Game Purchases - Juli 2018

Juli 2th:

Starting this month with another movie purchase.

Bluray:
The Emoji Movie (2017)

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Juli 5th:

Got a tip from a friend that a secondhand shop downtown had a bunch of games from the game store that closed down last year, so I took a trip downtown and did some browsing, most were new and most were still factory sealed.

Game Boy Advance accessories:
Logic 3 GBA Fun Pack (3x thumb pads that you put on top of the d-pad, rubber grips for the back, screen protector overlay and a wrist strap)

GameCube Wii:
Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed
Funfair Party
Minion Everyday Hero
Sprint Cars

PlayStation 2:
Alpine Skiing 2005
Army Men Sarge's Heroes 2
Artlist Collection The Dog Island
Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter
Destroy All Humans! 2
Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires
Everybody's Tennis
EyeToy Kinetic Combat
Mercenaries 2 World in Flames
Mercury Meltdown Remix
Naruto Ultimate Ninja
Naruto Uzumaki Chronicles
Pipe Mania
Pool Shark 2
Project Eden
SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons Globs of Doom
Tak and the Guardians of Gross
The Sims 2 Castaway
Transworld Surf
Volleyball Challenge

Xbox 360:
Syndicate

I also went to the other second hand shop I go to regularly and picked up a ton of comics and also another game.

PlayStation 2:
Sniper Assault

DVD:
Jurassic Shark

Manga:
D-N-Angel (paperback, volumes 1-11)
Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne (paperback, volumes 2-7)
Time Stranger Kyoko (paperback, volumes 2-3)
Vampire Game (paperback, volume 1)

Comics:
Asterix Caesar's Gift (vol 21, 1977)
Asterix in Belgium (vol 24, 1979)
Asterix in India (vol 28, 1987)
Captain W.E. Johns' Biggles Den Hemliga Eskadern (vol 7, 1984)
Comics 6 Den Stora Serieboken (vol 6, 1974)
Fenomenala 4:ans Äventyr (Les 4 As et l'Aéroglisseur, vol 2, 1964)
Johan och Pellevins Äventyr 1 Vilden i Klippiga Skogen (Le Lutin du Bois aux Roches, vol 1, 1973)
Superman 25th Anniversary Special (1974)
Superman Revenge from the Phantom Zone (1980, printed 1981)
W.I.T.C.H. (volumes 2-3 and 6-11 2002, 7-10 and Halloween Special 2003, 4-9 2004, 5-6 2005)
Yoko Tsuno The Curious Trio (vol 1, 1972, printed 1981)

Toys:
Matchbox Specials Chevrolet Camaro (1:40, 1983)

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Juli 5th:

and some more movies

DVD:
A Ghost Story (2017)
An Inconvenient Sequel (2017)
Jurassic World (2014)
Unknown Soldier (2017)
WarCraft The Beginning (2015)

Bluray:
Jurassic World (2014)
WarCraft The Beginning (2015)

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Juli 11th:

Was out shopping a little today and picked up some stuff.

PC hardware:
Trust GXT 155 Gaming Mouse
Trust regular mouse without "cool" name with numbers and stuff

Other:
a pack of various electrical parts

What really made today special was the fact that I got stopped and asked to show my bag before I was allowed to leave the store in two different stores, it's never happened before ever and now twice in one day, I dunno maybe I looked unusually criminal today? I don'ät know, all I know is I won't be going to Jula och Net on Net anymore, they think so lowly of me that they treat me like a common criminal then they have lost me as a customer, I've been going to both those places since the 90s and this has never happened before, they know me, I've never shoplifted or stole anything in my life, I was honestly shocked and offended and even more so that it happened twice like this, I'm still in shock over it.
If this is how they choose to treat their longtime customers then fuck em, I'm out, no more, I will take my business elsewhere, I won't force them to take my money ever again!

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Juli 16th:

The first of two online orders I placed last Friday arrived today. All items are new and sealed.

DS:
Transformers Dark of the Moon Autobots (toy car bundle)
Transformers Dark of the Moon Decepticons (toy car bundle)

PlayStation Vita:
LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
LEGO Batman 3 Beyond Gotham

PC:
AquaNox Collection (AquaNox and AquaNox 2 Revelation, Nordic Games)
Big Mutha Truckers 2 Truck Me Harder (Medallion)
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload (Medallion)
Monster Madness Battle for Suburbia (Games for Windows)

DVD:
Independence Day Resurgence

Bluray:
Independence Day Resurgence

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Juli 17th:

The second order arrived. All items are new and sealed.

PlayStation Vita:
LEGO Jurassic World

Xbox 360:
LEGO Jurassic World

Amiibo:
Samus Aran (Metroid Samus Returns)

Bluray:
Independence Day 20th Anniversary Attacker Edition

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Juli 26th:

Long day today, went out for a long walk early in the morning, then walked downtown and checked two secondhand stores and found a whole bunch of games among other things, and lastly I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in ages and talked to him for 2½ hours.

at the first place I got:

DS:
Ellen Whitaker's Horse Life

Wii:
Cruis'n
RTL Winter Sports 2009
Top Spin 4
Wheelspin

PlayStation 2:
Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2
WALL-E

PlayStation 3:
Bodycount
Stranglehold

Xbox 360:
Dragon Age II

PC:
LEGO Star Wars II The Original Trilogy

and at the second place I got:

Xbox:
Over The Hedge

Xbox 360:
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
Forza Motorsport 2 (in a bundle with Viva Piñata)
Forza Motorsport 3
Iron Man
Juiced Hot Import Nights 2
Jumper Griffin's Story
Kinect Adventures! (disc only, hidden in the Juiced 2 box under the Juiced 2 disc, found it the day after)
N3 Ninety-Nine Nights
Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands (Special Collector's Edition)
Sonic The Hedgehog
Spider-man Friend or Foe
Viva Piñata (in a bundle with Forza Motorsport 2)

DVD:
Barbie in The Nutcracker
Barbie of Swan Lake
Biker Mice from Mars (vol. 3)
Bratz Pampered Petz
How To Train Your Dragon 2
My Little Pony & Friends (The Glass Princess, Sweet Stuff and the treasure hunt)
My Little Pony Tales (vol. 3, )
The Black Cauldron (Special Edition)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Noble Entertainment)

Bluray:
TMNT (2007)

Comics/Magazines:
24x Disney Princess with cardboard folder to store them in
W.I.T.C.H. sticker album with some additional posters
Bizarro (Vol. 5, 2004)

Other:
Disney's Cinderella wooden wall plate

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Juli 30th:

Some more secondhand finds today.

Game Boy Advance:
MadCatz MagLens SP (screen magnifier for Game Boy Advance SP)

DS:
Cooking Guide - Can't decide what to eat? (new and sealed)
Rubik's Puzzle World (Bakugan Battle Brawlers box, no manual, just a standard Nintendo health and safety precautions booklet)

Wii:
Pocoyo Racing (RTL Winter Sports 2008 box and manual, no manual for Pocoyo Racing)

PlayStation 2:
Jetix Puzzle Buzzle (new and sealed)

Books:
Fräcka Fredag!

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Juli 31st:

Went on another secondhand binge today, 25 more games where of a whopping 22 were dupes of games I already had, several even being multiple dupes of the same game. I've definitely never bought this many copies of the same games at the same time before.

PlayStation 2:
Artlist Collection The Dog Island (new and sealed)
3x Bakugan Battle Brawlers (new and sealed)
Ben 10 Alien Force (new and sealed)
6x Bratz The Movie (new and sealed)
2x Crescent Suzuki Racing
2x Everybody's Tennis (new and sealed)
2x Jetix Puzzle Buzzle (new and sealed)
Madagascar Escape 2 Africa (Platinum, new and sealed)
Mercury Meltdown Remix (new and sealed)
Rayman Raving Rabbids (new and sealed)
Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow
SSX
Stuntman
Thunderhawk Operation Phoenix

Xbox 360:
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (infamous german version, altered for censorship and with no language options, german speech and text only)

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!

Now Playing - Oktober 2017

September is over so I will dial down the 32 extravaganza a bit and focus on horror themed games and monster games instead, still with an underlying 32-bit focus though.

Metroid II Return of Samus (Game Boy)

Roswell Conspiracies Aliens, Myths & Legends (Game Boy Color)

S.C.A.R.S. (PlayStation)

WipEout 2097 (PlayStation)

V-Rally 2 (PlayStation)

Jersey Devil (PlayStation)

Fossil Fighters Frontier (3DS)

WRC FIA World Rally Championship (PlayStation Portable)

Alien Trilogy (PlayStation)

Asterix Mega Madness Galenskap i Kvadrat (PlayStation)
Also known as Asterix Mega Madness Galenskap Till Max, is a multiplayer-focused minigame collection for PC and PlayStation developed by UDS and published by Infogrames in 2001.
It's a 3D game with low minimum system requirements and it runs effortlessly without any compatibility problems on my much more modern hardware and software.
The visuals look good enough, not overly impressive by 2001 standards but they get the job done without any issues so I'm not complaining, it plays well with simple and easy to learn and use controls and the gameplay is for the most part fun and varied.
You play as either Asterix, Obelix, Mrs. Geriatrix or Cacofonix.
As I mentioned it's a multiplayer-focused game, so it supports the use of keyboard and a USB controller to allow for 2-player split-screen gameplay, which is very nice to see in a computer game for once!

Asterix Mega Madness (PlayStation)
I decided to check out the PlayStation port to see if there were any differences, and no, it was virtually identical to the PC game, beyond the obvious PlayStation things like loading from the disc causing slightly longer load times (which may be shortened if you play it on a PS2 with the faster disc loading enabled), a lower screen resolution adapted for display on older TVs (which can be changed if playing via an emulator on PC) and the lack of texture filtering (which is available if you play it on a PS2 or via emulation on PC) there are no real differences, some sprites are smaller to fit the lower screen resolution of older TVs better, but other than that the 3D geometry detail, framerate, colors, texture quality, controls, music, animated cutscenes and all other content is completely intact and seemingly identical.
It's an as flawless port as it possibly can be and lives up to the high Asterix & Obelix quality the series is known for.

Kao The Kangaroo Round 2 (PC)
An unusually good 3D platformer, at least by PC standards, seeing as they're usually best found on consoles, this was a multiplatform game though so it's also on PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox but it works very well on PC, even a shitty PC like mine it managed to run fairly smooth.
It seems to use the Massive engine, that powers the excellent AquaNox games, which would explain why it looks as good as it does while still running so well, it's a very good graphics engine.

Sonic R (PC)
Found this game while I was doing some cleaning, I'd put it away in a box with some other older stuff like Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Quake II, Unreal, some racing game and a couple of other games I've never even played because they wouldn't work on the PC I had back then.. maybe I'll give those a try with my current PC at some point as well.
Anyway, I decided to install this and see if I could get it running, and after having found working fixes for the issues I was having (an additional program was needed to make the controls work and a hex edited file was needed for better resolution settings), it works well enough with no major problems, I've seen some minor visual glitches and the resolution is not the same as Windows so it screws up the order of my desktop icons every time I play, but it's no biggie and it plays just fine otherwise.
The funny thing is, I have a russian version of the game, so it's Sonic R.. in russian.
It still plays like normal but all text and the voice clips have been changed to russian, and I don't understand a single word, I can guess what words mean "retry", "save", "load" or "quit" and other such basic stuff, but the rest is just strange symbols mixed with a random handful of recognizable letters.
Still, it's a fun game, I like it, it's one of the few mascot kart racer type games from the 90s I actually enjoy playing because it adds the extra depth to the gameplay with side missions during races, like finding hidden chaos emeralds and stuff.

Gaming Purchases - December 2015

December 8th:

First some bad news, my old original Xbox died last night after many many years of loyal service. I had to open it up to manually get my game out of the disc tray. It doesn't even light up the red or orange warning ring of light so it seems to be pretty bad. The now empty space under my TV is a depressing sight to behold to say the very least.

I still have some games planned to order that I never got around to ordering last month but already I've got some new gaming realted purchases done. I was out doing some gift shopping for the upcoming holiday and made a quick visit to the local GameStop. Didn't look around too much but I did find something I wanted, a couple of Xbox 360 memory cards. These little things were rare enough to find back in the day when they were still manufactured and nowadays even rarer as they pretty much only exist on the second hand market so I was more than happy to add them to my collection.


UPDATE 1 - December 22nd:

Ordered the games I planned back in November (and some additional stuff) on the 17th, all orders arrived on the 22nd.

Game Boy:
Game Boy Camera (blue)

Game Boy Advance:
Asterix & Obelix XXL (cartridge only)
LEGO Drome Racers (cartridge only)

Mega Drive:
Ballz 3D The Battle Of The Balls
Eternal Champions

Saturn:
Cyber Troopers - Virtual On

PlayStation:
Warzone 2100

Xbox:
Crimson Skies - The High Road To Revenge

Xbox 360:
Race PRO (new, sealed)

PC:
Virtua Fighter 2 (new, sealed)

Collectibles:
Maximo mini figures collection - Queen Sophia (new, sealed)

Music CD:
2 Unlimited II 1998 (new, sealed)
Tuning Hitz 7 2009 (new, sealed)

Music DVD:
Liquid Grooves - Tasty and Fresh Club Music 1 (new, sealed)
Skyclub - Finest Lounge and Club Sounds 1 (new, sealed)

Anime DVD:
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 5 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 7 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 8 (new, sealed)
Bakugan - Gundalian Invaders Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Balatack Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Beautiful Dreamer (new, sealed)
Blood - The Last Vampire (new, sealed)
Darkside Blues (new, sealed)
Dead Leaves (new, sealed)
Dobutsu Takarajima (Animal Treasure Island) (new, sealed)
Final Fantasy Unlimited Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Final Fantasy Unlimited Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Full Metal Panic! Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Full Metal Panic! Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Full Metal Panic! Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Genshi Shonen Ryu (Ryu The Primitive Boy) Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Genshi Shonen Ryu (Ryu The Primitive Boy) Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Helen Keller (new, sealed)
Kai Doh Maru (new, sealed)
Ken - The Great Bearfist (new, sealed)
Kimagure - Orange Road Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Kimagure - Orange Road Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Kimagure - Orange Road Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Leda - The Fantastic Adventures of Yoko (new, sealed)
My Neighbors The Yamadas (new, sealed)
Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water (new, sealed)
Nagagutsu Sanjushi (The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots - Return of Pero) (new, sealed)
Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Requiem From The Darkness Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Requiem From The Darkness Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Requiem From The Darkness Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Requiem From The Darkness Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 5 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 7 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 5 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 7 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 8 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 9 (new, sealed)
Silverfang - The Complete Series (new, sealed)
Space Adventure Cobra - The Complete Series (new, sealed)
Submarine 707 Revolution (new, sealed)
Orguss 02 - Super Dimension Century Orguss Two (new, sealed)
Tenchi Muyo! Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Tenchi Muyo! Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Gisaku - The Demon Hunter (new, sealed)
Yatterman (Yattaman) (2009 live action movie adaptation) (new, sealed)

Now Playing - December 2015

Been focusing mostly on the new games I got at the end of last month so far.

Gift (PlayStation 2)
An obscure classic that was hyped for the impressive lighting and shadows back in the day. I was looking forward to it but sadly never got hold of it, at best I got to play the demo of the PC version. But that's all changed and now I finally get to experience this forgotten piece of videogame history! I have to say, because of how impressive it was back then it maganes to still look good today. It's your standard 3D platformer for the most part but with a strong focus on light and shadow puzzles, many enemies are light and shadow based and your weapons and attacks are as well. The humor is a bit of a swing and a miss sometimes but mostly I like the cheesy story and cutscenes, it's like a reminder from a simpler time when all games didn't have to be Oscar winning movies. One problem so far is that it refuses to recognize my memory card having plenty of free space, probably because it's a third party memory card, so if I wanna save I'm gonna have to dig out an older 8mb Sony original memory card. And I don't think I have one with any free space left. Very annoying as I want to play more but can't as I'm forced to restart from the beginning every time.

Headhunter (PlayStation 2)
Has some problems loading the main menu, most likely due to some minor scratches on the disc, but once in-game it works fine. It really doesn't hold a candle to the original version on Dreamcast, gone are the crisp textures and detailed shadows, replaced with muddy low-res textures and simple blurry shadow blobs that seem taken directly from an early N64 game. It still plays the same, which isn't that great either as that means it doesn't use the second analog stick very well, instead of adding camera control (missing in the Dreamcast original as Dreamcast only has one analog stick) they just use it to cycle through items and weapons, in other words a total waste as that could've been done better in many other ways. As it stands Headhunter on PS2 is a disappointing port that leaves a lot to be desired. No wonder some people thought the Dreamcast had so much more to offer than PS2 back in the day when poor ports like this was part of their comparison.

Wreckless The Yakuza Mission (PlayStation 2 and GameCube)
I love Wreckless on Xbox, it's an arcade style mission based driving game with visuals that were jawbreaking at the time and still impress to this very day. Shortly after the Xbox exclusive version came out we got the two altered ports I've finally added to my collection after so many years. The ports seem to have been first ported to PS2 and then ported over to GameCube using the PS2 port as basis. I say this because the PS2 port is superior in just about every way and the GameCube port is more or less a poor copy & paste job. They share the exact same content but with more glitches and much uglier visuals on the GameCube. Neither versions compare to the Xbox original visually but at least the PS2 version still has quite a lot to offer, much thanks to the added content but also because it still looks and plays great in it's own right. Sadly some things are missing from the Xbox original, the missions with tanks are all gone, including the mission where you get to drive a tank yourself blowing stuff up, instead all cars now fire rockets and have a slow motion feature, this adds some variety to the gameplay but it's got very limited ammo so it's only something you can use sparingly unless you activate the cheats, so the gameplay still remains very much the same as it always did. The Xbox original didn't have cheats, just unlockable stuff, these ported version unlocks both cheats and other stuff, but again some Xbox stuff is missing, you can no longer mix the scenarios with vehicles from the other scenario or use different screen filters, instead they've added all the normal traffic vehicles and a whole list of brand new missions to be unlocked. There are also unlimited this and infinite that cheats for time, weapons etc. and even a get out and walk around and hijack other cars cheat, ultimately making the ports more like an open world vehicle combat game if you so please. Overall I like how the PS2 port is and I'm disappointed at the GameCube version. On GameCube it loads a little faster than it does on PS2 and it has better anti-aliasing, but with much uglier textures, visual glitches galore and special effects that are so poorly done you can't even see them properly it's easily the worst of the three. Additionally, in PAL regions the GameCube can be enabled 60hz playback with some games like Metroid Prime 2 Echoes and The Legend of Zelda Collection, which can then be used to prompt a question in other normally 50hz limited games if you wish to play them in 60hz as well. Well, turns out some select few games automatically override the question and force 50hz no matter what and Wreckless on GameCube just happens to be one of those games, as if it wasn't plagued with enough shortcomings already.

XGIII Extreme G - Extreme-G 3 (GameCube)
Speaking of select few games that force 50hz no matter what, here's another that does just that! Because of this it's basically identical to the PS2 version only with 4 player split-screen multiplayer instead of just 2. It even plays in NTSC50 with black borders on top and bottom, so not even PAL50 like other 50hz GameCube games do. So yeah, I already have the PS2 version since many years back so this version will probably never get played again. I guess if you don't have a PS2 this would've been fine but considering PS2 and Extreme G 3 on PS2 are both more common and cheaper to find and get hold of there really is no reason to ever bother with this version. Unless you're really desperate for that 4 player split-screen multiplayer there is no reason to ever buy this on GameCube and a waste of your time and money.

Shadow The Hedgehog (GameCube and Xbox (Xbox version played on Xbox 360))

Starsky & Hutch (Game Boy Advance)

V-Rally 3 (Game Boy Advance)

Tomb Raider The Prophecy (Game Boy Advance)

LEGO Drome Racers (Game Boy Advance)

Star X (Game Boy Advance)

B-Movie (PlayStation)

Star Ixiom (PlayStation)

Twisted Metal (PlayStation)
Decided to play this old classic a bit. Played as Roadkill and defeated Minion, it was a good playthrough. I still love this game the most of the entire series. Been thinking about maybe trying to get hold of the PS3 game but I'm on the fence about if it's worth the asking price, it doesn't seem that great to be honest and the extremely censored PAL version of Twisted Metal Black fiasco has never truly been forgiven despite the excellent Twisted Metal Head-On on PSP, the trust that was lost has simply not been regained.

Frogger (PlayStation)
I really like this game despite how unforgiving it is, it's a nostalgic classic I felt like playing again.

Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation and PlayStation version running on PSP)
Picked back up on my two newly started games. On PSX I'm just out of the Mythril Mine, having recently calmly walked across the soggy marshes and defeated the Midgar Solom with ease thatnks to some time being spent leveling up and getting some more practical Limit Breaks, before either visiting Fort Condor for the side mission or going directly to Junon (I'm heading for Fort Condor first, of course) and on PSP I'm outside Midgar, aquired Matra Magic and a whole bunch of Atomic Scissors that will later sell at a high price, just about to enter Kalm to do the first lengthy flashback.


UPDATE 1 - December 22nd

Asterix & Obelix XXL (Game Boy Advance)
As far as I know this is the only 3D platformer on the system. I've played a few other platformers with 3D visuals but they've been 2.5D type games, like that one atrocity based on Osmisis Jones... the less said about that game the better. This is instead something so rare as a not just competent but genuinely good 3D platformer on the Game Boy Advance. It uses the same impressive game engine that powers V-Rally 3, Stuntman and Driv3r on GBA so if you've played either of those you'll know the level of technical quality I'm talking about. As a game it's like most platformers, you play as either Asterix or Obelix, selecting between the two by pressing Select during gameplay, as you run around bashing romans, viking, greeks etc. doing some platforming, door unlocking and stuff on the side to advance through the levels, the usual repertoire. You get to buy upgrades like more health and new attack combos for the helmets you collect after defeating enemies and collecting throughout the levels. There are also some on-rail levels thrown into the mix to break the monotony. It's impressive to see a 3D platformer executed so well on the GBA and I've had a blast playing it so far. I'm currently about half way through the game and I'll definitely keep playing.

Warzone 2100 (PlayStation)
A 3D real-time strategy game where you get to design your own troops and control them each manually if you so wish. Sound too good to be true? Well, it's true, and what's even more impressive is that it's all done on good old PSX. I loved playing the demo of this back in the day and finally I have a copy of the full game to call my very own, and I gotta say it's every bit as great as I remembered it to be, maybe even better.

Crimson Skies - High Road To Revenge (Xbox (played on Xbox 360))
A flight sim arcade hybrid action game set in an alternate timeline where WWII wen't down a different path and old school propeller planes and zeppelin airships became the norm and the polar ice caps melted and covered earth with water or some Waterworld wannabe plot like that, I forgot to pay attention to the story as I took to the skies and started blasting everything in sight. It's a good game, looks great for an Xbox title and could easily pass as next gen in most regards. I like the way it plays, it reminds me a lot of other great games like WarHawk - The Red Mercury Missions on PlayStation, AquaNox and AquaNox 2 Revelation on PC and Yager, also on Xbox.

Race PRO (Xbox 360)
An Xbox 360 exclusive from 2009 that in my opinion does what the Forza series has failed to do all these years, it makes racing fun. Sure it lacks the size of a Forza game in sheer content and stuff to do like advanced car customization and a decal editor but it nails the driving and has some really welcome sound options where you can tweak what you want to hear and not better than any other game I know. I personally love the roar of the engine and can live without the sound of the clutch and gear changes, this game allows me to have the engine louder than anything else and the gears etc. turned off completely if I so wish, I don't take it to that extreme but it's nice to be able to tweak the sound experience in such detail for once, especially in a racing game. It didn't take long to get used to the driving physics in this game, they're very consistent and once I got the hang of one car the rest followed despite being wildly different in performance, it's all about how they handle within the game engine that does it for me, again something that games like Forza and Gran Turismo's never done right for me. It looks good too, the only real issue I have is the screen tearing, it's not so bad it ruins the game but it's one of the worse cases I've seen in an Xbox 360 game, nowhere near as bad as Alien Isolation or anything remotely close to that degree but for a racing game it's still notable. It's still a fun game, I like that you can really crash, with flips in the air and everything, unlike virtually all other sim racers that heavily restrict car damage and crashes or sometimes even remove it altogether this is most welcome. For once I'm even enjoying the carreer mode, something I rarely enjoy forcing myself though in racing games otherwise. This game had a lot of content available at the start too which was great as I love jumping into new racing games with Time Trials or other free racing modes just to get used to how the game handles as no two games handle quite the same, this game allowed me to do so without obstacles, only a select few high performance cars were locked away. There's even a split-screen mutliplayer mode with co-op and stuff in this game, I haven't seen luxury like that since the generation before it!

Sly Cooper - Thieves in Time (PlayStation 3)