Saw John Linneman post about his Bonk 2 HuCard not working any more and seems to be an issue with more than one of them from other stories and posts...
Been thinking for a while I would one day offload my physical collection and cash in on it as a bit of extra retirement cash. It feels like choosing the right moment to do it before disc rot sets in could be key and it all becomes worthless...
@Sketcz It just looks so fun, and I've never played it! I first saw tiny pics of it in Edge and always liked the look of it as it had Pilotwings vibes.
I agree would have been great if it had been ported to PS1 and extra content added.
Insta buy for me if it ever gets a release! 🙏
@cawley1 Ahh v interesting thanks! Yes I agree quite why selling old retro games should affect them selling the GCN is v odd - but then this is Nintendo so they're just gonna Nintendo on.
I wonder why the entire retro staff vanished as well though? There was a young guy with long hair who ran the department - his name eludes me now. He along with a couple of others were there one week but not the next?!
@Jimgamer8 Yeah it was a great scene and such fond memories. I used to regularly haunt the CEX Rathbone Place basement in the early 00's. They had the best collection of imported Nintendo stuff - it was an Aladdin's cave. Having just left Uni and started working around the area, I gleefully bought as much as my first pay cheques would allow including a US SNES console and many many SFC and US SNES games.
Then suddenly one day the imported stuff was all gone. And not just that - the staff members whom I'd built up a bit of a relationship with vanished as well and I never knew why. I remember asking another grey importer off Carnaby St what had happened and he remained tight lipped for whatever reason!
Would be great if CEX open some retro stores, I always enjoy window shopping their retro wares and even the odd purchase. But I do wonder that their prices would be v high indeed!
Congrats @Damo! Doing essential work there and what an amazing trajectory you've been on since.
The biggest compliment I can give to Hookshot Media is that it very much evokes the same enthusiastic vibe and energy from the classic gaming mags of the 90s so many of us enjoyed reading growing up such as Mean Machines, CVG, Super Play, EDGE! 👏😄
Even though the development of Doom to Quake is well documented, it's both fascinating and sad to hear the stories of development issues from games we played at the time. Especially as we had no idea what was really going on behind the scenes.
Both Masters of Doom and DoomGuy are brilliant reads about the early days of iD and beyond.
Remember back in the day the hype for Quake was the equivalent of GTA6. I'll never forget getting the Ep1 shareware on the cover CD of PC Gamer, and it ran like a dream on my P133! Good times, and whilst I really loved Quake 2 (OMG real time lighting effects!!), it didn't feel the same after Romero left.
Why on earth did I open and play with my games as a child and not have the foresight to keep them cellophane wrapped and pristine in a box for 40 years?! 😂
@h3s That's your POV and it has to be respected, but I can imagine many others including myself who don't feel the same and if their jobs and means to survive in this world are taken over by AI, and they don't have the option to do a phd and hopefully find a job through this, what next for them? Jobs and careers are going to vanish; how are people meant to survive and do a job which can pay the way?
Playing devil's advocate, maybe new jobs opportunities are opened up through AI but I personally can't see that as all the current evidence points to jobs being lost and needing fewer people.
I'm an artist. Two things;
1- My industry and means to earn a living are under direct threat and I'm seeing it first hand. Never mind the fact that the AI is trained on stolen artwork/literature/films etc without their creators permission. This blatant daylight theft is going to put the people whose art was stolen out of work. Do I really need to say how this is completely unacceptable?
2- I can imagine being an artist and doing the same thing for my whole life.
I love it - it's a passion.
It's about the journey, learning and improving and taking personal pride in overcoming one's initial limitations. Don't take shortcuts and really learn your craft. If I compare where I was 20+ years ago, it's night and day difference and I'm so proud of how I've grown artistically and as a person in this time.
But now we have AI evangelists proclaiming that the 'gatekeepers' of ART have been destroyed and anyone can do it.
No.
There were never gatekeepers preventing people from becoming good at something pre-AI. Only people's laziness and wanting to take shortcuts, which AI is a solution to. All humans (myself included) are lazy to a certain degree, and it's so much easier to take shortcuts rather than spend years trying to get better at something. And then pretend they've created something when they are simply piggybacking off the back of other people's talent and ability.
AI artists are not really creating anything. It's not their work - it's regurgitated from other people's creations. Typing prompts into a program where you don't have 100% granular control over what you're doing is not being an artist. Granted - it's a new different type of art, but it's formed on theft. 'Proper' art that comes from a human being - and that can be something hanging in a national gallery or a scribble by a 5 year old on a piece of paper - has value and worth because it reflects that person's personal ability, views, flaws, experiences. It has soul. AI cannot do that.
But in a capitalist world, where profits matter most, all companies are interested in is making more money and AI enables that. Unless governments step in to regulate this, swathes of people are going to be (and back to your post) out of work and the divide between rich and poor will only get greater as more and more people struggle.
I wonder if all these people saying it doesn't matter and it's inevitable will say the opposite when it affects them personally and takes their jobs?
Not all jobs will be affected - but too many are already being lost through companies chasing greater profits. Because that's what this is really all about. When did creating art become about the quickest route possible and ignore the journey and individualistic expression of each creator? Everything will become the same slop regurgitated.
Then we get onto the fact that GenAI is trained on stolen artwork and people are OK about this? And the environmental impact this is having?!
Even if it is 'simply' background assets, they're still assets which would have previously been designed by a person. That opportunity to work and earn an living, maybe an entry level job to get your foot in the door, is now being taken away all in the name of companies making more money.
Wow that sounds brilliant. Love these exposés of stories from gaming's past. Makes me wonder what revelations from today's gaming landscape will be exposed and written up in 15-20+ years?!
SEGA's advertising for the Megadrive was fantastic - in your face and pushing boundaries. Same for the Genesis in America.
I was initially a Nintendo fanboy but I always loved SEGA's ads and they made Nintendo's look so tame in comparison. The Rik Mayall ones were fine but these were far cooler. SEGA's ads must have worked cos I ended up buying a Megadrive a couple of years after my SNES!
Also @Damo - 'The swave and handsome Jimmy' - surely that's suave!? But then he's so cool he has his own spelling... 😆
I love em both and the original cover is a classic, perfectly capturing the excitement of a new machine and mag launch - although I only just noticed the girl's eyeline isn't looking at the monitor lol.
Super Play up there with the original Mean Machines and Paul Davies era CVG for me. I still have a copy of Issue 1 with the badge attached!
Great to reread this - I'd have loved them to put the SFX chip into every SNES console - that would have really opened the doors to different styles of games that any developer could have made. And solved the SNES' pesky slow processor tsk....
@Lordplops Remaster of Starfox 64 good enough on Switch 2?! Considering how SF64 is a reimagining of SNES StarFox I assume it might be?
A lot of ppl don't seem that happy with this S2 StarFox announcement and it being a remake, but personally I think it looks v cool - played the OG SF64 back in the late 90s and loved it, didn't play the 3DS one so I'm primed and ready!
V cool - fantastic game I adored playing it on Switch. Even my sister liked it as she recognised the Donkey Kong arcade single screen inspiration and it took her back to playing Killer Gorilla on the BBC Micro when we were kids! 😅
Hope they're planning a Playstation port down the line as well.
Total stone cold classic and an early pace setter showing what the Super Famicom could do. That soundtrack!!! 💥💥💥 Those CRT screenshots are burned into my mind (the desert landscape BG in particular), and I also have memories of Rob Swan in CVG eulogising over the game and how he must purchase a SFC!!
+1 for not knowing what wonders awaited in each issue of Mean Machines and CVG and how exciting it was... Once a month a new issue would come out and it was a genuine surprise to see what amazing new games had been released in Japan. The fact that many of these games were more unattainable by being released in other countries sometimes years before they reached our shores made it all the more magical and exciting.
Not having instant access to everything every minute of every day and having to wait a whole month for the next issue was, amazingly, more fun.
Waiting for a game to release or maybe getting it on grey import made it a real event. Good times that ppl of a certain age will never understand!
Love this. When you just didn't know any better, these LCD games were a lot of fun.
Was a big fan of Nintendo's Oil Panic, Mario Bros, Donkey Kong II and Bombsweeper (still got em, and apart from MB boxed and mint! 🤑)
Lower expectations, simpler times.
Love how they've managed to cram so many of the villains into every millimetre of screen estate! Dr Wily, the dragon, the alien, variations on the Robot masters... Good stuff!
@Guru_Larry No - Super Soccer was called Super Formation Soccer in Japan and was made by Human Entertainment. Completely different game but they do look v similar!
I was semi-drunk when I bought mine from what I think was Electronics Boutique on Oxford Street in London? Or was it GAME by then? It was the one next to the 100 Club.
Left a pub early one night (probably the Blue Posts in Soho), EB were still open, I was just the right amount of intoxicated to lose my inhibitions about spending money on a luxury 'naughty' item and some games, and sober enough to know what I wanted and use my credit card!
Good times and no regrets! My eyesight was a lot better then and could see the small dark screen much more easily...
Played it to death on the tube on my daily commute - apologies to the people sitting next to me as I got a bit carried away with MarioKart leaning left and right... 😁
Visually the SNES should be able to do a very close copy of this with it's impressive colour palette and array of native hardware tricks. But I wonder if they will incorporate a DSP chip to help with some of the more taxing sections and avoid slowdown?
@SegaAges The appeal for me and no doubt others is the involvement and views of Jazza and hopefully other members of the team from C+VG/Mean Machines/MegaTech etc. We know he's been speaking to Rich Leadbetter about a possible project so have to assume it's this new magazine and hopefully he and people like Paul Glancey, Gary Harrod, Rad Automatic, Paul Davies and others will get involved.
Whilst you have a collection of 90s gaming mags, it sounds like this will be a retrospective view on games from then with the benefit of 25+ years passing. So it'll be completely different to the mags from back then. Views and opinions change so what might have been considered a great game back then, might not be now and possibly even vice versa.
I'd actually want them to cover games and systems from after 2000 as well...
For me, Jazza leaving for America was the start of a decline in EMAP's magazines as him and others like Rich Leadbetter moved on. There was ofc that brief brilliant Paul Davies era CVG as well before they shot themselves in the foot redesigning the mag. I would love to hear Jazza's and others views on games from the latter part of the 90s and before (yes there's his book but there's always room for more) and hopefully rekindle some of that old Mean Machines magic. I sub to Retro Gamer and enjoy it but a bit of competition can't harm, especially when it's written by the guys who were around at the actual time covering the industry.
The range and quality of games EA produced back in the early 90s was off the chart, especially on Megadrive. It wasn't just updates of sports sims each year either (although this of course started during this period!): Road Rash, F22 Interceptor, Desert Strike, The Immortal, Robocod...
It seemed like every month in Mean Machines the team would be raving about yet another Megagame from EA! A time when companies were willing to take risks and costs weren't so prohibitive it allowed them to do so!
WOW that looks seriously impressive. What an effort, bravo! 👏 Will definitely try this out! Dreams seems like such a massive missed opportunity. It should have come preinstalled on PS5s allowing everyone access to it's creations and tools.
@Neotext Crikey how impatient are you? 20 seconds is nothing. I just booted up my PS5 as a comparison and it was just over 20 seconds from pressing the PS button on the joypad to being able to access the XMB.
Hoo hoo baby. Great review! So glad I kept my preorder and hoping I take delivery before Christmas. Time to purchase some Jap N64 games - I snagged a copy of Diddy Kong Racing yesterday in preparation and now I'm even more excited!
I would love them to do a Simpsons 8 and 16-bit collection, including NES Bart vs Space Mutants and SNES Bart's Nightmare.
I know these games have their (justifiable!) detractors but I had fun with them back in the day, particularly Space Mutants which I was given Christmas '91 (along with Ninja Gaiden!) Despite it's many flaws - hey let's map run and jump to the same button?!? - I love it!
Interesting... this might have happened but I'm slightly sceptical? My spidey sense is tingling that this is just hot air to sound impressive - 30 years on who's going to really question this?!
I just flicked through my copy of Like a Hurricane by ROM and I couldn't see any mention of this in there either. Prior to the SFC release the only rumours I read in the gaming press were reports of SF2 coming to the Mega CD.
Unless very large sums of money were exchanged why would Capcom lock down their biggest hitting title to a machine that didn't have the largest user base in 91/92 and was only succeeding in Japan, failing in American and barely registered in Europe?!
According to Wiki, by 1992 the PC Engine had sold 5.4m units in Japan, whereas the SFC had already sold 7.9m units despite releasing 3 years later. Plus Nintendo completely dominated Japan back then and had a stranglehold over many publishers so them getting temporary exclusivity makes sense. Then again, maybe Capcom used NEC as a pawn to get a higher fee out of Nintendo for this?!
A big reason I hear about Rare Replay not being on consoles other than XBox is that it uses emulation? Is it the same case here and wondering if this has released on Evercade (and sounds bloody brilliant!) could this collection or similar come out on Switch and PS?
I don't own an Evercade and this is the first release on the platform which has piqued my interest but can't justify buying one just for this!
When MS first announced going multi platform, my first thoughts were Rare Replay, having grown up with those games and loving them. As cool as Halo and GoW et al coming to non XBox consoles is, Rare Replay is the one I wanted the most!
Excellent! Never played any of these, and have very vivid memories of reading the Megadrive review of Robocod in the Mean Machines Christmas 91 issue and wanting to play it!
@Sketcz There's no accounting for taste and art is very subjective. Some people will no doubt prefer the look of the Western releases after all. I think Tim Girvin is entitled to feel like it's a job well done tbh - these US releases did the business after all so you cannot argue with the result. He was tailoring the product to the US market and boy did it work.
I do have a soft spot for a lot of Western box art as that's what I grew up with. I think a lot of them are actually quite good - just very different to the Japanese releases. But many are infinitely worse - look at the infamous Megaman/Rockman 1+2 redesigns and you wonder what the hell were they thinking?! Utter dross. Should have just used the Japanese versions.
Reading the interview with Bruce Lowry, it explains the Black Box series of releases so it better reflected the actual game you'd be playing. But I know which ones I would have preferred!
In Europe in the 8/16-bit eras we didn't have a centralised NOE to distribute and release Nintendo products. In the UK we got the Black Box designs (which I actually quite like) but in Scandinavia (and maybe other European countries I'm not sure?) for the NES they used the Japanese artwork formatted onto a vertical box. On a holiday to Denmark I found a Nintendo brochure with all their games and was amazed to see all these different box designs with cool artwork. (Plus SMB3 was released far earlier over there than the UK and this was a rare treat seeing pics from that!)
Nostalgia plays a big part too. On Box Art Brawl many people seem to prefer the boxes they grew up with in their region. Not me - being exposed to Japanese art in mags like CVG and Mean Machines I always preferred these versions.
Also on Box Art Brawl I always laugh when people put in the comments they've chosen the Western version (for eg on a fighting game) purely because it shows someone punching someone else as 'it represents the game better', even though the artwork (for me at least) is crap! As I said, no accounting for taste - the world would be a poorer place if everyone liked the same things.
Japanese artwork isn't as direct in it's messaging and there's definitely more sophistication. There's clearly a cultural difference going on here in the way in which different markets operate and how to connect with people - some countries need to have it very clearly spelled out for them, others less so.
I was so pleased to get the Japanese Super Famicom design and 4 colour logo here in Europe rather than the Lilac Boxy US SNES redesign. I actually don't mind the US design, but the SFC is a sexy curvy bit of kit!
Fascinating read. I've always gravitated towards the Japanese aesthetic on box art and design, especially with the Super Famicom which has far more elegant and tasteful artwork on so many of it's releases. More arty. (I'm pretty much always at odds with the popular vote on Box Art Brawl!)
It's interesting how they felt the need to retailor them to the US market. To my eye, they so often created inferior artwork. Even though the SMB3 NES boxart is iconic, the Famicom release has a stunning image which is far more ambitious and shows more about the game (but it's the wrong format granted). Same for Super MarioWorld - the SFC release is gorgeous and colourful with a mini world image (look at my avatar!) and a map on the back with extra characters, the US version... just Mario and Yoshi and nowhere near as ambitious.
Reading the article this now makes sense - but I definitely prefer the Japanese versions. Look at a game like F-Zero - ghastly airbrushed version for the US compared to a nicely drawn release in Japan. So many other examples (Yoshi's Island - whilst OK for the Western release - is way better on SFC.) Ofc there is good American boxart for NES/SNES and I often felt if it aint broke don't fix it. But they sold a tonne regardless so what do I know?! 🤣
BUT where they did hit a homerun is the GameBoy packaging. It's utterly brilliant and that image is seared in my head after first seeing it at a computer trade show at Earl's Court in 1990. Really captured lightning in a bottle with that one! Plus that grey side bar with GAMEBOY on it - love it.
What a completely brilliant read, thanks @JackGYarwood!
But who on earth are San Serif, releasing the NES pack with TMHT? Never heard of them. I thought at that time after Mattel had been ditched, Bandai had taken over the distribution of the NES in the UK?
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Re: Manic Miner Is Back, But The Trailer Has The Suspicous Stink Of GenAI
Would love a database of games that use GenAI so I can avoid them like the plague.
Re: Mr. Nutz Is The Next 16-Bit Character To Get A Physical Resurrection On SNES And Genesis
I presume the SNES PAL version runs at 50mhz and the NTSC at 60mhz....?!
Re: This Dying Street Fighter II Cart Is A Sobering Reminder That Physical Doesn't Mean Forever
Saw John Linneman post about his Bonk 2 HuCard not working any more and seems to be an issue with more than one of them from other stories and posts...
Been thinking for a while I would one day offload my physical collection and cash in on it as a bit of extra retirement cash. It feels like choosing the right moment to do it before disc rot sets in could be key and it all becomes worthless...
Re: Helmets At The Ready! Namco's Motorbike-Themed Arcade Racer 'Cyber Cycles' Is Making The Jump To Consoles
@Sketcz It just looks so fun, and I've never played it! I first saw tiny pics of it in Edge and always liked the look of it as it had Pilotwings vibes.
I agree would have been great if it had been ported to PS1 and extra content added.
Insta buy for me if it ever gets a release! 🙏
Re: Helmets At The Ready! Namco's Motorbike-Themed Arcade Racer 'Cyber Cycles' Is Making The Jump To Consoles
Really hoping this means we're one release closer to a port of Prop Cycle coming out...
Re: CeX Is Revisiting Its 'Retro-Only' Store Concept And Returning To The World Of Imports, According To New Rumour
@cawley1 Ahh v interesting thanks! Yes I agree quite why selling old retro games should affect them selling the GCN is v odd - but then this is Nintendo so they're just gonna Nintendo on.
I wonder why the entire retro staff vanished as well though? There was a young guy with long hair who ran the department - his name eludes me now. He along with a couple of others were there one week but not the next?!
Re: CeX Is Revisiting Its 'Retro-Only' Store Concept And Returning To The World Of Imports, According To New Rumour
@Jimgamer8 Yeah it was a great scene and such fond memories. I used to regularly haunt the CEX Rathbone Place basement in the early 00's. They had the best collection of imported Nintendo stuff - it was an Aladdin's cave. Having just left Uni and started working around the area, I gleefully bought as much as my first pay cheques would allow including a US SNES console and many many SFC and US SNES games.
Then suddenly one day the imported stuff was all gone. And not just that - the staff members whom I'd built up a bit of a relationship with vanished as well and I never knew why. I remember asking another grey importer off Carnaby St what had happened and he remained tight lipped for whatever reason!
Would be great if CEX open some retro stores, I always enjoy window shopping their retro wares and even the odd purchase. But I do wonder that their prices would be v high indeed!
Re: M2's 'Ganbare Goemon' Collection Hides A Never-Before-Ported Konami Shoot 'Em Up
Fantastic! Assume my preorder is being packaged and winging it's way towards me as I type. Happy days!
Re: Iconic Issues: Retro Gamer #28 (Star Fox) - The Magazine That Changed My Life Forever
Congrats @Damo! Doing essential work there and what an amazing trajectory you've been on since.
The biggest compliment I can give to Hookshot Media is that it very much evokes the same enthusiastic vibe and energy from the classic gaming mags of the 90s so many of us enjoyed reading growing up such as Mean Machines, CVG, Super Play, EDGE! 👏😄
Re: "There Are A Hundred Things We Could Have Done Differently" - Quake's Creators Reflect On The "Grim Cost" Of The Classic FPS
Even though the development of Doom to Quake is well documented, it's both fascinating and sad to hear the stories of development issues from games we played at the time. Especially as we had no idea what was really going on behind the scenes.
Both Masters of Doom and DoomGuy are brilliant reads about the early days of iD and beyond.
Remember back in the day the hype for Quake was the equivalent of GTA6. I'll never forget getting the Ep1 shareware on the cover CD of PC Gamer, and it ran like a dream on my P133! Good times, and whilst I really loved Quake 2 (OMG real time lighting effects!!), it didn't feel the same after Romero left.
Re: FIFA Cover Stars - Every Athlete From 1993 To 2022
Great fun looking through these - the early ones were particularly nice to see and took me right back!
But Leonel Messi? It's LIONEL! 😁🤣
Re: "Not Touched For Nearly 40 Years" - Rare Copy Of Super Mario Bros. Sells For $3 Million
GODDAMNIT.
Why on earth did I open and play with my games as a child and not have the foresight to keep them cellophane wrapped and pristine in a box for 40 years?! 😂
Re: "How Embarrassing" - Sega's Getting Some Serious Blowback For Using GenAI In Crazy Taxi: World Tour
@h3s That's your POV and it has to be respected, but I can imagine many others including myself who don't feel the same and if their jobs and means to survive in this world are taken over by AI, and they don't have the option to do a phd and hopefully find a job through this, what next for them? Jobs and careers are going to vanish; how are people meant to survive and do a job which can pay the way?
Playing devil's advocate, maybe new jobs opportunities are opened up through AI but I personally can't see that as all the current evidence points to jobs being lost and needing fewer people.
I'm an artist. Two things;
1- My industry and means to earn a living are under direct threat and I'm seeing it first hand. Never mind the fact that the AI is trained on stolen artwork/literature/films etc without their creators permission. This blatant daylight theft is going to put the people whose art was stolen out of work. Do I really need to say how this is completely unacceptable?
2- I can imagine being an artist and doing the same thing for my whole life.
I love it - it's a passion.
It's about the journey, learning and improving and taking personal pride in overcoming one's initial limitations. Don't take shortcuts and really learn your craft. If I compare where I was 20+ years ago, it's night and day difference and I'm so proud of how I've grown artistically and as a person in this time.
But now we have AI evangelists proclaiming that the 'gatekeepers' of ART have been destroyed and anyone can do it.
No.
There were never gatekeepers preventing people from becoming good at something pre-AI. Only people's laziness and wanting to take shortcuts, which AI is a solution to. All humans (myself included) are lazy to a certain degree, and it's so much easier to take shortcuts rather than spend years trying to get better at something. And then pretend they've created something when they are simply piggybacking off the back of other people's talent and ability.
AI artists are not really creating anything. It's not their work - it's regurgitated from other people's creations. Typing prompts into a program where you don't have 100% granular control over what you're doing is not being an artist. Granted - it's a new different type of art, but it's formed on theft. 'Proper' art that comes from a human being - and that can be something hanging in a national gallery or a scribble by a 5 year old on a piece of paper - has value and worth because it reflects that person's personal ability, views, flaws, experiences. It has soul. AI cannot do that.
But in a capitalist world, where profits matter most, all companies are interested in is making more money and AI enables that. Unless governments step in to regulate this, swathes of people are going to be (and back to your post) out of work and the divide between rich and poor will only get greater as more and more people struggle.
Re: "How Embarrassing" - Sega's Getting Some Serious Blowback For Using GenAI In Crazy Taxi: World Tour
I wonder if all these people saying it doesn't matter and it's inevitable will say the opposite when it affects them personally and takes their jobs?
Not all jobs will be affected - but too many are already being lost through companies chasing greater profits. Because that's what this is really all about. When did creating art become about the quickest route possible and ignore the journey and individualistic expression of each creator? Everything will become the same slop regurgitated.
Then we get onto the fact that GenAI is trained on stolen artwork and people are OK about this? And the environmental impact this is having?!
Even if it is 'simply' background assets, they're still assets which would have previously been designed by a person. That opportunity to work and earn an living, maybe an entry level job to get your foot in the door, is now being taken away all in the name of companies making more money.
Re: New Book Tells The True Story Of Nintendo's Legal Fight To Establish Who Invented The Video Game
Wow that sounds brilliant.
Love these exposés of stories from gaming's past.
Makes me wonder what revelations from today's gaming landscape will be exposed and written up in 15-20+ years?!
Re: The Making Of: Sega's Cyber Razor Cut - "I Spent The Entire Shoot Expecting It To Explode"
SEGA's advertising for the Megadrive was fantastic - in your face and pushing boundaries. Same for the Genesis in America.
I was initially a Nintendo fanboy but I always loved SEGA's ads and they made Nintendo's look so tame in comparison. The Rik Mayall ones were fine but these were far cooler. SEGA's ads must have worked cos I ended up buying a Megadrive a couple of years after my SNES!
Also @Damo - 'The swave and handsome Jimmy' - surely that's suave!? But then he's so cool he has his own spelling... 😆
Re: "Thought I'd Give It Another Go" - Super Play Artist Wil Overton Reimagines The Debut Issue's Cover
I love em both and the original cover is a classic, perfectly capturing the excitement of a new machine and mag launch - although I only just noticed the girl's eyeline isn't looking at the monitor lol.
Super Play up there with the original Mean Machines and Paul Davies era CVG for me. I still have a copy of Issue 1 with the badge attached!
Re: Interview: "I Thought Of The Biggest Number I Think Of, Which Was A Million Dollars. Then I Doubled It" - Jez San On Argonaut, Nintendo And Star Fox
Great to reread this - I'd have loved them to put the SFX chip into every SNES console - that would have really opened the doors to different styles of games that any developer could have made. And solved the SNES' pesky slow processor tsk....
@Lordplops Remaster of Starfox 64 good enough on Switch 2?! Considering how SF64 is a reimagining of SNES StarFox I assume it might be?
A lot of ppl don't seem that happy with this S2 StarFox announcement and it being a remake, but personally I think it looks v cool - played the OG SF64 back in the late 90s and loved it, didn't play the 3DS one so I'm primed and ready!
Re: The Arcade-Inspired Platformer 'Donut Dodo' Is Coming To The N64, With A Bunch Of New Features
V cool - fantastic game I adored playing it on Switch. Even my sister liked it as she recognised the Donkey Kong arcade single screen inspiration and it took her back to playing Killer Gorilla on the BBC Micro when we were kids! 😅
Hope they're planning a Playstation port down the line as well.
Re: Game Changer: ActRaiser - The SNES Classic That Signalled The Dawn Of A New Generation
Total stone cold classic and an early pace setter showing what the Super Famicom could do. That soundtrack!!! 💥💥💥 Those CRT screenshots are burned into my mind (the desert landscape BG in particular), and I also have memories of Rob Swan in CVG eulogising over the game and how he must purchase a SFC!!
+1 for not knowing what wonders awaited in each issue of Mean Machines and CVG and how exciting it was... Once a month a new issue would come out and it was a genuine surprise to see what amazing new games had been released in Japan. The fact that many of these games were more unattainable by being released in other countries sometimes years before they reached our shores made it all the more magical and exciting.
Not having instant access to everything every minute of every day and having to wait a whole month for the next issue was, amazingly, more fun.
Waiting for a game to release or maybe getting it on grey import made it a real event. Good times that ppl of a certain age will never understand!
Re: SNK's Street Smart And Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden III Come To Consoles This Week
@PKDuckman Excellent - thanks! I would have bought it regardless but great to have both of em! 😁
Re: SNK's Street Smart And Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden III Come To Consoles This Week
Do we get the option of both the Japanese and NA versions of Ninja Gaiden 3?
The Japanese version is much more balanced and fair!
Re: "Almost Completely Re-engineered" - Polymega Gets An Upgrade As 'Remix' Units Complete Mass Production
Still really want one of these - are they available in Europe/UK in any official capacity?
Slightly funny they are saying the last year has been a challenge for production - when hasn't it been a challenge for them?
Re: Obscure Mega Man Game Given The Game Boy Remake "Nobody Asked For"
Love this. When you just didn't know any better, these LCD games were a lot of fun.
Was a big fan of Nintendo's Oil Panic, Mario Bros, Donkey Kong II and Bombsweeper (still got em, and apart from MB boxed and mint! 🤑)
Lower expectations, simpler times.
Love how they've managed to cram so many of the villains into every millimetre of screen estate! Dr Wily, the dragon, the alien, variations on the Robot masters... Good stuff!
Re: Random: The Guy Behind The Disasterous 'SuperSega' Is Back, And He Wants To Sell You A Wooden PC
The snake oil salesman returns! Grabs popcorn bucket. Again.
I wonder if Daniel Ibbertson has put in an order... 😲😉
Re: Two New "Jaleco Sports" Collections Are Out Today, Bringing Even More SNES & NES Games To PS5 & Switch
@Guru_Larry No - Super Soccer was called Super Formation Soccer in Japan and was made by Human Entertainment. Completely different game but they do look v similar!
Re: Anniversary: 25 Years Ago, Nintendo Put SNES Games In The Palm Of Your Hand With The GBA
I was semi-drunk when I bought mine from what I think was Electronics Boutique on Oxford Street in London? Or was it GAME by then? It was the one next to the 100 Club.
Left a pub early one night (probably the Blue Posts in Soho), EB were still open, I was just the right amount of intoxicated to lose my inhibitions about spending money on a luxury 'naughty' item and some games, and sober enough to know what I wanted and use my credit card!
Good times and no regrets! My eyesight was a lot better then and could see the small dark screen much more easily...
Played it to death on the tube on my daily commute - apologies to the people sitting next to me as I got a bit carried away with MarioKart leaning left and right... 😁
Re: Another Set Of Sega Classics Are Being Discontinued On Mobile
...discontinuing support for the "Sega Forever"...
Quite the contradiction in there lol! 😉🤣
Re: Why Should Sega Have All The Fun? Looks Like The SNES Is Getting A Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night Port, Too
Visually the SNES should be able to do a very close copy of this with it's impressive colour palette and array of native hardware tricks. But I wonder if they will incorporate a DSP chip to help with some of the more taxing sections and avoid slowdown?
Re: Julian "Jaz" Rignall Shows Off His Potential Successor To Mean Machines
@SegaAges The appeal for me and no doubt others is the involvement and views of Jazza and hopefully other members of the team from C+VG/Mean Machines/MegaTech etc. We know he's been speaking to Rich Leadbetter about a possible project so have to assume it's this new magazine and hopefully he and people like Paul Glancey, Gary Harrod, Rad Automatic, Paul Davies and others will get involved.
Whilst you have a collection of 90s gaming mags, it sounds like this will be a retrospective view on games from then with the benefit of 25+ years passing. So it'll be completely different to the mags from back then. Views and opinions change so what might have been considered a great game back then, might not be now and possibly even vice versa.
I'd actually want them to cover games and systems from after 2000 as well...
For me, Jazza leaving for America was the start of a decline in EMAP's magazines as him and others like Rich Leadbetter moved on. There was ofc that brief brilliant Paul Davies era CVG as well before they shot themselves in the foot redesigning the mag. I would love to hear Jazza's and others views on games from the latter part of the 90s and before (yes there's his book but there's always room for more) and hopefully rekindle some of that old Mean Machines magic. I sub to Retro Gamer and enjoy it but a bit of competition can't harm, especially when it's written by the guys who were around at the actual time covering the industry.
Re: Julian "Jaz" Rignall Shows Off His Potential Successor To Mean Machines
Wow.
YES PLEASE.
I'd 100% be up for this and back it.
(Hope he reads this as I'm not on social media...!)
Re: "THIS IS THE END" - The Man Behind The Infamous SuperSega Console Finally Admits Defeat
There wasn't enough popcorn in the world to ram into my mouth watching this farce unfold.
Disappointing to hear that people are out of pocket, but it always smelt incredibly fishy and suspect from the very start.
Re: Mortal Kombat, Tekken, & The Man in the High Castle Actor Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa Has Passed Away
What sad news - I especially enjoyed watching him in Man in the High Castle (fantastic show).
RIP and condolences to his friends and family.
Re: "The Most Courageous Thing I Ever Did In My Career" - EA's Founder On Taking On Sega And Winning
The range and quality of games EA produced back in the early 90s was off the chart, especially on Megadrive. It wasn't just updates of sports sims each year either (although this of course started during this period!): Road Rash, F22 Interceptor, Desert Strike, The Immortal, Robocod...
It seemed like every month in Mean Machines the team would be raving about yet another Megagame from EA! A time when companies were willing to take risks and costs weren't so prohibitive it allowed them to do so!
Re: This Banjo-Kazooie Fan Game Took 14 Months & 800+ Hours Of Work, But You'll Need A PS4 Or A PS5 To Play It
WOW that looks seriously impressive. What an effort, bravo! 👏 Will definitely try this out!
Dreams seems like such a massive missed opportunity. It should have come preinstalled on PS5s allowing everyone access to it's creations and tools.
Re: Retro Gamer's Nick Thorpe Has Passed Away
What devastating news. I sub to RG and this will leave a big hole for the team and readers.
RIP and condolences to his family.
Re: Review: Analogue 3D - The Ultimate Way To Play Nintendo 64?
@Neotext Crikey how impatient are you?
20 seconds is nothing. I just booted up my PS5 as a comparison and it was just over 20 seconds from pressing the PS button on the joypad to being able to access the XMB.
Re: Review: Analogue 3D - The Ultimate Way To Play Nintendo 64?
Hoo hoo baby.
Great review!
So glad I kept my preorder and hoping I take delivery before Christmas. Time to purchase some Jap N64 games - I snagged a copy of Diddy Kong Racing yesterday in preparation and now I'm even more excited!
Re: Reviving Acclaim's Old IP Is "Not The Objective" As Some Of It Was "Not Great", Says New CEO
I would love them to do a Simpsons 8 and 16-bit collection, including NES Bart vs Space Mutants and SNES Bart's Nightmare.
I know these games have their (justifiable!) detractors but I had fun with them back in the day, particularly Space Mutants which I was given Christmas '91 (along with Ninja Gaiden!) Despite it's many flaws - hey let's map run and jump to the same button?!? - I love it!
Re: "It Should Have Been Ours" - Street Fighter 2 Was Supposed To Be A TurboGrafx-16 Exclusive, Claims Former TTI President
Interesting... this might have happened but I'm slightly sceptical? My spidey sense is tingling that this is just hot air to sound impressive - 30 years on who's going to really question this?!
I just flicked through my copy of Like a Hurricane by ROM and I couldn't see any mention of this in there either. Prior to the SFC release the only rumours I read in the gaming press were reports of SF2 coming to the Mega CD.
Unless very large sums of money were exchanged why would Capcom lock down their biggest hitting title to a machine that didn't have the largest user base in 91/92 and was only succeeding in Japan, failing in American and barely registered in Europe?!
According to Wiki, by 1992 the PC Engine had sold 5.4m units in Japan, whereas the SFC had already sold 7.9m units despite releasing 3 years later. Plus Nintendo completely dominated Japan back then and had a stranglehold over many publishers so them getting temporary exclusivity makes sense. Then again, maybe Capcom used NEC as a pawn to get a higher fee out of Nintendo for this?!
Re: Review: Rare Collection 1 (Evercade) - 12 Classics From A Legendary British Studio
A big reason I hear about Rare Replay not being on consoles other than XBox is that it uses emulation? Is it the same case here and wondering if this has released on Evercade (and sounds bloody brilliant!) could this collection or similar come out on Switch and PS?
I don't own an Evercade and this is the first release on the platform which has piqued my interest but can't justify buying one just for this!
When MS first announced going multi platform, my first thoughts were Rare Replay, having grown up with those games and loving them. As cool as Halo and GoW et al coming to non XBox consoles is, Rare Replay is the one I wanted the most!
Re: After More Than Half A Decade Of Hype, Sonic Has Finally Arrived On The GX4000 & Amstrad Plus
Very Cool! I actually preferred the SMS version of Sonic 1 over the Megadrive game!
Re: James Pond Is Getting His Own Collection On PC, PS5, Xbox And Switch 2
Excellent!
Never played any of these, and have very vivid memories of reading the Megadrive review of Robocod in the Mean Machines Christmas 91 issue and wanting to play it!
Re: Feature: "This Is Where The Game Truly Begins" - The Secret Weapon Behind Nintendo's Most Iconic Box Art
@BulkSlash 😂😂😂👍
Re: Feature: "This Is Where The Game Truly Begins" - The Secret Weapon Behind Nintendo's Most Iconic Box Art
@Sketcz There's no accounting for taste and art is very subjective. Some people will no doubt prefer the look of the Western releases after all. I think Tim Girvin is entitled to feel like it's a job well done tbh - these US releases did the business after all so you cannot argue with the result. He was tailoring the product to the US market and boy did it work.
I do have a soft spot for a lot of Western box art as that's what I grew up with. I think a lot of them are actually quite good - just very different to the Japanese releases. But many are infinitely worse - look at the infamous Megaman/Rockman 1+2 redesigns and you wonder what the hell were they thinking?! Utter dross. Should have just used the Japanese versions.
Reading the interview with Bruce Lowry, it explains the Black Box series of releases so it better reflected the actual game you'd be playing. But I know which ones I would have preferred!
In Europe in the 8/16-bit eras we didn't have a centralised NOE to distribute and release Nintendo products. In the UK we got the Black Box designs (which I actually quite like) but in Scandinavia (and maybe other European countries I'm not sure?) for the NES they used the Japanese artwork formatted onto a vertical box. On a holiday to Denmark I found a Nintendo brochure with all their games and was amazed to see all these different box designs with cool artwork. (Plus SMB3 was released far earlier over there than the UK and this was a rare treat seeing pics from that!)
Nostalgia plays a big part too. On Box Art Brawl many people seem to prefer the boxes they grew up with in their region. Not me - being exposed to Japanese art in mags like CVG and Mean Machines I always preferred these versions.
Also on Box Art Brawl I always laugh when people put in the comments they've chosen the Western version (for eg on a fighting game) purely because it shows someone punching someone else as 'it represents the game better', even though the artwork (for me at least) is crap! As I said, no accounting for taste - the world would be a poorer place if everyone liked the same things.
Japanese artwork isn't as direct in it's messaging and there's definitely more sophistication. There's clearly a cultural difference going on here in the way in which different markets operate and how to connect with people - some countries need to have it very clearly spelled out for them, others less so.
I was so pleased to get the Japanese Super Famicom design and 4 colour logo here in Europe rather than the Lilac Boxy US SNES redesign. I actually don't mind the US design, but the SFC is a sexy curvy bit of kit!
Re: Feature: "This Is Where The Game Truly Begins" - The Secret Weapon Behind Nintendo's Most Iconic Box Art
Ooof another brilliant article from Jack. 💪
Fascinating read. I've always gravitated towards the Japanese aesthetic on box art and design, especially with the Super Famicom which has far more elegant and tasteful artwork on so many of it's releases. More arty. (I'm pretty much always at odds with the popular vote on Box Art Brawl!)
It's interesting how they felt the need to retailor them to the US market. To my eye, they so often created inferior artwork. Even though the SMB3 NES boxart is iconic, the Famicom release has a stunning image which is far more ambitious and shows more about the game (but it's the wrong format granted). Same for Super MarioWorld - the SFC release is gorgeous and colourful with a mini world image (look at my avatar!) and a map on the back with extra characters, the US version... just Mario and Yoshi and nowhere near as ambitious.
Reading the article this now makes sense - but I definitely prefer the Japanese versions. Look at a game like F-Zero - ghastly airbrushed version for the US compared to a nicely drawn release in Japan. So many other examples (Yoshi's Island - whilst OK for the Western release - is way better on SFC.) Ofc there is good American boxart for NES/SNES and I often felt if it aint broke don't fix it. But they sold a tonne regardless so what do I know?! 🤣
BUT where they did hit a homerun is the GameBoy packaging. It's utterly brilliant and that image is seared in my head after first seeing it at a computer trade show at Earl's Court in 1990. Really captured lightning in a bottle with that one! Plus that grey side bar with GAMEBOY on it - love it.
Re: Nintendo's Ex-Vice President Of Sales Reveals The NES Game They "Couldn't Give Away"
@jwfurness Exactly - when we all moved on to 16 bits and beyond you could pick up so many 8 bit games for pennies... if only we'd known!!! 😅😜
Re: Nintendo's Ex-Vice President Of Sales Reveals The NES Game They "Couldn't Give Away"
And now it's worth an absolute bomb. Dammit I should have bought a copy! 🤣
Re: Interview: "We Can't Say Anything About It Being A Video Game Console" - Meet The Sales Genius Who Helped Launch The NES
What a completely brilliant read, thanks @JackGYarwood!
But who on earth are San Serif, releasing the NES pack with TMHT? Never heard of them. I thought at that time after Mattel had been ditched, Bandai had taken over the distribution of the NES in the UK?
Re: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Is The Next NES Classic To Get A Native SNES Port
@Sketcz 100% 😁😅👍