Daggot

I would love to see Bluth's designs come to life in a game world. His world building is great. While not all of his films were commercial successes, the worlds he developed for those films were fun to explore. I suspect there might have been budget concerns to bring his vision to life especially during that restructuring time.

Forever the first thing that will always pop into mind when I read anything about U VII is Voodoo Memory Manager. I remember feeling like a total genius being able to get my system to run this game with as many system components still enabled as possible. Master level autoexec.bat and config.sys stuff to make it run right.

I never got far in the game. It was truly next level stuff and I just didn't have the time to invest to learn the systems, but man it looked it at the time. I may need to start a full retro run of some classic games. Yars Recharged has already gotten the itch going, then the article about Epyx Rouge is fanning the flames, and now this... uuuggghhhh

Co-op Rastan? Yes please! This looks hopeful. I do wish the movement looked a bit tighter. Hopefully the controls aren't floaty, but it kinda looks like they might be. But, I really like the idea behind this. I need to go ring up the ol' gaming group that I used to hang with and do local Halo era stuff together.

That was a fun read. It's great to get some bit of history that most of us hadn't heard before. More like this please!

@smoreon I think I still have it installed. LOL. I'll give it another shot. I def don't remember the soundtrack, but my friend and I were talking so much smack at each other I wouldn't have heard any part of it.

The Dreamcast did not get the life span it should have. Just too bad for the business decisions that Sega made; specifically Sega US. Several great games on the platform and it's amazing to think they were thinking bigger picture with some concept that we're just now finding out about.

I bought Neon just to play something co-op with a friend. I bashed around on it for like an hour or so until he had to go. I never played it since. I need to go back and see what the game never grabbed me. SoR4 grabbed me from the beginning and I still fire it up once in a while to test myself in survival or trying to get S tier in every level on every difficulty. SoR4 just feels so good compared to most other beat 'em up and brawlers. Maybe Neon was just off in many ways that SoR was spot on?

Backed this without hesitation. While I do hope there is new info, it'll be fun to have a single documentary with all of the history together. A lot of it that i've seen is broken up in various interviews, or covered by retro community outtakes, etc.

Secretly hoping it'll end with the announcement of a new project they've already started on. Now that Ken's gotten his leg back after Colossal Cave, I'm hoping the next project will have a little more technical chops to it. He was well known for pushing the tech with the early games. I doubt he'll be on the bleeding edge like before. That just takes too much of a large investment and usually a large team. I get the feeling that's not what he wants to do again.

Think the retro community is going to be ok with this. Just deliver a quality product that doesn't need to be patched to hell. We'll manage.

I need to try this. It looks like a mix between your standard Tycoon game with a good dash of Kairosoft style games mixed in.

@amongtheworms You're not wrong. Fortunately, the retro community cares not and wants people to do what they love.

I LOVE that these games exist. I didn't know about some of them. I can't say why, but KQ 4: The Perils of Rosella has a special place in my heart, and part of it is owed to the EGA graphics. Or, did I play with Tandy graphics on that one? Anyways, there's something special about the graphics of that era that really captured the imagination, and these devs understand that fully. Great article.

Been following The Crimson Diamond for a while. So glad to read it has a release date. Can't wait to play it. It looks exactly like a classic Sierra adventure. Actually, all of these do. That's awesome. I need to read more on these games. Sounds like a few titles to queue up for when I get a week off later in the year and just relive a bit of the glory days.

There are trends that served their time, but needed to not progress further. FMV games is one clear example. I think at least it showed that games can do more and more with story. So, it wasn't all bad. Just didn't need to progress any further.

This looks like a pass. Action is so stiff and the art isn't all that interesting. Looks a lot like a basic cash grab game.

@cdog555 And sakes. Roller skating was big back then.

I think we may see the end of consoles as we know them. The whole reason Sony/MS and even Nintendo to a smaller scale have been pushing cloud gaming is because it avoids all these things. Games will only run in data centers making it much harder to pirate games. Yes, even handheld devices as stuff like 5G becomes more available. I'm not advocating this, just saying there are reasons these companies are pushing cloud and what it means for preservation. We're going to suffer more problems like game servers getting shut down. However, in an ideal world, you'd also think games should expand to take more advantage of cloud power vs single console CPU/GPU constraints. MS tried to pitch this that games could partially run in the cloud, but we've not really seen that beyond basic multiplayer games - not running whole parts of the game for bigger world destruction like in their pitch video. The point being EVERYTHING is based on profit and shareholder value. It's unavoidable.

Everything doesn't have to be a "metroid" style, so I appreciate this 'classicvania' idea. I've been really itching to replay Super Castlevania VI. I haven't played is several decades, but I believe the gameplay holds up. The music certainly does!

This fan work looks good. I'll have to grab this before any takedown notices start flying around.

I was out of my teens when PS2 came around, so the marketing didn't grab me like that. Nothing was as in-your face as the "Blast Processing" stuff from Sega. LOL

I loved the PS2. I think it was my #2 system behind the SNES. The library for the PS2 was just nuts. My kids still play SSX and Tricky. It was such a jump from the earlier systems on several fronts. I still have my PS2. I'd forgotten about the whole Emotion Engine marketing stuff. Putting the marketing aside, the technical capabilities was just amazing at the time.

This is a really interesting product offering. It's a first to sit between console and handheld. I haven't tried an Evercade yet, but I like this. And, the price point seems reasonable to me for being a variant of a Switch concept in pure tabletop mode. I appreciate they thought to include the 2 cart feature. Having 3 full sets of games in the system at all times is nice QoL feature. Now, if only a demo unit would show up in a Costco or Best Buy or something to try. Might put this on my wish list for my birthday.

OH man, this stokes embers of the old Steel Battalion controller. I never owned that, but I loved the idea on how it would build the immersion factor. This is similar in concept, but on a smaller scale. ~$200USD isn't a terrible price for something like this as a specialized controller. But, like @bkd777 mentioned, need a game to go with this.

I wonder if there will be new info. A lot of the story has been covered before. But, there are always nuggets that haven't been given publicly. Looking forward to see what this comes out to be.

That's not the way to handle the camera on a racer. Interesting concept, but ehhhh.

The really interesting thing here for me is getting a better understanding at how games work. It wasn't always this way, but now that most games run on an engine, it's possible to add things like this after a game is published. It's just fascinating to see people able to de/construct what the console's rendering is able to do and how to add their own hooks for some general purpose like this. I never would have thought to even look into this kind of approach. The base idea should be possible for other retro consoles. That's really starts the mind to wonder what else could be possible. What game would I really like to see with the added resolution, RT support and higher frame rate? Hmmm

@Darknyht Would be kinda hard to go back and ease the sting. Instead you'd just go watch a walkthru video. Seen some speed walks and while it was neat to get the beat of the game, uuggghh, watching that really ruins the exploration of the game and neat interactions throughout the game world. It really took a lot of the soul out of the game.

I would just love to see Roberta Williams make a new game on a new IP. She really did push storytelling concepts and capabilities within early video games. I don't think enough credit is given to her in how she handled UI, character interaction and even dialog that laid the foundation of what is now common standards in how games work.

I think I would most welcome her to do another mystery series. I really enjoyed The Colonel's Bequest and always hoped that would turn into a series. Laura Bow was good too, but I remember liking the earlier CB game better. It's been decades since I've played any of them. My point is, I think a mystery series would give her a lot of canvas to design and tell a wonderful story with interesting characters and unique set pieces. I hope she decides to return to form. I'm fine if she leaves KQ behind. It stands tall, and she has plenty of energy to start anew.

Cancelled? Ya, not sus at all.

Or, maybe it was called out for not being a working prototype and that being made clear in the listing.

@smoreon It would be pretty sweet, but I get from a marketing POV it has to make sense. While working through the Karateka one, I did wonder if might have made sense to combined it with Prince of Persia; which was also highly influential in its own right. But, they might have felt that was too much content for what they wanted to charge. And, that's where the concept might struggle on some of the things you mentioned. They have to balance dev time/content with a price point, which is almost certainly have to content with license costs. That's a huge SIGH right there because you know that'll kill most of them from ever even getting past the idea stage.

I loved the Sega version so much. I would bounce between this and Super Puzzle Fighter all the time. Wonder if there are any licensing issue that might keep this from making the rounds on various platforms.

@GeneJacket That's probably true. But, as long as they hold the rights to the IP and assets it's not "dead dead".

@Zeebor15 I saw that, but they may not hold the rights to everything given the publishers listed.

@GeneJacket Ya, had read that. But, seems like it only means the publisher backed out. Could still release as an - man, what do we call stuff like Streets of Rage 4 and TMNT that are considered "indie" but are closer to AAA in production quality? I'll stick with "indie" for now, so release as a AA indie title and revitalize the genre like how SoR4 has. I would be all over that. Hopefully they can nail the feel.

@Zeebor15 Really? Where do you see that? Super curious what they have control of.

@smoreon I hope the Gold Series stuff like the Making of Karatera is doing well enough for that kind of treatment to continue. I'm all for a robust package even if it's not a mass collection. Let me dig in and understand what went into our classics. Preserve what it took to make them special, not just slap emulated shovelware into a bundle.

The video looks great. I am definitely in the camp that's been wanting a return/reboot of the SSX games. I even dragged out my PS2 so my kids could play the original games. Hopefully this game makes to launch. I'd love to see an SSX game with modern graphics and high frame rates.

But, let's also keep up some coverage of Project Gravity, please. Been wanting to know what's happening there.

@Zeebor15 Do you mean like original or owned IP? Same, only Aleste that I'm aware of. Mostly they do contract work I believe; which isn't a bad thing.

I was a sad time indeed. I had a friend that bought the CD32 just after it launched. He had some interesting ideas on how to use the tech for non-gaming uses (this was 90s mind you). Just sad to have seen it go back then.

But, looking back now, I do wonder if they really could have competed in the end against the standardization of the PC platform. The only context we have is the Mac, and even it went through an era of mirroring the PC platform. So, extrapolate the Amiga, and it would have had to follow a similar path like Mac. General off the shelf cpu, with dedicated chips (?) except with an actual focus on gaming. Ya, that's an interesting though experiment. Would the Amiga basically have been the Mac, where it supported creative development, except it actually supported gaming? Hmm. What would that have done to PC Master Race as the Amiga would have had an established audience that the PC would take a decade to build. Something to noodle over.

I can't make up my mind if I want to back this or not. I'm kinda at my limit for backing games right now. I didn't play a ton of original game back in the DOS days, but I have some memories of it. Is that enough for me to pitch in for others to relive a bit of the glory? Maybe. But, would I actually sit and play it? Undecided.

Still, I love that they're trying to bring the concept into a modern presentation. Hopefully they have the right balance.

@AeonicB For sure it wouldn't have looked as good as what we got on the PS2. I assume it would be between that and like FFVII on PS1. Maybe.

I wonder if this will eventually play out like how film preservation did. Originally studios just didn't care. It wasn't until many years later that collectors and preservationists starting doing the work for the studios. The studios hated that individual owners had control of their prints, but eventually came to see the light about why to preserve film. Film wanted to be taken serious as a form of art. Art is to be preserved. So, you should preserve that as a form of art, especially the early works, the ones that pushed innovation, inspire, etc. This is exactly what video games are going through. And, we've already seen modern examples of studios, or worse, publishers, not taking care of assets from early games. Things get lost. For games, much like movies, there are a LOT of assets to be preserved - scripts, layout, storyboards, art boards, character sheets, much that overlays with games. So, it's possible we might see studios come around. The difference might be how each studio decides to participate. I say studio, but in the end it'll be whoever holds the license rights; so probably the publisher (bleh). That'll be the challenge. Publishers will only do it for money rather than to preserve the art. You'd think that Electronics "ARTS" might care given how they were originally formed, but I wouldn't take any bet on that. Double so for any publisher that pushes for live service micro transactions, etc.

@NinChocolate I've thought about this too. Waaay back when it was talked about how the GBA might be a controller for the ... <headscratch> was it the GameCube ? In back of my memory I remember there was supposed to some kind of connection option like this.

If was a kid with access to open source code like TR or DOOm, etc. Man, I can't imagine what wild stuff I would try to hammer out. Not to make my own game, but just to see how I could manipulate or push the technology/hardware. If now teen me grew along a similar path as now adult me did, I half wonder if I might have ended up working on game engine team.

That's some great example video. To get the super scaler effect on the ST and to run @ 50fps is some fine coding work for sure. Hopefully he can keep that target as he adds features. Curious what kind of technique he's using to achieve this at 8mhz.

I guess I'm just super partial to the Arkham trilogy. For sure since they were able to cast Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamhill it just felt like an interactive version of TAS. Feature-wise this looks good. Maybe not enough time has passed since Arkham for me not to expect a Batman game to have the same feel? not sure.

Oh wait, ya they even managed to cast Arleen Sorkin as Harley. PERFECT casting. I mean, the bar just doesn't get any higher for any game to follow for an established IP and version of that IP.

Hopefully the concepts aren't dead and may resurface in another game, Batman or not.

I hope this will play like Super Sprint; which I believe Atari still owns the IP. I loved that game as well as the Super Off Road. No clue how this will play w/o the arcade wheel though. But, if this reasonably priced, I'll give it a shot. I'm finding that I want more bite sized gaming than long involved games with tons of systems to have to balance and invest endless amount of time to learn and master.

Separate legal entity. Okay, the chart from the link explains what I was going to ask. So, it's a subsidiary. I keep wondering if they're setting up for a sale to MS. Moving all the physical stuff into a separate legal entity makes it nice and tidy to split off so MS would only buy Sega Corp, and Sammy Holdings I assume would dissolve unless it has separate IP holdings.

Buuuut, could be this really is just a financial move and not prep to sell. I hope the game development side is able to refocus and revitalize.

@Hexapus Now that you mention it, I had a similar initial reaction like that too. "Is this the right game?" Jumps in art direction and all.

I know 3 gets a lot of love in these, but I have a really soft spot for Revenge of Shinobi. It was a system seller to me for the Genesis. I played so much of it; especially the earlier levels LOL. It just had an edge that was very different from what was on SNES at the time. I remember feeling the opening 2 levels did a really good job of letting you feel like you were capable of doing awesome things before cranking up the difficulty and showing you just how lazy your timing and memory was.

I had to re-read this a few time to make sure I read right that this is a MD game. That's already pretty impressive for the hardware. Hopefully adding some more features won't bog down the framerate any. I'm sure ram is going to be his eventual limiter for features.

The technical and art direction for this looks pretty good. The visuals alone would have gotten every mag's attention back in the day. To this day I have such mixed feelings about Sega exiting the hardware business. Stuff like this makes me think they just needed better leadership to compete. But, also the truth is from a corporate finance perspective, developing bleeding edge hardware to compete against MS and Sony would have likely bankrupted the company. So, not easy to go one way or the other when you see stuff like this.

Well. I dunno about this. I mean, a DQ game on a Sega system? For sure. But, Saturn? It would have to be a bitmap approach I think. Or, I'm struggling to think of what a 3D take on DQ would have been at that point. Dreamcast would have been better, but the timing didn't align for that kind of shot.

@RaeDawnChonglingBay Realistically, that would have been most of us.