Hexapus

Looks cool. I remember first seeing Odin Sphere on the PS2 and being blown away by the way it resembled cel animation with painted backgrounds.

When Muramasa came out on the Wii, it made me want to get one but I never did. I never really made it that far in Odin Sphere or Dragon's Crown. They sit on my shelf waiting for the day I'll have time needed to devote to them. Beautiful games.

@Grail_Quest Damn. Just checked out their website, it looks incredible!

While the new Castlevania does look cool, Silent Planet looks amazing.

Wishlisted on Steam.

Looks like a cool arcade. I've probably mentioned it before but Ground Kontrol in Portland, OR is really nice. Two levels. I haven't been there in a few years but well worth checking out. https://groundkontrol.com/history-2/

There are two arcades near where I live now but sadly they are modern arcades, filled with what I can only describe as mobile games in arcade form.

@Quick_Man That's cool, I didn't know that. I first saw a friend use a PS1 controller like that and thought it was odd until I realized it was the best way to play Tekken 2, especially if I wanted to learn Yoshimitsu's 10 hit combo.

@The_Nintendo_Expat Yeah it would be interesting to hear the story behind the creation of the controllers. I wouldn't be surprised if they did indeed have that intent. There's so much surface area below the buttons.

I initially hated the design of the DC controllers but after playing mostly fighting games on the console, I learned to love it.

Instead of using your thumb on the facing buttons, try using your index and middle fingers. Kind of like a mini arcade stick. I know that sounds odd/wrong but it makes it a much better controller.

Not that it's as good as an actual arcade stick but it changed my whole perception of that strange design. At least in terms of fighting games.

RIP - Thanks for paving the way. It's hard to think about the '80s/'90s without also thinking about Sega.

I got this for Xmas and it is great. My only complaint is the warning voice alert that just keeps going. Hopefully they patch it so the voice can be turned off. Otherwise it's a really great shoot 'em up.

Also those early concepts for the NES are really cool. Ahead of their time in some respects.

I was one of the last kids to get a NES but I was also fortunate enough to grow up with Tandy/IBM PCs in the house. A couple of friends had C64s.

While home computers had more advanced graphics there was really nothing like the games that were made for the Famicom/NES. Not that PC and SMS games weren't great in their own right, there was just something deeper going on with NES games at least in terms of performance.

The Master System definitely had a better color palette but I have yet to find anything on the SMS that plays as well as the games on NES. Ninja Gaiden for example, the SMS version is good but not really in the same league as the NES version for some reason.

I'm not even that big of a Nintendo fan but there are NES games that I return to regularly because they stand the test of time.

I don't have any nostalgia for the N64 but I can see why people were excited about this.
I was working at a Toys 'R Us when the N64 was on display with Mario 64. I definitely played it when I was on the clock(and got reprimanded). It seemed pretty advanced at the time. Never spent much time playing one though. I guess I should revisit the console and see what games I missed.

@hisownsidekick There's a documentary on him called "Dreams with Sharp Teeth". Well worth checking out. He had a reputation for being "difficult" but he was just really passionate about writing and his own work.

He really didn't like that his scripts were altered and he let people know. Even though he could be abrasive, I have a huge amount of respect for him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_on_the_Edge_of_Forever#Ellison%E2%80%93Roddenberry_feud

This is looking really great so far.

@X68000 I was in agreement with you but apparently I didn't do a good job phrasing my comment.

I think Retro Encoder should continue their Robocop port. I think it looks pretty faithful to the arcade version and since the other guy is juggling multiple projects, it makes no sense to just abandon it.

Obviously, no one has to work on any of these fan ports but it's nice to see people finish what they start.

@Zeugziumy While I agree 100% that the police went way past a reasonable response, that's a larger problem with law enforcement in general. It's painfully obvious in the US where extreme, sometimes deadly measures are used for petty crimes at an alarming rate per year.

However, Sega or Nintendo in no way orchestrated a raid on this person. Law enforcement made that call. They did what they've been trained to do unfortunately.

They could have had a short chat with him at his home and gotten the same results but that's not on Sega. That's a training/command problem within the system. I don't know about the UK but in the US possession of stolen property is still a crime. I'm not saying he deserved a SWAT raid but he was publicly trying to distribute, what the law might see as, stolen goods.

I also agree that the guy in the van that sold the stuff is the link here that for some reason is not being discussed. Who was he and how exactly did he end up with a van full of Sega's property? Until that info is reported by video game journalists and Sega makes a statement(which they are under no obligation to do) this is all just wild speculation.

@Blast16 Yeah Darkstalkers was kind of overshadowed by other fighting games at the time. I first saw it at a 7-11 near my high school and was blown away by the art style. If my memory serves me correctly, it was pre-SF Alpha/Zero so it was the first time I saw that kind of animated look in a video game. On top of it being horror themed, I was hooked.

The first game with its limited roster is really a work of art. They all are but I have a soft spot for the original.

"a removals worker arrived with 'a van-load of items that had reportedly come from SEGA’s office clearance.'"

When you say 'the Seller" you're referring to the person that purchased the items from a van, correct? Not the person in the van that sold the items?

It's not clear where all this stuff came from and, as I said in the last post, what Sega's expectation was when they recycled the software/hardware. Did they drop them off to be wiped and recycled? Like a digital shredding service? If so, this seller and the original seller might not have a leg to stand on legally.

Sega could have a legal expectation that their property would be disposed of when using the recycler.

There's a lot of info not being discussed here and threats to Sega of a "scandal" don't make this guy look very credible.

I never gave this game much of a chance back in the day. I think I played the PC version at least once. I assumed all the ports were basically the same. Definitely going to check it out.

The original cover art and the Terada SFC cover are both really great. I had to look up the artist for the original version. http://www.robertflorczak.com/art/commercial-art.html

@mariteaux They have footage of their Gameboy game. It looks okay. Might be using Ai, it's hard to tell.

You use the term "vanity project" multiple times but as a fellow artist, let me tell you it's not a good look.

You have several projects listed on your website, any one of which could be labeled a "vanity project". It's a pejorative term created by publishers used to discredit anyone that didn't work within their narrow system, in other words gatekeeping.

I wasn't able to find the actual origin of the term but, in modern times, it seems to just be a blanket insult for anything that is deemed bad or incompetent. One website listed Adam Sandler movies and the Tarantino/Rodriguez film "Grindhouse" as vanity projects.

Let this guy make his games and judge them on their content. If he uses Ai or plagiarizes other works, then by all means, let the critiques begin. Tearing him down before anything is released just comes across as bitter and jealous.

@Santar I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees it.

This guy takes classic pixel art and recreates it with such over saturated colors that they look like they were made with Crayola markers. It's all kind of flat too.

I think he is trying to make it look like it's all in his "style" but at that point, in my opinion, he could come up with his own characters/ideas for a game.

@Krokodyl Thank you for exposing these frauds. You're doing a great service for those that put in the work and create things without resorting to plagiarism and lazy Ai trash.

This is a vast improvement in my opinion. The first version looked kind of interesting but this update looks like it's using the full potential of the SNES. The gameplay looks really tight too.

There was no shortage of cute games and anthropomorphic animal characters that flooded consoles in the 90s.

I'd suggest going even further into mature territory but it's not up to me.
Wise advice from David Bowie - "Never play to the gallery."

@MontyMole Indeed. I'm not in favor of police raids to stop video game piracy but these people have been very public with the fact that there's money(£61,000) being exchanged for the purpose of dumping and most likely distributing game files that don't legally belong to anyone involved in the transaction.

These random conspiracy theories about Sega or fans are ignoring the fact that **you don't have the right to distribute copies of something that's not legally yours**.

There's also a chance that the recycling company that sold the games had no legal right to do so. It may have been expected or even guaranteed that they would wipe the carts of all data before recycling what ever parts could be re-used. Like taking documents to a shredder but with data. I'm not saying that is what happened but it's possible.

I'm not against video game preservation or even piracy really but it's pretty obvious that the people involved should have been more discreet.

Raise a lot of money to "preserve" a rough cut of a Disney film that you obtained through questionable methods and see how fast you end up making a plea deal in court.

@Coalescence While I'm a fan of David Lynch/Twin Peaks and I thought this was kind of a cool idea, I have to agree. People really need to come up with their own ideas and pursue their own vision as fervently as they make these fan-games.

@The_Nintend_Pedant I like how our comments were deleted but The Big Lebowski quote stays. To be fair, I did feel a bit like Walter after I posted it.

"I'm staying.

I'm finishing my coffee.

Enjoying my coffee."
🤘

I tried an earlier version of this mod and found it really difficult. Hopefully the update evens it out a bit.

On the subject of Castlevania mods, check out Symphony of Horrors. It's Simon's Quest remade in Unity(?) but it looks really cool and it retains the pixel art, music, and gameplay of the original with modern lighting effects and 3D environments.

I can't really do it justice by describing it but it looks really unique. It's still in development from "First Serve Gaming" who posts regular updates on youtube.

I'm guessing a "boomer shooter" rapidly uses up all your computer's resources and then blames you when everything crashes.

The ROM was uploaded today. Fully playable on Retroarch with a custom genesis-plus-gx core.

@Sketcz @mossrc Perhaps it's just the way the quote is worded but...
"The thing I like most about Twin Peaks: coffee and donuts. That's it."
makes it sound like he doesn't think much of Twin Peaks to me.

If I said "The thing I like most about your show is the close up of the controllers. That's it." it doesn't sound very flattering.

Maybe it's the "That's it." at the end. I know donuts and coffee are kind of a running gag in Twin Peaks but "That's it." for a show that's famous or infamous for being a strange, sometimes flawed, work of art? Unless there's some key detail I'm forgetting, donuts could be cut from the show entirely and it would have no impact on the story.

My initial reading of it was a dig at Lynch/Twin Peaks, apologies if I misunderstood the intent.

I'm sure it makes sense in the context of the interview. Thanks for the clarification.

They're not going to win people over when one of their main quotes is trashing Twin Peaks. It speaks volumes about the quality (or lack thereof) of this series.

When you can't sell your product on its own merits just trash a critically acclaimed and beloved series.

"Deadly Premonition" sounds like vhs tape from Best of the Worst.

New Earthion footage starts around 5:33:15

All these games look pretty cool to me, especially Browning and Legion.

The black and white pixel art looks really good. A welcome change of pace. Color is overrated.

The R-Type cover particularly stands out in my memory.

So cool to see the work of some of these old school artists. Most of them remain kind of obscure but have a large body of work. Even if their style didn't fit the games sometimes, I've grown to appreciate the regional covers that were produced in the 80s/90s.

@Protion9 No problem. I can see why you might think that because Cartoon Network's Toonami was part of the rise of popularity in the 2000s but that was a buildup over decades. Astroboy was first broadcast in the US in 1963.

I was into Japanese animation but Anime really exploded here in the late '80s and early '90s. Akira was a pretty big hit among the "nerd" population. That's when I became hooked on anime and rented every VHS I could find. I still have a modest collection of VHS, manga, and anime magazines from that time period. The Golden age of anime in my opinion.

@Protion9 Americans ignored anime until the early 2000s? This is completely false.

Speed Racer, Gigantor, Astroboy were among others that were broadcast in the USA in the 70s. Astroboy 1980 was the first anime I ever saw followed by Macross(Robotech), Mazinger Z, and not to mention a dozen or so US/Japanese joint productions in the 80s. All broadcast over the airwaves, I'm not even talking about cable television.

A Hellraiser NES game seems incredibly odd considering Nintendo's family friendly stance. "This isn't for your eyes!"

Do you get to play as Frank trying to get your skin back or do you have to try and open the box?

As @avcrypt pointed out, it's conflict that drives any good story. How many times have you watched a show or film and thought, "if only they did X and then Y wouldn't have happened." yeah and then the story ends and the credits roll.

No one wants to hear about a young European lad going about his day playing video games in the 80s. Whether you are aware or not, you need the conflict in the story, you need things to go wrong to keep you interested. Just look at the response to this article and social media posts.

Also the US is not some kind of hive mind, intentionally ignoring the rest of the world. Depending on who you ask we're either the "greatest country in the world" or "on the brink of collapse/fascism". We don't agree on much of anything.

Maybe stop making broad generalizations about different cultures, countries, continents, and their consumers. There's regular comments on this site that fit the definition of bigotry, often directed at the US.

Combo system looks good. Sometimes these "retro" fighting games can be pretty shallow. Looking forward to it.

@MontyMole Check out this website https://www.retrodock.com/finder/
You can choose the price you would want and systems you want to emulate. Emulating up to PS1 has become the standard for handhelds $40 and above. N64, PSP, and Saturn emulation is where things get more complicated.

My Anbernic RG351P from 2020(?) still works and runs PS1 perfectly with custom firmware. I got an Anbernic 35XX+ back in November for $46. I was kind of expecting the build quality to take a hit but it's really nice.

Anbernic makes quality products in my experience, especially when you get into the $75 - $200 range.

People see this stuff online and assume it's cheap "Chinese junk" without even holding one in their hands. That may have been true 10 years ago when all you could get was Nintendo on a Chip type devices but things have drastically changed in just a few years.

Imagine playing this game for hours and hours only to beat the game by drinking Victory gin in the Chestnut Tree Cafe and capitulating to Big Brother.

Oh man this looks incredible. The Terminator and T2 are among of my favorite films. A welcome surprise.

As great as his old work is, his newer work is even more incredible. Great interview!

"the VOGONS forum" name checks out.

"Here is what to do if you want to get a lift from a Vogon:
forget it.
They are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous."

@Astropez "One that can, idk, create poses on demand for character references, extend an idea to improve art"

No need to use Ai, this has been a feature in digital art programs for years. You can bring in 3D models of people and objects, rotate around them, move their limbs, zoom in/out, etc.. Not to mention the thousands of pose photos that people have made available for free for artists to use. Seems like you should have known this if you knew what you were talking about.

"...and proper regulations, people will finally realise that generative AI is just another tool for artists."

Why would such a benign tool for artists need regulation? Do the 10 million Ai images that have flooded the internet over the last few years count as a "few bad corpo"?

"I'm not sure if you're trolling or if you don't actually know what you're talking about... Let's admit you're an artist (something I actually doubt..."

The best thing about this argument is that someone might see you calling me a liar and then see that I am indeed a professional artist. Just in case they don't want to click my profile, they can google hexapus-ink.

Almost makes this all worth while... almost.
Cheers