I always thought GameFreak was at its best outside of the Pokemon mines. Pulseman, Mendel Palace, Drill Dozer, and Bazare de Gozare were truly great, unique titles.
@Sketcz He's not obligated to do any of those things. He's a hobbyist and worked on a project he wanted to. End of story. As per your own argument, players can go for the FDS version or tweaks for the NES version. All else is self-entitlement.
If a hobbyist's largely 1:1 port discourages another hobbyist's ports with bells and whistles, chances are the latter wasn't that motivated to begin with.
Color me impressed if it's not a hoax. Then again, the Saturn could do a lot of great things, and much of what is usually thought of hardware or software capabilities is often muddled, even by official sources at times.
What a terrible loss. I always appreciated how games like Landstalker and the first Shining titles actually carried his designs as closely as possible in pixel art, unlike so many games where design and concept art sometimes don't even match the final product.
I remember seeing that Cavemen device on sale at a shop as a kid; unfortunately, much as I protested, I never got it. It was only a couple of decades later when I got to play one, even if briefly, at a sort of backyard sale. Is it weird that being several decades old, I would still enjoy having one or two of these?
I'm less inclined to think of the Mandela Effect being the culprit, and more of the mind that that's just people's unwavering commitment to misinformation - or rather, "information" passed around by the uninformed - that never is investigated, double-checked, or questioned.
@KingMike Can verify that after finishing the game once and choosing to Start Over, it really doesn't lock the Main Deck doors. I'm fine with it being locked down as per the narrative and the urgency of the situation. But I can't speak for the devs' intention, and can't really say it was an oversight or not. It might just be they wanted the final stretch of the game to be a controlled experience, as per the rest of the game; and that on a replay, that they would simply want players to have a simpler access to the rest of the station if they needed to.
@KingMike Very true: locking Samus into the main Sector seems arbitrary, but the core issue remains: unless we're talking about those very specific situations (such as the meltdown in PYR, which places the entire station at risk) players are free to explore other sectors before moving onto mission objectives. I guess it's easy to dismiss these as "forced linearity"; I just think that, given the pressing issue(s) (the crescendo of the station's decay, the multiple SA-X's that Adam warns about, the X growing increasingly adaptive until that final form), they fit the narrative well. It's really Metroid trying to do something different while keeping the core themes and I think it mostly succeeds.
Hey, I'd almost forgotten Nightmare. That's a pretty singular boss in the series although I think Fusion's version has a pretty demanding hitbox, though.
That's actually an interesting point. I don't think I ever invested much play time in the NewGame; 'll try to load up Fusion as soon as possible and see how it handles that scenario in particular.
The felt linearity in Fusion is more of less an illusion; narratively, finding you cannot go somewhere and must find some other route to keep probing the gameworld is different from being expressly told where to go, but in terms of play, it amounts to the same. Super Metroid might not be "linear" in the false dichotomy people usually use, but has a clear intention regarding progression (not only that, most of the time, you can still explore to find upgrades in other Sectors before heading to the mandatory ones in MF).
Further, it did something to distinguish itself from other Metroids by virtue of the remarkable tension the SA-X brought. A voracious, interesting enemy that also succeeded in being a fantastic exploration of the potential of Samus' darkness; fundamentally, it was Samus without a conscience, only instinct. One could suggest that it finds an analogue in Metroid Prime 2's Dark Samus but by comparison, MP2's take on it felt like an overused, boring enemy that had nothing to say for itself.
It also brilliantly subverts a handful of expectations, things players would take for granted in other games of the series, like: save stations (and the relative safety they bring) being momentarily shut down due to the SA-X's tampering, enemies that mimicked Energy Tanks, or even how weapon upgrades are incremental yet still distinct enough to not need extra inputs through a menu toggle
We could certainly do with more of this; there are still platforms in dire need of preservation and a larger awareness. Hopefully someone gets on it for preservation purposes.
Thank you for the post, guys. I had this finished in 2021 along with other translations but due to some circumstances, these fell through and I only managed to handle data insertion recently. Hopefully, people can enjoy it now on the Super NES.
Oh. Thanks for the mention, folks. That was unexpected.
Yeah, Snowboard Champion isn't the best snowboarding game out there, but it's a nice, 30-minute diversion for the GBC (a platform that still has several untranslated titles, by the way). I think it does two interesting things, however.
First, you need to "power up" in order to perform stunts, and the power up bar will be shown on the interface. The neat thing is it's also shown during an opponent's turn, so if you're feeling unsure of how or when it could be used, the game pretty much gives you this non-verbal hint of how to achieve things. And second, all opponents are prone to failing - they can and will sometimes fail to perform stunts, will trip over themselves or slide out of control. So in one play-through, a rival might play fairly well while in the next, you might gain the upper hand thanks to their fumbling. I never noticed a single instance of rubber banding, though the final, secret rival plays "too well", if you know what I mean.
@UK_Kev You're right, it really would've benefited pretty much the entire library. Oh well. Fortunately there's still some investment from the community, so we can at least expect the occasional port, homebrew, or even hack.
Did they? I generally don't care for audience reactions to anything, so to be honest, I have no idea if they did (but out of curiosity, I'll look into it). It's not hard to imagine why they'd do it, though people in general have a long history of finding amusement in the most unexpected places. I mean, don't most videogame YouTubers make a career out of mocking games without any kind of historical context or feature analysis?
Club Drive usually gets laughed at because it's easy to do so, especially when compared to the likes of Virtua Racing (a favorite of mine, especially the 32X version) or Stunt Race FX. Obviously, it couldn't compare in some areas, but we're still talking about an early 3D, console, mission-based driving game that managed to feature multiple camera angles, a rewind feature, simulated radio stations, and even a bit of experimental (or bonkers) level design. So while it's true titles like Checkered Flag or Power Drive Rally steer closer to arcade racing games, Club Drive really is something on its own. I'd say an extra year with good supervision could've turned it into something really special but that's not the timeline we live in.
@Damo By the way, both the 32X and Jaguar Doom ports got kickass fan treatments (improvement, restored content, etc.). The Jag version I believe was called Doom: Slayer Edition, which brought back Specters, the Spider Mastermind and allowed for music, even. Be sure to check that out if you haven't already.
@Damo No worries. I know the Jaguar gets some flak (sometimes kind of deservedly, sometimes not), and that usually "best of" lists won't consider ports, but the Jag's library sure could use that boost.
First, it's missing the Flashback port - from experience, it's very slightly faster than other home conversions and other than the initial 3D, rotating Conrad, it does not make use of silly 3D movies like the CD-based versions. Also, it's Flashback. Can you play Flashback elsewhere? Sure. You can also play Rayman elsewhere. Were Cannon Fodder, Wolfenstein 3D, Raiden, Worms and Syndicate also omitted because of this?
Second, it's missing Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer, the closest the Jag has to a dungeon crawler RPG. It's not perfect but showcases what the machine could do beyond bare bones space shooters.
Also, while not best in their class, but certainly best in Jaguar, Club Drive and Power Drive Rally are very, very decent racing games.
In The Video Games Textbook (page 98), Brian Wardyga proposes that it outsold the NES in 1988, referencing a 1995 EGM issue (he doesn't specify the issue, but it's issue 70, page 15, in response to some fan letter) - although the comment simply states that "at one time, it was their top-selling system". I distinctly remember a much older issue of EGM making the same or a similar claim, but I no longer have my digital library of scanned mags.
It's also interesting to note that Jeremy Parish has brought this up as well in a now-gone-but-backed-up USGamer article and that Steven Kent (in The Ultimate History of Video Games) also spoke of the PC Engine outselling the Famicom in 1988. On the other hand, NECRetro references a July 1989 issue of VG&CE, where it's stated, quote, "the PC Engine had acquired 50% of new console sales in Japan, outselling all other systems". They provide a link to the page and issue, at least.
On the numbers themselves, my point - that it outsold the NES on its debut - is no fabrication, since the data you provided yourself indicates 500k during its first week (and a total of 600k in 3 months is forwarded by VGSales), versus the NES' inital 450k in 1983, though clearly, several statements of these seem to lack backing numbers. The initial Famicom sales numbers are interesting, because I can't verify if the sales address the time period between its release and the end of 1983, or if it's accounting for a full fiscal year. Did Nintendo and NEC have matching fiscal years, even?
SamuraiNintendo's chart is interesting because it suggests less than a million is not worthy of mention (though in truth, that's Famitsu's take on things) but I've yet to find a verifiable listing of PCE software sales anywhere, even from official sources ("guesstimates" & broken site links are the bread and butter of that topic), while also glossing over japanese industry videogame awards (which some PCE titles eventually won at the time). This reminds of the Academy giving Best Picture and Best Director awards to unrelated people, but I digress.
Also, it had a 16-bit GPU, sure - but it was using an 8-bit processor. I'd argue it was a 3rd generation machine that was marketed during the 4th generation (in fact, the industry started paying more attention to how bit processing power was declared after NEC's weird marketing stance on that). Plus, in Japan, for all intents and purposes, it started as a competitor against the Famicom.
Although it was losing momentum, I also have trouble taking in the saturation argument, because if many who wanted an NES already had one, then sales would peter out... which they did, but we're still talking about a ratio of around 1 million and a half sales per year between '87 and '90. A core tiredness in the market would probably manifest in much lower numbers. That's... what? A little over 6 million new users in 4 years? That's still considerable and respectable for the time.
Consumer fatigue certainly plays a part in market eddies, but considering that the Famicom was just shy of 19.5 million units sold during its lifespan, saturation seems like a pretty weird take. Generally, people don't keep investing in a product if they're tired of it. We could argue many things - such as, was the Famicom losing momentum and either NEC took the opportunity or the release was just fortuitous for them - but Japanese console sales data by month (along with consumer disposition and trends) is something that remains largely impervious to fact-checking (for that time period, anyway).
The fact remains it outsold it on its debut. We can also argue that's not a measure of popularity (even though, like it or not, that is the industry's de facto measure), but then again, how many other companies took on the market leader at the time, with a platform of the same generation, and outsold it on its debut? I'd honestly like to know.
No argument against it being more popular than the MD, of course.
It outsold the Famicom in its '87 debut. It kept on being a best-seller until the Mega Drive was released, then started losing traction when the Super Famicom was released.
I addressed people who are often seen as "historians" but have shown to have neither the background nor the intention of going beyond nostalgia or heresay. It should go without saying these aren't the people who are actually interested.
If there wasn't historic revisionism involved, among the other issues pointed out, Time Extension wouldn't make posts like this. But sure. We can always say there isn't any and it's a merry green land. You do you.
@Razieluigi If your take is that I randomly decided "another Nintendo console" was the crux of the argument, and not that one of the issues with the Nintendo fandom is historic revisionism regarding the platform (hence the example), you might want to read that again.
Nonetheless, it was markedly the same console as the NES, but with the well-known technical advantages: disk saving, AV outputs (better image quality) and custom sound chips, which were put aside to lessen the costs of bringing it overseas. As I said the first time, one can enjoy the NES for what it is, but the fandom goes much further than that, in a manner that obscures history.
Modern day YT historians, largely, aren't historians and veer towards simply, as you say, regurgitating memories and what they've been told; most of their research is based on someone else's videos and wikis. But they're not the only ones to blame. Notice how gaming sites themselves address their own audiences. "This indie title is Zelda meets Mario". "Gun Ninja is a love letter to Contra and Ninja Gaiden". And so on. If the dozens upon dozens of journalistic outlets cannot rise above themselves to provide references and frameworks beyond what they've been told for decades (and what they've been told is supposed to be celebrated above all else), why would their audience do better?
This also ties in something else: videogame historicism and criticism always had a Western-centric bent. Notice, again, the scores of YT videos about how the PC Engine was failure. Except it wasn't: it was far more popular than the NES in Japan. Who is "writing" this history? The "historians", yes.
The NES is celebrated as an unmatched 8-bit system... Yet, the NES itself - and several of its games - were inferior versions of the Famicom Disk System and its games because Nintendo decided to cut their costs for their North American market. Hence titles that lacked certain sound mappers, hence titles that were simply not brought to you because no one ended up localizing them, hence titles with atrocious password systems instead of save features. One can enjoy the NES, its games, and its quirks - but these are largely glossed over whenever its fandom speaks.
Believing that Nintendo is the only one that matters - or the one that matters the most - is a ridiculous perspective, yet observe how it carries on in 2023, and how its underlying fandom and supporters behave, and how the uroboros feeds on itself (and ends up feeding the gaming medium and discourse).
In the end, every fandom will try to impinge their historic revisionism and nostalgia on others. This has always been the case. Videogame history doesn't have a problem with Nintendo, but it does have one with history itself.
I politely disagree. I guess if we're looking at the surface level, the (rudimentary) point and click & asking about topics in dialogue can certainly be found in PC games. But to me, the Genesis version is closer given the (also rudimentary) branching dialogue system, the somewhat open-ended world (non-linear exploration, random mission generation), and a more in-depth character development system - not to mention the lovely ability to hire runners for the short or long term. There's also a whisper of choice and consequence (siding with one criminal organization forever excluding the other) and light role-playing (stats that influence interactions and how to proceed in the game). The SNES version does not get anywhere near that level of depth, which of course might be (or not) trivial to its enjoyment.
Underrated, both at the time of release and nowadays. Along games like Shadowrun, it stands as a pretty good example of adapting more PC-styled mechanics and experiences to consoles. Curiously, the Genesis had more PC-styled games or even PC ports than the SNES, and they were generally good.
@AJB83 I'll be honest, I had no idea it would be appreciated by anyone. I'm glad you liked it, and I'm glad you told me - it actually means a lot to me. Thank you ^_^
This is a neat story, but it just highlights that there's still a lot to find in older games. I have a similar example that didn't affect gameplay but was still curious.
Core Design's Wolfchild was released for a number of platforms: Amiga, SNES, Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear and Mega-CD. The latter, I think, was the best version, with improved level design and a campy soundtrack (but the less said about the intro, the better). But the SCD version was released with a bug. In the Megadrive version, the 2nd level included mountains on the horizon and a scrolling background. The Mega-CD version, based on the Megadrive version, did not include the same. Almost nobody mentioned this in the reviews of the game at the time. Leave it also to the self-proclaimed "retro gaming specialists" who swell YouTube with retrospectives, longplays and overly long videos about the same games over and over never mentioning the obvious. I found this strange. I went to the game code and everything was there: the graphics, the graphics table, everything. But the level simply refused to load all the data into memory. Then I noticed that there was a discrepancy between the data in the ToC (Table of Contents, which in Mega-CD defines where the data sectors are) and the amount of information that was actually read from the declared amount. It was reading less data than it was supposed to. The error was in one single, measly byte. One. Byte. After contacting one of the original devs about this and receiving no answer, I fixed it myself and released a patch on RHDN for all CD versions (US, Euro and Japanese).
I just find it funny that this went unnoticed and unresolved for 28 years, and everyone assumed everything was just okay.
Comments 38
Re: Ephemeral Legend Is An Action-Adventure RPG Inspired By The Game Boy Zelda Titles
I always support indies but time and again, it's depressing to see these studios can only commit to imitation rather than inspiration.
Re: Someone Is Trying To Bring Super Mario 64 To The GBA
"although I can't distribute it with Nintendo's assets, obviously."
Can't wait to play Super Fabio 64 on the GBA.
Re: Google's Wildly Inaccurate Attempt To Celebrate Sonic Causes Complete Confusion
Google can't even use Google to make accurate posts.
Re: Remembering Bushi Seiryuuden, Pokémon Creator Game Freak's Japan-Only SNES RPG
I always thought GameFreak was at its best outside of the Pokemon mines. Pulseman, Mendel Palace, Drill Dozer, and Bazare de Gozare were truly great, unique titles.
Re: Phantasie, Star Command, & More SSI / Mindscape Games Coming To Steam & GOG
Wonderful news, really.
Re: Best Atari Jaguar Games Of All Time
@Lorfarius Damien edited the article after I mentioned it.
https://i.postimg.cc/NMt2bByw/Screenshot-2023-11-29-at-15-24-24-Best-Atari-Jaguar-Games-Of-All-Time.png
It helps to read comments.
Re: A Fanmade SNES Port Of Metroid Is Now Available In Beta Form
@Sketcz He's not obligated to do any of those things. He's a hobbyist and worked on a project he wanted to. End of story. As per your own argument, players can go for the FDS version or tweaks for the NES version. All else is self-entitlement.
If a hobbyist's largely 1:1 port discourages another hobbyist's ports with bells and whistles, chances are the latter wasn't that motivated to begin with.
Re: Hobbyist Developer Claims To Have Got Metal Gear Solid Running On A Sega Saturn
Color me impressed if it's not a hoax. Then again, the Saturn could do a lot of great things, and much of what is usually thought of hardware or software capabilities is often muddled, even by official sources at times.
Re: Shining Force And Landstalker Artist Yoshitaka Tamaki Has Passed Away
What a terrible loss. I always appreciated how games like Landstalker and the first Shining titles actually carried his designs as closely as possible in pixel art, unlike so many games where design and concept art sometimes don't even match the final product.
Re: Flashback: Xbox Got Its Name Because The Other Suggestions Were "F**cking Appalling"
Should've gone with Microsoft Interactive Live Fun.
I'll see myself out.
Re: New Book Investigates The Tabletop Electronic Classics That Got An Entire Generation Gaming
I remember seeing that Cavemen device on sale at a shop as a kid; unfortunately, much as I protested, I never got it. It was only a couple of decades later when I got to play one, even if briefly, at a sort of backyard sale. Is it weird that being several decades old, I would still enjoy having one or two of these?
Re: PS1 Puzzler Devil Dice Was Never A 'Net Yaroze' Title, So Why Does The Internet Think It Was?
I'm less inclined to think of the Mandela Effect being the culprit, and more of the mind that that's just people's unwavering commitment to misinformation - or rather, "information" passed around by the uninformed - that never is investigated, double-checked, or questioned.
Re: Best GBA Games Of All Time
@KingMike Can verify that after finishing the game once and choosing to Start Over, it really doesn't lock the Main Deck doors. I'm fine with it being locked down as per the narrative and the urgency of the situation. But I can't speak for the devs' intention, and can't really say it was an oversight or not. It might just be they wanted the final stretch of the game to be a controlled experience, as per the rest of the game; and that on a replay, that they would simply want players to have a simpler access to the rest of the station if they needed to.
Re: Best GBA Games Of All Time
@KingMike Very true: locking Samus into the main Sector seems arbitrary, but the core issue remains: unless we're talking about those very specific situations (such as the meltdown in PYR, which places the entire station at risk) players are free to explore other sectors before moving onto mission objectives. I guess it's easy to dismiss these as "forced linearity"; I just think that, given the pressing issue(s) (the crescendo of the station's decay, the multiple SA-X's that Adam warns about, the X growing increasingly adaptive until that final form), they fit the narrative well. It's really Metroid trying to do something different while keeping the core themes and I think it mostly succeeds.
Hey, I'd almost forgotten Nightmare. That's a pretty singular boss in the series although I think Fusion's version has a pretty demanding hitbox, though.
That's actually an interesting point. I don't think I ever invested much play time in the NewGame; 'll try to load up Fusion as soon as possible and see how it handles that scenario in particular.
Re: Best GBA Games Of All Time
The felt linearity in Fusion is more of less an illusion; narratively, finding you cannot go somewhere and must find some other route to keep probing the gameworld is different from being expressly told where to go, but in terms of play, it amounts to the same. Super Metroid might not be "linear" in the false dichotomy people usually use, but has a clear intention regarding progression (not only that, most of the time, you can still explore to find upgrades in other Sectors before heading to the mandatory ones in MF).
Further, it did something to distinguish itself from other Metroids by virtue of the remarkable tension the SA-X brought. A voracious, interesting enemy that also succeeded in being a fantastic exploration of the potential of Samus' darkness; fundamentally, it was Samus without a conscience, only instinct. One could suggest that it finds an analogue in Metroid Prime 2's Dark Samus but by comparison, MP2's take on it felt like an overused, boring enemy that had nothing to say for itself.
It also brilliantly subverts a handful of expectations, things players would take for granted in other games of the series, like: save stations (and the relative safety they bring) being momentarily shut down due to the SA-X's tampering, enemies that mimicked Energy Tanks, or even how weapon upgrades are incremental yet still distinct enough to not need extra inputs through a menu toggle
Re: Fancy Owning The Rare Taiwanese Flop Super A'Can? Here's Your Chance
We could certainly do with more of this; there are still platforms in dire need of preservation and a larger awareness. Hopefully someone gets on it for preservation purposes.
Re: Talking Point: What Was Your First Video Gaming Experience?
Right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKyyKVUm5DA
Re: Super Ninja Kun For Super Nintendo Gets New English Fan Translation
Thank you for the post, guys.
I had this finished in 2021 along with other translations but due to some circumstances, these fell through and I only managed to handle data insertion recently.
Hopefully, people can enjoy it now on the Super NES.
Re: Super Ninja Kun For Super Nintendo Gets New English Fan Translation
@Wanderer64 Hope you like it!
Re: This Fun Snowboarding Title For Game Boy Just Got A New Fan Translation
Oh. Thanks for the mention, folks. That was unexpected.
Yeah, Snowboard Champion isn't the best snowboarding game out there, but it's a nice, 30-minute diversion for the GBC (a platform that still has several untranslated titles, by the way). I think it does two interesting things, however.
First, you need to "power up" in order to perform stunts, and the power up bar will be shown on the interface. The neat thing is it's also shown during an opponent's turn, so if you're feeling unsure of how or when it could be used, the game pretty much gives you this non-verbal hint of how to achieve things.
And second, all opponents are prone to failing - they can and will sometimes fail to perform stunts, will trip over themselves or slide out of control. So in one play-through, a rival might play fairly well while in the next, you might gain the upper hand thanks to their fumbling. I never noticed a single instance of rubber banding, though the final, secret rival plays "too well", if you know what I mean.
Re: Three Of Taito's Classic '80s LaserDisc Games Are Coming To Nintendo Switch
Wonderful games, especially Time Gal. Hopefully it gets ported to other platforms.
Not too keen on the new game, but we'll see.
Re: Best Atari Jaguar Games
@UK_Kev
You're right, it really would've benefited pretty much the entire library. Oh well. Fortunately there's still some investment from the community, so we can at least expect the occasional port, homebrew, or even hack.
Re: Best Atari Jaguar Games
@UK_Kev
Did they? I generally don't care for audience reactions to anything, so to be honest, I have no idea if they did (but out of curiosity, I'll look into it). It's not hard to imagine why they'd do it, though people in general have a long history of finding amusement in the most unexpected places. I mean, don't most videogame YouTubers make a career out of mocking games without any kind of historical context or feature analysis?
Club Drive usually gets laughed at because it's easy to do so, especially when compared to the likes of Virtua Racing (a favorite of mine, especially the 32X version) or Stunt Race FX. Obviously, it couldn't compare in some areas, but we're still talking about an early 3D, console, mission-based driving game that managed to feature multiple camera angles, a rewind feature, simulated radio stations, and even a bit of experimental (or bonkers) level design. So while it's true titles like Checkered Flag or Power Drive Rally steer closer to arcade racing games, Club Drive really is something on its own. I'd say an extra year with good supervision could've turned it into something really special but that's not the timeline we live in.
Re: Best Atari Jaguar Games
@Damo By the way, both the 32X and Jaguar Doom ports got kickass fan treatments (improvement, restored content, etc.). The Jag version I believe was called Doom: Slayer Edition, which brought back Specters, the Spider Mastermind and allowed for music, even. Be sure to check that out if you haven't already.
Re: Best Atari Jaguar Games
@Damo No worries. I know the Jaguar gets some flak (sometimes kind of deservedly, sometimes not), and that usually "best of" lists won't consider ports, but the Jag's library sure could use that boost.
Re: Best Atari Jaguar Games
Hmm.
I'll say your list is missing some things.
First, it's missing the Flashback port - from experience, it's very slightly faster than other home conversions and other than the initial 3D, rotating Conrad, it does not make use of silly 3D movies like the CD-based versions. Also, it's Flashback. Can you play Flashback elsewhere? Sure. You can also play Rayman elsewhere. Were Cannon Fodder, Wolfenstein 3D, Raiden, Worms and Syndicate also omitted because of this?
Second, it's missing Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer, the closest the Jag has to a dungeon crawler RPG. It's not perfect but showcases what the machine could do beyond bare bones space shooters.
Also, while not best in their class, but certainly best in Jaguar, Club Drive and Power Drive Rally are very, very decent racing games.
Re: Talking Point: Does Video Game History Have A "Nintendo" Problem?
@Yojimbo
Honestly, neither side seems entirely correct.
In The Video Games Textbook (page 98), Brian Wardyga proposes that it outsold the NES in 1988, referencing a 1995 EGM issue (he doesn't specify the issue, but it's issue 70, page 15, in response to some fan letter) - although the comment simply states that "at one time, it was their top-selling system". I distinctly remember a much older issue of EGM making the same or a similar claim, but I no longer have my digital library of scanned mags.
https://books.google.pt/books?id=u-O6EAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA98&lpg=RA1-PA98&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false
It's also interesting to note that Jeremy Parish has brought this up as well in a now-gone-but-backed-up USGamer article and that Steven Kent (in The Ultimate History of Video Games) also spoke of the PC Engine outselling the Famicom in 1988. On the other hand, NECRetro references a July 1989 issue of VG&CE, where it's stated, quote, "the PC Engine had acquired 50% of new console sales in Japan, outselling all other systems". They provide a link to the page and issue, at least.
https://necretro.org/index.php?title=File:VG%26CE_US_06.pdf&page=19
http://web.archive.org/web/20221116181301/https://www.usgamer.net/articles/turbografx-16-at-25-remembering-the-little-pc-engine-that-could
On the numbers themselves, my point - that it outsold the NES on its debut - is no fabrication, since the data you provided yourself indicates 500k during its first week (and a total of 600k in 3 months is forwarded by VGSales), versus the NES' inital 450k in 1983, though clearly, several statements of these seem to lack backing numbers. The initial Famicom sales numbers are interesting, because I can't verify if the sales address the time period between its release and the end of 1983, or if it's accounting for a full fiscal year. Did Nintendo and NEC have matching fiscal years, even?
SamuraiNintendo's chart is interesting because it suggests less than a million is not worthy of mention (though in truth, that's Famitsu's take on things) but I've yet to find a verifiable listing of PCE software sales anywhere, even from official sources ("guesstimates" & broken site links are the bread and butter of that topic), while also glossing over japanese industry videogame awards (which some PCE titles eventually won at the time). This reminds of the Academy giving Best Picture and Best Director awards to unrelated people, but I digress.
Also, it had a 16-bit GPU, sure - but it was using an 8-bit processor. I'd argue it was a 3rd generation machine that was marketed during the 4th generation (in fact, the industry started paying more attention to how bit processing power was declared after NEC's weird marketing stance on that). Plus, in Japan, for all intents and purposes, it started as a competitor against the Famicom.
Although it was losing momentum, I also have trouble taking in the saturation argument, because if many who wanted an NES already had one, then sales would peter out... which they did, but we're still talking about a ratio of around 1 million and a half sales per year between '87 and '90. A core tiredness in the market would probably manifest in much lower numbers. That's... what? A little over 6 million new users in 4 years? That's still considerable and respectable for the time.
Re: Anniversary: Zelda: Link's Awakening Is 30 Years Old Today
Still one of the best in the series, no doubt.
Re: Sega's Yosuke Okunari Has Written A Book About The Company's History And Consoles
Nice.
I hope an English version is at least considered by the publisher...
Re: Talking Point: Does Video Game History Have A "Nintendo" Problem?
@Yojimbo
Consumer fatigue certainly plays a part in market eddies, but considering that the Famicom was just shy of 19.5 million units sold during its lifespan, saturation seems like a pretty weird take. Generally, people don't keep investing in a product if they're tired of it. We could argue many things - such as, was the Famicom losing momentum and either NEC took the opportunity or the release was just fortuitous for them - but Japanese console sales data by month (along with consumer disposition and trends) is something that remains largely impervious to fact-checking (for that time period, anyway).
The fact remains it outsold it on its debut. We can also argue that's not a measure of popularity (even though, like it or not, that is the industry's de facto measure), but then again, how many other companies took on the market leader at the time, with a platform of the same generation, and outsold it on its debut? I'd honestly like to know.
No argument against it being more popular than the MD, of course.
Re: Talking Point: Does Video Game History Have A "Nintendo" Problem?
@Yojimbo
It outsold the Famicom in its '87 debut. It kept on being a best-seller until the Mega Drive was released, then started losing traction when the Super Famicom was released.
Re: Talking Point: Does Video Game History Have A "Nintendo" Problem?
@Razieluigi
I addressed people who are often seen as "historians" but have shown to have neither the background nor the intention of going beyond nostalgia or heresay. It should go without saying these aren't the people who are actually interested.
If there wasn't historic revisionism involved, among the other issues pointed out, Time Extension wouldn't make posts like this. But sure. We can always say there isn't any and it's a merry green land. You do you.
Re: Talking Point: Does Video Game History Have A "Nintendo" Problem?
@Razieluigi
If your take is that I randomly decided "another Nintendo console" was the crux of the argument, and not that one of the issues with the Nintendo fandom is historic revisionism regarding the platform (hence the example), you might want to read that again.
Nonetheless, it was markedly the same console as the NES, but with the well-known technical advantages: disk saving, AV outputs (better image quality) and custom sound chips, which were put aside to lessen the costs of bringing it overseas. As I said the first time, one can enjoy the NES for what it is, but the fandom goes much further than that, in a manner that obscures history.
Re: Talking Point: Does Video Game History Have A "Nintendo" Problem?
Modern day YT historians, largely, aren't historians and veer towards simply, as you say, regurgitating memories and what they've been told; most of their research is based on someone else's videos and wikis. But they're not the only ones to blame. Notice how gaming sites themselves address their own audiences. "This indie title is Zelda meets Mario". "Gun Ninja is a love letter to Contra and Ninja Gaiden". And so on. If the dozens upon dozens of journalistic outlets cannot rise above themselves to provide references and frameworks beyond what they've been told for decades (and what they've been told is supposed to be celebrated above all else), why would their audience do better?
This also ties in something else: videogame historicism and criticism always had a Western-centric bent. Notice, again, the scores of YT videos about how the PC Engine was failure. Except it wasn't: it was far more popular than the NES in Japan. Who is "writing" this history? The "historians", yes.
The NES is celebrated as an unmatched 8-bit system... Yet, the NES itself - and several of its games - were inferior versions of the Famicom Disk System and its games because Nintendo decided to cut their costs for their North American market. Hence titles that lacked certain sound mappers, hence titles that were simply not brought to you because no one ended up localizing them, hence titles with atrocious password systems instead of save features. One can enjoy the NES, its games, and its quirks - but these are largely glossed over whenever its fandom speaks.
Believing that Nintendo is the only one that matters - or the one that matters the most - is a ridiculous perspective, yet observe how it carries on in 2023, and how its underlying fandom and supporters behave, and how the uroboros feeds on itself (and ends up feeding the gaming medium and discourse).
In the end, every fandom will try to impinge their historic revisionism and nostalgia on others. This has always been the case. Videogame history doesn't have a problem with Nintendo, but it does have one with history itself.
Re: CIBSunday: Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun (Mega Drive)
@Poodlestargenerica
I politely disagree. I guess if we're looking at the surface level, the (rudimentary) point and click & asking about topics in dialogue can certainly be found in PC games. But to me, the Genesis version is closer given the (also rudimentary) branching dialogue system, the somewhat open-ended world (non-linear exploration, random mission generation), and a more in-depth character development system - not to mention the lovely ability to hire runners for the short or long term. There's also a whisper of choice and consequence (siding with one criminal organization forever excluding the other) and light role-playing (stats that influence interactions and how to proceed in the game). The SNES version does not get anywhere near that level of depth, which of course might be (or not) trivial to its enjoyment.
Re: CIBSunday: Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun (Mega Drive)
Underrated, both at the time of release and nowadays. Along games like Shadowrun, it stands as a pretty good example of adapting more PC-styled mechanics and experiences to consoles. Curiously, the Genesis had more PC-styled games or even PC ports than the SNES, and they were generally good.
Re: I Just Fixed This Obscure Unlicensed NES Game
@AJB83 I'll be honest, I had no idea it would be appreciated by anyone. I'm glad you liked it, and I'm glad you told me - it actually means a lot to me. Thank you ^_^
Re: I Just Fixed This Obscure Unlicensed NES Game
This is a neat story, but it just highlights that there's still a lot to find in older games. I have a similar example that didn't affect gameplay but was still curious.
Core Design's Wolfchild was released for a number of platforms: Amiga, SNES, Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear and Mega-CD. The latter, I think, was the best version, with improved level design and a campy soundtrack (but the less said about the intro, the better).
But the SCD version was released with a bug. In the Megadrive version, the 2nd level included mountains on the horizon and a scrolling background. The Mega-CD version, based on the Megadrive version, did not include the same. Almost nobody mentioned this in the reviews of the game at the time. Leave it also to the self-proclaimed "retro gaming specialists" who swell YouTube with retrospectives, longplays and overly long videos about the same games over and over never mentioning the obvious.
I found this strange. I went to the game code and everything was there: the graphics, the graphics table, everything. But the level simply refused to load all the data into memory.
Then I noticed that there was a discrepancy between the data in the ToC (Table of Contents, which in Mega-CD defines where the data sectors are) and the amount of information that was actually read from the declared amount.
It was reading less data than it was supposed to. The error was in one single, measly byte. One. Byte.
After contacting one of the original devs about this and receiving no answer, I fixed it myself and released a patch on RHDN for all CD versions (US, Euro and Japanese).
I just find it funny that this went unnoticed and unresolved for 28 years, and everyone assumed everything was just okay.