sdelfin

I was also not especially fond of him for the same reasons as other people have already done a good job in listing. I have to say, that congressional hearing on game violence was laughably stupid, despite there being real stakes there. Nintendo's representative there shamelessly tried to use it as a way to market against Sega in a cynical way, but that's another matter. That lieberman said he would ban those games constitutionally sure says a lot, considering there was nothing unconstituitional about them and the required amendment would be difficult to write.

It was definitely a bad time to develop the next-generation systems as the 16-bit era was peaking and then winding down. As the article states, the Saturn's development began in 1991. Even if the bulk of the work happened in 1992, it would still be easy to not see that 3D was the way to go at that time and that 3D that was good enough would even be realistic. If you look at various systems(3D0, Jaguar, PC-FX), it really demonstrates that the consoles were developed in a strange transitional period, much like how the Dreamcast was finalized not long before a large leap in 3D technology.

This reminds me that I really need to try the HAL-developed games for the Game Boy and NES. I had the Master System adaptation of the C64 game. A business simulation with action elements was an odd concept. Somehow, at the age of seven or eight I had a pretty good grasp of it and could reach the last boss. I revisited a bunch of Master System games several years back and this was one of them. I was able to jump right back in without missing a beat despite not having played it for around 30 years or so.

Missing Playdate systems? I hope they catch the crank responsible for this.

@-wc- We're kidding ourselves. Everyone knows if they went with one of those edgy '90s names like BloodPuncher: Puncher of Blood, it would have been way more successful and they would have sold two billion copies.(just joking, of course)

I've always had a soft spot for top-down or isometric racing games. There was one flash racing game I remember enjoying in the early 2000s but I forgot the name. This one definitely looks interesting in that style. As for the scale of the cars, they remind me of the tiny Micro Machines that were micro compared to the regular ones. I do want to see more about how this one plays.

Toaplan's later shooters are great and some of my favorites in the genre. Truxton 2 is punishing, but it plays well, is very pretty, and has great music. I love Grindstormer/V-V (Vee Five). It's one of those games where I knew I'd love it just from looking at it. The V-V version uses a Gradius type upgrade system and is more challenging. Grindstormer uses a more traditional power-up system and bombs. It's not bullet hell, which I'm not into, but it puts a lot of shots on screen. Some of the bosses are really tough, but I'm amazed at how much I improved against them. The Genesis port has issues, but is surprisingly good overall. Dogyuun is also fantastic. I love the gameplay and weapon system. The music is a highlight as well.

I should say that Grindstormer and Dogyuun are challenging, but definitely beatable for people that are not experts(That's what Tatsujin means) compared to the Tatsujin/Truxton games. Though I did run into some bosses that took a while to figure out, but I did.

That once impressive 8.9 million score is pathetic(not really). Do you even Tetris, bro???

Joking aside, it's amazing how much he pushed the score up though. I know how when certain records are shattered, it's a bit of a floodgate opening, but I also have to imagine with these different people setting records rapidly that they were all working on this concurrently.

Interesting story. I'm not especially familiar with Tekken, so I learned things here. I was a Sega and Virtua Fighter in those days. In some ways, I viewed Namco as the enemy in those days, but it was out of respect because they were probably the only company who could go toe to toe with Sega in the arcades then. Much like Capcom and SNK's rivalry, their big fighting franchises are more closely related than it seems as they share creators. Fatal Fury is almost an alternate sequel to Street Fighter, which then spawned more advanced games that truly rivalled Street Fighter 2, and Tekken is like an alternate sequel to Virtua Fighter. It is fitting that Namco would be the ones to do it.

I understand the reservations on going with the name Tekken, as it does not mean anything to English speakers. However, it sounds cool, much like how English was thought of as cool in Japan. Instead of renaming it completely, perhaps calling it Tekken: Iron Fist or something like that would have been the best move. In hindsight, it didn't need such a boost to marketing as the game drew players regardless. But my hypothetical solution would give the word Tekken a meaning, since that what it is said to mean, and then you could drop the subtitle for the sequels since it would be known at that point.

In some ways he's wrong about the Playstation-based System 11 & 12 boards killing the arcades, but he's also right in other ways. They certainly played a role, but it was also inevitable. The perceived advancements in 3D technology was always going to shrink, and we see that in how much smaller the impact is of every new generation of game console. But the System 11 and 12 were not powerful arcade boards. Namco had to limit their games to work within their limits. However, the System 12 provided some impressive results, looking competitive with Virtua Fighter 2 which used much more expensive hardware. But I do think the decline of arcades was also due to fighting games reaching a saturation point and changes to home console games including more complex narratives, the rise of popularity of RPGs worldwide, and games with more hours of content(for better or worse). And in the arcades, I think it was the NAOMI that both extended the viability of arcades a little bit longer due to its versatility and low cost, but also "killed" it as it could surpass Sega's own Model 3 in some metrics, including raw polygon processing. There was no longer any point to custom arcade hardware in most cases, but also no point in home consoles being way behind either.

It's certainly coming along very nicely and is visually impressive. The scaling effect near the beginning needs a bit of cleaning up, but that was really the only issue. Even if it's a placeholder, the music sounds very cool. On his reference to looking for a unique music style for game like this, it makes me think of Bio-Hazard Battle which has such a bizarre soundtrack, though one that I really enjoyed.

It reminds me of several other racing games of the period, which isn't a bad thing. It makes me think that they should have put out a game called Seta Rally. It does look pretty good and looks to have been pretty far along in development.

@Azuris The battery will last a long longer than a month if they're actually using the system. I think the month without use is incorrect anyway, or there was some issue with that particular system. I don't remember the battery ever being that much of an issue for my Saturn when the system was current.

Zelda 2 was fun when I was a kid even though I didn't know enough to get all that far. It was a Nintendo Power game. I thought it would be tough to get back into because of cryptic elements and perhaps clunky mechanics. But I tried it anyway and I ended up enjoying it more than expected. It has issues which can be mitigated by modern conveniences like save states, so there is room for improvement. To my surprise I enjoyed grinding for experience early on with those skull things(turbo fire is a must) and then being overpowered from very early on. It's hilariously satisfying to one shot some of the early bosses.

Having to deal with loading time of the disk system version does sound unpleasant.

For me it's Shinobi 3. It's such a great game and I play it often. It's amazing it turned out so well as it got off the a rocky start and they scrapped a lot of it. At least they had the right people on it to fix it. I missed its release at first and was surprised to see it when I bought some used games from a friend. That was one of the games I played most on my Nomad.

But the Shinobi series is very good overall. I had some trouble getting into Revenge of Shinobi at first, but I came to appreciate it. I used to watch that game's attract mode in stores before I had a Genesis. It was mesmerizing. I played some Shadow Dancer in the arcades, but I think the Genesis version is a better game and I enjoy that a lot as well. The original arcade Shinobi is still very good. I had the Master System version when it was new and that's worth playing as well. And then the two GG Shinobi games are excellent, and may both be the best games on that platform.

I did play some Shinobi Legions, but after Shinobi 3, something seemed off about it, but it wasn't bad. And I've sampled a bit of the PS2 Shinobi, and its spin off Nightshade. I liked what I experienced of the concept and would like to play more.

Rondo of Blood is my favorite of the classic games before Symphony of the Night, but Bloodlines is a close second for me. Castlevania 4 just did nothing for me which I mention because it felt too different to me in terms of its core feel. Rondo was a return to the look and feel of CV3 but with the ability to jump on and off stairs, which is a huge improvement without harming the level design. I should add that I also enjoy and recommend the X68000 Castlevania entry, which was also on the PS1 as Castlevania Chronicles.

I always forget that Michiru Yamane started on Bloodlines because the music was already very good before that, especially in Rondo. But she fit right in and provided some wonderful tunes for the series, with Bloodlines being a great starting point for her with several stand-out tracks.

Learning about Katamari Damacy when it came out was one of the most pleasant surprises I've ever experienced in gaming. It was such a beautiful concept in every way, including refreshing gameplay in a time when this style of innovation was becoming less common. I didn't have a PS2 then, but I eventually did pick it up. I recall buying the game as a gift for someone before I ever played it because of how well received it was. I still go back to it and have played the PSP edition as well and had a great time with that. I hope to get to most of the other games eventually.

I found the game used a year or two after it came out, along with Phantasy Star 4. It was a good haul. I enjoyed the game then, though it has a few quirks. I think it's a bit tough to get into for some. I had a little trouble getting back into it years later. But I last revisited it several years ago and had a great time. The story is just there to provide context, but I enjoyed the gameplay. Most of all, the music is fantastic. I didn't have much of an issue with the jumping in the isometric view. It took some getting used to, but I adapted to it pretty quickly. I had way more trouble with Landstalker. I prefer Light Crusader to that one.

I'm not as much of a Street Fighter fan as others as I didn't get into some of the things Capcom did, but the games that stuck out to me were Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. For the home ports of SF2, my preferred versions are Special Champion Edition for Mega Drive/Genesis for the CPS1 games, and the SNES version of Super Street Fighter 2.

This was a good read. Interesting to hear, as a layperson, what is involved and some of the things they do to avoid any legal issues, such as creating alternate an alternate BIOS. The description of the basic framework sounds similar to Retroarch's model, with the underlying software handling things like audio and video with the rest being plugins. One of the best things about Retroarch is how it handles the display and how it's standardized across all emulated machines. On consoles, it's easier to streamline things and not need as many options available to the player, assuming the defaults and the options they do allow are well chosen. But it all sounds great, and a fine approach to bringing more retro games to people on modern platforms in a way that can truly be cross platform.

Cowboy Bebop? Can't win 'em all, I guess. Everyone deserves a second chance, so they say.

I would also remove devices that are not true hand-held game platforms if it was my list, but it's fine. I had good times with the original DMG Game Boy and Game Gear. I got really into the Neo Geo Pocket which was a fun ride while it lasted. DS was pretty nice. I got into it very late and picked up a ton of used games. It was a good time on the back of Castlevania alone. Metal Slug 7 was a good time as well. But GBA is the tops for me. I loved that platform. It's probably my favorite Nintendo platform due to the library itself, but also the kind of company Nintendo was at the time.

As others have said, this is one of those moments that had a major impact on gaming and becomes a great "what if" in hindsight. And just to bring Sega into this, as I recall, the Saturn was very competitive with the PS1 in Japan, even outselling it at times, until Final Fantasy 7 changed everything over there just to show its importance. It's amazing to think that it wasn't just about having Square as a third-party, but actually a joint venture which would mean console exclusives. Was Nintendo's leadership so arrogant due to the success of the Super Famicom/Nintendo that they didn't understand Square's importance to continued success? It sounds that way, if they didn't try everything they could to make things work to mitigate the cart limitations.

I also wonder if the DD was conceived because of major developers wanting added storage. Of course, that came too late(after many delays) and was one of Nintendo's bigger missteps. I know it mirrored their strategy with the Famicom Disk System, but their effort with the DD seemed half hearted at best. I also wonder if Nintendo simply misread industry trends sticking with carts. It reminds me of how surprised they were on the difficulties of game development in for HD, 720p and 1080p. They didn't realize that until the Wii U.

I could be remembering wrong, but I think some console-only games advertised "arcade" action as long as it was like other arcade games at the time. Thus, I wouldn't read much into that particular detail. Ninja Gaiden's NES box boasted "biggest arcade hit" even though the NES version was definitely not the arcade game. Maybe Tecmo considered it their biggest arcade hit. But as Blaster Master goes, a linear version would be a cool supplement to the NES game we actually got. Both approaches have their advantages.

@Sketcz That's a wording issue. It's more clearly stated in the newspaper image. 70 percent of the new company's capital was to be from Square. I'm sure it was still a much smaller fraction of their own assets.

He certainly had a signature style for that era of gaming, though I probably wouldn't have made the connection in some cases, especially looking at something like Soldier Blade and then Strider. Soldier Blade is one of my favorites out of these, as a cover and a game. Ex-Ranza is another one that I like a lot here, and it's a fantastic game as well. His scrolling shooter covers are really good in general.

On a side note, promotional art used to be so much more, as others have alluded to here. Now, many promotional images are simply products, meant to be made quickly with little creativity or artistry. That goes for the likes of box art or movie posters. I have a fondness for old, illustrated movie posters. Game box art is similar, though there have been more ups and downs there, I'd say.

@-wc- I agree. I didn't pay a lot of attention to sound in games when I was a kid, but when it was good it made a huge difference, whether I noticed it consciously or not, such as in Mega Man 2. I think for a lot of people, graphics helped sell the game. For me, it's often the music that keeps me coming back for more. Back in the day, good music didn't typically sell a game, but it could help sell the sequel.

@SuntannedDuck2 I believe you're referring to the parallel port. That's the one that was removed for not being used officially. The serial port was for linking two systems together. I always mix those two up as well. I had an Action Replay for my PS1 that used that port. I think Sony got rid of it because that port was commonly used to bypass region lock and copy protection. I have always heard that the parallel port was not fast enough to allow for RAM expansion the way that would be needed for a game like X-Men vs. Street Fighter.

"Womanizing" is probably the wrong term as it's a bit loaded. Plus, with only three films, it wasn't necessarily at a ridiculous level, but it might have stated to become absurd if they had done more films and kept up that trope. But aside from that it's just a simple matter of not wanting to invent a new female character to be a love interest for this game, which is a fair way to look at it. I think in a game, especially back then, it's easier to downplay or eliminate that element since the gameplay would be paramount and not the narrative.

@Fallingshadow I know Super Turbo is famous for its broken difficulty. While it's harder than other games, I've observed that Capcom may have had broken difficulty settings in other games, which would make sense if it was coding problem they didn't catch. I was playing regular Super Street Fighter 2 about a year ago and the difficulty settings in the versions I tried seemed to do nothing, or very little. And I played Strider extensively last summer or so and the difficulty setting in that didn't do anything either. I thought it did at first because item drops seemed lower, but that ended up being random. That's an odd one since it's much earlier, but that one was definitely broken that way, though it's a weird and buggy game in general. Still great fun, though, at least for me.

It's always nice when rare old games see some kind of modern release, especially with a digital option(no stock issues) so that players don't have to pay collector prices. I too have had the cartridge in my hands because I have that one. I was a big GBA guy back in the day. It was my primary platform for basically its whole run. So I kept up with the news and reviews. There wasn't a lot if info about Ninja Five-0 back then, but I did see it covered and carefully read the review on IGN because it seemed like the type of game I'd really like. I got the impression that I shouldn't wait long to pick it up, so I ordered it about a month later when I had the funds. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time. I did really enjoy it and have replayed it a handful of times since.

I kept a few of my GBA boxes. I don't remember if I considered keeping that one, but I didn't.

You say RAM carts, but I say magic. Well, it seemed like magic back then. The Saturn's hardware design was a mixed bag, more so than other consoles, but the ability for memory expansion through the cart slot was one of its best features. I didn't understand CD-based games fully in 1995. I didn't know about the load times and limited data pool. Memory was always going to be an issue that generation, so that expandability was very well considered and it was good to see it used. I remember when X-Men vs. Street Fighter came out in Japan, and it was a bit of a sensation in the online Saturn community, such as it was. And it's easy to see why. Not only was it almost an exact reproduction of the arcade game, as I understand it, it had every frame of animation(more per character than the sequels too), but also very short loading times.

I don't know if it was at all financially viable to bring the 4MB cart to the US to market the Saturn as a good secondary system for near-perfect 2D arcade ports which were enjoying a bit of a resurgence in popularity. It was probably too late for that. Perhaps if the game came out earlier, it could have helped. Obviously, Capcom and Sony thought the game was popular enough to bring a butchered port to the PS1. Who knows. But speaking of the PS1, it's a shame it didn't have memory expansion as it would have been interesting to see what it could do with those later fighting games. While Saturn was better with 2D, the PS1 could do very well within its memory limits. Plus, they would have been able to squeeze more out of the PS1 once that performance tool was developed not long after.

@-wc- It looks like the PS1 was considered a good bit inferior to the N64 version and not as good as other 3D platformers on PS1, so that's probably a part of it. Also, it looks like Piko announced they were doing an updated port for modern systems in 2022(seemingly based on the original version), so it was a project they were already working on. I guess they figured out how to make it work on the Evercade and they could modify it however they needed such as the controls. I wonder if they even have the PS1 version''s code available to them.

@obijuankanoobie Yes. All the Evercade software is officially licensed, so nothing to worry about in terms of legality.

This is interesting. I just watched the full series of Fist of the North Star a bit over a year ago and loved it. This game is based on the second series which isn't as good, but was still enjoyable. Playing an RPG based on it could be fun. I'll have to check it out.

Wouldn't a new Fantasy Zone game be a part four since Super Fantasy Zone exists as the third game in the series? I know some franchises are weird with numbering, so perhaps there's something I don't know here. But it is cool to think about another entry. After all, they revived Aleste, even with a new Game Gear entry, as mentioned in the article.

@Pink_Floyd bottom left is Risky Woods.

Which one is the Spider-Man room? The subtlety has me stumped(sarcasm). And as Spider-Man would say, with great fortune, comes a great need to buy life-sized replicas of pop-culture icons. It may be coincidental, but if he has to sell because of losses having to do with the Amico, then I say it's well deserved. He's always seemed like an unlikeable fellow. The Amico thing just sealed the deal.

@Moroboshi876 @Westlondonmist from the screenshot it looks like Mode 7 on SNES. You wouldn't be able to see an upcoming turn that far ahead of time while still on a straightaway with the Genesis version using line-scrolling effects.

It's funny how it has been fixed, but I still read it as controversial. I was starting to imagine what such takes could be, such as: The Jaguar is a top-5 console, or the SNES was Nintendo's lowest moment, or the N64 was good(I kid, I kid... though I hate it personally).

A warning is far better than the content being unavailable or changed in a way that will also be a problem to many. But always amusing seeing people complaining about so-called trigger warnings go overboard in the offense it causes them.

It's 97 and 98 for me. KOF 97 reignited my enjoyment for 2D fighters after feeling Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat fatigue. A friend of mine really wanted me to see an impressive new arcade game at a local comic shop. The thing is, that game was Street Fighter 3. While the animation was impressive, I just didn't like Capcom's Street Fighter designs at that point. Right next to it was a Neo Geo cabinet with KOF 97 and I fell in love with it. Animation wasn't as good, but it was still really good. Plus, the characters were very stylish. Game looked great in motion too. I didn't even play it. I was happy to just watch. I could tell it played well. I went home and immediately looked for a Saturn release date, which was set and I ordered it as soon as I could. 97 put in place most of the gameplay and presentation elements that 98 used, just better in 98, including bringing back music for all stages. The Dreamcast port is really good aside from the standard DC pad being annoying. Even though it used 3D backgrounds for perspective effects, it's textured so it still looks like the original backgrounds, which is a nice touch as opposed to mismatched elements. So 98 arcade and Dream Match 99 are my picks for the best, but 97 laid the foundation very well.

I agree with those that say it's supposed to be a castle in the distance, but it just looks weird because they put it on the foreground layer because it wouldn't be seen for more than a few moments. But for the sake of being silly, perhaps it's a birdhouse shaped like Dracula's castle, but mini so the birds can enjoy it. And in another silly twist, it's for the birds from Ninja Gaiden.

With regard to the little slogan, it feels like a missed opportunity to put one of the phrases from model 1 Genesis/Mega Drive systems on there. It could have been "AV Intelligent Terminal", "For Multi-Purpose Use" or "High-Definition Graphics".

I just checked out her credits, and it is impressive. I have always thought Capcom's early FM sound and music was a bit lacking, but their improvement in that regard on the CPS1 corresponds with her involvement. It goes without saying, but she did an amazing job with Street Fighter 2. Beyond that, I never have been a fan of King of Dragons due to the way it plays(no combos), but the music in that one is just fantastic. One of the best Capcom soundtracks of the era.

Sometimes "because you can" is a great reason for doing something. Sometimes "because you can" is a terrible reason for doing something. I'm not sure which one of those this is.

That took a turn I didn't expect. I thought he was going to say he had his kids take away his game or system for a while. I like his approach better, making them do the mundane part of a game like that.

I understand the conundrum. Especially with hours like that, even if the work is fulfilling in some way, that's going to grind most people down. And if people don't have any real enjoyment otherwise, for some people the urge will become too strong to resist.

When I looked into the X68000 platform, it became clear that Exact were one of the top developers for it, especially because it offered original titles that didn't originate in the arcades as so many of the system's best games did. Not only did Exact's games look great, they also were well received by those who spoke about the system. All four of the games in this collection are my kind of games and look like a lot of fun. I have gotten a chance to try out a little bit of Aquales and really enjoyed it.

I'm not an authority on the series, but I have gotten a lot of enjoyment from the PSP version and GT4 on PS2 at various points. I really like the way the handling feels on the cars I like to use. I went back to the two PS1 games and didn't find the handling to my taste. I also had some bad experiences with GT1 back in the day. One of those things was the Dual Shock's analog function turning itself off mid race, which apparently was a Polyphony bug, as Omega Boost apparently had the same issue. Very disheartening to lose races because the controller switches back to digital control on the final lap. Back to PS2 and PSP, I found it very rewarding turning off all the driving aids and driving some unruly cars until I got the feel for them, sometimes on less-than-ideal tires or with tire wear in the case of GT4. I do enjoy how demanding it gets to keep things on track.

I recall that Sonic 3 kind of slipped by me. I somehow missed whatever marketing and hype that went with it and didn't seem to know about it until I bought it used off a friend of mine in 1995. I was surprised to see it. I suspect it was a combination of distractions and the time of year. I remember commercials for Sonic & Knuckles later on but didn't really understand it from the commercials. The Sonic 2 marketing was much harder to miss, for contrast.

I hope there's a sequel that looks and plays like Shock Troopers. Seems like a good fit for Jane Austen.

The graphics to me look to take after Zelda 2 the most, but I do see the Super Mario 2/Doki Doki Panic in there as well. Those were in development at roughly the same time, so similarities in the visuals would not be unexpected.