Comments 260

Re: Hands On: Xeno Crisis Continues Its Quest To Be Released On Every Gaming System Ever Made

JJtheTexan

@RetroGames respectfully, how much experience do you have developing or porting games to SNES?

There is very little homebrew software for the SNES (not including ROMhacks) because there is essentially no modern development kit for it. As I understand it - and I am NOT a developer or coder - the console's architecture is not friendly to amateur devs.

Conversely, the Genesis / Mega Drive has a robust homebrew community with literally hundreds of games produced over the last few years. Similar stories for the Dreamcast, NES, Game Boy, and even Jaguar. Games can be much more easily created to support all these platforms.

For the SNES, you literally need to learn how to code in assembly - a tedious and challenging task even for more experienced devs. If you're porting from Mega Drive / Genesis, most of the art assets will need to be modified or rebuilt from scratch, as the Genesis / MD has a completely different resolution from the SNES.

Re: Strictly Limited Games Announces Irem Volume 1-5 Bundle Collection

JJtheTexan

I used to love the boutique publishers for making games available physically. Now I just cringe.

Practices like this have driven me out of the collector's market. I simply cannot justify spending this kind of money on what amounts to ~25MB of 30-year-old ROMs spread out onto way too many carts to maximize profitability.

Re: 'Steel Empire Chronicles' Unveiled For PS4 & Switch

JJtheTexan

This is great! I absolutely adore Steel Empire. I played dozens of hours on the 3DS. I guess I was one of the few who got their money's worth, since I recall from the time it came out that there was much grousing about the original price. I think it was $30 or $40? Anyway, glad I took a chance because it became one of my all-time favorite horizontal scrolling shooters.

I will definitely be pre-ordering the Nintendo Switch version. I'm awfully tempted by the multi-cart collector's edition, though...

Re: Cannon Dancer's Digital Release Date Slips To April 13th

JJtheTexan

I got my physical copy of this game last month from Strictly Limited. How strange it's not yet available on the eShop. I haven't played it yet, and now I want to wait - perhaps there's some big performance issue that needs a patch, which seems odd for a decades-old arcade title.

Re: Poll: What's The Best Sega System Of All Time?

JJtheTexan

There are really only two possible correct answers here, and the poll results accurately reflect this.

I gave the Genesis / Mega Drive my vote, strictly based on the strength and variety of its library, but the Dreamcast is a really fantastic piece of hardware.

A shame that the controllers for both are pretty sub-par compared to most of their contemporaries.

Re: Best Mini Classic Consoles

JJtheTexan

I own several of these and I'm very happy with the lot of them. They look great and they're mostly a lot of fun to break out and play every so often. It's too bad the mini console era is apparently over; I'd love to see more obscure systems lovingly recreated in this manner.

Re: Poll: Should Japanese-Made Role-Playing Games Still Be Called JRPGs?

JJtheTexan

I find the term "JRPG" to be convenient yet somewhat overused, not unlike "metroidvania". Even though it is somewhat loaded and comes with the baggage of history attached to it, when a reviewer or publisher refers to a game as a JRPG, I instantly know what kind of experience I can expect.

Personally I love JRPGs and action / "Western" RPGs alike!

Re: Review: Taito Egret II Mini Arcade Memories Vol. 1

JJtheTexan

I have an Egret Mini II and I am very happy with it. Like others here, I balked at the price of the expansion, as I don't feel like it has any "must-have" titles on it that would even begin to justify the asking price.

You do have me intrigued about Riding Fight, though. I'd never heard of it, either, and now I want to try it! (Not for $60, though.)

Re: Best Neo Geo Pocket Color Games

JJtheTexan

It's pretty cool that the Nintendo Switch has become the best way to enjoy Neo Geo and Neo Geo Pocket games today. I have pretty much all of the NGPC games available for Switch, and the emulation is very nice. And, it's portable, too!

Re: Interview: Industry Icons Roberta And Ken Williams On How Colossal Cave Led To A Life Of Adventure

JJtheTexan

I absolutely adore Ken and Roberta! They are legends, give great interviews, and they are by all accounts very nice people. They made some fantastic games, too!

@JackGYarwood if I may point out a minor yet significant typo: I believe the computer Ken is referring to when he talked about going to Japan was the NEC 9801, sometimes called the PC-98, not the "NES 9801." Lest someone confuse it with the Famicom xD

Re: Poll: So, What's Your Favourite Controller Of All Time?

JJtheTexan

Among "classic" retro controllers, I'd have to say the SNES controller is my favorite. My most-used of the last five years is definitely the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, which is excellent. But once I got a PS5 last year, I was blown away by the DualSense. I dislike all prior PlayStation controllers, but this one is just so darn great. It feels like what Nintendo should have done years ago.

Re: Best Neo Geo Games

JJtheTexan

Great list. Thanks to Hamster, I own most of these digitally, or else on one of my Neo Geo Mini cabinets. My absolute favorite is probably Neo Turf Masters, a.k.a. Big Tournament Golf (Augusta National Cease and Desist Order Edition).

Re: How A Plagiarised Review Turned 'Rule Of Rose' Into A PS2 "Video Game Nasty"

JJtheTexan

Great story! I already knew Rule of Rose is a "holy grail" among PS2 collectors, but I wasn't familiar with the backstory of its rarity.

It's hard to imagine something like this happening today. Not only is plagiarism exposed far more quickly and widely, making these kinds of false statements about a game and triggering political threats would probably result in a devastating lawsuit.

Re: John Carmack Has Resigned From Facebook Parent Meta

JJtheTexan

VR has a lot of great possibilities for entertainment, industry, medicine, and commerce. Meta's vision for VR - shoehorning in everyday activities that are easily done on a flat screen - is dead on arrival.

I wish Carmack all the success in the world, and I eagerly await Meta's demise.

Re: Interview: How Gamebox Systems Is Breathing New Life Into Old Hardware

JJtheTexan

I have mixed feelings about these products. I think it's great giving folks an option to play original handheld carts on modern TVs... but I am not comfortable with permanently destroying older handhelds in order to do it.

It's not worth "upcycling" irreplaceable vintage hardware for the sake of convenience. I realize they say they are using "old and broken" consoles, but I suspect most or all of them could be repaired and made usable again. If a Game Gear can't be repaired by replacing the capacitors, it probably can't be used in a consolizer, either.

As an aside, I deeply dislike how 3D printed things look. I understand they aren't operating at a scale to afford "real" plastic shells, but 3D printing has those awful seams and rough surfaces. It always appears sloppy to me.