The second PlayStation Lunar game even included a full replica gold pendant, as seen in the game! It was probably imitation gold, but with Working Designs… it’s hard to say for sure.

As the PS1 era drew to a close, Working Designs seemed to predict the downturn in popularity of the JRPG and started to diversify their portfolio, mostly with shmups and games about mechs. While these never sold at quite the level of their JRPG offerings, the commitment to quality was as present as ever. Games like RayStorm, Gungriffon Blaze, and Silpheed: The Lost Planet all featured signature Working Designs quality localizations and even had foil-embossed covers.

Despite my heavy praise, the company certainly wasn’t without its critics. Many in the budding online JRPG community were concerned about the loose quality of Working Designs localizations. What original flavor text was omitted so that they could squeeze in a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire reference? Would it have added more to the flavor of the world if Ruby hadn’t referenced Beavis and Butthead? As many fans as there were of Working Designs topical references and not-so-sly humor, there were plenty who pointed out how quickly the games would appear dated, an argument that certainly appears to hold true today.

Another attack frequently lobbed at the company was their, shall we say, lack of commitment to punctuality. It wasn’t uncommon for Working Designs games to be delayed by months or even years from their originally planned ship date. These delays were often unrelated to the games themselves, and often were caused by an inability to find a partner to produce their increasingly extravagant bonus items at the quality that would satisfy Victor Ireland. Delays in making the cloth maps for Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete grew so excessive that Working Designs shipped playable demo discs of the first several hours of the game to retailers to hold-over fans who’d pre-ordered. Alongside those demos came a now infamous punching puppet doll of an in-game character, an item that surely couldn’t have led to further delays or costs.

This over-commitment to quality and value, alongside their malleable relationship with release dates, ultimately led to Working Designs’ demise. The western JRPG market became flooded in the late 90s and early 2000s, and Working Designs’ attempts to stand out ended up costing far more than they could earn. Their releases were too few and too far between to compete in an increasingly aggressive market. Their final product was to be a translation of Konami’s PS2 Goemon title under the localized name Mystical Ninja Goemon. Despite getting approval from Konami, Sony’s US division placed increasingly impossible standards on the game, critiquing the graphics and interface. Having already poured so many of their few remaining resources into the game, they desperately tried to meet Sony’s standards to no avail. Over a year after their final release, the days of Working Designs ended with a fizzle.

It’s easy to see the influence Working Designs has had on the video game industry. Special collector’s edition items have become commonplace, and colorful localizations are found everywhere from The Legend of Zelda referencing doge memes to Final Fantasy XIV referencing the music of Wham. The people of Working Designs spread across the industry, as well as to other industries. Victor Ireland has formed a new company, Gaijinworks, that is equally devoted to bringing over Japanese games with high quality translations, and equally devoted to ignoring whole pages of calendars. Ashley Angel, the voice of Lunar’s Alex, went on to a briefly successful career as a winner of ABC’s Making the Band and became the frontman of the MTV-backed boy band, O-Town.

Looking back at that day in 2005, I still feel somber. The loss of a smaller, but still influential name in video gaming has left wounds that haven’t yet healed. Companies like XSEED and NIS America (as well as Ireland’s own Gaijinworks) have taken up the mantle of localizing and publishing lesser known Japanese titles, but none have quite had the charm and spirit that Working Designs showcased in its prime. The industry may have grown and matured, but I’ll always hold a warm spot in my heart for that time when a small group of people in California could introduce me to the lesser known games that might otherwise have gotten lost in translation.