Razieluigi

There's no harm in including the warning, and from a preservation standpoint it's preferable to bowdlerizing the game itself and pretending it never happened.

I feel like people who carry on about trigger warnings are demonstrating the exact same snowflake behavior they claim to be protesting. Get over it.

@Damo Ha - no worry. But I was excited to find out what was so controversial!

Nice. I feel like FPGA core development has slowed on the Pocket recently, and didn't pick up much after the recent firmware update.

Hoping to see a Lynx core once the lo(oooooooo)ng-awaited adapters are available, too.

Just a correction — the official book description on Amazon is "comprehensive yet conversational," not controversial.

Looks interesting! I'll be curious to see some reviews once it's out there.

Nostalgia wants me to give it to something in the GameBoy line, but rationality requires me to give it to the 3DS.

What a treasure trove of amazing experiences, many of which would be very difficult to pull off on any other hardware without significant compromise.

I miss 90s games.

I don't miss edgelord 90s gaming ads.

I just connected my DC the other night to show a friend Crazy Taxi and I've been playing it since.

I have so many DC controllers, but I might have to consider adding one of these...

I'm not sure Sega is a great analolgy here. Sega had a rich catalog of first-party arcade and console titles. Sega has a vibe and a brand identity. Even after decades of fits and starts, it's still kind of exciting to see that big blue SEGA logo on a game.

Microsoft just doesn't have that at all. Halo and what else, exactly? And Halo doesn't feel all that relevant in 2024.

I have a Series S because, all told, I think the current generation is a stinker — a marginally prettier version of the last one with few new ideas to bring to the table. I just wanted an entry-level box that would keep me current. But that's all it is. It has no identity or personality — as close to generic as any home console has ever felt.

I have no idea how MS would market such a faceless brand on other platforms.

Man, there are a lot of happy memories in those pictures.

I'm glad this place is on the other side of the pond. I could make a lot of unwise decisions in a store like that.

Good thing they specified "amateur" or Sonic Team would have this in the bag.

Fun list, and pretty spot-on I think.

I really need to look into getting a Saturn (or at least finding a good way to play its games). I was just heading off to college as the 5th gen got rolling, and was lured away from consoles by PC games. Well... PC games and parties.

The Dreamcast is what eventually sucked me back in a few years later. What an amazing and forward-thinking little box. Sega's hardware division certainly went out in a blaze of glory.

Wouldn't say I miss them so much as the era they evoke. But any time I pull out my Dreamcast, PS2, or GCN, I'm pretty happy to see them.

Even if those VMUs do insist on emitting a piercing screech on startup if their batteries haven't been replaced within the last three weeks.

As a kid, I received a Ghostbusters handheld game for my birthday — you know, one of those janky LCD things that were no fun to play and made shrill beeping sounds tuned precisely to annoy any other human being in earshot.

But it was manufactured wrong. Despite the branding on the case, the actual game involved some dude throwing pies.

It was still better than Ghostbusters on the NES.

@Uncharted2007 I don't know that I'd take it that far, but I do agree that gaming has stagnated. The generational leaps used to be bigger and more consequential.

The current generation has been the least exciting "upgrade" over the previous one since the Atari 5200, and I don't make that comparison lightly. I'm not sure I've played any current-gen game that would have been outright impossible on prior hardware with anything but some graphical/cosmetic sacrifices.

Of course I do! I thnk many of these games stand tall without the aid of nostalgia, but i'm not personally able to separate that aspect out.

Someone who was young in the 60s might listen to the Beatles to reconnect to their past, but that doesn't mean that others wouldn't find their music to be well worth a listen.

@LikeWhoa It's not that Nintendo doesn't care about it. It's that there's no valid legal argument against things like ROM hacks and hardware mods.

But software that provides a direct pipeline to some centralized source of pirated games themselves is another story entirely.

There is a reason why sites like Romhacking only provide access to the patches and not the ROMs.

@gingerbeardman Oh, I don't doubt that they're out there.

But a centralized source connected to a carbon-copy of the Wii Shop?

That's going down.

@cmdrmarc Well that should last about 7 minutes before Nintendo puts a stop to it.

I feel like the kinds of people who are savvy enough to have a Wii modded for homebrew already have better ways to get software onto their machine.

I don't understand... where is this supposedly going to download software from once it's working?

It blows my mind after all these years how much historical context like this has been right under our dumb western noses but untranslated.

Work like this is essential. Thanks for doing it!

@Hexapus I get the cart thing and alluded to it above. I have a MegaSG that I love for that exact reason.

It just makes less sense to me for a portable console.

That said, I don't begrudge anybody that finds this thing interesting (especially if they've always wanted a Nomad). But I wonder how the economics work out for Hyperkin, because it seems to me that this would appeal to a very small audience.

@Hexapus I don't think anyone "hates" Hyperkin. It's just a really niche device entering a space already crowded with more versatile hardware.

We still don't have a price on this, but the Anbernic RG ARC has a nearly identical layout and is relatively inexpensive. What would incline someone to choose this instead?

On one hand, this is a really cool tribute to the Nomad. On the other, it's entering such a saturated market for this kind of device that I can't figure out what this brings to the table that isn't covered by a competitor.

I guess the cartridge slot? But is that such a big selling point on a portable device? I love my old Genesis carts, but I have no interest in taking them on the go.

I got the whole set a few months back and started with Pinky. The videos were pretty good apart from one or two tricky spots that I think could have been explained better. Just don't go in expecting this to be easy unless you've crocheted before!

For a first-timer I was really happy with the result even if the eyes turned out a little... lumpy.

Glad this thing is finally nearing feature-completeness 2 years after release.

The only big thing remaining on my wish list would be the ability to remap buttons when playing cartridges. That's a bizarre omission to me given how easy it is to implement, and would be a great quality of life feature in games like Link's Awakening that constantly have you reaching for the start button despite having two face buttons and two triggers doing nothing in particular.

These don't need remakes. They just need to be made more available. But apart from Actraiser, Quintet games have been left out of modern options like Virtual Console and NSO, and there's really no excuse.

In my opinion, Terranigma is the best 16-bit game that nobody has ever played. It holds up as-is. Just get it out there.

Happy to help.

It was admittedly difficult to fill out the own/interested/not-interested part when it included items like "controller," "hard drive," "keyboard," and "monitor."

Like... those are pretty broad and very common things. But if I think I might be upgrading or buying more soon (can never have too many controllers!), should I have answered "thinking of buying" in the spirit of the question?

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.