Razieluigi

This one's a bit niche so I'll be curious to see how well it does. Relatively few people have large physical libraries for this console and there are solid FPGA cores already working great on Pocket.

I had considered getting one of these anyway, but Analogue isn't what they used to be and I'm not thrilled to see their cumbersome Analogue OS rearing its annoying head again. The focus and relative simplicity of the Super Nt and Mega SG is part of what made them such excellent products.

@Ninersdad Not without a ramp you couldn't.

Needs more Cannon Spike, but otherwise a good list!

I can't think of any console that had as much raw personality as the Dreamcast. It was a spunky and special machine.

My original Dreamcast still works (knock on wood), but I modded another one a few years ago with a hard drive and SD slot, and it's one of my prized posessions.

I mean, this is kind of what happens when the first step in the creative process is agreeing to a licensing deal, only deciding later what you want to do with it.

None of which is Treasure's fault. I'm sure they would have preferred to be making something less ridiculous.

These articles have been great and inspired me to order a copy of this book. Just got shipping notification and I'm looking forward to some holiday reading!

Omega Collection easily, not the least of which because it's one of the best reasons to own a PSVR.

There are plenty of great games in this series, for sure. But Omega Collection just feels like the perfect celebration of all of them — a complete package — and that makes it the clear winner for me.

"The team viewed [Shachō Laser] as the easiest and most boring weapon available."

Ha. This is pretty much the only reason I was able to finish this game as a kid!

I ran out to find a copy of Gunstar Heroes as soon as I read the shining review in EGM, and that cartridge has been a jewel in my collection for 30 years. When it comes to fourth gen titles, this is easily the best game that nobody ever heard of.

I'm so glad that time has treated it kindly and that it has become so readily available all these years later.

I'm not sure if I like WipeOut enough to get this, but I can't speak highly enough of Read Only Memory's work in general. I have their Dreamcast and Mega Drive Works, and I think they're indispensible for fans of those consoles. Well-researched and beautifully presented. I was also lucky enough to snag a giant print of the Mega Drive production drawing from them, and it's also of the highest quality. I keep hoping they'll get around to releasing a similar drawing for the Dreamcast one day.

If this book is on par with what they've done before, it's going to be a must-own for WipeOut lovers. It makes me happy that there are people out there with the passion to create things like this.

Looks nice, but I'd much rather just have a slot for a VMU than a built-in one. That seems far more versatile and would cost less.

I'll definitely be taking a closer look at this. I love the design, the simplicity, and the overall compatibility (except for Omega Race — one of my faves, and I still have the original "Booster Grip" it came with). But I'm not totally sold yet.

I'm still wondering about other unaddressed quality of life issues. Like, if I use a multi-button controller, is there any way to map console switches to the controller? That would be much more convenient (and a huge boon for weird games like Ghostbusters that use the switches during gameplay).

I'm not reflexively opposed to software emulation, but it does preclude the use of a flash cart. And I don't see any mention of an SD slot or anything that might eventually be used for loading ROMs. And that's a huge problem for now.

While I have a decent collection of 2600 carts, it's not enough for me to plunk down on an entire unit just for that. I need to know that it can do more. Until then, I'll stick with the FPGA cores on my Analogue Pocket.

Might snag some of those controllers either way, though.

Really looking forward to the review. I have a healthy stack of old cartridges I'd love to put back into use, but this thing will live or die on the quality of its software emulation.

I'd also love some quality of life perks like the ability to bind console switches (like difficulty and reset) to controller buttons.

With my PC falling behind and no plans to build a new one for a few more years, this might finally be the kick I need to snag one of these in 2024.

Not sure why this one is considered so divisive. It's easily the second-best Mario Kart after MK8, and the only one to add a "gimmick" that enhanced the fundamental gameplay without distracting from it.

If anything, it's a shame that the mechanic didn't persist into newer entries.

I remember stumbling into this cabinet at a birthday party as a kid, and being disappointed at how unlike the show it was. I had no idea it was a reskin of an unrelated Japanese game!

It would be cool if the 1/4 cabinet allows you to play both versions. But I also prefer the 1/6 size of Replicade cabinets, so I don't see myself adding this to my miniature arcade.

"Seven Force, which appears during the game's second level..."

Not really, since you can choose the stages in any order you like.

Great article, though! I'm not sure there's a such thing as one console being "better" than the other, although I certainly find myself returning to the Genesis more often than the SNES. Lots of gems on the SNES, but I enjoy the comparatively short and punchy arcade mentality of the Genesis.

Given the kinds of games Treasure made, I can see why they preferred Sega's console, just as I can see why Square might have preferred the SNES.

All this discussion does remind me, however, that I miss the days when hardware really mattered and the different consoles had distinct characteristics that made their games — even ports of the same games — look, sound, and play different.

@masterLEON That's good to know! For some reason, I haven't picked up Radiant Silvergun yet. I know it's legendary, but I should add it to my Switch collection.

Never heard of this, but I love the idea of a 6-button shooter!

Plus, this looks like a perfect use for my 8BitDo arcade stick...

Still the best 2D Mario game.

SMW is great and what I've played of Wonder is promising. But they just don't hold a candle to this masterpiece.

You just can't beat the size and scale, the freewheeling level design, or the best variety of power-ups in the entire franchise. Mario has been in plenty of magnificent games since then, no question. But all of them fall short of SMB3's timeless excellence.

@DestructoDisk I feel like newer 8BitDo models don't have the problem to the same degree as older ones. I remember having to mod all of them with those looseleaf reinforcement stickers to try to minimize the issue. But recent Pro models have been excellent.

But I just haven't found it to be an issue on the Pocket. Maybe it's just that I don't play that many run-and-gun games on that platform so I don't notice it, but I did play through the entirety of Operation C without a hitch.

But I certainly haven't noticed any dropped inputs like the prior posters are suggesting, and I feel like that would be noticeable in pretty much any genre.

@foodmetaphors You may just have a faulty unit. I have a lot of complaints about Analogue (like... a lot), but I have zero problems with the controls on the Pocket. Even the usual troubles like phantom diagnoals just haven't been an issue. I certainly haven't had skipped inputs like you're describing.

It's a lovely piece of hardware in nearly every respect. The problem is the slow and spotty support, and the disturbingly anti-consumer practices of the company that sells it.

This is great (if overdue) news, but doesn't make up for nearly 2 years of spotty communication and radio silence on what was taking so preposterously long.

Coming in 2024 my arse.

Analogue Duo was announced in October 2020, didn't even start taking pre-orders until more than 2 years later, and still hasn't been released.

This thing will be out in 2026 if you're lucky.

Those 8BitDo controllers will probably be pretty sweet, though.

@Poodlestargenerica No, I'm saying they don't exist!

I'm sure they'll work fine once they're released. It's just inexcusable that this thing has been out in the wild for 2 years and one of the main selling points is still up for pre-order with no set ship dates.

Be nice if they'd announce that they're finally following through on all the overdue support on the Analogue Pocket. It hasn't had a firmware update since May.

It's almost two years since this thing was released and:

Still no DAC support.

Still no FPGA display mode support.

Still no Lynx/NGPC/PCE support or adapters.

That last one is especially galling since all that compatibility is advertised as one of the core functions of the device.

I used to love Analogue when they were riding high on the Super NT and Mega SG. But the gaming press needs to start holding their feet to the fire more and stop giving them free advertising without any pushback regarding their deteriorating customer service, inability to properly support their hardware, and refusal to communicate anything clearly beyond posting animated GIFs of games that may or may not be supported by anything they currently sell.

One day when I'm feeling splurgy I plan to upgrade to a Mega Everdrive Pro so I can just play all this stuff on my Mega SG. It's nice that this entire piece of hardware can now be spoofed by a flash cart.

Shame there's no way to do the same with the 32X. I'd love to mess around with that catalogue a bit more.

@Gamecuber It's a good point that until relatively recent history, there wasn't much way to preserve anything at all. And certainly not in comprehensive personal collections.

I'm often more interested in deeper dives — books about developers and the actual talent behind these games, stories about the artists involved, contextual information about how these games fit into whatever was going on in the industry at the time. You know... actual history.

I'm all for efforts to preserve gaming history. I think it's an important part of popular culture, and that it's gone comparatively ignored next to other audio/video media. But I do think we get a little precious sometimes.

I'd love to see an effort to determine what percentage of other media are also lost to time like this. Is it really higher in games? Or have lots of shows and movies faded into similar obscurity and the gaming community is just more eager to see things like that preserved?

The link above goes to an article where Kelsey cites the hypothetical example of Titanic only being available on old VHS tapes, but that's kind of a silly example seeing as Titanic is one of the biggest movies ever released. Games of that cultural magnitude are still generally available.

It's the obscurities that aren't. I can think of all sorts of dumb sitcoms and things that I watched as a kid that aren't available for streaming or purchase anymore, but I don't see a movement to make them available.

I love the VGHF and what it's trying to do. But given the preponderance of ROMs and emulation options, I do sometimes feel like these efforts are just trying to formalize something that is already happening well enough out in the wild. The enthusiasm of the retro gaming community has functionally ensured that these games are ubiquitous and available to anybody interested enough in playing them. And since digital preservation of ROMs is essentially perfect, we're not even dealing with the challenge of masters degrading over time.

Best of luck to Kelsey, regardless! I wonder what projects she might be hinting at.

Kind of fun as a display piece, I guess. But leave it to audiophiles to imagine they can hear any difference.

"this opening series feels much more self-contained and less focused on establishing the second helping of episodes"

This is kind of a weird take. It ends on a nail-biting cliffhanger with the main characters in extreme peril and almost nothing resolved, along with a massive wink at the next helping of episodes.

That said, I absolutely loved it. I've really enjoyed all the seasons so far, but the change in scenery has been nice. I'm excited to see what's next.

@RupeeClock I have a lot of issues with Analogue as a company, but I've never even heard a rumor of cartridge slot issues on the Pocket much less that there's a general reputation regarding it.

I have a Pocket. As a piece of hardware, the Pocket is nearly flawless. Lovely screen, good inputs, feels solid. It's the overly complex OS, poor software support (the last update was in May), dodgy Dock implementation, and broken promises about features that I find galling.

Analogue just isn't what they used to be. I'd love to see them get their act together, but I'm afraid they peaked with the Super NT and Mega SG (both of which are phenomenal).

Mix of both, but leaning toward big-screen play as I get older.

I've always liked playing slower-paced games like RPGs on handheld devices. They lend themselves to curling up and enjoying them like a good book. Although my middle-aged eyes are starting to struggle with the smaller screens, it's nothing that reading glasses can't fix.

But I prefer playing bigger action-oriented titles on a larger screen with the benefit of a more comfortable controller. My hands were more resilient when they were younger, but nowadays extended play makes my thumb joints ache something fierce. Plus, I really appreciate niceties like the back paddles on my Elite and 8BitDo controllers.

One of my favorite things about the Switch, though, is how easily it lets me hop to whatever mode of play I like. It's a great concept, and I hope Nintendo sticks with it from now on.

Excellent article. And for those interested in a deeper dive on some of these games, I can't recommend Jeremy Parrish's video series enough.

The GBA was such an incredible console it's hard to argue with anything here, but easy to suggest even more. I feel like this could have gone on for another few pages without much depreciation in quality.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is the most glaring omission for me. It might be my favorite puzzle-platformer of all time, and was a great pick-up-and-play game for this format.

And just to quibble, I'd also suggest FF5 over FF6 for inclusion here if we're only going to list one of them. Not because it's the better game (although it is one of my favorites), but because it feels more indispensible. FF6 is just a straight-up better experience on the SNES, while the GBA version of FF5 was hands-down the best possible way to play it at the time.

For starters, it's not clear what he means by "viable." Is he talking about time and cost at the developer end? Or predicting that consumers will increasingly reject it?

I do think that pixel art will, sadly, become less common, especially as the current generation of indie developers that finds the form nostalgic is replaced by a younger generation raised on polygons. We're already seeing plenty of games meant to evoke the 5th generation. But that's not a matter of it being "viable," so much as aesthetic trends coming and going.

But it's the second part of his statement that really has me scratching my head. I'm entirely unsure what he means about "still evolving and creating content for" something "10-20 years down the road." Is he seriously suggesting that releasing a pixel art game in 2023 is going to somehow have ramifications for what the company is doing in 2033 and beyond?

The Pocket hasn't had an update in 4 months and multiple promises like additional display modes and DAC support remain behind schedule and unfulfilled. The Dock continues to feel jury-rigged with limited resolution options compared to prior Analogue hardware.

But at least they made a glowy version?

What the hell is going on at Analogue? The Pocket remains a nice piece of hardware if you have the time and patience to get the most out of it. But Analogue is quickly turning into a weird reclusive company that sells only one product, can't bother to support it correctly, and thinks the best way to address customer communication is to ignore it.

Excellent article. There's nothing else like this out there. Keep up the good work!

Incredible memories of this one, and I'll stull pull out the old Cube to play it now and then. My reflexes have gotten much rustier in the two decades since release — I look at some of my old times and wonder how they were possible.

I'm not sure I've ever played anything that felt faster than this. When you really find the line and take full advantage of the GCN's excellent analog triggers, it's like piloting a lightning bolt. And all these years since, it still looks phenomenal. Everything pops off the screen in a mad flurry of color.

And so soon after the demise of the Dreamcast, the Sega collaboration made the game feel downright historical at the time.

Might have to pour one out and play a bit later today.

As much of a mess as the 32X was, I really regret not getting one when they were around.

Looking forward to exploring it's (small) library when I finally go in on a MiSTer in the next year or two.

I've seen it in NYC, and it brought back memories of seeing it in Nintendo Power as a kid.

Haven't been by the store in quite a few years, but I always enjoy the artifacts they have on display. I should try to get there again, but it was easier when I had family living in the area.

This is fascinating. And it's worth noting that I've never seen anything like this on any other gaming site.

Keep up the good work!

Blows my mind how much excellent work these people do.

This doesn't really mean anything at all. It's just a boilerplate "no comment".

They're not going to answer the question with "absolutely not. We have no plans to make games in those franchises, and I promise that we never will."

The question could have been asked using literally any Sega IP to fill in the blanks and the answer would have been exactly the same.

While the games are primitive, this is really impressive. Since these can't just be emulated ROMs, there must have been a ton of work put into recreating the graphical elements accurately.

Looking forward to these when they become available!

Wow, this is really nice. These are the kinds of quality of life options I'd expect from an emulated M2 release, so it's awesome to see them working on native hardware using the original ROM.

Also, I love that they made "hold" and "toggle" versions of the patch. Since I mostly play using 8BitDo M30s nowadays, the "hold" variant will be a great use for those shoulder buttons.

Kudos to the team behind it!

Funny to see this the same week 8BitDo released white M30s.

This looks incredible, but your final sentiment sums it up. While I want one, I do wonder if I'd really make use of its real potential.

Don't really need one of these since I have a Pocket, but I'm eagerly anticipating some reviews of the Nano when that comes out.

That thing is small and novel enough to be worth having.

Ahhh, the fresh smell of thinly-veiled racism in the morning.

Shame to see so much of it in the comments section here.

Most of what's going on in this thread seems more like tired old console war nonsense that should have died out in the 90s rather than a real discussion of gaming history.

I don't think gaming history really has a "Nintendo problem" at all. I'm extremely interested in gaming history, and I find that the community tends to have a very diverse interest in platforms and technologies.

I'm a frequent listener to podcasts like Retronauts and Cane and Rinse, all of which touch on all sorts of platforms. Video content is similarly diverse with channels like Atari Archive and Kim Justice shining attention on all sorts of games and hardware. And even Jeremy Parish's previously Nintendo-centric "Works" series has shifted its attention to platforms like the 7800, SG-1000, Master System, and Atari Lynx in order to properly contextualize what was happening in gaming at the time.

Point is, there is absolutely no shortage of excellent, well-researched material about all corners of gaming history.

It's quite possible that audiences tend to flock more to Nintendo-centric content, but that's a different problem. It's like saying that history has a WW2 problem because pop culture tends to focus on it more than WW1.

@killroy10 Sure, but I feel like you're just weirdly assuming that people who are actually interested in gaming history aren't aware of all that.

The FDS is fascinating, as is the fact that mapper chip advancements rendered it effectively obsolete (which is the main reason it didn't come to the US — it was just plain unnecessary).

There's no revisionism happening here. People who follow this stuff already know that. And people who don't aren't interested enough in gaming history to bother knowing it. That's not unique to Nintendo fans, or even to gaming. Most people just enjoy what they enjoy without knowing or caring about the history of it.

@killroy10 It's a bit weird that you go out of your way to note that the NES was inferior to the FDS as evidence that gaming history is Nintendo-centric.

Setting aside that I'm not sure the NES really was inferior to the FDS (that's a complex discussion for another day), your premise about Nintendo-centrism seems to rest on the NES being over-appreciated relative to... another Nintendo console?