Feb 26, 2018 12:18:51 GMT Big Pete said:

Finished Contra III.

When I wasn't cursing out how difficult it was, I was enjoying every minute of it with one exception. The fifth stage is a Mode 7 top down level where certain tiles will spin you right around. I'm not one to get motion sickness, but this really got my head spinning and the boss of the stage employs it to make life far more challenging. It's the only blemish on what's otherwise an intense entry in the series.

With that said, I really should have played this game on easy. Playing the game on hard, just for one extra phase of the last boss and an extended ending wasn't worth it.

I hear Hard Corps is just as good, if not better.

Hard Corps is substantially better, especually the Probotector non-usa version.

Got my littles staying the night tonight and she found the Justifier and drug it out, it's on now:

I hope she showed that stupid dog who's boss.

Did you see they're releasing another Genesis/Mega Drive collection for PS4/X Box One, Shin? This time with Gunstar Heroes & ToeJam and Earl. I think it will be similar to the Steam collection which also had Alien Soldier, Landstalker, Flicky etc.

I know why they can't do it, but would love to see SEGA release compilations from their other consoles. A SEGA CD/32X, Saturn & Dreamcast would be so mint.

Oh yeah, I seen a preview for it over on Sega-16: www.sega-16.com/2018/03/preview-sega-genesis-classics-ps4-xbox-one-steam/

Looks like a great collection of games, way better than Sonics Ultimate Genesis Collection for PS3/360 since it has Alien Soldier, Revenge Of Shinobi, Gunstar Heroes. I think I read it has online multiplayer too. I probably won't buy it since I'm not really interested in owning any of the newer systems and already have all the games. Will make a great gift for my little brother though, I'll probably get that for their household next Christmas.

That's exactly the crowd they're going for. Guys like me who missed out and want to support the preservation of these amazing influential titles. As somebody who's more familiar with these titles, what are some games you would like to see included in future releases?

Thunder Force IV, Musha, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Splatterhouse 2 Robo Aleste, NBA Jam, Contra Hard Corps?

Mar 17, 2018 11:30:48 GMT Big Pete said:

That's exactly the crowd they're going for. Guys like me who missed out and want to support the preservation of these amazing influential titles. As somebody who's more familiar with these titles, what are some games you would like to see included in future releases?

Thunder Force IV, Musha, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Splatterhouse 2 Robo Aleste, NBA Jam, Contra Hard Corps?

Yeah all of those, plus: 

Road Rash 1, 2, or 3, preferably 3 but either one would be great. EA put these out on a PSP compilation but they went cheap and didn't get the rights to the original music, which was a major part of those games. Two player online would be sweet for something like this, especially if you could fix it to where it's not split screen, maybe even make it to where you can have a bunch of people racing against each other online, bashing each other with clubs and chains and shit. That would be sweet as fuck. 

Greatest Heavyweights. They probably can't get the rights to all those fighters and voices but holy shit if they could this would be a great game for a collection like that, another one that would be cool for online multiplayer. 

Ecco The Dolphin for Sega CD, it's better than the regular ole Genesis version. Might as well include Tides Of Time for Sega CD too even though the regular Genesis version of that is better. These would be cool for unlockables on the new set, though I'm not sure they can/will get the rights to the music. 

Final Fight CD. I know it's easy to buy the real arcade game and play it online nowadays(I have it for PS3 and play it often) but the Sega CD version is really cool. 

Surely they will include the Sonic & Knuckles lock on games, the full Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles game with save states would be nice, plus Knuckles in Sonic 2(the game you get when you plug Sonic 2 into Sonic & Knuckles cart) is excellent. That should be on there somewhere. 

Terminator CD would be awesome. If you can somehow get that on there might as well throw in Robocop vs Terminator also. 

Splatterhouse 2 and 3

Some kind of Street Fighter seems possibly since they put one on the SNES Mini, I'd go with Super Street Fighter. 

And speaking of fighting games holy shit, Eternal Champions should have been on that set, both the cartridge and the Sega CD sequel would be great additions especially with online multiplayer. 

Go ahead and throw Fatal Fury 2 on there. Also World Of Illusion would be an excellent game to play with online multiplayer, I played that with my niece last night and it's a lot of fun in 2 player mode. 

Racing games seem pretty underrepresented on that set so I would go with Outrun and/or Outrun 2019, I don't see why they didn't throw those on there both are great. 

That's all I can think about right now. Maybe somehow get Bill Walsh College Football 95 and NHL 94 on there since sports games were a huge part of the console's appeal and success back in the day, SNES had nothing on these. 

Somebody posted this excellent article on Sega-16 recently:

Castlevania: Bloodlines, forsaken by Konami, is a masterpiece worth replaying
A Sega favorite deserves better than its shabby treatment

www.polygon.com/2018/3/18/17131344/castlevania-bloodlines-sega-genesis-reissue-konami

Yeah that's Jeremy Parish from the Retronauts podcast, he also has a sweet YouTube channel which provides a brief backstory on NES, Game Boy and Super Nintendo games.

Konami have all but moved on from gaming, it's up to SEGA to bring Konami on board if they want those Genesis exclusives on their re-issues.

I was in a Sega Saturn mood today for some reason. I haven't powered my Saturn on in a long time, maybe 2 years or more. I went to play some Virtua Fighter 2 but my machine kept telling me the disc tray was open(when it wasn't). So I had to take it apart and undo the plastic tape I had around the sensor, I probably put that shit on there 8 or 9 years ago messing around with the swap trick. Took the old tape off and it fixed the problem. I bought a controller cable extension several years ago but never got around to using it. I hooked it up but it would not work on any of my controllers. What a rip off.

So I set myself up a spot on the floor since the controller cord wouldn't reach the couch. I couldn't get Virtua Fighter 2 to load. I tried NBA Jam Tournament Edition and it wouldn't load either. Maybe it's time for a new Saturn.

But I got Daytona USA Championship Edition or whatever it's called and it loaded up just fine. I was impressed at how nice the Saturn looked on this TV I have it hooked up to in my den, a regular HD flat screen(maybe 48 inch I don't know) through the AV cables(not coax/rf). Daytona USA looks great on this tv but I'm not a big fan of this game, maybe it's better if you have the steering wheel accessory that they sold for it, I don't know. I don't like the way the cars handle in this game and it's kinda bare bones, just straight arcade racer beat the clock challenge.

So I moved along to a demo disc I have for the Saturn. This is so fucking cool, the interface and menu music and everything is gnarly. This has Virtua On, Bug Too!, Three Dirty Dwarves, Daytona USA, Baku Baku Animal, and maybe another one I'm forgetting about. You can only play a level of each game. Three Dirty Dwarves is the best of the bunch, very unique game for the Saturn using kind of a 2.5D graphics, made by the same people who made Ecco The Dolphin.

Then I loaded up Shinobi Legions. I never really liked this game much because the graphics are Mortal Kombat style prerendered garbage. This was a huge step down from Shinobi III on the Genesis, and it sucks because had they used all that the Saturn could do with 2D they could have made the fucking mecca of all Shinobi games. Instead they subbed this out to a pretty shitty third party developer and what we got was this Donkey Kong Country looking shit. But the live action full motion video cut scenes in between levels are fucking spectacular. It's like a movie cut up in between levels, a Cannon Films ninja straight to VHS movie. I actually kind of enjoyed the gameplay a little more on this go around, once you get the feel for all the attacks it's pretty cool I guess. Still nowhere near as tight and responsive as Shinobi III though, which was fucking perfection. I made it about halfway through this game this time before game over. I enjoyed it. May have to focus in on this one and try to beat it sometime soon.

Also played a couple of matches in X-Men: Children Of The Atom, port of the Capcom arcade fighter that is pretty spot on. This is one of my favorite Saturn games that I own, really fun fighter with sweet graphics, music, and gameplay. 

Then I popped in good ole Madden NFL 98. This is a damn fine football game, easily the best on the Saturn. I played through a season on the Playstation version a while back and really enjoyed it. After playing a game of this on the Saturn today I think the Playstation version actually plays just a smidgeon smoother and faster than the Saturn version. The Saturn version is still really fucking good though. Madden 98 was really a great game for the 32 bit systems, better than Madden 99 and 2000 that came out after it imo. I played a game today between the 1980 Houston Oilers at the 1980 Oakland Raiders. Couldn't get anything going early with Earl Campbell, Raiders ended up going up 7-0 and then drove down to the goal line later in the first quarter. I held them to 4th down and they missed a chipshot field goal. Finally got the ball moving with Kenny Stabler in the passing game, he's pretty good in this game. Started to use the passing game to set up the run and managed to break some really nice runs with Campbell, he's pretty boss in Madden 98, I broke a lot of tackles. Ended up winning 10-7 in a fun challenging game.

I need to get one of those fancy Saturns with all the region mods and everything. This one I have is just about worn out I think. Still upset that my memory cartridge lost all my saves a couple years ago, including my season of World Series Baseball II with the Astros, I was like 155 games deep into that season(played on and off over a span of about 5-6 years) and when I went back to finish it it was just gone. 

Hallelujah, I was tinkering around with my Saturn memory cartridge last night and was able to find my old saves. I don't know what happened, one day I went to load my World Series Baseball II season and it seemed like the cart was wiped clean somehow. Maybe it lost it's connection or the dust was fucking it up or something, I don't know. I gave my Saturn a good cleaning when I took it apart yesterday and took the memory cart out and reinserted it into the cart slot and it all came back. This is awesome.

I have a season of World Series Baseball II with only like 7 games left of the full 162 game season. I started this way back in 2010. I'm not a big baseball fan but this game is marvelous. It's easily the best baseball game I've ever played, it's very simple but also very deep. The graphics are good for 32 bit, the stadium models are spectacular for their time with a lot of details(got to love the old Astrodome). The play by play commentary is also very good. It's hard for me to imagine a baseball game that plays better than this as far as gameplay. It's really all it needs to be. The controls are very tight and fast, and the pitching system is why I prefer this over every other baseball game I've ever played.

This game is how I actually learned how to play baseball. I used to cover a high school football team for a local newspaper. One year they asked me to cover the baseball team, I took the job even though I don't care for the sport and don't really know anything about it. I got into this game trying to learn as much as I could. I knew the basics of playing the game but there was a ton I didn't know that I figured out along this season I'm playing, I actually lost ALL of my first 30 games or so trying to figure it all out. Gradually I started to learn how to play the game through the season and I climbed my way out of the gutter to take first place in my division. I've got a 6 game lead at first place with only 7 games left and then it's playoff time. Looking forward to getting back into this and finally finishing this season after 8 fucking years.

I have been playing World Series Baseball II for Sega Saturn. I recently finished the regular season that I started back in 2010. After an 0-30 start trying to figure out how the hell to play baseball I ended up finishing 90-72 to win my division. I swept the #1 seed Marlins 3 games to none, with all 3 games going into extra innings. I completely burned all my pitchers out in those three games. In the League Championship Series I won game 1 over the Rockies but then in game 2 they jumped out to a 5-0 lead early so I conceded the game to them and decided to reserve my pitchers, I kept the guy I had in the game in there to finish and ended up losing 11-1. My entire pitching roster is fucking burnt, I lost game 3 and 4 yesterday so I'm down 3-1. Game 4 was a really good one, Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. I finally got the bats going in the sixth inning and took a 3-2 lead but then my pitcher gave up a 3 run homer in the 8th and I lost 5-2.

This next game is do or die, 169 games played over the course of like 8 years and it all fucking comes down to this! This is the fucking GOAT baseball video game for sure. I went to town yesterday to do some shopping and picked up the sequel for the Saturn, World Series Baseball 98, which I'm told is even better than World Series Baseball II. I'm looking forward to playing through a season on that one, I enjoy playing a game while watching the Astros streaming on my laptop.

Just played the greatest game I've ever played on a sports video game. Game 5 of the league championship series playing as the Houston Astros against the Colorado Rockies, down 3 games to 1 going into this so it was do or die. I ended up scoring a couple of runs to take a 2-0 lead, then I hit a homer with Craig Biggio to go up 3-0. Then my pitcher gave up 3 home runs all in the next inning to give up the lead. Ended up going 12 full innings with my palms sweating the whole time, I've never played a more tense, nerve wracking video game session ever in my life. Finally was able to hit a double with Bagwell and then hitting him in to win it in the bottom of the 12th, it's a good thing too because my pitchers were done and there was no way I could hold them in a 13th inning. All of your players in this game have lifebars that you can check in between games, all of my pitchers are fucking spent. There is no way I'll be able to win 2 games, it'll be a fucking miracle if I do. The Rockies have some heavy hitters, 2 guys with over 40 home runs and 2 more guys with 30+, then a few guys with 10-11.

And that's it for World Series Baseball II, I lost game 6 to the Rockies 3-2, I jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning then gave up a 3 run homer, then just couldn't get shit going. I homered with Bagwell in the 7th inning. Was barely able to hold them from scoring again in the late innings, at one point I had bases loaded but somehow survived without giving up any more runs. In the 9th inning my last chance I was able to get a guy on first, then I stole second base. With 2 outs and a man on second base I had a chance to blast one with Bagwell to win it but they wouldn't pitch to him, they intentionally walked him, then my next guy grounded out to end this 171 game Sega Saturn baseball odyssey that has spanned the past 8 fucking years. I feel so gutted right now.

But what a hell of a game though, World Series Baseball II is just all a baseball video game really needs to be, so simple, so fun, but yet so deep in it's gameplay at the same time, a ton of strategy involved, some great AI opposition, a lot of really nice little touches for a 32 bit sports video game from 1995. This game is responsible for my understanding and newfound respect for the sport of baseball and it's ridiculously long regular season marathon. I'd also say this is easily one of my favorite Saturn games overall and if I were to put together a list of my top 100 favorite video games of all time in the future I'd probably have to slip this in there somewhere. It's really a damn shame that Sega didn't put as much TLC into a football game for the Saturn, NFL 97 is horrible.

I tried playing World Series Baseball 98, the follow up to World Series Baseball II on the Sega Saturn. This is definitely not better than World Series Baseball II, in fact I think it's a significant downgrade. For starters the pitching system is nowhere near as good. I also don't like the oversized polygon player models. Also hate the way the camera is constantly changing viewpoints during gameplay, it's kind of disorienting. Presentation seems to be not as good and gameplay is just not nearly as smooth as WSB II. I don't like it. I need to find another baseball game to get into, this one is not for me. May try to get into MVP 2005 for the original XBOX, looks pretty good, maybe a little too complicated for me but I'll give it a shot.

Found a copy of MVP Baseball 2005 for original XBOX at the retro shop in town today. I just finished my first game and I'm pretty damn impressed. Graphics are amazing for their time, if someone told me this was a 360/PS3 game I'd believed them. Controls are excellent, especially batting and fielding controls. Gameplay is really nice. Took me a while to figure out the pitching though, I lost my first game against St. Louis Cardinals 26-0!!! I gave up 17 points in the opening inning, gradually I figured everything out and started to do better in the end, still couldn't score though.

This is really high quality stuff. Only qualm I have is that there is no quick and easy way to play through a season, only Dynasty Mode and Manager mode or something, really complicated stuff. I think I found my next baseball game though, I'm off on my next 162 game treck, 1 down 161 to go!!!

How did you end up @nobi?

I got back into the SEGA Mega Drive collection recently and been making my way through the Shining Force series. With tactics like games I find I can play through one or two battles and be really invested but anymore and I get tapped out. What I like about Shining Force compared to Fire Emblem, Warsong and it's other contemporaries is that there's a JRPG element as well where you can explore towns and recruit unique classes. I messed up my first play through of the original since I missed the egg monster, the werewolf and the ninja since they're the best characters in the game.

Currently up to the second game and while I'm enjoying all the refinements, there's been a lot more filler. What I liked about the first Shining Force game is that the game wasn't afraid to throw you into unique battles which blended well into the story. So far it seems like the only time I get to battle anything it's in the wild and it keeps getting easier since my guys get stronger and I get better units and they're lucky to introduce one new unit.

Ultimately the goal is to beat two and give myself the perfect lead in to play 3 and finally beat something on the SEGA Saturn.

I actually have not had any time to invest in it lately, super swamped with work. I can't figure out the pitching system because every game I played I gave up like a dozen homers. :lol:

Can't go wrong with Shining Force. The first game is one of my favorite video games ever, one of the only RPG style games that I've played from start to finish. But holy shit I had no idea there was a ninja character you can add to your party!?!? WHA!? I must have missed him the first go around. I really need to play through that one again. The music is so bland and the story ain't all that hot but everything else is money.

Shining Force II improves on a lot of things but for some reason I just can't really get into it like the first one.

Shining Force III falls into the same category as II for me, it's cool and all but something about it I just don't enjoy as much as that first game.

May 17, 2018 10:28:59 GMT shinobimusashi said:

Can't go wrong with Shining Force. The first game is one of my favorite video games ever, one of the only RPG style games that I've played from start to finish. But holy shit I had no idea there was a ninja character you can add to your party!?!? WHA!? I must have missed him the first go around. I really need to play through that one again. The music is so bland and the story ain't all that hot but everything else is money.

Shining Force II improves on a lot of things but for some reason I just can't really get into it like the first one.

Shining Force III falls into the same category as II for me, it's cool and all but something about it I just don't enjoy as much as that first game.

Shining Force is probably my 2nd favorite Genesis game. Replayed it a few years ago when my brother had moved back in with me for a little while. 

Jogurt the Yogurt is a legend.

Don't think I ever played Shining Force II and know I never played Shining Force III. What a shame.

I would never have picked Bake being a Shining Force guy. With that said, OF COURSE, he has to be a Jogurt fan. Did you ever make any use out of him, Bake?

Somewhat old news, but since the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive Classics is due out at the end of the month, I thought I'd share the final list of games.

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alien Soldier
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Beyond Oasis
Bio-Hazard Battle
Bonanza Bros.
Columns
Columns III: Revenge of Columns
Comix Zone
Crack Down
Decap Attack
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Dynamite Headdy
ESWAT: City Under Siege
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Galaxy Force II
Golden Axe
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Gunstar Heroes
Kid Chameleon
Landstalker
Light Crusader
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
Ristar
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shining Force
Shining Force II
Shining in the Darkness
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic Spinball
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Space Harrier II
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 3
Super Thunder Blade
Sword of Vermilion
The Revenge of Shinobi
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
ToeJam& Earl
Vectorman
VectorMan 2
Virtua Fighter 2
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
Wonder Boy in Monster World

No Ecco the Dolphin, Ecco Jr, Ecco The Tides of Time, Eternal Champions, Sonic 3 & Knuckles & Sonic CD from the Steam collection.

Kind of a let down to release an inferior product without replacing those games.

May 21, 2018 7:38:03 GMT Big Pete said:

I would never have picked Bake being a Shining Force guy. With that said, OF COURSE, he has to be a Jogurt fan. Did you ever make any use out of him, Bake?

Are you implying that I like crap?  :suspic:

Jogurt the Yogurt is a legend. Come on! Hamster in a helmet! Adorable! 

Of course I didn't get any positive use out of Jogurt. I don't even think that's possible. Last time we played through I begged my brother to keep Jogurt (who was the lone character I remembered from playing the game in the 90s, though many of the others did come back to me during that last play through). He declined. Jerk.

Fwiw I was a big RPG fan in general.

If I was, I'd assume you'd like Lowe or the Archer who tells you not to pick him because he's awful (turns out he was right). Jogurt is an underdog through and through, so of course he'd be the one character you'd remember.

See I always thought you were just a NES fan who grew out of it by the 16 bit era. I knew you got into Dragon Warrior, but always assumed it was because of it's status as a Nintendo Power promotion. I didn't realise you were actually a fan of the genre at all. What other RPGs did you play?

May 22, 2018 5:26:06 GMT Big Pete said:

See I always thought you were just a NES fan who grew out of it by the 16 bit era. I knew you got into Dragon Warrior, but always assumed it was because of it's status as a Nintendo Power promotion. I didn't realise you were actually a fan of the genre at all. What other RPGs did you play?

Oh no. I played a ton of Sega Genesis, though probably not as much as shinobimusashi. I never owned a Super Nintendo, but spent a lot of time at SNES houses, so I played my fair share of that too. I did fall behind a bit in the late 90s, but came back during the PS 2 era (2002ish), albeit it just for Madden and the WWE games. 

I actually know nothing about this Dragon Warrior/Nintendo Power promotion. I just thought DW looked cool in all those Nintendo Power mags/Game Guide books I used to read. So I bought it against my brother's protestations (he once had a bad experience playing with a friend and even thought the relatively lowly Magician was "impossible"  :lol: ). It more than delivered.

As for other RPGs....

NES
Dragon Warrior I-III. I is a top 5 NES game for me, while III has a good shot at the top spot. Never playing IV was my biggest video game regret for years. But I watched some guy play through on Youtube a year or so back. It didn't look so great. 
Crystalis- Never got into this one. A bust.
Final Fantasy- Never owned but used to play/watch a friend play when NES was already out of style. Lots of fun.

Does the delightfully zany Maniac Mansion count as an RPG? I think it should. 

Genesis

Shining Force
Sword of Vermillion- Your post the other day reminded me of this bust. Played it after Shining Force. It was no Shining Force. Tbh all I remember about this game is an item called Rafael's Stick.
Uncharted Waters- GOAT Genesis game

*I feel like I'm forgetting one or two. Ok, fine. Maybe I didn't play a ton of RPGs, but I liked/loved most of the ones I did play.

Finished up Shining Force 2 earlier in the week.

By and large the sequel retains the charm of the original with a few exceptions. In Shining Force I, you were tasked with leading a covert operation with a rag-tag group filled with centaurs, wolfmen, flying octopus and Jogurt the loveable mascot character. While the story was riddled with cliches and predictable developments, the diverse cast more than made up for it. In Shining Force II the player takes on a new band of heroes, but that nature of of unpredictability is sorely missing. A lot of characters who join the party are mere copies from the original and the few new faces who stick out are few and far between.

Battles in the original were a source of frustration for players as being able to orchestrate a strategic plan could be undone by flimsy RNG. Fortunately this is no longer the case in Shining Force II as Camelot have made a number of improvements across the board. Instead of characters receiving seemingly random stat upgrades, they're now uniformed to correspond with each class. The AI has also become more adept on the battle field and depending on what difficulty you choose can put a decent challenge even against experienced JRPG players.

While these tweaks are appreciated, the battle scenarios leave something to be desired. Most of the battles take place in the bland open-fields and generally play out the same way. Often you'll find the opponent sends 2-3 enemies and while they may pick off one of your weaker units, you'll usually have more than enough troops to finish each battle. To make matters worse, the game also gives you arguably the strongest JRPG unit in the genre's history in Peter the Phoenix. Peter has the best movement and attack of any character in the game, trivialising each battle as he lays waste to every unit in sight. His inclusion in the game breaks the balance of the game and it's not unusual for him to be twice as strong as your next unit.

Still, Shining Force retains a lot of the conventions that made the original so successful that it's difficult to be overly critical. Certain scenarios like the 'chess' fight or the secret mission that takes place inside a Sonic the Hedgehog stencil are a joy to play through. The new promotion system where you can choosing which branding path a unit can go down was also a welcome addition and makes for decent variation between playthroughs. It may not have revolutionised the genre like the original did, but sometimes more of the same can be just as valuable.
----------------------------------------

Looks like my Sega Saturn plans could be dashed. I'm not sure if it's because it hasn't been plugged in for awhile, but the system keeps acting up and will boot the game as a CD mid-way through each play through. For a game as slow as Shining Force, this could be a real pain and I'd hate to go through a long battle, only to lose my progress right at the death. I'll let it charge over night but if I run into the same problems, I may have to call it a day.

On the flipside, the OST for SF3 is a marked improvement.

I solved the Saturn issue, the latch for the disc tray had shifted meaning the system didn't know what was going on. Unfortunately I broke the pins in my cheap ass AV cables trying to turn the system on so I'll have to order another cable.

At this stage, I'm thinking of sitting on it or just seeing if I can emulate the disc via my PC. The only problem with the latter is that it sort of defeats the purpose.

May 30, 2018 8:23:53 GMT Big Pete said:

I solved the Saturn issue, the latch for the disc tray had shifted meaning the system didn't know what was going on. Unfortunately I broke the pins in my cheap ass AV cables trying to turn the system on so I'll have to order another cable.

At this stage, I'm thinking of sitting on it or just seeing if I can emulate the disc via my PC. The only problem with the latter is that it sort of defeats the purpose.

This reminds me of the time I was convinced I could fix my PS3 myself, broke it worse attempting to fix it, and then ended up just going back to the ol' N64 instead of breaking down and buying a brand new PS3 (or waiting for the PS4).

Wednesday night I finished a season of Madden 95 on the Genesis, winning the Super Bowl(XXIX) with the Cleveland Browns blowing out the 49ers 61-24!!!

I started this season last November or December on the Neo Genesis emulator on my soft modded OG X-Box(I have all the Madden cartridges but the batteries died in them years ago so you can't save the season modes). I forgot about it for a month or two and then went back to it here recently and played a game usually on Sunday mornings with coffee and a spliff. I don't know why but I just love the old football games, I am such a nerd about it that I will play through full seasons and I have a notepad document where I'll keep all my stats and shit.

I always wanted to play through a season of Madden 95 with the Browns because I was rooting for that team that year(1994). I was rooting for them because they had Mark Rypien, who I was a HUGE fan of when I was little. Rypien was the MVP of Super Bowl XXVI after leading the Redskins to a 14-2 season and a blowout win over the Bills in the big game. He played like Brock Osweiler that next year when the Skins offensive line had father time catch up with them and Art Monk and Gary Clark slowed down. After another terrible year in 93 Washington moved on from him and he got picked up by Bill Belichick to play backup for Vinnie Testeverde on the 1994 Cleveland Browns. Vinnie went down with an injury at some point in the season and Rypien helped them win a few games, I got caught up in it and was pulling for that team going into those playoffs. They pulled off a pretty big upset at the time when they beat the Patriots in the first round of the playoffs but then they lost in the divisional round to the Steelers in what was their 3rd loss to them that year.

I dug a little deeper into that Browns vs Steelers series in 94 when I was researching the Texans vs Patriots 2003 game for my Greatest Texans Games countdown. In that game Belichick squared off against then Texans coach Dom Capers and his d-coordinator Vic Fangio in what was really a great strategic defensive clash between two defensive masterminds that had a bit of a history with each other. Capers and Fangio were running that Steelers defense in 94 and Belichick was the Browns head coach that year. The Browns finished 11-5 with the best defense in the NFL that year but the Steelers beat them twice that year and won the division at 12-4, then Pittsburgh beat them a third time in the divisional playoff game. Pittsburgh went on to get upset at home in the AFC Championship by San Diego.

Playing through this season of Madden 95 with the Browns really got me to thinking about the what ifs. What if somehow Cleveland was able to win the division that year and play Pittsburgh at home in that third meeting, could Belichick's Browns defense have gotten past that Chargers team? Then what if the Browns played those 49ers in the Super Bowl? Their defense was legit, maybe even a better defense than Pittsburgh that year that gets all the love. Then if they do make it to or win the Super Bowl that year think about all those butteryfly effects, with maybe Cleveland never leaving for Baltimore, Belichick staying on for good with the Browns with Ozzie Newsome putting together that sick defense a few years later, maybe instead of the Patriots dynasty it would have been the Browns dynasty, instead the reality is that the Browns haven't won a playoff game since that win over New England in 94!!! Crazy shit. 

But for the season of Madden 95 this was all about Eric Metcalf, who was a spectacular player back then that has been a little forgotten(he only had 2-3 good seasons). He was a great receiver, running back, and special teams player there for a while and he's one of the best players in this game. I ran for 2,092 rushing yards on 374 carries(avg 5.5 per carry) with 24 rushing touchdowns. I started the season 3-2 with Vinnie Testeverde, who is rated higher than Mark Rypien in the game, but with Vinnie in those 5 games I went 38 of 113(33%) for 743 yards with 6 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. After I put Rypien in I won 8 games in a row, going 60 of 137(43%) for 1,241 yds, 19 tds and 5 ints.

The difficulty in the game is a mixed bag. I love the gameplay of the earlier Maddens on the Genesis, Madden 92 and 93, but the AI is really bad the the games are so easy they are not worth playing unless you got a live opponent. With Madden 95 they started to make it more challenging, but it's like there are games where the computer will straight up lay down for you, then there are games where it feels like it's cheap like the computer knows exactly what play you called and they know exactly what audibles you call. Here was how my schedule played out:

@cin W, 16-7
Pit L, 13-19
AZ W, 23-9
@ind W, 24-13
NYJ L, 27-30
@hou W, 16-9
Cin W, 38-20
@den W, 21-17
NE W, 30-17
@phi W, 14-11
@kc W, 55-20
Hou W, 45-19
NYG W, 22-3
@dal L, 11-22
@pit W, 34-24
Sea L, 24-27

I ended up beating San Diego and Buffalo in the playoffs both by last second field goals. I always get a kick out of how the way Buffalo in this game will run the no-huddle offense against you. I'm not sure any other team in any of the later 32 bit Maddens ever did that. The losses to Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Seattle the computer was really tough and stopped my running game, those were fun games, when the computer brings it like that Madden 95 is a pretty great little 16-bit football sim, but when they lay down for you like the 49ers did in the Super Bowl its just boring. I decided to air it out in the Super Bowl and ended up throwing for like 5 touchdowns and 335 yards with Rypien while I broke the oldest record in NFL history by scoring 7 touchdowns with Metcalf.

I may start a season on Madden 96 sometime soon. Madden 95 is solid but Madden 96 was a great improvement and one of my favorite football games on the Genesis. I've always wanted to play through a season of Madden 96 with Minnesota(Moon!) and Atlanta(where Metcalf was traded to that year, that was a pretty good team, had they been able to keep Favre and Deion they probably could have made a Super Bowl run that year).

Looks like my soft modded X-Box bit the dust. I can't get it to power on. Sucks so bad because I had so much shit on there but honestly I can't be too mad, for the money I paid we got some good hours out of that thing, would definitely be in the market to buy another one sometime soon.

I'm glad I got to finish my season of Madden 96 before it crapped out, this was the last game I played I believe last weekend, I wrapped up a season with the Atlanta Falcons, who are loaded with some pretty great players in Madden 96. I got 23 sacks with Chris Doleman who is a savage beast in this game, I fucked some QB's up with him in this game. Also they had Clay Matthews, Jesse Tuggle, Daryl Talley and a few other really good players on defense. I rarely ever gave up more than 10 points in a game and had a few streaks where I didn't allow any touchdowns. I got off to a 9-1 start, I beat the 49ers(the best team in the game, defending Super Bowl Champs) in week 2 in an excellent game. I was down 21-7 late in the third quarter but came back and scored a touchdown in the final seconds to cut the lead to 21-20, then ran in a 2 point conversion with Craig "Ironhead" Heyward to win it 22-21.

I ended up losing some of my best guys to injury down the stretch and lost a few games in the end of the season to fall to 11-5, beat the Cardinals in the Wild Card but lost to San Francisco in the divisional playoffs, couldn't get anything going on offense. Madden 96 is my favorite Madden on the Genesis, it's a nice challenge in single player mode. The games play quick because the clock seems to move faster and you only get 20 seconds(as opposed to 40 like other games) after incomplete passes/timeouts/change of possessions etc, so playing through a 16 game season is a breeze and quite enjoyable, it's pretty realistic with the injuries and the way teams get hot/cold down the stretch, I ended up destroying the Cowboys like 34-0 and then beat Buffalo 32-0 but after I lost Heyward for 5 games and lost my tight end and best safety for the season I couldn't do shit in those last few games. 

Bummer about the X Box, Shin. If you've got a Wii lying around, it's pretty easy to soft-mod and doesn't cost a lot to set up.

How are you going to tackle 97 and 98? I presume the Genesis port was a hackneyed version of the 32-bit versions.

Jul 17, 2018 3:49:59 GMT Big Pete said:

Bummer about the X Box, Shin. If you've got a Wii lying around, it's pretty easy to soft-mod and doesn't cost a lot to set up.

How are you going to tackle 97 and 98? I presume the Genesis port was a hackneyed version of the 32-bit versions.

I got to try to see if I can fix the thing, just now realizing all the NFL 2K5 roster edits I have on that thing.  :froggy:  

I wasn't planning on playing 97 and 98, I was hoping to get back into my Houston Texans season on Madden 2009 but that's off the table unless I can fix this XBOX since it was saved on there. I may try to get into the Gen ports of 97 and 98 though, they are actually pretty good, not as good as 95 or 96 imo(maybe in some ways they are) but still really solid for 16 bit football. 

Jul 15, 2018 13:02:02 GMT shinobimusashi said:

Looks like my soft modded X-Box bit the dust. I can't get it to power on. Sucks so bad because I had so much shit on there but honestly I can't be too mad, for the money I paid we got some good hours out of that thing, would definitely be in the market to buy another one sometime soon.

That's a shame man. I modded my XBox in 2004 and it's still chugging along. Can't believe the hard drive is still like running smoothly. *knocks on wood*