Showing posts with label 3DS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3DS. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Gaming Purchases - November 2019

November 5th:

A day of shopping resulted in some nice finds. GameStop has 50% off all older secondhand games so I picked up everything of interest, including some games for alternative reasons than the game itself, the DS games especially are mostly to use as GBA boxes as I still have some loose GBA cartridges in need of boxes.

DS:
Astrology
Camp Rock The Final Jam
Jonas
MTV FanAttack
Prince of Persia The Fallen King

3DS:
Epic Mickey Power of Illusion
LEGO The Hobbit
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Wii:
Barbie Jet, Set & Style!

PlayStation 3:
Dead Island (Special Edition)
GTA Episodes from Liberty City
The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (including map)

PlayStation Vita:
Fate Extella The Umbral Star
Little Big Planet Vita

also from a hardware store

PC:
Trust USB optical mouse

Other:
Menuett mini fridge (fits exactly a six pack of 33cl soda cans)

also got some other stuff from another store

Diecast Cars:
Hot Wheels 1966 TV series Batmobile (2019 blue flames edition)

Magazines:
2x My Little Pony Friendship is Magic (#11 2019) with polybag containing Trixie Lulamoon with hat and cape

Other:
Halloween clear plastic skull filled with candy

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November 29th:

Went shopping today. Visited the local GameStop and some other places. It was Black Friday but I didn't find that much of interest that was part of the Black Friday sales.

At the local GameStop I got

3DS:
Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers (new)

PlayStation 3:
Grid 2 (no manual)
LEGO Star Wars III The Clone Wars
Sports Champions (2 manuals)
Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
Wet (no manual)

PlayStation 4:
Lumo

PlayStation 4 accessories:
a red GameStop wired PS4 Dual Shock 4 controller (new and sealed)

And at some other places I got

Diecast Cars:
Hot Wheels Justice League Batmobile (2019 blue chrome rims edition)

Decorative Items:
3x 80mm colored diamonds (green, pink, purple)

Collectible Figures:
3x My Happy Horse (blue, pink, purple)

Building Blocks:
Sluban Construct-ion A Tractor
Sluban Construct-ion B Excavator

Other:
alcatel 2003D Dark Grey (mobile phone)
a pair of winter boots

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Now Playing - Januari 2019

CastleVania Symphony of the Night (PlayStation, played on PlayStation Portable)
created a new game file for my annual playthrough of 2019, calling it "MM X IX"

Shinobi (3DS)
playing around a bit in the free play mode with some of the unlockable cheats, it's definitely better but you're still limited to what you've unlocked in the normal mode, so it's not a lot to have fun with until you've suffered through til the end of the main mode and at least unlocked all the levels to free play in

Rouge The Bat in Sonic The Hedgehog (Mega Drive)
A homebrew hack/mod of Sonic The Hedgehog that replaces Sonic with Rouge, fully custom adapted with her own graphics, new unique moves and abilities.
New favorite game of all time? Nah, it'd need an official version and physical release and preferably a new game to go with the new stuff this one has in it, but for what it is, a hack of the original Sonic game, it's exceptionally well made and I love it. As a Rouge fan this is one of the best games I've ever played for sure.

Wacky Races (Mega Drive, emulated prototype ROM)
Easily the best kart racer of the 16-bit generation in the things it gets right, with just a little bit more tweaking and some other minor things it would've been perfect, sadly it was never finished and remains only available as an unreleased prototype ROM, but wow what a prototype, it has FMV, polygonal graphics, excellent sprite quality, lots of high quality animation and tons of high quality sample based audio and on top of it all it plays with a good framerate and high speed, the controls are a bit of a mixed bag but they are functional and better than some games that did get released, so there was great potential in close reach.
It's easily one of the most technically impressive games of the 16-bit generation, and that says a thing or two when you look at some of the best competition for technical achievements that generation had.

Beam Rider (Intellivision)
A very good space shooter with a 3D viewpoint.

The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)
Trying it out on my newly purchased PS3 Slim while also testing the controllers I got for it, all works well, had to safe mode reset it to work though as it was set up for HDMI display so I got no image or sound on my old SDTV at first, thankfully it's easy to do, just hold the power button down until you hear a second beep and it's pretty much done and you can play as normal.
Had to start a new game of course, but I haven't played the game in so long that I was planning on starting over anyway as my old save file from 2015 on my Super Slim is so old now that I don't even remember where I was, I think Fall, but more than that I dunno, I just know I hadn't gotten to Winter yet, at least.

Ratchet & Clank Tools of Destruction (PlayStation 3)
Finally getting into this game, it's pretty good so far, it looks good, plays smoothly, worst thing has been that a lot of side paths and stuff to pick up is missable so extremely easily, so now already I have to go back and redo stuff from all the way back from the beginning of the game as you're not allowed to backtrack in the levels at all, they're linear and almost every step forward blocks your ability to go back even a single room or area, very annoying when you know there was more stuff back there if only you could open that door again that was open without any issues just a second ago or jump back on the platform just over there where you should easily be able to reach, but no, they're permanently blocked off unless you restart the whole level from the start, I really hate that, it makes the levels feel far less impressive and open, they look big and open ended but it's literally just a pretty corridor.

Space Debris (PlayStation)

Cool Boarders (PlayStation)
It's been a long time since I played this one, it's still one of the best snowboarding games ever, easy to get into, fun to play.

Super Sprint (as part of Midway Arcade Origins, played on PlayStation 3)
Spent a few hours getting over 257000 points, it gets repetitive after a while and the emulation is not perfect, but it's enjoyable enough for a gameplay session from time to time.

Saturday, December 1, 2018

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.

Monday, October 1, 2018

Now Playing - Oktober 2018

Tearaway (PlayStation Vita)
Getting further one amazing place at a time. I love this game.

Yoshi's New Island (3DS)
This game still sucks but I wanted to play something on 3DS that I haven't already played that much.
I discovered a new thing about it though, when you die a few times in a row (like I did in a part that was really cheap designed and you just had to make blind faith jumps and there were insta kill spikes you had to know beforehand to stick the landing) it gives you a cheat automatically so you can fly indefinitely in the level you're in, too bad they didn't just design the game better so there weren't tons of cheap deaths, they already give you a fuckton of extra lives, I have over 80 lives and I've died plenty of times due to cheap level design, but they respawn so you can literally die three time and gain 9 lives because there's usually around 3 lives every single section of every level, so die in one section once and you're more likely to gain 2 or 3 lives from that death than actually lose 1, it's ridiculous, and adding that infinite flight cheat powerup they give you when you've died like 3 times in a row, I just may have found the easiest game in the world, I don't see how anyone can not complete this game, which isn't a bad thing in itself, it's great that they have the game balanced so everyone can play it, skilled players and complete beginners, but it would've been infinitely better had they designed a good game first rather than a shitfest or garbage level design with poor and very limited controls and an unfinished art design.
Seriously, the original Yoshi's Island on Super Nintendo and the enhanced GBA version are both ten trillion times better than this crap.

Azure Dreams (PlayStation)
A generic action adventure game with some mixed visuals, the 2D sprites are nice but the 3D environments are quite bland, and there are so many forced tutorials I feel like I've played through an entire game already but I'm still just at the very beginning, what a horrible way to start a game, I sure hope it picks up soon or I won't bother, I got many better games to spend my time with, like Illusion of gaia on Super Nintendo that I began playing last month.

Dreams to Reality (PlayStation)
An odd and obscure 3D platformer with flying mechanics. It doesn't have the best controls or visuals ever, but I kinda like it so far. I don't know how inspired the developers were by the Saturn game Nights into Dreams but they sure have a lot in common.

Pax Corpus (PlayStation)
Really awkward controls in this one but kinda interesting, I like it but I only have a russian version, making it harder to play for sure when you don't know what the fuck is going on.

Psycho Fox (Master System)
Not loving the momentum of the controls, you have to work up speed to make jumps, this is rather cumbersome in a platformer, a good game otherwise. Looks good, sounds good.

Thrill Kill Full Uncensored NTSC-U (PlayStation)
Still my favorite fighting game of all time and still the #1 reason why EA remains at the top of my permanent boycott blacklist.

Monster Racer (PlayStation)
Given the time of year I decided to give this Halloween inspired kart-esque racer another try. I haven't played it more than once when I had just bought it and I didn't think much of it.
I can say now after having played through the main mode that it's really not much more than I initially thought, actually it's nothing more at all, it's exactly what I thought when I played it the first time.
It's still a generic kart racer style game and it's nothing special in any way, the visuals are solid enough and the controls work, the music is completely forgettable and uninspired, the sound effects and as stock as can be and mostly unfitting and lame for what they are suppose to be representing, the levels and playable characters are unoriginal and bland and the powerups are unbalanced, some last way too long while others are completely useless, the only powerup that really matters in the turbo boost as it can make you lap the other opponents, it's literally that overpowered. That's easy mode at least, normal on the other hand is so hard you'll try using every trick available just to not end up in last place, I still haven't gotten better than second last on normal, it's a huge leap in difficulty from easy to normal, to say the least.

Anyway, I decided to record a playthrough of the adventure mode, it's available as a playlist on YouTube by clicking here.

Also here are the individual videos:
Botanic Garden

Port

Mad Jungle

Egypte

Castle

Museum

Mine

Iceberg

Teath Pass

Volcano

Botanic Garden (reverse)

Port (reverse)

Mad Jungle (reverse)

Egypte (reverse)

Castle (reverse)

Museum (reverse)

Mine (reverse)

Iceberg (reverse)

Teath Pass (reverse)

Volcano (reverse)

WILD WILD RACING (PlayStation 2)
The most classic PS2 offroad racer of them all, I love this game and I really needed to play a good racing game after having played so much Monster Racer lately.

I recorded a replay of a random Time Trial race.

LEGO Star Wars III The Clone Wars (3DS)
Just picking up where I left off earlier this year, I haven't gotten very far in this one yet.

Gale Gunner (PlayStation)
Basically Virtual On on PlayStation. I like it. It's a lot better than the N64 equivalent, whatever that was called, I forgot.

S.C.A.R.S. (PlayStation)
Just playing some of my favorite kart racer ever, after having suffered through the deeply flawed mediocrity that is Monster Racer I need to play some good racing games to make up for all the suckiness I've endured, plain and simple.

Bakugan Defenders of the Core (PlayStation Portable)
This game turned 8 years old on the 26th (NTSC-U release) and 29th (PAL release) so I'm celebrating with some awesome monster fighting goodness.

I recorded a battle from the PSP version between Neo Dragonoid and Ingram to celebrate.
(Swedish language)

Auto Racing (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
Playing the emulated version on PS2 using the Intellivision Lives! disc. It's daly not very good, running very slowly even on the fastest speed settings and with really bad audio emulation and audio glitches causing the tire brake noises to get stuck in annoying loops that rape the ears pretty badly around almost every turn.

I managed to record my favorite car on my favorite track though.

Auto Racing (Intellivision)
The difference between the real thing and the PS2 version is almost like playing two entirely different games.

Sonic 3D Flickies' Island (Sonic Mega Collection Plus, PlayStation 2)

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Gaming Purchases - Januari 2018

Januari 9th:

A shopping trip resulted in some nice finds today.

3DS:
Lego Star Wars The Force Awakens (new, sealed)
Yoshi's New Island (new, sealed)

Wii:
Star Wars The Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels

PlayStation Vita:
two Vita 2000 Slim model protection cases (new, sealed)

Xbox 360:
Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
Lego Marvel Super Heroes

Hot Wheels:
Aston Martin 1963 DB5
Batman Live! Batmobile
Dragon Blaster
Flash Drive
Ford Shelby GR-1 Concept (orange with black stripe)
Howlin' Heat
Knight Draggin'
Lamborghini Countach (Tooned series)
Mad Manga
Ratmobile
Speedy Pérez
Steer Clear
Turbot

Transformers:
Dickie Toys - Transformers Robots in Disguise - Metal Series 1 - Sideswipe

Hot Wheels Star Wars:
Boba Fett's Slave I
Millennium Falcon
Rebel Snowspeeder
Tie Fighter
X-Wing Fighter - Red 5
Y-Wing Fighter - Gold Leader

tools and stuff:
several different sizes of extendable/retractable utility knives
a set of pocket sized precision screwdrivers


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Januari 16th:

some second-hand finds

PC:
American McGee's Alice (SoldOut!)

Lego:
Lego 3855 Star Wars Battle of Hoth (board game set)

Toys:
Wonder Woman figure (McDonalds 2016)
Super Mario Kart Mario figure

CD:
Basshunter - Now You're Gone (singel)
Reel 2 Real - I Like To Move It (singel)

DVD:
Barbie presenterar Tummelisa (Barbie presents THumbelina (2009))
Black Beauty (1971)
Disney's Talespin Vol. 1
Haja Läget 2 (The Reef 2)
Kungen och Jag (Anna and the King (1999))
Milo mot Mars (Mars needs moms)
Moses Nilens Prins (Prince of the Nile The Story of Moses (1998))
Sagan om My Little Pony (My Little Pony The Movie (1986))

Anime DVD:
Porco Rosso
Rurouni Kenshin Samurai X Vol. 1 Trust
Rurouni Kenshin Samurai X Vol. 2 Betrayal

Bluray:
Haj Fajv (Seefood)

Books:
Disney's Klassiker Törnrosa
Disney's Tjuren Ferdinand
Det Var En Gång Askungen

and some outlet movies from a movie rental store

DVD:
Monster High Electrified
Spark

Bluray:
Monster High Boo York, Boo York A Monsterrific Musical


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Januari 17th:

picked up some more outlet movies at the movie rental store today as they stocked up with some new ones

DVD:
Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice
Colossal
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Hostel 3
Husdjurens Hemliga Liv (The Secret Life of Pets)
Kong Skull Island
Monster High Scaris Skräckens Stad (Monster High Scaris City of Frights)

Bluray:
Ghost in the Shell (2017)


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Januari 19th:

Ordered a bunch of games online, it's friday today so they should arrive some time next week if everything goes as planned.

from one place I ordered (these arrived the following monday, the 22nd)

Mega Drive:
Battle Frenzy (German, no manual)

Saturn:
Virtual On Cyber Troopers Operation Moongate (Japanese)

3DS:
Skylanders Giants Booster Pack (new)

GameCube:
V-Rally 3

PlayStation:
Aironauts
Cybersled
Firebugs (no manual)
Roswell Conspiracies

PlayStation 2:
Garfield Saving Arlene

Dreamcast:
Tomee High Definition VGA Cable with separate composite RCA plugs for stereo audio (new)

Amiibo:
Splatoon 2-pack - Callie & Marie (new)

and from another place I ordered (these arrived on the following thursday, the 25th)

DS:
Disney's Kim Possible Global Gemini
Lego Batman The Videogame
Lego Star Wars II Original Trilogy (no manual)

3DS:
Lego Star Wars III The Clone Wars

PlayStation:
Colin McRae Rally 2.0 (Platinum)
Syphon Filter 2 (Platinum)

PlayStation 2:
WinX Club
Lego Batman The Videogame
Offroad Extreme!
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Rally Championship
Saint Seiya The Hades
Sonic Mega Collection Plus
Sonic Unleashed
WRC 4 (Platinum)
WRC Rally Evolved


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Januari 23rd:

No games today, just some other second-hand finds.

CD:
Darude - Sandstorm (single)
N.G.3 As Nasty As We Wanna Be

VCD:
Mickey Mouse (Chinese)
Tom & Jerry (Chinese)

DVD:
Disney's Princess Stories Vol. 2 Tales of Friendship
Hocus Pocus
Monster High 13 Wishes
Pixar Short Films Collection Vol. 1
The Fairytaler Vol. 12 H.C. Andersen's The Snow Queen

Bluray:
The Hobbit Smaugs Ödemark (The Desolation of Smaug)

Comics:
Bugs Bunny #1 1995
Carousel #1 2009
Carousel #3 2009
Asterix and the Vikings
Asterix Rose and Pedal
Berts Dagbok
Berts Dagbok
Lilla Fridolf
91an Karlsson
91an Karlsson
Min Häst
Tom & Jerry
Bamse

Books:
Bolt
Peter Pan

Lego:
a Lego bucket with assorted Lego Friends content

Other:
a miniature crystal stone guardian lion figurine


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Januari 25th:

went and picked up the second order of games today (listed above) and also bought some other stuff at a second-hand store

PlayStation 2:
EyeToy Play Astro Zoo (Platinum)

DVD:
Disney's Frozen
Lego Star Wars The Yoda Chronicles Vol. 1
Mamma Mu & Kråkan The Movie

Books:
Barbie on Ski Vacation
Disney's Robin Hood the big ambush
Disney's Aristocats on the run

Other:
glass marbles and stones

and a movie rental store

DVD:
Baby Boss (2017)
Monster Trucks (2017) they had one copy left of the Bluray version of Monster Trucks but my friend saw it first, so I could only get the DVD, maybe I'll find another copy of the Bluray version some day

Now Playing - Januari 2018

Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham (3DS)
beat it 100%

Lego Marvel Avengers (PlayStation Vita)
beat story mode

Lego Batman The Videogame (Xbox 360)
beat it 100%

Lego Star Wars The Force Awakens (PlayStation Vita)

Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes (Xbox 360)
beat it 100%

Lego Star Wars The Force Awakens (3DS)
Now I see why the Vita version was so mediocre and lackluster, it's sadly just a port of the 3DS version rather than a properly made and optimized Vita original version or stationary console port like it could've easily been seeing as the Vita is literally PS3 hardware and there are games on it that surpass even the best technical achievements on the PS3, like the incredibly impressive Killzone Mercenary that far surpasses games like Killzone 2 and 3 and Resistance 2 and 3, four of the very finest shooters the PS3 has to offer! not saying this is a bad game, it's just a shame the low tech 3DS (it's weaker than the old PSP) got a custom version when the vastly more powerful Vita just gets a slightly polished up port.

Yoshi's New Island (3DS)
Unresponsive, stiff, forced motion controls during certain segments, one-way levels that force you to replay the level from the beginning if you missed something, plain and simple this game feels like it was designed in the mid 80s.

Battle Frenzy/Bloodshot (Mega Drive)
An FPS in a similar vein to Wolfenstein 3D only in a sci-fi setting and it has a 2 player split-screen multiplayer mode.
It's a good game for the time and I like it, it gets a bit choppy and the countdown at the end of every level is almost a greater enemy than the nasty killer machines you face along the way.
It's a very tough game but it's cool enough and still enjoyable.
I got the european version titled Battle Frenzy but in the game the title screen still says Bloodshot.

Disney's Kim Possible Global Gemini (DS, played on 3DS)
Very similar to the PS2 game Kim Possible What's the Switch?, it actually does a really good job with the visuals and gameplay alike, its' smooth, responsive, you got good moves and I like the visual style with some flat shaded polygonal stuff, it fits with the cartoony look perfectly and helps the DS keep up a nice level of detail and a brisk framerate at the same time, a very well crafted game overall so far and I'm enjoying it.
UPDATE: The on-rail segments with snowboard and moped suck, they use the touch screen as a pseudo analog steering tablet and it's awkward as fuck to hold the DS/3DS while playing a game that way, those are by far the worst parts of the game so far, also the matrix type levels aren't very good either, it's just a gauntlet of dodging laser beams and a lot of grapple hook swinging, neither of which are this game's strong points, also they look really generic with the same blue grid pattern on everything.

WinX Club (PlayStation 2)
Finally I got hold of this for PS2, I've had the PC version for a few years but as both a fan of WinX Club and an avid console gamer I've always wanted the PS2 version specifically. It's virtually identical to the PC version. A good action platformer and great game for WinX Club fans.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Gaming Purchases - December 2017

December 5th:

me and a friend went to a secondhand shop where I found an old Action Force (EU G.I. Joe) comic from 1989 comic and after we had some pizza we went to a movie store where I picked up the Lego Batman Movie on DVD

DVD:
The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

Comics:
Action Force (1989)

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December 10th:

Finally the USB speakers I ordered a couple weeks ago arrived, despite their very expensive shipping costs they didn't even send the order until a week and they sent me the wrong information in the email so I couldn't log into their site and check the status of my order and the package they sent had nothing to secure it, it was just cardboard wrapped once around it with a string, it's a miracle it came through without major injury, I'm never ordering anything from BRL again.

PC Hardware:
2x USB Speakers Boynq The Vase

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December 12th:

A shopping trip resulted in some on-sale Lego game finds from GameStop and some cheap DVD finds from another store.

3DS:
Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham (pre-owned but complete and in mint condition)

PlayStation Vita:
Lego Marvel Avengers (new)
Lego Star Wars The Force Awakens (new)

DVD:
Julkalendern 1990 - Kurt Olssons Jul
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes - Justice League Vs. Bizarro League
Littlest Pet Shop Vol. 1 - Littlest Pets, Big Adventures
Littlest Pet Shop Vol. 2 - Lights, Camera, Mongoose!
Littlest Pet Shop Vol. 3 - Sweetest Pets

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December 19th:

A quick visit to a second hand shop resulted in some nice finds today.

GameCube:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

PlayStation 2:
Barbie as The Island Princess
Crash of the Titans (promo)

DVD:
Aliens in the Attic
The Ricky Gervais Show - The Complete First Series
Lotus Lantern (Region 3 NTSC)
Kentucky Fried Movie
Disney's Beauty & The Beast - 2 disc Special Edition
South Park - Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Madagascar 3 (new and factory sealed)
The Legend of Korra - Book 3 - Change
Cloudy with a chance for Meatballs
Agent Freddie
Batman Returns
Batman & Robin
Monty Python's A Liar's Autobiography

Comics:
Min Häst
Garfield special
The Phantom
Agent X9
Stål Kalle

Toys:
Micro Machines
Super Mario Bros. McDonald's figures - Mario and Toad
Lego Catwoman mask
a cream white medium-large SAAB plastic model car, older model from the 70s or 80s, not sure

Other:
Minnie Mouse painting
Snow White painting
wooden figure - sitting body-less lady

CD:
Dynamite Dance

Books:
cat books
two small humor books

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December 21th:

Another quick visit to a second hand shop resulted in some more nice finds today.

Mega Drive:
F1 World Championship Edition
LHX Attack Chopper
Super Monaco GP
Urban Strike The Sequel To Jungle Strike

PlayStation 3:
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed II
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Dead Space
F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon

PC:
Asterix & Obelix XXL2 Mission Las Vegum

Portable LCD game:
Brick Game 9999-games-in-1 (blue)

DVD:
10000BC

Other:
Sleeping Beauty wooden tablet
Spanish Dancing Ladies, three, yellow clothes, one in original box, one big and one regular medium size
porcelain bikini pigs, three small, one big piggy bank
pink geisha dancing lady
a couple of small art frames

and I found a couple of movies during a quick stop at a movie shop

DVD:
The Smurfs The Lost Village

Bluray:
Storks

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December 22nd:

a trip to the mall didn't result in any new games today, I almost bought one for PSP but when I saw the line to the register I said nah, I can buy this some other time if they still have it then, I did get some other stuff though

Stuff:
a mobile phone 3,5mm headphone jack LED light to work as a strong extra light when taking photos
a Barbie superhero frog girl, it was so weird I had to buy it, I couldn't leave the store without owning it
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Princess Luna figure
three small Mega Bloks Hot Wheels sets (Chromad, Turbo Nitro Booster and Sting Shot)
two Hot Wheels, one of which was a white Lotus Esprit S1, like the one James Bond had in one of the movies that turned into a submarine in James Bond 007 The Spy Who Loved Me, and a Ford Shelby GR-1 Concept (black with green stripe)

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December 24th:

Today I only got one gift worth mentioning, a Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 7-pack of little mouser robots, I always loved those in the original cartoon but I never got the toys they had back then, so even though I don't like the Nickelodeon reboot of the show I still love that we gota second chance at getting some mouser toys.

Good Yule!

Monday, September 4, 2017

Gaming Purchases - September 2017

September 5th:

It's my 32nd birthday, finally I reach the original PlayStation's 32-bit generation age! (trust me, it's a VERY big deal to a gamer).
No second-hand stuff this time, just brand new things all across the board.

3DS:
Tenkai Knights Brave Battle

PlayStation 3 accessories:
2x Bluetooth headset
USB headset

PlayStation Vita accessories:
Smart Case

Disney Infinity:
Helen Parr/Elastigirl

LEGO Star Wars:
Jawa Sandcrawler polybag

Nanoblock:
Blue Whale Skeleton
Dinonix
Human Skeleton
Pteranodon
Stegosaurus
Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus Skeleton
Space Station

Nanoblock+:
Hello Kitty - Kitty's House
Hello Kitty - Yacht

Other Notable Gifts:
2x buckets of cotton candy
4x Red Bull energy drinks (to drink while playing WipEout 2097 for authentically increased reaction speed)
4x Milka chocolate bars



I also took a trip to a local second-hand shop and found some additional goodies.

PlayStation 2:
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Hugo CannonCruise
Kart Racer
Madagascar Escape 2 Africa
Midnight Club
The Simpsons Game

Comics:
Scooby-Doo!

Manga Pocket:
Chobits Vol. 1
Inu-Yasha Vol. 9
Inu-Yasha Vol. 24
Kemono To Chat Vol. 1
Sugar Sugar Rune Vol. 1
Sugar Sugar Rune Vol. 2
Sugar Sugar Rune Vol. 3
Sugar Sugar Rune Vol. 4
Sugar Sugar Rune Vol. 5
Sugar Sugar Rune Vol. 6
Sugar Sugar Rune Vol. 7
Sugar Sugar Rune Vol. 8
Tokyo Mew Mew Vol. 2
XXX-Holic Vol. 13
ことばの学習 (Language learning) まんがで覚・える (Remember by comic) 反対語・同意語 (Autonym and Psynonym)
(ことばの学習 まんがで覚・える 反対語・同意語 The opposite words and synonyms that you can remember in the language learning manga)
(反対語・同意語 まんがで覚・える ことばの学習 Learning words that can be memorized in opposite words / synonymous comic books)


Manga DVD:
Pompoko
School Rumble Collection - Vol. 1-6 (6 DVD Box Set)

DVD:
Kirikou Og Trollkvinnen (norwegian edition of the original 1998 Kirikou animated movie)
The Muppet Show - Series 1 (4 DVD Box Set)


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September 13th:

Went second-hand shopping today, found some stuff.

DVD:
Cube
Planet 51

Comics:
Archie
Ducktales
Garfield
Scooby-Doo!
Tarzan
Tom & Jerry

Books:
Barbie
Beverloo
Disney's Aladdin
Disney's Aristocats

Other:
Hot Wheels Monster Jam Grave Digger
Hot Wheels Monster Jam El Toro Loco
a very long legged doll
a shoebox of assorted Lego

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Now Playing - Augusti 2017

More 3DS and other portable stuff mainly this months as my TV remains broken.


Star Fox 64 3D (3DS)
It's a good remake of the Nintendo 64 game Lylat Wars, with a good visual upgrade and everything else kept very intact, the controls are fine and it plays smoothly, the biggest complaint for me is that it's too much like the original Lylat Wars in that they've added virtually nothing new beside the better visual quality, for example they could've easily added a cleaned up, high-res, smooth high framerate and stereoscopic 3D enhanced version of the original StarWing, as they never released the original Super Nintendo game as a port to the Game Boy Advance like the fans cried out for for so many years, sure there was the superior third-party game on GBA called Star X which had far better visuals and that played with a nice, high and smooth framerate than StarWing, but without the Nintendo brand recognition it sadly never become more than a hidden gem.
Star Fox 64 3D is still a good game if you can find it cheap enough, I got the Nintendo Selects version which is like a Platinum, Essentials or Classics type of cheaper re-release, so it can thankfully be found for an acceptable price these days for those who are interested.
UPDATE August 3rd
Beat it around 17:40 using no continues, it's short and easy but it has multiple paths to play through so it's got replay value for multiple playthroughs.

Space Debris (PlayStation)
A European exclusive that has many similarities to Lylat Wars (aka Star Fox 64) on Nintendo 64. I personally like this game a lot more than Lylat Wars, or any of the StarWing games for that matter, it has better level design, better balanced challenge, better visuals, better controls, no annoying sidekicks with awful voice acting that you need to constantly save from their own inability do the simplest tasks without screwing it up and getting themselves into needless trouble, far better bosses and better variation in the mission types.
It has both the on-rail and free-flight type of levels, just like Lylat Wars, but it does a better job with the level design and mission parameters so they feel more varied and less repetitive than anything Lylat Wars has to offer.
The weapon powerup and shield pickups are nicely implemented by shooting entire waves of enemy ships, strongly encouraging you to go after whole sets of enemies rather than just blasting away aimlessly at as many single targets as possible, excellently focusing the gameplay challenge on a nice flow of continues amounts of action.
I like the characters and the story, the voice acting is great and the game does an overall good job telling the story and getting you interested in what's happening without coming off as needlessly clichéd, stiff, shallow, overly dramatic without the sufficient payoff to validate such drama or plain stupid, unlike Lylat Wars which fails miserably on all these fronts.
It's a shame Space Debris was a PAL exclusive as it greatly limited the exposure of this great game.

V-Rally (PlayStation)

V-Rally 2 (PlayStation)

Maze Hunter 3-D (Master System)

Xyanide Resurrection (PlayStation Portable)

Been using the Notes and Graffiti features to draw some doodles on 3DS.




Roswell Conspiracies Aliens, Myths & Legends (Game Boy Color)
It's a really great game, the first two missions are a bit on the challenging side but you get some vehicle stages and a boss fight that are a lot more manageable after that, I haven't gotten much further than that yet but I'm really loving this game so far, one of the best games on Game Boy Color I've ever played.

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Gaming Purchases - Juli 2017

Juli 4th:

I placed an order for some games and gaming related stuff at the end of Juni, all new stuff, even the older items.
The first packet arrived today containing a PSP 2000 headphone remote control for music playback, I only had the original remote control for the original PSP 1000 model, which is not compatible with the 2000 (or 3000 in my case) model because they changed the design of the plug to allow for video output on the 2000 model for playing on TVs.


Hardware:
PSP 2000 Remote Control


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Juli 5th:

Almost everything else came today, in three separate packets, and only a couple of things are still missing, the GBA screen protector+light I ordered three of, one for each of my three GBAs, but strangely enough one of them came today packed with some of the other stuff, so why they sent the other two of the same type separately I don't know, I just hope they sent it at all so it's not been a mistake because I fucking hate having to deal with shit like that.

Hardware:
a Game Boy Advance X-Light with screen protector
an original Sony PlayStation link-cable
a red TTX Tech Classic Controller for GameCube
two GameCube controller extension cords

Game Boy Color:
Roswell Conspiracies Aliens, Myths & Legends

Game Boy Advance:
Back Track

DS:
Garfield's Nightmare
MX Vs ATV Reflex

PlayStation:
Battle Arena Toshinden 4
Crisis Beat (I already owned this but the copy I had was a second hand purchase and a bit battered)

PlayStation 2:
Resident Evil Code Veronica X

PC:
Slipstream 5000
Virtua Fighter PC


Juli 7th:
Turns out the two missing X-Lights were lost in the mail and i won't be getting them after all, they didn't have any more in stock either so I'll just be getting my money back.


Juli 8th:
Ugh, now they sent me a new bill to pay but it's updated wrong, instead of three X-Lights in now says two, but I only got one, they only reduced it by one when two were missing. I've contacted them about it but because it's the weekend I'll have to wait till monday for a reply.


Juli 10th:
I got a reply and if I understood it correctly I'm going to get a new bill with the updated correct info on it soon, but I haven't gotten it yet.


Juli 12th:
I got another reply and it's basically the same as the very first I got, and I still haven't gotten the updated bill yet, they did push up the paying date to the 21st though, so now I just gotta wait some more and hope they don't fuck up any more.


Juli 14th:
Finally got the updated bill with correct info today so I can pay for these things already.


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Juli 19th:

I ordered some more games and stuff a few days ago that arrived today. All items are new and sealed.

3DS:
Fast & Furious Showdown
Fossil Fighters Frontier
Moshi Monsters Katsuma Unleashed
Sega 3D Classics Collection
Star Fox 64 3D

Xbox 360:
Binary Domain

Other:
Super Mario Collection Princess Daisy Amiibo
Yo-kai Watch Tattletell

Now Playing - Juli 2017

Been playing some more of my DS games on my newly acquired 3DS, also been taking some stereoscopic "3D" photos with it, which is a neat function, too bad I don't have any 3DS games yet, there aren't really that many I want except maybe Metroid Samus Returns which isn't coming out for another two months and a select few that are a bit on the pricey side and are hard to find. I did get hold of some good ones this month though.


Smart As... (PlayStation Vita)
Been playing this regularly every day for about three months now and I can say it's pretty much run it's course. It hasn't gotten any better, it remains a poorly executed unbalanced mess with some minor redeemable fun to be had when taken on it's own.

Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects (DS, playing on 3DS)

C.O.P. The Recruit (DS, playing on 3DS)
I'm stuck on a mission where I have to put out some busses on fire with a fire extinguisher, the timer is brutal and the touch screen aiming controls are not helping, great game otherwise but this mission can go fuck itself.

Star Wars Lethal Alliance (DS, playing on 3DS)
It's not as good as it is on PSP and every step of the way I take in this version reminds me of that fact.

Roswell Conspiracies Aliens, Myths & Legends (Game Boy Color, playing on Game Boy Advance)
A very dark game, not the best idea for a game made for portables without backlit screens, but the game itself is very well made, has some nice light effects and the level of detail is excellent, the entire level of technical quality overall is some of the best I've seen on Game Boy Color alongside games like Alone in the Dark The New Nightmare and the Harry Potter RPGs.
Sadly the game is very hard to play, not just because it's hard to see without good light conditions but also because it just doesn't play that well, it's got clunky controls, tough enemies and no way to recap what you're suppose to be doing, so remembering the mission briefing given to you before a missions starts is imperative. I gave my new GBA Advance X-Light a try and it made the game a lot easier to see, but the difficulty still kicked my ass regardless. Suffice to say I haven't gotten past the first mission yet.

Back Track (Game Boy Advance)
An FPS similar to Wolfenstein 3D and Zero Tolerance, it plays fast and relatively smooth but it's tough to aim, shoot and dodge as the controls have a lag in the animation of everything you do, you don't aim, move or shoot right away when you press the buttons, making it very unresponsive and much more difficult than it actually is. Your goal is to rescue abducted humans from aliens while gunning down the aliens and their machines.

MX Vs ATV Reflex (DS, playing on 3DS)
A pretty bad racing game with motocross bikes, ATVs, trophy trucks and monster trucks, it has pretty awkward basic controls and the advanced controls for tricks and such are even worse, it's not unplayable but it has enough issues that it's a lot less fun that it should be.

Garfield's Nightmare (DS, playing on 3DS)
Not bad at all actually, a simple platformer where you play as Garfield in his nightmares after having eaten too much food before naptime. It looks very nice, well styled, detailed and animated, one of the best DS games I've played so far.
UPDATE: I completed it 100% on the 9th, around 04:30 at night, took me about 5 hours.

Battle Arena Toshinden 4 (PlayStation)
It's not what I imagined, it has about as much to do with my beloved Battle Arena Toshinden 2 that any other random fighting game from any other completely irrelevant series does, it doesn't have the same characters anymore, at best there are some relatives and stuff to some characters from the older games and that's about it, it's not good enough in my opinion, I play Toshinden for Sofia first and foremost and her absence is one of the major complaints I have against this game, it also doesn't play quite the same, it doesn't look the same in the art style nor does it look as good visually in the technical department either, with simpler blob shadows and Tekken-esque arenas with little to no detail other than a ground texture and some very scarce background detail, it's just completely different in every way really, it only shares the genre of being a fighting game and that you have weapons to fight with, that's it. The fact that it's a continuation of the story when it's made so different means little to nothing for me as the feel of the story being relevant is completely gone when the characters that made the story aren't there anymore.
That being said, it's not awful or anything, it still looks okay and animates smoothly, it reminds me a lot of Tekken in how it looks overall, with blockier character models that animate rather slowly, it has some really cool and cinematic special attacks, somewhat similar to Evil Zone, and it plays just fine with the controls, the free moving ability is neat even if it's a lot more limited from normal gameplay when activated, as most other fighting games do from the late 90s and early 2000s, it's just not a game that stands out like the name suggested it would, or at least not in the way I had imagined.
So while it doesn't hold up to Battle Arena Toshinden 2 in any way it's still a good game, just not as great as it should've been given the honorable title of Toshinden and being a rather late title on the PlayStation it ultimately fails to impress.
By 1999 and 2000 there were many other fighting games around both on PlayStation and the other active systems, like the new next gen Dreamcast with games like SoulCalibur no less, that simply made this game look bad by comparison.
However, it should be mentioned that this was released as a low budget title, and re-released as such two more times after that in 2001 by two different budget brands only a day apart, so they at least acknowledged that it wouldn't cut it had they tried to sell it at full price.
There are minigames and unlockable art and stuff too, so there's at least a good amount of content.

Raceway Drag & Stock Racing (PlayStation 2)
Decided to give this game a try again. I actually got first place in a stock race, but it was on easy, I still haven't been able to win on normal. I just needed a win, the stock racing mode is really hard so any win was welcome at this point.

Sega 3D Classics Collection (3DS)
A small mixed bag of old 8-bit and 16-bit generation games from Sega, faithfully re-created for 3DS.
It has some great games but also some highly questionable additions and omissions, like oddly enough it has no version of Space Harrier or OutRun, even though in Japan they got both as downloadables and could've easily added them to this collection, but it has three Fantasy Zone games, whereof two are just different version of Fantasy Zone 2 and the other is a secret you can find by clicking on an empty area of the touch screen at the Extra Games menu.
The three Fantasy Zone games included are Fantasy Zone for Master System, Fantasy Zone 2 Tears of Opa Opa for Master System and Fantasy Zone 2 W.
There are some great games on here though, like the original Mega Drive version of Sonic The Hedgehog, the arcade version of both Galaxy Force II and Thunder Blade and the original Master System game Maze Walker.
There's also the Mega Drive version of Altered Beast, the previously arcade exclusive racing game Power Drift and Puyo Puyo 2.

Here's a screenshot I took of Maze Walker/Maze Hunter 3-D for Master System using the Kega Fusion emulator.

If you cross your eyes and line the two images up as one you'll get a good idea of what the 3D depth effect in this game is like, it's really nice to see in real life on a 3DS or on an original Master System with 3D glasses.

Killzone Mercenary (PlayStation Vita)
Decided to play something else now that I'm done with Smart As. I want to play something that makes me impressed by the Vita again after so much mediocrity and this game is literally the most impressive portable game I've ever seen and I just so happen to own a copy of it to play.

Fast & Furious Showdown (3DS)
It's a pretty good port of the game, a little choppy in the framerate but still playable. It's a very unbalanced game, with some things being near impossible, taking dussins of tries before you win, while others are so easy you can't help but get them on the first try, without even trying.

Moshi Monsters Katsuma Unleashed (3DS)
A basic platformer, it offers nothing that hasn't been done better before many times by countless other games, but it's okay, the framerate is strangely not very good considering how unimpressive the game looks, it's just a very basic and barely 2,5D platformer, with 2D backgrounds and 3D models for Katsuma and the enemies, it doesn't really do anything to push the hardware so why it's not a solid 60fps I don't know, it should be when it's this visually underwhelming.
UPDATE 29th Juli
Beat the game with only a few things missing for 100% completion. It was a very short game.
UPDATE 30th Juli
Completed everything else, you get Hard Mode unlocked and you can find some hidden cheat codes if you explore a bit.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Gaming Purchases - Juni 2017

Juni 27th:

I went and got myself a 3DS at the local GameStop today, complete in original box with charger and a 4GB SD card, also got some games.


DS:
Star Wars Lethal Alliance

3DS:
3DS Aqua Blue
3DS Charger
4GB SD Card

PlayStation 3:
Beijing 2008

Xbox 360:
Gears of War
Gears of War Judgement
Halo Reach
Zone of the Enders HD Collection


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Juni 29th:

I placed an order for a whole bunch of stuff but I'll add it to next month's post as none of it will arrive until early next month anyway.