sdelfin

Same here. Save states are an essential feature for me at this point. Rewind is similarly great too. I was intrigued at the idea of fpga gaming when I first heard about it in 2015. As there was no viable hardware for a few years, I just lost interest because software emulation was simply not deficient in any meaningful way for me. I do think fpga is a cool option for people, but I do think most would be better served via software for a number of reasons.

If they made it a movie, I wonder if it might still end up shorter than some of the cut scenes.

Since there are so many myths about emulation and lag that get perpetuated, I determined the lag myself on Android compared to a Linux PC both using Retroarch. I actually gave the Android tests an extra disadvantage by using two different Bluetooth controllers. The result was exactly the same, typically one or two frames of lag depending on the emulator core. This surprised even me because of the Bluetooth, but I wasn't surprised otherwise as I've seen testing that shows, in most cases, there is no additional lag. Provided there's enough CPU headroom, the lag can easily be mitigated to under a frame even with Bluetooth.

I do find it plausible other emulation software on Android would have the lag described, but I have verified it is not an issue on Retroarch, which really is miles better than anything else anyway.

I've heard this explained before and I've always thought it was misguided. The symbols have remained one of my least favorite aspects of PS controllers and the PS brand overall. I give them credit on other things. The controller grips looked really bizarre in 1995, but I saw the benefit after using them. It's especially apparent to me now if I go back to a SNES pad which is too flat by comparison. And the PS1 D-pad was way better than I thought it would be from looking at it. The construction of the controllers was also interesting. But the symbols were much harder for me to wrap my head around as far as remembering where everything is. When you use something like letters or numbers, if you know where one is, you know where the rest of them are by simple deduction. For the symbols, there's extra layers to that process because the symbols are not natural to remember. And what they symbolize does not really matter in practice. The explanation for triangle sounds especially useless. If they really wanted a specific pair of yes/no buttons, they should have just been color coded to differentiate them from the other buttons. And because of those symbols, the yes/no is the opposite in different regions, which demonstrates what a failure the original reasoning was.

It seems like there's a good bit of variation in the quality of DMG Game Boys. My DMG developed screen lines after just a few years and kept developing more as it went. It got pretty bad. Sounds like other units fared much better than mine, which I did take good care of.

@HoyeBoye I went into the comments of that video and the uploader indicated a right-handed version may be coming. It may be worth keeping an eye on that if this does look like something useful for your friend.

I think I've seen the Zeebo once before, but forgot about it. This looks like a version of Double Dragon that deserves to be played by more people. It looks great.

It looks interesting. It kind of reminds me of the Gundam Wing fighting game on the SNES, just because it's giant robots fighting. I was just looking at that game a few days ago, and it's really impressive for the SNES. For this Transformers demonstration, there are some things I like and some things I don't like. I understand that it's a work in progress, but one constructive thing I would mention is that the announcer is already annoying with whatever it's saying mid fight. I think one of the things it says is "counter". I can already tell that the voice samples during the fight can be too much depending on how a round goes. It's easier to get away with when it's the fighters, though Sagat saying "Tiger" all the time in SF2 was meant to be annoying, but when it's the announcer in addition to the fighters, it's harder to get away with it. Less would be more in this case.

@DestructoDisk I will accept that there are those more sensitive. I also think most people overestimate that. I'm not saying you are. But myths and misconceptions persist and seem to be a decade behind reality. So in my case, it's not that I can't feel added lag, but when it's only within a few frames, I can easily adapt. Once I'm calibrated to the game, I won't feel it. It's like how I stopped thinking about HD content on TV when it was new after a few minutes of watching early programs.

But this is all moot in the end. I used this as an opportunity to do some testing on lag mitigation, which I had only previously dabbled in because the games I enjoy already played fantastically. A good setup without lag reduction is already going to have about two or three frames. This is nowhere near unplayable as some of the more dramatic critics would say. But using Retroarch with "run ahead", you can literally reduce it to under a frame. It will display the action on the very next frame. On Android, I couldn't get frame advance to work, so I had to go by feel. With a wired controller, lag was very low. It felt like it was perhaps an additional frame, if at all. With my absolute worst Bluetooth controller, it felt like two to three frames, which felt identical to wired on Linux with "run ahead" turned off.

There are other good reasons to not go with Android for emulation. The fact the hotkeys were selectively working is one. I've had spotty results with wired controllers working with the libretro cores. The audio lag is a real problem, though not always. Sometimes, the convenience is nice, and it's the easiest way for me to play a vertical shooter as far as resolution scaling goes.

Don't get me wrong, I think FPGA is a great option that exists. I was interested in the concept a few years before the Mister was a thing. I prefer software emulation for other reasons that are specific to me, and I love the convenience of save states and rewind. But input lag can now be virtually eliminated in emulation with a good setup, and "run ahead" is very easy to dial in right. Even if it has to be tweaked by core and game, it's a trivial process.

@DestructoDisk I've seen lag testing done on different platforms including Android. Assuming the methodology is correct, there was little to no difference with cores tested with that particular setup. That's not to say it may not be an issue on some specific devices or versions, but I don't think there's generally any additional lag, let alone "heavy" which I am certain I'd feel because I've felt it on TVs without game modes. There is an annoying issue of sound lag sometimes however which is an Android issue. I've personally been able to go back and forth from emulation on a Linux machine to original hardware and it felt exactly the same. And that's without using "run ahead" to reduce lag further. Perhaps my upscaler box, which is old but fast at what it does, added just enough lag to feel the same, but we're still talking about a tiny amount.

I'm definitely well beyond casual and have beaten some rather difficult games via emulation. These are games where heavy lag would either make that painfully difficult or just not enjoyable enough for me to want to do that. So I think things like this can be viable for more than just casual people. I don't know what you feel and don't feel. Maybe you have heightened senses. I don't feel a difference at all. Perhaps it's that I don't have a CRT and that makes a difference. I've also seen claims and conclusions about lag that I knew to be overblown or incorrect because they didn't control the setup(different displays for example) or something like that. Based on my experience, I stand by what I said that claims about lag are overblown. FPGA boxes are beyond what a lot of people need, and that's really what started this conversation and why I joined in. I'd take save states over reduced lag because it's already not a problem for me, and I can still reduce it further if I needed to(which makes Shatterhand harder, somehow).

@ChromaticDracula input lag on emulation is very low and very hard to notice in most games. It's been overstated for years. I'm not saying the other commenter is exaggerating here, as Punch Out is a widely known example of a game where even a tiny amount of input lag makes a big difference because it's a game about recognizing patterns or tells and reacting immediately. While I've had fun with Punch Out as a kid, I'd still gladly leave it behind in favor of having save states. That convenience is too valuable to me. Lag doesn't effect anything I play in any noticeable way.

@LowDefAl I did consider that it may come down to unique titles or maybe licensing as well. I know the FM Towns wasn't a big seller, but the X68000 wasn't either. They're similar in that they were far more capable game machines than the NEC PCs which is why I think a "classic edition" is interesting, at least from an outsider's perspective. There are plenty of games from which to choose, but as you say not many are unique with a bunch of arcade ports and even some ports from the other computers(such as Mad Stalker from the X68000). Still, I'm surprised with some of these other mini systems, so a mini FM Towns doesn't seem crazy.

I know the NEC PC-88 line were the most popular of the Japanese PCs, but after the X68000 mini version last year, I was expecting to see someone do an FM Towns unit first. Fujitsu's platform was more purpose built for games and had a lot of arcade ports like the X68000. But this does make sense since the NEC machines were more widely available and there were more games overall. I'd still like to see an FM Towns version happen.

It's interesting to see that viewpoint on Ridge Racer. I wouldn't be able to play it that way with the camera being locked to the car so that it feels like you're spinning the background as opposed to controlling a car. I find that unpleasant and it might cause motion sickness for those prone to it. I realize it may be a limitation of this modification as opposed to if they built a game from the ground up.

This viewpoint would be helpful for figuring out ideal racing lines.

@LowDefAl By that I meant it's so easy to play Super Mario Bros. elsewhere, and a port to C64 in 2019 is largely useless other than "because they could".

I appreciate seeing these as tech demos. This is more of a challenge to the coder than it is about the game. I think it's cool to see what is possible, even if it will never be anywhere close to the best way to play it. And I'm not a fan of Mario 64, so I don't want to play it at all. It reminds me of getting a demo of Tomb Raider on the GBA which I also thought was really cool. Incidentally, there is a 2D Tomb Raider that isn't bad and is probably better overall. It also reminds me that someone ported Super Mario Bros. to the C64 and there's no good reason for that other than they could, and I'm fine with that.

@mashk I've long thought that Sega's arcade experience with 3D ended up being detrimental to them. There are multiple examples of systems that were designed too soon for good 3D or the companies were just caught flat footed. 3DO and PC-FX come to mind. But back to Sega, their arcade 3D at the time was all done in partnership with Martin Marietta and I wonder if they decided there was no way to do 3D on low-end hardware they could sell as a console in 1994(and in development probably starting in 1992). It may have skewed their expectation of what was possible at the time, and may have also been why they went with quads instead of triangles. Sony was starting from nothing and didn't have the influence of having an arcade arm with expensive hardware. It's just an idea. Sega obviously knew where things were going, but they misread the timing of things.

Reading this, I wonder what it was about the PS1 that appealed to people that were not already into video games. I was already into that, so any further appeal was lost on me.

I kept up with the gaming market back in those days through magazines here and there, and some early gaming sites. I was decently aware of the reality of Saturn at the time, that it was doing quite well in Japan, and even vying for the lead prior to Final Fantasy 7. I knew it had a strong library over there in terms of both quality and quantity. In the US, the library wasn't as robust due to sales, but the library was largely high quality, especially from 1996 forward once they learned from mistakes around the launch period. There were times when I saw things on N64 and especially PS1 and wished it was on Saturn, but I was extremely happy as a Saturn owner at the time and was well aware that it had some unique, though niche, quality titles. I knew then that I made the right choice going with Saturn, and still feel the same way.

Regarding other systems, I eventually picked up a used PS1 after Saturn releases dried up. It was very much a supplemental system to my Saturn and I did enjoy it. There was nothing like Tenchu on Saturn and it was games like that which I appreciated in the PS1 library. The N64 is probably the major system I like the least due to its unbalanced library. Mario 64 was impressive in 1996, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me wish I had one, but the novelty wore off really quickly. I'm glad I didn't get the system. I think I would have been very frustrated with the library as the approach to 3D game design popular during the time wasn't to my taste. Issues in games like Mario 64 that bother me now also would have bothered me then, and did in other games.

Someone earlier mentioned Gamecube, and I also like the Gamecube a lot despite its sales difficulties. The Saturn is similar to the Cube in some ways. The Wii U's life cycle also reminded me of the Saturn a lot. You could question the hardware design and the marketing of the thing, but because of the lack of third-party support, it ended up with a high-quality library.

I think the narrative of the Saturn has changed a lot in recent years. Back in the day, it seemed people simply viewed it as a complete failure, which it wasn't. Now, people are more aware of the quality library and success in Japan. The narrative of its marketing and launch failure in NA are well known at this point. Both Sega and Nintendo made it really easy for Sony in that generation, looking back at it. To me, one of the biggest weaknesses of the Saturn's library in hindsight was also one of its strengths back in the say, which was strong arcade ports, especially 2D games. The problem is that many of those can be easily played elsewhere in their arcade form, but it was great having those games available on the system back in the '90s.

@Diogmites That Spider-Man game also was a big part of why I got the Genesis as well. I did have a friend who got the Genesis earlier in 1991 which allowed me to try Sonic, which I loved. Seeing those Spider-Man screen shots in magazines and catalogs removed any hesitation I had. I was recently thinking of playing it again soon. And I ended up really liking the game and played it quite a lot. They did a great job of making Spider-Man control and move well within the limits of 2D. I also happened to get into comic books that year, so I was very excited for the game, which I thought looked very impressive for the time. I last played it several years ago and still enjoyed it. I wasn't previously aware you can use web to slow Mary Jane's descent at the end and I finally figured out a reliable way to hit the Kingpin.

@GravyThief That's mostly true as I recall, though I think that offer came in very early on. They decided to bring the console to shows to be displayed for people to see it for themselves. They also had it repaired by Ben Heck as it was not functional. It's not necessarily that they simply thought they could get more. And I think that shows that there's a certain amount of hype that goes along with it. That big offer came in right after the system was in the news. I think they knew those offers were as good as they would get.

@Sketcz My guess is simply timing. The retro collecting market has gotten bigger since then drawing in more speculators along with more shill bidders and services to drive prices up before the bubble pops.

I was a very young kid at the time and I remember briefly trying Rastan in an arcade. I didn't do very well, but it was memorable. I was quite surprised when my mom got me the game for the Master System because it was not a special occasion, I didn't know it was on the Master System, and because it was a Taito game for the system(what???). I revisited it. It's a little clunky to go back to at first, but after getting used to it, I still love it. It was one of my most played MS games back in the day. The arcade version is a bit different, and brutal, but I like it too. Both are worth playing.

I've been making the distinction for a couple of years between the two as being "software emulation" and "hardware emulation" because they're both emulation despite what some people say.

I'm partial to software emulation. I was open to the idea of FPGA, but it took so long from learning about it to the time when hardware became available that I, in that time, realized that software emulation had no deficiencies for my situation. It made no sense for me to keep looking for something "better" when I was already very happy. I've noticed that there have been people who vastly overstate the issues with software emulation. I've seen some really tall tales even within recent years. It's not really like that and hasn't been that way for a long time with the right setup.

I recommend software emulation when people get started. It doesn't make sense to me to start with the hardware route because of the added cost if they're just starting and maybe not committed to it yet. You will hear that FPGA requires a lot of effort and tinkering, but software emulation can also be intimidating that way to be fair. I helped a friend out getting started because he found all the settings overwhelming and I knew what mattered and what didn't. In both cases, hardware and software, the options are there for a reason and it's better to have them than not, because things being too simple will often leave out things that are important. Whatever the route, there is going to be some tinkering and a learning curve. It's best to accept that and approach it as a project.

For most stuff, I can't detect any of the issues people bring up for software emulation. The games don't feel off at all to me. The horrific lag is a myth. I have been able to beat some very tough games and 1CC an arcade game or two where lag would make that either impossible or unpleasant to the point where I would not want to. However, in the article, one of the respondents mentioned rhythm games. That is a use case where FPGA would be better because any additional lag, however small, could make a difference. Another game which is famously brought up in that regard is Punch Out as the window of opportunity to react to the game's tells is small to the point where a tiny amount of lag makes a difference. I don't play any of those so I can't expand on that.

It's funny, there are lag-reduction features in software emulation and I tried that a while back on a game I know very well, Shatterhand on the NES. With the reduced lag, the jumping felt way too twitchy. It was a lot harder to control it that way. It's also worth pointing out that a certain amount of lag is built into the games, so reduction can only be taken so far before it's best to just play and enjoy the game for what it is.

I learned early on that third-party controllers were best avoided in the 1980s and 1990s. The few that I used were definitely inferior, though not completely awful. I don't remember which ones those were. It's funny how in more modern times, I've had more issues with official controllers as opposed to third-party ones. And then there's the joy-con drift.

As other have said Mad Catz's arcade sticks were really pretty good. I bought two Tatsunoko vs. Capcom fight sticks. I changed the PCBs in them and plan to add a couple of small side buttons. The first one I got already had Sanwa parts put in. I got the whole thing for an amazing price, especially because of the Sanwa parts. The generic parts they used really weren't that bad, and as far as I can tell, the non-Sanwa joystick is well constructed and can take Sanwa switch PCBs basically making it about equal at that point.

I bought a MOJO, but it was on clearance so it's okay. I just wanted to play around with it and see what it could do. I still have it and it runs fine. It did what I wanted it to do and I might hook it up again depending on my needs. It's decently made as far as the hardware. It came with the CTRLR controller. D-pad was way too stiff, but the analog and buttons felt pretty nice.

@InsaneWade I only ever had one Dual Shock 2 that came with my PS2, and I never liked it. The face buttons were not terribly responsive on mine. I think it was their pressure-sensitivity feature that was the problem. Most of my PS2 gaming I did with a PS1 Dual Shock.

Years ago, I saw an auction for either the first Metal Slug on AES or the whole set including it. Seller wanted a million dollars, which is absurd. More absurd was that it was local pick up only. Makes me think they didn't have the game, and if some sucker did bite at that price, they'd just buy the set for like $20,000 and then have the sucker come to pick it up when it was in hand.

@Kushan Is it possible you're mixing Cybernator up with Metal Warriors? That's common for a few reasons. Metal Warriors does have character portraits.

@KingMike When they were developing the Dreamcast, they had two teams. They were looking at GPUs from NEC and 3DFX. It was 3DFX that publicly commented and caused an issue.

Since the topic of the Genesis sound quality came up here and what its strengths were, I just finished the quest mode in Gauntlet IV yesterday, and that is just fantastic musically.

Stuff like this is cool as an option. I've appreciated having options on the SNES side with MSU-1 hacks. I will say that it does feel a bit odd with some of the replacement soundtracks as there is a mismatch with the visuals. That can happen with early CD games too, but a lot of the games on Sega CD, PC Engine CD, etc used more elaborate synthesizers and electric guitars which still sounded like they fit well the visuals.

I've used MSU-1 hacks in a few cases. I used it for Super Mario All Stars to restore the NES music. The pitch is off in SMB3, but it's overall better in my opinion as the SNES audio is too processed on that one. There are several tracks in Castlevania 4 that I just hate, so I replaced those with stuff from Rondo of Blood. And as good as Turtles in Time is on the SNES, I don't like the music nearly as much as the arcade game and there's a hack that switches it. There are a couple of levels that have no arcade counterparts, but they're among the better tracks in the SNES game so it works out well enough.. There are Genesis versions of those tracks in FM sound, but I haven't yet looked into if I could add them in. Those are the kinds of uses I like for stuff like this.

@MSaturn Video guides are more time consuming, but I've gotten plenty of benefit from them. It depends on the context whether a written guide or a video guide is more helpful. Sometimes, seeing a technique in action is what's needed, and it's helpful in situations that involve navigation. I just played through Gauntlet 4, and had to consult video a few times to help get me going the right way. A text guide would have been useless for that.

@Spider-Kev I've noticed that with controllers that are very slim, when the D-pad inputs are demanding such as with fighting games, I'll experience hand cramps. I've noticed this with original SNES controllers as well. I haven't used any DS in a while, but they're slim enough to likely do that to me as well.

Some elements of the concept sound a bit like Technos' Combatribes, so there's a game to try for a similar vibe as to what they were going for here.

I never did any of this or knew anyone who did. I didn't start importing any games until the end of 1996. I only have a few imports for the MD/Genesis. mostly just to have a couple I really like, but I did pick up the 2020 release of Mad Stalker because I love that game. In order to play it, I opted to play it with the top of the system shell removed. I wasn't going to mangle a vintage Genesis for that.

It's kind of amazing that people mutilated the carts instead of opening the systems and figuring out what to do from there depending on region. I guess people were more afraid or ignorant about opening up a game system, which is funny considering how simple they were. Those cartridge retention things were always a bit silly anyway, so best to just eliminate that. The best cart retention method I remember seeing was the PC Engine.

I'm surprised I had not heard of this, especially since it had a Famicom release. But I've also looked into the libraries of the various computers and don't recall seeing this project, though perhaps it didn't jump out at me. It's a fascinating concept and I love how it's from a time when people could try some crazy, creative ideas which would not make business sense today. That's scary how much he wore himself down to the point of blindness. I wasn't expecting to hear that it lasted several days. I can imagine it's similar for a lot of developers today with the crunch, but even less pleasant due to the sheer scope of projects. This was really interesting to read about.

@Spider-Kev To keep it simple and within the context of gaming, Hall effect refers to using magnetic fields for the purposes of analog control. The Saturn 3D pad and Dreamcast pad used Hall effect controls for the analog. Because it's less mechanically complex than typical analog mechanisms in game controllers, it should be far more durable.

I got my Game Boy probably a year after it came out. I ended up getting it in an unusual way, which is how I've never owned a copy of Tetris. My first game for it was Super Mario Land which I loved then and still love now. A friend of mine got the system earlier on. Getting to try the system for the first time was mind blowing at the time. It was such a step forward from the LCD games of the time. My unit developed dead lines, vertical and horizontal, in the screen after only a few years, unfortunately. It served me well for a while and helped pass the time when I needed it. I'm not as big a fan of the system as others, but I did have great experiences with it, including some favorites such as Gargoyle's Quest, Metroid 2, Final Fantasy Adventure, and Spider-Man(a lot of people hate that one, but I always loved that one), But thanks to the Game Boy, we eventually got the Game Boy Advance, which is one of my favorite systems.

Collecting video games in the 80s while in their 60s? That's pretty cool. Also, incredible foresight to recognize that video games would likely become collector's items. It's easy to see in hindsight, but when all the comic book and baseball card speculation was going on, no one I ever spoke to made the connection that video games would see a similar market develop down the line. It was an expensive thing to do compared to comics and cards due to the higher unit costs.

@Sketcz Yeah, the change in the music is unexpected and it's definitely not to my taste. I wonder if they were following some trends of the time. Even Doom 2 on PC started to go toward more atmospheric music compared to the first game. That might have had an influence. I also wonder if it might have been easier. For 2D platformers and shooters, short music loops were acceptable. As the scope of games got bigger with 3D(faked or real), short loops didn't work as well. For Doom, the musical pieces were more complex and the loops had to be longer, so maybe atmospheric sound was easier. In this case, they wouldn't have to compose new music as much as do new arrangements, so it might not apply — certainly not as much — but that goes back to my initial point about trends at the time.

I looked into Doom 2's soundtrack before posting and it's surprising how different it is. I did detect at least two references to Alice in Chains songs, but the energy level of the soundtrack is toned down from the first game.

This does come across as odd. Granted, Golden Axe isn't a huge property so if you're going to take something in a different direction, there are worse properties to pick. With this being Comedy Central and seeing who is involved, I expect it to be a zany comedy thing. I can't say I'm excited or optimistic about it, but I'll take a look at a trailer when it's ready. It reminds me of Thundercats Roar, which I oddly thought about a couple of days ago as a good example of trying to revive a property in a way that few fans of such a property seemed to want and which was poorly received as I recall.

Stuff like this, among so many other things, is why 3D printing is great. The result is lovely. Might be a good idea to win a race in Super Monaco GP just to make it official!

@KingMike The Genesis version certainly felt less forgiving. The bullets moved faster as I recall. On top of that, I had trouble seeing the shots due to the color choices. That's not a problem I've had that often. Even in Truxton's final stage, I can see the shots easier, and they're orange on an orange background.

@Diogmites And thank you for an interesting reply as well. Just a quick follow up to add context regarding the KB/Kay Bee Toys reference. The reason that's relevant is because when Sega launched the system early, in May of 1995, they had such limited stock of the systems for the initial shipments that they had to pick which store chains would get the system first, and they cut KB out of the deal at that point. As I recall, KB was a strong retail partner for the Genesis, so they were not happy and refused to stock the Saturn for a while, if not completely during its run. That left Sony as the big beneficiary in terms of retail presence(especially since the N64 was not a thing yet). I had a hunch from your post that you had a KB as a main store in your region.

@Diogmites I do think things were more regional back then in the ways you describe. I remember hearing similar things when the TurboGrafx 16 was trying to get a foothold in 1989 and 1990. Some people never heard of it or saw it anywhere. Sega had way better distribution than NEC then. I don't think things had changed much by the mid 1990s. I had and loved the Saturn and I knew 3-5 other people that also had it which I realize must be unusual. That's not counting knowing people online. I think supply issues factored into all this, especially in 1995. And if certain regions had certain stores like KB and not others like Toys R Us, then that further exacerbates that. If distribution was a difficulty, then Sony had a massive advantage that way.

While the 32X wasn't the only problem Sega had with the Saturn, it is a big part of the system's overall failure and is just a great symbol of what was wrong at Sega overall. And the 32X cost Sega money they could have used for marketing. Saving that money could have allowed them to absorb a bit more losses per unit to drop the launch price to 350-375. That along with marketing could have mitigated the PS1 "$299" moment because the PS1 wasn't really $300. Players still needed a game and a memory card which would bring the system up to $370 or so before tax. I do think Sony's approach was better, but Sega wasn't really that far off on price.

@Zeebor15 He was convicted. I thought the same and perhaps the reporting was off. But he was given a suspended prison sentence with a probationary period, so it's possible they can send him to prison still. There was also a fine he had to pay.

@GravyThief My read of it is that they likely got a really good deal at the estate sale and then turned around and sold them as reported here. In that case, the original buyers did hit a jackpot. The final buyers, not so much, but they're probably happy all the same.

Nice bit of trivia. I'm glad that all came together. MUSHA Aleste is an excellent game, and it's amazing it looks so good in four megabits. I know shooters don't need larger ROMs as much, but it still looks way better than other shmups of the time. I love the intro and have shown it to people, though more so to demonstrate the amazing music.

@-wc- SMB3 was just an amazing achievement in game design for its time. There's magic in that game. It's amazing how many ideas and details are in it. I remember back in the day accidentally triggering the white mushroom houses or the coin air ships. Mind blowing.

Zelda is one of those series where I think there's more disagreement among players over which games are best, especially 3D. For example, you didn't get on well with Wind Waker, but the other commenter and I did. Someone above picked Twilight Princess as the best 3D one, and I hate that game. Even Skyward Sword has a fan or two(couldn't resist that one).

Happy anniversary. A friend of mine had the game for the SNES when it was current. I wasn't much into RPGs unless they were called Phantasy Star 4, so I just watched a bit of FF6, but I remember it looking very nice. I always remembered that opening scene. I wouldn't play the game until a bunch of years later and it was the GBA version. Honestly, I lost interest in it about halfway through it. But I've decided to revisit it at some point, and to play the SNES version. I think I may be able to appreciate what the game is more now than I could back in the day.

I believe it was one of the earlier 24-megabit games too.

This was a very good excerpt. It was a cool glimpse into development during an interesting time. Factor 5 always seemed to be near the top of the industry in terms of technical prowess. I liked hearing about their approach to their software development tools and elements of game design.

A couple of things that stood out to me was their view of carts and the surprising(at the time) limitations of the N64. There were always pros and cons to carts for the system. It wasn't a matter of just that CDs were better and that's it. At the time, there were real limitations to CDs as well. The problem is that the industry was largely moving to optical media, so whatever pros the carts had for the N64 were rendered insignificant from a market perspective. But for game development, especially games focused on action without a lot of video cutscenes, carts were very good.

As for the N64 vs. the Playstation, it was hard to design systems that were superior in every way to the competition within time and budget constraints. The N64 has some odd quirks and limitations, such as the ones mentioned above. It also helped that Sony came up with that performance analysis tool, which allowed developers to really reach the limits of the PS1 and be competitive with the N64 technically in some ways. It also shows that even developers expected the N64 to be more than it was. With that said, it definitely had capabilities and features that were ahead of the competition and it was nice to hear how they figured out the best way to use it. Nintendo treating them like a first-party developer was wise.

It's hard to pick a definitive best game of all time. There are so many elements that go into it. Game mechanics have built upon the likes of Ocarina, but many of those newer games are less important. With that said, Ocarina has always been highly regarded, and made a huge impact when it came out, so I can't take issue with it topping the list.

I've thought about this before. Again, there's no way to pick a true definitive best game. I tend to favor Super Mario Bros. 3 as a good pick for greatest game. It was a huge leap forward in game design at the time and set a new standard going forward. It was a very important game and was an amazing experience when it was new and current.