JJtheTexan

Limited Run doesn't need or deserve a defense from me, but I'll offer my two cents anyway. Over the last ten years or so, I've ordered well over 100 games from Limited Run. I've had problems with two orders getting lost. Both were replaced without delay. Customer service has been great.

BUT! No, I don't like the lengthy wait from purchase to shipment. No, I really hate the "FOMO" and "you have 30 days to buy this or it's gone forever, and then you might have to wait a year to actually get it." Frankly, I hate the entire business model.

So why do I keep supporting LRG? Well, because there often wasn't an alternative. I say "wasn't" because more and more LRG releases have eventually found their way to retail.

I have become much, much more selective about what games I buy from LRG now, and I always check with Playasia to see if they're offering a Japanese or SEA alternative (which they often do). Also, as a primarily Nintendo Switch collector, I have watched as Game-Key Cards and other factors have simply made staying active in this side of the hobby no longer worthwhile.

I quit physical retro game collecting years ago because prices got too high. Dumb and bad business practices by publishers and platform holders are pushing me entirely away from collecting modern platform releases as well.

Also if you want to talk about crummy boutique publishers, I have an order with Strictly Limited Games that is approaching FOUR YEARS and they still haven't shipped anything. I email them every few months and they reply promptly and say it's not ready yet. No, I haven't asked for a refund. Sunk cost fallacy, and all that.

Double Dragon was my first brawler, and I have come to adore the genre because of it. Thank you, Kishimoto-san.

I absolutely LOVED both Project X Zone games! I keep hoping against all odds we'll get a sequel or ports to modern platforms. I'd like to try Namco X Capcom while on the subject...

Owning one of these would motivate me to learn how to play piano / keyboard.

This looks great! It deserves an official release on modern platforms with online play...

This is great. I'd back it if I hadn't sold my Genesis a few months ago

Mobile AI processing? Don't worry, it'll be on sale at a steep discount in a year or so

This is a GREAT idea. Undoubtedly the counterfeiters will step up their game and work on ways to fool this device, but it could really help a lot of collectors avoid getting ripped off.

Worth mentioning the arcade version of Terra Cresta is already available via Arcade Archives, as is Moon Cresta. And, of course, there's Sol Cresta, the much more recent release from PlatinumGames.

Exactly! And to be clear, I don't approve of gatekeeping about this sort of thing. If The Handlebar Gamer says it's an NES, that's fine with me! I have no problem with also calling it a "modded NES" or a "reproduced NES" or an "original NES board with mods and a new case." Whatever makes the owner happy! (Just don't try to sell it as a "completely original NES")

I love how it looks, but I think there's a bit of a Ship of Theseus situation here. At what point is an NES no longer an NES? If you replace the motherboard?

@metaphysician the problem with this argument is that no generative AI engine is capable of creating art without first reviewing thousands or millions of examples of human-created art / photography / video, then replicating or simulating it. Generative AI cannot write a novel based on its own experiences. It cannot create an abstract painting from pure imagination. It cannot imagine an entirely-new genre of video game that would be cohesive and enjoyable. It is a machine following complex instructions, and nothing more.

John Searle got it right 46 years ago when he wrote "Minds, Brains, and Programs," the definitive text on the theoretical limits of artificial intelligence. AI can generate a summary of that landmark work, but it cannot and will not ever create something like that on its own.

I'm lucky enough to live a short drive from the National Videogame Museum, so I try and visit once a year. This makes it worth another trip!

I've owned a copy of this game since it came out. It looks pretty good for an SNES baseball game, but it's not nearly as much fun to play as Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball.

I keep seeing @Damo 's name under photos of classic consoles and games. I would love to see a tour of his collection sometime (if it doesn't exist already)!

That pricing is a bit iffy, but I'm a huge Ridge Racer fan so I'll probably indulge. Le sigh...

My biggest complaint is that the dragon looks like a plucked chicken

Love it. I never thought I'd like a modern take on CGA, but I find this curiously appealing.

Genesis / Mega Drive game audio is famously tricky to emulate properly. That will be the biggest question I have if this thing ever becomes available for sale.

I would be very interested in this for my Super Famicom cartridge of Chrono Trigger. I got it for $10, or a tiny fraction of what a standard SNES cart goes for these days.

@Damo thank you!

@Damo what is the device in the photo?

It feels like we're losing a lot of game industry legends these days.

How stupid did they think we (Americans) are? Monty Python's Flying Circus was on PBS (formerly-public TV network in the USA) regularly throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Half of the cast of Star Wars films were British. FFS, The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was already complete by the time DQ8 came out!

@The_Nintendo_Expat I went back and looked at video of Rage Racer and I thought the same thing. One could make the argument that the original Ridge Racer (PS1) is an expanded / enhanced port of Ridge Racer (arcade), and that therefore Ridge Racer AC never got a home port before Arcade Archives last year.

In any case I am a huge Ridge Racer series fan and extremely pleased to see the original games slowly coming back to modern platforms

@The_Nintendo_Expat same. I was surprised it was never ported. I must be conflating it with Ridge Racer 2 and / or Rage Racer.

Where is the "AI is a tool, stop fearmongering" apologist? I miss that guy's copy-paste comments. Or maybe that account is an AI itself...

Another Koshiro soundtrack from the SNES that I wish would get more attention: Super Adventure Island. That game's music is far, far better than it deserves to be!

@PKDuckman that would be Gearbox Software.

Marc Normandin's column this week takes a deep dive into Carbuncle and its unique place in gaming history. I highly recommend a read (and subscribing to his free Retro XP newsletter) if this interests you.

https://retroxp.beehiiv.com/p/past-meets-present-carbuncle-pi

Wow! I absolutely love Breakout, Arkanoid, and other ball-and-paddle games, yet I had no idea Quester even existed. I'll be downloading this for sure!

Let us also remember Edge and its publisher legally body-slammed notorious patent / trademark troll Tim Langdell, the guy who tried to sue every game developer that used the word "Edge" in its title.

@Guru_Larry new video idea? "Five Times a Failed Console Was Actually Successful"

@no_donatello I did notice that! I was surprised the PS3 sold nearly a billion software units. Fantastic attach rate, vs. the PSP which was only around 4.4 per console sold.

@Damo where do you get the 82 million sold figure? Sony itself says the PSP only sold about 76 million units:

https://sonyinteractive.com/en/our-company/business-data-sales/

They don't even list the Vita. Like it never existed.

Can someone please explain this to me, a gaming tech dummy, in plain language? Is this a hardware mod that somehow increases FPS performance on games like Bayonetta or Crysis?

This is an excellent assessment. How much more successful would the 3DS have been if it launched as the 2DS (or DS2 or whatever) - no cameras, no 3D, simpler form factor - at a lower introductory price?

A larger model for bigger hands (or a built-in right thumbstick) could have come down a little later, as the console became more established.

The 3DS was not a failure, but it could have been a bigger success at a time Nintendo really needed one.

@GhaleonUnlimited it's thoroughly thrashing me! I just can't wrap my 45-year-old brain around how to make the shadow Ryu guys work for me, and I keep getting tripped up by respawning enemies.

Boss fights are shockingly easy, though

@Zenszulu I remember that! It was the first thing I thought of when I saw this post. What happened to the TV-dependent N64 clone they announced years ago? I assumed they ran into difficulties with the software emulator they wanted to use and gave up.

I recently started a playthrough of Ninja Gaiden II (NES) and that game could easily be a Community Challenge entirely on its own. It makes the first Ninja Gaiden NES game feel like Super Mario Bros.

If someone is dumb enough to pay WATA to "grade" and seal their games / consoles, so be it. If someone else is dumb enough to pay money for a "graded" game or console, fine. It's their perogative, and you know what they say about a fool and his money.

I have a sealed New Nintendo 2DS, which I bought on clearance at Walmart for $99 U.S., knowing full well it would be worth considerably more in just a few years but mostly because I wanted a backup in case my old daily driver 3DS failed. I was torn about ever opening it in case I wanted to sell it someday, but it's getting to the point where I need to just crack open the box because that battery isn't going to last forever.

I hate to admit it, but after nearly 40 years of collecting, I am pretty much bowing out. It's gotten too expensive, and I just don't have room to keep hundreds of games I may play only once every few years (if at all). I sold a chunk of my collection last year, and plan to gradually unload more this year.

Of course, I will hang on to stuff that has strong sentimental value, like my original NES I've had since 1988, my CIB copy of The Legend of Zelda, etc.

I bought a New Nintendo 2DS XL on clearance at Walmart for $100 US in 2019, I think? I have kept it sealed in its box in case I ever need to cash out. I imagine it's more likely I'll end up using it, since my longtime New Nintendo 3DS XL needs repair to its B button and C stick.

It's remarkable that none of the Pushmo / Crashmo games has come to Nintendo Switch or NS2 yet. Surely porting the Wii U game wouldn't be too difficult.

@PinballAficionado I'd never heard of Vertexer before you mentioned it! Kind of looks like F-Zero meets OutRun. I'd love to play it!

"Objection!" is a solid track, but my favorite will always be "Pressing Pursuit - Cornered!" Its intensity reminds me of Yuzo Koshiro's "Go Straight."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxnvGDK0WGM

Today I learned!

I had a Quickshot when I was a kid! It totally sucked!!!

That's a pity. Terrible news for everyone losing their jobs.

I love the Arcade 1Up concept, but I could never come up with the physical space nor the financial justification to buy one. I have other ways of playing every game they've ever released.

Hamster has mostly released titles from Taito, Namco, Konami, Tecmo, and a number of small / extinct publishers. My guess is Tekken or that 3D Gradius spinoff