This was actually a really cool game on Wii, and I wish more people had played it. It had some great graphics for the system, especially the lighting and shadows, and it really used the Wii's pointer and motion controls well too for the most part. Also, it was just a unique take on Silent Hill and really trippy. In my opinion it's actually the best Silent Hill game, although very different to the other games in the series in many ways.
Shame, the basic idea was good—I've often thought about something like this myself—but it just wasn't executed properly in so many ways. So many little issues basically sealed the fate of this endeavor long ago.
@TheRealThanos Well, I totally get your point and actually agree with it in principle, which is why my initial suggestion was still an actual physical console and very much retro at that, just small like the PC-Engine and sleek like the Neo Geo, and it still took physical cartridges too (well, more precisely, game cards, but that's really about the fact that making these things is greatly wasting Earth's limited resources, and likely polluting with plastic waste too, so if we're going physical again then I think it's only responsible to use a little material as possible on the cartridges, and they also take up less shelf space too)--along with the wired controllers for pure convenience--which I think is actually the best compromise of getting that old-school gaming experience but not just sticking with what are actually bad/unnecessary design practices just for the sake of looking "old-school". Old-school doesn't have to equal big and fugly, imo. As consoles like the PC-Engine (tiny) and Neo Geo (slick as hell) demonstrate admirably.
Basically, imagine a Neo Geo that's the size of a PC-Engine (which are both actual/real old-school classic gaming systems), and you have what I think would be one of the slickest "old-school looking" consoles ever, and still inarguably based on classic old-school console hardware design:
+
Yeah, the whole "American's like it bigger, better, and faster, or whatever", is a total stereotype--and there is some truth to it as a sweeping generalisation--but that's why it's fun!
Well, I've learned something new today, and I feel for this guy. He deserves more acclaim for his innovation. I've always accredited Sega with this, but no more.
By the way, that wireframe Star Wars game looks extremely cool.
@TheRealThanos It's not really a "British" thing. More just a good design thing.
I think the ideal games console design would/should be something that's basically invisible and just disappears under your TV. The console is just a box to deliver the games/entertainment and nothing more. In fact, the perfect console wouldn't even have any box at all. It would literally just be the controller and the display. That's why this kind of thing
is generally a much better design for a console than this kind of thing
One day, I believe the entire console innards will just be build directly into either the controller or the display (as most of it would just be digital and in the "cloud" anyway), and then we'll have an ideal "console" design.
The less boxes we have under our TVs the better off we will all be. And that's once again why my idea for the NX basically got rid of the console box altogether and only had a tiny little dongle you plugged into your TV (ideally I'd not even have the dongle but I can't think of another practical way to get the games to show on all the different TVs), because the "box" really is an unnecessary extra lump that ideally we'd eliminate entirely: https://inceptionalnews.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/heres-the-gist-of-my-idea-for-nintendos-nx/
Can't remember what the video was actually. Remind me...
@TruenoGT Well, the PS (Vita) TV console and controller are certainly off to a better start with that general idea, and it does take small Vita/SD sized cards too, so, yeah, it's already half way there to be honest.
And, to debate some guy the other day who was saying you couldn't shrink a NES/SNES down and release it today for cheap: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/explore/playstation-tv/ (the PlayStation TV, which is vastly more powerful and capable than either of those systems, is only £45 squid, and I presume even cheaper in the dollar equivalent. And the very same logic/principle would apply to re-releasing those old game carts again too)
The one advantage Nintendo would have with something similar to this who retro-modern console idea, however, is all the countless retro classics it has it its back catalogue. I'd be far more excited about a little Nintendo box like this that played ALL of Nintendo's classic games (plus new "retro" games) than I would a Sony equivalent--and both of those far more so than some other random brand.
I feel bad being so critical, because their general idea is a good one in principle--one I have myself on a regular basis and something I long for in general (returning to the all-round simplicity and purity of the 8bit-16bit and partly 32bit console/gaming era)--but I just think a lot of the execution is slightly off, by chance or choice. It's the nuance that makes all the difference, imo.
@mjharper It doesn't--unless it plays old Coleco games--and I think what they really mean is that is plays games that look and feel like the classic old-school games from the '70s-'90s that many of us grew up with and love.
Edit: Yeah, reading the text again, it must play old Coleco games or something (not sure if physical or emulated), but I think that's probably about it.
@Damo Totally agree that they could make a tiny modern-retro console like this, that's easily as powerful as it needs to be to be a classic-cool but still decently up-to-date modern-retro console.
To be fair, I think they're only going for the '90s "Jag" look because those were the only cheap moulds they could find. lol
Here's what it really needs to be like if you were going to release a brand new cartridge based retro-style console in 2015, imo: (It's still amazes me how tiny that thing was)
Like a PC-Engine in terms of size, i.e. tiny (although a bit cooler looking...maybe kinda like an PlayStation TV in terms of simple sleekness), and probably taking similar style game cards, which you could still sell in cases and still have all the benefits of old physical carts--like you own them forever and can trade them with friends--but are just smaller and more convenient. Then, it needs controllers that ideally don't really look much more complex than a SNES pad, imo, and are now wireless. I mean, I think these things look genuinely awesome: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/12/hardware_review_8bitdo_snes30_and_sfc30_bluetooth_controllers
It don't think it even needs to be any more powerful than the likes of a SNES, or at most something like a Saturn--so it really makes devs focus on classic retro-type experiences. And both the console and games need to be affordable. I'm talking REALLY affordable--like $50 for the system and $10 for the physical/boxed games.
@mjharper It doesn't/can't play any other systems games. It's really just like releasing a brand new cartridge based console in the modern era--as far as I'm aware--but one that's not quite up to graphical power with any modern consoles, obviously. It is, for all intents and purposes, a new 32bit cartridge console, in 2015.
Here's the problem I have with this system: I love the idea in principle, but I don't particularly like the specific design of either the hardware or controller--and despite what some people might try to have you believe, that stuff is actually part of most gamers purchase decision. And it's not that it's terrible looking; it's just a tiny bit too much like some cheap-ish third party knock-off system, which you'll find puts off a lot of people.
Personally, I'd honestly rather just see what I was talking about the other day: A re-release of the NES and/or SNES systems and games, that come with wireless versions of their respective controllers, somewhat shrunken versions of the actual consoles (because why stick with the huge size of something like the American NES when you could actually shrink it down to almost the same size as a NES cart in this day and age?), connections so they work on both retro and modern TVs/displays, and at a REALLY affordable price for both the consoles and the games.
But, to be fair, it's not like these particular guys could ever actually realise that idea so I'm being a bit cruel by mentioning that that's what I'd really want to see.
I've just had a test done for Lupus, which I requested, because I'm suffering weird symptoms, like a newly developed allergy to the sun; strange pins and needle that stab across most of my body when I laugh, get embarrassed, or feel extremes of hot and cold; a subtle but increasing sense of numbness in parts of my body; issues with my tummy feeling sore and bruised internally; tiredness and lethargy; short attention span...
Now, it could be some "pre-disposed" genetic disease, or maybe I'm suffering from Lyme disease as a result of a tick bite (and I did get a few tick bits a few years back), but I expect it's just all the bad habits I've developed over my life, most of which I wouldn't have, if I'd been educated better growing up, and if I could actually avoid them in the first place.
Example: I went to buy oranges the other day, to eat healthier and all that, and it turned out, when I read the labels, that all the oranges in Asda are pumped full of sh*t you wouldn't believe, including wax (and about 20 other random things).
I mean, check this out: [link removed] (documentary about the added sugar, often hidden, that's in over 80% of all the food on our store shelves).
How can we hope to prevail when they are attacking and destroying us under our very noses—in ways we can't really avoid, even if we want to.
If you thinks that's dodgy then you should learn about all the stuff the banks, your governments and politicians, the mega corporations, the media moguls, and a bunch of rich elites do in the name of money and power...
And they're doing much of it to you right now, as I type.
I actually wish they'd just to a remaster of this or something. Bring the graphics more up to date, add in the realtime dynamic shadows that got taken out of the original, maybe streamline and tweak a few other minor elements, and sorted.
I think the game is great and mostly holds up other than the obviously dated graphics, which are actually still half decent to be honest.
If they're never gonna get around to making a new game in the franchise then I really think a modern remaster at the very least would be awesome.
I love the basic idea—I've often thought about something like this myself (not that I have any means to do so)—but I feel all the little the specifics of the design will limit it's appeal to only the most dedicated of gamers.
I know they had to use the old Jaguar moulds and stuff, from what I read, but I'd rather this thing were like the size of a Apple TV (and just as sleek), the carts where simple cards like those you might have found on the PC Engine (in fact, I'd love to see the console be about the size and shape of the PC Engine), and I wish even the controller was a tiny bit slicker (although that's not too bad).
Still, this looks pretty cool and I'm there's some people out there who are going to love it.
Well there's no denying they are both genuine classics for sure and either one is perfectly justified in being someone's personal favourite 16bit console for a whole multitude of reasons. The Megadrive is actually my brothers favourite. The SNES is mine.
In terms of total quality however (as opposed to coolness), and I'm not just talking about the overall library of games here but even things like the tech specs of hardware (the graphics and sound etc) as well as the controller (one of the most important elements of any console imo), the SNES to me was always top dog.
The Megadrive had some truly brilliant Arcade games. Boy did it have some brilliant arcade games. Sports games too, especially the EA titles. There was also a load of great shooters on the Megadrive as well, although the SNES certainly had a few great shooters of its own (such that I never thought the system was lacking in that department):
In terms of pure shmups on SNES I personally loved, Gradius III, Parodius, R-Type III, Star Fox, U.N. Squadron and Super Aleste for example.
I miss the 16bit era in general actually because it was my personal best time in gaming, where everything was just spot on. Not so simple that it felt slightly archaic, like the first couple of console generations and in some ways even the 8bit generation, yet simple enough that it was always quick and easy to get your gaming fix on without any hassle and there was just so little about those classic consoles you ever had to worry about or faff over.
Anyone experiencing classic 16bit games now for the first time, maybe on the Virtual Console for example, should def try and experience a bunch of games across both (in fact all) these 16bit consoles. There's a lot of great timeless fun to be had.
Boy would I love to see another Diddy Kong Racing game. There was some awesome stuff going on in that game that still hasn't been matched to this day; like the hub area level select or the boss battles and even the whole idea of having a basic story. It looked really nice too with it's simple clean flat shaded visuals that actually still hold up very well today and even the audio was great. Such a cool game.
It would have been interesting to see how that game would have turned out if they'd just went with Dinosaur Planet to completion (probably very similar but without the Star Fox characters I'd assume)...
Might have had even some sequels at this point. Although probably not with the current output at Rare.
I don't remember is being quite as full back in the day but I'm foggy on the details.
I probably should have looked at it in more detail but at the time I just walked passed it for the most part on the way to my desk. I did have a wee look but just thought it was cool too see some old Nintendo and Rare related stuff on show.
If only I'd known back then there was some genuinely interesting and indeed historically important stuff hidden away in that wee display cabinet.
Yeah, when I worked there the display cabinet was right at the entrance (reception) below that awesome Japanese mural type thing, which as I recall, Nintendo gave to Rare as a gift (although I might be wrong on that one). It was actually a very nice first impression to get as you entered the building.
Yeah, I think this game would have been better and more satisfying if they'd kept the original characters and setting, and if they'd removed a LOT of the unnecessary "collecting lots of things just for the sake of it" that Rare was really bad for back in the day. Other than that it was pretty decent and it had some gret graphics and pretty impressive production values imo. The voice acting however was the usual rubbish from Rare, with the staff doing half of the voice work...and badly imo.
There were some great videogame magazines in the UK back in the day; TOTAL! (although I never really read it to be honest), Super Play, C&VG, EDGE, Maximum...but the original Mean Machines was the Big Boss imo.
Can I just say that was a brilliant watch irrespective of whether I agree or disagree with his opinion. It was just so well put together and I really enjoyed the build up at the end with all the movie clips.
This film actually portrays videogames as this hugely popular cutting edge entertainment medium, which it obviously is, but you might not think so these days if you were just joe average because other than some snippets on talk shows and some news stories every now and then you don't really see that much stuff on TV about videogames in the same way you do music and movies.
This movie actually makes me wish they would bring back a videogame competition show like this to TV. It's totally over the top in your face excitement and action and it's how games should be portrayed imo rather than the more serious mature and responsible image they have these days.
Videogames are supposed to be about playing and having fun!
Comments 48
Re: Feature: You Know What? The GamesMaster Reboot Is An Unexpected Delight
Removed; user is banned
Re: Feature: The Making Of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
This was actually a really cool game on Wii, and I wish more people had played it. It had some great graphics for the system, especially the lighting and shadows, and it really used the Wii's pointer and motion controls well too for the most part. Also, it was just a unique take on Silent Hill and really trippy. In my opinion it's actually the best Silent Hill game, although very different to the other games in the series in many ways.
Re: Video: This Animated Homage To R-Type Makes Us Sad The Series Is Dead
Utterly brilliant.
Re: Coleco Chameleon Saga Draws To A Close As Creator Finally Pulls The Plug
Shame, the basic idea was good—I've often thought about something like this myself—but it just wasn't executed properly in so many ways. So many little issues basically sealed the fate of this endeavor long ago.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
@TheRealThanos Well, I totally get your point and actually agree with it in principle, which is why my initial suggestion was still an actual physical console and very much retro at that, just small like the PC-Engine and sleek like the Neo Geo, and it still took physical cartridges too (well, more precisely, game cards, but that's really about the fact that making these things is greatly wasting Earth's limited resources, and likely polluting with plastic waste too, so if we're going physical again then I think it's only responsible to use a little material as possible on the cartridges, and they also take up less shelf space too)--along with the wired controllers for pure convenience--which I think is actually the best compromise of getting that old-school gaming experience but not just sticking with what are actually bad/unnecessary design practices just for the sake of looking "old-school". Old-school doesn't have to equal big and fugly, imo. As consoles like the PC-Engine (tiny) and Neo Geo (slick as hell) demonstrate admirably.
Basically, imagine a Neo Geo that's the size of a PC-Engine (which are both actual/real old-school classic gaming systems), and you have what I think would be one of the slickest "old-school looking" consoles ever, and still inarguably based on classic old-school console hardware design:
+
Yeah, the whole "American's like it bigger, better, and faster, or whatever", is a total stereotype--and there is some truth to it as a sweeping generalisation--but that's why it's fun!
I'll check out that link.
And, yeah, watch that documentary.
Re: How Star Wars Helped Nintendo Defeat One Of Sega's Most Ludicrous Patents
Well, I've learned something new today, and I feel for this guy. He deserves more acclaim for his innovation. I've always accredited Sega with this, but no more.
By the way, that wireframe Star Wars game looks extremely cool.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
@TheRealThanos It's not really a "British" thing. More just a good design thing.
I think the ideal games console design would/should be something that's basically invisible and just disappears under your TV. The console is just a box to deliver the games/entertainment and nothing more. In fact, the perfect console wouldn't even have any box at all. It would literally just be the controller and the display. That's why this kind of thing
is generally a much better design for a console than this kind of thing
One day, I believe the entire console innards will just be build directly into either the controller or the display (as most of it would just be digital and in the "cloud" anyway), and then we'll have an ideal "console" design.
The less boxes we have under our TVs the better off we will all be. And that's once again why my idea for the NX basically got rid of the console box altogether and only had a tiny little dongle you plugged into your TV (ideally I'd not even have the dongle but I can't think of another practical way to get the games to show on all the different TVs), because the "box" really is an unnecessary extra lump that ideally we'd eliminate entirely: https://inceptionalnews.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/heres-the-gist-of-my-idea-for-nintendos-nx/
Can't remember what the video was actually. Remind me...
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
@ElkinFencer10 Well, they've got at least one sale.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
@TruenoGT Well, the PS (Vita) TV console and controller are certainly off to a better start with that general idea, and it does take small Vita/SD sized cards too, so, yeah, it's already half way there to be honest.
And, to debate some guy the other day who was saying you couldn't shrink a NES/SNES down and release it today for cheap: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/explore/playstation-tv/ (the PlayStation TV, which is vastly more powerful and capable than either of those systems, is only £45 squid, and I presume even cheaper in the dollar equivalent. And the very same logic/principle would apply to re-releasing those old game carts again too)
The one advantage Nintendo would have with something similar to this who retro-modern console idea, however, is all the countless retro classics it has it its back catalogue. I'd be far more excited about a little Nintendo box like this that played ALL of Nintendo's classic games (plus new "retro" games) than I would a Sony equivalent--and both of those far more so than some other random brand.
Actually, to go off on a SLIGHT tangent: When I think about it, this is basically what I was trying to propose when I came up with my idea for what I thought NX could be (but also putting a handheld and Wii U GamePad in that single little "box" too): https://inceptionalnews.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/heres-the-gist-of-my-idea-for-nintendos-nx/
But hey, Nintendo didn't listen to that idea either, it seems.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
I feel bad being so critical, because their general idea is a good one in principle--one I have myself on a regular basis and something I long for in general (returning to the all-round simplicity and purity of the 8bit-16bit and partly 32bit console/gaming era)--but I just think a lot of the execution is slightly off, by chance or choice. It's the nuance that makes all the difference, imo.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
@artofmana Well--all things being relative--it probably is the thing that holds up most about the Jaguar.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
@Tsusasi Well, the Jaguar was alway kinda fugly, if we're being honest here:
I mean, it's not terrible, but it's not exactly this either:
Which, by the way, I still think is one of the slickest looking consoles ever.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
@mjharper It doesn't--unless it plays old Coleco games--and I think what they really mean is that is plays games that look and feel like the classic old-school games from the '70s-'90s that many of us grew up with and love.
Edit: Yeah, reading the text again, it must play old Coleco games or something (not sure if physical or emulated), but I think that's probably about it.
Edit 2: Damien ^^^ knows better than me.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
@Damo Totally agree that they could make a tiny modern-retro console like this, that's easily as powerful as it needs to be to be a classic-cool but still decently up-to-date modern-retro console.
To be fair, I think they're only going for the '90s "Jag" look because those were the only cheap moulds they could find. lol
Yeah, 'mericans can be dumb sometimes.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
Here's what it really needs to be like if you were going to release a brand new cartridge based retro-style console in 2015, imo:
(It's still amazes me how tiny that thing was)
Like a PC-Engine in terms of size, i.e. tiny (although a bit cooler looking...maybe kinda like an PlayStation TV in terms of simple sleekness), and probably taking similar style game cards, which you could still sell in cases and still have all the benefits of old physical carts--like you own them forever and can trade them with friends--but are just smaller and more convenient. Then, it needs controllers that ideally don't really look much more complex than a SNES pad, imo, and are now wireless. I mean, I think these things look genuinely awesome:
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/12/hardware_review_8bitdo_snes30_and_sfc30_bluetooth_controllers
It don't think it even needs to be any more powerful than the likes of a SNES, or at most something like a Saturn--so it really makes devs focus on classic retro-type experiences. And both the console and games need to be affordable. I'm talking REALLY affordable--like $50 for the system and $10 for the physical/boxed games.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
@mjharper It doesn't/can't play any other systems games. It's really just like releasing a brand new cartridge based console in the modern era--as far as I'm aware--but one that's not quite up to graphical power with any modern consoles, obviously. It is, for all intents and purposes, a new 32bit cartridge console, in 2015.
Re: The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
Here's the problem I have with this system: I love the idea in principle, but I don't particularly like the specific design of either the hardware or controller--and despite what some people might try to have you believe, that stuff is actually part of most gamers purchase decision. And it's not that it's terrible looking; it's just a tiny bit too much like some cheap-ish third party knock-off system, which you'll find puts off a lot of people.
Personally, I'd honestly rather just see what I was talking about the other day: A re-release of the NES and/or SNES systems and games, that come with wireless versions of their respective controllers, somewhat shrunken versions of the actual consoles (because why stick with the huge size of something like the American NES when you could actually shrink it down to almost the same size as a NES cart in this day and age?), connections so they work on both retro and modern TVs/displays, and at a REALLY affordable price for both the consoles and the games.
But, to be fair, it's not like these particular guys could ever actually realise that idea so I'm being a bit cruel by mentioning that that's what I'd really want to see.
Re: Hardware Review: Cyber Gadget Retro Freak
Well, it's certainly not a looker. That console and controller...
PS. It never ceases to amaze me how small the original PC Engine was/is.
Re: Rumour: Leading Japanese Game Company Kidnapped Dev's Sister To Stop Them From Working With Nintendo
@WaveGhoul Cheers for the considered feedback, dude.
Re: Rumour: Leading Japanese Game Company Kidnapped Dev's Sister To Stop Them From Working With Nintendo
@PlywoodStick Some more great observations and insights.
Re: Rumour: Leading Japanese Game Company Kidnapped Dev's Sister To Stop Them From Working With Nintendo
@WaveGhoul 100% agree. And yes, them too.
I've just had a test done for Lupus, which I requested, because I'm suffering weird symptoms, like a newly developed allergy to the sun; strange pins and needle that stab across most of my body when I laugh, get embarrassed, or feel extremes of hot and cold; a subtle but increasing sense of numbness in parts of my body; issues with my tummy feeling sore and bruised internally; tiredness and lethargy; short attention span...
Now, it could be some "pre-disposed" genetic disease, or maybe I'm suffering from Lyme disease as a result of a tick bite (and I did get a few tick bits a few years back), but I expect it's just all the bad habits I've developed over my life, most of which I wouldn't have, if I'd been educated better growing up, and if I could actually avoid them in the first place.
Example: I went to buy oranges the other day, to eat healthier and all that, and it turned out, when I read the labels, that all the oranges in Asda are pumped full of sh*t you wouldn't believe, including wax (and about 20 other random things).
I mean, check this out: [link removed] (documentary about the added sugar, often hidden, that's in over 80% of all the food on our store shelves).
How can we hope to prevail when they are attacking and destroying us under our very noses—in ways we can't really avoid, even if we want to.
Re: Rumour: Leading Japanese Game Company Kidnapped Dev's Sister To Stop Them From Working With Nintendo
If you thinks that's dodgy then you should learn about all the stuff the banks, your governments and politicians, the mega corporations, the media moguls, and a bunch of rich elites do in the name of money and power...
And they're doing much of it to you right now, as I type.
Re: Feature: The Making Of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
I actually wish they'd just to a remaster of this or something. Bring the graphics more up to date, add in the realtime dynamic shadows that got taken out of the original, maybe streamline and tweak a few other minor elements, and sorted.
I think the game is great and mostly holds up other than the obviously dated graphics, which are actually still half decent to be honest.
If they're never gonna get around to making a new game in the franchise then I really think a modern remaster at the very least would be awesome.
Re: The Retro VGS Wants To Revive The Glory Days Of Cartridge-Based Home Consoles
I love the basic idea—I've often thought about something like this myself (not that I have any means to do so)—but I feel all the little the specifics of the design will limit it's appeal to only the most dedicated of gamers.
I know they had to use the old Jaguar moulds and stuff, from what I read, but I'd rather this thing were like the size of a Apple TV (and just as sleek), the carts where simple cards like those you might have found on the PC Engine (in fact, I'd love to see the console be about the size and shape of the PC Engine), and I wish even the controller was a tiny bit slicker (although that's not too bad).
Still, this looks pretty cool and I'm there's some people out there who are going to love it.
Re: Feature: What If The SNES PlayStation Had Actually Happened?
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Re: Feature: The Making Of Body Harvest
By the way; it's amazing the gulf between the graphics in Blast Corps vs. this. lol
Rare really did know how to push hardware to the limit.
Re: Feature: The Making Of Body Harvest
Now this is a game where a modern current-gen version could maybe actually do the idea some justice.
Re: Feature: Say Hello To The CPS Changer, Capcom's First And Only Attempt At A Home Console
Well I've certainly never heard of this thing
Re: Book Review: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works
@Damo
Well there's no denying they are both genuine classics for sure and either one is perfectly justified in being someone's personal favourite 16bit console for a whole multitude of reasons. The Megadrive is actually my brothers favourite. The SNES is mine.
In terms of total quality however (as opposed to coolness), and I'm not just talking about the overall library of games here but even things like the tech specs of hardware (the graphics and sound etc) as well as the controller (one of the most important elements of any console imo), the SNES to me was always top dog.
The Megadrive had some truly brilliant Arcade games. Boy did it have some brilliant arcade games. Sports games too, especially the EA titles. There was also a load of great shooters on the Megadrive as well, although the SNES certainly had a few great shooters of its own (such that I never thought the system was lacking in that department):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Famicom_and_Super_Nintendo_shooter_games
In terms of pure shmups on SNES I personally loved, Gradius III, Parodius, R-Type III, Star Fox, U.N. Squadron and Super Aleste for example.
I miss the 16bit era in general actually because it was my personal best time in gaming, where everything was just spot on. Not so simple that it felt slightly archaic, like the first couple of console generations and in some ways even the 8bit generation, yet simple enough that it was always quick and easy to get your gaming fix on without any hassle and there was just so little about those classic consoles you ever had to worry about or faff over.
Anyone experiencing classic 16bit games now for the first time, maybe on the Virtual Console for example, should def try and experience a bunch of games across both (in fact all) these 16bit consoles. There's a lot of great timeless fun to be had.
Re: Book Review: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works
@toejam78
Cool is fleeting but quality is forever and the SNES was the top dog in that department
Re: Book Review: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works
This looks really good but I'm poor, I wish this were a digital article I could read through for free.
Re: Feature: Meet The Unsung Pioneer Behind The Most Reviled Zelda Games Of All Time
The horror that was the Philips CD-i.
Re: Myth Becomes Reality As Atari's E.T. Cartridges Are Unearthed In New Mexico Landfill
Very cool to see this long running urban myth actually verified as real.
Re: Month Of Kong: The Making Of Diddy Kong Racing
Boy would I love to see another Diddy Kong Racing game. There was some awesome stuff going on in that game that still hasn't been matched to this day; like the hub area level select or the boss battles and even the whole idea of having a basic story. It looked really nice too with it's simple clean flat shaded visuals that actually still hold up very well today and even the audio was great. Such a cool game.
Re: Weirdness: There's More To This Megatron Transformers Toy Than Meets The Eye
Now that's just cool.
Re: Rare Nearly Took On The Nintendo Game Boy With Its Own "Playboy" Handheld
@Damo
It would have been interesting to see how that game would have turned out if they'd just went with Dinosaur Planet to completion (probably very similar but without the Star Fox characters I'd assume)...
Might have had even some sequels at this point. Although probably not with the current output at Rare.
Re: Rare Nearly Took On The Nintendo Game Boy With Its Own "Playboy" Handheld
@Damo
I don't remember is being quite as full back in the day but I'm foggy on the details.
I probably should have looked at it in more detail but at the time I just walked passed it for the most part on the way to my desk. I did have a wee look but just thought it was cool too see some old Nintendo and Rare related stuff on show.
If only I'd known back then there was some genuinely interesting and indeed historically important stuff hidden away in that wee display cabinet.
Re: Rare Nearly Took On The Nintendo Game Boy With Its Own "Playboy" Handheld
@Damo
Yeah, when I worked there the display cabinet was right at the entrance (reception) below that awesome Japanese mural type thing, which as I recall, Nintendo gave to Rare as a gift (although I might be wrong on that one). It was actually a very nice first impression to get as you entered the building.
Re: Rare Nearly Took On The Nintendo Game Boy With Its Own "Playboy" Handheld
@Damo
I used to work for Rare and yet I don't remember seeing this in the display cabinet.
This was back in the days of the Game Boy too. Well Game Boy Color.
Maybe I didn't look properly at those cabinets or I just didn't know what I was looking at or something.
Re: Rare Nearly Took On The Nintendo Game Boy With Its Own "Playboy" Handheld
I'd love to actually see images of this thing.
Re: Hardware Review: Neo Geo X Gold & Mega Pack Volume 1
The original Neo Geo console is still a beautiful piece of hardware design.
Re: Feature: The Making Of Star Fox Adventures
Yeah, I think this game would have been better and more satisfying if they'd kept the original characters and setting, and if they'd removed a LOT of the unnecessary "collecting lots of things just for the sake of it" that Rare was really bad for back in the day. Other than that it was pretty decent and it had some gret graphics and pretty impressive production values imo. The voice acting however was the usual rubbish from Rare, with the staff doing half of the voice work...and badly imo.
Re: Hands On: Analogue Interactive CMVS Slim and Arcade Stick
The original Neo Geo still looks better imo and I'd rather just get that at a fraction of the cost I assume.
Re: Feature: The Making of TOTAL! Magazine
There were some great videogame magazines in the UK back in the day; TOTAL! (although I never really read it to be honest), Super Play, C&VG, EDGE, Maximum...but the original Mean Machines was the Big Boss imo.
http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/mean_machines_all_issues.php
Re: Feature: The Making of Super Play Magazine
@Dazza
Yeah, I've spent countless hours looking at the pages of the Mean Machines Archive and all the old scanned issues of Mean Machines.
It was easily my favourite magazine of the era and just looking at the old issues every now and then brings back some amazing memories of gaming.
Re: Feature: The Making of Super Play Magazine
One of the very best gaming magazines of the time.
A few other classics: Computer & Video Games, Mean Machines and Maximum.
http://www.outofprintarchive.com/magazine_catalogue_UK.html
Re: Feature: The Making of The Wizard
http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/215-the-wizard
Can I just say that was a brilliant watch irrespective of whether I agree or disagree with his opinion. It was just so well put together and I really enjoyed the build up at the end with all the movie clips.
Good job lol!
Re: Feature: The Making of The Wizard
This film actually portrays videogames as this hugely popular cutting edge entertainment medium, which it obviously is, but you might not think so these days if you were just joe average because other than some snippets on talk shows and some news stories every now and then you don't really see that much stuff on TV about videogames in the same way you do music and movies.
This movie actually makes me wish they would bring back a videogame competition show like this to TV. It's totally over the top in your face excitement and action and it's how games should be portrayed imo rather than the more serious mature and responsible image they have these days.
Videogames are supposed to be about playing and having fun!