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
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Gaming Purchases - April 2016
April 5th:
Today's second hand finds included a PC game, none other than classic Saturn exclusive Enemy Zero, the second game in WARP's D series (D2 on Dreamcast being the third and final game in the series and final game WARP made before shutting down permanently).
Enemy Zero is a 1996 sci-fi survival horror game with first person shooting, stealth mechanics, a mix between cinematic FMV and real-time 3D exploration gameplay and a unique battle system that uses audio cues rather than visual on-screen cues to locate and take out the alien enemies.
Originally developed as a PlayStation exclusive it was changed to Saturn only after Sony had poorly handled the release of the original D causing the director of Enemy Zero and founder of WARP to port the entire project over to Saturn and make the series and all other future games Sega exclusive from that point onward, the original D was a multiplatform game released on just about every 32-bit disc-based system at the time including the 3DO, PSX and Saturn.
Enemy Zero was one of the very few games for Saturn that came on 4 discs, which was a bit more common on PlayStation with games like Final Fantasy VIII and Fear Effect 2 Retro Helix for example.
Enemy Zero was originally released on December 13th of 1996 for Sega Saturn in Japan, later in 1997 it was released in the other regions worldwide and finally in 1998 it got ported to PC, initially released under the SEGA PC brand.
The version I got hold on is the more recent and much more common here in Europe these days re-release under the popular but nowadays defunct Xplosiv brand by UK-based Empire Interactive Entertainment that also re-released many other SEGA PC classics like Panzer Dragoon, House of the Dead 2, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter 2 (that I also got hold of relatively recently), Sega Rally Championship, Sonic & Knuckles Collection, Sonic 3D Flickies' Island, Sonic R, Virtua Cop 2 etc. etc..
PC:
Enemy Zero (Xplosiv re-release, still factory sealed)
April 26th:
Today's second hand finds included some PC games, some FIFA games for PS3, some PSP UMD movies, some DVDs, some multi CD cases, some W.I.T.C.H. comics, a pocket manga Kajika by Akira Toriyama, a PC video card to component and S-Video converter cable, a small pocket mirror, a magnetic massage thing with rounded spiky balls and a bunch of 5-10 year old videogame magazines.
PSP UMD Movies:
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
Kill Bill
Kill Bill 2
(2x) Pusher 3
PlayStation 3:
FIFA 11
FIFA 12 (no manual)
FIFA 13
PC:
IMP #005 Hydrael
IMP #007 Kentaurus
IMP #012 Frostmork
IMP #024 Kosmoeus
IMP #025 Megamammon
IMP #027 Ghoulak
IMP #033 Vulkanicus
IMP #046 Buttgod (yes, that's his actual name)
IMP, for those who are not in the know what this game is, was a 1-on-1 arena style fighting game/monster collecting game for PC by the Swedish developer Idol FX and came out for Windows 98/2000 in 2001.
The idea was that you would purchase separate CD-ROMs for each monster you wanted at a lower price than buying a full game on just one disc, needless to say if they had been very cheap and distributed on a larger scale with proper backing and funding by some bigger brand with advertising abilities and all that it might've worked, sadly they were rather expensive for just one monster per disc and on top of that very hard to find as very select few stores ever sold them. I only ever found them in one local store myself. So it didn't last and never became a big thing like Pokemon, Digimon, Monster Rancher, Jade Cocoon and so on.
I don't have all of them but I've managed to get hold of quite a few over the years. I originally bought a bunch when they were new and have since found wayward copies in different second hand shops. I rather liked the monster designs so whenever I see an IMP lost out there in the wild I just gotta catch it.
April 28th:
On April 25th I placed an order for some games that arrived for pickup two days later on April 27th and today, April 28th I went and picked them up.
It's a bigger order that I've had to wait a while to do because the site I ordered it from had some bug in the homepage which didn't allow me to use points I had earned which would've made it more expensive. It was already an expensive order so I had to wait if I wanted to afford to place it at all, during this time several of the games I wanted sadly got sold out and I'll probably not be able to get hold of them again for years if ever, they are simply that rare here, so I'm disappointed that it took well over two months for them to fix their homepage until I got my points. Also now when I got the order two of the games that we supposed to have manuals and be "complete" were missing the manuals. So another disappointment. A third disappointment was that they made some prices higher, and a lot higher at that, for some other games I wanted to the point were even with my points I couldn't afford them and didn't really want to buy them anymore because I don't think they're worth that much, so I had to skip buying them as well.
Simply put I only got about two thirds of the order I originally had planned to buy only two months later than I wanted and it still cost about the same, so not a super great experience overall that I'll not soon forget.
Regardless of the negatives I finally have some 32X games of my very own, I got some nice classics for PlayStation that I've been on the hunt for and my collection for Mega Drive and PlayStation Portable got a little bigger as well.
Mega Drive:
F22 Interceptor (no manual)
LHX Attack Chopper (no manual)
Retro-bit RetroGen 6-button Controller
32X:
DOOM
Metal Head
Virtua Racing Deluxe
PlayStation:
Centipede
Iron Soldier 3
Kirikou
Newman Haas Racing
T'ai Fu Wrath of the Tiger (no manual)
Re-Loaded (no manual)
Star Wars Rebel Assault II The Hidden Empire (no manual)
Viewpoint (no manual)
PlayStation Portable:
Key of Heaven
L.A. Rush
Today's second hand finds included a PC game, none other than classic Saturn exclusive Enemy Zero, the second game in WARP's D series (D2 on Dreamcast being the third and final game in the series and final game WARP made before shutting down permanently).
Enemy Zero is a 1996 sci-fi survival horror game with first person shooting, stealth mechanics, a mix between cinematic FMV and real-time 3D exploration gameplay and a unique battle system that uses audio cues rather than visual on-screen cues to locate and take out the alien enemies.
Originally developed as a PlayStation exclusive it was changed to Saturn only after Sony had poorly handled the release of the original D causing the director of Enemy Zero and founder of WARP to port the entire project over to Saturn and make the series and all other future games Sega exclusive from that point onward, the original D was a multiplatform game released on just about every 32-bit disc-based system at the time including the 3DO, PSX and Saturn.
Enemy Zero was one of the very few games for Saturn that came on 4 discs, which was a bit more common on PlayStation with games like Final Fantasy VIII and Fear Effect 2 Retro Helix for example.
Enemy Zero was originally released on December 13th of 1996 for Sega Saturn in Japan, later in 1997 it was released in the other regions worldwide and finally in 1998 it got ported to PC, initially released under the SEGA PC brand.
The version I got hold on is the more recent and much more common here in Europe these days re-release under the popular but nowadays defunct Xplosiv brand by UK-based Empire Interactive Entertainment that also re-released many other SEGA PC classics like Panzer Dragoon, House of the Dead 2, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter 2 (that I also got hold of relatively recently), Sega Rally Championship, Sonic & Knuckles Collection, Sonic 3D Flickies' Island, Sonic R, Virtua Cop 2 etc. etc..
PC:
Enemy Zero (Xplosiv re-release, still factory sealed)
April 26th:
Today's second hand finds included some PC games, some FIFA games for PS3, some PSP UMD movies, some DVDs, some multi CD cases, some W.I.T.C.H. comics, a pocket manga Kajika by Akira Toriyama, a PC video card to component and S-Video converter cable, a small pocket mirror, a magnetic massage thing with rounded spiky balls and a bunch of 5-10 year old videogame magazines.
PSP UMD Movies:
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
Kill Bill
Kill Bill 2
(2x) Pusher 3
PlayStation 3:
FIFA 11
FIFA 12 (no manual)
FIFA 13
PC:
IMP #005 Hydrael
IMP #007 Kentaurus
IMP #012 Frostmork
IMP #024 Kosmoeus
IMP #025 Megamammon
IMP #027 Ghoulak
IMP #033 Vulkanicus
IMP #046 Buttgod (yes, that's his actual name)
IMP, for those who are not in the know what this game is, was a 1-on-1 arena style fighting game/monster collecting game for PC by the Swedish developer Idol FX and came out for Windows 98/2000 in 2001.
The idea was that you would purchase separate CD-ROMs for each monster you wanted at a lower price than buying a full game on just one disc, needless to say if they had been very cheap and distributed on a larger scale with proper backing and funding by some bigger brand with advertising abilities and all that it might've worked, sadly they were rather expensive for just one monster per disc and on top of that very hard to find as very select few stores ever sold them. I only ever found them in one local store myself. So it didn't last and never became a big thing like Pokemon, Digimon, Monster Rancher, Jade Cocoon and so on.
I don't have all of them but I've managed to get hold of quite a few over the years. I originally bought a bunch when they were new and have since found wayward copies in different second hand shops. I rather liked the monster designs so whenever I see an IMP lost out there in the wild I just gotta catch it.
April 28th:
On April 25th I placed an order for some games that arrived for pickup two days later on April 27th and today, April 28th I went and picked them up.
It's a bigger order that I've had to wait a while to do because the site I ordered it from had some bug in the homepage which didn't allow me to use points I had earned which would've made it more expensive. It was already an expensive order so I had to wait if I wanted to afford to place it at all, during this time several of the games I wanted sadly got sold out and I'll probably not be able to get hold of them again for years if ever, they are simply that rare here, so I'm disappointed that it took well over two months for them to fix their homepage until I got my points. Also now when I got the order two of the games that we supposed to have manuals and be "complete" were missing the manuals. So another disappointment. A third disappointment was that they made some prices higher, and a lot higher at that, for some other games I wanted to the point were even with my points I couldn't afford them and didn't really want to buy them anymore because I don't think they're worth that much, so I had to skip buying them as well.
Simply put I only got about two thirds of the order I originally had planned to buy only two months later than I wanted and it still cost about the same, so not a super great experience overall that I'll not soon forget.
Regardless of the negatives I finally have some 32X games of my very own, I got some nice classics for PlayStation that I've been on the hunt for and my collection for Mega Drive and PlayStation Portable got a little bigger as well.
Mega Drive:
F22 Interceptor (no manual)
LHX Attack Chopper (no manual)
Retro-bit RetroGen 6-button Controller
32X:
DOOM
Metal Head
Virtua Racing Deluxe
PlayStation:
Centipede
Iron Soldier 3
Kirikou
Newman Haas Racing
T'ai Fu Wrath of the Tiger (no manual)
Re-Loaded (no manual)
Star Wars Rebel Assault II The Hidden Empire (no manual)
Viewpoint (no manual)
PlayStation Portable:
Key of Heaven
L.A. Rush
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Now Playing - April 2016
What I'm playing right now.
Rally Fusion Race Of Champions (PlayStation 2)
Pretty much my all-time favorite rally game. It has all my favorite rally cars throughout all the ages of rally racing, fantastic visuals, good driving physics, great tracks and a driving feel that makes it enjoyable to just play the game. I recently (middle of December 2015) got hold of the Xbox version but because my Xbox died just a few days later I never got a chance to try it out, so now instead I've dug out my PS2 copy and am playing through it from the beginning. I haven't played it in what feels like forever but it's just as good as I remember it to be and after having played some other rather fun rally games recently on PS2 and GameCube (WRC3 and Pro Rally respectively) you might think this would have a harder time living up to the memory I have of it being the best and all but honestly it's quite the opposite, it easily lived up to my rose-tinted memories and in comparison to the other two it's in a league of it's own, even other types of challenges that in other games are mostly tedious and annoying are fun in this, like cone challenges, I don't know any other racing game where I enjoy them in beside this!
Beyond Oasis (Mega Drive)
A top-down action adventure game with platforming, puzzle and RPG elements, a common type of game on Super Nintendo but not so much on the Mega Drive making this very much a one of a kind.
And what a one of a kind it is! It's easily the best representative of the genre in that generation and puts the Super Nintendo competitors like The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger in their places.
I completed the game with a time of 6 hours and 33 minutes with 0 deaths but I missed a lot of secrets and stuff so I only got about half of the stuff you can find and none of the secret super weapons. So there's certainly replayability in there as well, which is nice.
The game has a built in save feature for up to four separate files at a time and it saves your end scores so every time you beat it you can compare with how you did in your previous playthroughs. You can aim to get a better time and higher rank and stuff separately too as they have their own scoreboards which is really cool and should be appreciated by anyone who likes to improve their game without having to keep a manual score themselves by writing down stats on paper or on a PC or something, very innovative thinking by the developers to say the least, even more so for a game released in 1995 on a console from 1989.
So it's a great game and a must play for anyone who likes the idea of the genre but haven't felt satisfied with the more common Super Nintendo offerings, this was the type of game I was looking for and I enjoyed it a lot.
Metal Head (32X)
Basically Armored Core on the 32X, it's fantastic.
Star Wars Arcade (32X)
Virtua Racing Deluxe (32X)
Rally Fusion Race Of Champions (PlayStation 2)
Pretty much my all-time favorite rally game. It has all my favorite rally cars throughout all the ages of rally racing, fantastic visuals, good driving physics, great tracks and a driving feel that makes it enjoyable to just play the game. I recently (middle of December 2015) got hold of the Xbox version but because my Xbox died just a few days later I never got a chance to try it out, so now instead I've dug out my PS2 copy and am playing through it from the beginning. I haven't played it in what feels like forever but it's just as good as I remember it to be and after having played some other rather fun rally games recently on PS2 and GameCube (WRC3 and Pro Rally respectively) you might think this would have a harder time living up to the memory I have of it being the best and all but honestly it's quite the opposite, it easily lived up to my rose-tinted memories and in comparison to the other two it's in a league of it's own, even other types of challenges that in other games are mostly tedious and annoying are fun in this, like cone challenges, I don't know any other racing game where I enjoy them in beside this!
Beyond Oasis (Mega Drive)
A top-down action adventure game with platforming, puzzle and RPG elements, a common type of game on Super Nintendo but not so much on the Mega Drive making this very much a one of a kind.
And what a one of a kind it is! It's easily the best representative of the genre in that generation and puts the Super Nintendo competitors like The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger in their places.
I completed the game with a time of 6 hours and 33 minutes with 0 deaths but I missed a lot of secrets and stuff so I only got about half of the stuff you can find and none of the secret super weapons. So there's certainly replayability in there as well, which is nice.
The game has a built in save feature for up to four separate files at a time and it saves your end scores so every time you beat it you can compare with how you did in your previous playthroughs. You can aim to get a better time and higher rank and stuff separately too as they have their own scoreboards which is really cool and should be appreciated by anyone who likes to improve their game without having to keep a manual score themselves by writing down stats on paper or on a PC or something, very innovative thinking by the developers to say the least, even more so for a game released in 1995 on a console from 1989.
So it's a great game and a must play for anyone who likes the idea of the genre but haven't felt satisfied with the more common Super Nintendo offerings, this was the type of game I was looking for and I enjoyed it a lot.
Metal Head (32X)
Basically Armored Core on the 32X, it's fantastic.
Star Wars Arcade (32X)
Virtua Racing Deluxe (32X)
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Now Playing - Mars 2016
As per usual there are a lot of recent purchases dominating the current playlist, but also some regulars and returning oldies.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Entertainment System)
I recently played through the three Super Mario Bros. games on Entertainment System and as usual I got through them no problem, but I always like to go back and do some extra stuff in the third, it's just such a huge game that one playthrough is never enough.
Ballz 3D (Mega Drive)
I'm not a big fan of fighting games in general but I have come to love many over the years, Ballz 3D is one of the oldest. I really like the free roaming 3D style of gameplay and the use of simple ball sprites of different sizes making up the bodies of the many different characters works perfectly to create a smooth illusion of sprite scaling.
Eternal Champions (Mega Drive)
Another old fighting game I love, extremely well made in every aspect, it's everything good the best versions of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat has and lacks and then some. The Mega CD sequel is even better still in almost every way but for a Mega Drive cartridge it's as good as it gets.
F1 World Championship (Mega Drive)
A 3D polygonal racing game with F1 cars.
Kawasaki Superbike Challenge (Mega Drive)
A 3D polygonal racing game with motorbikes.
Newman Haas IndyCar Featuring Nigel Mansell (Mega Drive)
A 3D polygonal racing game with IndyCar cars.
Steel Talons (Mega Drive)
I absolutely love old 3D polygon games, especially the ones on Mega Drive as they were very technically impressive, most of them only used the main processor of the Mega Drive to do everything, with no additional enhancement chips in the cartridges needed.
Super Monaco GP (Mega Drive)
It's old, technically unimpressive, rather visually bland and uneventful, but it's playable and with enough nostalgia it can still be a good time.
Virtua Racing (Mega Drive)
The single most advanced and powerful additional enhancement chip ever made still makes Virtua Racing on Mega Drive the most technically impressive and visually stunning polygonal 3D game in the entire 16-bit generation.
Winter Challenge (Mega Drive)
3D polygon visuals in Mega Drive games makes me happy in pants.
Sega Sports Formula One World Championship Beyond The Limit (Mega CD)
I consider this to be one of the best Mega CD games there are, the sprite scaling and overall technical quality are on par with 32X games and the movie quality for the intro cinematic is unusually high res, full screen and smooth framerate by even the best of Mega CD standards.
Sega Arcade Gallery (Game Boy Advance)
I mainly play Space Harrier but I've tried out the other three games a little more as well, I guess Super Hang On comes second as it's like OutRun but it has turbo boost and opponents, making the gameplay a tiny bit more interesting, OutRun is third and Afterburner comes last.
I was never a fan of the OutRun, Hang On or Afterburner games to begin with but at least the versions in this collection are all very high quality ports of the arcade originals and run very smoothly with excellent sprite scaling, so while they may not be arcade perfect ports with the GBA hardware limitations in mind, they're still some of the best versions I've played in all four cases, only the 32X versions of Space Harrier and Afterburner II Complete are on this level, not counting the arcade perfect versions on Saturn, Dreamcast and other more powerful hardware that can easily handle old sprite scaler games like these.
O.D.T. Escape or Die Trying (PlayStation)
It feels like a mix of Tomb Raider (original Core Design style) and Apocalypse (that sci-fi action shooter game with Bruce Willis) and I'm really enjoying it so far.
Dead or Alive 2 (PlayStation 2)
I've been enjoying Dead or Alive 2 on Dreamcast since it was was new and the Ultimate remake on Xbox for the last few years, so I've never really felt the need to get the PS2 version as well, but now since both those consoles are broken I figured it was time to rekindle my memories of the PS2 version I played with a friend all those years ago when I had the Dreamcast version and he got the PS2 version.
This is a promo disc, I don't know if there are any in-game differences between it and the retail release, but I highly doubt there are.
It still looks and plays great, it was one of those early games I remember really showing what next gen tech could do. Fighting games in general have always been good at pushing tech to the limit, looking fantastic for the time and aging very well as a result, same goes for racing games.
Mercury Meltdown Remix (PlayStation 2)
I love Mercury and Mercury Meltdown, both games were great on PSP and I even enjoyed Meltdown Revolution on Wii despite the motion controls not being quite as good as I would've liked. Meltdown Remix on PS2 is somewhere between the original Meltdown on PSP and Revolution on Wii as far as extra content goes, it's got more stuff than Meltdown on PSP but not as much as Revolution on Wii, but the controls I'd say are the best in Remix on PS2 so it's pretty much a tie between the three versions overall; the original on PSP is portable, Remix on PS2 has the best controls and Revolution on Wii has the most content, which is also why I didn't stop until I had all three versions.
I still love the original PSP exclusive Mercury the most, it not only evolved the puzzle genre, it did it on a portable system, that hadn't been done since Tetris on Game Boy, there was nothing else like it and it was only made possible thanks to PSP, it was an unforgettable experience playing that game but there's no denying Meltdown in all versions is an objectively better game in almost every way.
It's safe to say after all these years I'm still a fan of the series despite how bad the latest Xbox 360/PS3 downloadable DLC divided game Mercury Hg was.
Operation WinBack (PlayStation 2)
While the Nintendo 64 version was impressive by N64 standards, this version was improved enough that for a 2001 release it was also impressive by PS2 standards. The screen resolution, framerate, polygonal detail, special effects (like detailed shadows) and texture resolution and detail have all been given a massive upgrade and the game is now fully voice acted. It's essentially everything the N64 game was but much better in every way.
Smuggler's Run 2 Hostile Territory (PlayStation 2)
It's a promo disc but I assume everything in-game is the same as the regular retail release.
I like the original Smuggler's Run on PS2, I've given the GBA game a try (spoiler alert: it really sucks) and I haven't played the GameCube Smuggler's Run so I couldn't say what that one was like. By comparison to the original and the GBA game this sequel improves on the overall formula of the first game by being more of the same only with further optimization and fine tuning. It has some of the most impressive draw distances of any PS2 game I've seen and the visuals are very nice overall as well, there are even codes you can input during paused gameplay to double the framerate and stuff, there's a lot of fun to be had in this game.
Transformers (PlayStation 2)
I've wanted this game for years but it's always managed to slip through my fingers, literally every time a copy has surfaced someone else has beaten me to it. But not this time! I saw it, I ordered it, I got it, Rat wins! It's a really great game and I'm glad to finally be playing it. I was never a big fan of Armada but this game doesn't feel too ruined by it, it's still got plenty of Transformers goodness in it, and while I'm not a fan of the whole mini-con business in the cartoon at all at least they fit well in a game as customizable powers and abilities, it makes them a lot more tolerable than they ever were in the cartoon.
Worms 3D (PlayStation 2)
I know this game gets a lot of flack but I could never figure out quite why, I enjoy it myself and everyone I know who likes Worms games also like the 3D ones, the only haters I know of are online and far away. It's basically Worms 2, Armageddon or World Party in 3D, and while I may be a much bigger fan of the original Worms on PlayStation, Mega Drive, MS-DOS and Super Nintendo than I am of the newer Worms 2 cartoony redesign, I still enjoy the core gameplay mechanics and feel the 3D games in the series deliver on their part.
That being said I haven't really enjoyed the later games in the series at all, the ones that went back to 2D gameplay.
WRC3 (PlayStation 2)
An extremely great rally game that does just about everything right, putting the competition on all other platforms from all other generations to shame. Very impressive so far. It's like the PS2 equivalent of RalliSport Challenge 2 on Xbox. The first WRC and the sequel WRC2 on PS2 were also great, so the third WRC follows in line with glorious high quality tradition.
Ignition (PC)
A 3D top-down arcade racing game that came out in 1997 exclusively on PC and a great blast from the past.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Entertainment System)
I recently played through the three Super Mario Bros. games on Entertainment System and as usual I got through them no problem, but I always like to go back and do some extra stuff in the third, it's just such a huge game that one playthrough is never enough.
Ballz 3D (Mega Drive)
I'm not a big fan of fighting games in general but I have come to love many over the years, Ballz 3D is one of the oldest. I really like the free roaming 3D style of gameplay and the use of simple ball sprites of different sizes making up the bodies of the many different characters works perfectly to create a smooth illusion of sprite scaling.
Eternal Champions (Mega Drive)
Another old fighting game I love, extremely well made in every aspect, it's everything good the best versions of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat has and lacks and then some. The Mega CD sequel is even better still in almost every way but for a Mega Drive cartridge it's as good as it gets.
F1 World Championship (Mega Drive)
A 3D polygonal racing game with F1 cars.
Kawasaki Superbike Challenge (Mega Drive)
A 3D polygonal racing game with motorbikes.
Newman Haas IndyCar Featuring Nigel Mansell (Mega Drive)
A 3D polygonal racing game with IndyCar cars.
Steel Talons (Mega Drive)
I absolutely love old 3D polygon games, especially the ones on Mega Drive as they were very technically impressive, most of them only used the main processor of the Mega Drive to do everything, with no additional enhancement chips in the cartridges needed.
Super Monaco GP (Mega Drive)
It's old, technically unimpressive, rather visually bland and uneventful, but it's playable and with enough nostalgia it can still be a good time.
Virtua Racing (Mega Drive)
The single most advanced and powerful additional enhancement chip ever made still makes Virtua Racing on Mega Drive the most technically impressive and visually stunning polygonal 3D game in the entire 16-bit generation.
Winter Challenge (Mega Drive)
3D polygon visuals in Mega Drive games makes me happy in pants.
Sega Sports Formula One World Championship Beyond The Limit (Mega CD)
I consider this to be one of the best Mega CD games there are, the sprite scaling and overall technical quality are on par with 32X games and the movie quality for the intro cinematic is unusually high res, full screen and smooth framerate by even the best of Mega CD standards.
Sega Arcade Gallery (Game Boy Advance)
I mainly play Space Harrier but I've tried out the other three games a little more as well, I guess Super Hang On comes second as it's like OutRun but it has turbo boost and opponents, making the gameplay a tiny bit more interesting, OutRun is third and Afterburner comes last.
I was never a fan of the OutRun, Hang On or Afterburner games to begin with but at least the versions in this collection are all very high quality ports of the arcade originals and run very smoothly with excellent sprite scaling, so while they may not be arcade perfect ports with the GBA hardware limitations in mind, they're still some of the best versions I've played in all four cases, only the 32X versions of Space Harrier and Afterburner II Complete are on this level, not counting the arcade perfect versions on Saturn, Dreamcast and other more powerful hardware that can easily handle old sprite scaler games like these.
O.D.T. Escape or Die Trying (PlayStation)
It feels like a mix of Tomb Raider (original Core Design style) and Apocalypse (that sci-fi action shooter game with Bruce Willis) and I'm really enjoying it so far.
Dead or Alive 2 (PlayStation 2)
I've been enjoying Dead or Alive 2 on Dreamcast since it was was new and the Ultimate remake on Xbox for the last few years, so I've never really felt the need to get the PS2 version as well, but now since both those consoles are broken I figured it was time to rekindle my memories of the PS2 version I played with a friend all those years ago when I had the Dreamcast version and he got the PS2 version.
This is a promo disc, I don't know if there are any in-game differences between it and the retail release, but I highly doubt there are.
It still looks and plays great, it was one of those early games I remember really showing what next gen tech could do. Fighting games in general have always been good at pushing tech to the limit, looking fantastic for the time and aging very well as a result, same goes for racing games.
Mercury Meltdown Remix (PlayStation 2)
I love Mercury and Mercury Meltdown, both games were great on PSP and I even enjoyed Meltdown Revolution on Wii despite the motion controls not being quite as good as I would've liked. Meltdown Remix on PS2 is somewhere between the original Meltdown on PSP and Revolution on Wii as far as extra content goes, it's got more stuff than Meltdown on PSP but not as much as Revolution on Wii, but the controls I'd say are the best in Remix on PS2 so it's pretty much a tie between the three versions overall; the original on PSP is portable, Remix on PS2 has the best controls and Revolution on Wii has the most content, which is also why I didn't stop until I had all three versions.
I still love the original PSP exclusive Mercury the most, it not only evolved the puzzle genre, it did it on a portable system, that hadn't been done since Tetris on Game Boy, there was nothing else like it and it was only made possible thanks to PSP, it was an unforgettable experience playing that game but there's no denying Meltdown in all versions is an objectively better game in almost every way.
It's safe to say after all these years I'm still a fan of the series despite how bad the latest Xbox 360/PS3 downloadable DLC divided game Mercury Hg was.
Operation WinBack (PlayStation 2)
While the Nintendo 64 version was impressive by N64 standards, this version was improved enough that for a 2001 release it was also impressive by PS2 standards. The screen resolution, framerate, polygonal detail, special effects (like detailed shadows) and texture resolution and detail have all been given a massive upgrade and the game is now fully voice acted. It's essentially everything the N64 game was but much better in every way.
Smuggler's Run 2 Hostile Territory (PlayStation 2)
It's a promo disc but I assume everything in-game is the same as the regular retail release.
I like the original Smuggler's Run on PS2, I've given the GBA game a try (spoiler alert: it really sucks) and I haven't played the GameCube Smuggler's Run so I couldn't say what that one was like. By comparison to the original and the GBA game this sequel improves on the overall formula of the first game by being more of the same only with further optimization and fine tuning. It has some of the most impressive draw distances of any PS2 game I've seen and the visuals are very nice overall as well, there are even codes you can input during paused gameplay to double the framerate and stuff, there's a lot of fun to be had in this game.
Transformers (PlayStation 2)
I've wanted this game for years but it's always managed to slip through my fingers, literally every time a copy has surfaced someone else has beaten me to it. But not this time! I saw it, I ordered it, I got it, Rat wins! It's a really great game and I'm glad to finally be playing it. I was never a big fan of Armada but this game doesn't feel too ruined by it, it's still got plenty of Transformers goodness in it, and while I'm not a fan of the whole mini-con business in the cartoon at all at least they fit well in a game as customizable powers and abilities, it makes them a lot more tolerable than they ever were in the cartoon.
Worms 3D (PlayStation 2)
I know this game gets a lot of flack but I could never figure out quite why, I enjoy it myself and everyone I know who likes Worms games also like the 3D ones, the only haters I know of are online and far away. It's basically Worms 2, Armageddon or World Party in 3D, and while I may be a much bigger fan of the original Worms on PlayStation, Mega Drive, MS-DOS and Super Nintendo than I am of the newer Worms 2 cartoony redesign, I still enjoy the core gameplay mechanics and feel the 3D games in the series deliver on their part.
That being said I haven't really enjoyed the later games in the series at all, the ones that went back to 2D gameplay.
WRC3 (PlayStation 2)
An extremely great rally game that does just about everything right, putting the competition on all other platforms from all other generations to shame. Very impressive so far. It's like the PS2 equivalent of RalliSport Challenge 2 on Xbox. The first WRC and the sequel WRC2 on PS2 were also great, so the third WRC follows in line with glorious high quality tradition.
Ignition (PC)
A 3D top-down arcade racing game that came out in 1997 exclusively on PC and a great blast from the past.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Gaming Purchases - Mars 2016
Mars 1st:
Was out shopping with a friend today and picked up a couple things at the local GameStop.
PlayStation Vita:
Sly Cooper Thieves in Time (no instruction booklet)
Skylanders:
Cynder
Mars 8th:
I was out shopping with a friend today and I had a GameStop code for a free Skylander to use, so we stopped by GameStop and I picked up a free Skylander set, a new PS2 controller, the three cheapest Nintendo DS games I could find to use their plastic cases for some rogue Game Boy Advance game cartridges I have laying around and some other stuff.
Hardware:
GameStop BB-122 Wired Controller for PlayStation 2 (GameStop brand Dual Shock 2)
Nintendo DS:
Disney Jonas
Guitar Hero On Tour Modern Hits
My Health Coach Stop Smoking with Allen Carr
Skylanders:
SuperCharged Combo Pack - Bone Bash Roller Brawl & Tomb Buggy (SuperChargers)
Other:
Hot Wheels - HW Race Track Stars #184 - DMC DeLorean
Pixel Bricks - Street Fighter - Blanka
Pixel Bricks - Street Fighter - Ken
Pixel Bricks - Street Fighter - Ryu
Mars 15th:
On my way home today I stopped by a second hand shop and among some other stuff I found some older, still sealed, PC games.
PC:
Devastation
Firestarter
Krazy Ivan
Legends of Might and Magic
Manhattan Chase
March! Offworld Recon
The Operative: No One Lives Forever
Nuclear Strike
Pariah
Racing Simulation 3
DVD:
The Smurfs Vol. 10
also picked up a couple of sealed and unused VHS and cassette tapes, two barely used microcassette tapes, a 1995 The Phantom comic book and an Oliver & Co. comic book.
Nostalgia shopping spree for the win!
Mars 22nd:
Went to the second hand shop on the way home today and found some stuff as usual, among it another old PC game.
PC:
Unreal II The Awakening
also a composite + S-Video to SCART converter, three Manga comics, a Tintin audiobook on CD, a Bakugan DVD, five more Smurfs DVDs, some paintings and some ornament figures.
Also got a Donald Duck comic with a LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Fighter set (black and orange) from another store.
Was out shopping with a friend today and picked up a couple things at the local GameStop.
PlayStation Vita:
Sly Cooper Thieves in Time (no instruction booklet)
Skylanders:
Cynder
Mars 8th:
I was out shopping with a friend today and I had a GameStop code for a free Skylander to use, so we stopped by GameStop and I picked up a free Skylander set, a new PS2 controller, the three cheapest Nintendo DS games I could find to use their plastic cases for some rogue Game Boy Advance game cartridges I have laying around and some other stuff.
Hardware:
GameStop BB-122 Wired Controller for PlayStation 2 (GameStop brand Dual Shock 2)
Nintendo DS:
Disney Jonas
Guitar Hero On Tour Modern Hits
My Health Coach Stop Smoking with Allen Carr
Skylanders:
SuperCharged Combo Pack - Bone Bash Roller Brawl & Tomb Buggy (SuperChargers)
Other:
Hot Wheels - HW Race Track Stars #184 - DMC DeLorean
Pixel Bricks - Street Fighter - Blanka
Pixel Bricks - Street Fighter - Ken
Pixel Bricks - Street Fighter - Ryu
Mars 15th:
On my way home today I stopped by a second hand shop and among some other stuff I found some older, still sealed, PC games.
PC:
Devastation
Firestarter
Krazy Ivan
Legends of Might and Magic
Manhattan Chase
March! Offworld Recon
The Operative: No One Lives Forever
Nuclear Strike
Pariah
Racing Simulation 3
DVD:
The Smurfs Vol. 10
also picked up a couple of sealed and unused VHS and cassette tapes, two barely used microcassette tapes, a 1995 The Phantom comic book and an Oliver & Co. comic book.
Nostalgia shopping spree for the win!
Mars 22nd:
Went to the second hand shop on the way home today and found some stuff as usual, among it another old PC game.
PC:
Unreal II The Awakening
also a composite + S-Video to SCART converter, three Manga comics, a Tintin audiobook on CD, a Bakugan DVD, five more Smurfs DVDs, some paintings and some ornament figures.
Also got a Donald Duck comic with a LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Fighter set (black and orange) from another store.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Gaming Purchases - February 2016
February 10th:
Ordered some games and stuff online again. All new and sealed this time, nothing used/pre-owned/second.hand.
PlayStation 2:
Burnout Dominator (Platinum)
Stitch Experiment 626
Operation Air Assault 2
Amiibo:
Fox (Super Smash Bros.)
Peach (Super Mario Collection)
Zero Suit Samus (Super Smash Bros.)
Disney Infinity:
Jasmine (2.0)
February 11th:
Ordered some additional games from the same place. All new, all sealed, nothing used/pre-owned/second-hand.
PlayStation 2:
Kart Racer
MotorStorm Arctic Edge
Truck Racer
February 16th:
Was out shopping with a friend today and found some Disney Infinity on sale half price off, also some other bargain bin stuff.
Disney Infinity:
Disgust (3.0, Inside Out)
Minnie Mouse (3.0)
Mulan (3.0)
Quorra (3.0, Tron Legacy)
Sadness (3.0, Inside Out)
Bluray+DVD:
The Croods
PC:
Trust optical mouse
Other:
cable splitter components
February 23rd:
Was out shopping today, picked up some collectibles.
DVD:
Prince of Persia Sands of Time
Collectibles:
Welly - Back to the Future - 1985 DeLorean DMC-12 Time Machine
Bamse figure pack - Granny, Sooty and the house mouse
Disney's Cars 2 - Shigeko
Disney's Cars 2 - Suki
February 24th:
Placed an order online for some stuff.
Hardware:
a Sega Mega Drive II console
a Sega Mega CD II console add-on
a Sega 32X console add-on
a RetroPad 6-button Mega Drive controller
Mega Drive:
Steel Talons
Winter Challenge
Game Boy Advance:
Sega Arcade Gallery (Afterburner, Space Harrier, OutRun and Super Hang On)
PlayStation:
O.D.T. Escape Or Die Trying
PlayStation 2:
Dead or Alive 2 (promo)
Mercury Meltdown Remix
Transformers (the 2004 game based on the animated Transformers Armada series)
Worms 3D
WRC3
February 25th:
Placed another order online for some other stuff.
Hardware:
three replacement glass screens for Game Boy Advance
three Wormlights for Game Boy Advance
two extension cables for PlayStation/PlayStation 2 controllers
an S-Video cable for Xbox 360
a VGA to S-Video and composite RCA converter (NOT a signal converter like I thought it was, just a simple connector converter, the graphics card needs to have S-Video/composite signal over VGA for this thing to work or the image is scrambled and won't show properly on S-Video/composite compatible devices like TVs or projectors, bummer for me as I was hoping to play my PC games on my TV with a controller rather than on the PC monitor as always)
February 25th:
While not a gaming purchase exactly I still like to include little things like this because there are plenty of games related to it, especially in this case with the thing being both LEGO and Star Wars.
LEGO:
LEGO Star Wars magazine with limited edition Millennium Falcon set
Ordered some games and stuff online again. All new and sealed this time, nothing used/pre-owned/second.hand.
PlayStation 2:
Burnout Dominator (Platinum)
Stitch Experiment 626
Operation Air Assault 2
Amiibo:
Fox (Super Smash Bros.)
Peach (Super Mario Collection)
Zero Suit Samus (Super Smash Bros.)
Disney Infinity:
Jasmine (2.0)
February 11th:
Ordered some additional games from the same place. All new, all sealed, nothing used/pre-owned/second-hand.
PlayStation 2:
Kart Racer
MotorStorm Arctic Edge
Truck Racer
February 16th:
Was out shopping with a friend today and found some Disney Infinity on sale half price off, also some other bargain bin stuff.
Disney Infinity:
Disgust (3.0, Inside Out)
Minnie Mouse (3.0)
Mulan (3.0)
Quorra (3.0, Tron Legacy)
Sadness (3.0, Inside Out)
Bluray+DVD:
The Croods
PC:
Trust optical mouse
Other:
cable splitter components
February 23rd:
Was out shopping today, picked up some collectibles.
DVD:
Prince of Persia Sands of Time
Collectibles:
Welly - Back to the Future - 1985 DeLorean DMC-12 Time Machine
Bamse figure pack - Granny, Sooty and the house mouse
Disney's Cars 2 - Shigeko
Disney's Cars 2 - Suki
February 24th:
Placed an order online for some stuff.
Hardware:
a Sega Mega Drive II console
a Sega Mega CD II console add-on
a Sega 32X console add-on
a RetroPad 6-button Mega Drive controller
Mega Drive:
Steel Talons
Winter Challenge
Game Boy Advance:
Sega Arcade Gallery (Afterburner, Space Harrier, OutRun and Super Hang On)
PlayStation:
O.D.T. Escape Or Die Trying
PlayStation 2:
Dead or Alive 2 (promo)
Mercury Meltdown Remix
Transformers (the 2004 game based on the animated Transformers Armada series)
Worms 3D
WRC3
February 25th:
Placed another order online for some other stuff.
Hardware:
three replacement glass screens for Game Boy Advance
three Wormlights for Game Boy Advance
two extension cables for PlayStation/PlayStation 2 controllers
an S-Video cable for Xbox 360
a VGA to S-Video and composite RCA converter (NOT a signal converter like I thought it was, just a simple connector converter, the graphics card needs to have S-Video/composite signal over VGA for this thing to work or the image is scrambled and won't show properly on S-Video/composite compatible devices like TVs or projectors, bummer for me as I was hoping to play my PC games on my TV with a controller rather than on the PC monitor as always)
February 25th:
While not a gaming purchase exactly I still like to include little things like this because there are plenty of games related to it, especially in this case with the thing being both LEGO and Star Wars.
LEGO:
LEGO Star Wars magazine with limited edition Millennium Falcon set
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Now Playing - February 2016
Some recent purchases dominate the playlist at the moment.
Offroad Extreme (Wii)
A game released on PlayStation 2 in Europe by infamous publisherPhoenix Games, the Wii port offers as far as I know the same game only with forced motion controls.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster of epic proportions, right? Yes, yes it most certainly does, but alas it's a moderately entertaining racer and the motion controls are honestly pretty good, they're responsive and do what they need without complications.
I usually hate motion controls but in select few games I can tolerate them depending on how detrimental they are to the game. In this game I felt they were minimally detrimental, so kudos for that.
It's hard to tell if this was better on PS2 using normal controls without having played it myself, but I had little to no problems winning races and staying on track even when maneuvering through tricky thin mountainside roads where you could easily fall off the side down bottomless pits having to reset to the track costing precious seconds.
Hell, there are plenty of games I have problems staying on the road in even with normal controls let alone in other motion controlled atrocities, yet somehow this super low budget port of a PS2 Phoenix Games release manages to pull it off rather nicely. Colour me vaguely impressed, I guess.
It falls short in other apartments, of course, the visuals for example are rather unimpressive even by early Dreamcast and PS2 standards. They might've been passable as good on the generation before that but it's a budget game so I won't tear it a new one for such shallow reasons.
It has some minor bugs as well, like glitching through or getting stuck in the scenery, nothing major as you'll reset back on track and get back in the race fairly quickly, but it can become annoying if it happens frequently, say during moment when the AI gangs up on you.
There is one thing the game does that baffles me though, in the Time Trial mode it doesn't save your lap times or ghosts, so everytime you go back to beat your old times they've all been reset to 0 and the ghost is nowhere to be found.
On PS2 this would've been bad enough seeing as memory cards were pretty much an industry standard at that point, but on Wii they added the internal memory, and the game saves other progress like money earned and what you've unlocked, so clearly they knew how to program an autosave feature! I started writing down my lap times on sticky notes I put on the inside of the game box, old school style, because of this.
It's not something I would say ruins the entire game, it's a minor inconvenience I doubt most people will care that much about anyway, but it could've easily been fixed and personally I care a lot more about that in racing games than any championship or career mode, so it's a shame.
The game's been panned and scored pretty low by online reviewers (IGN gave it a 1/10) and youtubers alike, but I feel it deserves better than that, it simply isn't that bad, I'd give it a genuine "good" rating, say 3-3.5/5. I'm having fun playing it, I like the tracks and the gameplay is good enough to keep me entertained.
You have a damage bar and repair pickups so offensive and defensive gameplay styles matter, there are nitro pickups as well as speed strips for extra speed and it's even playable in 2 player split screen, which is more than can be said about most racing games these days having singleplayer and online modes only.
So in conclusion I've been positively surprised by this game, it had everything going against it being a good game but somehow I'm having fun with it. I even paid a pretty hefty price for it, 11 dollars and 59 cents apparently (roughly converted to US dollars using xe.com).
A youtube video mentioned they had purchased it for just a couple of dollars brand new, so I really overpaid for a second hand copy when compared to that. I wouldn't say I overpaid though, I was fully willing to pay the asking price and I feel got my money's worth, it made me dust off my Wii after several months of neglect after all.
Ridge Racer Unbounded (PlayStation 3)
I'm disappointed in more ways that I can express in words. It's a game from a series I expected more from and it's by a developer I expected more from.
It's got an unstable framerate, there's only one car and one track to use and the unlocking is brutal and made specifically to be drawn out, slow, grinding, tedious and arbitrarily difficult, there are tons of load times and they all feel longer than general for the same kind of things in other games, the controls are pretty bad and have little to no options for change, the AI is cheating, overly perfect and brutal, there's no multiplayer at all (it has singleplayer and an online mode but from what I've read it never took off and had severe issues that didn't get patched for ages, I don't do online so I can't report on the current state of it) and the custom mode where you get to put together your own track still doesn't have anything more to use than what is unlocked in singleplayer, so again only one car and parts of one track are available.
It's a shame all these issues break the game so completely as it also has some stuff other games in the series lack, like track destruction somewhat similar to Split/Second and MotorStorm Apocalypse.
It also has nice visuals overall, it's just too bad the framerate isn't able to show them properly.
Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots (PlayStation 3)
I'm not a fan of the series in general but some of them have been alright; the original on PSX, Portable Ops and Peace Walker on PSP and Ground Zeroes on 360 all had their moments.
I didn't really like 2 and 3 at all and I haven't had the opportunity to give Phantom Pain a go yet, from what I've seen from Let's Plays however it doesn't look like I'd enjoy it, so I'm not in any rush to play it.
I'm rather indifferent toward the GameCube remake of the original, Twin Snakes or whatever it was called, I haven't had much exposure to it in later years so my memories of it have faded.
4 holds up well though, for such an early PS3 game the only technical complaint I have are the many low res textures.
Race PRO (Xbox 360)
Won some more races in the career mode.
LEGO Drome Racers (Game Boy Advance)
Truck Racer (PlayStation 2)
A budget game published by Nordic Games where you drive different types of trucks, like a semi, a pickup, a monster truck, a fire engine, a hummer and even a van, so it's at least varied in the types of vehicles you get to drive, almost a little like MotorStorm or something.
I like it, the framerate isn't super solid but it hasn't dipped too low, it seems to at least be able to stay above the 25fps mark, which is perfectly playable.
I like the handling of the cars, you can do some nice powerslides and the turbo is very similar the one you have in MotorStorm where you use it as you please and it fills back up, though in this game you don't explode after using it all up, it just refills again like normal.
Visually it's not too bad, you have real time damage on the cars and they all have enough detail to at least look like what they're suppose to be even if some textures are low res and stuff like trees and other background object are copied and pasted a lot.
I like the way you unlock new trucks and tracks, you actually get to manually pick what you want to unlock, then you get a challenge for it, for trucks you have to use the truck you want unlocked against a similar truck and win in a one on one race to unlock it, as for new tracks you need to beat a set time trial, you get infinite laps to do it but unless you've unlocked a suitable truck first it can be very hard to get around the track fast enough. I'm not a fan of stuff being locked away in racing games to begin with and even less so when there are no cheat codes to unlock everything with either, but I can be merciful in my judgement if the game at least makes up for it somehow, and I feel this game made unlocking stuff enough of my choice as a player that it's not a big deal. If I want a specific track or truck I can race for it without having to go through some arbitrary championship or something similar like so many other racing games force the player to do, here it's just go for it and get your reward for the work you put it, it's more direct, less diluted, and I welcome that. Games like Gran Turismo, Forza, MotorStorm, Ridge Racer and the like could learn a lot from games like this. Not bad for a little budget title, not bad at all.
Super Mario Bros. (Entertainment System)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Entertainment System)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Entertainment System)
Been playing a lot of new games lately so decided to replay the classic Super Mario Bros. trilogy on Entertainment System.
F1 World Championship (Mega Drive)
I love old games with 3D graphics so I've been playing a lot of different games on [mostly] Mega Drive that had flat-shaded polygon or other types of early 3D graphics.
Newman Haas IndyCar Featuring Nigel Mansell (Mega Drive)
Kawasaki Superbike Challenge (Mega Drive)
Sega Sports Formula One World Championship Beyond The Limit (Mega CD)
Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker (Mega Drive)
Thunder Blade (PC Engine)
Super Thunder Blade (Mega Drive)
Steel Talons (Mega Drive)
Gunship (PlayStation)
Also been playing a lot of old helicopter games.
Sega Arcade Gallery (Game Boy Advance)
I'm only playing Space Harrier in this, I was never a big fan of Hang On, OutRun or Afterburner.
Offroad Extreme (Wii)
A game released on PlayStation 2 in Europe by infamous publisherPhoenix Games, the Wii port offers as far as I know the same game only with forced motion controls.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster of epic proportions, right? Yes, yes it most certainly does, but alas it's a moderately entertaining racer and the motion controls are honestly pretty good, they're responsive and do what they need without complications.
I usually hate motion controls but in select few games I can tolerate them depending on how detrimental they are to the game. In this game I felt they were minimally detrimental, so kudos for that.
It's hard to tell if this was better on PS2 using normal controls without having played it myself, but I had little to no problems winning races and staying on track even when maneuvering through tricky thin mountainside roads where you could easily fall off the side down bottomless pits having to reset to the track costing precious seconds.
Hell, there are plenty of games I have problems staying on the road in even with normal controls let alone in other motion controlled atrocities, yet somehow this super low budget port of a PS2 Phoenix Games release manages to pull it off rather nicely. Colour me vaguely impressed, I guess.
It falls short in other apartments, of course, the visuals for example are rather unimpressive even by early Dreamcast and PS2 standards. They might've been passable as good on the generation before that but it's a budget game so I won't tear it a new one for such shallow reasons.
It has some minor bugs as well, like glitching through or getting stuck in the scenery, nothing major as you'll reset back on track and get back in the race fairly quickly, but it can become annoying if it happens frequently, say during moment when the AI gangs up on you.
There is one thing the game does that baffles me though, in the Time Trial mode it doesn't save your lap times or ghosts, so everytime you go back to beat your old times they've all been reset to 0 and the ghost is nowhere to be found.
On PS2 this would've been bad enough seeing as memory cards were pretty much an industry standard at that point, but on Wii they added the internal memory, and the game saves other progress like money earned and what you've unlocked, so clearly they knew how to program an autosave feature! I started writing down my lap times on sticky notes I put on the inside of the game box, old school style, because of this.
It's not something I would say ruins the entire game, it's a minor inconvenience I doubt most people will care that much about anyway, but it could've easily been fixed and personally I care a lot more about that in racing games than any championship or career mode, so it's a shame.
The game's been panned and scored pretty low by online reviewers (IGN gave it a 1/10) and youtubers alike, but I feel it deserves better than that, it simply isn't that bad, I'd give it a genuine "good" rating, say 3-3.5/5. I'm having fun playing it, I like the tracks and the gameplay is good enough to keep me entertained.
You have a damage bar and repair pickups so offensive and defensive gameplay styles matter, there are nitro pickups as well as speed strips for extra speed and it's even playable in 2 player split screen, which is more than can be said about most racing games these days having singleplayer and online modes only.
So in conclusion I've been positively surprised by this game, it had everything going against it being a good game but somehow I'm having fun with it. I even paid a pretty hefty price for it, 11 dollars and 59 cents apparently (roughly converted to US dollars using xe.com).
A youtube video mentioned they had purchased it for just a couple of dollars brand new, so I really overpaid for a second hand copy when compared to that. I wouldn't say I overpaid though, I was fully willing to pay the asking price and I feel got my money's worth, it made me dust off my Wii after several months of neglect after all.
Ridge Racer Unbounded (PlayStation 3)
I'm disappointed in more ways that I can express in words. It's a game from a series I expected more from and it's by a developer I expected more from.
It's got an unstable framerate, there's only one car and one track to use and the unlocking is brutal and made specifically to be drawn out, slow, grinding, tedious and arbitrarily difficult, there are tons of load times and they all feel longer than general for the same kind of things in other games, the controls are pretty bad and have little to no options for change, the AI is cheating, overly perfect and brutal, there's no multiplayer at all (it has singleplayer and an online mode but from what I've read it never took off and had severe issues that didn't get patched for ages, I don't do online so I can't report on the current state of it) and the custom mode where you get to put together your own track still doesn't have anything more to use than what is unlocked in singleplayer, so again only one car and parts of one track are available.
It's a shame all these issues break the game so completely as it also has some stuff other games in the series lack, like track destruction somewhat similar to Split/Second and MotorStorm Apocalypse.
It also has nice visuals overall, it's just too bad the framerate isn't able to show them properly.
Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots (PlayStation 3)
I'm not a fan of the series in general but some of them have been alright; the original on PSX, Portable Ops and Peace Walker on PSP and Ground Zeroes on 360 all had their moments.
I didn't really like 2 and 3 at all and I haven't had the opportunity to give Phantom Pain a go yet, from what I've seen from Let's Plays however it doesn't look like I'd enjoy it, so I'm not in any rush to play it.
I'm rather indifferent toward the GameCube remake of the original, Twin Snakes or whatever it was called, I haven't had much exposure to it in later years so my memories of it have faded.
4 holds up well though, for such an early PS3 game the only technical complaint I have are the many low res textures.
Race PRO (Xbox 360)
Won some more races in the career mode.
LEGO Drome Racers (Game Boy Advance)
Truck Racer (PlayStation 2)
A budget game published by Nordic Games where you drive different types of trucks, like a semi, a pickup, a monster truck, a fire engine, a hummer and even a van, so it's at least varied in the types of vehicles you get to drive, almost a little like MotorStorm or something.
I like it, the framerate isn't super solid but it hasn't dipped too low, it seems to at least be able to stay above the 25fps mark, which is perfectly playable.
I like the handling of the cars, you can do some nice powerslides and the turbo is very similar the one you have in MotorStorm where you use it as you please and it fills back up, though in this game you don't explode after using it all up, it just refills again like normal.
Visually it's not too bad, you have real time damage on the cars and they all have enough detail to at least look like what they're suppose to be even if some textures are low res and stuff like trees and other background object are copied and pasted a lot.
I like the way you unlock new trucks and tracks, you actually get to manually pick what you want to unlock, then you get a challenge for it, for trucks you have to use the truck you want unlocked against a similar truck and win in a one on one race to unlock it, as for new tracks you need to beat a set time trial, you get infinite laps to do it but unless you've unlocked a suitable truck first it can be very hard to get around the track fast enough. I'm not a fan of stuff being locked away in racing games to begin with and even less so when there are no cheat codes to unlock everything with either, but I can be merciful in my judgement if the game at least makes up for it somehow, and I feel this game made unlocking stuff enough of my choice as a player that it's not a big deal. If I want a specific track or truck I can race for it without having to go through some arbitrary championship or something similar like so many other racing games force the player to do, here it's just go for it and get your reward for the work you put it, it's more direct, less diluted, and I welcome that. Games like Gran Turismo, Forza, MotorStorm, Ridge Racer and the like could learn a lot from games like this. Not bad for a little budget title, not bad at all.
Super Mario Bros. (Entertainment System)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Entertainment System)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Entertainment System)
Been playing a lot of new games lately so decided to replay the classic Super Mario Bros. trilogy on Entertainment System.
F1 World Championship (Mega Drive)
I love old games with 3D graphics so I've been playing a lot of different games on [mostly] Mega Drive that had flat-shaded polygon or other types of early 3D graphics.
Newman Haas IndyCar Featuring Nigel Mansell (Mega Drive)
Kawasaki Superbike Challenge (Mega Drive)
Sega Sports Formula One World Championship Beyond The Limit (Mega CD)
Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker (Mega Drive)
Thunder Blade (PC Engine)
Super Thunder Blade (Mega Drive)
Steel Talons (Mega Drive)
Gunship (PlayStation)
Also been playing a lot of old helicopter games.
Sega Arcade Gallery (Game Boy Advance)
I'm only playing Space Harrier in this, I was never a big fan of Hang On, OutRun or Afterburner.
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