Now Playing - December 2018

Dodgem Arena (PlayStation)

Newman Haas Indycar Racing (PlayStation)

Formula One (PlayStation)

Eragon (Game Boy Advance)
Unlike the PSP game which I enjoy greatly, this is a slow generic RPG style game with somewhat action-oriented turn-based combat, you press combos using A and B rather than select your move from a list, so it's like an extremely dumbed down and simplified Legend of Legaia or Xenogears type of system, it's not a bad game but I have fantastic RPGs to play, this has literally nothing that draws me in, it exclusively makes me want to play any of the countless better games that do the same kind of things endlessly better.

DT Racer (PlayStation 2)

Chip Shot Super Pro Golf (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
Played this for Intellivision Day, December 3rd. I was originally planning to play lots of varied games and especially focusing on my favorite, Auto Racing, but I was away and busy most of the day so I didn't have time for that and decided to instead focus on some game I hadn't played that much that I still knew was good, and Chip Shot Super Pro Golf fit that criteria perfectly.
It's a really good golf game, one of if not the best I've ever played.
It's easy to get into and doesn't have any issues like more modern golf games and it's not as limited and basic as older and other contemporary games from back then were either, it's a virtually perfect mix of simple and to the point level of entry with just the right amount of complexity and advanced features to add the necessary depth for it to not get boring over time.

Auto Racing (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
Set a new best time of 7:11 on my favorite track 3 with the red car.

Golf (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
It's almost unplayable because of how the controls fail to emulate the analog disc of the Intellivision controller which is required for the aiming in this game, having only 8 directions to aim forces you to at least double, triple and even quadruple your amount of swings as you simply can't aim where you want and have to zig-zag and divide your swings up with the few directions you can aim in, it takes almost all enjoyment out of the game to say the least. Such a shame.

Chip Shot Super Pro Golf (Intellivision)
With the proper colors it's much easier to see the direction of the incline on the green and where the hole is, unlike in the Intellivision Lives! emulated version on PS2 which fucks up the colors pretty bad for this game in particular.

Soccer (Intellivision)
used it to test if my newly purchased INTV System III worked without any issues, everything seems to be working fine

Pac-Man (Intellivision)

Popeye (Intellivision)

BurgerTime! (Intellivision)

Auto Racing (Intellivision, emulated on PlayStation Portable)
It's embarrassing how insanely much better this emulates than the official Intellivision Lives! version on the stronger PlayStation 2 hardware. This emulator even emulates switching to the 2nd controller, making games like Auto Racing playable as it normally requires both controllers to start the game even in single player mode, while on PS2 you still need two controllers for that.
The emulator isn't perfect and there can be some glitches (especially with emulation speed being too fast, but a quick restart of the emulator fixes that and it only seems to occur after having been awakened from after being in sleep mode) and some games don't seem to work (not sure why but there seem to be some config file that is required by the emulator that I don't have set up properly, I'll look more into that in the future), but for now at least my beloved Auto Racing plays great and it's awesome to be able to play it properly and portable, I love it.

Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
Got some new batteries for my old Game Boy and playing through Super Mario Land a few times is a great way to get back into the Game Boy groove.

Smashing Drive (Game Boy Advance)
Finally getting to play this on real hardware, I've tried it emulated before and it seemed really interesting, it's a really fun arcade style checkpoint race and crash type game with over the top powerups and lots of action. It's a bit on the short side with only 4 levels but they multiple segments to them and each segment has alternate paths and secrets to find. I like it and will continue to look for a console version.

3D Rubik's Cube 2 (flash game on PC)
an excellent Rubik's Cube game for PC made entirely in flash
it had multiple sizes of cubes and full color customization for the different sides so you can get it just right, controls are also good and it plays smoothly even on my weak old PC

Here's a link to the .swf file: 3D Rubik's Cube 2

Night Stalker (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)

Shinobi (3DS)
A lackluster, low budget game in an otherwise great series. Controls are clunky, level design and enemy placement is awful, enemy respawning is annoying, pickups are either completely useless for gameplay (most just give a few points) or useless because they don't give what you need nor want (for example: after segments where you're guaranteed to take damage you get a shuriken throwing powerup or something instead of a health pickup, in other places after you've started a new level or something you get a full health pickup when you already have full health). The parry move that allows you to nullify enemy attacks is both laggy and hard to judge when you're executed, it also has lag frames after so you can't do it with every attack no matter how good you are at the timing, the game makes it completely useless when you're attacked multiple times in short succession, everything else you do also has a lag to it and lag frames after, so you're open to attacks almost constantly and there's no way to make it better, you can't improve your skills to overcome, it's just a bad game design limitation.
It also has shit poor checkpoints and you have to replay enormous parts of levels that are easily big enough to count as levels on their own all in one go, so even when playing on easy where you have infinite continues and the enemies are weaker than on normal or hard, it's still an extremely repetitive chore to play if you just happen to fall down an invisibly hidden insta-death pit after having gone through a whole huge area only to find that nope, there wasn't a single checkpoint anywhere during that place.
The visuals are literally on DS levels with unfiltered textures, low poly 3D detail and aliasing galore (even when turning off the stereoscopic effect), the framerated is also not perfect in stereoscopic mode (as is a common problem on 3DS, sadly) and the game is very dark and enemies and hazards don't stand out at all with little to no contrast from the environment and sometimes they're just plain hidden behind foreground objects making it literally impossible to avoid taking damage from their "suprise motherfucker" attacks, also touch damage on everything: touch an enemy's toe? take full damage as if he cut you with a sword.
All cut scenes are 2D cartoony video, as in 2D animated style and no 3D effects for the 3DS, despite this being a 3DS exclusive. I've played several multiplat games with custom 3DS stuff in them like the pre-rendered cutscenes being rendered with stereoscopic effects, but not in this exclusive 3DS title!
It offers an "easy" mode for beginners of the series that allows infinite continues and weaker enemies, as in normal and hard have limited lives and enemies you have to keep hitting until they die, constantly slowing the game to a crawl and making it artificially annoying that you have to restart the whole game if you run out of lives, it's as bad as old games only this had no excuse as it came out in modern times.

Sub Rebellion (PlayStation 2)
Basically a mix of AquaNox and Armored Core, two of my favorite games ever, so yeah this game is awesome. It's also made by Irem, makers of R-Type, so that's a triple treat right there!

Space Debris (PlayStation)
One of the finest third-person semi-on-rail shooters ever made.

Gaming Purchases - December 2018

01:00 at night from Friday, 30th November to Saturday, December 1st:

Ordered some awesome stuff online, should arrive later next week.
UPDATE: It's Friday 7th today and it still hasn't arrived, maybe next week?
UPDATE: It arrived and I went to pick it up on Saturday the 8th

Intellivision:
INTV System III (console, both hardwired controllers work, power cable and RF cable with RF Game/TV switcher box)
Soccer (complete in box with manual and two overlays)

Game Boy Advance:
Smashing Drive (cartridge only)

PlayStation:
Space Debris (complete in box with manual)

PlayStation 2:
Sub Rebellion (complete in box with manual)

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December 13th:

ordered online today
UPDATE: it arrived in my mailbox on the 18th

PlayStation 2:
a third party Dual Shock 2 replica controller

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December 14th:

at the local GameStop

3DS:
Shinobi (pre-owned)

PlayStation 3:
BlazBlue Calamity Trigger (pre-owned)
The Last of Us (pre-owned)

PlayStation 4:
Redout: Race Faster Than Ever - Lightspeed Edition

Collectibles:
Totaku Collection: WipEout AG-SYS (First Edition)
Starlink: Battle for Atlas - Starship Pack: Pulse (ship) + Volcano (gun attachment) + Calisto "Chase" da Silva (character)

from another store

Electric Bug Zapper Lantern (green)
Mickey Mouse comic + LEGO Star Wars Imperial AT-Hauler ship polybag
LEGO Nexo Knights magazine + Princess Macy with her Thunder Hammer

and from a third store

a small portable battery powered LED light chain (black)
a small regular electric powered LED light chain (black)

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December 20th:

some secondhand finds

DVD:
Aladdin och Rövarnas Konung (Disney)
Barbie i Svansjön
Barbie - Fairytopia
Barbie - En Perfekt Jul
The Bunker (2001)

HDDVD:
King Kong (Peter Jackson)

Vinyl Records:
Bernard & Bianca i Australien (Disney)
Den Lilla Sjöjungfrun (Disney)
Göstas Skiva
Juletid
Juletid
Jul

CD:
Hassan (P3)

Books/Comics:
Hassan (P3)
Kim Possible - Rädda Världen (Disney)
Sabina - Serier för Tjejer (1990)
Sabina - Serier för Tjejer (1991)

Other:
a hand carved alabaster stone egg (made in Italy)
clothing blueprints (five different, women's clothing only, with illustrated art covers)
a 1x2x3 Rubik's Cube (McDonalds, Secret Life of Pets)
a 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube (McDonalds, Minions)
a yo-yo that lights up when it spins (Skittles)
a wallet (Disney's Cars)

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December 21th:

some movies

DVD:
Barbie - Delfiner och Magi
Biet Maya - På nya honungsäventyr
Encounter
Grottmannen Dug
Maze Runner - The Death Cure
Peter Rabbit
The Titan

Bluray:
The Titan