Gaming Purchases - April 2020

April 19th:

got some PC stuff today

PC Hardware:
a second-hand desktop PC (HP Intel Core i5-650 dual core 3,2ghz desktop PC with an ATI Radeon HD 4730, 6gb ram and Windows 10 Professional)

Gaming Purchases - January 2020

January 23rd:

Took a trip to the local mall and went to the local GameStop once final time before they close down permanently in three days.

PlayStation 4:
Battlezone (new)
Fate Extella The Umbral Star (new disc, but the box had lost the cover art, but I got it for free)
MediEvil (new and sealed)
The Technomancer

Collectibles/Figures:
Funko Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers Gadget Hackwrench action figure

Other:
Paladone Official Playstation waterproof and removable decals

also got some stuff from another store

Magazine+LEGO:
2x LEGO Star Wars #1 2020 + Snowspeeder polybag

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January 24th:

when out grocery shopping I saw they had a big bin full of DVDs and Blurays, mostly animated kids movies, all norwegian releases

DVD:
[will fill in details later]

Bluray:
[will fill in details later]

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January 25th:

got some PC stuff today

PC Hardware:
a Lenovo laptop with Windows 10

PC Accessories:
2x Trust Gaming Bundle (mouse, mousepad, keyboard and headset)

Other:
Bluewear gasmask
Bluewear yellow tinted glasses

Gaming Purchases - Oktober 2019

Oktober 30th:

Ordered some stuff online. All new, nothing secondhand this time.
UDPATE: arrived the next day

DS:
Secret Saturdays Beasts of the 5th Sun

Xbox 360:
Far Cry 2 + Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

PlayStation 3 accessories:
2x e-ZEE Chat (Dual Shock 3 mic + speaker attachment)

Vita:
2x LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes

PC:
Dark Void
Ka Kuro Classic (Medallion)

DVD:
Modesty Blaise (1966)
Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Gaming Purchases - Februari 2019

Februari 5th:

some awesome secondhand finds

PlayStation 2:
SONY PlayStation 2 Slim (300kr, slim model SCPH-90004 from 2008, came with a power cable and a very worn but still functional composite video cable)
SONY Dual Shock 2 Analog Controller (came with the PS2, it's a bit worn but still works)
SONY PlayStation 2 8MB MagicGate Memory Card (came with the PS2)
Sonic Riders (disc only, it was in the PS2 when I opened the lid, the disc is scratched pretty bad and has some trouble playing the intro video and in-game music but it works enough for gameplay, it's not an issue for me regardless though as I still have my old unharmed original copy of the game I bought when it was released in 2006)

PC:
Diablo II (BestSeller Series)
Diablo II Expansion Set Lord of Destruction (disc only, has some minor scratches on it but should work fine)
Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun Plus Firestorm Mission CD

DVD:
Gustav + Gustav 2 (Garfield (2004) + Garfield 2 A Tale of Two Kitties (2006))
Ooops! Var är arken? (Ooops! Noah Is Gone../Two by Two/All Creatures Big and Small, 2015)
Argai The Prophecy - Vol. 1 (new and sealed, 2000)

Comics:
Dennis The Menace
2x Gustaf (Garfield)
2x Tom & Jerry

Manga:
Emma

Other:
2x retro drink coasters
a jar of decorative fake diamonds
2x mixed blind bags of toys (2x2x2 Rubik's Cube (Minions), 1x2x3 Rubik's Cube (Secret Life of Pets), etc.)

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Februari 12th:

Electronics:
HDMI <-> Component converter (USB powered)

Manga:
Rebirth (volumes 1 to 11 and 16)
One Piece (volumes 19, 20 and 30)
Tsubasa (volumes 11 and 12)

Comics:
Arne Anka

Magazines:
Bratz (stickers and puzzles)

Toys:
a bunch of Bakugan with some metal cards
a pink metallic fidget spinner
colorful camo fidget spinner
a bag of old 90s constructable sci-fi toys (a robot, lots of little pilot guys, some other various pieces)

Other:
a cartoony fox girl bike chain lock

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Februari 18th:

Magazine
LEGO Batman + LEGO Batman figure (polybag)

Game Purchases - Juni 2018

Juni 6th:

No gaming purchases yet, just a movie.

DVD:
Rock Dog (2017)

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Juni 8th:

A couple more movies.

DVD:
Godzilla (2014)

Bluray:
Smurfarna Den Försvunna Byn (The Smurfs Lost Village, 2017)

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Juni 14th:

Finally got some new games purchased today!

Wii:
The Simpsons Game (no manual)
Welcome to Animal Crossing: Let's go to the City

PlayStation 2:
Rollercoaster World (no manual)

PlayStation 3:
Ratchet & Clank Tools of Destruction (no manual)

PC:
FlatOut (Medallion)

DVD:
6e Dagen (The 6th Day, 2000)
Den Onda Dockan 3 (Child's Play 3, 2001)
Fruits Basket - The Complete Series (6 Disc Exclusive Collection)
LEGO Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu Vol. 2
LEGO Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu Vol. 3
Transformers (2007)

Bluray:
Jack Frost (1996)

LEGO:
Mini Taurus (buildable board game, the yellow playable microfigure character was missing, otherwise it was complete in box)

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Juni 25th:

And a few more movies.

DVD:
Bamse och Häxans Dotter (Bamse and the Witch's Daughter, 2016)
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Bilar 3 (Cars 3, 2017)
Den Stora Nötkuppen 2 (The Nut Job 2, 2017)
Dumma Mej 3 (Despicable Me 3, 2017)
Leatherface (2015)
The Emoji Movie (2017)

Bluray:
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Justice League (2017)
Sing (2016)

Now Playing - Juni 2018

Auto Racing (Intellivision)

Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed (PlayStation Vita)

Played some more Entertainment System games with a friend; Ice Hockey, Double Dribble, Volleyball and Blades of Steel.

And some even more Entertainment System games with a friend; Blades of Steel, Ice Hockey again, Double Dribble again, Dead Fox, Three Eyed Boy, TMNT II The Arcade Game and Battleship.

In light of having played so much Intellivision recently
I've decided to dedicate 2018 to be the Year of Intellivision
and so I commemorate this by making the INTV Running Man immortalized in Etch A Sketch!


FlatOut (PC)
It's choppy but playable. The sequel is a huge improvement in most ways, especially the stunt minigames, but this one's still good, better on console ofcourse where it's been optimized to run with maximal quality, but on a shitty PC like mine I'm amazed it runs at all.

Need for Speed Underground (PC)
Just one race, it's so choppy, I just don't want to play it on PC. On PC I guess it's marginally better than the GBA version due to the options for superior visual detail, that's really the nicest thing I can say about it, it makes for a very nice looking slideshow.

1NSANE (PC)
An old favorite offroad racing game of mine, used to play it a lot back on my old Pentium 4 with Windows XP and GeForce 4 in the early 00s.
It's like a PC exclusive Smugglers Run type of game.

Tearaway (PlayStation Vita)
Stopped giving Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed an undeserved try and went back to the most charming place in gaming instead, back to the wonderful world of Tearaway!

Net Yaroze Collection (PlayStation)
I love playing these games.

Game Purchases - April 2018

April 2nd:I made a trade with a friend today, my copy of Excite Bike for a copy of The Adventures of Bayou Billy and a copy of Slalom for Nintendo Entertainment System.

Entertainment System:
Slalom (cartridge only)
The Adventures of Bayou Billy (cartridge only)


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April 15th:

Not game related really but I haven't bought anything for a while now so anything of interest is worth posting at this point!

Magazine:
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic + polybag with Applejack in it


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April 18th:

Took two hour long walk to a nearby shopping center today and bought some neat stuff today.

Xbox 360 accessories:
Microsoft Xbox 360 controller mini-keyboard (used)

PlayStation 3 accessories:
Sony PlayStation 3 Bluray remote (used)

PlayStation 4:
Killzone Shadowfall (used)
Tearaway Unfolded (new)

Collectibles:
TOTAKU GameStop+ Exclusive WipEout Feisar FX350 ship figure (new)

Other:
3-pack Emoji Movie suprise chocolate eggs
3-pack My Little Pony Friendship is Magic suprise chocolate eggs
3-pack Transformers suprise chocolate eggs

Magazine:
Mickey Mouse + Lego Batman polybag set 30522 Batman in the Phantom Zone


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April 19th:

Some secondhand finds today.

PC:
Grand Theft Auto 2 (Xplosiv)
Need for Speed - Road Challenge
Street Tennis
TOCA 2 Touring Cars (Sold Out)

DVD:
Ace Ventura When Nature Calls (1995)
Below (2002)
Hercules in New York (1970)
The Passion (2009)

Other:
a bucket of assorted Lego Bionicle parts

..and a movie from a movie store.

DVD:
Norm of the North (2015)

Gaming Purchases - Oktober 2017

Oktober 10th:

A visit to a local secondhand shop resulted in some DVDs and other random things today.

Manga DVD:
Silver Fang Vol. 1
Stories from the Island World

Cartoon DVD:
An American Tail - Fievel Goes West
Batman - The Man Behind The Mask - Season 1 - Vol. 2
My Little Pony Tales - Vol. 6
SamSam Vol. 2
SamSam Vol. 3
The Swan Princess - A Royal Family Tale
Tintin Vol. 19
Tintin and the Guerilla Vol. 21
Tintin in the Shark Lake

Books:
(I'll add them later, need to organize first)

Comics:
(I'll add them later, need to organize first)

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Oktober 12th:

A visit to a local secondhand shop resulted in many comics and a PC game today.

PC:
Asterix Mega Madness Galenskap I Kvadrat

Comics:
Penny
Min Häst
Gustaf (Garfield)
Herman Hedning
Sonic The Hedgehog #2 1991
(I'll add more later, need to organize more first)

Other:
a 3,5mm male to composite female adapter


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Oktober 13th:

Found some random stuff while out shopping today.

Magazines:
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic with My Little Pony The Movie figures Princess Skystar and Tempest

Other:
Fidget Spinners of various different designs (the notable ones were two red metallic ones and a green one with LEDs)


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Oktober 19th:

A visit to a local secondhand shop resulted in many comics and a PC game today.

PC:
Kao The Kangaroo Round 2

Cartoon DVD:
Cinderella (Kids Planet, not Disney)
Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
Fievel The Mystery of the Night Monster

Comics:
Penny
Min Häst
Ernie
(I'll add them later, need to organize first)


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Oktober 25th:

A small shopping trip today resulted in some fun finds, no secondhand stuff today.

Cartoon DVD:
Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses
Barbie The Data Game Hero
Monster High Double Adventure
Monster High Silence! Action! Vampire action!
Sing

DVD:
Arrival

Bluray:
Arrival

Kinder Eggs:
a Despicable Me 3 figure of one of the three girls doing some kind of spinning karate move or possibly a spinning dance move
some kind of bowling game with a lion that shoots into some point cards
a small red car with three pieces of road that if you collect the rest of the set you can eventually build a little toy race track

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 - Mars 2017

Mars started off with watching lots of movies and not really playing a lot of games, but that all changed when I got myself a PlayStation Vita the 15th and the second half of the month has been gaming almost around the clock, mostly Sly Cooper Theieves in Time that I picked up on PS3 after having caught up on Vita. I've been playing them with parallel save files so I can compare every step in both versions, only one thing so far has stood out as different, the bow and arrow mission had you get 120 points to pass on PS3 but only 85 on Vita, making the mission on Vita much easier to compete, I actually had some trouble on PS3 and it took me several tries while on Vita I did it on the first try no problem, so it wasn't really harder on the Vita like I thought when i saw the lower number, they were just more lenient in that version it seems, which means the trophy you get for completing the challenge is also easier to get on Vita, seems a bit unbalanced but it's literally the only real different between the two versions outside of visuals I've found so far, the rest is virtually identical, at least in content, the controls are of course a little different but not enough that I'd say it makes an actual difference, it really does feel like I'm playing the same game when I switch from one to the other, the visual difference is only noticeable for a few second than you get into the game and forget all about that and play on as normal.



Elasto Mania (PC)

Super Mario Bros. 2 (Entertainment System)

Loaded (PlayStation)

ReLoaded (PlayStation)

Baja Edge of Control (PlayStation 3)

SEGA Arcade Gallery (Game Boy Advance)

Sly Cooper Thieves in Time (PlayStation Vita)
Finally get to play this on Vita now that I have finally own a Vita. Content and gameplay wise it's on par with the PS3 version I'd say, I haven't noticed any real differences in those areas, be that for better or worse.. a great game still.
Visually is another topic entirely as the Vita version has a lot of visual stuff missing, like tons of small environment details, overall polygonal detail, environment shadows and lighting effects, the cel-shaded black outline effect on characters and enemies and a whole bunch of other minor special effects like the heat wave emanating from lit torches and such, it also runs at half the framerate, 30fps tops instead of the 60fps tops on PS3. It's funny how some items, especially the small treasures you pickpocket from enemies still retain the black cel-shaded outline, I guess they just forgot to remove all of it from the game.
The Vita version also lacks many language options, the biggest suprise being the complete lack of english in the version I got hold of, I wasn't playing it in english on PS3 but I do enjoy hearing the original voices in games, especially when the original is in english, so not having the option to do so on Vita is baffling, I can understand having other languages alongside english but removing the original language, especially when the original is english, is completely beyond me, and it's an extremely poor decision to say the very least.
Thankfully it contained the same language I play on PS3 so it works fine for me, but had someone who doesn't speak any of these languages bought this copy they would've been screwed as the only international option is so mysteriously missing.
Still, it's a great game and it's a good portable version of the beefier PS3 version for sure and because of the better motion sensors in the Vita some of the motion control stuff is actually a lot easier to do on Vita than they were on PS3 using the Dual Shock 3 controller, it's both more responsive and more accurate on Vita when using the tilt controls.
I actually had real problems with one specific mission in the third episode on PS3 where you had to do a bunch of minigames to train a character, Rocky montage style, and the controls were just so bad I kept failing and it was just awful, but on Vita I did it on the first try, it was a bit tricky but the controls did what I wanted and it was actually one of the easiest missions in the game at theta point because of it, unlike on PS3 where it remains the hardest part of the game so far.

Spy Hunter (PlayStation Vita)
I used to own and have played the older first remake for Xbox and PS2 and I have the sequel on Xbox as well, they were really good I thought, especially the sequel, and this is yet another remake in similar fashion and I like this one a lot too.

Reality Fighters (PlayStation Vita)
A fighting game where you use the camera to create a fighter and fight in augmented reality, it's good, similar to what Invizimals did back on PSP but on the next technical level, very nice.

Smart As... (PlayStation Vita)
Solve problems and such, it's fun, I like game like this, it's also narrated by John Cleese which is nice.

Tearaway (PlayStation Vita) I fell instantly in love with this, so adorable, I just wanna hug it, all of it. I love Tearaway.

Killzone Mercenary (PlayStation Vita)
I'm impressed by the visuals and it plays great, a worthy game of the Killzone name and so much better than 2 and 3 were on PS3.

Deception IV Blood Ties (PlayStation Vita)
An excellent successor to the fantastically brutal Trapt on PS2, as good on Vita as it is on PS3, and vice versa!

Sly Cooper Thieves in Time (PlayStation 3)

Jurassic Park Rampage Edition (Mega Drive)
After having seen MrBaffacake's review on Youtube I had to give this one a try.

Now Playing - Maj 2016

Mostly been playing the games I got recently, it feels great to finally own copies of my own for some of these games and the newcomers have been welcome additions to my library as well.


Eternal Champions (Mega Drive)

F22 Interceptor (Mega Drive)
I'm usually not a huge fan of flight sim games but a flat-shaded polygonal 3D flight sim on the Mega Drive that plays well and is fun is easily something I can make an exception for and thoroughly enjoy.

LHX Attack Chopper (Mega Drive)
I do however love helicopter games and this alongside the more arcade oriented Steel Talons, also on the Mega Drive, is one of my oldest favorites in that genre.

Steel Talons (Mega Drive)

Winter Challenge (Mega Drive)

Doom (32X)
My favorite version of Doom alongside the PSX port.

Metal Head (32X)
Essentially Armored Core on 32X, naturally a given favorite.

Virtua Racing Deluxe (32X)
While not my top favorite version of Virtua Racing, that honor goes to the SVP powered Mega Drive port, it's still one of my favorite games ever on one of my favorite systems ever.

Centipede (PSX)
While not quite on par with the next gen Dreamcast port this is still a fantastic version and due to how much easier it is to play a PlayStation game than a Dreamcast game it certainly has an edge of it's own, and when played on PS2 with texture filtering turned on there's even less of a difference between the two.
Also I don't think the Dreamcast version ever got released here in Europe so the PSX version was the only one available for me anyway. Great game though, even comes with the original arcade game so it's two games in one and I love that.

Iron Soldier 3 (PSX)
Not exactly an Armored Core killer but still a great mech game nonetheless. It retains what made the Jaguar 64 and Jaguar 64 CD games so good and improves the formula even further with the help of the superior power of the PlayStation. It may lack the flat-shaded polygonal charm of the Jaguar games but it makes up for it with technically superior visuals overall.
It's a tough game though, not one you just jump straight into and have a quick brawl guns a blazin', you have to be tactical and take your time, aim carefully and think and plan things out before you make your moves, your mech is big and heavy and controls like it, in that way it's very different from mech games in general from that era as most, at least on consoles, were more fast paced and action oriented.
I'd love to get hold of a Jaguar 64 and the original Iron Soldier games some day, I've tried the first one in the past and I loved it, which is why I was extra happy to get hold of this great sequel finally.

Kirikou (PSX)
A 2001 release exclusive to Europe, based on the first movie in the Kirikou series about an African boy who is very special indeed. It's a 2.5D platformer similar to some of Disney's greatest 2.5D platformers of the time like Hercules and Tarzan or other great 2.5D PSX classics like Klonoa and Tombi/Tomba, where you take on levels with multiple paths and lots of hidden secrets and all that good stuff. It re-enacts the events from the first film as you play as Kirikou literally from birth to coming face to face with the evil sorceress Karaba, on the way you must face her evil robots (called "fetishes") and make your way through the levels collecting water (essentially this game's equivalent to coins in Mario or rings in Sonic) and learning new abilities from the wise elder such as double jumping and other common game things.
It's easily one of the best 2.5D platformers I've played and I'm glad to own it. I didn't know about the game back when it was new but a few years ago when I found the movie on DVD and thought it looked interesting I got more into it and found out there were games released, multiple games actually, and sequels to the movie as well, so while I still haven't found much I now at least have the first game on PlayStation to go with the first movie on DVD, now I just need to find the PS2 game, the Game Boy Color game and the movie sequels!

Newman Haas Racing (PSX)
A 1998 release by Psygnosis and Bizarre Creations. It saddens me that I missed out on this one back when it was new but I'm glad to have discovered it now and I'm enjoying it very much, it's one of the best F1 style racing games I've ever played.

Re-Loaded (PSX)
A classic I played on PSX and MS-DOS back in the day but sadly never had myself and it's been over 15 years since I played it last. It lived up to my nostalgic memories and I've had a blast from the past with this one, a fantastic top-down action shooter and while I don't think it's better than the original Loaded I also don't think it's worse, they're equals but for different reasons, Loaded was a simpler, more straight forwards and notably more hectic shooter and thus a slightly better two-player experience this expands the missions and gameplay and makes for a better singleplayer experience, I'd say they compliment eachother perfectly and now I need to get hold of a copy the original Loaded so I can relive those nostalgic memories as well, we'll just have to wait and see how many more years that'll take to happen..

T'ai Fu Wrath of the Tiger (PSX)
A 1999 release by Dreamworks and the spiritual predecessor of Kung Fu Panda, a 3D platformer with lots of fighting and a great game I've played through numerous times in the past.

Viewpoint (PSX)
Not much to say about this one, it's a fantastic looking version of Viewpoint, identical to the other versions in gameplay and design but with a complete overhaul of the visuals and music. There's no competition for me, this is the superior way to play this already great game.

WinX Club (PC)
The old Konami developed WinX game that was also released on PS2 that's based on season 1 of the cartoon. I like this game and after having found a no-CD crack for it that worked so I don't have to get the disc out even though the game's been installed I finally got into the game. I really hate when PC games try to limit how I use them even after I've bought them, which is why I don't do PC gaming in general and don't acknowledge digital online gaming at all, if a game has only been released on Steam or something (Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo eShop etc.) I don't consider it to have ever been released at all.

Brahma Force (PSX)
An FPS mech sim action game with similarities to Armored Core, GunGriffon and Krazy Ivan among many more, I like it but it's not exactly killing the competition, I prefer pretty much all those other games over this, still it's pretty good and has some good stuff in it, it's not bad by any means but it does come with a lot of minor and medium sized problems. Forever and literally constant respawning of enemies are the cause to most of the issues I have.

KKND 2 Krossfire (PC)
I've only ever played this on PlayStation before so it's interesting to see how different it is, it's basically two different games in almost every way, the good thing about that is you can't directly compare the two and thus neither ends up being the "bad" one. I love when they do this rather than just make direct ports because this gives incentive to those who own and enjoy one to get the other as well. It's just as hard as I remember the PlayStation version to be, only for slightly different reasons. I haven't really played either enough to say much more at this point.

KKND Krossfire (PSX)
I remember having troubles with this game back in the day and now when I'm revisiting it and it's PC original I fully understand why as my memories of getting absolutely crushed by the enemy AI comes rushing back as a nightmare that I thought was long gone. This is a hard as fuck game regardless if it's played on PC or PSX, "easy" mode doesn't mean much in this game, the harder difficulties I can't even imagine what they're like. It's good though, not impossible, just very hard and unforgiving. You need to get good at this game to enjoy it, it asks of you to invest time to get something of equal or greater value back and honestly that's not a bad thing, some of the best games ever do this. It just would've been even better still if the game had eased you into it step by step a bit because you'll be losing big time for a while just to learn the basic controls and what any of all the stuff you can do actually does. Having some easier levels to begin with letting you get used to said basics before having the enemy rape your base's every orifice with death and defeat would've been greatly appreciated. These games really didn't need to ask that much of the player so early on, especially in a strategy game where missions can get rather lengthy. A hard platformer in comparison is usually hard but has short levels that are over in just a couple of minutes so getting back to the place you were and trying a different strategy to get better and win is less of a setback.

SEGA Arcade Gallery (Game Boy Advance)

V-Rally 3 (Game Boy Advance)

Gaming Purchases - Maj 2016

May 3rd:

Some tuesday second hand finds.

PC Games:
Best Friends Horse & Pony My Horse
Hugo Heroes of the Savannah
KA-52 Team Alligator
Nuclear Strike
Serious Sam The Second Encounter
Silent Hill Homecoming

PC Other:
2x Diskette storage cases
(which I'm now using to house my Mega Drive and 32X games, similar to a Nin10case)

DVD:
Balto Wolf Quest

Other:
various comics (various W.I.T.C.H., The Simpsons and Magic Fantasy)
various manga comics (various Manga Mania)
various manga pocket comics (Chrono Crusade Vol. 2, Demon Diary Vol. 5, Negima! Magister Negi Magi Omnibus Vol. 1-3, Rebirth Vol. 4)
4x framed paintings
and a box with some various LEGO Bionicle


Maj 17th:

Some tuesday second hand finds.

PC Games:
Bratz 4 Real
Kill Switch
KKND 2 Krossfire
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Vanguard Saga of Heroes

DVD:
Marvel Thor Tales of Asgård
Mary Poppins 2-Disc Special Edition

CD:
Dir en grey - Cage
Malice Mizer - Color Me Blood Red
Malice Mizer - de l'image

also some books and a small lamp.


Maj 24th:

Some tuesday second hand finds.

PC Games:
Disney Princess Cinderella's Fairy Castles
Hugo Volcano Island
Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc

DVD
Hop

Other:
Maneki-neko Piggy bank Halina Slide Viewer

Comics:
Agent X9

Also a bag full of toy cars like Hot Wheels, Majorette, Disney's Cars, a couple of Legos and some other off-brand stuff.


Maj 31th:

Some tuesday second hand finds.

Skylanders:
Portal of Power

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 - November 2015

Because of the death in the family I haven't played much games recently but I have started playing a bit now that things have settled a bit, mostly old PSX games.

Grandia (PlayStation)
On the Rule 34 chat we were talking about games and Grandia came up, I felt like replaying it a bit, still a great game, I do wish they would've taken a bit more care of the port from Saturn though as there are manu minor flaws to be found, nothing that braks the game or changes the gameplay but lots of visual stuff, like textures facing in the wrong direction, abcent shadows, abcent sky textures and some abcent 3D geometry here and there, also some other stuff like the water effect the Saturn version had but that's at least understandable seeing as there's a genuine difference in the hardware between the two machines. Thanfully the PSX port did get some enhancements to make up for the shortcomings, like better shadows for the characters, better looking screen effect when going into battles, some more advanced smoke and steam effects and of course being in English and released worldwide unlike the unfortunately Japanese exclusive Saturn version, so I think the PSX version still holds up nicely with those pros over the admittedly minor cons. A great game regardless and every PSX gamer with even the slightest interest in RPGs should give this game a try.

Grudge Warriors (PlayStation)
A tank buggy vehicle combat mission based game not too unlike Red Dog Superior Firepower on Dreamcast. Great fun driving around blasting stuff and has a good multiplayer mode as well, again much like Red Dog. The singleplayer game is hard and unforgiving as you can only refill your armor, not your health, with very limited refill stations scattered around the levels, thankfully you can save between levels but it's still easy to get stuck as the game not only has tough enemies and bosses but also incorporates exploration to find everything, kind of like a Metroid game, many a player have been stuck in their tracks not being able to find their way in this game even if they've been able to take care of the enemy forces.

Medal of Honor & Medal of Honor Underground (PlayStation)
They both hold up rather well, they're not perfect games but arguably two of the better FPSs of the 32-bit generation.

The Adventures of Mighty Max (Mega Drive)
A platformer based on the toyline with little playsets in the shape of monsters and stuff, a favorite toyline from my childhood to say the least, sadly I never got to play the game or watch the animated series as a kid but after having spent some time with the game and seen some clips of the show on youtube it appears I didn't miss anything important, the toys were easily the strong part of the franchise as the game is rather mediocre and not particularly well designed with questionable levels and controls and the cartoon looks rather cheap as well. Not an awful game but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but the most old school fans of the toys like myself, I enjoy it to a bit but it got old really fast with repetitive gameplay and levels with so little variation at first I thought I had done something wrong and started the same level over again, but nope, it's the next level alright, they just didn't change a whole lot is all.

Cat Planet (PC)
A free downloadable 2D platformer type of game where you must manuever a girl with angel wings around a planet called Cat Planet inhabited by little cat planet cats that you need to find, 67 of them in tital. It's kind of a speedrunning game where you replay it often to get a better time with as few deaths as possible, you have unlimited lives. I've been able to average a time of about 5 minutes with 2-3 deaths which is an okay score I think, not world record material but I play it more for fun than serious business and my computer isn't strong so the game has a lot of slowdown despite being a rather simplistic 2D game with very barebone visuals, it's all about the programming I guess.

Cat Poke (PC)
In similar fasion to Cat Planet this is a little free downloadable game where you play as a little girl who can't go out and play because it's raining outside, so she decised to poke all the cats the in the house to pass the time. Poking all the cats requires you to not only find them but also lure them out of their hiding places so it's more of a puzzle game than a platformer. It's also similar to Cat Planet in that it times you to see how fast you can complete it if you're interested in that sort of thing, I just like playing it for fun though so I haven't kept much track of my times, I think it probably averages in around 5 minutes when I play unless I forget some item and need to backtrack and go get it, but a smooth run from start to finish can easily be done in under 5 minutes.

Façade (PC)
More of a social interaction simulator where your goal is to see what can happen than an actual game but a fun time waster nonetheless. It's a free download just like Cat Planet and Cat Poke but it's noticably larger as it's a 3D game with a lot of voice acting. Basically you get invited to visit some old friends and talk to them about their relationship in real time using your keyboard. I find it's hard to type fast enough and a lot of the time I end up missing to respond and the situation changes and moves on in perhaps not the direction I had in mind. I've gotten a few different endings so far but only one was anything interesting, the rest were just abrupt because I apperently said the wrong thing and got kicked out of their apartment.

Starsky & Hutch (Game Boy Advance)
A 3D open world driving game on GBA? Yup, and a damn good one at that! Regardless of what some less serious self-proclaimed game critics would like you to believe it's an excellent little game for the GBA, you have your story mode, free roam and other additional mission modes, lots of cars to drive and a nice big city to drive around in. It's rather slim to begin with but you unlock more as you play through the story. I like the visuals, they remind me a lot of GTA Chinatown Wars on DS. You can also shoot your gun out the window of the car so there's some action in there as well alongside the driving.

V-Rally 3 (Game Boy Advance)
Another 3D driving game on GBA, of the rally racing type this time. I was never a big fan of the V-Rally series back on PSX but this one really steps it up, it's closer to the Colin McRae and WRC games and much better for it. The controls are nice, the visuals go by smoothly and look very nice for GBA, I'd even go as far as to say they rival some PSX games, at least somewhat, the car itself is a 2D sprite with some rotation frames but the rest of the environment is all 3D and very varied and detailed, they did a good job not making the backgrounds repetitive which can often be the case. They have some basic damage info in the main career mode but beside that it's very much an arcade game, somewhat similar to Sega Rally. I find it interesting that they included a driver view from inside the car, it actually looks and handles very well from that angle, better than a lot of other games do.

Tomb Raider Legend (PlayStation Portable)
I'm not a huge fan of the Crystal Dynamics developed Tomb Raider games, I much prefer the Core Design developed games, but every now and then I play some Legend and/or Underworld. This time I felt like picking up where I left off in my current playthrough of the PSP port of Legend. It's not the best version of the game but it is the only portable version and it does offer some unique bonus content, so I still think it's a worthy addition to any PSP collection. It's still fully playable and enjoyable, they managed to fit just about everything in there with only minor visual drawbacks and some tweaked controls, it might take a minute or two to get used to at first but soon enough you'll feel right at home.

ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD (PlayStation 3)
Not much to say, it's ICO and SotC, what can be said about these games has already been said enough. ICO is virtually the same as it was on PS2 only adapted for HDTVs, SotC on the other hand has gotten a slight upgrade with better framerate overall than it had on PS2.


UPDATE #1:

Tomb Raider - The Prophecy (Game Boy Advance)
An original old school entry in the Tomb Raider series and a good one at that. It's a bit repetitive in the gameplay but at least it's approachable and the 4-letter password system makes it easy to get where you were last without having to worry about managing saved games and losing them due to the internal cartridge battery dying some day in the future.

Star X (Game Boy Advance)
Think Super Nintendo StarWing (StarFox in US) on Game Boy Advance and this is as close as it gets. Nintendo never made a StarWing for GBA so this third party developed game stepped up and filled the void. I have to say they did an excellend job as this game not only lives up to the task but even outperforms the original StarWing on Super Nintendo completely without any additional enhancement chips, it runs on just raw GBA power! It's not a direct copy of StarWing but the gameplay is nearly identical on-rail shooting with a flat shaded polygonal spaceship.

LEGO Drome Racers (Game Boy Advance)
Anyone like me who loves flat shaded polygons and racing games like Virtua Racing owe it to themselves to play this game at least once. It's a flat shaded polygonal 3D racer with offensive/defensive weapon pickups and speed boosts. While the tracks are fully 3D the cars are 2D sprites, but the game runs smoothly and at high speeds with lots of action so it's all good. There's also a version available for PS2, GameCube and Xbox but I sadly haven't gotten hold of it or even played it. Maybe, hopefully, one day I will.

B-Movie (PSX)
A fun little game where you pilot different customizable aircraft and take on an invading alien armada attack Earth while helping your fellow humans survive. It draws clear inspiration from games like Defender and old sci-fi movies.

Star Ixiom (PSX)
Kind of like a space RPG adventure. The main part of the game is similar to games like Colony Wars Red Sun but you also get to dock at space stations and walk around, talk to other characters to advance the story and change or customize your ship.

Sonic Adventure 2 - Battle (GameCube)
It's sadly not as good as the Dreamcast original but it does unlock some multiplayer bonus characters by default. It's visually muddier, both in screen clearness and texture definition, and certain effects such as character shadows have been drastically reworked and simplified. It also doesn't feel as controllable with lots of hit detection problems and different behaviour I'm not used to in the Dreamcast original, and sadly none of this is for the better. Regardless of the shortcomings it's nice to play the Rouge and Knuckles levels again, I love Sonic Adventure 2's huge treasure hunting levels, they were on a level of their own back in the day and even these days only a small handful games have been able to do something similar successfully.

Shadow The Hedgehog (GameCube and Xbox)
A game I've played a lot on PS2 over the years. It's nice to finally get to enjoy the superior versions with better framerates, faster loading times and more colors on screen. Beside those upgrades it's still the same game I know and love, with big multi-choice levels and paths to take throughout the game and good multiplayer options made even better with the addition of native 4-player split screen, not sure if the PS2 version could do that even with a multi-tap, by default it could only do 2-player split-screen. Still, the PS2 version is good enough and being cheaper and easier to find and get hold of in general still makes it a worthy purchase for anyone interested.

Gaming purchases for November 2015

Due to a death in the family my gaming (along with pretty much everything else) has been on hold recently, but I did get to order some stuff online and shop for some stuff locally and ended up going on a minor shopping spree as far as videogames go, also some other non-gaming items but I'll just cover the gaming stuff here.

In total so far during the first half of November I've bought over 30 games and some additional gaming related stuff, most for Xbox 360 and PS3 but also some for Wii and even a couple for PC and one for PS2, well kinda, the one for PS2 was an old demo disc I didn't have with some games from 2001 to 2003. It was interesting to see demo versions of some of those games that I've had the full version of for so many years.

Here's what I got so far, November's not over yet so I may update this again if I end up with anything else before the month is over.

PS2:

*a demo disc

Wii:

Cursed Mountain

Dead Space Extraction

Disney Princess Enchanted Journey

Monster High 13 Wishes

Monster High Skultimate Roller Maze

Xbox 360:

Armored Core V Verdict Day

Killer is Dead Limited Edition

Section 8

Syndicate

The Darkness

The Darkness 2 Limited Edition

Winter Sports 2011 Go for Gold

PS3:

Battlefield 3

Deception IV Blood Ties

FIFA 08

Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD

inFamous

Killer is Dead Limited Edition

Mindjack

MotorStorm Pacific Rift

MotorStorm Apocalypse

**PlayStation Move Starter Disc

Sly Cooper Thieves in Time

Split/Second Velocity

The House of the Dead Overkill Extended Cut

The Shoot

The Sly Trilogy

PC:

Need for Speed Porsche 2000

Riverworld

Other:

Disney Infinity 3.0 Inside Out Disgust figure

Skylanders Drobot figure

Skylanders Stealth Elf figure

*Among much else the PS2 demo disc contained demos of for example Ratchet & Clank, a This if Football game, a WRC game and Stuntman and also video trailers of for example Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness and an Ape Escape game.

**The PS Move Starter Disc is a demo disc of PS Move games that usually follows the purchase of the PS Move Starter Pack.


UPDATE from 19th November

I went ahead and ordered some more games online.

PSX:
*B-Movie
Star Ixiom

PS2:
Dragon Rage
Gift
Headhunter
Wreckless - The Yakuza Missions

PSP:
Invizimals Shadow Zone (incl. Go!Cam)

GBA:
Madagascar
Star X
Tomb Raider - The Prophecy
**V-Rally 3 & Stuntman

GameCube:
XGIII Extreme G Racing (Extreme-G 3)
Shadow The Hedgehog
Sonic Adventure 2 - Battle (Player's Choice)
Wreckless - The Yakuza Missions

Xbox:
Rally Fusion - Race of Champions
Shadow The Hedgehog


*known as Invasion from Beyond in USA

**V-Rally 3 & Stuntman was a double pack with both games on one cartridge


I'm planning on making one more online order soon, maybe before November ends, otherwise it'll be part of the December purchases.